The influence of black bean aphid, Aphis fabae Scop., and its honeydew on the photosynthesis of sugar beet

The effect of black bean aphids on the photosynthesis of sugar beet plants was studied under glasshouse and field conditions. The presence of up to several hundred aphids per leaf had no significant effect on CO₂ exchange rates over a range of light intensities between complete darkness and light saturation. Artificially prepared honeydew, sprayed onto leaves in the same amounts and composition as was found on severely aphid-infested plants, covered 30% of the stomata on the upper epidermis but did not significantly alter the rate of photosynthesis of these leaves in the light or the rate of respiration in the dark. The stomata on the lower epidermis were uncovered and functional. High pressure liquid chromatography of aphid-produced honeydew detected 20 different amino-acids. Three amino-acids, aspartic acid, glutamic acid and gluta-mine, made up the bulk of the amino-acid weight in the honeydew produced on young plants, up till the 8 leaf-stage. In the 10 to 12 leaf-stage, several different amino-acids occurred in substantial amounts. The amino-acids to sugars ratio of the honeydew produced by the aphids decreased strongly as the sugar beet plants aged: from 1:6 in plants with 3 or 4 leaves to 1:25 in plants having 10 to 12 leaves.     

pH值对沼液培养的普通小球藻生长及油含量积累的影响

以50％的沼液为普通小球藻的全营养培养基,考察培养基的起始pH值对小球藻生长及油脂含量的影响,普通小球藻对不同初始pH的沼液中氮、磷的去除情况。设定了2组实验,一组只调节初始接种培养液的pH,分别为6.0、6.5、7.0、7.5、8.0、8.5;另一组将培养液pH分别固定在6.0、6.5、7.0、7.5、8.0、8.5,pH用稀HCl和NaOH进行调节。研究发现在pH 6.5和pH 7.0的偏酸环境有利于小球藻生长,而pH在7.0~8.5的偏碱性条件下有利于小球藻油脂的积累,因此综合小球藻生长和油脂积累2个因素,得到最适合小球藻生长和油脂积累的pH为7.0。培养结束后沼液中氮磷的去除率分别达到了95％和97％,沼液中的总氮由原来的134.91 mg/L降至4.86 mg/L,总磷由10.19 mg/L降到0.32 mg/L。     

Ecological replacement of native red squirrels by invasive greys driven by disease

Although a parapoxvirus harmful to red squirrels is present in UK squirrel populations it has not been considered a major cause of red squirrel decline, and replacement by the introduced grey squirrel, mainly because diseased individuals are rarely observed. By developing a generic model we show that parapoxvirus is likely to have played a crucial role in the red squirrel decline even though the prevalence of infection is low. Conservationists are quite rightly concerned with the invasion of exotic organisms such as the grey squirrel. Our work emphasizes that they, along with other ecologists, should pay particular attention to pathogens, even when they occur at low prevalence.     

Carbohydrate starvation is a major determinant of the loss of greening capacity in cotyledons of dark-grown sugar beet seedlings

The transition of cotyledons from heterottophy to autotrophy is a critical step of seedling establishment. We have studied the greening capacity of sugar beet ( Beta vulgaris L. cv. Véga) cotyledons in relation to carbohydrate and energy metabolism during dark growth. During early growth, sugar beet cotyledons behaved mainly as a lipid-mobilizing and gluconeogenic tissue providing substrates to the seedling. Reserve mobilization was followed by a maximum of the adenine nucleotide pool on day 6 in strict correlation with the maximum of greening capacity. This was immediately followed by the onset of a typical situation of carbohydrate starvation characterized by substrate limitation of respiration, a decrease in the adenine nucleotide pool and, as shown by the respiratory quotient and the loss of proteins, a probable utilization of cellular proteins and lipids to sustain respiration. The conversion from etioplast to chloroplast, as determined by the rate of chlorophyll synthesis, was less and less efficient as carbohydrate starvation continued, finally leading to incomplete and heterogeneous greening on day 12. The relationship of the loss of greening capacity with carbohydrate starvation is discussed.     

Effects of phosphorus availability and vesicular–arbuscular mycorrhizas on the carbon budget of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris)

Low phosphorus availability is often a primary constraint to plant productivity in native soils. Here we test the hypothesis that root carbon costs are a primary limitation to plant growth in low P soils by assessing the effect of P availability and mycorrhizal infection on whole plant C budgets in common bean ( Phaseolus vulgaris L.). Plants were grown in solid-phase-buffered silica sand providing a constant supply of low (1 μ m ) or moderate (10 μ m ) P. Carbon budgets were determined weekly during the vegetative growth phase. Mycorrhizal infection in low-P plants increased the root specific P absorption rate, but a concurrent increase in root respiration consumed the increased net C gain resulting from greater P uptake. The energy content of mycorrhizal and non-mycorrhizal roots was similar. We propose that the increase in root respiration in mycorrhizal roots was mainly due to increased maintenance and growth respiration of the fungal tissue. Plants grown with low P availability expended a significantly larger fraction of their total daily C budget on below-ground respiration at days 21, 28 and 35 after planting (29–40%) compared with plants grown with moderate P supply (18–25%). Relatively greater below-ground respiration in low P plants was mainly a result of their increased root:shoot ratio, although specific assimilation rate was reduced significantly at days 21 and 28 after planting. Specific root respiration was reduced over time by low P availability, by up to 40%. This reduction in specific root respiration was due to a reduction in ion uptake respiration and growth respiration, whereas maintenance respiration was increased in low-P plants. Our results support the hypothesis that root C costs are a primary limitation to plant growth in low-P soils.     

Mannitol transport and suitability as an osmoticum in root cells

Fluxes of mannitol across plasmalemma and tonoplast of excised carrot storage root tissue were measured using compartmental analysis of ¹⁴C tracer exchange. Mannitol metabolism and the contribution of [¹⁴C]-labelled metabolites to efflux was shown to be small. Similar but less extensive measurements were made on red beet ( Beta vulgaris L.), barley ( Hordeum vulgare L.) and maize ( Zea mays L.) roots. Calculated values of the reflection coefficient for mannitol were close to one, but, despite this, the inflow of mannitol was sufficient to dissipate the mannitol concentration gradient between inside and outside the cells within the time it takes them to adjust vacuolar concentrations. Thus mannitol is not suitable as an osmoticum in osmotic adjustment experiments in these root tissues. Mannitol flows appear to be passive. Permeability to mannitol (about 10⁻¹⁰ m s⁻¹ is greater at the plasmalemma than at the tonoplast in carrot, and this would tend to cause the cytoplasm to swell. The implications for the control of cytoplasmic volume are discussed.     

Improvement of protoplast culture protocols for Beta vulgaris L. (sugar beet)

Summary The effects of NaCl, feeder cells and the embedding of protoplasts in calcium alginate have been investigated in an attempt to improve culture conditions of recalcitrant sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.) mesophyll protoplasts. While the use of NaCl in all instances proved detrimental to protoplast development, the other two treatments had clear beneficial effects. Minimum plating densities, necessary to sustain cell division, could be reduced to <5% (<4000 protoplasts / ml) of the control levels and plating efficiencies could be significantly enhanced by approx. 10 fold. Plants could still be regenerated from soft calli derived from mesophyll protoplasts cultured under the modified conditions at a frequency of 20–30 %. In particular, the use of alginate is considered of potentially great importance for the further application of beet protoplasts for other aims e.g. asymmetric hybridization.     

Post-dispersal predation and scatterhoarding of Dipteryx panamensis (Papilionaceae) seeds by rodents in Panama

In tropical rain forests of Central America, the canopy tree Dipteryx panamensis (Papilionaceae) fruits when overall fruit biomass is low for mammals. Flying and arboreal consumers feed on D. panamensis and drop seeds under the parent or disperse them farther away. Seeds on the ground attract many vertebrate seed-eaters, some of them potential secondary seed dispersers. The fate of seeds artificially distributed to simulate bat dispersal was studied in relation to fruitfall periodicity and the visiting frequency of diurnal rodents at Barro Colorado Island (BCI), Panama. The frequency of visits by agoutis is very high at the beginning of fruitfall, but in the area close (<50 m) to fruiting trees (Dipteryx-rich area) it declines throughout fruiting, whereas it remains unchanged farther (>50 m) away (Dipteryx-poor and Gustavia-rich area). Squirrels were usually observed in the Dipteryx-rich area. Along with intense post-dispersal seed predation by rodents in the Dipteryx-rich area, a significant proportion of seeds were cached by rodents in the Dipteryx-poor area. Post-dispersal seed predation rate was inversely related to hoarding rate. A significantly greater proportion of seeds was cached in March, especially more than 100 m from the nearest fruiting tree. This correlates with the mid-fruiting period, i.e. during the height of D. panamensis fruiting, when rodents seem to be temporarily satiated with the food supply at parent trees. Hoarding remained high toward April, i.e. late in the fruiting season of D. panamensis. Low survival of scatterhoarded seeds suggests that the alternative food supply over the animal's home-ranges in May–June 1990 was too low to promote survival of cached seeds. Seedlings are assumed to establish in the less-used area of the rodents' home-range when overall food supply is sufficient to satiate post-dispersal predators.     

Comparative characteristics of nests of Vespula germanica (F.) and Vespula vulgaris (L.) (Hymenoptera: Vespinae) from Christchurch City,New Zealand

Abstract

From July 1987 to June 1989, 141 nests and 365 nests, respectively, of the adventive social vespines the German wasp, Vespula germanica (F.), and the common wasp V. vulgaris (L.), from the City of Christchurch, New Zealand, were evaluated for seven major characteristics.

There were few, if any, differences in nest sites, and from spring to early summer in nest traffic, nest size, and numbers of combs. However, Getman wasps showed no preference for direction of nest entrances, while common wasp nests were more numerous in areas most exposed to the morning sun. Some Getman wasp nests survived the winter and began producing new worker cells by late June, but all common wasp nests died by June. Because common wasp nests have been reported surviving the winter in beech forest, which produces honey dew, and honey dew is not available in Christchurch City, common wasp nest survival over winter may be more dependent upon carbohydrates and/or prey dependent upon carbohydrates than the survival of German wasp nests. The presence of large, expanding wasp nests from early spring must impose localised predation pressures virtually unknown in the Northern Hemisphere where overwintering nests are rare. Wasp population dynamics, and impacts of wasps on fauna, are likely to vary between different geographical areas of New Zealand, but as targets for biological control, the two wasp species can generally be considered to be quite similar.     

Coccolithus huxleyi (Lohm.) Kamptn II. The flagellate cell,aberrant cell types,vegetative propagation and life cycles

Coccolithus huxleyi propagates vegetatively by simple constriction of the cell including the cover. Possibly a sexual life cycle also exists consisting of an alternation between a coccolith-covered cell and a scaly flagellate, the structure of which is presented in this paper. Attempts at nuclear staining for determination of chromosome numbers have so far been unsuccessful.