Cotyledon venation patterns in the Leguminosae: Mimosoideae

Cotyledon venation patterns are described for 131 species representing the four main tribes of the Mimosoideae. The range of variation in venation pattern falls within that described previously for the Caesalpinioideae and is consistent with the proposal that all patterns in the Leguminosae have been derived from a prototype with four vascular strands and a protoxylem trace in the petiole and seven primary veins in the lamina. Each tribe is characterized by a particular set of patterns, pattern frequencies and evolutionary trends. In the Mimoseae, correlations between venation pattern and cotyledon size and anatomy match those found in the Caesalpinioideae, but different correlations unique to these tribes occur in the Acacieae and Ingeae.     

The effect of genetic and environmental variation on metabolic gene expression

What is the relationship between genetic or environmental variation and the variation in messenger RNA (mRNA) expression? To address this, microarrays were used to examine the effect of genetic and environmental variation on cardiac mRNA expression for metabolic genes in three groups of Fundulus heteroclitus: (i) individuals sampled in the field (field), (ii) field individuals acclimated for 6 months to laboratory conditions (acclimated), or (iii) individuals bred for 10 successive generations in a laboratory environment (G10). The G10 individuals have significantly less genetic variation than individuals obtained in the field and had a significantly lower variation in mRNA expression across all genes in comparison to the other two groups (P = 0.001). When examining the gene specific variation, 22 genes had variation in expression that was significantly different among groups with lower variation in G10 individuals than in acclimated individuals. Additionally, there were fewer genes with significant differences in expression among G10 individuals vs. either acclimated or field individuals: 66 genes have statistically different levels of expression vs. 107 or 97 for acclimated or field groups. Based on the permutation of the data, these differences in the number of genes with significant differences among individuals within a group are unlikely to occur by chance (P < 0.01). Surprisingly, variation in mRNA expression in field individuals is lower than in acclimated individuals. Relative to the variation among individual within a group, few genes have significant differences in expression among groups (seven, 2.3%) and none of these are different between acclimated and field individuals. The results support the concept that genetic variation affects variation in mRNA expression and also suggests that temporal environmental variation associated with estuarine environments does not increase the variation among individuals or add to the differences among groups.     

Sublethal effects of malathion on boll weevil (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) fecundity when maintained on cotton squares or artificial diet

Mated 3‐day‐old female boll weevils, Anthonomus grandis grandis Boheman, reared from field‐infested cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) squares were topically treated with an estimated LD₅₀ of malathion (2 μg) to assess its effects on fecundity, oviposition, and body fat condition. Two different food sources, cotton squares and artificial diet, were assessed in malathion‐treated and nontreated (control) weevils. The LD₅₀ caused ～50% mortality in the square‐fed malathion treatment, but the artificial diet‐fed malathion‐treated weevils were less susceptible. LD₅₀ survivors fed on the squares produced ≥ 9 times more chorionated eggs in the ovaries and oviposited ≥ 19‐fold more than survivors fed artificial diet, regardless of the malathion treatment. Boll weevils that survived a 2 μg LD₅₀ malathion and also fed squares were ～4.5‐fold leaner than diet‐fed weevils. Our findings demonstrate that non‐resistant boll weevils surviving a sublethal dose of malathion will reproduce without any delay or significant loss in fecundity, and the food source for which boll weevils are maintained when conducting these assays will directly affect the results. The significance of these findings and how they are related to the final stages of eradicating the boll weevil from the US are discussed.     

Subsampling Hair Samples Affects Accuracy and Precision of DNA-Based Population Estimates

ABSTRACT Variance in population estimates is affected by the number of samples that are chosen to genotype when multiple samples are available during a sampling period. Using genetic data obtained from noninvasive hair-snags used to sample black bears (Ursus americanus) in the Northern Lower Peninsula of Michigan, USA, we developed a bootstrapping simulation to determine how precision of population estimates varied based on the number of samples genotyped. Improvements in precision of population estimates were not monotonic over all samples sizes available for genotyping. Estimates of cost, both financially and in terms of bias associated with increasing genotyping error and benefits in terms of greater estimate precision, will vary by species and field conditions and should be determined empirically.     

Systematics and evolution of gall formation in the plant‐associated genera of the wasp subfamily Doryctinae (Hymenoptera: Braconidae)

Gall formation is a specialised form of phytophagy that consists of abnormal growth of host plant tissue induced by other organisms, principally insects and mites. In the mainly parasitoid wasp subfamily Doryctinae, gall association, represented by gall inducers, inquilines and their parasitoids, is known for species of seven genera. Previous molecular studies recovered few species of six of these genera as monophyletic despite their disparate morphologies. Here, we reconstructed the evolutionary relationships among 47 species belonging to six gall‐associated doryctine genera based on two mitochondrial and two nuclear gene markers. Most of the Bayesian analyses, performed with different levels of incomplete taxa and characters, supported the monophyly of gall‐associated doryctines, with Heterospilus (Heterospilini) as sister group. Percnobracon Kieffer and Jörgensen and Monitoriella Hedqvist were consistently recovered as monophyletic, and the validity of the monotypic Mononeuron was confirmed with respect to Allorhogas Gahan. A nonmonophyletic Allorhogas was recovered, although without significant support. The relationships obtained and the gathered morphological and biological information led us to erect three new genera originally assigned to Psenobolus: Ficobolus gen.n. (F. paniaguai sp.n. and F. jaliscoi sp.n. ), Plesiopsenobolus gen.n. (Pl. mesoamericanus sp.n. , Pl. plesiomorphus van Achterberg and Marsh comb.n. , and Pl. tico sp.n. ), and Sabinita gen.n. (S. mexicana sp.n. ). The origin of the gall‐associated doryctine clade was estimated to have occurred during the middle Miocene to early Oligocene, 16.33–30.55 Ma. Our results support the origin of true gall induction in the Doryctinae from parasitoidism of other gall‐forming insects. Moreover, adaptations to attack different gall‐forming taxa on various unrelated plant families probably triggered species diversification in the main Allorhogas clade and may also have promoted the independent origin of gall formation on at least three plant groups. Species diversification in the remaining doryctine taxa was probably a result of host shifts within a particular plant taxon and shifts to different plant organs. This published work has been registered in ZooBank, http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:0021F253‐4ABA‐4EAA‐A7A9‐FC0AD1932EA3     

ABORTION COUNSELLING AND THE INFORMED CONSENT DILEMMA

An obstacle to abortion exists in the form of abortion ‘counselling’ that discourages women from terminating their pregnancies. This counselling involves providing information about the procedure that tends to create feelings of guilt, anxiety and strong emotional reactions to the recognizable form of a human fetus. Instances of such counselling that involve false or misleading information are clearly unethical and do not prompt much philosophical reflection, but the prospect of truthful abortion counselling draws attention to a delicate issue for healthcare professionals seeking to respect patient autonomy. This is the fact that even accurate information about abortion procedures can have intimidating effects on women seeking to terminate a pregnancy. Consequently, a dilemma arises regarding the information that one ought to provide to patients considering an abortion: on the one hand, the mere offering of certain types of information can lead to intimidation; on the other hand, withholding information that some patients would consider relevant to their decision‐making is objectionably paternalistic on any standard account of the physician‐patient relationship. This is an unsettling conclusion for the possibility of setting fixed professional guidelines regarding the counselling offered to women who are considering abortion. Thus, abortion ought to be viewed as an illuminating example of a procedure for which the process of securing informed consent ought to be highly context‐sensitive and responsive to the needs of each individual patient. This result underscores the need for health care professionals to cultivate trusting relationships with patients and to develop finely tuned powers of practical judgment.     

Dry Matter Distribution between Shoot and Storage Root of Carrot, Parsnip, Radish and Red Beet

The relationship between shoot and storage root weights of carrot,parsnip, radish and red beet was examined using plants of differentsize and age. For both carrot and parsnip plants of the sameage there was a linear relationship between the logarithms ofshoot and storage root d. wts which was unaffected by plantdensity. For parsnip the parameters of the regression were unchangedby harvest time, while for carrot the slope of the regressionremained constant and the intercept progressively declined withharvest time. These observations are consistent with an hypothesisof assimilate partition based on competition between sinks.For both radish and red beet at very high densities the logarithmicrelationship between shoot and storage root weight was curvilinearwith significant effects of both harvest time and density. Itis suggested that interplant competition may affect the initiationof storage tissue development in both these species. It is concludedthat for radish and red beet, even when considering only plantsproducing normal swollen storage roots, partition of assimilateis affected by factors not incorporated into the above hypothesis. Root crop, carrot, parsnip, radish, red beet, partition of assimilated carbon, model