Allometry between leg and body length of insects: lack of support for the size–grain hypothesis

• 1 The size–grain hypothesis ( Kaspari & Weiser, 1999 ) states that (1) as organisms decrease in size, they perceive their environment as being more rugose; (2) long legs allow organisms to step over obstacles but hinder them from entering small gaps; and (3) as the size of an organism decreases, the benefits of long legs begin to be outweighed by the costs of construction. Natural selection should therefore favour proportionally longer legs in larger organisms, thereby leading to a positive allometry between leg and body length (scaling exponent b > 1).
• 2 Here we compare the scaling exponent of leg‐to‐body length relationships among insects that walk, walk and fly, and predominantly fly. We measured the lengths of the hind tibia, hind femur, and body length of each species.
• 3 The taxa varied considerably in the scaling exponent b. In seven out of ten groups (Formicidae, Isoptera, Carabidae, Pentatomidae, Apidae, Lepidoptera, Odonata adult), b was significantly greater than one. However, there was no gradual decrease in b from walking to walking/flying to flying insects.
• 4 The results of the present study provide no support for the size–grain hypothesis. We propose that leg length is not only affected by the rugosity of the environment, but also by (1) functional adaptations, (2) phylogeny, (3) lifestyle, (4) the type of insect development (hemimetabolism or holometabolism), and (5) constraints of gas exchange.

     

Annual methane uptake by temperate semiarid steppes as regulated by stocking rates,aboveground plant biomass and topsoil air permeability

Overgrazing‐induced degradation of temperate semiarid steppes may affect the soil sink for atmospheric methane (CH₄). However, previous studies have primarily focused on the growing season and on single grazing patterns. Thus, the response of annual CH₄ uptake by steppes compared with various grazing practices is uncertain. In this study, we investigated the effects of grazing on the annual CH₄ uptake by two typical Eurasian semiarid steppes (the Stipa grandis steppe and the Leymus chinensis steppe) located in Inner Mongolia, China. The CH₄ fluxes were measured year‐round using static chambers and gas chromatography at 12 field sites that differed primarily in grazing intensities. Our results indicated that steppe soils were CH₄ sinks throughout the year. The annual CH₄ uptake correlated with stocking rates, whereas the seasonality of CH₄ uptake was primarily dominated by temperature. The annual CH₄ uptake at all sites averaged 3.7±0.7 kg C ha^?1 yr^?1 (range: 2.3–4.5), where approximately 35% (range: 23–40%) occurred during the nongrowing season. Light‐to‐moderate grazing (stocking rate≤1 sheep ha^?1 yr^?1) did not significantly change the annual CH₄ uptake compared with ungrazed steppes, but heavy grazing reduced annual CH₄ uptake significantly (by 24–31%, P<0.05). These findings imply that easing the pressure of heavily grazed steppes (e.g. moving to light or moderate stocking rates) would help restore steppe soil sinks for atmospheric CH₄. The empirical equations based on the significant relationships between annual CH₄ uptake and stocking rates, aboveground plant biomass and topsoil air permeability (P<0.01) could provide simple approaches for the estimation of regional CH₄ uptake by temperate semiarid steppes.     

Early Triassic conodont clusters from South China: revision of the architecture of the 15 element apparatuses of the superfamily Gondolelloidea

Abstract: Several fused clusters of conodont elements of the genera Neospathodus and Novispathodus were recovered from limestone beds at the Dienerian–Smithian and Smithian–Spathian boundaries, respectively, from several localities in Guangxi province, South China. Conodont clusters are otherwise extremely rare in the Triassic, and these are first described for the Early Triassic. The exceptional specimens partially preserve the relative three‐dimensional position and orientation of ramiform elements and are therefore extremely important for testing hypotheses on the architecture of apparatuses. These specimens partly confirm the previous reconstruction of the Novispathodus apparatus by Orchard. Within apparatuses of members of superfamily Gondolelloidea, elements previously identified as occupying the S₁ and S₂ positions instead occupy the S₂ and S₁ positions. Similarly, within apparatuses of members of the subfamily Novispathodinae, elements previously referred to S₃ and S₄ positions are reinterpreted to have occupied S₄ and S₃ positions, respectively.     

The effects of chlorcyclizine-induced glycosaminoglycan alterations on palatal mesenchyme-basal lamina relationships in the mouse

The relationships of mesenchymal cells to the basal lamina underlying regions of the palatal-shelf epithelium that are known to increase in cell density during shelf reorientation are quantitatively different from those of cells underlying neighboring regions that do not increase in cell density. Chlorcyclizine-induced alterations of the extracellular matrix were used to investigate the possible contribution of extracellular matrix to these differences. Chlorcyclizine causes hyaluronate and the chondroitin sulfates to be degraded into pieces with smaller molecular weights and lower charge densities, with little or no effect on their synthesis, and also results in cleft palate. Pregnant CD-1 mice were gavaged with chlorcyclizine on days 10.5, 11.5, and 12.5 of gestation, and the fetuses were harvested on day 13.5. Some palatal shelves were excised immediately and fixed for electron microscopy; other heads were partially dissected and incubated for 4 hr prior to fixation. In normal heads differences in mesenchymal cell configurations are detectable after 4 hr in vitro. Electron micrographs were taken of the epithelial-mesenchymal interface in nasal and oral regions that increased in epithelial cell density and in nasal and oral regions which did not. Several variables of mesenchymal cell configuration were measured in a 500-nm-wide zone delimited on photographic prints. Chlorcyclizine-induced glycosaminoglycan alterations resulted in quantifiable, region-specific differences in mesenchymal cell relationships to the basal lamina and in the ultrastructural appearance of the zone immediately subjacent to the basal lamina. These results suggest that the epithelial-mesenchymal interface and sublaminar zone of the nasal and oral regions as well as their active and inactive segments may be constitutively different.     

Deoxyribonucleic Acid of Anaplasma marginale

Deoxyribonucleic acid from isolated marginal bodies and calf erythrocytes infected with Anaplasma marginale is found to be double stranded and to contain 51 moles per cent guanine plus cytosine.     

GRIESBACHIAN AND DIENERIAN (EARLY TRIASSIC) AMMONOID FAUNAS FROM NORTHWESTERN GUANGXI AND SOUTHERN GUIZHOU (SOUTH CHINA)

Abstract: Intensive sampling of the Luolou (northwestern Guangxi) and the Daye (southern Guizhou) Formations in South China leads to the recognition of a regional Griesbachian and Dienerian ammonoid succession for this key palaeobiogeographical area. The new biostratigraphical sequence comprises the upper Griesbachian ‘Ophiceras beds’ and the lower Dienerian ‘Proptychites candidus beds’, which are separated from the uppermost Dienerian ‘Clypites beds’ by an unfossiliferous interval. These faunas contain some taxa with wide geographic distribution (e.g. Ambites, Pleurambites, Pleurogyronites, Proptychites candidus), thus facilitating correlation with faunal successions from other regions (i.e. British Columbia, Canadian Arctic, Himalayas and South Primorye). Two new genera (Jieshaniceras and Shangganites) and three new species (Anotoceras subtabulatus, Pleurambites radiatus and Shangganites shangganense) are described.     

Tuning in to multiple predators: conflicting demands for shell morphology in a freshwater snail

1. We examined the response to chemical cues from fish and crayfish, two predators with contrasting feeding modes, and their single and combined effect on shell morphology in the freshwater snail Radix balthica. 2. Snails were subjected to four treatments: tench (Tinca tinca), signal crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus), a combination of tench and signal crayfish and no predators (control). Shell shape, crushing resistance and shell thickness were quantified. We also analysed whether shape or shell thickness contributes most to crushing resistance. 3. Chemical cues from the fish induced a rounder shell shape in R. balthica, a thicker shell and a higher crushing resistance, whereas crayfish chemical cues had no effect on shell morphology, shell thickness or crushing resistance. Shell shape contributed more to crushing resistance than shell thickness. 4. The combined predator treatment showed an intermediate response between the fish and crayfish treatments. Shell roundness was reduced compared with the fish treatment, but the reduced crushing resistance that comes with a less rounded shell was compensated by an increased investment in extra shell material, exceeding that of the fish treatment. 5. Our study extends previous studies of multipredator effects on phenotypically plastic freshwater snails by showing that the snails are able to fine‐tune different elements of morphology to counter predator‐specific foraging modes.     

CENP-B controls centromere formation depending on the chromatin context

The centromere is a chromatin region that serves as the spindle attachment point and directs accurate inheritance of eukaryotic chromosomes during cell divisions. However, the mechanism by which the centromere assembles and stabilizes at a specific genomic region is not clear. The de novo formation of a human/mammalian artificial chromosome (HAC/MAC) with a functional centromere assembly requires the presence of alpha-satellite DNA containing binding motifs for the centromeric CENP-B protein. We demonstrate here that de novo centromere assembly on HAC/MAC is dependent on CENP-B. In contrast, centromere formation is suppressed in cells expressing CENP-B when alpha-satellite DNA was integrated into a chromosomal site. Remarkably, on those integration sites CENP-B enhances histone H3-K9 trimethylation and DNA methylation, thereby stimulating heterochromatin formation. Thus, we propose that CENP-B plays a dual role in centromere formation, ensuring de novo formation on DNA lacking a functional centromere but preventing the formation of excess centromeres on chromosomes.     

Arrangement of centromeres in mouse cells

Applying a staining procedure which reveals constitutive heterochromatin to cytological preparations of the mouse (Mus musculus), one detects heterochromatin pieces at the centromeric areas of all chromosomes except the Y. The Y chromosome is somewhat heteropyenotic in general but possesses no intensely stained centromeric heterochromatin. The arrangement of the centromeric heterochromatin in interphase cells is apparently specific for a given cell type. In meiotic prophase, centromeric heterochromatin may form clusters among bivalents. From the location of the centromeric heterochromatin of the X chromosome in the sex bivalent, it is concluded that the association between the X and Y (common end) in meiosis is limited to the distal portions of the sex elements.