Diverse Life Forms Research Articles

Accentuating the role of the upbringing society in Korczak’s pedagogy

The aim of the article is to show the sociological elements in the education process that are present in Korczak’s pedagogy, both in its scientific form as well as in his fiction aimed directly at children. Therefore, society with its educational institutions (family, school, boarding school) is recognized in this pedagogy as an important sphere of symbolic references and educational influences. The key role of society (as the most important educational institution) in shaping pupils is present in commonly known works on the sociology of upbringing (including Florian Znaniecki or Józef Chałasiński), while sociological threads in Korczak’s pedagogy have not been a popular topic of separate analysis so far, apart from one monograph devoted to the subject. Therefore, this topic requires in-depth analyses and afterthought. Janusz Korczak emphasizes the role of society in a child’s life, preparing them primarily for participation in social relations, through diverse forms of group life at school, whose most important achievement is the institution of student self-government. It is thus a bridge between student-oriented education and the traditional pedagogical message, involving the transmission of the requirements of specific social roles.

Effects of geomorphology and soil conditions on vegetation structure in conserved desert wadis: A case study of Jal Al-Zor escarpment, Kuwait

Variations in phytogeography of Jal Al-Zor wadi system in Sabah Al Ahmad Nature Reserve, an arid national park in Kuwait, in relation to physiographic and edaphic conditions were investigated using alpha diversity and multivariate analyses. A total of 66 plant species were recorded at low-relief and high-relief wadis. Altitude and slope gradients, grain size distribution and soil texture properties had a significant relationship with plant cover and plant diversity. There was a high diversity of life-forms along the wadi system with a dominant of therophytes (annuals) particularly in spring after winter rainfalls. Chamaephytes and hemicryptophytes were the dominant perennial life-forms. A chorological analysis documents the strong effect of Saharo-Arabian chorotype on the vegetation of the study area. Cluster analysis clarified eight vegetation assemblages along altitude and slope gradients within the wadi system. Alpha diversity of plant species was greater in plant assemblages at low-relief wadis than at high-relief wadis. Vegetation structure in this study showed that phytogeographically, wadis of Jal Al-Zor were closely related to the wadis in the Arabian deserts. The slope gradient pattern and edaphic conditions of plant assemblages and plant diversity in the conserved wadis of Jal Al-Zor may be suggested as a reference model for restoration strategy of disturbed low elevated wadis in the surrounding desert regions. Restoration would include propagation of suitable plants such as Stipagrostis plumosa - Haloxylon salicornicum - Rhanterium epapposum.

Environmental factors affect macrophyte diversity on Amazonian aquatic ecosystems inserted in an anthropogenic landscape

Abstract Land use is considered one of the most serious drivers of biodiversity change. Aquatic macrophytes are sensitive to changes occurring within their physical habitat and respond at different scales to the effects of land use. Our main objective was to evaluate the effects of multiple land uses on macrophyte diversity. For that, we surveyed aquatic macrophyte richness and cover, in addition to local (water parameters and canopy cover) and landscape (land use and land cover) environmental variables. We evaluated 30 aquatic ecosystems and the results showed canopy cover was negatively correlated with temperature and land use gradient, indicating this parameter reflects land use change within sites. Species richness was affected negatively by canopy cover. Forest cover loss could change macrophyte microhabitats, increasing light resources that favor species that otherwise would not be able to occur there. Species composition was related negatively with canopy cover and water turbidity, and positively related to pH. Three species were selected as indicators of change in canopy cover, which reflects land use change within the sites. Land use change favors mostly emergent and amphibious species, and some species belonging to other life-forms that show adaptations and niche requirements that are benefited by it. Macrophyte communities could be experiencing succession, in which the appearance of invasive species could be the onset of a reduction in diversity as land use consequences become abrasive. We recommend different aspects of macrophyte communities (e.g. species richness, composition, life-form diversity, presence of invasive species, and taxon-specific niche requirements) to be considered when creating indexes of integrity, and when making management decisions regarding the preservation of Amazonian freshwater ecosystems, due to their great potential as indicators, and in order to maintain overall aquatic biodiversity.

Coral reefs and watersheds of the Gulf of Mexico in Veracruz: Hydrocarbon pollution data and bioremediation proposal

Coral reefs and watersheds are important ecosystems. Reefs provide many services to coastal communities, including services such as recreation and commercial fisheries. Watersheds support diverse life forms and provide clean domestic water. Hydrocarbon pollution threatens these ecosystems. Sources of hydrocarbon pollution in Veracruz, Mexico include the petroleum industry as well as tourism and maritime activities. The aim of this study was to evaluate hydrocarbon pollution in reefs and watersheds in the Gulf of Mexico along the coast of Veracruz and to propose effective bioreactor conditions for hydrocarbon bioremediation. We found more than 0.7 ppm of octane and more than 1.8 ppm of nonane in April 2018; and longer-chain and aromatic hydrocarbon in July 2018 including phenanthrene, dotriacontane, tetratriacontane, hexatriacontane, octatriacontane, tetracontane and tetratriacontane. Hydrocarbons concentration in water bodies exceeded the limit for discharge of produced waters of the oil industry of 15 ppm in fresh water and 40 ppm in sea water. A microbial consortium composed of Acinetobacter bouvetti, Defluvibacter lusatiensis, Xanthomonas and Shewanella was cultivated in a bioreactor with 20 gL−1 of diesel and gasoline as only carbon source. The results show that 91.39 ± 1.32% of diesel was degraded in a sea water medium and 97.55 ± 0.74% in a mineral medium after 14 days. Furthermore, 95.05 ± 4.75% of gasoline was degraded in a sea water medium and 98.79 ± 1.19% in a mineral medium over the same time period. Biomass production and hydrocarbon degradation were smaller when the culture medium was based on sea water, probably due to the salt concentration. Some microorganisms produce bioemulsifiers. These compounds increase the availability of hydrocarbons and allow the microorganisms to remediate them in the form of emulsified droplets. In all the experiments, consortium showed that emulsifier activity increased and the diameter of hydrocarbon droplets decreased with time.

Revolutionising comparative physiology through genome editing

![Figure][1] Aedes aegypti in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Photo credit: Muhammad Mahdi Karim (GFDL 1.2 ) Enthralled by the diversity of lifeforms and the ecological challenges that they encounter, comparative and ecological

A Decolonial Feminist Epistemology of the Bed: A Compendium Incomplete of Sick and Disabled Queer Brown Femme Bodies of Knowledge

This compendium takes up a series of concepts as a means to think them newly from the contemporary time and place of "the bed," where the bed is a temporal and geographical (non)location central to sick and disabled queer (SDQ) bodies and life. Excerpted from a larger project-in-progress, this article, in part, proceeds from Lugones's 1987 essay "Playfulness, 'World'-Travelling, and Loving Perception." It strives toward articulating a decolonial feminist epistemology that is informed by queer of color, sick and disabled phenomenology and material life. We are compelled by what we might name as the work of queering and the work of sickening: methods for cultivating non-normative relationships to our bodies, our desire, our health, and to each other. In the spirit of Lugones's notion of playfulness, we consider queer play as a methodology of ever-unfolding liveliness that also takes seriously and honors the gravity of queer chronic illness life. This, we propose, affirms a politics and poetics of illness that is antithetical to coloniality's hold on the body as only of value while productive and profiting for itself and for another. A growing archive of SDQ thought and cultural material, this compendium is not necessarily intended to be read in a linear fashion. That is part of its SDQ disruption of heteropatriarchal, racist, and ableist grammars; a central component of SDQ temporalities; and an emphatic reminder that despite and because of the ways we are bound to and by illness, we make possible diverse forms of life otherwise.

Impact of Environmental Factors on the Life-Form Diversity of Grassland Vegetation in the Southern Forest–Steppe

Knowledge of principal environmental factors is essential for understanding the patterns of changes in species richness (SR) in specially protected natural areas. Species richness regression models have been produced for life forms (LFs) predominant in Samarskaya Luka National Park (hemicryptophytes and geophytes). These models have made it possible to identify solar radiation and topography as the principal environmental factors. SR maps show that LFs are spatially separated, which reduces competition between them. It is established that the SR proportion of therophytes on a site occupied by open forest is three times smaller than that in the Middle Volga region; this reflects the effect of the local species pool in the forest community. The SR spectrum of LFs is described by a geometric progression and geographically associated with active geological fault lines.

Earth stewardship, economic justice, and world mission: The teachings of Laudato Si’

The article provides a synopsis of the encyclical Laudato Si’, written for everyone living in this degraded planet by Pope Francis. Our common home, Planet Earth, calls us to intimacy and communion with everything that is. Rediscovering this call and mission is the key to the flourishing of the community of diverse life-forms in the biosphere. We are all called to heal, protect and care of the planet to save the ecological systems on which life depends and assure future generations of a sustainable future. The article also details the concrete programs being done, in the light of ecological conversion called for in Laudato Si’, through a covenant of a sustainable development community of people and organizations which connect, converge, share, learn and collaborate in projects to the planting of a billion bamboo by 2030 to combat the dire effects of the climate crisis and build up the bamboo industry to provide jobs for the poor; networking a million organic farmers through an e-commerce platform to make production and marketing of organic products more efficient and sustainable;, and, provide online education to a million school dropouts to enable them to obtain a high school diploma so that they can proceed to college, obtain jobs, or put up their own businesses - all these by 2030. Inspired by Laudato Si’, the members of the covenant also share resources, strategies and innovative approaches to meet the challenges of sustainable development in the Philippines and in the entire planet by the year 2030.

Motile cilia hydrodynamics: entrainment versus synchronization when coupling through flow.

Coordinated motion of cilia is a fascinating and vital aspect of very diverse forms of eukaryotic life, enabling swimming and propulsion of fluid across cellular epithelia. There are many questions still unresolved, and broadly they fall into two classes. (i) The mechanism of how cilia physically transmit forces onto each other. It is not known for many systems if the forces are mainly of hydrodynamical origin, or if elastic forces within the cytoskeleton are important. (ii) In those systems where we know that forces are purely hydrodynamical, we do not have a framework for linking our understanding of how each cilium behaves in isolation to the collective properties of two or more cilia. In this work, we take biological data of cilia dynamics from a variety of organisms as an input for an analytical and numerical study. We calculate the relative importance of external flows versus internal cilia flows on cilia coupling. This study contributes to both the open questions outlined above: firstly, we show that it is, in general, incorrect to infer cilium-cilium coupling strength on the basis of experiments with external flows, and secondly, we show a framework to recapitulate the dynamics of single cilia (the waveform) showing classes that correspond to biological systems with the same physiological activity (swimming by propulsion, versus forming collective waves). This article is part of the Theo Murphy meeting issue 'Unity and diversity of cilia in locomotion and transport'.

Species richness and distribution of the largest plant radiation of Angola: Euphorbia (Euphorbiaceae)

Knowledge of species richness and distribution of African biodiversity comes primarily from fauna studies, despite the tremendous richness of the flora. The genus Euphorbia (Euphorbiaceae) is one of the most diverse plant genera, and shows a great diversity across Africa. This genus is the largest endemic plant radiation in Angola, including 82 native species with a large diversity of life forms (e.g. herbs, shrubs and trees, and several succulent species) 61% of which are endemics. Considering the great diversity of species, habitats and climatic conditions of Angola, this study aims to: (i) update the inventory of the Euphorbia in this country; (ii) investigate the distribution of these species in the Koppen–Geiger climatic regions, WWF ecoregions, and within the protected areas network; and (iii) use these new findings to devise future conservation programs to protect Angola’s high plant diversity. Our results revealed that there are 49 endemic Euphorbia species (54 endemic taxa) in Angola, most of which occur in the extensive Miombo woodlands, although some species are restricted to the arid zones of southern Angola. The representation of Euphorbia endemics in protected areas was low, with Iona National Park and the Partial Reserve of Namibe showing the best potential for species protection. Centres of diversity and endemism were found in Serra da Chela (Huila province) and the Angolan Kaokoveld Desert (Namibe province) and must be considered of conservation importance. A re-evaluation of Angola’s protected areas network might be required to facilitate and promote effective conservation of the unique plant diversity of the country.

PLANT RICHNESS AND LIFE FORM DIVERSITY ALONG VEGETATION AND FOREST USE GRADIENTS IN NORTHWESTERN PATAGONIA OF ARGENTINA

The imbalace between the increase in the demand and the decrease in the supply of products from natural forests, partly explains the on-going development of exotic tree plantations. In northwestern Patagonia of Argentina, Pinus ponderosa (Pinaceae) afforestation plays a key role in ameliorate degraded soils, but may also reduce biodiversity. The ecological sustainability of this activity was assessed in Aguas Frías (38°46´ W, 70°54´ S) and Litrán (38°54´ W, 71°01´ S) forest stations, where species richness and life form diversity of plants were compared in vegetation units, fenced and unfenced against livestock. Eleven vegetation units were identified, including natural herbaceous-shrubby steppes, xerophilous and hygrophilous meadows, pure and mixed forests of Nothofagus pumilio (Nothofagaceae) and Araucaria araucana (Araucariaceae), and P. ponderosa planted forests of dissimilar canopy cover. Xerophilous meadows on rocky outcrops held 1/3 of total richness in an extremely restricted area. Hygrophilous meadows exhibited the largest number of families and native and exotic species, and lower diversity of life forms. Dense pine stands exhibited low values of light in the undergrowth, water in the topsoil, cover of undergrowth plants, frequency of hemicriptophytes and richness and diversity of life forms. As canopy cover decreased, values for these indicators resembled those of the steppe of reference. Within a plantation, greater compatibility between conservation of diversity and wood production requires maintenance of fencing, reduced tree spacing over long rotations and the development of buffer zones and biological corridors. Although such a project may represent a decline in productivity, it will promote enhanced ecosystem and aesthetic values, increasing the likelihood of further economic support from society.

Woody islands in South Brazilian coastal grasslands: effects of spatial variations on the structure of plant communities

Brazilian costal sand plains (restingas) are widely known for their many vegetation types, often responding to small landform variations which in turn cause quite distinct soil conditions. One interesting and still poorly known physiognomy is the woody patches or islands dispersed over sparse to dense herbaceous matrixes. Our main objective in this paper was to assess how spatial variables, as area and volume of the patches, affect the floristic composition and the community structure of woody patches in south Brazilian coastal grasslands. We analyzed 48 woody patches in four study sites in central coastal Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Each woody island was measured, and all vascular plant species above 30 cm were registered and quantified according to an abundance scale. Each species received values from one to five depending on the occurrence in five possible segments of each woody patch. Woody patches varied roughly between 4 and 204 m2. The floristic inventory resulted in 102 species in 49 families, Myrtaceae and Bromeliaceae being the most diversified, with eight and seven species, respectively. A total of 12 life-forms were recognized, the most diversified being trees or potential trees (27 species), herb–subshrub (17), climbers (20), and epiphytes (15). Species richness increased significantly with the size of woody islands, corroborating one of the basic premises of Theory of Island Biogeography. Diversity and abundance of life-forms in the contrary were not significantly different along the different sizes. The comparison of all woody islands from the four study sites indicated a higher similarity within each site, suggesting regional variation in soil properties, past disturbances, or landscape contexts.

Invasion impact is conditioned by initial vegetation states

Biological invasion is a crucial problem in the world because of its negative consequences for protected areas. The degradation stage of vegetation might affect the success of invasion. One of the most abundant and threatening invasive species is the common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca L.) which has invaded already 23 countries of Europe and in several habitat types its further spreading is promoted by climate change. Pannonian sand grassland is one of the most threatened habitat by common milkweed invasion. Therefore, invasion in sand grassland vegetation is an important issue. However, the effects of the invasive plant in the open sand grassland are rather controversial. In order to clarify the existing contradictory results, the study was carried out in a strictly protected area, near Fülöpháza (Hungary) in a reserve core area in a UNESCO biosphere reserve. Microcoenological study was applied to determinate the fine-scale community characteristics of non-invaded and invaded stands in natural and seminatural vegetation and data were processed by Juhász-Nagy’s information theory models. Shannon diversity of species combinations (compositional diversity) which describes the ways of the coexistence of species, and the number of realized species combinations were used for measuring beta diversity. Differences between stands were analyzed by two-way ANOVA. The maximum compositional diversity of species and main life-forms (annuals, perennials and cryptogams) did not differ significantly between the non-invaded and invaded stands. In contrast, significantly larger characteristic areas of compositional diversity were detected in the invaded stands. Based on these results, it could be concluded that diversity of species combinations did not change but those values have shifted to coarser scales in case of invaded stands. The direction of this change suggests a kind of impoverishment in the presence of Asclepias. Thus, it is worth mentioning from the invasion management point of view that protection of the habitats against disturbance is a more cost-effective and successful way than protection against the establishment or extirpation of invasive species, since disturbance facilitates the invasions throughout the impoverishment of the community.

The urgency of engaging with oddities and ambiguities: Reciprocity and cooperation visited as semio-aesthetic notions in bridging nature and culture

Abstract The notion of the third culture forms the background of the study that seeks to unify humanistic and scientific approaches for a better appreciation of nature, culture, and the arts. This study draws on the kind of emotion and attitude that we may intuit and act out soon after noticing another individual demanding our help in nature and culture. Such feelings as sympathy and empathy, uncertainty and ambiguity, are perceived to be extremely useful in the context of strategy formation and action taking. These preverbal traits that are already more or less encoded in our body and mind may enable us to devise rewarding strategies emerging from the deep inside when we are coping with strange oddities in nature and culture. Such operation is seen on the one hand to save our biologically valuable time in terms of thinking and imagining, and on the other, to achieve brilliant interpretations of various art and life forms. This study reveals that we are estimated to come up with: (1) cogent and digestible propositions; (2) sharpened perceptions and refined tastes; (3) widened horizons of emulating and appreciating types of art and artifice. On top of polishing our own skills and swiftness of inventing strategies, we may also expect to forge encouraging and endearing partnerships between diverse life forms and us. All in all, this study develops the semio-aesthetic idea that we serve the community by way of developing balanced and intriguing viewpoints that may inspire individuals to regain linkages with beings and forms appearing unpleasant or unconvincing at first sight.

Potential of Shrubs, Shore Vegetation and Macrophytes of a Lake to Function as a Phytogeochemical Barrier against Biogenic Substances of Various Origin

The objective of this study was to perform a comprehensive botanical analysis of shore and littoral vegetation of a model mesotrophic lake and investigate their effectiveness as a phytogeochemical barrier against biogens of various origin. A lake catchment was characterised by natural (forests) as well as anthropogenic land use (extensive agriculture and stationary and unorganised recreation), generating a determined variability in the load of biogenic substances to lake waters. High potential effectiveness of the phytogeochemical barriers of the analysed phytocoenoses in the assimilation of biogenic substances was found to be particularly related to: species richness, diversity of life forms, presence of specific groups and species of plants and width of the buffer zone. This situation results from the natural properties of the habitat and the modifying effect of anthropogenic transformations in the catchment, affecting the biocoenotic composition of the shore and littoral vegetation of the lake, and therefore shaping the structure of its buffer zones. The morphometric parameters and hydrological conditions of the catchment, combined with variable human pressure and modified by the effectiveness of ecotone biogeochemical barriers, contribute to the mesotrophic limnological status of the lake.

An infrastructure of grief: perspectives from a journey along the route of the real and imagined Texas-Mexico Wall

This article explores the effects of the border wall between the US and Mexico, from the perspectives of people living along it and through careful consideration of its effects on non-human persons. Two doctoral students travel 400 miles along the Rio Grande River, examining relationships to place in the US-Mexico borderlands through interviews with DACA recipients and their lawyer, environmentalists, and local hikers. Critical place inquiry foregrounds place as a methodology. Racial melancholia provides a framework for understanding how the border is imagined as necessary for the continuation of the settler colonial project, despite costs to diverse forms of life. Conclusions explore the nonsensical nature of the project of building a wall, the resistance to being categorised as static, and the physical and psychic violence caused by the restriction of movement.

Gandhi as an Environmentalist.

Gandhi as an Environmentalist.

Role of DHH superfamily proteins in nucleic acids metabolism and stress tolerance in prokaryotes and eukaryotes.

DHH superfamily proteins play pivotal roles in various cellular processes like replication, recombination, repair and nucleic acids metabolism. These proteins are important for homeostasis maintenance and stress tolerance in prokaryotes and eukaryotes. The prominent members of DHH superfamily include single-strand specific exonuclease RecJ, nanoRNases, polyphosphatase PPX1, pyrophosphatase, prune phosphodiesterase and cell cycle protein Cdc45. The mutations of genes coding for DHH superfamily proteins lead to severe growth defects and in some cases, may be lethal. The members of superfamily have a wide substrate spectrum. The spectrum of substrate for DHH superfamily members ranges from smaller molecules like pyrophosphate and cyclic nucleotides to longer single-stranded DNA molecule. Several genetic, structural and biochemical studies have provided interesting insights about roles of DHH superfamily members. However, there are still various unexplored members in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Many aspects of this superfamily associated with homeostasis maintenance and stress tolerance are still not clearly understood. A comprehensive understanding is pre-requisite to decipher the physiological significance of members of DHH superfamily. This article provides the current understanding of DHH superfamily members and their significance in nucleic acids metabolism and stress tolerance across diverse forms of life.

Nestedness and modularity in fragmented Shasha Forest Reserve, southwestern Nigeria

ABSTRACTSpecies co-occurrence and nestedness pattern in Shasha forest reserve were investigated with a view to determining the effect of interactions to species contribution. Three distinct sites (Gmelina arborea plantation, undisturbed forest, and Pinus carribaea (plantation) were selected in the forest reserve. Four 25 m × 25 m plots were established in each of the site within the forest reserve. Species enumeration, identification,, and distribution into families of the standing vegetation were carried out. Woody species represented the most diverse life form. Plant species diversity was highest in UF and lowest in Gmelina plantation. Differences in woody species composition among the three forest types were determined by non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) analysis, analysis of similarity (ANOSIM), and similarity of percentages. Using z-score and NODF (a nestedness metric based on overlap and decreasing fill). Three modules were detected and modularity score Q = 0.2. The composition analyses (NMDS and ANOSIM) revealed a significant difference in the woody species composition among the forest types. Our research may contribute to understand species assemblage in one of the diverse forests of Africa. Current work highlighted species occurrence in Shasha forest and highlighted the importance of non-random pattern which could serve as framework for conservation perspective.

Metabolic models and gene essentiality data reveal essential and conserved metabolism in prokaryotes.

Essential metabolic reactions are shaping constituents of metabolic networks, enabling viable and distinct phenotypes across diverse life forms. Here we analyse and compare modelling predictions of essential metabolic functions with experimental data and thereby identify core metabolic pathways in prokaryotes. Simulations of 15 manually curated genome-scale metabolic models were integrated with 36 large-scale gene essentiality datasets encompassing a wide variety of species of bacteria and archaea. Conservation of metabolic genes was estimated by analysing 79 representative genomes from all the branches of the prokaryotic tree of life. We find that essentiality patterns reflect phylogenetic relations both for modelling and experimental data, which correlate highly at the pathway level. Genes that are essential for several species tend to be highly conserved as opposed to non-essential genes which may be conserved or not. The tRNA-charging module is highlighted as ancestral and with high centrality in the networks, followed closely by cofactor metabolism, pointing to an early information processing system supplied by organic cofactors. The results, which point to model improvements and also indicate faults in the experimental data, should be relevant to the study of centrality in metabolic networks and ancient metabolism but also to metabolic engineering with prokaryotes.