Pre-exposure affects the olfactory response of Drosophila melanogaster to menthol

A modification of the trap assay (Woodard et al., 1989) was used to evaluate the response of Drosophila melanogaster (Meigen) to food media containing menthol. Dose-response curves for flies to mentholic foods were produced for flies that had been pre-exposed to menthol, during development and adult life, and flies that had not been exposed to menthol before the assay. Mentholic food media were less attractive to Drosophila than plain food medium. Rearing flies on a medium containing menthol reduced their aversion to some concentrations of menthol. The rearing effect was not simply due to lowered general activity levels resulting from developing in a medium containing menthol. There was a threshold concentration of menthol in the rearing medium below which we found no induced behavioural change.     

Flight loss linked to faster molecular evolution in insects

The loss of flight ability has occurred thousands of times independently during insect evolution. Flight loss may be linked to higher molecular evolutionary rates because of reductions in effective population sizes (N_e) and relaxed selective constraints. Reduced dispersal ability increases population subdivision, may decrease geographical range size and increases (sub)population extinction risk, thus leading to an expected reduction in N_e. Additionally, flight loss in birds has been linked to higher molecular rates of energy-related genes, probably owing to relaxed selective constraints on energy metabolism. We tested for an association between insect flight loss and molecular rates through comparative analysis in 49 phylogenetically independent transitions spanning multiple taxa, including moths, flies, beetles, mayflies, stick insects, stoneflies, scorpionflies and caddisflies, using available nuclear and mitochondrial protein-coding DNA sequences. We estimated the rate of molecular evolution of flightless (FL) and related flight-capable lineages by ratios of non-synonymous-to-synonymous substitutions (dN/dS) and overall substitution rates (OSRs). Across multiple instances of flight loss, we show a significant pattern of higher dN/dS ratios and OSRs in FL lineages in mitochondrial but not nuclear genes. These patterns may be explained by relaxed selective constraints in FL ectotherms relating to energy metabolism, possibly in combination with reduced N_e.     

Competition for nectar resources does not affect bee foraging tactic constancy

1. Competition alters animal foraging, including promoting the use of alternative resources. It may also impact how animals feed when they are able to handle the same food with more than one tactic. Competition likely impacts both consumers and their resources through its effects on food handling, but this topic has received little attention. 2. Bees often use two tactics for extracting nectar from flowers: they can visit at the flower opening, or rob nectar from holes at the base of flowers. Exploitative competition for nectar is thought to promote nectar robbing. If so, higher competition among floral visitors should reduce constancy to a single foraging tactic as foragers will seek food using all possible tactics. To test this prediction, field observations and two experiments involving bumble bees visiting three montane Colorado plant species (Mertensia ciliata, Linaria vulgaris, Corydalis caseana) were used under various levels of inter- and intra-specific competition for nectar. 3. In general, individual bumble bees remained constant to a single foraging tactic, independent of competition levels. However, bees that visited M. ciliata in field observations decreased their constancy and increased nectar robbing rates as visitation rates by co-visitors increased. 4. While tactic constancy was high overall regardless of competition intensity, this study highlights some intriguing instances in which competition and tactic constancy may be linked. Further studies investigating the cognitive underpinnings of tactic constancy should provide insight on the ways in which animals use alternative foraging tactics to exploit resources.     

Fibromodulin Interacts with Collagen Cross-linking Sites and Activates Lysyl Oxidase

The hallmark of fibrotic disorders is a highly cross-linked and dense collagen matrix, a property driven by the oxidative action of lysyl oxidase. Other fibrosis-associated proteins also contribute to the final collagen matrix properties, one of which is fibromodulin. Its interactions with collagen affect collagen cross-linking, packing, and fibril diameter. We investigated the possibility that a specific relationship exists between fibromodulin and lysyl oxidase, potentially imparting a specific collagen matrix phenotype. We mapped the fibromodulin-collagen interaction sites using the collagen II and III Toolkit peptide libraries. Fibromodulin interacted with the peptides containing the known collagen cross-linking sites and the MMP-1 cleavage site in collagens I and II. Interestingly, the interaction sites are closely aligned within the quarter-staggered collagen fibril, suggesting a multivalent interaction between fibromodulin and several collagen helices. Furthermore, we detected an interaction between fibromodulin and lysyl oxidase (a major collagen cross-linking enzyme) and mapped the interaction site to 12 N-terminal amino acids on fibromodulin. This interaction also increases the activity of lysyl oxidase. Together, the data suggest a fibromodulin-modulated collagen cross-linking mechanism where fibromodulin binds to a specific part of the collagen domain and also forms a complex with lysyl oxidase, targeting the enzyme toward specific cross-linking sites.     

Crime or affliction? Rape in an African community

Amongst the Gush of southwestern Kenya instances of rape are frequently reported; this was true also in the colonial period and yet it seems that those cases which come to the notice of the authorities are few compared with the numbers which actually occur. While certain features of the traditional culture seem to have encouraged violent sexual assault, because in a patrilocal society miscreants are likely to victimize their relatives, that is women who are sexually taboo, the crime is considered a sacrilegious matter to be dealt with in the family, not by the secular authorities. Given the sacrilegious nature of the act the Gush are convinced that such behavior is involuntary and that the criminal is not a criminal but an afflicted person, motivated by the malevolence of the ancestral spirits or of jealous neighbors and kin. The author uses case material to illustrate various aspects of the Gush belief system in regard to criminal behavior in general and rape in particular.     

The impact of ticks on pheasant territoriality

Pheasants are competent reservoir hosts for the Lyme disease spirochaete, Borrelia burgdorferi s.l., and carry large, but highly over-dispersed, infestations of the vector ticks, Ixodes ricinus . The effects of experimental reduction of tick infestation levels on the survival and territorial behaviour of male pheasants were studied. Over three years in two woodlands in southern England, birds were marked individually and half were fitted with a slow-release acaricide, which substantially reduced their tick burdens from March to August. Acaricide treatment affected reproductive success but had no discernible impact on the survival rates of male pheasants. The degree of wattle inflation by males, an indicator of territorial status and a correlate of harem acquisition, was significantly greater among treated males. In each year, a significantly higher proportion of treated (overall 44%) than control (22%) males acquired harems. Males that acquired females ranged over small areas on field edges. By contrast, those with no females ranged more widely in woods and the adjoining fields, increasing their exposure to questing ticks. The relative contribution of such roving males to tick-borne pathogen transmission may thus increase.     

Dream Imagery and Emotion.

The relationship between prominent visual imagery and emotion within dreams was investigated in relation to E. Hartmann's (1996) contextualizing image (CI) theory and M. Seligman and A. Yellen's (1987) dual imagery theory. Fifty-nine students recorded dreams over a 2-week period and submitted 115 dreams for analysis. Participants recorded ratings of emotion type and emotion intensity in each scene. Prominent visual images were identified and scored for intensity and detail by independent judges. As hypothesized from Hartmann's theory, there was a significant positive relationship between CI intensity and emotion intensity in the CI scene, emotion intensity generally peaked in the CI scene, and dreams containing a CI had higher overall ratings of emotion intensity than non-CI dreams. The result for the correlation of detail of prominent imagery with emotion was inconclusive, with a low positive correlation across CI scenes. This raises the possibility that the CI is not a unitary construct. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)