Disentangling stocking introgression and natural migration in brown trout: survival success and recruitment failure in populations with semi‐supportive breeding

1. Introgression into natural salmonid populations from stocked conspecifics has been widely studied. Outcomes vary from no effect even after decades of stocking, to population replacement after only a couple of generations. Potential introgression caused by semi‐supportive breeding (i.e. using a mixture of local strains as brood stock) is, however, less well studied. 2. We investigated population structure of brown trout (Salmo trutta) in a regulated alpine lake with three natural, environmentally contrasting tributaries used as spawning and rearing habitat. Massive semi‐supportive breeding of admixed local strains has been implemented for decades. Stocked trout represented c. 17% of the total lake population, and a substantial post‐release survival reflects a considerable potential for introgression. However, the mark‐recapture studies indicate no spawning runs of stocked fish. 3. Using 13 polymorphic microsatellite loci, we found natural straying and non‐native reproduction, especially among wild populations inhabiting environmentally unstable habitat. Retained genetic structure across tributaries indicated low reproductive success of wild‐born non‐natives. Moreover, the genetic structure among tributaries has probably not been influenced by semi‐supportive breeding, because of recruitment failure of stocked trout.     

Biogeochemical interactions between iron and sulphate in freshwater wetlands and their implications for interspecific competition between aquatic macrophytes

1. Wetlands are threatened by desiccation, eutrophication and changing water quality, generally leading to greatly altered biogeochemical processes. Sulphate pollution can lead to severe eutrophication and sulphide toxicity, but may also interact with the availability of iron and other metals. 2. In the present study, we examined the biogeochemical interactions between sulphate and iron availability, and their effects on aquatic macrophytes, in a field experiment with enclosures. The natural iron supply by groundwater was mimicked by adding iron to the sediment, and the effect of increased sulphate concentrations in the surface water was also studied. The enclosure experiment was performed in a mesotrophic, anaerobic ditch in a peat meadow reserve in the Netherlands. In all enclosures, three Stratiotes aloides plants were introduced to serve as indicator species. 3. Addition of sulphate led to the mobilisation of phosphate, whereas addition of iron or both iron and sulphate did not affect P mobilisation. Growth of S. aloides was decreased by both iron addition and sulphate addition (sulphide toxicity). Addition of iron under sulphidic conditions, however, led to mutual detoxification of both toxicants (iron and sulphide) and did not decrease S. aloides growth. The uptake of metals was highest in the treatment involving sulphate addition, probably as a result of increased mineralisation of the peat soil. 4. Growth of Elodea nuttallii, which grew naturally in the enclosures, was stimulated by iron or iron plus sulphate addition. It did not, however, grow in the enclosures with sulphate addition, as a result of sulphide toxicity or sulphide‐induced iron deficiency. Under iron‐rich conditions, E. nuttallii appeared to be a better competitor than S. aloides and depressed the growth of the latter species. 5. We propose that the growth of S. aloides is directly regulated by interactions between sulphide and iron and indirectly by the effects of both compounds on the competitive strength of E. nuttallii. In general, we conclude that biogeochemical interactions between sulphate and iron can have a strong influence on plant species composition in freshwater wetlands, because of direct effects or changes in the competitive strength of plant species related to differential sensitivity to either iron or sulphide.     

Short‐term temperature change may impact freshwater carbon flux: a microbial perspective

Small freshwater bodies are abundant and economically and ecologically important on a global scale. Within these, protozoa play an important role in structuring planktonic food webs and sequestering CO₂. We hypothesized that short‐term (～20 days) fluctuations, of 2–10 °C, will significantly alter carbon flux associated with predator–prey interactions within the microbial planktonic food web. We examined the model ciliate, Urotricha farcta, which is abundant and common; it was fed the autotrophic flagellate Cryptomonas sp., which is also common. Laboratory experiments were conducted over relevant ranges: 8–24 °C; 0–2 × 10⁵ prey mL^?1. Mechanistic‐phenomenological multiple regressions were developed and fit to the data to obtain relationships for (1) growth rate and volume changes of the flagellate vs. temperature and (2) growth rates, grazing, and cell volume change of the ciliate vs. temperature and prey concentration. Responses revealed interaction between temperature and prey levels on all ciliate parameters, indicating it is inappropriate to apply simple temperature corrections (e.g. Q₁₀) to such functions. The potential impact of such temperature changes on carbon flux was illustrated using a simple ciliate–flagellate predator–prey model, with and without the top grazer, Daphnia, added. The model indicated that predator–prey pulses occurred over 20 days, with the ciliate controlling the prey population. For ciliates and prey, carbon production peaked at 20 °C and rapidly decreased above and below this maximum; differences between minimum and maximum were approximately fourfold, for both prey and ciliate, with low levels at 25–30 °C and 10–15 °C. Including literature data to parameterize, the influence of the grazer Daphnia did not alter the prediction that the ciliate may control short‐term flagellate pulses and temperature will influence these in a nonintuitive fashion.     

Voltinism and seasonal changes in haemolymph protein pattern of Pyrrhocoris apterus (Heteroptera: Pyrrhocoridae) in relation to diapause

Abstract. The red firebug, Pyrrhocoris apterus (L.), was shown not to be strictly a monovoltine species in Czechoslovakia. A second generation arises from eggs laid by females emerging between June and the beginning of August. Oviposition takes place before diapause is induced in the females by shortening of photophase. Adults that moult later, enter diapause without having laid eggs.
Electrophoretic patterns of haemolymph proteins of adults collected in the field throughout a year showed a characteristic temporal pattern of changes correlated not only with the stages of ovarian development, but also with the progression of diapause and post-diapause quiescence. The changes mainly concerned vitellogenin and polypeptides of molecular weight 78 and 80 kDa.
Vitellogenin was present only in the haemolymph of reproductive females. The polypeptides of 78 and 80 kDa, belonging to the group of storage proteins, accumulated conspicuously in the haemolymph of adults undergoing diapause and post-diapause quiescence. However, the occurrence of these polypeptides seems not to be connected exclusively with cold, because their titres increased with the length of diapause development, even in diapausing adults reared in the laboratory at a constant 26.C     

Ecological Reflections on Insect Neuroendocrine Activity

SYNOPSIS. Specific states of insects adapted to specific environmentalconditions are often based on specific hormone levels. Extrinsiccontrol of the activity of endocrine glands and of the breakdownmechanisms of hormones are at the base of these relations. Thiscontrol is exerted by environmental tokens, such as photoperiod,food conditions, or population density. Some examples are givenfrom adult diapause in the Colorado potato beetle, caste differentiationin the honey bee, and larval growth in Bupalus piniarius. The ecological aspects of juvenoid insect growth regulationsare as important as the physiological aspects to determine theirpractical value. An example is given in the control of someleafrollers in apple culture, which is only feasible in isolatedorchards.     

Infectivity of Leishmania donovani Amastigotes and Promastigotes for Golden Hamsters*

SYNOPSIS. Intracardial injection of hamsters with from 5 to 114 million amastigotes or promastigotes of Leishmania donovani and screening of the 8th-day liver impression smears, provides a rapid and reproducible method for assaying infectivity. Amastigotes are at least 10X more infective than promastigotes, and log-phase promastigotes act as a single infective population for hamsters.     

Will Great Tits become Little Tits ?

The mean size of Great Tits Parus major in our study at Ghent shows a significant decreasing trend in the period 1962 to 1975. Since it has been shown that in the Great Tit the heritability of tarsus length, a measure for size, is rather high, we believe the observed trend to be a directional micro-evolutionary change. After investigating several possible causes for the size decrease, we suggest that the observed change is caused by a shift in the equilibrium between selective pressures favouring large and small individuals. Before our study, breeding numbers of Great Tits were limited through the lack of suitable nest-sites. We think that more of the large males could reproduce in mat situation. When we provided nestboxes in surplus this selective pressure was relaxed, and since small females must produce more surviving offspring, this further shifts the balance.
We argue that during the evolutionary history of the Great Tit there was no lack of suitable nest-sites in natural habitats, that by providing nest boxes we restore the natural situation, and diat therefore the decrease in size should level off.     

The Water Relations of Pinus sylvestris

The water potential (β) in ten-year-old Scots pine trees (Pinus sylvestris L.) from four different latitudinal provenances ranging from 57° N to 67° N, growing in close proximity to each other, was measured in a pressure chamber during five selected periods between May 1972 and March 1973. Diurnal and seasonal patterns of φ are presented in relation to irradiance, air temperature and vapour pressure deficit (D) for one cloudy and one clear day in each experimental period. The largest daily amplitude in φ was found at the beginning and end of summer, indicating a larger resistance to water flow from soil to needles. As the soil water potentials (measured as pre-dawn values) were, at the same time, the highest for the year, it is suggested that these changes in resistance from period to period mainly take place in the trees. Plots of φ against D during clear days, showed marked hysteresis as the result of the simultaneous influence on φ of several environmental factors. Close linear relations resulted when φ was plotted against potential evaporation rate (calculated from the Pennman-Monteith formula). The slopes of these regression lines, essentially the flow resistance, showed marked seasonal variations, with the largest resistance found at the beginning and end of summer. In most periods the water relations of the trees from different provenances were strikingly similar. A continuous change in the water relations of the remote provenances towards the situation for the “home-provenance” is indicated by the experimental results. It is concluded that trees from different latitudes after ten years of growth have about the same chance as the home provenance to survive periods during which their water balance might become critical.