Changes in the composition of British butterfly assemblages over two decades

Changes in the abundance and distribution of individual species have been widely documented in Britain and other countries in recent decades, but little has been done to determine changes in community composition over broad geographic areas. Here, we studied species turnover in 51 butterfly assemblages in Britain since 1976, examining extinction and colonisation events together with variation in the abundances of the species. We showed that the species turnover that occurred over 20 years in Britain was associated with colonisation and extinction events and also with variability in the abundance of the species. These changes in community composition differed according to the habitat requirements of the species and their previous distributions, being more evident for habitat specialists and for southerly distributed species. Colonising species often became abundant components of the communities they joined, although this was more evident for generalist than for specialist species. The abundance of species following their arrival, increased with time since colonisation. Species turnover associated with southerly species expanding northwards is consistent with being a response to climate change. The results suggest that climate- and habitat-driven changes in the identity and abundance of species within communities are widespread, and probably ubiquitous. Similar changes are likely to be occurring in other groups of organisms that are similarly undertaking major range shifts associated with climate change.     

Sex and rank in competitive brood hierarchies influence stress levels in nestlings of a sexually dimorphic bird

Studies of sibling competition within brood hierarchies have rarely assessed simultaneously the effects of sex and rank in the brood hierarchy on traits other than offspring mortality and differential growth. We studied the expression of heat-shock proteins (Hsps) to assess the physiological stress response to different combinations of sex and position within competitive brood hierarchies in the black kite Milvus migrans (Bodd.), a sexually dimorphic raptor showing facultative siblicide. Senior males showed higher stress levels than did senior females and younger siblings of each sex as revealed by Hsp60 values. The analysis of Hsp70 levels indicated that nestlings from broods in which the senior chick was a male showed higher stress levels than did nestlings from broods in which the senior chick was a female. In addition, levels of Hsp60 were related negatively to nutritional condition expressed as levels of plasmatic albumin. This suggests that the sex of senior chicks may be key in determining their stress level and that of their siblings, which is probably associated with sibling competition by fighting within brood hierarchies. The comparatively higher stress levels of senior males (and their siblings) may be a consequence of their ability to exploit their potential advantage from being the head start while avoiding a possible competitive disadvantage from being the smaller sex, independent of environmental conditions determining the probability of brood reduction. Differential stress levels depending on sex and rank in the brood hierarchy may be a consequence of parental control of offspring behaviour through differential resource allocation (e.g. yolk androgens) or it may reflect adaptations of particular chicks (senior males) to enhance their competitive ability within brood hierarchies.  © 2006 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society , 2006, 88 , 383–390.     

An octakis-intercalating molecule

Herein we report the synthesis and characterization of a polyintercalator with eight potential intercalating l,4,5,8-naphthalenetetracarboxylic diimide (NDI) units linked in a head-to-tail arrangement via a peptide linker. UV spectroscopy and viscometry measurements indicated the molecule binds to double-stranded DNA with all eight NDI units intercalated simultaneously. Competition dialysis and DNAse 1 footprinting studies revealed a preference for GC-rich regions of DNA, and circular dichroism studies revealed significant distortion of B-form DNA upon binding. Our so-called "octamer" represents, to the best of our knowledge, the first intercalator that binds as an octakis-intercalator, capable of spanning at least 16 base pairs of DNA.     

Two closely linked tomato HKT coding genes are positional candidates for the major tomato QTL involved in Na+/K+ homeostasis

The location of major quantitative trait loci (QTL) contributing to stem and leaf [Na⁺] and [K⁺] was previously reported in chromosome 7 using two connected populations of recombinant inbred lines (RILs) of tomato. HKT1;1 and HKT1;2, two tomato Na⁺‐selective class I‐HKT transporters, were found to be closely linked, where the maximum logarithm of odds (LOD) score for these QTLs located. When a chromosome 7 linkage map based on 278 single‐nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) was used, the maximum LOD score position was only 35 kb from HKT1;1 and HKT1;2. Their expression patterns and phenotypic effects were further investigated in two near‐isogenic lines (NILs): 157‐14 (double homozygote for the cheesmaniae alleles) and 157‐17 (double homozygote for the lycopersicum alleles). The expression pattern for the HKT1;1 and HKT1;2 alleles was complex, possibly because of differences in their promoter sequences. High salinity had very little effect on root dry and fresh weight and consequently on the plant dry weight of NIL 157‐14 in comparison with 157‐17. A significant difference between NILs was also found for [K⁺] and the [Na⁺]/[K⁺] ratio in leaf and stem but not for [Na⁺] arising a disagreement with the corresponding RIL population. Their association with leaf [Na⁺] and salt tolerance in tomato is also discussed.     

Ein Beitrag zur Flora von Nordtirol

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Uniconazole inhibits stress-induced ethylene in wheat and soybean seedlings

Previous studies have shown that uniconazole inhibits ethylene synthesis and protects plants from various stresses. The present research was conducted to delineate the mechanism of ethylene inhibition by uniconazole [(E)-(p-chlorophenyl)-4,4-dimethyl-2-(1,2,4-triazol-1-yl)-1-penten-3-ol]. Following heat stress of 48°C for 3 h, the shoots of the control wheat seedlings became desiccated, and the seedlings lost 23% of their fresh mass 8 h after stress. The control soybean seedlings had epinastic unifoliate leaves 5 h after foliar application (4.4 g.a.i./ha) of the herbicide triclopyr [(3,5,6-trichloro-2-pyridinyl)oxyacetic acid]. Soil drench applications of uniconazole, a potent member of the triazole family, reduced these symptoms associated with heat and herbicide stress in wheat (5.0 mg/L) and soybean (0.4 mg/L) seedlings, respectively. Basal ethylene production was inhibited 32 and 48% by uniconazole in the wheat and acotyledonous soybean seedlings, respectively. Following a 48°C heat stress, 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC) levels increased 40% in both the control and uniconazole-treated wheat seedlings. After triclopyr application, ACC levels increased 400% in both the control and uniconazoletreated soybean seedlings. The increased ACC levels, following stress, were accompanied by increased ethylene production from the control, but not from the uniconazole-treated wheat and acotyledonous soybean seedlings. Uniconazole treatment did not significantly change the basal or stress-induced N-malonyl-1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (MACC) levels compared to controls. These results suggest that uniconazole inhibits ethylene synthesis by interfering with the conversion of ACC to ethylene in wheat and acotyledonous soybean seedlings. Ethylene production and ACC conversion were not inhibited by uniconazole in excised soybean cotyledons. These results indicate that different ethylene-forming enzyme (EFE) systems operate in the soybean acotyledonous seedling and cotyledon, and the system in the former is inhibited by uniconazole.     

Long-term effects of ungulates on phytophagous insects

Abstract.  1. Most plants interact with a diverse suite of herbivores, allowing the opportunity for the existence of positive and negative interactions between highly dissimilar organisms. However, most studies on herbivorous interactions have been performed under the assumption that they occur mainly between similar species. Consequently, ecologists are still far from a full understanding of the ecological factors that determine insect population dynamics.
2. In this study, a 7-year field experiment was conducted that manipulated the presence of ungulates to evaluate their effects on the abundance, attack rate, and survival of four guilds of co-occurring herbivorous insects living on the same host plant: seed predators, stem borers, gall makers and sap suckers. These four guilds differed in habits and behaviour, the first three being sessile and endophytic and the last being free-living.
3. This study shows that the abundance of all four guilds was negatively affected by ungulates. However, the effect on attack rate differed among guilds, as mammals do not affect the seed predator attack rate. Ungulates also differentially affected insect survival, ingesting only seed predators and gall makers.
4. In summary, this study suggests that diverse mechanisms may affect different insect guilds in different ways. Therefore, competition between disparate herbivores appears to be complex and can be provoked by multiple mechanisms.