Islands in a desert: breeding ecology of the African Reed Warbler Acrocephalus baeticatus in Namibia

The continental African Reed Warbler Acrocephalus baeticatus, like its relative the Seychelles Warbler Acrocephalus sechellensis, breeds in isolated patches. We studied the mating system of the African Reed Warbler to see whether this species, like the Seychelles Warbler, shows co-operative breeding. The African Reed Warbler is not polygynous. The majority breed monogamously (88%, n = 65), however in 12% of the territories three adult unrelated birds (mostly males) were observed participating in the brooding and feeding of nestlings, suggesting a polyandrous breeding system. Multilocus DNA fingerprinting revealed that the helping bird was unrelated to the pair birds. The percentage of nests with helpers was low compared to rates found in the Seychelles Warbler or Henderson Reed Warbler Acrocephalus vaughani taiti. This could be due to the scarcity of potential helpers or to the fact that, although limited, birds still had the opportunity to disperse within a meta-population structure in search of vacant territories. The presence of helpers was associated with increased hatching success due to lower predation rates, but not with increased fledging success. Another possible benefit of helping behaviour in this species could be improved predator detection and mobbing. Nest predation was high and warblers tended to build their nests in the highest, most dense reed patches available in their territory. There was no relation between habitat quality, measured as insect food availability, and the occurrence of helpers.     

Theoretical Analysis of Yield of Field Pea (Pisum sativum L.) Crops using Frequency Distributions for Individual Plant Performance

Variability among individual plants causes low seed yields infield pea (Pisum sativum L.) crops. To quantify this variability,an empirical principal axis model (PAM) was developed whichhas two components: (a ) a principal axis, representing therelationship between the seed weight (SWT) produced and plantweight (PWT) of individual plants; and (b ) an ellipse, whichcharacterizes the scatter of individual values around the axis.To develop the model, plant-to-plant variability was simulatedby systematically changing the mean and standard deviation (s.d.)of frequency distributions for SWT and PWT. Changes in the interceptand slope of the principal axis and the location and shape ofthe associated ellipse were used to describe the plant-to-plantvariability. Differences in the mean SWT or PWT altered the location of theellipse. When changes in the s.d. values were equal for SWTand PWT, the dimensions of the ellipse changed, but the axesratio was constant. Non-proportionate changes in the s.d. valuescaused rotation of the principal axis and altered the shapeof the ellipse. The effect of differences in the PAM on plant harvest index(PHI) was also examined. When the intercept of the principalaxis passed through the origin, PHI was independent of PWT,and equal to the gradient of the axis. However, when the SWT-axisintercept was negative, indicating that a minimum plant weightwas required for seed production, the relationship between PHIand PWT was asymptotic. This relationship is of major importancefor interpreting differences in PHI distributions, and thuscrop harvest index and seed yield among crops. Field peas (Pisum sativum L.) individual plants; plant harvest index; plant weight; principal axis model; seed weight; simulation     

Bergmann's rule in shrews: geographical variation of body size in Palearctic Sorex species

According to Bergmann's rule, individuals of a given species tend to be larger in colder (northern) climates. Traditional explanation points to the relatively lower surface‐to‐volume ratio in larger animals and, consequently, relatively lower costs of thermoregulation. We examined intraspecific covariation of body size with geographical location and climate in five species of Sorex shrews, animals that are among the smallest extant mammals. The condylobasal length of skull (CBL), compiled from literature data and measured on museum specimens, was used as an indicator of the overall body size of shrews. Surprisingly, in three out of five shrew species, the CBL was negatively correlated with latitude, and the same trend, although not statistically significant, was found in the fourth species. In general, shrews were smaller in colder areas, as evidenced by the positive correlations between the CBL and temperature. In two species, these positive correlations appeared when the effect of longitude was held constant in the partial correlation analysis. Characteristically, the strongest negative correlation with latitude and positive with temperatures was found in S. minutus, the smallest species under study. Shrews were in general larger in environments with high actual evapotranspiration. Body mass reviewed in S. araneus paralleled the pattern found in the CBL variation in this species, i.e. it decreased northward, both in summer‐ and winter‐caught animals. In addition, contrary to the widely accepted ? but not rigorously tested ? belief, body mass recession from summer to winter (the Dehnel Effect) did not correlate with latitude. We concluded that shrews followed the converse to Bergmann's rule, and hypothesize that part of their body size variation along the west‐east axis may be explained by character displacement. We also hypothesize that scarcity of food, especially in winter, is a major factor selecting for small body size in shrews in northern areas, as smaller individuals should require less food. © 2003 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2003, 78 , 365–381.     

中国食用向日葵种质资源遗传变异的RAPD及AFLP分析

本研究采用RAPD和AFLP方法对23个中国不同地区的食用向日葵(Helianthus annuus L.)骨干品种进行了遗传变异分析,同时对两种标记系统进行了比较.26个RAPD引物产生了总计192条DNA条带,大小分布于0.26 kb～1.98 kb之间,其中165条(86.12%)具有多态性,每条引物产生DNA条带的平均数为7.38.8对AFLP引物组合共产生了576条带,分布于100 bp～500 bp之间,其中的341条具有多态性,多态百分率为76.00%,每对引物组合产生DNA条带的平均数为72.RAPD方法检测到的每位点有效等位基因数(1.76)大于AFLP(1.65),AFLP标记位点的平均多态性信息量(PIC)(0.38)低于RAPD标记位点的PIC(0.41),但AFLP标记具有很高的多态性检测效率(Ai=38.52).用RAPD标记分析23个食用向日葵材料的亲缘关系,Nei氏相似性系数分布在47.84%～82.06%,平均相似性系数为0.649 5, 而采用AFLP的Nei氏相似性系数分布在54.15%～83.52%,平均相似性系数为0.688 4.RAPD数据的标准差为0.13,而AFLP数据的标准差为0.08.因此,采用RAPD和AFLP方法分析食用向日葵遗传变异,RAPD标记具有较低相似性系数和较高方差而AFLP则相反.源于两种不同标记的遗传相似性矩阵的相关系数为0.51,说明采用RAPD和AFLP系统分析食用向日葵遗传变异得到的结果有一定的相关性.无论采用RAPD还是AFLP标记进行聚类分析,都将23个不同基因型的食用向日葵材料分成了三个类群.     

Alternative tactics in spawning site selection by brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) related to incubation microhabitats in a harsh winter environment

1. Species with distributions that span a broad range of latitudes may have populations that exhibit distinct life history traits associated with environmental gradients. The majority of previous studies have indicated a strong association between spawning site selection by brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) and the presence of upwelling groundwater, but does this generalisation extend to the thermal regimes experienced at northern sites? 2. We investigated the role of hyporheic flow in redd site selection by brook trout in a relatively high‐latitude boreal system. Hyporheic flows through streambed substratums can be dominated by groundwater or surface water and may be influenced by the presence of morphological features. For autumn spawners such as brook trout, embryos situated in microhabitats where hyporheic flow in the shallow substratum is groundwater dominant (i.e. warmer in winter) are likely to experience accelerated development rates relative to embryos in redds where there is downwelling surface water (i.e. colder in winter). 3. We measured vertical hydraulic gradients (VHG) at the microhabitat scale and spatial and temporal variation in upwelling/downwelling flow and thermal regimes in brook trout spawning/incubation habitats. Additionally, we noted the proximity of redd sites to stream morphological features (e.g. riffle crests). 4. Our results indicate that upwelling flow was not a decisive cue in redd site selection at the microhabitat scale (10⁰ m) as an approximately equal number of redds were situated in microhabitats with upward flow as compared to microhabitats with downward flow through the redd. Redds situated on bedforms with convex longitudinal profiles (e.g. riffle crests, log steps) were associated with downward flow, whereas redds not immediately adjacent to these bedform features were associated with upward flow. Winter streambed temperatures confirmed that both sites with steady upwelling (i.e. warm incubation regime) and downwelling (i.e. cold incubation regime) were indeed selected by spawners. 5. Our observations that spawners utilised both cold‐regime and warm‐regime sites suggests the existence of distinct reproductive tactics related to hyporheic flow patterns in this boreal system. As temperature is the dominant factor controlling rates of embryonic development, the use of spawning microhabitats with distinct thermal regimes implies substantial differences in the timing of hatching and the phenology of emergence.     

Atmospheric ammonia and impacts of nitrogen deposition: uncertainties and challenges

Dr Willem Asman concluded that the major global sources of atmospheric NH₃ are excreta from domestic animals and fertilizers. A question raised was: how reliable are the emission estimates and extrapolations? The answer was that emission estimates are surrounded by uncertainty, which is a major handicap to sound modelling of NH₃ dry deposition and, consequently, to obtaining good estimates of critical load exceedences.
Major uncertainties in emission estimates seem to be related to the use of simple emission factors, many of which are highly empirical or have been derived from measurements carried out under conditions which deviate considerably from those following modern practices of handling and applying manure and fertilizers. An example is provided by the commonly used emission factors for synthetic fertilizers (see e.g. Bouwman et al . (1997)), which are much higher than recent micrometeorological assessments seem to suggest. Thus, emission from urea, the most widespread fertilizer used in the world (currently around 55% of world N consumption) can be completely avoided if the fertilizer is incorporated into the upper soil layers. Similarly, a growing crop can reduce losses to well below 10% of the applied amount of urea-N, i.e. to less than half of the generally used emission factors of 15% for Europe and 25% for the tropics. The emission factor for NPK-fertilizer is set at 4%, whereas that for pure calcium-ammonium-nitrate, the same N compound as is present in NPK-fertilizers, is assumed to be only 2%.