Patterns of feeding behaviour in adult male riodinid butterflies and their relationship to morphology and ecology

Adult butterflies are known to visit a wide variety of food substrates, but, with the exception of flower visitation, little is known about what substances are being sought or what determines substrate choice. This is especially true for the Riodinidae, a large family [c. 1300 spp.) of almost exclusively Neotropical butterflies. We present adult male feeding records for 124 species in 41 genera of Riodinidae (out of a total of 441 species in 85 genera collected in the study), based on ten months sampling in Ecuador. Records of food substrates visited in this study include flowers, damp sand or mud (‘puddling’) and rotting carrion. Rotting carrion placed in traps was the most frequently recorded food source in terms of numbers of individuals and taxa, attracting 89 species from 32 genera. A correlation is found between food substrate choice and morphology, specifically wing area to thoracic volume ratio (WA: TV ratio). Our data suggest the possible existence of two adaptive syndromes whose species have significantly different mean WA:TV ratios and differing suites of accompanying ecological traits, with lower ratios being significantiy correlated with species that were recorded feeding. Among species recorded feeding, carrion feeders and puddlers have significantly lower mean WA:TV ratios than flower nectarers, and carrion feeders have a lower mean WA:TV ratio than species not recorded on this food source, a correlation that is significant across all tribes and within some tribes (Riodinini and Saratoni). We reanalyse previously published data on flight and morphology for species in other butterfly and moth families and show mat the ratio of wing area to thoracic mass is significantly negatively correlated with flight speed and oxygen consumption (a direct indicator of metabolic rate). We suggest that adult male riodinids may puddle and feed at rotting carrion to supplement nutrient stores from larval feeding, not only to increase reproductive success, but also to provide the necessary nutrients to maintain high metabolic rates during rapid flight.     

Isolation and characterization of microsatellite loci in Senecio

Interspecific hybridization has resulted in the recent origin of several hybrid Senecio taxa at diploid, tetraploid and hexaploid levels. As part of research aimed at constructing and comparing genomic maps of each of these taxa and their parents, we have isolated microsatellite loci from genomic DNA libraries of S. vulgaris and S. squalidus. Primers of 35 loci amplified microsatellites resolved in agarose gels from one or more of S. vulgaris, S. squalidus, S. aethnensis and S. chrysanthemifolius. Approximately 71% of primers amplified a product in all four species. A survey of microsatellite variation in S. chrysanthemifolius over a subset of 14 loci resolved 2–11 alleles per locus in polyacrylamide gels with expected heterozygosity (H_E) ranging from 0.26 to 0.87.     

Stomatal Responses of Phaseolus vulgaris L. Seedlings to Potassium Chloride in the Nutrient Solution

Alteration in KNO₃ and KCl levels of culture solutions resultedin the production of a series of Phaseolus vulgaris seedlingscontaining a range of chloride levels in the primary leaves;such treatments did not affect leaf potassium content. Irrespectiveof the leaf chloride content the stomata responded to increasedlight intensity by a decrease in stomatal resistance. The stomataof seedlings grown in culture solutions containing KCI offeredhigher diffusive resistances than those of seedlings not receivingthis treatment. This increase in stomatal resistance was foundover the whole range of elevated leaf chloride contents produced.Presence of chloride in the leaf tissue did not, however, affectstomatal responses to fluctuations in atmospheric CO₂ concentration.     

Major Biological Issues Resulting from Anthropogenic Disturbance of the Nitrogen Cycle

A two-day Discussion Meeting of the Royal Society, 'The Nitrogen Cycle', held in London in June 1991 (Stewart & Rosswall, 1992) reviewed the considerable progress made in understanding the N cycle in agricultural, forest and aquatic systems. The meeting included some discussion of the concerns which were already being expressed at that time over nitrate in water supplies, and the impacts of nitrogenous gases on tropospheric chemistry, the greenhouse effect and the ozone layer. Since then, disquiet over the impacts of nitrogenous compounds on the environment has increased, and numerous papers have been published on many aspects of the problem. We now have much better understanding of the size and scale of the perturbation of the N cycle, and several review papers have highlighted the complexity of the formidable issues that are challenging environmental scientists (Vitousek, 1994; Galloway et al ., 1995; Vitousek et al ., 1997).     

The use of experimental palaeontology in reproducing the effects of diagenetic flattening on graptolites

The detailed effects of diagenetic flattening on the graptolitc rhabdosomc have been investigated experimentally. The initial procedure, to test the effects of flattening on cylinders constructed from a variety of semi-brittle to plastic materials when compressed in a plaster 'matrix', demonstrates that a degree of rigidity is necessary to prevent lateral spread on diagenetic compression, even when lateral confining pressures are present. A second experiment demonstrates conclusively that the effects of flattening on the thecal style of Dicellograptus complanatus proposed by Briggs & Williams (1981; Lethaia 14) can be simulated. A model of an aseptate diplograptid produced a median depression when compressed but no preservational 'median septum', which is considered to be produced in several diplograptid taxa. It is shown that some diplograptids spread laterally along a median line when flattened in scalariform orientation although this has not yet been achieved experimentally owing to the high degree of compression required. □ Graptolithina, diagenesis, flattening,     

Fusion of Host Cell Secondary Lysosomes with the Parasitophorous Vacuoles of Leishmania mexicana-inlected Macrophages

SYNOPSIS. Secondary lysosomes of cultured mouse peritoneal macrophages were labeled with the electron-dense colloid saccharated iron oxide; the identity of the labeled structures was checked by the Gomori reaction for acid phosphatase. Amastigotes of Leishmania mexicana mexicana derived from mouse lesions were used to infect these macrophages in vitro. In electron micrographs of thin sections of infected macrophages the labeled secondary lysosomes were seen fused with the parasitophorous vacuoles without preventing subsequent multiplication of the parasites. A similar fusion probably occurs in vivo , and may provide a pathway through which not only nutrients but also drugs and host antibodies could reach the intracellular parasite.     

Fly or die: the role of fat stores in the growth and development of Grey-headed Albatross Diomedea chrysostoma chicks

Chicks of albatrosses, like other Procellariiformes, become independent at a mass similar to their parents but during growth attain a peak mass some 30% or more greater, before losing mass prior to fledging. The current views are that this high peak mass represents chicks storing fat reserves as an energy sink, or as an insurance against periodic food scarcity, or as a Consequence of natural stochastic variation in provisioning rate. We analysed growth and body composition of Grey‐headed Albatross Diomedea chrysostoma chicks at Bird Island, South Georgia in 1984 and 1986, two years of very different food availability. In 1984 when overall breeding success was only 28% (the lowest in 20 years and less than halt that in 1986), chicks were significantly smaller in terms of peak mass (by 37%), primary length (by 25%), liver, lung, heart and kidney size (by 18–34%) and fat (by 75–80%) but not significantly different in terms of skeletal (tarsus, culmen, ulna, sternum) or muscle (pectoral, leg) size. Despite these differences, there were some important similarities in the patterns of growth in both years. Up to the attainment of peak mass, most of the growth of organs and of skeletal structures was completed and little fat was deposited. In the remaining part of the chick‐rearing period, feather growth and acquisition of fat stores were undertaken. Thus Grey‐headed Albatross chicks begin to acquire substantial fat stores only during the later part of the development period; this is contrary to the predictions of any of the existing hypotheses concerning provisioning patterns and the role of fat stores in Procellariiformes. We propose that the deposition of fat in the later stages of chick growth is an adaptation to: (a) ensure against energy demands and/or nutritional stress affecting the quality of flight feathers (many of which are not renewed for up to three years after fledging); and (b) provide an energy reserve for chicks to use in the critical period immediately after independence.