Mutation rates of bacteria in steady state populations

The breeder and the chemostat have been used to measure mutation rates for two mutations under a variety of steady state growth conditions. These rates have been found to be higher in complex medium than in minimal (F) medium. The effects of changes in nutritional conditions on these high rates have been described. In addition, the mutation rates at short generation times, in complex medium, have been shown to decrease with increasing generation time.     

Comparative Biochemistry of the Pineal Glands of Birds and Mammals

Melatonin is synthesized from serotonin in the pineal glandby N-acetyltransferase and hydroxyindole-O-methyltransferase(HIOMT). The activities of these two enzymes have been comparedin the pineal glands of rats, hamsters, chickens, and sparrows.Three different patterns of pineal biochemistry have been observedin the four species. Evidence for the regulation of pineal N-acetyltransferaseactivity by a noradrenergic system exists in rats but not inchickens, hamsters, and sparrows.     

Environmental change and the phenology of European aphids

Aphids, because of their short generation time and low developmental threshold temperatures, are an insect group expected to respond particularly strongly to environmental changes. Forty years of standardized, daily data on the abundance of flying aphids have been brought together from countries throughout Europe, through the EU Thematic Network 'EXAMINE'. Relationships between phenology, represented by date of first appearance in a year in a suction trap, of 29 aphid species and environmental data have been quantified using the residual maximum likelihood (REML) methodology. These relationships have been used with climate change scenario data to suggest plausible changes in aphid phenology. In general, the date of first record of aphid species in suction traps is expected to advance, the rate of advance varying with location and species, but averaging 8 days over the next 50 years. Strong relationships between aphid phenology and environmental variables have been found for many species, but they are notably weaker in species living all year on trees. Canonical variate analysis and principal coordinate analysis were used to determine ordinations of the 29 species on the basis of the presence/absence of explanatory variables in the REML models. There was strong discrimination between species with different life cycle strategies and between species feeding on herbs and trees, suggesting the possible value of trait-based groupings in predicting responses to environmental changes.