APOLAR MOVEMENT OF ZEATIN THROUGH COLEUS PETIOLES AND PISUM ROOTS AS ESTIMATED BY BIOASSAY AND RADIOACTIVE LABELLING

The movement and polarity of zeatin, a highly active, endogenous cytokinin, through petioles and roots were tested in the classical experimental arrangement using excised 5-mm sections. Zeatin in the receiver cylinders of agar was measured by soybean callus bioassay and by liquid scintillation counting of ¹⁴C that had been added in the donor cylinders as [8-¹⁴C] zeatin. Both methods agreed in showing movement, but there was no polarity in Coleus #5 petioles. The amounts moved were about one-tenth of the GA-3 movement through petioles of the third pair of leaves of the same clone. Movement of ¹⁴C-zeatin through Pisum roots was similarly statistically significant but non-polar; the amounts moved were similar to those previously observed for polar GA-3 movement through Zea roots.     

The acquisition of conscience and Developmental Systems Theory

Summary Proponents of Developmental Systems Theory (DST) argue that it offers an alternative to current research programs in biology that are built on the historic disjunction between evolutionary and developmental biology. In this paper I illustrate how DST can be used to account for the acquisition of an important component of moral agency, conscience. Susan Oyama, a major proponent of DST, has set moral issues outside the compass of DST. Thus, I examine her reasons for restricting DST to non-moral matters, and argue that they are not decisive. On the positive side, I argue that DST not only is compatible with attempts to describe and explain moral agency but also aids us in understanding it. In particular, I show how DST can provide a fruitful perspective for viewing some significant current findings and theories in moral developmental psychology about the acquisition of conscience. The familiar dichotomies resisted by DST, those between genes and environment, inherited and acquired, innate and learned, and biological and cultural, have also plagued human developmental psychology, including moral development. By bringing a DST perspective to the study of moral development, I illustrate how a DST perspective might offer a promising way to reconceive that phenomenon, and provide some insights into how further work in understanding the development of moral agency might proceed. Thus, I hope to contribute to the current efforts of proponents of DST to integrate developmental and evolutionary considerations.     

Thermal sensitivity of scope for activity in Pagothenia borchgrevinki, a cryopelagic Antarctic nototheniid fish

The thermal sensitivity of scope for activity was studied in the Antarctic nototheniid fish Pagothenia borchgrevinki. The scope for activity of P. borchgrevinki at 0°C was 189 mg O₂ kg⁻¹ h⁻¹ (factorial scope 6.8) which is similar to that of temperate and tropical species at their environmental temperatures, providing no evidence for metabolic cold adaptation of maximum activity. The scope for activity increased to a maximum value of 266 mg O₂ kg⁻¹ h⁻¹ (factorial scope 8.3) at 3°C and then decreased from 3 to 6°C. The thermal sensitivity of critical swimming speed was also investigated and followed a similar pattern to aerobic scope for activity, suggesting oxygen limitation of aerobic performance. Oxygen consumption rates and ventilation frequencies were monitored for 24 h after the swimming challenge and the recovery of both parameters to resting levels was rapid and independent of temperature.     

A tradeoff between space and time: Dimensional constants in mammalian ecology

Size-independent dimensional constants are proposed as a tool for analysis of life histories and community structure. The number of conspecific individuals occupying the average home-range in the long-run is 2·15 M^?0·02, accomplished sequentially or socially at opposite ends of the mouse to wapiti body size range. Annual biomass turnover per species per hectare is also independent of body size, 0·93 N^?0·04.     

Modeling the dynamics of choice

A simple linear-operator model both describes and predicts the dynamics of choice that may underlie the matching relation. We measured inter-food choice within components of a schedule that presented seven different pairs of concurrent variable-interval schedules for 12 food deliveries each with no signals indicating which pair was in force. This measure of local choice was accurately described and predicted as obtained reinforcer sequences shifted it to favor one alternative or the other. The effect of a changeover delay was reflected in one parameter, the asymptote, whereas the effect of a difference in overall rate of food delivery was reflected in the other parameter, rate of approach to the asymptote. The model takes choice as a primary dependent variable, not derived by comparison between alternatives—an approach that agrees with the molar view of behaviour.