Abundance and distribution within a guild of benthic stream fishes: local processes and regional patterns

1. Spatial patterns at regional and local scales were examined for evidence that species interactions can influence distribution and abundance within a guild of benthic fishes in upland streams of Oklahoma, U.S.A. Three groups of community patterns were examined: the species–area relationship, species–habitat associations, and interspecific associations.
2. The species–area relationship for riffle habitats was compared to a null species–area model based on random placement. The observed species–area curve was steeper resulting in less species per unit area in small streams than predicted by the null model.
3. Small, species-poor streams had summed fish densities at least as high as larger, species-rich streams, suggesting density compensation.
4. Several significant patterns of negative covariation were found among species at the regional scale, before and after statistically accounting for effects due to measured habitat variables.
5. For two of these negatively covarying taxa ( Cottus carolinae and Etheostoma spectabile ), the influence of each species on the distribution of the other was evaluated experimentally in field enclosures varying in depth and current velocity. The sculpin C . carolinae caused a shift in habitat use by the darter E . spectabile , but no reciprocal shift was found.
6. These results indicate an agreement between local and regional patterns of distribution for C . carolinae and E . spectabile and suggest that biotic interactions can influence regional patterns of distribution for species within this guild.     

Population responses of the freshwater amphipod crustacean Gammarus pulex (L.) to copper

1. Populations of Gammarus pulex (density 4000m^?2) were exposed, over a 100-day period in a continuous-flow dosing system, to concentrations of copper below the 240 h median lethal concentration (LC₅₀) for juveniles. 2. There was a significant effect of copper on the resulting population density. In the control and lowest treatment (11.0μg1-^?1) it was double the initial density, but with increasing copper concentration there was a decrease in density until at the highest treatment (23.1 μg1-^?1), it was less than that of the initial population. The lowest observed effect concentration (LOEC) for population density was 14.6 μg 1-^?1. 3. Copper significantly affected the age composition of the final populations. In the control and lowest treatment concentration, the population was composed mainly of juvenile animals. With increasing copper concentration, however, there was a decrease in the number of juveniles, the LOEC being 14.6 μg1-^?1. The number of adults in the final population was also significantly reduced by copper, with an LOEC of 18.2 μg1-^?1. 4. The relationship between the body length and number of antennal segments of animals in the populations at each treatment concentration showed that growth was impaired by increased copper concentrations.     

The food of coral-reef Drupa (Gastropoda)

Eight species of the predatory gastropod Drupa are abundant in exposed habitats of Indo-Pacific coral reefs. The diets of seven species and two subspecies were investigated by gut content analysis of over 1400 specimens from a number of localities from the Red Sea to the western Pacific. Two species, D. grossularia and D. lobata , are sipunculan specialists, whilst D. morum and D. rubusidaeus mainly eat eunicid polychaetes . Drupa ricinus and probably D. elegans feed upon a wide variety of prey including crustacea, vermetid gastropods, chitons, polychaetes and sipunculans. The Red Sea subspecies D. ricinus hadari also eats small gobiid fish. Drupa clathrata clathrata, probably the least advanced species in the genus, has a diet of molluscs and barnacles, similar to that of other thaiid gastropods.     

Can acaricide‐impregnated leg bands fitted to female red grouse reduce sheep tick parasitization of chicks and increase chick survival?

In parts of northern England, North Wales and the Scottish Highlands, increasing numbers of sheep ticks Ixodes ricinus (Ixodida: Ixodidae), and the louping ill virus they can carry, are considered to be important factors that reduce red grouse Lagopus lagopus scotica productivity. The present study tested this hypothesis by fitting adult female grouse with leg bands impregnated with the acaricide cypermethrin to experimentally control ticks on their chicks on two managed grouse moors in northeast Scotland. The chicks of females fitted with acaricide leg bands showed reduced tick infestations and improved survival in one of the two study years, relative to chicks of control females. Acaricide leg bands constitute a potential management technique that may be adopted by grouse moor managers in circumstances of high tick infestations on grouse chicks.     

Use of Bullfrog Tadpoles (Rana catesbeiana) to Examine the Mechanisms of Lead Neurotoxicity

Sublethal exposure to lead elicits changes in behavior, particularlylearning. Previously, we had shown that bullfrog tadpoles exposedto 1 mg Pb/liter for 7 days exhibit learning deficits in a discriminateavoidance learning assay. The precise mechanisms involved inthese lead-induced learning deficits are not understood, butCNS monoamine neurotransmitter systems have been implicatedin the learning process. In the present study, we exposed bullfrogtadpoles to 1.7± 0.2 mg Pb/liter for 7 days and thencompared concentrations of neurotransmitters from whole brainsamples with those of controls. Serotonin or 5-hydroxytryptamine(5-HT) was significantly decreased in the lead exposed groupwhile the serotonin metabolite, 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid,(5-HIAA) was similar to controls. No changes were observed inthe catecholamines epinephrine and norepinephijine followinglead exposure. The ratio of 5-HIAA/5-HT was significantly increasedin lead exposed animals as a result of the decrease in 5-HT,suggesting a decrease in 5-HT biosynthesis rather than an increasein 5-HT metabolism. These findings are the first to suggestthat lead exposure in bullfrog tadpoles affects the monoamineneurotransmitters that are implicated in the learning process.The results of the present study, in conjunction with previousevidence of learning deficits following lead exposure, offerthe possibility of correlating lead exposure with learning deficitsand alterations in CNS neurotransmitters in bullfrog tadpoles.The use of this tadpole model shows promise as a means to examineand understand the mechanisms involved in lead neurotoxicity.