Effects of crayfish size,orientation, and movement on the reactive distance of largemouth bass foraging in clear and turbid water

Laboratory experiments were performed in clear and turbid water to determine the effects of prey size, orientation, and movement on the reactive distance of largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) when feeding on crayfish (Procambarus acutus). In clear water, the reactive distance increased linearly with an increase in prey size, and prey movement resulted in a significant increase in the reactive distance. Prey orientation (head-on versus perpendicular) did not change the reactive distances. In moderately turbid water, the reactive distance did not increase with increased prey size, and prey movement did not result in any changes in the reactive distance. The absence of any effects of prey orientation in clear water or prey movement in turbid water is inconsistent with results from studies using different species (primarily planktivorous fish). I propose that largemouth bass change their foraging tactics as prey visibility changes. When prey are highly visible (low turbidity), predators attack (react) only after prey recognition, which is based on multiple cues such as prey size (length, width) and movement. When prey are less visible (high turbidity), predators attack immediately upon initial prey sighting, which does not depend on prey size or movement.     

Benthic algal response to N and P enrichment along a pH gradient

Nutrient enrichment and its effect on benthic algal growth, community composition, and average cell size was assessed across two sites of differing pH within a single habitat. Nutrients were added using in situ substrata, which released either N, P, or no additional nutrients (controls) at each site for 21 days. Upon collection, chlorophyll and biovolume standing stocks of the attached algal microflora were measured. Chlorophyll concentration was different among all treatments, accumulating greatest on P, followed by N, and the least on C substrata (P < 0.001) and was highest at site-2 (P < 0.001), while total algal biovolume was highest on P compared to both N and C substrata (P < 0.05) and did not vary between sites. Increased growth on P substrata was due to the enhanced biovolume of filamentous green algae, although the affected taxa varied between sites. Biovolume to cell density ratios (as a measure of average cell size) were highest on P substrata over both N-enriched and control substrata (P < 0.05) and this pattern was similar between sites. Progression towards a community composed of larger cells following P enrichment observed along this pH gradient, seems to be related to the dominance of larger celled filamentous green algae. Thus, nutrients exhibited greater control on benthic algal growth than did changes in hydrogen ion concentration.Contribution number 581, Great Lakes Environmental Research LaboratoryContribution number 581, Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory     

The particle size characteristics of fluvial suspended sediment: an overview

The particle size characteristics of suspended sediment are of fundamental importance in understanding its role in a variety of environmental processes. Existing knowledge concerning the spatial and temporal variability of the grain size composition of suspended sediment is, however, relatively limited. At the global scale, major contrasts may exist between individual rivers in the calibre of their suspended load and this may be related to a number of controls including climate, catchment geology and basin scale. Any attempt to understand the precise relationship between the grain size characteristics of suspended sediment and those of its source material must also take account of the selectivity of erosion and delivery processes. A local case study undertaken by the authors in the 1500 km² basin of the River Exe in Devon, UK is used to illustrate the considerable spatial variability that may occur within a relatively small area and the complexity of the associated controls.Available evidence concerning the temporal variability of the grain size characteristics of suspended sediment emphasises the diverse patterns of behaviour that may exist and the complexity of the controls involved. In some rivers the sediment may become coarser as flow increases, in others it may become finer, whilst in others it may exhibit a relatively constant grain size composition. Data from the local case study in the Exe basin are again used to highlight the considerable diversity in response to changing discharge that may occur within a relatively small area.Any attempt to understand the dynamics of sediment movement through a river system must also take account of the potential contrast between the ultimate and effective particle size distribution of suspended sediment in response to aggregation. Results from the Exe basin study indicate that even in rivers with relatively low solute concentrations, almost an order of magnitude difference may exist between the median particle size associated with the ultimate and effective grain size distributions.     

A simulation of the process of sedimentation of suspended solids in the Yoshii River estuary

A vertical plane 2D model has been applied to the Yoshii River estuary, Japan, as a means of simulating the process of sedimentation. The current velocity and isohaline distributions were well reproduced in the estuary and the model simulated the concentration distribution of suspended solids for 8 particle size classes by using a transport equation based only on physical processes. The changes of the particle size distribution in surface water were well reproduced by the model. The vertical velocity component plays an important role in the behaviour of suspended solids.     

Quantitative genetics of seed size variation inPhlox

Summary Because seed size is often associated with survival and reproduction in plant populations, genetic variation for seed size may be reduced or eliminated by natural selection. To test this hypothesis we assessed genetic sources of variation in seed size in a population ofPhlox drummondii to determine whether genetic differences among seeds influence the size they attain. A diallel cross among 12 plants from a population at Bastrop, Texas, USA allowed us to partition variance in the mass of seeds among several genetic and parental effects. We found no evidence of additive genetic variance or dominance genetic variance for seed mass in the contribution of plants to their offspring. Extranuclear maternal effects accounted for 56% of the variance in seed mass. A small interaction was observed between seed genotype and maternal plant. Results of this study support theory that predicts little genetic variation for traits associated with fitness.     

Effect of marking pheromone on clutch size in the Mediterranean fruit fly

Abstract Using acridine orange to selectively stain eggs, we showed that wild-collected female Mediterranean fruit flies (Ceratitis capitata Wiedemann) laid fewer eggs per clutch in fruit previously infested with eggs than in uninfested fruit. This effect is apparently attributable to marking pheromone deposited by females after oviposition: clutch size on fruit infested with eggs but free of marking pheromone was not statistically different from that on uninfested fruit. Clutch size on uninfested fruit on which marking pheromone was artificially transferred was significantly lower than that on uninfested and untreated fruit. Marking pheromone had a comparable though not statistically significant effect on the clutch size of females originating from a strain maintained in the laboratory for several hundred generations.     

Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis analysis of the genome of Streptomyces ambofaciens strains

The genome of four Streptomyces ambofaciens strains from different geographical origins (ATCC15154, DSM40697, ETH9247 and ETH 11317) was analysed by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). The PFGE technique has allowed the study of the extrachromosomal content of these strains and the characterization of their genomic DNA by restriction analyses. Electrophoretic migration of undigested DNA allowed us to detect a 80 kb-length linear molecule with concatemeric forms in S. ambofaciens ATCC15154. These extrachromosomal molecules were shown to be homologous to the circular plasmid pSAM1 (80 kb) suggesting that pSAM1 could exist not only in circular form but also in linear form. In the same way a 45 kb-length linear molecule was detected in S. ambofaciens ETH9427 and ETH11317. In contrast, no extrachromosomal DNA could be detected in S. ambofaciens DSM40697. The analysis of the macrorestriction patterns using the rate-cutting enzymes AseI and DraI indicated a close relationship between the DSM- and ETH- strains. Indeed, three types of restriction patterns were distinguished: while S. ambofaciens ETH9427 and ETH11317 were characterized by the same pattern and share more than 75% of comigrating fragments with the strain DSM40697, S. ambofaciens ATCC15154 exhibited a restriction pattern different from the other three. The total genome sizes of S. ambofaciens ATCC15154, DSM40697, ETH9427 and ETH11317 were estimated to be about 6500, 8000, 8200 and 8200 kb, respectively.     

Alternative life-history styles of Japanese freshwater sculpins revisited

Synopsis Japanese freshwater sculpins consist of 6Cottus and 1Trachidermus species, with various types of life-cycles, namely, catadromous, amphidromous, lacustrine land-locked and fluvial land-locked. Among them,C. amblystomopsis andC. nozawae have been regarded as sibling species. Because of very similar morphological and ecological adult characteristics they were formerly classified as a single species.C. amblystomopsis mainly inhabits the lower courses of rivers and produces many small eggs from which pelagic larvae are formed. In contrast,C. nozawae lives in the middle or upper courses of rivers and deposits few, large eggs, from which well-developed benthic young emerge, well on the way to the definitive phenotype as fully formed juveniles. These two species have distinctly different life-cycles: amphidromous forC. amblystomopsis and fluvial forC. nozawae. A comparison of the early ontogeny shows that, amongCottus species, the small-egg, amphidromousC. amblystomopsis is altricial, while the large-egg, fluvialC. nozawae is precocial. Assuming thatC. nozawae has been derived phylogenetically fromC. amblystomopsis or its ancestral relatives, it is reasonable to consider that the fluvial land-locked life-history style ofC. nozawae has evolved from the ancestral arnphidromous one through adapting to the upstream habitat by an increase in egg size and consequent truncation of the larval period.     

Proteoglycan synthesis by normal and neoplastic human transitional epithelial cells

Metabolically 35S-labeled proteoglycans were isolated from cell-associated matrices and media of confluent cultures of human normal transitional epithelial cells and HCV-29T transitional carcinoma cells. On Sepharose CL-4B columns, the cell-associated proteoglycans synthesized from both cell types separated into three identical size classes, termed CI, CII, and CIII. Normal epithelial cell C-fractions eluted in a 22:34:45 proportion and contained 64%, 64%, and 72% heparan sulfate, whereas corresponding HCV-29T fractions eluted in a 29:11:60 proportion, and contained 91%, 77%, and 70% heparan sulfate, respectively. Medium proteoglycans from normal cells separated into two size classes in a proportion of 6:94 and were composed of 35% and 50% heparan sulfate. HCV-29T medium contained only one size class of proteoglycans consisting of 23% heparan sulfate. The remaining percentages were accounted for by chondroitin/dermatan sulfate. On isopycnic CsCl gradients, proteoglycan fractions from normal cells had buoyant densities that were higher than the corresponding fractions from HCV-29T cells. DEAE-Sephacel chromatography showed that cell and medium associated heparan sulfate from HCV-29T cells was consistently of lower charge density (undersulfated) than that from normal epithelial cells. In contrast, the chondroitin/dermatan sulfate of HCV-29T was of a charge density similar to that of normal cells. These as well as other structural and compositional differences in the proteoglycan may account, at least in part, for the altered behavioral traits of highly invasive carcinoma cells.     

Regulation of brood size in a burying beetle,Nicrophorus tomentosus (Silphidae)

Regulation of brood size in a biparental burying beetle, Nicrophorus tomentosusWeber, was studied by providing pairs with one of two sizes of mouse carcasses in the laboratory. For a given carcass size, there was an inverse relationship between number and mass offspring in a brood. The requirement for regulation was that brood size was adjusted such that mean mass of individual larvae was constant for carcasses of different size. Brood size was regulated if parents were present but regulation did not occur if parents were removed prior to hatching of larvae. Pairs bred in quick succession on two carcasses raised fewer than the regulated number of young in the second reproductive attempt. Reasons for regulation of brood size in this genus are discussed.