Determining regional biodiversity is a fundamental step in understanding faunal composition and supporting conservation planning. Although herpetological research in Türkiye has been ongoing for more than a century, several provinces remain insufficiently explored. Elazığ Province, located in Eastern Anatolia and characterized by pronounced elevational gradients, complex landforms, and contrasting climatic zones, represents one such environmentally diverse region. This study provides a comprehensive inventory of the amphibian and reptile fauna of Elazığ Province based on field surveys conducted over 40 days between 2017 and 2018, complemented by an extensive literature review. Survey sites were selected using 1:25,000 grid maps. Multiple habitat types identified using Google Earth—including wetlands, forests, steppes, and mountainous areas—were systematically examined to ensure representative coverage across the province. A total of 220 localities were surveyed, resulting in the identification of 36 species belonging to 18 families, including six amphibians and 30 reptiles. Fourteen species were recorded for the first time at the provincial level, and three taxa were confirmed as endemic to Türkiye. Conservation assessments based on international criteria (IUCN, CITES, and BERN) revealed the presence of critically endangered, endangered, and vulnerable species within the study area. Chorotype analysis indicated a predominance of Southwest Asian elements, followed by Mediterranean and Turano-Mediterranean components, reflecting the province’s transitional biogeographical character. Similarity analyses using the Jaccard Index demonstrated higher faunal affinity with Bingöl Province and lower similarity with Tunceli Province, largely associated with altitudinal and geomorphological differences. These findings substantially expand current knowledge of species distributions, highlight the ecological importance of steppe and agro-natural mosaic habitats for herpetofaunal diversity, and provide baseline data for wildlife conservation and habitat management in Eastern Anatolia.
Waterlogging-induced hypoxia is an increasing constraint to crop establishment and productivity, particularly under increasingly variable rainfall and water regimes. Although numerous studies have investigated individual seed treatments, their comparative effectiveness, mechanisms and potential for translation to field conditions remain insufficiently synthesized. This review critically evaluates seed priming, coating, pelleting, microbial and physical treatments for improving crop responses to waterlogging-induced hypoxia. Evidence indicates that seed treatments can act through complementary mechanisms, including regulation of antioxidant defence and reactive oxygen species, hormonal balance, carbohydrate mobilization and anaerobic energy metabolism, thereby improving germination and early seedling establishment. However, treatment responses vary substantially with crop species, genotype, developmental stage, treatment conditions and the severity and duration of waterlogging. Importantly, improved germination or seedling vigor does not necessarily indicate enhanced whole-plant tolerance, as relatively few studies demonstrate sustained effects on survival, recovery, biomass accumulation or yield under field conditions. Comparative evidence also remains limited for microbial and physical seed treatments, while genotype and treatment interactions, treatment standardization, economic feasibility and scalability remain insufficiently resolved. Future research should integrate multi-omics, genome editing, seed microbiome engineering and data-driven approaches to identify treatment responsive mechanisms and optimize seed technologies across genotypes and environments. Overall, seed-based interventions represent a promising early-stage strategy for waterlogging management, but their broader agronomic application requires standardized evaluation and stronger field validation linking mechanistic responses with long-term crop performance. One-line figure legend: Schematic representation of waterlogging-induced hypoxia, associated plant responses and their mitigation through seed treatment strategies enhancing stress tolerance and plant growth.
The yeast component of amphibian skin mycobiota remains largely unexplored. Here, we present the first characterization of the culturable yeast assemblage associated with the ventral skin of Bufo bufo young-of-the-year and compare it with yeasts from surrounding environmental substrates. We collected 42 road-killed young-of-the-year B. bufo, 16 soil samples, and 16 plant samples during late-summer dispersal (August–September 2025) in a temperate mixed-forest landscape in European Russia. Yeasts were isolated on glucose–peptone–yeast extract agar at 22 °C and identified by sequencing of the internal transcribed spacer region (ITS1–5.8S–ITS2). Twelve yeast species (229 colony-forming units, CFU) were recovered from toad skin. The assemblage was dominated by Yarrowia deformans (24.9
Free radical overproduction has driven the search for new antioxidant sources, including Haematococcus lacustris, a microalga that increases the synthesis of high-value antioxidant compounds under stress. The aim of this study was evaluated the combined effects of photoperiod, temperature, and salinity during the red phase using a Plackett–Burman design to enhance intracellular antioxidant production. The green phase was conducted for 96 h in BBM at 25 °C and a 16 h red photoperiod, with manual agitation and 0.48 vvm CO₂ supplementation every 24 h, followed by a 72 h red phase under the same conditions. Cell growth, nitrate consumption, and antioxidant activity (determined through ABTS•+ and DPPH• assays) were quantified during the kinetics. Maximum growth reached in the green phase (25 °C, 16 h red light, 0.20 mg L⁻1 of NaNO₃, 0.48 vvm CO₂, and agitation every 8 h) was 28.67 ± 0.55 × 105 cell mL−1 at 96 h, with 92
This study reports the first records of Echinodorus scaber and Hydrocleys parviflora (Alismataceae) in the state of Tocantins, Brazil, including the first confirmed occurrence of Hydrocleys there. The records consist of three vouchers of E. scaber from Tupiratins, one from Paranã, and one of H. parviflora from Alvorada, all recognized through a taxonomic reassessment of herbarium specimens deposited in HUTO, CEN, and R. Three specimens of E. scaber were misidentified as E. macrophyllus, one was identified only to genus level, and H. parviflora was misidentified as Limnocharis sp. Species identification was based on morphological analyses. This paper provides morphological descriptions, taxonomic comments, a generic identification key, photographs, distribution maps, habitat, ecology, and phenological data, and etymological notes. These results expand the known geographic distribution of both species and highlight the importance of herbarium revisions and floristic surveys to improve knowledge of aquatic macrophyte diversity in northern Brazil wetlands.
