• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
• /
• v.37 no.3
• /
• pp.217-225
• /
• 2021

This study evaluated the species composition, diversity and phorophyte preference of epiphytes at the University of Port Harcourt located in southern part of Nigeria. Purposive sampling technique was used to select sites representing major avenues in the three campuses (Abuja, Choba and Delta) of the University. Data were collected on species name of phorophytes, number of individuals, diameter at breast height (dbh) and height, and species/number of epiphytes present on them. The points/sections of attachment of epiphytes on phorophytes were also recorded. A total of eight species of epiphyte belonging to six families were recorded in the study. Species diversity was higher in Abuja campus (Simpson 1-D=0.81; Shannon H=1.79), followed by Choba campus (Simpson 1-D=0.73; Shannon H=1.09) and Delta campus (Simpson 1-D=0.56; Shannon H=0.93). Species richness was highest in Abuja campus (n=8) followed by Delta campus (n=4) and Choba campus (n=3). Similarity in epiphyte species composition was highest between Choba and Delta campuses (85.71%), followed by Delta and Abuja campuses (66.67%) and lowest between Choba and Abuja campuses (54.55%). The family-Polypodiaceae, had the highest number of species (n=3). Microgramma owariensis had the highest relative abundance (27%) followed by Platycerium bifurcatum (26%) while Tillandsia utriculata and Peperomia pellucida had the least relative abundance (3%). Epiphyte abundance was weakly correlated with both the dbh and height of phorophytes. However, epiphytes were more abundant on phorophytes with rough/scaly/corky/flaky barks than on those with smooth barks. The planting of avenue tree species with rough barks is recommended to enhance the diversity of epiphytes in the study area.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.29 no.2
• /
• pp.292-296
• /
• 2019

Soils amended for long-term with high levels of compost demonstrated greater abundance of bacterial members of the phylum Bacteroidetes whereas a decreasing trend in the relative abundance of phylum Acidobacteria was noted with increasing levels of compost. Metabolic profiles predicted by PICRUSt demonstrated differences in functional responses of the bacterial community according to the treatments. Soils amended with lower compost levels were characterized by abundance of genes encoding enzymes contributing to membrane transport and cell growth whereas genes encoding enzymes related to protein folding and transcription were enriched in soils amended with high levels of compost. Thus, the results of the current study provide extensive evidence of the influence of different compost levels on bacterial diversity and community structure in paddy soils.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.21 no.12
• /
• pp.1800-1806
• /
• 2008

Cytokines play a central role in the mucosal immune response and are involved in regulation of nutrient absorption, metabolism and animal growth. This study investigated the effect of diet manipulation with specialized protein or peptide sources on expression of cytokine (IL-1, IL-6, IL-10, and TNF-${\alpha}$) mRNA abundance in different intestinal regions and at different ages post-weaning in piglets. A total of 48 (17 days of age, $6.16{\pm}0.34kg\;BW$) weanling pigs were fed either a corn-soy/whey protein basal diet, the basal diet supplemented with spray-dried plasma protein (SDPP), or the basal diet supplemented with $Peptiva^{(R)}$, a hydrolyzed marine plant protein. A fourth treatment group was fed the SDPP diet, but the feed intake level was limited (SDPP-LF). Pigs were killed at 3 and 10 d, and intestinal cytokine mRNA was measured by real-time PCR using the relative quantification method. The SDPP-LF group exhibited an increased TNF-${\alpha}$ mRNA abundance compared with the ad libitum SDPP group (p<0.05). The TNF-${\alpha}$ and IL-10 mRNA abundance increased from the proximal to distal part of the intestine, and the mRNA abundance was greater (p<0.01) in the distal intestine as compared with the proximal and middle intestine. The cytokines IL-1-${\beta}$, IL-10 and TNF-${\alpha}$ mRNA abundance also increased from d3 to d10 postweaning (p<0.01). In summary, restricted feeding increased the TNF-${\alpha}$ mRNA abundance in the small intestine, however neither SDPP nor peptide supplementation affected cytokine mRNA expression. Abundance of mRNA for most cytokines examined in this study increased with age post-weaning, suggesting that during 10 d after weaning the mucosal immune system is still under development.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
• /
• v.22 no.2
• /
• pp.115-127
• /
• 2009

Mineral quantification was performed on sediments of the Ulleung basin by X-ray powder diffraction and the computer software based on Rietveld quantification method. The sediments are dominated by amorphous opal-A with quartz, feldspars, micas, clays, calcite, and pyrite. The opal-A shows iterative variation in abundance with increasing burial depth. In addition, the relative abundance of opal-A is coincident with abundance of organic carbon contents, indicating that the Ulleung sediment consists mostly of amorphous silica derived from organism in the pelagic environment. Upward increase in the abundance of opal-A is markedly shown in the cores located in the slope region. On the other hand, there is a distinct tendency that the abundance of calcite is inversely proportional to that of opal-A. This indicates that the abundance of opal-A increases during the rise of sea level. Also, the fall of sea level lowers the abundance of opal-A.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
• /
• v.31 no.4
• /
• pp.402-410
• /
• 2013

In this study, to identify ichthyofauna of the Seomjin River, which has no barrage at estuary, and to estimate effect of estuary barrage, fish sampling was conducted at 16 study sites in mainstream of the Seomjin River from 2010 to 2012. A total of 54 species classified into 17 families were collected. Cyprinidae was the dominant family and Zacco platypus (relative abundance, RA: 47.8%) was identified as the dominant species. In total, 17 Korean endemic species (31.5%) were collected, and it is higher than the average endemic rate of Korean peninsula (22.5~25.9%). Although the relative abundance of exotic species (1.1%) was low, it is higher than the past studies (2002: 0.0%, 2009: 0.4%). Dominance index of freshwater region (St.4~St.16) was relatively higher than estuary (St.1~St.3), because Z. platypus showed high relative abundance at freshwater region. But diversity and evenness index showed contradictory results, as estuary was higher than freshwater region. The ratios of sea fish, peripheral freshwater fish and economic fish, and diversity index are higher than the Nakdong River, the Yeongsan River and the Geum River. In conclusion, to conserve the value of the Seomjin River ichthyofauna, continuous monitoring is necessary.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.23 no.2
• /
• pp.175-181
• /
• 2010

The effects of corticosterone (CORT) administration on the weight of small intestine and the expression of nutrient transporter mRNA in the small intestine of broiler chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus) were investigated. One hundred and eight sevenday-old birds were randomly divided into two equal groups comprising a control group (CTRL) and an experimental group (CORT). CTRL birds were fed a basal diet and the CORT birds were fed a basal diet containing 30 mg corticosterone/kg from d 8 to 21. At 21 d of age, average daily feed intake (ADFI), serum corticosterone level, small intestinal absolute wet weight and relative weight, and relative abundance of SGLT1, CaBP-D28k, PepT1 mRNA in the duodenum and L-FABP mRNA in the jejunum were determined. The results showed that serum corticosterone level, liver weight and small intestinal relative weight (small intestinal wet weight/body weight) of CORT chickens were about 30.15%, 26.72% and 42.20% higher, respectively, than in the CTRL group (p<0.05). CORT birds had relative mRNA abundance of CaBP-D28k and PepT1 in the duodenum, and L-FABP in the jejunum which was 1.77, 1.37 and 1.94 fold higher, respectively, than in the CTRL group (p<0.05); the relative abundance of SGLT1 was 1.67 fold higher than in the CTRL group (p = 0.097). ADFI, small intestinal wet weight and length in CORT-treated broiler chickens was about 29.11%, 31.12% and 12.35% lower, respectively, than in the CTRL group (p<0.05). In conclusion, corticosterone administration lowered the wet weight but increased the relative weight of the small intestine and the expression of intestinal nutrient transporter mRNA of broiler chickens.

• The Korean Journal of Quaternary Research
• /
• v.13 no.1
• /
• pp.91-98
• /
• 1999

The effect of the relative abundances of planktonic foraminifera juveniles on the climatic and oceanographic history interpretations is documented for the first time (as far as we know) by use of the year-long time-series sediment trap samples. Statistical correlation analysis suggests that many climatic and oceanographic variables such as sinking flux (total number) of planktonic foraminifera, relative abundance of some climatic indicator species G. bulloides and N. dutertrei, temperature, and salinity do not show any significant correlations with the relative abundance of planktonic foraminifera juveniles. However, planktonic foraminifera juveniles show moderate correlations with species diversity indices (species richness, Shannon-Wiener index, and Equitability). These indicate that the juveniles do not affect the relative abundances(%) of species compositions but affect the species diversity indices. Based on this one-year trap result, special care is required when we use species diversity indices for the interpretations of paleoceanography when the juveniles are excluded from total planktonic foraminiferal countings.

• Genomics & Informatics
• /
• v.20 no.3
• /
• pp.35.1-35.9
• /
• 2022

Microsatellites or simple sequence repeats are motifs of 1 to 6 nucleotides in length present in both coding and non-coding regions of DNA. These are found widely distributed in the whole genome of prokaryotes, eukaryotes, bacteria, and viruses and are used as molecular markers in studying DNA variations, gene regulation, genetic diversity and evolutionary studies, etc. However, in vitro microsatellite identification proves to be time-consuming and expensive. Therefore, the present research has been focused on using an in-house built java pipeline to identify, analyse, design primers and find related statistics of perfect and compound microsatellites in the seven complete genome sequences of coronavirus, including the genome of coronavirus disease 2019, where the host is Homo sapiens. Based on search criteria among seven genomic sequences, it was revealed that the total number of perfect simple sequence repeats (SSRs) found to be in the range of 76 to 118 and compound SSRs from 01 to10, thus reflecting the low conversion of perfect simple sequence to compound repeats. Furthermore, the incidence of SSRs was insignificant but positively correlated with genome size (R² = 0.45, p > 0.05), with simple sequence repeats relative abundance (R² = 0.18, p > 0.05) and relative density (R² = 0.23, p > 0.05). Dinucleotide repeats were the most abundant in the coding region of the genome, followed by tri, mono, and tetra. This comparative study would help us understand the evolutionary relationship, genetic diversity, and hypervariability in minimal time and cost.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
• /
• v.34 no.3
• /
• pp.199-205
• /
• 2017

A high resolution spectroscopic observation of the red supergiant star RM_1-390 in the Large Magellanic Cloud was made from a 3.6 m telescope at the European Southern Observatory. Spectral resolving power was R=20,000, with a signal-to-noise ratio S/N > 100. We found the atmospheric parameters of RM_1-390 to be as follows: the effective temperature $T_{eff}=4,250{\pm}50K$, the surface gravity ${\log}\;g=0.16{\pm}0.1$, the microturbulent velocity $v_{micro}=2.5km/s$, the macroturbulence velocity $v_{macro}=9km/s$ and the iron abundance $[Fe/H]=-0.73{\pm}0.11$. The abundances of 18 chemical elements from silicon to thorium in the atmosphere of RM_1-390 were found using the spectrum synthesis method. The relative deficiencies of all elements are close to that of iron. The fit of abundance pattern by the solar system distribution of r- and s-element isotopes shows the importance of the s-process. The plot of relative abundances as a function of second ionization potentials of corresponding chemical elements allows us to find a possibility of convective energy transport in the photosphere of RM_1-390.

• Biomedical Science Letters
• /
• v.17 no.4
• /
• pp.367-370
• /
• 2011

Studies on the relative abundance of potential vectors of scrub typhus was conducted from April to October 2009 at the Jangseong of Jeonnam Province, Korea. Among the total 62 field rodents collected by the Sherman collapsible traps, 56 rodents were $Apodemus$ $agrarius$ (90.3%), 4 were $Crocidura$ $lasiura$ (6.4%) and 2 were $Cricetulus$ $triton$ $nester$ (3.2%). Out of the 62 field rodents, 39 were parasitized by chiggers, showing 62.9% of the infestation rate and 80.0 of the chigger index. Chigger index of $A.$ $agrarius$ and $C.$ $triton$ $nester$ were 79.9, 82.0, respectively. But chigger mite was not collected from $C.$ $lasiura$. From the trapped field rodents, 3,120 chiggers were collected and identified with 6 species of 2 genera. $Leptotrombidium$ $scutellare$, the vector species of tsutsugamushi disease, was the dominant species, showing 2,276 chiggers (72.9%). $L.$ $pallidum$ was the second dominant species showing 346 chiggers (11.0%). The distribution of chigger mites was showed the different dominant species according to seasons. $L.$ $pallidum$ was the predominant chigger collected in April (34.8%), May (77.8%) and Jun (39.3%), whereas $L.$ $scutellare$ was the predominant chigger collected in September (78.78%) and October (76.8%).