Response of rice to different forms of urea and phosphorus fertilization under intermediate deepwater conditions (15–50 cm)

Summary Under intermediate deepwater condition with water depths of 15–35 cm during most of the crop growth period, sulphur coated urea and urea supergranule placement was superior to prilled urea in increasing the relative uptake and grain yield (23–25%) of rice. A semi-tall variety (CR 1016) responded better to the nitrogen application than a tall variety (CR 1030).The crop fertilized with N produced more number of tillers and grain yield than the unfertilized crop under complete submergence for 6 days at seedling establishement stage (8 days after transplanting) followed by waterlogging of 25±5 cm throughout the crop growth period. Application of phosphorus together with nitrogen increased the grain yield (9–14%) over nitrogen alone. Crop fertilized with these two nutrients (NP) increased their uptake and yield components.     

A new species-time method for visual assessment of fishes and its comparison with established methods

Synopsis Relative abundances for 80 species in a fish assemblage were estimated using three visual assessment methods. Results of two species-time methods, the Rapid Visual Census (RVC) of Jones & Thompson (1978) and a new method, the Visual Fast Count (VFC), are compared to the traditional transect method. The VFC is similar to the RVC but it is an attempt to improve: on the quantitative nature of the results. Results from each method were significantly correlated, but important differences between methods were found. With an equal number of replicates both RVC and VFC methods yielded significantly more species than the transect method. Relative abundances estimated by the RVC were significantly different from those determined by either VFC or transect methods, but VFC and transect results were not different. A qualitative similarity index using presence-absence data was calculated and compared among methods. Values ranged from 84.3 to 85.9%, illustrating a consistent level of similarity for the faunas censused regardless of census method. Quantitative similarities (percent similarity), however, ranged from 45.8 to 85.7% and suggest a closer agreement between the transect and the VFC methods than between these methods and the RVC. If transect results are assumed to be the most accurate, the comparison suggests that the VFC method yields more accurate relative abundances than does the RVC. Ranges in percent similarity values calculated within each method (8 replicate samples) were used to compare precision among methods. While transect and RVC scores are slightly more precise (ranges of 3.10% and 2.20% respectively) than the VFC method (range = 4.89%), no method was statistically more precise than another (P<0.001).     

Characteristics of successful competitors: an evaluation of potential growth rate in two cold desert tussock grasses

Summary Within the first few weeks after seedling emergence, Agropyron desertorum, a more competitive tussock grass, had a much higher mean relative growth rate (RGR) than Agropyron spicatum, a very similar, but less competitive species. However, beyond the early seedling stage, the two grasses had a remarkably similar whole-plant RGR in hydroponic culture and aboveground RGR in glasshouse soil, if root temperatures were above approximately 12°C. At soil temperatures between 5 and 12°C, A. desertorum exhibited a 66% greater aboveground RGR than A. spicatum (P<0.05). Both species responded similarly to warming soil temperatures. In the field, however, tiller growth rates were generally similar. Neither species showed marked tiller elongation until a couple of weeks after snowmelt, by which time soil temperatures, at least to a depth of 10 cm, were above 12°C for a significant portion of the day. Aboveground biomass accumulation over a three-year period indicated that both grasses had similar potential growth rates whereas Artemisia tridentata ssp. vaseyana, a common neighbor planted in the same plots, had a much greater potential growth rate. The greater competitive ability of adult A. desertorum, as compared to A. spicatum, cannot be attributed to appreciable differences in potential growth rates.     

Relative motion parallax and target localisation in the locust,Schistocerca gregaria

Summary This paper addresses two questions. 1. Does Schistocerca gregaria detect edges which are defined solely by velocity-contrast, that is by the difference in the image speeds generated by an object and its background when the locust moves? 2. Is the locust's ability to measure the distance of a target by motion parallax independent of the relative motion between target and back-ground?A locust walking on a circular platform was surrounded by a stationary cylinder which was lined with an irregular texture. Against this background, the insect viewed 3 stationary, equidistant targets. One target was black, one grey and the last was textured like the cylinder. Peers and jumps were aimed preferentially at the textured and black targets showing that targets can be detected by virtue of their velocity-contrast with the background. When textured targets were wide, jumps were seen to be aimed at the targets' edge.To assess whether velocity-contrast between target and background distorts distance-estimates, we used jump-velocity as a measure of apparent distance and examined how it varied with different arrangements of target and background. When a textured background is close to a target or the target is very wide, velocity contrast is small. The locust's jump-velocity is then 10% greater than when velocity-contrast is increased by making the background distant or the target narrow. This suggests that the locust is efficient at separating signals encoding absolute motion from those encoding relative motion.     

Growth,fecundity, and egg size of least brook lamprey,Lampetra aepyptera

Synopsis Eight geographically-diverse (33°11N to 39°14N) populations of least brook lamprey varied significantly in density of larvae and mean length of metamorphosing and adult lampreys (101–152 mm). Absolute fecundity (503–5900 eggs) did not change significantly with stage of post-larval development, suggesting little post-metamorphic atresia; egg dry weight increased to stage 6, the penultimate stage of metamorphosis. Absolute fecundity increased with the cubic power of total length. Relative fecundity (250–1124 eggs per gram total body weight) decreased significantly with increasing length within two streams. Relative fecundity, adjusted to a common length, increased with mean length of the population. Conversely, mean egg dry weight (0.09–0.24 mg, stages 6–8) increased with maternal length within three streams, and decreased with length among streams. In populations where spawning occurs at a small body size, females produce comparatively fewer but larger eggs. Large eggs may be required to counter the effects of an unproductive environment and the accompanying reduction in relative fecundity is compensatory. No relationship was evident between latitude, annual thermal units, or density and relative fecundity or egg size. Mean length of a population was also unrelated to these environmental factors.     

The Giardia lamblia actin gene and the phylogeny of eukaryotes

The single-copy actin gene of Giardia lamblia lacks introns; it has an average of 58% amino acid identity with the actin of other species; and 49 of its amino acids can be aligned with the amino acids of a consensus sequence of heat shock protein 70. Analysis of the potential RNA secondary structure in the transcribed region of the G. lamblia actin gene and of the single-copy actin gene of nine other species did not reveal any conserved structures. The G. lamblia actin sequence was used to root the phylogenetic trees based on 65 actin protein sequences from 43 species. This tree is congruent with small-subunit rRNA trees in that it shows that oomycetes are not related to higher fungi; that kinetoplatid protozoans, green plants, fungi and animals are monophyletic groups; and that the animal and fungal lineages share a more recent common ancestor than either does with the plant lineage. In contrast to smalls-ubunit rRNA trees, this tree shows that slime molds diverged after the plant lineage. The slower rate of evolution of actin genes of slime molds relative to those of plants, fungi, and animals species might be responsible for this incongruent branching. Correspondence to: G. Drouin     

A comparative approach to examine competitive response of 48 wetland plant species

Abstract. Competitive ability can be separated into competitive effect (ability to suppress neighbours) and competitive response (ability to tolerate suppressive effect from neighbours), but little is known about the competitive response of plants. A screening trial was conducted in outdoor plant pots where competitive response was measured for 48 wetland species during four months grown with seven established sward species: Acorus calamus, Carex crinita, Eleocharis smallii, Lythrum salicaria, Penthorum sedoides, Scirpus acutus and Typha angustifolia. Competitive response was calculated as 100 (x₁–x₂)/x₁, where x₁ is the weight of the target plant grown alone and x₂ the weight of the target plant grown in the swards. Despite significant differences in biomass and survivorship of the target plants between the sward species, the correspondence, W, of the rank order of the competitive response of target plants grown in the seven sward species was 0.70 (P < 0.001). The competitive response values were not significantly correlated with independent measures of competitive effect, relative growth rate or functional classification. Published competitive effect values, however, were significantly positively correlated with RGR. The results suggest a different approach towards the study of competitive response, with a conceptual model including three different response types: (1) escape; (2) foraging; and (3) persistence.