Body condition helps to explain metabolic rate variation in wolf spiders

1. Metabolism is the fundamental process that powers life. Understanding what drives metabolism is therefore critical to our understanding of the ecology and behaviour of organisms in nature. 2. Metabolic rate generally scales with body size according to a power law. However, considerable unexplained variation in metabolic rate remains after accounting for body mass with scaling functions. 3. We measured resting metabolic rates (oxygen consumption) of 227 field‐caught wolf spiders. Then, we tested for effects of body mass, species, and body condition on metabolic rate. 4. Metabolic rate scales with body mass to the 0.85 power in these wolf spiders, and there are metabolic rate differences between species. After accounting for these factors, residual variation in metabolic rate is related to spider body condition (abdomen:cephalothorax ratio). Spiders with better body condition consume more oxygen. 5. These results indicate that recent foraging history is an important determinant of metabolic rate, suggesting that although body mass and taxonomic identity are important, other factors can provide helpful insights into metabolic rate variation in ecological communities.     

Distinct feeding strategies of generalist and specialist spiders

1. Feeding behaviour of generalist and specialist predators is determined by a variety of trophic adaptations. Specialised prey‐capture adaptations allow specialists to catch relatively large prey on a regular basis. As a result, specialists might be adapted to exploit each item of prey more thoroughly than do generalists. 2. It was expected that obligatory specialist cursorial spiders would feed less frequently than generalists but for a longer time and, thus, that their foraging pause would be longer. First, the feeding frequencies of three generalist spider species (Cybaeodamus taim, Harpactea hombergi, Hersiliola sternbergsi) were compared with those three phylogenetically related specialist species: myrmecophagous Zodarion rubidum, and araneophagous Nops aff. variabilis and Palpimanus orientalis. 3. Generalists captured more prey, exploited each item of prey for a significantly shorter time, and had a shorter foraging pause than was the case for specialists. Generalists also gained significantly less relative amount of prey mass than did specialists. 4. Second, the study compared the prey DNA degradation rate in the gut of generalists and specialists by means of PCR. The degradation rate was not significantly different between specialists and generalists: the detectability half‐life was estimated to exist for 14.3 days after feeding. 5. This study shows that the feeding strategies of cursorial generalist and obligatory specialist spiders are different. Obligatory specialists have evolved a feeding strategy that is based on thorough exploitation of a few large prey, whereas generalists have evolved a strategy that is based on short exploitation of multiple small items of prey.     

Changes in the size of the nucleoli of the Purkinje cells in the canine cerebellum in the postresuscitation period

The changes in the size of Purkinje cell (PC) nucleolus in the lateral and medial cerebellum zones were studied in dogs with different degree of neurologic status recovery after clinical death of various etiology and duration. PC always possess one nucleolus in the control and experimental groups. In the case of complete neurologic status recovery of animals the area of PC nucleolus increases in both zones studied, irrespective of the cause of clinical death. In the case of neurologic disorders the increase in PC nucleolus area is clearly expressed only in the medial zone of the cerebellum, being insignificant in the lateral zone. It is suggested that adaptive characteristics of PC are distinct in the two compared zones, which leads to greater PC vulnerability in the lateral zone during deep hypoxia.     

A New Species of Acrodipsas Sands (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) from Inland New South Wales and Southern Queensland

Acrodipsas mortoni sp.n. from inland New South Wales and southern Queensland is described, figured, contrasted with the related A. arcana (Miller and Edwards) and assigned to the illidgei species-group.     

Lobomicosis

The ninth Colombian case of Lobomycosis is presented, along with a review of the Colombian literature. The clinical, histopathological, and mycological aspects are summarized emphasizing the peculiar birefringent appearance of Lobomyces when examined under polarized light.     

Effects of mutation on the downfield proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectrum of the 5S RNA of Escherichia coli

The imino proton spectra of several mutants of the 5S RNA of Escherichia coli are compared with that of the wild type. Three of the variants discussed are point mutations, and the fourth is a deletion mutant lacking bases 11-69 of the parent sequence, all obtained by site-directed mutagenesis techniques. The spectroscopic effects of mutation are limited in all cases, and the differences between normal and mutant spectra can be used to make or confirm the assignments of resonances. Several new assignments in the 5S spectrum are reported. Spectroscopic differences due to sequence differences permit the products of single genes within the 5S gene family to be distinguished and their fates followed by NMR.     

Virulent strains of Vibrio vulnificus isolated from estuaries of the United States West Coast

Vibrio vulnificus was isolated from United States West Coast estuaries at a low frequency (5.9%) from 529 samples of water, shellfish, and sediment. Four strains tested with iron-treated mice had 50% lethal dose values ranging from 7.6 to 360 CFU, compared with a 50% lethal dose of 4.9 CFU for a clinical isolate that caused the death of a septicemic patient. The presence of this pathogen may be a hazard to users of marine beaches and consumers of raw shellfish on the West Coast, especially to persons most susceptible to V. vulnificus septicemia. Species-specific antiflagellar serum and a gene probe for cytotoxin-hemolysin production were useful for screening these environmental isolates.     

A comparative study of the characteristics of eIF-2 and eIF-2-ancillary factor activities from yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and rabbit reticulocytes

The characteristics of yeast eukaryotic initiation factor 2 (eIF-2) and Co-eIF-2A have been studied and compared with those of the corresponding factors from rabbit reticulocytes. 1) Unlike eIF-2r, purified eIF-2y did not contain bound GDP. 2) Purified eIF-2y preparation contained GTPase activity and dephosphorylated GTP to GDP. 3) An anti-eIF-2r preparation which predominantly precipitated the gamma-subunit (Mr 54,000) of eIF-2r also precipitated the larger subunit (Mr 54,000) of eIF-2y. 4) Unlike eIF-2r, ternary complex formation by eIF-2y was not inhibited by Mg2+. 5) Both Co-eIF-2A20y and Co-eIF-2r significantly enhanced Met-tRNAf binding to eIF-2y and, again, Mg2+ did not have any effect on this stimulated Met-tRNAf binding to eIF-2y. 6) Both Co-eIF-2A20y and Co-eIF-2r were similarly effective in stimulating Met-tRNAf binding to eIF-2r in the absence of Mg2+. However, in the presence of Mg2+, Co-eIF-2A20y was significantly less effective than Co-eIF-2r as Co-eIF-2A20y did not promote displacement of GDP from eIF-2r X GDP. 7) eIF-2y bound [3H]GDP and this binding was significantly enhanced in the presence of Mg2+. Also, [3H]GDP in the preformed eIF-2y X [3H]GDP complex was rapidly exchanged with exogenously added unlabeled GDP in the presence of Mg2+. Co-eIF-2A20y had no effect on GDP binding to eIF-2y nor on GDP exchange reactions. 8) Reticulocyte heme-regulated protein synthesis inhibitor, which phosphorylated almost completely (in excess of 80%) the alpha-subunit (Mr 38,000) of eIF-2r, also phosphorylated similarly the smaller subunit (Mr 36,000) of eIF-2y. However, such phosphorylation had no significant effect on ternary complex formation, GDP binding, and GDP exchange reactions.