Taste receptor activity and feeding behaviour reveal mechanisms of white spruce natural resistance to Eastern spruce budworm Choristoneura fumiferana

The pattern of feeding of Eastern spruce budworm Choristoneura fumiferana (Clem.) (Lepidoptera, Tortricidae) is compared on foliage from white spruce Picea glauca (Moench) Voss. (Pinaceae) trees previously determined to be susceptible and resistant to defoliation by budworm. No differences are observed in electrophysiological responses from taste sensilla to aqueous extracts of the two foliage types, nor is there a preference for either extract type in a choice test. Acetone extracts from the two foliage types are both preferred to a control sucrose solution, although neither elicits a preference relative to the other. These results suggest that there is no difference in phagostimulatory power of internal leaf contents of the two foliage types. Longer‐term observation of feeding behaviour in a no‐choice situation shows no difference in meal duration, confirming the lack of difference in phagostimulatory power. However, on average, intermeal intervals are twice as long on the resistant foliage, leading to an overall lower food consumption during the assay. This result suggests an anti‐digestive or toxic effect of the resistant foliage that slows behaviour and limits food intake. Previous research has shown that waxes of the resistant foliage deter initiation of feeding by the spruce budworm and that this foliage contains higher levels of tannins and monoterpenes. The data suggest that the resistant foliage contains a post‐ingestive second line of defence against the spruce budworm.     

Conservation management of Lapwing Vanellus vanellus on lowland arable farmland in the UK

Lapwing Vanellus vanellus is known to be declining throughout much of its UK breeding range. The ecological requirements of the species are well known and a variety of mechanisms exist which can be implemented to help recovery. Arable options within agri-environment schemes can be used to provide breeding habitat throughout the species' UK range, and targeted recovery projects have been shown to have the potential to deliver increases in breeding pairs at the local level. The farming community need to be made aware of the requirements of Lapwing if agriculture and conservation needs are to be integrated.     

Invertebrate grazing and riparian shade as controllers of nuisance algae in a eutrophic river

1. Algal growth in lotic systems is controlled either from the bottom‐up (e.g. nutrients and light, which determine growth rates) or from the top‐down (e.g. grazing pressure, which reduces accumulated biomass). Nutrient‐enriched streams that support large and diverse grazing macroinvertebrate populations and those with shaded riparian corridors rarely suffer from excessive algal growth. 2. In this study, the density of benthic algivorous macroinvertebrates was experimentally manipulated in shaded and open nutrient‐enriched stream habitats of the Owennagearagh River, south‐west Ireland. The ability of macroinvertebrate grazers and riparian shade to control benthic algal growth [particularly the nuisance alga, Cladophora glomerata (L. Kütz)] was investigated. Three sites with markedly different concentrations of plant nutrients (one site upstream and two sites downstream of the sewage outfall) were selected. The density of grazing invertebrates colonising ceramic tiles was reduced using high‐voltage localised electric pulses. Replicates of treatment (grazer‐excluded) and control (grazed) tiles were deployed in open and shaded (<25 and >80% canopy cover, respectively) patches of stream bed, in each site. 3. After 2‐week Cladophora cover, periphytic chlorophyll a and biofilm ash‐free dry mass (AFDM) were quantified for all experimental tiles. Values for all three parameters were highest on grazer‐excluded tiles from open patches. Grazed tiles from open patches accrued little Cladophora and had significantly lower levels of chlorophyll a and AFDM. Nutrient inputs were found to have an impact on the density of grazing invertebrates, with higher densities of Baetis nymphs at the most nutrient‐enriched site. 4. Our results demonstrate that in eutrophic, high‐light streams, filamentous algae can quickly accumulate to nuisance levels in the absence of invertebrate grazers. In future, greater attention should be paid to the role of grazing invertebrates in controlling nuisance algae in streams, in addition to algal–nutrient relationships.     

Sperm structure and ultrastructure in the Hymenoptera (Insecta)

A light and electron microscopical survey of spermatozoan gross morphology and ultrastructure in the Hymenoptera is presented. Details are provided for the first time for members of the families Xyelidae, Argidae, Tenthredinidae, Diprionidae, Cephidae, Figitidae, Proctotrupidae, Diaprii- dae, Heloridae, Eurytomidae, Leucospidae, Perilampidae, Torymidae, Braconidae, Dryinidae, Sphecidae, Pompilidae and Vespidae. Spermatozoan length ranged from 8 μ m in some Braconidae to 500 μm in one chalcidoid. Considerable variation in gross morphology and ultrastructure were observed between taxa. Several phylogenetically informative characters were noted. Very small spermatozoa characterized most of the non-cyclostome subfamilies of Braconidae; spirally twisted axoneme and mitochondrial derivatives occur in the Eulophidae, Eurytomidae and Pteromalidae; spermatozoa with virtually indistinguishable head (nucleus and acrosome) regions characterized the Vespinae and Polistinae. The presence of well-developed spermatodesmata in the vas deferens and seminal vesicle characterize the Symphyta and were largely absent from other groups though they are occasionally present in some bees.