Variation in the glucosinolate content of vegetative tissues of Chinese lines of Brassica napus L

The glucosinolate content of leaves, stems and roots of a range of Chinese oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.) breeding lines was analysed. Total content and spectrum of individual glucosinolates varied widely, and there was no correlation between seed and vegetative tissue glucosinolate content. Lines with low seed glucosinolates (00) did not necessarily have low glucosinolate content in vegetative tissues; nor did high seed glucosinolate lines always have high vegetative tissue content. There was no correlation between the glucosinolate content of leaf, stem, and root in any given line. It appears that glucosinolate synthesis and accumulation is under tissue-specific control, and the mutation which blocks accumulation of glucosinolates in seeds does not influence other tissues. The responses of these lines to elicitors was also examined. Methyl jasmonate and salicylic acid treatments produced increases in leaf indolyl and aromatic glucosinolates respectively. However, the extent of such increases differed widely between the lines, and there were other, less consistent, effects on other classes of glucosinolate. There seems to be greater variation in glucosinolate accumulation in rape than has previously been reported, and the lines described here have considerable potential for evaluating the effects of manipulating glucosinolate profiles on pest and disease interactions.     

Projecting climate change impacts on species distributions in megadiverse South African Cape and Southwest Australian Floristic Regions: Opportunities and challenges

Increasing evidence shows that anthropogenic climate change is affecting biodiversity. Reducing or stabilizing greenhouse gas emissions may slow global warming, but past emissions will continue to contribute to further unavoidable warming for more than a century. With obvious signs of difficulties in achieving effective mitigation worldwide in the short term at least, sound scientific predictions of future impacts on biodiversity will be required to guide conservation planning and adaptation. This is especially true in Mediterranean type ecosystems that are projected to be among the most significantly affected by anthropogenic climate change, and show the highest levels of confidence in rainfall projections. Multiple methods are available for projecting the consequences of climate change on the main unit of interest – the species – with each method having strengths and weaknesses. Species distribution models (SDMs) are increasingly applied for forecasting climate change impacts on species geographic ranges. Aggregation of models for different species allows inferences of impacts on biodiversity, though excluding the effects of species interactions. The modelling approach is based on several further assumptions and projections and should be treated cautiously. In the absence of comparable approaches that address large numbers of species, SDMs remain valuable in estimating the vulnerability of species. In this review we discuss the application of SDMs in predicting the impacts of climate change on biodiversity with special reference to the species‐rich South West Australian Floristic Region and South African Cape Floristic Region. We discuss the advantages and challenges in applying SDMs in biodiverse regions with high levels of endemicity, and how a similar biogeographical history in both regions may assist us in understanding their vulnerability to climate change. We suggest how the process of predicting the impacts of climate change on biodiversity with SDMs can be improved and emphasize the role of field monitoring and experiments in validating the predictions of SDMs.     

Variation in δ13C among species and sexes in the family Restionaceae along a fine‐scale hydrological gradient

Consistent, repeatable segregation of plant species along hydrological gradients is an established phenomenon that must in some way reflect a trade‐off between plants' abilities to tolerate the opposing constraints of drought and waterlogging. In C₃ species tissue carbon isotope discrimination (δ¹³C) is known to vary sensitively in response to stomatal behaviour, reflecting stomatal limitation of photosynthesis during the period of active growth. However, this has not been studied at fine‐spatial scale in natural communities. We tested how δ¹³C varied between species and sexes of individuals in the family Restionaceae growing along a monitored hydrological gradient. Twenty Restionaceae species were investigated using species‐level phylogeny at two sites in the Cape Floristic Region, a biodiversity hotspot. A spatial overlap analysis showed the Restionaceae species segregated significantly (P < 0.001) at both sites. Moreover, there were significant differences in δ¹³C values among the Restionaceae species (P < 0.001) and between male and female individuals of each species (P < 0.01). However, after accounting for phylogeny, species δ¹³C values did not show any significant correlation with the hydrological gradient. We suggest that some other variable (e.g. plant phenology) could be responsible for masking a simple response to water availability.     

Sentinel systems on the razor's edge: effects of warming on Arctic geothermal stream ecosystems

The Earth is experiencing historically unprecedented rates of warming, with surface temperatures projected to increase by 3–5 °C globally, and up to 7.5 °C in high latitudes, within the next century. Knowledge of how this will affect biological systems is still largely restricted to the lower levels of organization (e.g. species range shifts), rather than at the community, food web or ecosystem level, where responses cannot be predicted from studying single species in isolation. Further, many correlational studies are confounded with time and/or space, whereas experiments have been mostly confined to laboratory microcosms that cannot capture the true complexity of natural ecosystems. We used a ‘natural experiment’ in an attempt to circumvent these shortcomings, by characterizing community structure and trophic interactions in 15 geothermal Icelandic streams ranging in temperature from 5 °C to 45 °C. Even modest temperature increases had dramatic effects across multiple levels of organization, from changes in the mean body size of the top predators, to unimodal responses of species populations, turnover in community composition, and lengthening of food chains. Our results reveal that the rates of warming predicted for the next century have serious implications for the structure and functioning of these fragile ‘sentinel’ ecosystems across multiple levels of organization.     

Strategic ejaculation in the egg parasitoid Trichogramma turkestanica (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae)

Abstract.  1. Several parameters influence sperm allocation by males, including their size and sperm stock, intra-specific variability, quality of females', as well as the risk and intensity of sperm competition.
2. Models predict that males should invest the maximum ejaculate size when sperm competition intensity is low. As sperm competition intensity increases, males should decrease the number of sperm transferred during mating.
3. This decrease in sperm transfer to females occurs because the benefits gained by males with each extra unit of expenditure on sperm decrease. When sperm supply is not unlimited, males could expect a better return by keeping some or all sperm for mating under lower competition intensity.
4. In this study, the ejaculate size of males that were kept in groups of one, five or 10 males prior to mating, has been investigated in the haplodiploid egg parasitoid Trichogramma turkestanica Meyer (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae).
5. As predicted by theory, the number of sperm transferred decreased significantly with an increase in the number of rivals.
6. This is the first study showing strategic sperm allocation depending on sperm competition intensity in a parasitoid.     

Landscape-Genetic Analysis of Population Structure in the Texas Gray Fox Oral Rabies Vaccination Zone

ABSTRACT In west-central Texas, USA, abatement efforts for the gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) rabies epizootic illustrate the difficulties inherent in large-scale management of wildlife disease. The rabies epizootic has been managed through a cooperative oral rabies vaccination program (ORV) since 1996. Millions of edible baits containing a rabies vaccine have been distributed annually in a 16-km to 24-km zone around the perimeter of the epizootic, which encompasses a geographic area >4 × 10⁵ km². The ORV program successfully halted expansion of the epizootic into metropolitan areas but has not achieved the ultimate goal of eradication. Rabies activity in gray fox continues to occur periodically outside the ORV zone, preventing ORV zone contraction and dissipation of the epizootic. We employed a landscape-genetic approach to assess gray fox population structure and dispersal in the affected area, with the aim of assisting rabies management efforts. No unique genetic clusters or population boundaries were detected. Instead, foxes were weakly structured over the entire region in an isolation by distance pattern. Local subpopulations appeared to be genetically non-independent over distances >30 km, implying that long-distance movements or dispersal may have been common in the region. We concluded that gray foxes in west-central Texas have a high potential for long-distance rabies virus trafficking. Thus, a 16-km to 24-km ORV zone may be too narrow to contain the fox rabies epizootic. Continued expansion of the ORV zone, although costly, may be critical to the long-term goal of eliminating the Texas fox rabies virus variant from the United States.     

Etude Ultrastructurale de Différents Types de Kystes d'Opalines

Deux types de structure kystique ont été observés au microscope éectronique. Dans le ler, qui correspond aux kystes d'infection ou gamontokystes, la cellule est relativement libre dans l'enveloppe kystique. Celle-ci est formée de 2 couches distinctes d'inégale épaisseur (ectokyste, endokyste) sécrétées par la cellule et doublées intérieurement par un mince feuillet cytoplasmique dûà une extension des plis cuticulaires. C'est la seule modification du cortex cellulaire. Par contre, dans le 2ème type les modifications sont beaucoup plus importantes. La cellule est étroitement accolée aux parois du kyste; crêtes et flagelles ont disparu de la surface. Cependant on retrouve leurs traces dans la région corticale, sous forme d'axonèmes intracytoplasmiques plus ou moins désorganisés et d'empilements de saccules associés à des rangées de microtubules. Ce seraient des kystes de résistance. Les structures observées dans ces derniers kystes nous permettent de discuter quelques idées sur la participation des microtubules et des systèmes membranaires à la morphogénèse du cortex des Opalines.     

Ultrastructure de Quelques Stades de la Microsporidie Octosporea muscaedomesticae Flu, Parasite de Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) (Diptère, Trypetidae)

La présence de diplocaryons à tous les stades de la sporulation d'Octosporea muscaedomesticae Flu, 1911 est mise en évidence ainsi qu'une membrane pansporoblastique autour des sporoblastes en développement et des spores. Le problème présenté par ces 2 faits est discuté. Une évolution étrange des ribosomes périnucléaires et démontrée. Une telle étude ultrastructurale est nécessaire et intéressante car O. muscaedomesticae est l'espèce-type du genre Octosporea.