Browsing Articles: Department of Biological Sciences by Issue Date
Now showing items 181-200 of 280
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Hepatitis B infection is highly prevalent among patients presenting with jaundice in Kenya
(2016-02)Background:Viral hepatitis is a major concern worldwide, with hepatitis A (HAV) and E (HEV) viruses showing sporadic outbreaks while hepatitis B (HBV) and C (HCV) viruses are associated with chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis ... -
Biomass and productivity of seagrasses in Africa
(De Gruyter, 2016-05): There is growing interest in carbon stocks and flows in seagrass ecosystems, but recent global reviews suggest a paucity of studies from Africa. This paper reviews work on seagrass productivity, biomass and sediment ... -
Bacteria and Archaea diversity within the hot springs of Lake Magadi and Little Magadi in Kenya
(BioMed Central, 2016-06)Background: Lake Magadi and little Magadi are hypersaline, alkaline lakes situated in the southern part of Kenyan Rift Valley. Solutes are supplied mainly by a series of alkaline hot springs with temperatures as high as ... -
Bacteria and Archaea diversity within the hot springs of Lake Magadi and Little Magadi in Kenya
(2016-07)Background: Lake Magadi and little Magadi are hypersaline, alkaline lakes situated in the southern part of Kenyan Rift Valley. Solutes are supplied mainly by a series of alkaline hot springs with temperatures as high as ... -
Isolation and characterization of some gut microbial symbionts from fungus-cultivating termites (Macrotermes and Odontotermes spp.)
(2016-07)Microbiota of termites is crucial for nitrogen cycle activities and degradation of recalcitrant components of plant biomass that influence soil structure and carbon mineralization in tropical and subtropical regions. The ... -
The 'Cake on the plate' syndrome ... and how specialist tansy aphids avoid extinction by hungry predators and parasitoids: insights from the use of polymorphic microsatellite markers
(2016-07)It was initially shown from 12.2 m high suction trap aerial density data and later confirmed using polymorphic molecular markers (initially allozymes, later high resolution DNA markers, especially microsatellites), that ... -
Food algae for Lesser Flamingos: a stocktaking
(Springer, 2016-07)Lesser Flamingo, the flagship species of saline wetlands of Africa and India, is a specialised feeder subsisting on microscopic cyanobacteria and algae. To establish the relationship between flamingo occurrence and food ... -
Isolation and characterization of some gut microbial symbionts from fungus-cultivating termites (Macrotermes and Odontotermes spp.)
(Academic Journals, 2016-07)Microbiota of termites is crucial for nitrogen cycle activities and degradation of recalcitrant components of plant biomass that influence soil structure and carbon mineralization in tropical and subtropical regions. The ... -
Performance Evaluation of Proximal Sensors for Soil Assessment in Smallholder Farms in Embu County, Kenya
(MDPI, 2016-08)Four proximal soil sensors were tested at four smallholder farms in Embu County, Kenya: a portable X-ray fluorescence sensor (PXRF), a mobile phone application for soil color determination by photography, a dual-depth ... -
Molecular diversity of plankton in a tropical crater lake switching from hyposaline to subsaline conditions: Lake Oloidien, Kenya
(Springer, 2016-09)Salinity in the climate sensitive tropical endorheic crater lake Oloidien (Great African Rift Valley, Kenya) decreased from hyposaline to subsaline conditions during the period 2010–2015. The change in salinity was ... -
Genetic Transformation of Sweet Potato for Improved Tolerance to Stress: A Review
(2016-10)The sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas Lam) is a major staple food in many parts of the world. Sweet potato leaves and tubers are consumed as food and livestock feed. Biotic and abiotic stresses affect yield leading to a ... -
A survey of root knot nematodes and resistance to Meloidogyne incognita in sweet potato varieties from Kenyan fields
(Elsevier, 2016-11)The root knot nematode, Meloidogyne is one of the most economically damaging plant parasitic nematode groups, and are widely distributed in Kenyan agro-ecosystems. The aim of this study was to determine the diversity of ... -
Plant parasitic nematode assemblages associated with sweet potato in Kenya and their relationship with environmental variables
(Springer, 2016-11)Sweet potato is one of the most important staple food crops consumed in Kenya and throughout Africa but yields are greatly reduced by plant parasitic nematodes (PPN). The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence ... -
Yeast Extract Peptone Based Co-cultivation Media Promotes Transient GUS Expression in Tropical Maize Genotypes
(2017)Background and Objective: Tropical maize is the most cultivated crop in sub-Saharan Africa and is a staple food to over 220 million people. This study, evaluated the competence of four tropical maize (Zea mays L.) inbred ... -
Effects of biocontrol bacteria and earthworms on the severity of Alternaria brassicae disease and the growth of oilseed rape plants
(Elsevier, 2017-04)Biological control of plant diseases through the addition of microbial biocontrol agents and the promotion of earthworms can be an environmentally friendly alternative to the chemical control of plant diseases. ... -
Trophic interactions among soil arthropods in contrasting land-use systems in Kenya, studied with stable isotopes
(Elsevier, 2017-04)Understanding how land use intensification changes organism communities and trophic interactions in soil is important for development of sustainable agriculture and forestry. We analysed the food web of soil arthropods ... -
Physical and Chemical Characteristics of Five Hot Springs in Eritrea
(IISTE, 2017-07)Eritrea has a number of hot springs whose physicochemical characteristics are not documented. This study examined the thermal and chemical features of five hot springs located in the eastern escarpment of Eritrea. Field data ... -
Evaluation of prokaryotic diversity of five hot springs in Eritrea
(BioMed Central, 2017-09)Background: Total community rDNA was used to determine the diversity of bacteria and archaea from water, wet sediment and microbial mats samples of hot springs in the Eastern lowlands of Eritrea. The temperatures of ... -
Measuring the role of seagrasses in regulating sediment surface elevation
(Scientific Reports, 2017-09)Seagrass meadows provide numerous ecosystem services and their rapid global loss may reduce human welfare as well as ecological integrity. In common with the other ‘blue carbon’ habitats (mangroves and tidal marshes) ... -
Potential human pathogenic bacteria in five hot springs in Eritrea revealed by next generation sequencing
(PLOS ONE, 2018-03)Human pathogens can survive and grow in hot springs. For water quality assessment, Escherichia coli or Enterococci are the main thermotolerant enteric bacteria commonly used to estimate the load of pathogenic bacteria ...