Hatching mechanism and accelerated hatching of the eggs of a sac-spawning euphausiid Nematoscelis difficilis

Observation of the sac-spawning euphausiid Nematoscelis difficilisHansen during shipboard laboratory incubations showed that itsembryos usually hatch as pseudometanauplius (PMN) or metanauplius(MN). The eggs, which have a minute perivitelline space, arespherical at spawning and become elliptical after the nauplius1 develops. When ready to hatch, the PMN or MN embryos extendand contract their first and second antennae in a swimming movement,breaking the chorion into almost equal halves joined by onesmall section in the anterior part of the chorion. The mandiblesplay a secondary role in cutting the chorion. Then the embryopushes itself backwards with the first and second antennae toescape from the chorion. This is known as ‘push-off’hatching. The embryos always hatch progressively from the distalend towards the proximal end of the ovigerous sac. The timebetween hatching of the first and last embryo may reflect thetime the females require to lay a clutch of eggs (<2.1 h).Development time to the PMN stage at 10°C was     

Sustainable ecotourism in Costa Rica: the Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve

The paper discusses the sustainability of the Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve in the context of Costa Rican ecotourism. While the history of the Preserve is somewhat unique, the analysis of visitation, financial, ecological and economic factors provides a convincing case that tourism at the Preserve is sustainable. The experience of the Preserve is also put in the context of Costa Rican ecotourism, particularly to the national parks. The paper concludes that the Preserve has played a very important role in the development of Costa Rica as an ecotourism destination. Nonetheless, the failure of experience at the Preserve to inform recent changes in national park pricing policy reveal that Costa Rica has yet to fully capitalize on the experience gained and lessons learned at the Preserve.     

Role of endogenous gibberellins in germination of melon (Cucumis melo) seeds

The effect of the plant growth retardants ancymidol. mefluidide and uniconazole on germination of two melon accessions differing in their ability to germinate at 14°C was examined. The accessions were the cold sensitive Noy Yizre'el and the cold tolerant Persia 202. The three growth retardants were able to delay the germination of intact Noy Yizre'el seeds, but did not affect that of intact Persia 202 seeds. On the other hand germination of decoated seeds of both accessions was unaffected by these inhibitors at normal oxygen concentration, but was inhibited at 5% oxygen. When gibberellin-like activity was measured by a dwarf rice biological assay following HPLC fractionation, it was found that seeds of Persia 202 contained much more gibberellin-like activity than Noy Yizre'el seeds. Among the extracted compounds several endogenous gibberellins were identified by combined gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). They included GA₄, GA₂₀, GA₁ and GA₃ in Noy Yizre'el and GA₃₄, GA₂₀, GA₁ and GA₈ in Persia 202. It is suggested that the better germination of intact Persia 202 seeds, compared to Noy Yizre'el seeds at low temperature and low oxygen concentration, is due to a higher endogenous level of GA and a better seed coat permeability to oxygen.     

Biodiversity of sweetpotato (iPomoea batatas,Convolvulaceae) in Southern Mexico

Between 1987 and 1992 the phytogeographic region of southern Mexico was explored during three collecting trips made in search of cultivated and wild germplasm of the sweetpotato (Ipomoea batatas). The first trip was made in 1987, when we collected wild species in Ipomoea section Batatas found in the southeastern and southwestern regions of Mexico. A second trip was made in 1990, when we collected accessions of the cultivated species as well as wild species in the southeast, southwest and northeast. The third and final trip was oriented at identification, characterization and collecting seeds in the ecological niches ofI.tabascana andI.umbraticola. As a result of the three trips we collected 165 accessions of cultivated and wild germplasm with populations dispersed in 147 localities in 15 states of the Mexican region: Veracruz, Tabasco, Campeche, Chiapas, Oaxaca, Yucatán, Guerrero, Michoacán, San Luis Potosí, Hidalgo, Querétaro, Tamaulipas, Guanajuato, Puebla and México. Of the total accessions some 64 (38.3%) were of the cultivated species including nine accessions of feral material, and 103 accessions (61.7%) were of wild species made up of 59 accessions of seven species in the section Batatas, 37 of other species in the family Convolvulaceae, and seven yet to be determined. We have identified the largest genetic biodiversity in six localities of five states: Tabasco, Oaxaca, Michoacán, San Luis Potosí, and Puebla. Biodiversity maintenance in this region is associated with the day-of-the-dead festivities.     

Neurochemical effects ofl-pyroglutamic acid

The effect ofl-pyroglutamic acid, a metabolite that accumulates in pyroglutamic aciduria, on different neurochemical parameters was investigated in adult male Wistar rats. Glutamate binding, adenylate cyclase activity and G protein coupling to adenylate cyclase were assayed in the presence of the acid.l-pyroglutamic acid decreased Na⁺-dependent and Na⁺-independent glutamate binding Basal and GMP-PNP stimulated adenylate cyclase activity were not affected by the acid. Furthermore, rats received unilateral intrastriatal injections of 10–300 nmol of bufferedl-pyroglutamic acid. Vehicle (0.25 M Tris-Cl, pH 7.35–7.4) was injected into the contralateral striatum. Neurotoxic damage was assessed seven days after the injection by histological examination and by weighing both cerebral hemispheres. No difference in histology or weight could be identified between hemispheres. These results suggest that, although capable of interfering with glutamate binding, pyroglutamate did not cause a major lesion in the present model of neurotoxicity.     

The Fcu controlling-element system in maize

Summary The relationship between the Fcu controlling-element system and the spotted-dilute R system was investigated. The Fcu controlling-element system consists of the receptor element allele r-cu and the regulatory element Fcu. The equivalent components of the spotted-dilute R system are respectively R-r#2 (or R-r#2 Dil) and Spf. The R-r#2 allele of the latter system was shown to be responsive (mutable) to Fcu, provided that it has had an uninterrupted association with Dil or Dpf as evidenced by the color variegation of the aleurone tissue. The reverse test, in which the r-cu allele of the Fcu controlling element system was tested for its response to Spf, proved negative. This was surprising in view of the relationship and specificity between systems. The possibility was considered that maize controlling elements may have different sizes as is known for bacterial insertion sequences. —The variable dilute pigmenting capacity of the r-cu allele also was studied. A given level of r-cu-induced pigmentation, despite the wide range in pigmentation expression, was found to be generally non-heritable, as based on a test of correspondence between parent and progeny.Journal Paper No. J-9204 of the Iowa Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station, Ames, Iowa. Project No. 1884Now with Funk's Seeds, Casalmorano (Cremona), Italy     

Fitting multiple trajectories simultaneously to a model of inducible enzyme synthesis

The iterative scheme described by Milstein [6] is used to estimate the rate constants of a model describing an inducible enzyme system. The model was formulated by Heinmets [5], and was mathematically analyzed by Roth and Roth [9] using Bellman's quasilinearization technique. The method used in this article makes use of multiple trajectories of the system to obtain a set of parameters which fit the data of all trajectories simultaneously. A comparison of the numerical results is presented. The data used in the calculations were generated in a similar way to that of Roth and Roth. However, we introduce into each datum 5% noise from a random number generator uniformly distributed [0,1].