SHORT NOTE

Collins, Brian G. 1983. Seasonal variations in the energetics of territorial Cape Sugarbirds. Ostrich. 54:121-125.

Regardless of season, male and female Cape Sugarbirds Promerops cafer occupying nonbreeding territories in Mimetes hirtus at Betty's Bay, southwestern Cape, show greatest aggression early in the day, when nectar availability in favoured partially open inflorescences is highest. In the particular patch of M. hirtus studied, mean overall nectar availability doubled between July and September. During this interval, the original female P. cafer present reduced its territory to approximately half of its former size, with the remainder then being occupied by an adult male P. cafer that had not previously been seen in the patch.     

NOTE

We describe a method for the efficient extraction of flagellate phototrophs from soil samples. Soils of various types from a wide range of natural environments were sampled for Chlamydomonas reinhardtii Dangeard. Test matings of candidate unicellular green algae were used to identify 19 heterothallic isolates that were interfertile with lab strains. Four of these isolates were genetically distinct from previously isolated strains and from each other, as indicated by the distribution of two transposons on restriction fragments of their genomic DNA and by allozyme variation at six of nine loci.