A GRADIENT IN BENTHIC INTERTIDAL ALGAL ASSEMBLAGES ALONG THE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA COAST1

Based on an analysis floristic data, a gradient appears to exist in the composition of intertidal algae along the 450 km of southern California coastline immediately south of Point Conception. Reciprocal averaging ordination of the algal flora at 51 sites in this area suggests that the gradient is not strictly latitudinal. Variation from a latitudinal gradient occurs ca. 60-80 km south of Point Conception. An ordination of frequently occurring species indicated that compositional changes are substantial when sites at the extreme north and south are compared, but that the changes are gradual and continuous. Possible explanations for the gradient are discussed, and these include: sea temperature, upwelling, sand movement, human disturbance (i.e., pollution, trampling), and wave action.     

Morphological analysis and fate map of the intersexual genital disc of the mutant doublesex-dominant in Drosophila melanogaster

The organization of the genital disc in $\text{XX;dsx}{}^{\mathrm{D}}\text{+}$ animals, which have elements of both male and female genitalia, has been analyzed. The intersexual disc contains three major regions, which were isolated by fragmentation. After metamorphosis in host larvae, these regions produced the male genitalia, the female genitalia, and the analia, respectively. Thus, in contrast to the wild-type male and female constitution, the intersexual genetic constitution of $\text{XX;dsx}{}^{\mathrm{D}}\text{+}$ animals allows both genital primordia to develop and to differentiate adult structures. A fate map of the intersexual disc is presented. Observations made on the morphology of the genital disc and its derivatives in $\text{XX;dsx}{}^{\mathrm{D}}\text{+}$ animals and other “intersexual” genetic constitutions are compared and discussed in terms of the development of the sexual dimorphism.     

Leidyana phryganidiae and Leidyana berkeleyi: Two new species of gregarines from Phryganidia californica

Larvae of the California oakworm, Phryganidia californica, collected in August 1958 in Orcutt, California, were infected by two eugregarines, Leidyana phryganidiae n. sp. and L. berkeleyi n. sp. Both gregarines inhabit the intestine of larvae, and their sporonts are solitary. The maximum length of sporonts of L. phryganidiae is 633 μm; the ratio of length of protomerite to total length (LP:TL) ranges between 1:6.6 and 1:9.6, and the ratio of width of protomerite to width of deutomerite (WP:WD) ranges between 1:1.3 and 1:2.2. The protomerite is conical, longer than wide, and the deutomerite tapers sharply to a point. The maximum length of sporonts of L. berkeleyi is 422 μm; the ratio LP:TL ranges between 1:4.6 and 1:11.2 and WP:WD between 1:0.9 and 1:2.1. The protomerite is hemispherical, and the deutomerite is cylindrical. This is the first record of eugregarine infection in a phytophagous lepidopteran.     

Aldosterone plasma radioimmunoassay interference by a spirolactone metabolite.

The plasma aldosterone radioimmunoassay developed by Ito et al. was found to be non-specific for aldosterone following administration of the spirolactones, spironolactone and canrenoate-K, in rabbits, dogs and humans. The assay interfering principle was identified as a hydroxylated derivative (M-B) of canrenone, which itself is a metabolite common to both spironolactone and canrenoate-K. The metabolite M-B possessed a high cross-reactivity to the 21-hemisuccinate aldosterone antibody relative to other spirolactones. A modified procedure was developed specific for plasma aldosterone in the presence of M-B. Following single doses of spironolactone and canrenoate-K, aldosterone plasma levels were unchanged in humans and in dogs and decreased in rabbits.     

Aldosterone plasma radioimmunoassay interference by a spirolactone metabolite

The plasma aldosterone radioimmunoassay developed by Ito et al. was found to be non-specific for aldosterone following administration of the spirolactones, spironolactone and canrenoate-K, in rabbits, dogs and humans. The assay interfering principle was identified as a hydroxylated derivative (M_B) of canrenone, which itself is a metabolite common to both spironolactone and canrenoate-K. The metabolite M_B possessed a high cross-reactivity to the 21-hemisuccinate aldosterone antibody relative to other spirolactones. A modified procedure was developed specific for plasma aldosterone in the presence of MB. Following single doses of spironolactone and canrenoate-K, aldosterone plasma levels were unchanged in humans and in dogs and decreased in rabbits.     

Demographic responses to climate‐driven variation in habitat quality across the annual cycle of a migratory bird species

The demography and dynamics of migratory bird populations depend on patterns of movement and habitat quality across the annual cycle. We leveraged archival GPS‐tagging data, climate data, remote‐sensed vegetation data, and bird‐banding data to better understand the dynamics of black‐headed grosbeak (Pheucticus melanocephalus) populations in two breeding regions, the coast and Central Valley of California (Coastal California) and the Sierra Nevada mountain range (Sierra Nevada), over 28 years (1992–2019). Drought conditions across the annual cycle and rainfall timing on the molting grounds influenced seasonal habitat characteristics, including vegetation greenness and phenology (maturity dates). We developed a novel integrated population model with population state informed by adult capture data, recruitment rates informed by age‐specific capture data and climate covariates, and survival rates informed by adult capture–mark–recapture data and climate covariates. Population size was relatively variable among years for Coastal California, where numbers of recruits and survivors were positively correlated, and years of population increase were largely driven by recruitment. In the Sierra Nevada, population size was more consistent and showed stronger evidence of population regulation (numbers of recruits and survivors negatively correlated). Neither region showed evidence of long‐term population trend. We found only weak support for most climate–demographic rate relationships. However, recruitment rates for the Coastal California region were higher when rainfall was relatively early on the molting grounds and when wintering grounds were relatively cool and wet. We suggest that our approach of integrating movement, climate, and demographic data within a novel modeling framework can provide a useful method for better understanding the dynamics of broadly distributed migratory species.     

Interannual distribution of Pacific hake Merluccius productus larvae in the southern part of the California Current

The interannual distribution of early life stages of Pacific hake Merluccius productus , within the southern part of the California Current (32–23° N) from 1951 to 2001, was examined to describe the relationship between spawning habitat and environmental conditions. Mean annual abundance was affected by different factors along the west coast of the Baja California Peninsula. In the northern areas (Ensenada and Punta Baja), reduced abundance of larvae coincided with the El Niño and a North Pacific Ocean climatic regime shift, but in the southern areas (San Ignacio to Bahía Magdalena), the drastic reductions suggested a fishery effect for large adults of the coastal migratory population, starting in 1966. Two spawning stocks, coastal and dwarf, were evident in comparisons of latitudinal differences in occurrence of early stages and differences in temperature preferences that seemed to break at Punta Eugenia.     

Exploitation and recovery of a sea urchin predator has implications for the resilience of southern California kelp forests

Size-structured predator–prey interactions can be altered by the history of exploitation, if that exploitation is itself size-selective. For example, selective harvesting of larger sized predators can release prey populations in cases where only large individuals are capable of consuming a particular prey species. In this study, we examined how the history of exploitation and recovery (inside marine reserves and due to fisheries management) of California sheephead (Semicossyphus pulcher) has affected size-structured interactions with sea urchin prey in southern California. We show that fishing changes size structure by reducing sizes and alters life histories of sheephead, while management measures that lessen or remove fishing impacts (e.g. marine reserves, effort restrictions) reverse these effects and result in increases in density, size and biomass. We show that predation on sea urchins is size-dependent, such that the diet of larger sheephead is composed of more and larger sized urchins than the diet of smaller fish. These results have implications for kelp forest resilience, because urchins can overgraze kelp in the absence of top-down control. From surveys in a network of marine reserves, we report negative relationships between the abundance of sheephead and urchins and the abundance of urchins and fleshy macroalgae (including giant kelp), indicating the potential for cascading indirect positive effects of top predators on the abundance of primary producers. Management measures such as increased minimum size limits and marine reserves may serve to restore historical trophic roles of key predators and thereby enhance the resilience of marine ecosystems.     

Systematics of a widely distributed western North American springsnail,Pyrgulopsis?micrococcus (Caenogastropoda,Hydrobiidae), with descriptions?of?three new congeners

We describe three new species of springsnails (genus Pyrgulopsis) from the Amargosa River basin, California and Nevada (P. licina sp. n., P. perforata sp. n., P. sanchezi sp. n.), each of which was previously considered to be part of P. micrococcus. We also restrict P. micrococcus to its type locality area (Oasis Valley) and redefine a regional congener, P. turbatrix, to include populations from the central Death Valley region and San Bernardino Mountains that had been previously identified as P. micrococcus. The five species treated herein form genetically distinct lineages that differ from each other by 4.2–12.6% for mtCOI and 5.2–13.6% for mtNDI (based on previously published and newly obtained data), and are diagnosable by shell and/or penial characters. The new molecular data presented herein confirm sympatry of P. licina and P. sanchezi in Ash Meadows (consistent with morphological evidence) and delineate an additional lineage of P. micrococcus (in the broad sense) that we do not treat taxonomically owing to the paucity of morphological material. Conservation measures are needed to ensure the long term persistence of populations of P. micrococcus and a genetically differentiated lineage of P. sanchezi which live in disturbed habitats on private lands.     

Mosaic evolution, mosaic selection and angiosperm phylogeny

STEBBINS, G. L., 1984. Mosaic evolution, mosaic selection and angiosperm phylogeny. Mosaic evolution is a general pattern of evolutionary change, and is expected on the hypothesis that rvolution is basically opportunistic rather than determinate. It is most often exemplified by constancy with respect to one set of characters over a given period of time, accompanied by more or less rapid change with respect to other characteristics of the same organisms. To the extent that the characters involved are functional and adaptive, mosaic evolution must be guided by mosaic selection. A survey of character differences between species belonging to 59 of the largest genera found in the California flora indicates that mosaic selection has played an important role in the evolution of modern species of angiosperms. Mosaic evolution has also taken place with respect to dinerent chromosomal and biochemical characteristics, as is evident from comparisons between morphological, chromosomal and biochemical differences. When the widespread Occurrence of mosaic evolution and of mosaic selection are recognized, two general principles emerge: the primitive or advanced nature of individual character states cannot be deduced solely on the basis of their correlation or association with other character states which are believed to be primitive or advanced; mosaic selection provides a strong basis for the conclusion that natural selection is the most basic process that converts changing population-environment interactions into evolutionary change.     

The dazed and confused identity of Agassiz's land tortoise, Gopherus agassizii (Testudines, Testudinidae) with the description of a new species, and its consequences for conservation

We investigate a cornucopia of problems associated with the identity of the desert tortoise, Gopherus agassizii (Cooper). The date of publication is found to be 1861, rather than 1863. Only one of the three original cotypes exists, and it is designated as the lectotype of the species. Another cotype is found to have been destroyed in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and subsequent fire. The third is lost. The lectotype is genetically confirmed to be from California, and not Arizona, USA as sometimes reported. Maternally, the holotype of Gopherus lepidocephalus (Ottley & Velázques Solis. 1989) from the Cape Region of Baja California Sur, Mexico is also from the Mojavian population of the desert tortoise, and not from Tiburon Island, Sonora, Mexico as previously proposed. A suite of characters serve to diagnose tortoises west and north of the Colorado River, the Mojavian population, from those east and south of the river in Arizona, USA, and Sonora and Sinaloa, Mexico, the Sonoran population. Species recognition is warranted and because Gopherus lepidocephalus is from the Mojavian population, no names are available for the Sonoran species. Thus, a new species, Gopherus morafkaisp. n., is named and this action reduces the distribution of Gopherus agassizii to only 30% of its former range. This reduction has important implications for the conservation and protection of Gopherus agassizii, which may deserve a higher level of protection.     

The digital pads of the tree frog, Hyla cinerea. I. The epidermis

As the digital pad cells grow from the germinal epithelium, the desmosomes on the distal surface oF tile cells become aligned and form pegs filled with tonofilaments on the surface of the outer row of cells. The outer pad cells are separated from each other distally, thus the cell and the pegs form two sizes of protrusions in series on the pad surface which can fit into substratum/irregularities. A dense material, apparently derived from transforming bodies in the cells, coats the plasma membrane of the surface cells, presumably to strengthen them.     

Tidal influence on the evolution of egg size in the grunions (Leuresthes,Atherinidae)

Synopsis The duration of natural in-beach-sand incubation of Gulf of California and California grunion embryos is dictated by the tidally-driven wave activity in their respective habitats. Analyses of these tidal regimes reveal that the incubation period can be three times longer on beaches of the California coast than on those of the northern Gulf.In response to the more irregular tides of California, Leuresthes tenuis, the less primitive of the two species, has evolved an egg volume 310% larger than the Gulf grunion, L. sardina. The. larger egg not only supplies greater yolk reserves for differentiation, growth and maintenance, but also produces a larger embryo. The more abundant yolk stores and greater embryo size helps California grunion embryos to remain viable in the sand longer than those of the Gulf grunion.     

The digital pads of the tree frog, Hyla cinerea. II. The mucous glands

The mucous glands consist of a single row of cells surrounded by smooth muscle. The cells are attached at their apical and basal regions and only cytoplasmic projections loosely link the lateral aspects of adjacent cells. Material accumulates in the cisternae of the rough endoplasmic reticulum, appears to form into dense granules in the Golgi apparatus, and then before being secreted, undergoes chemical and morphological alterations. Since some glands secrete onto the dorsal epidermis of the digits, the mucous is believed to function as a wetting agent for the skin as well as an aid to climbing.     

Cell interactions in the developing epidermis of the leech Helobdella triserialis

In embryonic development of the leech Helobdella triserialis, each of the four paired ectodermal teloblasts contributes some progeny to a characteristic dorsal or ventral territory of the epidermis. To ascertain the relative roles of cell lineage and cell interactions in generating the highly regular epidermal distribution pattern of the various ectodermal cell lines, a series of experiments was carried out in which the ablation of particular teloblasts was combined with the intracellular injection of cell lineage tracers. The results showed that, after the ablation of an OP proteloblast, or of an O, P, or Q teloblast, the epidermal progeny of the remaining ipsilateral and contralateral teloblasts spread into the territory normally occupied by the epidermal progeny of the ablated teloblast. In this spreading process, cells may cross the ventral midline but not the dorsal midline. The spread of epidermal progeny of one teloblast in response to ablation of another teloblast is contrasted with the failure of the neuronal progeny of one teloblast to replace any missing neural tissue. It appears, therefore, that all epidermal cell lines are of equal developmental potential, regardless of their teloblast of origin, with the eventual location of any epidermal cell in the body wall being governed by interactions between cells within the developing epidermis.     

Direct observations of the association between a deep-sea fish and a giant scyphomedusa

This is a report of evidence of a close symbiotic relationship between the scyphomedusa, Stygiomedusa gigantea and the fish, Thalassobathia pelagica. Images from remotely operated vehicles (ROV) were obtained of the fish swimming on and around the large scyphomedusa. This is the first ever documented symbiosis between an Ophidiform fish and a medusa.     

Fish larvae assemblages in the Gulf of California

The distributional diversity and assemblages of fish larvae in the Gulf of California indicated two main seasonal stages and two transitional periods: in winter, the tropical water mass is confined to the south‐east portion of the mouth of the Gulf and larval fish assemblages are dominated by subtropical and temperate‐subarctic species; in summer; tropical water invades the Gulf and assemblages are dominated by tropical species. Both seasonal stages are separated by transitional periods coinciding with strong latitudinal temperature gradients. During the autumn and spring transitional periods, the Gulf of California splits into three regions: a northern region where temperate and subarctic species spawn from autumn to spring, a southern region dominated by tropical and subtropical species year round and a central region where tropical and temperate assemblages merge. Seasonal changes in the location of the regions, as well as the borders between them, show expansion and contraction of the northern and southern faunas related to the general oceanic circulation patterns during the year.