Effects of variable mating opportunity, delay, and male mating experience on the lifespan, female reproductive traits, and offspring traits of Phytoseiulus persimilis (Acari: Phytoseiidae).

The balance between mating benefits and costs shapes reproductive strategies and life history traits across animal species. For biological control programs, understanding how mating rates influence life history traits is essential for optimising population management and enhancing predator efficacy. This study investigates the impact of mating opportunity availability, delayed mating, and male mating history (copulation frequency) on the lifespan (both sexes), female reproductive traits (duration of oviposition and of pre- and post-oviposition periods, and lifetime oviposition), and offspring quality (egg size and offspring survival) of the predatory mite Phytoseiulus persimilis Athias-Henriot (Acari: Phytoseiidae), an important biological control agent against spider mites.

Overcoming Shifting Baselines: Paleo-Behaviour Reveals Industrial Revolution as Tipping Point.

Human activities have significantly altered coastal ecosystems worldwide. The phenomenon of shifting baselines syndrome (SBS) complicates our understanding of these changes, masking the true scale of human impacts. This study investigates the long-term ecological effects of anthropogenic activities on New Zealand's coastal ecosystems over 800 years using fish otolith microchemical profiling and dynamic time warping across an entire stock unit.

Cost-effective production of meaty aroma from porcine cells for hybrid cultivated meat.

Cultivated meats are typically hybrids of animal cells and plant proteins, but their high production costs limit their scalability. This study explores a cost-effective alternative by hypothesizing that controlling the Maillard and lipid thermal degradation reactions in pure cells can create a meaty aroma that could be extracted from minimal cell quantities. Using spontaneously immortalized porcine myoblasts and fibroblasts adapted to suspension culture with a 1 % serum concentration, we developed a method to isolate flavor precursors via freeze-thawing.

Arabidopsis Calcium Dependent Protein Kinase 3, and Its Orthologues OsCPK1, OsCPK15, and AcCPK16, Are Involved in Biotic and Abiotic Stresses.

Calcium-dependent protein kinases (CPKs) are plant proteins that directly bind calcium ions before phosphorylating substrates involved in biotic and abiotic stress responses, as well as development. CPK3 () is involved with plant signaling pathways such as stomatal movement regulation, salt stress response, apoptosis, seed germination and pathogen defense. In this study, and its orthologues in relatively distant plant species such as rice (, monocot) and kiwifruit (, asterid eudicot) were analyzed in response to drought, bacteria, fungi, and virus infections.

Lethal Male Combat of (Hymenoptera: Eupelmidae), an Egg Parasitoid of Lepidopterous and Hemipterous Pests.

Aggressive interactions between males are common when victors gain increased mating success but can result in severe injury or death for the defeated. (Hymenoptera: Eupelmidae) is a solitary egg parasitoid of hemipteran and lepidopteran species. Here, we investigated lethal interactions between males and analyzed aggression behavior scaled with the male condition, number of competitors, number of presented females, and female mating status.

Identification of Components of the Sex Pheromone of the kōwhai Moth, Uresiphita Polygonalis Maorialis, a New Zealand Native Crambid.

The identification of sex pheromones in native New Zealand moths has been limited, largely due to their minimal pest impact on agricultural ecosystems. The kōwhai moth, Uresiphita polygonalis maorialis, a native crambid, is known for its herbivory on Sophora spp. and Lupinus arboreus leaves.

Digestion of food proteins: the role of pepsin.

The nutritive value of a protein is determined not only by its amino acid composition, but also by its digestibility in the gastrointestinal tract. The interaction between proteins and pepsin in the gastric stage is the first step and plays an important role in protein hydrolysis. Moreover, it affects the amino acid release rates and the allergenicity of the proteins.

Introducing subgen. a new and very small lineage sharing with () an identical, largely circum-Pacific distribution pattern.

The application of DNA data on a worldwide sampling has revolutionized the infrageneric classification of the highly diverse ectomycorrhizal genus . Based on collections made in New Zealand, East Asia and North America, this study describes a new subgenus , the ninth subgenus of . Even though BLASTn of the ITS sequences suggested affinities with species of subgenera and the phylogenetic analysis based on a five-locus DNA dataset placed the target samples in an independent major clade that is taxonomically equivalent to subgenus.

Novel adaptive immune systems in pristine Antarctic soils.

Antarctic environments are dominated by microorganisms, which are vulnerable to viral infection. Although several studies have investigated the phylogenetic repertoire of bacteria and viruses in these poly-extreme environments with freezing temperatures, high ultra violet irradiation levels, low moisture availability and hyper-oligotrophy, the evolutionary mechanisms governing microbial immunity remain poorly understood. Using genome-resolved metagenomics, we test the hypothesis that Antarctic poly-extreme high-latitude microbiomes harbour diverse adaptive immune systems.

Efficacy and safety of olive leaf extract (Olea europaea L.) for glycaemic control in adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus (ESOLED): A pilot randomised controlled trial.

Background: Maintaining optimum glycaemic control is essential to reducing comorbidity and mortality in diabetes. However, research indicates that <50 % of patients achieve their target HbA1c ranges. Laboratory studies suggest that olive leaf extract (OLE) may improve glycaemic control, however clinical studies in persons with diabetes are lacking.

Random walk models in the life sciences: including births, deaths and local interactions.

Random walks and related spatial stochastic models have been used in a range of application areas, including animal and plant ecology, infectious disease epidemiology, developmental biology, wound healing and oncology. Classical random walk models assume that all individuals in a population behave independently, ignoring local physical and biological interactions. This assumption simplifies the mathematical description of the population considerably, enabling continuum-limit descriptions to be derived and used in model analysis and fitting.

Strong legacies of emerging trends in winter precipitation on the carbon-climate feedback from Arctic tundra.

Changes in winter precipitation accompanying emerging climate trends lead to a major carbon-climate feedback from Arctic tundra. However, the mechanisms driving the direction, magnitude, and form (CO and CH) of C fluxes and derived climate forcing (i.e.

Saffron's protective role against atherosclerosis-induced cataract progression in New Zealand white rabbits with phytochemical analysis of saffron's extract.

Cataracts are significant causes of blindness, closely linked to prolonged hypercholesterolemia. While saffron has the potential for eye health, its effects on lens lesions remain understudied. This study aimed to investigate the effect of saffron on the lens changes in atherosclerotic-induced New Zealand white rabbits (NZWR).

Data reuse in agricultural genomics research: challenges and recommendations.

The scientific community has long benefited from the opportunities provided by data reuse. Recognizing the need to identify the challenges and bottlenecks to reuse in the agricultural research community and propose solutions for them, the data reuse working group was started within the AgBioData consortium framework. Here, we identify the limitations of data standards, metadata deficiencies, data interoperability, data ownership, data availability, user skill level, resource availability, and equity issues, with a specific focus on agricultural genomics research.

How does forest fine root litter affect the agricultural soil NH and NO losses?

In farmland shelterbelt systems, the decomposition and/or apoptosis of forest fine root litter could affect farmland soil properties at the tree-crop interface, particularly the soil nitrogen (N) cycling. However, how fine root litter affect the ammonia (NH) and nitrous oxide (NO) losses from farmland soil and the crop production is little known. A soil column experiment covering a whole rice season was conducted to evaluate the dynamics aforesaid in response to fine root litter of Populus (RP) and Metasequoia glyptostroboides (RM) with 0 and 240 kg ha N fertilizer input.

Impact of Year and Genotype on Benzoxazinoids and Their Microbial Metabolites in the Rhizosphere of Early-Vigour Wheat Genotypes in Southern Australia.

Wheat () is grown on more arable acreage than any other food crop and has been well documented to produce allelochemicals. Wheat allelochemicals include numerous benzoxazinoids and their microbially transformed metabolites that actively suppress growth of weed seedlings. Production and subsequent release of these metabolites by commercial wheat cultivars, however, has not yet been targeted by focussed breeding programmes seeking to develop more competitive crops.

Differential Responses of Methylobacterium and Sphingomonas Species to Multispecies Interactions in the Phyllosphere.

The leaf surface, known as the phylloplane, presents an oligotrophic and heterogeneous environment due to its topography and uneven distribution of resources. Although it is a challenging environment, leaves support abundant bacterial communities that are spatially structured. However, the factors influencing these spatial distribution patterns are not well understood.

Proximate composition, peptide characterization and bioactive properties of faba bean blanching water.

Faba bean (Vicia faba L.) offers a rich nutritional profile with high protein content and abundant vitamins and minerals. Processing of faba beans for freezing requires blanching, yielding liluva (legume processing water), possibly containing leached macronutrients, with potential for upcycling.

Consumer evaluations of commercially available plant-based cheddar cheese alternatives reveal inferior taste, nutrition and emotional appeal.

Many people in the Western world wish to reduce dietary reliance on animal-based and animal-derived foods. Plant-based (PB) meat and dairy alternatives can aid in this transition, but in the dairy category, only the milk market is well developed. Attention in the present research is, therefore, directed to PB cheese alternatives (PBCA), which were studied relative to dairy cheeses in a consumer taste test (central location setting) with 157 New Zealand (NZ) consumers conducted in 2023.

Bacillus velezensis A-27 as a potential biocontrol agent against Meloidogyne incognita and effects on rhizosphere communities of celery in field.

Meloidogyne incognita, a highly destructive plant-parasitic nematode, poses a significant threat to crop production. The reliance on chemical nematicides for nematode control has been crucial; however, the banning of many effective nematicides due to their adverse effects has necessitated the exploration of alternative solutions. Rhizosphere biocontrol bacteria, particularly strains of Bacillus, have demonstrated promising results in managing plant-parasitic nematodes.

Defining ortholog-specific UHRF1 inhibition by STELLA for cancer therapy.

UHRF1 maintains DNA methylation by recruiting DNA methyltransferases to chromatin. In mouse, these dynamics are potently antagonized by a natural UHRF1 inhibitory protein STELLA, while the comparable effects of its human ortholog are insufficiently characterized, especially in cancer cells. Herein, we demonstrate that human STELLA (hSTELLA) is inadequate, while mouse STELLA (mSTELLA) is fully proficient in inhibiting the abnormal DNA methylation and oncogenic functions of UHRF1 in human cancer cells.

Comparative analysis of qPCR and metagenomics for detecting antimicrobial resistance in wastewater: a case study.

Objective: The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared antimicrobial resistance (AMR) as one of the top threats to global public health. While AMR surveillance of human clinical isolates is well-established in many countries, the increasing threat of AMR has intensified efforts to detect antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) accurately and sensitively in environmental samples, wastewater, animals, and food. Using five ARGs and the 16S rRNA gene, we compared quantitative PCR (qPCR) and metagenomic sequencing (MGS), two commonly used methods to uncover the wastewater resistome.

Individual Responses to Repeated Dosing with Anthocyanin-Rich New Zealand Blackcurrant Extract During High-Intensity Intermittent Treadmill Running in Active Males.

Unlabelled: Intake of New Zealand blackcurrant (NZBC) extract for 7 days has been shown to improve high-intensity intermittent running (HIIR) performance.

Objectives: We examined the repeat response of NZBC extract on HIIR performance.

Methods: Sixteen active males (age: 23 ± 3 yrs, height: 179 ± 5 cm, mass: 79 ± 11 kg, V˙O: 55.

Assessment of a Novel Stress and Immune Gene Panel on the Development of Australasian Snapper () Larvae.

Background: Larvae development is a critical step in aquaculture, yet the development of immune and stress responses during this early phase of life is not well understood. Snapper is a species that has been selected as a candidate for aquaculture in New Zealand.

Methods: In this study we explore a set of 18 genes identified as potentially being involved in the stress and immune responses of snapper larvae during the first 30 days of development.