Berry Go Round #12

… is up there at Foothill Fancies. The wintertime and complete cycle happens! Enjoy some good plant stuff before it is time for the second round!

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Les Ulis’ winter party

(Some French below)

Why is it quiet in here? Because kids were willing to witness Santa Claus and its elves. There follows a ‘personal’ post…

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Questions, questions

A compilation of requests leading to Seeds Aside that where actual questions. Some are nice,some are cute, some are, well, just below…

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Shameless self promotion (4)

Okay, so it’s the beginning of the first round of Application Time here, and because of teaching crazziness I’m quite late with regard to paper writing, so I fear I’ll have to let Seeds Aside further swamped into the slowing down spiral. Meanwhile, I’m happy to learn my latest paper is available on the interthing so I tell you as well… (Though if I want to get more now, I’m left with writing, and I do):

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Conservation blogs collection

Found a pearl, just tell you: Wildlife Direct, a blog consortium mostly about animals (vertebrates, that is), but with a lot of nature pictures and a lot of authors to read from. You know what, I may not have time to write anything substantial these days, but at least you’ll be able to guess what I’ve been reading lately… Go mind yourself, and if you can, why not donate?

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“Can opener” tantrics: is that really Harmonia?

Insects are many. Insect are weird. But there’s one thing insects can’t be beaten at, because they are conjugating weirdness by their number, and this thing is sex. Sometimes they just forget about it (sometimes they should even forget about it), sometimes sometimes, and it’s weird at all times.

So let me present you today the (almost worldwide) invasive Asian Ladybug Harmonia axyridis. Given the low light conditions, the following animated gif isn’t of the best quality (plus the scene is not complete), but this is still enough to get it. Enough said, I let you discover the Can Opener Tantrics (don’t try this at home!)-(not under 18):

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French fry eaters stand up to 6.72!

Wonder what it is about? Go read about the amylase gene copy number polymorphism in human populations, at Pharyngula:

how many genes must a phenotype be carrying out, before it is evolutionarily fixed? The answer, my friend is blogged in the wind… (Oops, maybe not).

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Dahlias have more DNA than coffee

This week’s big news: Dahlia species have more DNA in their cells than Coffee trees. Indeed, variation in DNA content of cells in Dahlias ranges from 3.3 pg per nucleus (in D. dissecta) up to 9.62 pg (in D. variabilis) [1], while Coffea species vary from 0.9 to 1.9 pg of DNA per nucleus [2].

Just in case you wonder, I’m discovering Zotero. Hum, easy handling! I think I’ll go with it…

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1. Eva Temsch et coll., “Genome size in Dahlia Cav. (Asteraceae–Coreopsideae),” Plant Systematics and Evolution 276, no. 3 (Décembre 1, 2008): 157-166, doi:10.1007/s00606-008-0077-0.
2. J Cros et coll., “Variations in the Total Nuclear DNA Content
   in African Coffea Species (Rubiaceae),” http://www.asic-cafe.org/pdf/abstract/15_001.pdf.

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This is a true carnival…

This time it’s a true one, and it’s Linnaeus’ Legacy, 14th edition, that you can find at Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog. Lizzards, rices, hoatzins and new hebes always happen in December… While Seeds Aside is still overwintering, go read good natural bloggy bloggies!

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It’s like a carnival!

You can see the list of submissions to the Open Laboratory 2008 at A Blog Around The Clock (so more details there), which is basically the list of the best science blog posts of the year. Gee, it’s like a carnival of some sort so you can pick a lot of links to the great diversity of blogs and themes featured. Really many things worth, go check!

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