Morphologie des Gebisses und Nahrungspraferenzen von dreizehn adriatischen Blenniiden (Teleostei, Perciformes)

The morphology and arrangement of the teeth in 13 sympatric species of the genus Blennius were investigated by SEM. All the species were collected in the upper littoral of the Northern Adriatic near Rovinj (Yugoslavia) and represent the total species inventory of the genus Blennius in this area. After analysing the content and length of the intestine, four groups with different feeding habits could be distinguished to which the morphological adaptations of the teeth could be correlated. There is a non-selective omnivorous group of Aufwuchs-grazer which take the inhabiting vagilfauna {Blennius gattorugine, B. incognitas, B. tentacularis ), a herbivorous group ( B. sanguinolentus, B. sphynx, B. canevae ), a carnivorous group ( B. trigloides, B. dalmatinus, B. rouxi ), and a linking group between omnivorous grazers and carnivores (B. adriaticus, B. pavo, B. nigriceps). B. galerita shows a preponderance of comblike teeth and feeds exclusively scraping microscopic algae from the rocky substrate. The morphology and position of the caniniforms vary greatly within the investigated species. The dentition on the vomer is lacking in five species and seems of no consequence in the uptake of food.     

Patterns of multiple paternity and maternity in fishes

The characterization of patterns of multiple mating is a major facet of molecular ecology and is paramount to understanding the evolution of behaviours associated with parental care and mate choice. Over the last 15 years, fishes have been particularly well studied with respect to multiple maternity and paternity thanks to the widespread application of microsatellite markers. The present review focusses on the impressive literature on genetic parentage in fishes. In studies of natural populations, we find that multiple paternity is extremely common across fish species, whereas rates of multiple maternity are much more variable. In species with nest defence, for example, rates of multiple maternity are strongly bimodal, and the occurrence of multiple dams per brood is either rare or the rule. The sex of the care‐giving parent is correlated with the rate of multiple parentage: when males provide uniparental care, rates of multiple paternity are low compared to rates of multiple maternity; when females provide parental care, either alone or assisted by males, rates of multiple paternity are highly variable, whereas rates of multiple maternity are quite low. These patterns may reflect conflicts between the reproductive interests of males and females. We also find that fishes in which females brood the offspring internally display much higher rates of multiple paternity compared to mammals or birds, whereas reptiles are intermediate. Male‐nesting fish species, however, show rates of multiple paternity more similar to those found in other vertebrates. © 2011 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2011, 103 , 735–760.     

Feather ornaments are dynamic traits in the Great Tit Parus major

In behavioural studies it has been common to quantify plumage colours or ornaments over a range of dates and link them to fitness characteristics without accounting for seasonal changes in these traits. Such changes are likely to be widespread among birds, yet we lack assessments of this variability within individuals. We studied both within‐ and between‐individual temporal changes in Great Tit Parus major ornaments, specifically the melanin‐based black breast stripe and the pigment‐free white cheek patch. During the non‐breeding season both ornaments varied. In juveniles and adult females, the area of the breast stripe first rose and then, from near the end of December, decreased. In adult males there was a linear decrease. In the cheek patch, the irregularity of the cheek borders showed either a linear (adults) or a non‐linear (juveniles) increase as the season progressed. In individuals repeatedly sampled during the same winter, the decrease in the size of the breast stripe was larger for males than females and there was an overall decrease in the regularity of the cheek borders. There was no relationship between the size of the breast stripe and the white cheek patch irregularities or the cheek patch area. These results imply that more attention should be paid to quantification, within individuals, of the components of expression of phenotypic traits. In addition, we suggest that further research should focus on explaining the causes and functions of ornament change.     

Consequences for a host–parasitoid interaction of host-plant aggregation, isolation, and phenology

Abstract.  1. Spatial habitat structure can influence the likelihood of patch colonisation by dispersing individuals, and this likelihood may differ according to trophic position, potentially leading to a refuge from parasitism for hosts.
2. Whether habitat patch size, isolation, and host-plant heterogeneity differentially affected host and parasitoid abundance, and parasitism rates was tested using a tri-trophic thistle–herbivore–parasitoid system.
3.  Cirsium palustre thistles ( n = 240) were transplanted in 24 blocks replicated in two sites, creating a range of habitat patch sizes at increasing distance from a pre-existing source population. Plant architecture and phenological stage were measured for each plant and the numbers of the herbivore Tephritis conura and parasitoid Pteromalus elevatus recorded.
4. Mean herbivore numbers per plant increased with host-plant density per patch, but parasitoid numbers and parasitism rates were unaffected. Patch distance from the source population did not influence insect abundance or parasitism rates. Parasitoid abundance was positively correlated with host insect number, and parasitism rates were negatively density dependent. Host-plant phenological stage was positively correlated with herbivore and parasitoid abundance, and parasitism rates at both patch and host-plant scales.
5. The differential response between herbivore and parasitoid to host-plant density did not lead to a spatial refuge but may have contributed to the observed parasitism rates being negatively density dependent. Heterogeneity in patch quality, mediated by variation in host-plant phenology, was more important than spatial habitat structure for both the herbivore and parasitoid populations, and for parasitism rates.     

Niche versus neutrality in structuring the beta diversity of damselfly assemblages

1. Differences among communities in taxonomic composition – beta diversity – are frequently expected to result from taxon‐specific responses to spatial variation in ecological conditions, through niche partitioning. Such process‐derived patterns are in sharp contrast to arguments from neutral theory, where taxa are ecologically equivalent and beta diversity results primarily from dispersal limitation. 2. Here, we compared beta diversity among assemblages of damselflies (Odonata: Zygoptera), for which previous experiments have shown that niche differences maintain genera within a community, but patterns of relative abundance for species within each genus are shaped primarily by neutral dynamics. 3. Using null‐model and ordination‐based methods, we find that both genera and (in contrast to neutral theory) species assemblage composition vary across the landscape in a deterministic fashion, shaped by environmental and spatial factors. 4. While the observed patterns in species composition conflict with theory, we suggest that this a result of weak ecological filters acting to produce spatial variation in assemblages of ecologically similar species undergoing ecological drift within communities. Such patterns are especially likely in systems of relatively weak dispersers like damselflies.     

Isotopic composition of transpiration and rates of change in leaf water isotopologue storage in response to environmental variables

During daylight hours, the isotope composition of leaf water generally approximates steady‐state leaf water isotope enrichment model predictions. However, until very recently there was little direct confirmation that isotopic steady‐state (ISS) transpiration in fact exists. Using isotope ratio infrared spectroscopy (IRIS) and leaf gas exchange systems we evaluated the isotope composition of transpiration and the rate of change in leaf water isotopologue storage (isostorage) when leaves were exposed to variable environments. In doing so, we developed a method for controlling the absolute humidity entering the gas exchange cuvette for a wide range of concentrations without changing the isotope composition of water vapour. The measurement system allowed estimation of ¹⁸O enrichment both at the evaporation site and for bulk leaf water, in the steady state and the non‐steady state. We show that non–steady‐state effects dominate the transpiration isoflux even when leaves are at physiological steady state. Our results suggest that a variable environment likely prevents ISS transpiration from being achieved and that this effect may be exacerbated by lengthy leaf water turnover times due to high leaf water contents.     

The potential trade‐off between artisanal fisheries production and hydroelectricity generation on the Kafue River,Zambia

1. Freshwater resource managers are increasingly obligated to consider the impacts of large river engineering projects on ecosystem services. We evaluated the effect of altered water regime from the operation of a large dam on the production of the downstream tropical floodplain fishery of the Kafue River, Zambia. We compared the benefits of increased hydropower relative to potentially lost fishery production. 2. We compiled a long‐term data set consisting of experimental gillnet catches, artisanal harvesting effort and monthly river flows for 25 years prior to and 29 years after the 1977 completion of the upstream Itezhi‐Tezhi Dam. As a metric of the flood regime, we calculated a canonical correlation score for each hydrological year before and after dam closure. For the period following dam construction, we used the Muskingum method of flood routing to estimate ‘no‐dam’ flows through the fishery area and downstream hydroelectric turbines at the Kafue Gorge Dam. 3. We compared 16 alternative models of catch per unit effort (CPUE) with and without an effect of water regime on fish population growth rate. Using the two best fitting models, we estimated the total observed fishery harvest and simulated ‘no‐dam’ fisheries harvest and found no significant effect of altered water regime on fishery production. 4. We estimate that the large upstream dam increases downstream hydropower production by about $18 million USD per annum. The reduction in fishery production caused by the altered water regime is not significantly different than zero, although the average reduction amounts to about $2.3 million annually. The total estimated value of harvest ranges from $1.3 million to $56 million annually. 5. Large observed declines in fish abundance over the 54‐year study period are attributed primarily with similarly large increases in total fishing effort in this mostly open‐access artisanal fishery. 6. These results contrast with other examples of the effects of flow alteration on fish, probably because levels of fisheries exploitation on the Kafue River are very high relative to better studied regions on other continents; our focus on the whole fish community; and the unprecedented length of the time series we considered. If the goal is to sustain fishery production, investments in altering flow regime are likely to be less effective than investments to decrease fishing effort.