Mitochondrial DNA variation and the evolutionary history of the Mediterranean species of Cicada L. (Hemiptera,Cicadoidea)

Cicadas are widely distributed in the Mediterranean area and are mainly distinguished by male acoustic signals, which act as specific mate recognition systems. Within the genus Cicada L. several species have diverged in their calling songs without showing external morphological differences, so acoustic recordings and genetic studies are particularly useful for systematic, biogeography and evolutionary studies. This study assesses sequence variation in closely related species of Cicada from the Mediterranean area, using domain III of the 12S rRNA mitochondrial gene in order to determine the phylogenetic relationships and the evolutionary history of this group, as well as the population structure of the two most common species, C. orni and C. barbara. Five distinct haplogroups were identified, C. orni, C. barbara, C. mordoganensis, C. cretensis and C. lodosi, each corresponding to a distinct evolutionary group. C. barbara was the most divergent species within this group, while C. orni and C. mordoganensis were the most similar. The population structure and demographic parameters of the species were not completely resolved. However, there is evidence for the separation of the C. orni Greek populations from the rest of Europe and also for demographic expansions probably related to Pleistocene climate changes. © 2009 The Linnean Society of London, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2009, 155 , 266–288.     

Repeatability of dispersal behaviour in a common dwarf spider: evidence for different mechanisms behind short‐ and long‐distance dispersal

Abstract 1. The response of dispersal towards evolution largely depends on its heritability for which upper limits are determined by the trait’s repeatability. 2. In the Linyphiid spider E. atra, we were able to separate long‐ and short‐distance dispersal behaviours (respectively ballooning and rappelling) under laboratory conditions. By performing repeated behavioural trials for females, we show that average dispersal trait values decrease with increasing testing days. By comparing mated and unmated individuals during two periods (before and after mating for the mated group, and the same two periods for the unmated group), we show that mating has no effect on the mean displayed dispersal behaviour or its within‐individual variation. Repeatabilities were high and consistent for ballooning motivation, but not for rappelling. 3. Ballooning motivation can be regarded as highly individual‐specific behaviour, while general pre‐dispersal and rappelling behaviours showed more individual variation. Such difference in repeatability between long‐ and short‐distance dispersal suggests that short‐ and long‐distance dispersal events are triggered by different ecological and evolutionary mechanisms.     

Environmental features influencing Carabid beetle (Coleoptera) assemblages along a recently deglaciated area in the Alpine region

Abstract.  1. The spatio-temporal approach was used to evaluate the environmental features influencing carabid beetle assemblages along a chronosequence of an Italian Alpine glacier foreland. The influence of environmental variables on species richness, morphology (wing and body length), and distribution along the chronosequence was tested.
2. Species richness was found to be a poor indicator of habitat due to weak influences by environmental variables. It seems that the neighbouring habitats of a glacier foreland are not able to determine significant changes in carabid species richness.
3. Instead it appears that history (age since deglaciation) and habitat architecture of a glacier foreland are strongly correlated to species adaptive morphological traits, such as wing morphology and body length. Assemblages characterised by species with reduced wing size are linked to the older stages of the chronosequence, where habitat is more structured. Assemblages characterised by the largest species are linked to the younger sites near the glacier. These morphological differentiations are explained in detail.
4. Habitat age can therefore be considered the main force determining assemblage composition. On the basis of the relationship between morphological traits and environmental variables, it seems likely that age since deglaciation is the main variable influencing habitat structure (primary effect) on the Forni foreland. The strong relationship between carabid assemblages and habitat type indicates that site age has but a secondary effect on carabid assemblages. This may be utilised to interpret potential changes in assemblages linked to future glacier retreat.     

Patch time allocation in male parasitoids

Abstract 1. Patch time allocation has been mostly studied in female parasitoids exploiting patches of hosts. Different parameters such as oviposition, host encounters, patch quality, etc. have been repeatedly shown to modify the time females invest on hosts. 2. Male parasitoids are expected to maximise their lifetime fitness by maximising the number of females inseminated during their life. Because they can be sperm and/or time limited, they should optimise their time allocation on emergence patches. 3. Patch time allocation thus appears to be an important question for both male and female parasitoids. 4. In this study, we determined the parameters used by males of the egg parasitoid Trichogramma turkestanica to decide when to leave the emergence patch. Among the different patch‐leaving parameters tested, only contacts with parasitised hosts and presence of virgin females significantly influenced the patch‐leaving tendency. 5. Our results suggest that males express behaviours that could enable them to optimise their patch exploitation time, as females do, but using different strategies.     

Hygroreception in olfactometer studies

Abstract In olfactometric studies, a technique used to measure insect behavioural bias towards airborne chemicals, many of the factors that could affect the bioassay outcome other than the volatiles themselves are carefully controlled (e.g. lighting conditions, temperature, spatial position, physiological state of the insects, time of day when the bioassay is performed) but one factor, namely humidity, is overlooked frequently when studying responses to plant volatiles. Many insect species respond positively and negatively to changes in humidity and, during bioassays, differences arising from odour choices with different water vapour release rates might have confounding effects versus the original intent of the behavioural study. The present study aims to assess the effect of different substrates on the water vapour content of air in an olfactometer‐like set‐up. The results show that airflow humidity is affected by the odour source used in the olfactometer air flow. In addition, the response of the aphid parasitoid Aphidius colemani Viereck (Hymenoptera: Aphidiidae) is studied towards different humidities and plant material in an olfactometer. The present study suggests that humidity needs to be controlled in olfactometric studies.     

4α‐Acetoxyamijidictyol – A New Antifeeding Dolastane Diterpene from the Brazilian Brown Alga Canistrocarpus cervicornis

Chemical investigation of the CH₂Cl₂ crude extract from the brown alga Canistrocarpus cervicornis (Dictyotaceae) led to isolation of one new ( 1 ) and four previously reported dolastane diterpenes ( 2 – 5 ). Their structures were characterized by 1D‐ and 2D‐NMR spectroscopic techniques, including a full single crystal X‐ray diffraction analysis for 1, 2 , and 4 . In addition, the new structure 1 was assayed as chemical defense inhibiting the feeding by the sea urchin Lytechinus variegatus. This study constitutes an additional report broadening the known spectrum of action and defensive roles of secondary metabolites of the C. cervicornis and Dictyotales species.     

Burkholderia species are ancient symbionts of legumes

Burkholderia has only recently been recognized as a potential nitrogen-fixing symbiont of legumes, but we find that the origins of symbiosis in Burkholderia are much deeper than previously suspected. We sampled 143 symbionts from 47 native species of Mimosa across 1800 km in central Brazil and found that 98% were Burkholderia . Gene sequences defined seven distinct and divergent species complexes within the genus Burkholderia . The symbiosis-related genes formed deep Burkholderia -specific clades, each specific to a species complex, implying that these genes diverged over a long period within Burkholderia without substantial horizontal gene transfer between species complexes.     

Spatio‐temporal scaling of biodiversity and the species–time relationship in a stream fish assemblage

1. The increase of species richness with the area of the habitat sampled, that is the species–area relationship, and its temporal analogue, the species–time relationship (STR), are among the few general laws in ecology with strong conservation implications. However, these two scale‐dependent phenomena have rarely been considered together in biodiversity assessment, especially in freshwater systems. 2. We examined how the spatial scale of sampling influences STRs for a Central‐European stream fish assemblage (second‐order Bernecei stream, Hungary) using field survey data in two simulation‐based experiments. 3. In experiment one, we examined how increasing the number of channel units, such as riffles and pools (13 altogether), and the number of field surveys involved in the analyses (12 sampling occasions during 3 years), influence species richness. Complete nested curves were constructed to quantify how many species one observes in the community on average for a given number of sampling occasions at a given spatial scale. 4. In experiment two, we examined STRs for the Bernecei fish assemblage from a landscape perspective. Here, we evaluated a 10‐year reach level data set (2000–09) for the Bernecei stream and its recipient watercourse (third‐order Kemence stream) to complement results on experiment one and to explore the mechanisms behind the observed patterns in more detail. 5. Experiment one indicated the strong influence of the spatial scale of sampling on the accumulation of species richness, although time clearly had an additional effect. The simulation methodology advocated here helped to estimate the number of species in a diverse combination of spatial and temporal scale and, therefore, to determine how different scale combinations influence sampling sufficiency. 6. Experiment two revealed differences in STRs between the upstream (Bernecei) and downstream (Kemence) sites, with steeper curves for the downstream site. Equations of STR curves were within the range observed in other studies, predominantly from terrestrial systems. Assemblage composition data suggested that extinction–colonisation dynamics of rare, non‐resident (i.e. satellite) species influenced patterns in STRs. 7. Our results highlight that the determination of species richness can benefit from the joint consideration of spatial and temporal scales in biodiversity inventory surveys. Additionally, we reveal how our randomisation‐based methodology may help to quantify the scale dependency of diversity components (α, β, γ) in both space and time, which have critical importance in the applied context.     

Effects of omnivorous filter‐feeding fish and nutrient enrichment on the plankton community and water transparency of a tropical reservoir

1. The major aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that nutrient enrichment and the introduction of the Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), an exotic omnivorous filter‐feeding fish, operate interdependently to regulate plankton communities and water transparency of a tropical reservoir in the semi‐arid northeastern Brazil. 2. A field experiment was performed for 5 weeks in 20 enclosures (9.8 m³) to which four treatments were randomly allocated: tilapia addition (F), nutrient addition (N), tilapia and nutrient addition (F + N) and a control treatment with no tilapia or nutrient addition (C). A two‐way repeated measures anova was undertaken to test for time, tilapia and nutrient effects and their interactions on water transparency, total phosphorus and total nitrogen concentrations, phytoplankton biovolume and zooplankton biomass. 3. Nutrient addition had no effect except on rotifer biomass, but there were significant fish effects on the biomass of total zooplankton, copepod nauplii, rotifers, cladocerans and calanoid copepods and on the biovolume of total phytoplankton, large algae (GALD ≥ 50 μm), Bacillariophyta and Zygnemaphyceae and on Secchi depth. In addition, we found significant interaction effects between tilapia and nutrients on Secchi depth and rotifers. Overall, tilapia decreased the biomass of most zooplankton taxa and large algae (diatoms) and decreased water transparency, while nutrient enrichment increased the biomass of rotifers, but only in the absence of tilapia. 4. In conclusion, the influence of fish on the reservoir plankton community and water transparency was significant and even greater than that of nutrient loading. This suggests that biomanipulation of filter‐feeding tilapias may be of importance for water quality management of eutrophic reservoirs in tropical semi‐arid regions.