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Mimicry complexes typically consist of multiple species that deter predators using similar anti-predatory signals. Here, we report a new multi-order mimicry complex that includes at least 140 different putative mimics from four arthropod orders including ants, wasps, bugs, tree hoppers and spiders. All members of this mimicry complex were similarly effective at deterring predators - even mildly defended mimics were rarely eaten by a community of invertebrate and vertebrate predators both in the wild and during staged trials.

Plant-soil feedback (PSF) represents an important process affecting natural plant communities. While many previous studies demonstrated the variation in the intensity of PSF between species, the mechanisms driving these differences are still largely unexplored. The aim of the study was to explore the importance of species traits and species phylogenetic relationships on the intensity of plant-soil feedback. The results supported our expectation that plant-soil feedback may be affected by species phylogenetic relationships. In addition, we have shown that also plant traits and the effect of the conditioning plant on soil chemistry may be useful factors allowing us to predict the intensity of…

The raccoon (Procyon lotor) carnivore native to North America is a fast spreading, invasive species in the Europe now. The data on the occurrence of Cryptosporidium spp. and microsporidia in raccoons is limited to North America’s territory and is totally lacking in the case of their introduction to Europe. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the occurrence of microparasites in the introduced raccoons. The results suggest a possible role of raccoons in the contamination of the environment, including urban areas, with pathogens of zoonotic significance.

Swim bladder inflammation (SBI) is an important disease of common carp fingerlings in Central Europe, its etiology beingascribed to multicellular proliferative stages of the myxozoan parasite. Due to the presence of emerging numbers of proliferative myxozoan blood stages at different carp culture sites in recent years we analysed cases of SBI, for the first time, using molecular diagnostics, to identify the myxozoan parasites present in diseased swim bladders.

The use of antibiotics in animal husbandry contributes to the world wide problem of increasing antibiotic resistance in animal and human pathogens. Intensive animal production is considered an important source of antibiotic resistance genes released to the environment, while the contribution of smaller farms remains to be evaluated. This study shows that antibiotic resistance genes may be a stable part of the intestinal metagenome of cattle even if antibiotics are not used for growth stimulation, and that smaller dairy farms may also contribute to environmental pollution with antibiotic resistance genes.

A putative operon encoding the biosynthetic pathway for the cytotoxic cyanobacterial lipopeptides puwainphycins was identified in Cylindrospermum alatosporum. Bioinformatics analysis enabled sequential prediction of puwainaphycin biosynthesis. Published results provide the first insight into the biosynthesis of frequently occurring b-amino fatty acid lipopeptides in cyanobacteria, which may facilitate analytical assessment and development of monitoring tools for cytotoxic cyanobacterial lipopeptides.