Isolation and characterization of highly polymorphic microsatellite loci for the garden tiger moth Arctia caja (Lepidoptera: Arctiidae)

A set of microsatellite markers was isolated from Arctia caja, a species that has been declining in UK for several decades. As has been found with other Lepidoptera species, this proved to be a difficult task. Eight enriched libraries identified 103 positive clones, and these yielded only seven polymorphic microsatellites. Allelic diversity ranged from 10 to 23 alleles per locus in a population of 30 individuals. Significant heterozygosity deficits were shown by three of these loci, presumably due to null alleles. The remaining four loci were in Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium and will be used to investigate the population genetic structure of A. caja.     

The Alimentary Forms of the Global Life: The Pacific Island Trade in Lamb and Mutton Flaps

In this article, we track the controversial flow of lamb and mutton flaps (sheep bellies) from New Zealand and Australia to Papua New Guinea and Fiji. We focus on a multivalent fetish, a commodity that has the power to make a range of important things happen for differently located people. Some view flaps as trash, others, as treasure. They are objects of distaste or desire. As such, they are agents of social differentiation or of commonality. By exploring the different ways in which lamb and mutton flaps are fetishized in this part of the Pacific, we learn much about how contemporary socialities and economies are constructed and understood.     

The phylogeny of a reduced ‘sand goby’ group based on behavioural and life history characters

Phylogenetic analysis of 27 behavioural and life history traits for five Mediterranean sand goby species (Perciformes, Gobiidae) produced one tree with a consistency index (excluding uninformative characters) of 0.756. This tree agreed with previous molecular analyses in providing strong support for the monophyly of the sand gobies, indicating that Pomatoschistus and Knipowitschia are paraphyletic and helping to resolve the ambiguous position of Economidichthys pygmaeus, placing it as the basal member of the reduced data set. Although the tree was completely resolved, the branches above E. pygmaeus were only moderately supported in the bootstrap analysis. Overall, the behavioural data provide information that may eventually help clarify the speciation bursts within the Mediterranean sand goby clade as much as is possible. © 2012 The Linnean Society of London, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2012, 165 , 916–924.     

Evidence for the transfer of a soil‐borne contaminant from plants to ants via an aphid mediator

1. Uptake of environmental contaminants by lower trophic groups can have negative effects on higher trophic groups. This study tested the ability of selenium, an environmental contaminant found in high concentrations throughout the tissues of certain accumulating plants, to be transferred to ants via aphid tissue and honeydew. 2. Plants of the selenium accumulator, Raphanus sativus (wild radish), were watered with three different selenium treatments (0, 0.25 or 0.5 µg Se ml^?1). Aphids, Myzus persicae, and Argentine ant colonies, Linepithema humile, were added to each caged plant and allowed to interact freely. Ant colonies were supplemented with one of three different food options to encourage the consumption of aphids, aphid honeydew, or aphids and honeydew. 3. The accumulation of selenium by each trophic group and a trophic transfer factor (TTF) was calculated. The TTF for plants to aphids was > 1, indicating biomagnification, whereas the TTF for aphids to worker ants was < 1, indicating only biotransfer. Accumulated levels by worker ants did not statistically differ as a result of diet. 4. The amounts of selenium acquired by ants as a factor of diet and caste were compared. Plants, aphids and worker ants accumulated selenium in a dose‐dependent manner. Ant queens did not contain detectable amounts of selenium. Honeydew contained comparable amounts of selenium to plant selenium levels. 5. Access to toxic compounds via honeydew and insect protein may have negative effects on the range expansion of invasive species, such as the Argentine ant.     

Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor is a Growth-Factor for Promastigotes of Leishmania mexicana amazonensis

ABSTRACT. In this paper we show that murine lung conditioned medium (LCM) displays, in addition to its already described colony-stimulating activity on bone marrow cells, a potent growth-stimulating activity on promastigotes of Leishmania mexicana amazonensis . Immunoprecipitation of LCM with an antibody specific for murine granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) abrogates both activities, indicating that the leishmanial growth-promoting activity is due to the presence of GM-CSF on LCM. Furthermore, recombinant GM-CSF (rGM-CSF) added to the culture medium or to the immunoprecipitated LCM is able to respectively induce or to partially recover the growth-promoting activity of the LCM. Sequential in vitro passages of the parasite induces a progressive loss of sensitivity to the growth-factor. Parasite forms recently collected from lesions are significantly more responsive to the growth-factor than forms already adapted to grow in culture. Since it has been shown that several different microorganisms display receptors for vertebrate-like hormones and that GM-CSF is able to enhance a cutaneous leishmanial lesion, our results permit us to raise the hypothesis that a direct interaction between a host-derived hormone and a pathogenic microorganism can be of importance in defining the fate of an infection. The fact that GM-CSF is produced by cells that actively participate in a leishmanial infection (T-lymphocytes and macrophages) reinforces our hypothesis.     

Feedbacks between phosphorus deposition and canopy cover: The emergence of multiple stable states in tropical dry forests

Dry forests represent a large percentage of tropical forests and are vulnerable to both anthropogenic and natural disturbances, yet important aspects of their sensitivity to disruption remain poorly understood. It is particularly unclear how changes in land-use or tropical storm patterns may affect the resiliency of phosphorus (P)-limited neotropical forests. In these systems, vegetation is sustained in the long-term by atmospheric P-inputs through rainfall, dust, or fog. Past research supports the idea that dust and fog deposition are dependent on canopy density (e.g. leaf area index). Thus, the canopy may function as a 'trap' for P, enabling a positive feedback between vegetation and P-deposition. We developed a conceptual model to investigate how Neotropical vegetation may respond to reduced P-deposition due to canopy losses. The model suggests that a canopy-deposition feedback may induce bistable vegetation dynamics; under some conditions, forests may be unable to naturally recover from relatively small disturbances.