Intensification of agriculture has resulted in widespread use of antiparasitics, mostly macrocyclic lactones, which harms non-target organisms. Residues of such antiparasitics do primarily affect dung beetles, who provide keystone ecosystem services for pasture functioning
We studied the reaction mechanism of the carboxylic acids esterification in aqueous media mediated by alkyl chloroformates on macroscale and microscale by 1H NMR, LC-MS, GC-MS, stable isotope labeling and computational quantum chemistry.
In the study, we report a more comprehensive approach enabling rapid GC-MS screening of sixteen acidic biomarkers in urine that are metabolized in the human body after exposition to several important industrial chemicals.
In a study of the molecular mechanisms of sex determination in Ephestia kuehniella, we identified an ortholog of the Masculinizer gene, discovered its functional duplication, and clearly showed that the duplicated gene is essential for masculinization.
A new study published in the Journal of Applied Ecology synthesises all available datasets on diversity of freshwater habitats at Central European spoil heaps, including newly sampled communities of aquatic beetles and hemipterans from the North Bohemian lignite basin.
The ability to locate food is of utmost importance for animals. Insect decomposers locate their resources using volatile organic compounds, even to the extent that they can be deceived by plants that mimic the scent of their natural food resources (such as dung). Physical properties of natural resources for insect decomposers tend to change drastically during their decomposition (e.g....
Mayflies (Ephemeroptera) represent a very archaic group of insects. In a recently published paper, we presented results of our research on the Palaeozoic mayfly fossils from the Permian period.
Freshwater habitats are often structured into physically separated open water, bottom and vegetated inshore mesohabitats. Each of these mesohabitats can host a different local community and rely on different sources of energy. Interestingly, the open water communities are typically dominated by small-bodied taxa and rapid turnover in biomass, while the bottom fauna is usually larger and has a...
Around the world, more than 7,000 languages are spoken, most of them by small populations of speakers in the tropics. Papua New Guinea (PNG), where nine million people speak 850 languages, is the most linguistically diverse place on Earth. Alfred Kik, a Papua New Guinea postgraduate student at the University of South Bohemia and the Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences tested, with...
Aquatic habitats vary in the amount and type of habitat complexity provided by submerged macrophytes, tree trunks and branches or (artificial) coral reefs. These structures are regularly modified in habitat management as obstacles are removed or added for the sake of convenience, flood management, or restoration purposes. These changes can profoundly affect the diversity and composition of...
