Growth and fecundity of Daphnia after diapause and their impact on the development of a population

Laboratory and field investigations revealed that the life history traits of exephippial and parthenogenetic generations of Daphnia differ substantially. Daphniids hatching from resting eggs grow faster and their definitive body sizes are bigger than of hatchlings from subitaneous eggs. Size at maturity for exephippial animals is significantly larger. In spite of this, they mature a few days earlier than parthenogenetic females. In this study, the difference was 3–4 days for the laboratory experiments and 1–3 days for the field. Fecundity of the exephippial generation is markedly higher. Here, the clutch size for this generation was up to 3.5–4.0 times as large as for the parthenogenetic generation. Moreover, obtained results suggest that the relationship between clutch size and body length for both generations differ significantly.Estimates of the intrinsic rate of increase for field Daphnia populations demonstrated that life history traits of exephippial animals lead to a two or threefold higher rate of increase in the conditions of invertebrate predation pressure. Under moderate fish pressure, obtained r values for the daphniids hatching from resting eggs were larger than those from subitaneous. High growth rate of exephippial females is disadvantageous only under the conditions of severe pressure by fish. Obtained results suggest that hatchlings from diapausing eggs an acceleration of population increase by several times during the beginning of the development of a population with periodical re-establishment from resting eggs.     

Genetic studies with a phosphoglucose isomerase mutant of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Summary A mutation pgi1 in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae conferring deficiency of the glycolytic enzyme glucose 6-phosphate isomerase is characterised genetically. The mutation segregates 2⁺:2^- in tetrads from diploids heterozygous for the mutant phenotype. The mutation is semi-dominant and is located on the right arm of chromosome II in the order: tsm134-lys2-pgi1-tyr1 approximately 15 map units from tyr1. The mutation pgi1 defines the structural gene of glucose 6-phosphate isomerase and can be suppressed intragenically giving revertants that have an unstable enzyme. In one temperature-sensitive revertant no enzyme activity in excess of the mutant level could be detected although fructose 6-phosphate was converted to glucose 6-phosphate in vivo. The suppressor locus in this revertant is dominant and is unlinked to the pgi1 locus.     

Streptomycin-resistant, asporogenous mutant of Bacillus subtilis.

Summary Mutants of Saccharomyces cerevisiae lacking pyruvate kinase (EC 2.7.1.40) are described. These have less than 0.5% of the pyruvate kinase activity of the wild type. All the other glycolytic enymes are present in normal amounts in these mutants. The mutation is recessive and segregates in diploids as a single gene. Five alleles examined fail to complement one another. Tetrad analysis and mitotic recombination data place the mutation on the left arm of chromosome I distal to cys 1. The majority of single-step spontaneous revertants on glucose regain the enzyme activity fully and this activity appears, by a number of criteria, to be due to the same enzyme present in the wild type. Some of these revertants become nuclear petites. The mutants do neither grow on nor ferment sugars but do grow on ethyl alcohol or pyruvate. Glucose addition to cultures growing on alcohol arrests growth until glucose is exhausted. The steady state rate of glucose utilization is slower than in the wild type. This is associated with the accumulation of as much as 5 moles P-enolpyruvate per g wet weight of cells and proportional amounts of 2-P-glyceric and 3-P glyceric acids.The mutation is believed to involve some regulatory element in the synthesis of pyruvate kinase.     

Spatiotemporal expression pattern of DsRedT3/CCK gene construct during postnatal development of myenteric plexus in transgenic mice

Cholecystokinin (CCK) is an early marker of both neuronal and endocrine cell lineages in the developing gastrointestinal tract. To determine the quantitative properties and the spatial distribution of the CCK-expressing myenteric neurones in early postnatal life, a transgenic mouse strain with a CCK promoter-driven red fluorescent protein (DsRedT3/CCK) was established. The cell-specific expression of DsRedT3/CCK was validated by in situ hybridization with a CCK antisense riboprobe and by in situ hybridization coupled with immunohistochemistry involving a monoclonal antibody to CCK. A gradual increase in the DsRedT3/CCK-expressing enteric neurones with clear regional differences was documented from birth until the suckling to weaning transition, in parallel with the period of rapid intestinal growth and functional maturation. To evaluate the proportion of myenteric neurones in which DsRedT3/CCK transgene expression was colocalized with the enteric neuronal marker peripherin, immunofluorescence techniques were applied. All DsRedT3/CCK neurones were peripherin-immunoreactive and the proportion of DsRedT3/CCK-expressing myenteric neurones in the duodenum was the highest after the third week of life, when the number of peripherin-immunoreactive myenteric neurones in this region had decreased. Nearly all of the DsRedT3/CCK-expressing neurones also expressed 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HT). Thus, by utilizing a new transgenic mouse strain, we have demonstrated a small number of CCK-expressing myenteric neurones with a developmentally regulated spatiotemporal distribution. The coexistence of CCK and 5-HT in the majority of these neurones suggests their possible regulatory role in feeding at the suckling to weaning transition.     

Reproductive measures and chick provisioning of Cory's Shearwater Calonectris diomedea borealis in the Azores

Capsule Timing of breeding influenced wing-length at fledging, and egg size may be an indicator of fledging weight and the amount of food received by chicks.

Aims To investigate chick growth, temporal patterns of chick food provisioning and the importance of indices of parental condition or quality, egg size and hatching date, to predict nestling body mass and wing-length at fledging, and compare breeding and chick feeding characteristics between colonies in the northeast Atlantic.

Methods A survey of Cory's Shearwater nests was carried out at Vila islet. A sample of 52 chicks, ringed and weighed at hatching, was selected to study chick growth and food provisioning.

Results Hatching success (51%) was much lower than fledging success (87%). Both hatching date and egg size contributed to explain wing-length at fledging, but hatching date, which was negatively correlated with wing-length at fledging, had the most important contribution (22%). There was some indication that egg size may explain variation in fledging weight and the amount of food received by chicks. Food delivery and feeding frequency of chicks varied throughout the chick development stage and three phases were distinguished: (1) 0–29 days, the highest feeding frequency values and a linear increase in food delivery; (2) 30–69 days, an oscillation in food delivery and medium feeding frequencies; (3) 70–90+ days, a sharp decrease in both food delivery and feeding frequency.

Conclusion Variation in food availability did not seem sufficient to override the overall importance of indices of parental quality in determining reproductive measures and chick provisioning. Breeding and feeding characteristics were similar between colonies in the northeast Atlantic, with variability in chick provisioning higher further south.     

Is Attention Based on Spatial Contextual Memory Preferentially Guided by Low Spatial Frequency Signals?

A popular model of visual perception states that coarse information (carried by low spatial frequencies) along the dorsal stream is rapidly transmitted to prefrontal and medial temporal areas, activating contextual information from memory, which can in turn constrain detailed input carried by high spatial frequencies arriving at a slower rate along the ventral visual stream, thus facilitating the processing of ambiguous visual stimuli. We were interested in testing whether this model contributes to memory-guided orienting of attention. In particular, we asked whether global, low-spatial frequency (LSF) inputs play a dominant role in triggering contextual memories in order to facilitate the processing of the upcoming target stimulus. We explored this question over four experiments. The first experiment replicated the LSF advantage reported in perceptual discrimination tasks by showing that participants were faster and more accurate at matching a low spatial frequency version of a scene, compared to a high spatial frequency version, to its original counterpart in a forced-choice task. The subsequent three experiments tested the relative contributions of low versus high spatial frequencies during memory-guided covert spatial attention orienting tasks. Replicating the effects of memory-guided attention, pre-exposure to scenes associated with specific spatial memories for target locations (memory cues) led to higher perceptual discrimination and faster response times to identify targets embedded in the scenes. However, either high or low spatial frequency cues were equally effective; LSF signals did not selectively or preferentially contribute to the memory-driven attention benefits to performance. Our results challenge a generalized model that LSFs activate contextual memories, which in turn bias attention and facilitate perception.     

Ragweed plants and airborne pollen in the Baltic states

Presence of pollen in the atmosphere was determined inTartu in 1989–1997, in Kuressaare in 1996–1997 and iniauliai in 1997. Ragweed airpollen was found in latesummer in three years. The distribution, abundance andflowering of local ragweed plants were estimated. Itappeared that the number of local sources did notexceed twenty per country per year. Majority of thesesources consisted of a small number of pollinating A. artemisiifolia individuals. The largest localsources, consisting of several hundreds ofindividuals, were exclusively rare. Transport ofragweed pollen by air masses from distant sources wasstudied. It was found that incursions of ragweedpollen were determined by air fluxes originating fromthe Ukraine as well as from the southeastern andsouthern regions of the European part of Russia. Theseincursions occurred in extensive high-pressure areaswhose centre was located in the central region of theEuropean part of Russia with a periphery extending tothe Baltic countries.