Vocal matching by orange-fronted conures (Aratinga canicularis)

The functions of vocal matching have been clarified in territorial songbirds, compositionally stable groups of birds and mammals, and species with multiple alarm or assembly signals. The functions of vocal matching are less well understood in fission/fusion species that are non-territorial, live in groups with variable composition, and lack multiple alarm signals. Here we present the results of interactive playbacks in a fission/fusion parrot species, the orange-fronted conjure (Aratinga canicularis), that provide evidence of vocal matching. A randomly selected loud contact call (chee) per trial was played to passing wild flocks and short-term captives in Costa Rica. Of the trials where subjects interacted, 30% of wild flocks and 21% of captive trials showed significantly linear or curvilinear changes in similarity between the stimulus and response chees over the course of the trial. Surprisingly, both convergent and divergent sequences were observed, and many trials lacking a single trend showed disjunct changes in stimulus–response similarity. These results suggest that chee exchanges prior to flock fusions are not simply an exchange of greetings but are more likely some form of negotiation. This would explain the presence of convergent, divergent, and variable patterns of stimulus–response similarity seen in our experiments.     

Contact call diversity in natural beluga entrapments in an Arctic estuary: Preliminary evidence of vocal signatures in wild belugas

Broadband, pulsed contact calls have been described for captive and temporarily restrained belugas, but little information exists on their usage in the wild. We examined vocal production during 14 natural beluga entrapments in a shallow channel in Cunningham Inlet, as isolation events offer ideal contexts to study contact calls. Drone footage, overhead photos, and shore‐based photos confirmed the number of individuals and age composition in each entrapment. Contact calls comprised the majority (61%) of vocalizations produced by entrapped whales compared to the free‐ranging herd (10%). We divided contact calls into complex (80%), those with a stereotyped, spectrographically prominent component overlapping the pulse train that characterizes all beluga contact calls, and simple (20%), those with no overlapping component. For each entrapment, we generated a catalogue of complex contact call types, totaling 87 types. Our classification was corroborated both quantitatively and by 55 naïve human judges. Occasional instances of overlapping contact calls of the same type indicated dyadic production. The number of contact call types per entrapment was strongly related to (never exceeding) the number of individuals, excluding neonates. Although this suggests a system of vocal signatures in belugas, consistent with their fission‐fusion society and earlier findings, whether signature identity is encoded individually or shared with related animals remains unknown.     

Cryptosporidium in wild placental mammals

Cryptosporidium species are common parasites of wild placental mammals. Recent parasitological studies combined with molecular genotyping techniques have been providing valuable new insight into the host specificity and potential transmission of various Cryptosporidium species/genotypes among animals and between these animals and humans. Although Cryptosporidium in wild animals may possess a potential public health problem due to oocyst contamination in the environment, studies at various regions of the world have indicated a strong host-adaptation by these parasites and a limited potential of cross-species transmission of cryptosporidiosis among placental mammals, suggesting that these animals are probably not a major reservoir for human infection. However, Cryptosporidium species/genotypes in placental animals have been reported occasionally in humans. Therefore, public health significance of some Cryptosporidium species in wild placental mammals, such as the cervine genotype, should not be overlooked and should be further studied.     

Self-anointing by wild hedgehogs, Erinaceus Europaeus, in New Zealand

Of 929 wild hedgehogs examined, nineteen bore signs of recent self-anointing. The spittle deposited on the hedgehogs' backs usually gave off a sharp smell, clearly detectable some metres down-wind. Nestling animals anointed themselves when removed from their nests, possibly as a means of advertising their whereabouts to their mothers. The habit was not detected among newly-independent young animals nor among sub-adults. Among adult hedgehogs, self-anointing was confined to the breeding season, and on five occasions was elicited in the presence of other hedgehogs of the opposite sex. In this context self-anointing may serve as a form of sexual signal. When brought into captivity the self-anointing reflex is triggered by novel objects or odours and, in this unnatural context, it is argued that the behaviour falls into the category of a displacement activity, being inappropriate to the situation and seemingly purposeless.     

High infraspecific diversity of wild sunflowers (Helianthus annuus L.) naturally developed in central Argentina

The sunflower's wild relative Helianthus annuus L. is a non-native invader in several regions of the world. It was introduced as an experimental forage plant in central Argentina six decades ago where it probably escaped and developed extended populations coexisting with the sunflower crop. If the invasive taxon was diffused without modifications, it would be expected to have phenotypic similarities with its parental sources. Nine populations representative of different geographic regions of central Argentina were compared with 17 populations from the USA (center of origin) in a common garden study at Bahía Blanca, Argentina using 47 phenotypic traits. The nine invasive wild populations were differentiated among themselves and from the native populations by plant form and life cycle traits, oil composition, inflorescence, and achene morphology. Populations from both continents shared traits related to domesticated sunflower, such as bract width over 0.8 cm, but the frequency of this trait was higher in populations from Argentina. The high variability of wild H. annuus populations from Argentina did not reveal any founder effects. The diversity found in the invasive populations reflected about three-fourths of the phenotypic variability of those from the center of origin, even though the environmental conditions of the Argentine habitats represented only half of the variability present in the North American habitats. The current findings demonstrated that the invasive wild sunflower populations have developed within few decades a high degree of variability, which could be a source of a novel biodiversity useful as a genetic resource for sunflower crop improvement.     

'Tocol-omic' diversity in wild barley, short communication

Hordeum spontaneum, wild barley, is the direct progenitor of domestic barley, Hordeum vulgare, an economically important ingredient of animal feed, beer, soy sauce, and more recently, of nutraceuticals. Domestic barley has also been used in the past as a medicine. Barley is a rich source of tocotrienols, with α-tocotrienol being the most prevalent. Wild barley seeds were harvested from ecogeographically diverse areas across the Fertile Crescent, and the tocopherol (α-δ) and tocotrienol (α-δ) contents were determined. Diversity differences in individual and total 'tocol' values were significant between and within specific countries, and were significantly correlated with temperature. Wild barley may be used in the future to improve functional qualities of domestic barley. 'Tocolome' and 'tocolomics' are proposed to encompass all tocols and potentially synergy-enhancing 'entourage' compounds that may occur in tocols' 'metabolomic neighborhoods', aiding the standardized manufacture of complex barley derivatives for nutraceutical and pharmaceutical functions.     

Why species delimitation matters for fungal ecology: Colletotrichum diversity on wild and cultivated cashew in Brazil

Anthracnose is one of the most important plant diseases globally, occurring on a wide range of cultivated and wild host species. This study aimed to identify the Colletotrichum species associated with cashew anthracnose in Brazil, determine their phylogenetic relationships and geographical distribution, and provide some insight into the factors that may be influencing community composition. Colletotrichum isolates collected from symptomatic leaves, stems, inflorescences, and fruit of cultivated and wild cashew, across four Brazilian biomes, were identified as Colletotrichum chrysophilum, Colletotrichum fragariae, Colletotrichum fructicola, Colletotrichum gloeosporioides sensu stricto, Colletotrichum queenslandicum, Colletotrichum siamense and Colletotrichum tropicale. Colletotrichum siamense was the most dominant species. The greatest species richness was associated with cultivated cashew; leaves harbored more species than the other organs; the Atlantic Forest encompassed more species than the other biomes; and Pernambuco was the most species-rich location. However, accounting for the relative abundance of Colletotrichum species and differences in sample size across strata, the interpretation of which community is most diverse depends on how species are delimited. The present study provides valuable information about the Colletotrichum/cashew pathosystem, sheds light on the causal agents identification,and highlights the impact that species delimitation can have on ecological studies of fungi.     

Genetic diversity of an endangered aquatic plant, Potamogeton lucens subspecies sinicus

The genetic diversity of the species, Potamogeton lucens subsp. sinicus var. teganumensis, which is critically endangered in Japan, was investigated. This species now occurs in only two known localities in Japan. One is a native population (Oitoike population), but the other (Teganuma-Okahotto population) is found in a small artificial pond that was dug in 1998. It is considered that the Teganuma-Okahotto population grew from a soil seed bank. Based on RAPD variation, we compared the genetic diversity of the two populations of P. lucens var. teganumensis in Japan and one population of P. lucens subsp. sinicus var. sinicus in China. The Teganuma-Okahotto population showed RAPD variation, suggesting that it may be derived from more than one seed buried in old sediments. This population also had the highest value of Shannon's Information Index among the three study populations. This finding suggests that seeds buried in sediments can contain genetic variability, and may be used to conserve the genetic diversity of rare and endangered plants.     

Microsatellite diversity and mating system of Sinojackia xylocarpa (Styracaceae), a species extinct in the wild

Sinojackia xylocarpa is a Chinese endemic species that is extinct in the wild but extant in botanical gardens. Microsatellites were used to investigate the genetic diversity and mating system of this species for future use in a reintroduction program. Ex situ conserved populations of S. xylocarpa maintain intermediate levels of genetic diversity (H_E = 0.570–0.640). However, a general and significant heterozygote excess was found, with a mean F_IS of −0.103. S. xylocarpa was determined to be predominantly outcrossing (t_m = 0.992; t_s = 1.092). Population size and genetic diversity were found to be positively correlated (r = 0.991; P = 0.084). Principal coordinate analysis (PCA) suggests that all extant individuals are derived from two source populations. Reintroduction strategies of S. xylocarpa were proposed on the basis of these results.     

Mate choice copying in the sailfin molly, Poecilia latipinna, in the wild

Mate choice copying has been documented extensively in the laboratory with almost no supporting data available from studies in the wild. We investigated male and female mate choice copying in a wild population of the sailfin molly, a species that shows copying in the laboratory. We set up two upside-down plastic tanks in a river, with two jars of water on each tank. In male mate choice trials we placed a female in one jar and a male in the other on one tank and a female in one jar on the other tank, leaving the last jar empty. In female mate choice trials we presented a male and a female on one tank and a male and an empty jar on the other. Males preferred to associate with a female adjacent to a male rather than a lone female and females preferred to associate with a male adjacent to a female rather than a lone male. In two controls for shoaling behaviour we presented two males on one side of the set-up and one male on the other or two females versus one female. These controls showed that shoaling behaviour could not explain the male and female preference. Thus both sexes of the sailfin molly show mate choice copying in the wild, much as they do in laboratory studies. At least in this species, mate choice copying is not a laboratory artefact. Copyright 2002 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.     

S-allele diversity in Prunus L. Cerasus subgenus from Iran

In this study, S-allele diversity of eight wild and two commercial species of the Cerasus subgenus in Iran was investigated using two primer pairs. A high level of S-allele polymorphism was detected among and within the species evaluated. Furthermore, most of wild species showed 2–4 alleles based on S-allele primers and may be considered as tetraploid. Sweet cherry cultivars, Siah-Mashhad, Siah-Shabestar, Takdaneh-Mashhad, Siah-Daneshkadeh and Protiva showed S₃S₁₂, S₃S₁₂, S₃S₁₂, S₃S₅ and S₃S₄ combinations, respectively, allele S₃ showing the highest frequency. Three Iranian sweet cherry cultivars had the same allelic combination (S₃S₁₂) that the same ancestor in genealogy of these cultivars may explain the loss of diversity observed at the S-locus. Wild cherry (mazzard) accessions showed wide range of alleles such as S₁, S₂, S₇, S₁₄ and S₂₀ and unknown alleles, while sour cherries showed S₆, S₉, S₁₃ and S₂₇ alleles. In conclusion, the conservation of these highly diverse native species of Iranian wild Cerasus germplasm is recommended for future breeding activity.     

Specific subunit pairs of legumin from Vicia faba

Four pairs of disulphide-linked acidic (α) and basic (β) subunits were isolated from legumin of Vicia faba. Pairing between α- and β-subunits is nonrandom, supporting the view that each subunit pair arises from a common precursor polypeptide, already containing intramolecular disulphide bonds, when cleavage to the subunit pair takes place. The subunit pairs belong to two structural types: type A contains Met, whereas type B lacks Met. In addition to these four subunit pairs, at least two more pairs are present in legumin in minor amounts.