Universal Trap Timer Design to Examine Temporal Activity of Wildlife

Abstract: We designed a reliable and inexpensive universal trap timer that records the time from the moment a single-live-capture trap is triggered by an animal to when the observer checks the trap. Combined with trapping information, the diel activity pattern of a given species or demographic group can then be described or compared between imposed treatments. The universal trap timer is adaptable to operate reliably with most single-capture trap designs, requires no permanent modification of traps, and is easy to construct.     

A new arthropod from the Early Cambrian of North Greenland,with a ‘great appendage’‐like antennula

Kiisortoqia soperi gen. et sp. nov. is an arthropod species from the Early Cambrian Sirius Passet Lagerstätte of North Greenland. A head, incorporating four appendiferous segments and biramous limbs, with an anteroposteriorly compressed basipod with a spine bearing median edge, support the euarthropod affinities of K. soperi gen. et sp. nov. Similarities with ‘short great appendage’ arthropods, or megacheirans, like the nine‐segmented endopod, and the flap‐ or paddle‐like exopod, may be symplesiomorphies. The antennula, however, resembles in composition and size the anteroventral raptorial appendage of anomalocaridids. Thus, the morphology of K. soperi gen. et sp. nov. provides additional support for the homologization of the anomalocaridid ‘great appendage’ with the appendage of the antennular or deutocerebral segment of extant Euarthropoda. © 2010 The Linnean Society of London, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2010, 158 , 477–500.     

Effects of Frost Hardening and Dehardening on Photosynthetic Electron Transport and Fluorescence Properties in Isolated Chloroplasts of Pinus silvestris

Photosynthetic electron transport and low-temperature fluorescence emission properties have been analyzed in isolated chloroplasts during the course of frost hardening and dehardening of Pinus silvestris L. Both the partial electron-transport reactions (H₂O DPIP and Asc./DPIP NADP) and the overall electron transport (H₂O — NAPD) showed decreasing capacities during the course of hardening. Upon exposing the plants to ?5°C and high irradiance a block in the electron-transport chain between the two photosystems developed, whereas the partial reactions still showed activities. The decrease in activity of PSl was accompanied by a decrease in P700 content, as determined by light oxidation of P700, which indicates a correlation between the two changes. Hardening also induced changes in the in vivo chlorophyll organization. During the course of hardening the fluorescence emission bands F692 and F726 decreased relative to F680. These changes were more pronounced if the plants were treated in high than in low irradiance. This suggests a greater destruction of the chlorophyll antennae in close association with the two photoreactions than in the so-called light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b antenna. During dehardening basically the reverse of the changes observed during hardening occurred. The recovery of secondary needles was complete, whereas primary needles only partly recovered.     

Foraging activity and dietary spectrum of wood ants (Formica rufa group) and their role in nutrient fluxes in boreal forests

Abstract 1. We monitored three different‐sized wood ant (Formica aquilonia Yarrow) mounds over a 3‐year period in Finnish boreal forests dominated by Norway spruce (Picea abies Karst.), to assess the seasonal temperature dependency of ant activity. Additionally, we also monitored Norway spruce trees around the mounds for descending honeydew foragers. 2. The amount of collected honeydew and prey and its composition, as well as the carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) in honeydew and invertebrate prey was also investigated. 3. The number of warm days (average temperature above 20 °C) and the amount of precipitation differed among the years. Ant activity at the mounds (but not on the trees) was highly correlated with air temperature throughout the ant‐active season (May–September), but ant activity in spring and autumn was lower than in summer at similar temperatures. During all 3 years, honeydew played a major role in wood ant nutrition (78–92% of dry mass). Invertebrate prey was mainly Diptera (on average 26.2%), Coleoptera (12.5%), Aphidina (9.3%), and Arachnoida (8.5%). 4. The total amounts of C, N, and P input brought into the ant mounds in the form of food (both honeydew and prey) on the stand level were 12.6–39.0, 1.6–4.6 and 0.1–0.4 kg ha^?1 year^?1, respectively, which is equivalent to 2–6%, 12–33% and 27–58% of the fluxes in annual needle litterfall in typical boreal Norway spruce forests. Thus, wood ants can play a significant role in short term and local N and P cycling of boreal forest ecosystems.     

Development of megagametophyte, embryo, and seed in Senna corymbosa (Lam.) H.S. Irwin & Barneby (Leguminosae – Caesalpinioideae)

The main aspects of seed ontogeny in Senna corymbosa were studied by standard anatomical microtechniques for light microscope observations. The results revealed an ana-campylotropous, bitegmic, and crassinucelate mature ovule. A single archesporocyte developed by an archesporial cell enlargement from the subhypodermal multicellular archesporium. Meiosis originated linear or T-shaped megasporic tetrads. The functional megaspore was the chalazal one. Megagametophytic development conformed to the Polygonum type. Fertilization was porogamic. Endosperm development was free nuclear and conformed to a chalazal haustorium. Cellular endosperm was initiated from the micropylar end during the globular embryo stage. Embryogeny derived from a linear proembryonal tetrad. The mature embryo showed an oblique axis. The testa derived from the outer ovular integument. Nucellar and endosperm remnants, and the micropylar region of the inner ovular integument, persisted at embryo maturity. The absence of a pleurogram would be adaptative to wetland habitats. The taxonomic use of the mature embryo axis in the Cassieae and the phylogenetic employment of megasporic arrangements in Leguminosae needs some reinterpretation.  © 2007 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society , 2007, 153 , 169–179.     

Importance of drought on the distribution of the birds nest fern,Asplenium nidus,in the canopy of a lowland tropical rainforest in north‐eastern Australia

Abstract The birds nest fern, Asplenium nidus, contributes greatly to the epiphytic biomass in the canopies of both south‐east Asia and tropical north Queensland rainforests. It is generally believed that their abundance and their capacity to store water is an important feature for habitat fragmentation in the canopy. We investigated the microclimate of A. nidus and the effects of severe drought periods on the A. nidus population over a 20‐year period, hypothesizing that water availability is the most important factor controlling the population under drought conditions. One of two neighbouring A. nidus plants of the same size and age was irrigated artificially before, during and after a significant dry period in 2000. By monitoring the microclimate within and around both ferns we were able to estimate that four continuous weeks of rainless weather completely dried out the accumulated humus of the non‐irrigated A. nidus fern. Prolonged dry periods were shown to kill the roots of A. nidus, which attach the fern to the bark and eventually the affected A. nidus on verticals stems fell to the ground. Periods longer than 8 weeks may even kill adult plants sitting in more protected branch forks. Analysis of the whole A. nidus population within the 1‐ha Canopy Crane plot and the determination of the morphological age of all plants enabled an evaluation of the historical development of the population. The oldest plant originated in 1985, just 1 year after the longest recorded drought for the site. We suspect that the 1984 drought killed every A. nidus plant within the study plot. Years with low recruitment coincide with years with long drought periods.     

Niche segregation and genetic structure of Campylobacter jejuni populations from wild and agricultural host species

Bacterial populations can display high levels of genetic structuring but the forces that influence this are incompletely understood. Here, by combining modelling approaches with multilocus sequence data for the zoonotic pathogen Campylobacter, we investigated how ecological factors such as niche (host) separation relate to population structure. We analysed seven housekeeping genes from published C. jejuni and C. coli isolate collections from a range of food and wild animal sources as well as abiotic environments. By reconstructing genetic structure and the patterns of ancestry, we quantified C. jejuni host association, inferred ancestral populations, investigated genetic admixture in different hosts and determined the host origin of recombinant C. jejuni alleles found in hybrid C. coli lineages. Phylogenetically distinct C. jejuni lineages were associated with phylogenetically distinct wild birds. However, in the farm environment, phylogenetically distant host animals shared several C. jejuni lineages that could not be segregated according to host origin using these analyses. Furthermore, of the introgressed C. jejuni alleles found in C. coli lineages, 73% were attributed to genotypes associated with food animals. Our results are consistent with an evolutionary scenario where distinct Campylobacter lineages are associated with different host species but the ecological factors that maintain this are different in domestic animals such that phylogenetically distant animals can harbour closely related strains.     

PYRETHRUM CULTIVATION IN ENGLAND, 1925-37

Small plot and field experiments on the cultivation of the insecticidal pyrethrum plant in England during 1925-37 showed that the plant grew well and produced satisfactory yields of flowers of high pyrethrin content: costings of the field trials, however, showed that the cultivation of the plant was uneconomic. Individual plants grown from seed differed considerably in growth habit and in the pyrethrin content of their flowers.