Billingen (Lower Arenig/Lower Ordovician) acritarchs from the East European Platform and their palaeobiogeographic significance

Billingen (Lower Arenig/Lower Ordovician) sediments of the St. Petersburg region, northwest Russia and the Leba area, northern Poland of the East European Craton yield acritarch assemblages, which are largely homogenous though displaying minor compositional differences that probably reflect a gradient from inner to outer shelf environments. Comparison with coeval acritarch microflora from the Yangtze Platform, South China, shows an overall similarity between Baltoscandian and South Chinese phytoplankton. The widespread uniformity in the fossil microphytoplankton may be related to the extensive global 'evae' sea-level transgression, which characterized the Billingen time. This suggests that during the Tremadoc through early Arenig times, acritarch assemblages displayed essentially an undifferentiated cold-water and oceanic character along the whole margin of Perigondwana in the South, as well as on the South Chinese and Baltic platforms, at middle latitudes (Mediterranean oceanic Realm). Despite this overall similarity, however, some typical taxa of the high-latitude Mediterranean Province (Arbusculidium, Coryphidium and Striatotheca) occur in South China, but are absent in Baltica. This discrepancy is explained as caused by differences in climatic and physiographic conditions that prevailed at the two palaeocontinents at this time. The inferred pattern of oceanic circulation during the Lower Ordovician is consistent with the palynological evidence of a prevailing warmer climate in Baltica than in South China, although the two palaeocontinents occupied the same palaeolatitudinal position.     

Effectiveness of acoustic “prey”: Environmental enrichment for a captive African leopard (Panthera pardus)

In the course of developing active naturalistic exercise opportunities for zoo felines at moderate cost, a computer-controlled acoustic prey device was established. Changes in the behavior of a 16-year-old melanistic leopard (Sabrina) were studied as she learned to actively pursue bird sounds and obtained food treats as a function of the activity. By the twenty-ninth day she began to capture all 24 bird parts supplied on the feeder belt and continues to actively use the opportunity on a daily basis. General activity and apparent well-being have been enhanced, while stereotypic behaviors have decreased. © 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Cyrtocrinids (Echinodermata,Crinoidea) from Upper Jurassic Štramberk‐type limestones in southern Poland

Abstract: A systematic account of highly diverse cyrtocrinid faunules from Upper Jurassic strata of ?tramberk type (Oxfordian–Tithonian) in southern Poland (Polish Carpathians) is presented. Fourteen taxa (Phyllocrinus malbosianus, Ph. stellaris, Ph. sp., Psalidocrinus armatus, Sclerocrinus compressus, S. polonicus sp. nov., Hemicrinus aff. kabanovi, Ancepsicrinus parvus gen. et sp. nov., Tetracrinus baumilleri sp. nov., Eugeniacrinites alexandrowiczi, E. cf. moravicus, E. sp., Eudesicrinus gluchowskii sp. nov. and Hemibrachiocrinus tithonicus sp. nov. are described and illustrated. Representatives of the genus Eudesicrinus, previously recorded only from the Lower Jurassic, are here shown to extend into the uppermost Jurassic. Other cyrtocrinids considered are common in Jurassic/Cretaceous strata across Europe. In the present faunules, isocrinid (Isocrinida), comatulid (Comatulida) and roveacrinid (Roveacrinida sensu Rasmussen, inclusive of Saccocoma) crinoids are associated.     

Insulin and heparin co-immobilized 3D polyester fabrics for the cultivation of fibroblasts in low-serum media

Insulin and/or heparin immobilized/co-immobilized non-woven polyester fabric (NWPF) discs were developed for the cultivation of L929 mouse fibroblasts in low-serum media. At first, NWPF discs were hydrolyzed to obtain a carboxylic acid group-introduced matrix (NWPF-hydrolyzed). Insulin and heparin co-immobilized NWPF (NWPF-insulin-heparin) was prepared by the grafting of PEO onto NWPF-hydrolyzed disc (NWPF-PEO), followed by the reaction first with insulin and then heparin. In the presence of spacer arm, PEO, the amount of immobilized insulin molecules significantly increased from 6.96 to 84.45 microg/cm(2). The amount of heparin bound to the NWPF-PEO (5.93 microg/cm(2)) was higher than that of the insulin immobilized surface (4.59 microg/cm(2)). Insulin and heparin immobilized NWPF discs were observed with fluorescence microscopy by labeling the insulin and heparin with 8-anilino-1-naphthalene sulfonic acid (ANS) or fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC), respectively. L929 fibroblasts were used to check the cell adhesion and cell growth capabilities of modified NWPF discs in low-serum media (containing 5% fetal bovine serum). Optical photographs showed that after 2nd day of the culture, fibroblastic cells spread along the length of modified fibers, eventually filling the interfiber space. At the end of 6-day growth period, cell yield in the presence of immobilized heparin was a little bit higher than that of the immobilized insulin. Co-immobilized (insulin/heparin) NWPF discs did not accelerate the cell growth as well as insulin or heparin immobilized discs.     

Sex-specific life history patterns in bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus): interacting mechanisms influence individual body size

The ultimate body size that an individual fish achieves can be a function both of direct effects of growth or indirect effects associated with the timing of sexual maturation (and associated energetic tradeoffs). These alternatives are often invoked to explain variation in body size within and among fish populations, but have rarely been considered simultaneously. We assessed how resource availability and timing of maturation interact to influence individual body size of bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus). Resource availability (high and low food) and the social structure of the population (presence or absence of large, mature males) were varied in experimental ponds. Food ration affected growth (larger fish in the high food treatments) and the social structure of the population affected timing of maturation (early maturation of males in the absence of large males). Treatment effects, however, were sex-specific; males responded to the social structure of the population and females were more responsive to resource availability. We also found individuals that became sexually mature were smaller than those that remained immature, although results were sex-specific and resource dependent. For males, individuals that matured were smaller when resources were limited; mature and immature females showed no difference in body size regardless of food ration. We show that both resource availability and the processes that control timing of maturation interact in sex-specific ways to influence body size of bluegill. These results suggest that a more robust explanation for variable body size requires consideration of sex-specific interactions between ecological (food and growth) and evolutionary (timing of maturation) mechanisms.     

Selective predation of the pike Esox lucius: comparison of lateral plates and some metric features of the three-spined stickleback Gasterosteus aculeatus

Selective predation of Esox lucius on Gasterosteus aculeatus in a natural assemblage of fish of a stream in Central Poland is described and analysed. The number of lateral plates, the standard length and four size-dependent traits were significantly smaller for sticklebacks from stomach samples than for those from population samples. Thc remaining three metric traits were not significantly different among the samples. The regressions of five metric features (out of seven) on the standard length were significantly different between the sample of caten sticklebacks and that from the free-living population. This supports the supposition that the selectivity of pikc predation with respect to metric traits is not attributable to selection on body size of the prey. Thus, it is reasonable to claim that the sample of caten sticklebacks is selectively taken from the natural population. It justifies the selective predation assumption of some hypotheses of the causes of the pattern of geographic variation in the three-spined stickleback.