Endophage-ectophage ratios and plant defense

Summary Endophagous folivores, which are concealed inside leaf tissue for much of their life cycle, or which live externally but feed internally, should be more successful on heavily defended plants than ectophagous species. This is because endophages are more facile at feeding selectively and can manipulate tissue development to avoid physical and chemical defenses and to enhance nutrition. As a result, endophage-ectophage ratios should increase on more heavily defended hosts. This pattern will likely be strengthened by negative asymmetrical interactions with ectophages and pathogens, which may displace endophages from lightly defended hosts. The hypothesis predicts that endophages should be particularly abundant in resource-poor habitats which seem to support a preponderance of heavily defended hosts. Although data do not yet exist for a rigorous test, several observed cases where endophage distributions seem biased toward heavily defended hosts are at least consistent with the hypothesis. Plant defense levels may have little influence on the total number of herbivores associated with a host, but I suggest that guild structure can be profoundly altered.     

Plant feeding of yellow baboons (Papio cynocephalus) in Mikumi national park,Tanzania, and the relationship between seasonal feeding and immature survival

Focal-animal feeding data obtained from 64 adult baboons during a 3-year period were used together with equivalent data from 46 infants to evaluate hypotheses predicting selection for a birth peak and to study the baboon’s eclectic/selective feeding adaptation, with emphasis on differential feeding by sex, developmental trends, and seasonal use of food classes (fruit, leaf, flower, grass, etc.). The findings suggest that feeding conditions are better in the wet season than in the dry season. Despite large sexual dimorphism, estimates of total amounts eaten were virtually identical for males and females. Infants used all of the same plant-food classes as adults, but proportional differences occurred for some food classes in amounts eaten. Foods eaten proportionately less by infants were probably harder for them to obtain and process or were chosen through inexperience or for exploration. There was considerable between-year variation in amounts of food classes eaten, but the within-year standard deviations were similar, as were also the mean amounts eaten per year. An eclectic/selective feeding adaptation has the advantage of permitting long-run acquisition of adequate nutrition within a context of high feeding variation from season to season and year to year. Mixed results were obtained from hypotheses about selection for a birth peak. Although a peak occurred in the early dry season, this was not the optimal time of birth for survival. Survival was highest for individuals born in the late wet season, when the availability and probably the quality of food for lactating mothers were greatest.     

Weed macaques: The evolutionary implications of macaque feeding ecology

Patterns of feeding ecology among the living macaques conform poorly with recognized phyletic distinctions within the genus because there is an important ecological division which cross-cuts phyletic groupings. This division, between weed species and non-weed species, is based on the differing abilities of macaques to tolerate and even prosper in close association with human settlements. Based on available information about their ecology in the wild, we tentatively assign macaque species to these two categories. Finally, we consider the implications of our argument for scenarios of the initial spread of the macaques.     

Feeding ecology of the proboscis monkey (Nasalis larvatus)

Proboscis monkey (Nasalis larvatus) feeding behavior and ecology were studied at the Natai Lengkuas Station, Tanjung Puting National Park, Kalimantan Tengah, Indonesia. Data on feeding behavior were collected using scan sampling during group follows. Three vegetational plots containing 1,732 trees were established and monitored monthly for changes in fruit, flower, and young leaf production. Basal area and canopy cover were calculated and used in estimating food abundance. Proboscis monkeys were found to be folivore/frugivores, specializing in seed consumption. At least 55 different plant species were used as food sources, with a marked preference for Eugenia sp. 3/4,Ganua motleyana and Lophopetalum javanicum. These tree species were among the most frequent and most dominant. However, proboscis monkeys were selective feeders; use of tree species as food sources was not based simply on relative density. During times of low food abundance and/or availability proboscis monkeys switched dietary strategies and increased dietary diversity. The average total home range was estimated to be 130.3 ha, with an average group density of 5.2 groups per km². The average biomass per km² was estimated to be 499.5 kg. Given their high biomass and predilection for consuming seeds of dominant species, proboscis monkeys may help to maintain and increase vegetational diversity.     

Research perspectives and the anomalous status of modern ecology

Ecology has often been characterized as an immature scientific discipline. This paper explores some of the sources of this alleged immaturity. I argue that the perception of immaturity results primarily from the fact that historically ecologists have based their work upon two very different approaches to research.     

Thermoanaerobium lactoethylicum spec. nov. a new anaerobic bacterium from a hot spring of Kamchatka

A new anaerobic thermophilic Gram-positive, nonsporeforming bacterium strain ZE-1 was isolated from a hot spring of Kamchatka (USSR). The cells are rod-shaped, (0.5–0.8 · 2.0–20 m), non-motile. The bacterium can grow between 42 and 75°C; the optimal temperature is 65°C. The growth is possible between pH values 5.0 and 8.5; optimal pH is 7.0. The cultures grow on the media containing peptone, yeast extract, or casein hydrolysate as nitrogen sources in the presence of glucose or some other sugars, mannitol or starch. The main fermentation products of glucose are ethanol, acetate, lactate, H₂, CO₂; byproducts are propionic, butyric and isovaleric acids. Glucose is metabolized via Embden-Meyerhoff-Parnas pathway. Molecular hydrogen does not inhibit growth. The bacterium does not reduce aceton to isopropanol, but is able to form H₂S from elemental sulfur. The bacterium contains a soluble hydrogenase. This enzyme catalyzes both evolution and uptake of H₂ and is active in the presence of methyl viologen. The DNA-base composition is 34.6 mol%; the genome size 2.08x10⁹ D. The name proposed for the isolated bacterium strain ZE-1 is Thermoanaerobium lactoethylicum spec. nov.     

On the solution of mathematical models of herd immunity in human helminth infections

The general solution of the mathematical model of herd immunity to human helminth infections recently proposed by Anderson and May [3] is obtained. The numerical solution of a more accurate biological model is indistinguishable from the corresponding exact solution of a more tractable mathematical model. Computer simulations of some particular cases of this model support the notion that both ecological and immunological factors determine the observed convex patterns of age-prevalence and age-intensity curves of human helminth infections.This work was made thanks to the advise and support of Dr. Robert M. May while the author was Postdoctoral Fellow at Princeton University     

Host plant recognition in monophagous weevils: specificity in feeding responses of Ceutorhynchus constrictus and the variable effect of sinigrin

Host plant relations of the monophagous weevil Ceutorhynchus constrictus Marsh. (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Ceutorhynchinae) feeding on garlic mustard, Alliaria petiolata (Bieb.) Cavara & Grande (Cruciferae) were studied in the laboratory. Most other crucifers were rejected in choice tests using garlic mustard as a reference plant, but Brassica nigra, Sinapis alba and Thlaspi arvense were as acceptable as the host plant. Flowering plants of Descurainia sophia were acceptable while young plants of this species were not. The most important feeding stimulants in extracts of garlic mustard were uncharged, water soluble compounds. The most abundant glucosinolate in garlic mustard, sinigrin, was a feeding stimulant, too. However, the feeding stimulatory activity of sinigrin was only expressed in the presence of still unidentified uncharged compounds from garlic mustard leaves. Host plant relations in monophagous crucifer-feeding insects is discussed in relation to the distinctness of glucosinolate patterns found in their host plants.

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Zusammenfassung Ceutorhynchus constrictus Marsh. (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Ceutorhynchinae) ist ein monophager Rüsselkäfer, der an Knoblauchhederich frisst. Das Wirtswahl-Verhalten dieses Käfers ist im Labor untersucht worden. Die meisten Crucifiren waren im Wahlversuche nicht akzeptiert, wenn Knoblauchhederich als Vergleichspflanze vorhanden war. Von Brassica nigra, Sinapis alba, und Thlaspi arvense wurden im Vergleich gleiche Mengen verzehrt wie von der Wirtspflanze. Blühende Descurainia sophia Pflanzen wurden, im Gegensatz zu Jungpflanzen der gleichen Art, angenommen. Die wichtichsten Phagostimulanten in Extrakten von Knoblauchhederich-Blättern waren ungeladene, wasserlösliche Substanzen. Das häufigste Glukosinolat im Knoblauchhederich, Sinigrin, war auch ein Phagostimulant. Doch war die phagostimulierende Wirkung von Sinigrin nur in Kombinationen mit noch nicht identifizierten, ungeladenen Substanzen aus Knoblauchhederich-Blätter nachweisbar. Wirtspfanzen-Beziehungen von monophagen Insekten werden diskutiert im Zusammenhang mit der Eigenart des Glukosinolat-Inhaltes ihrer Wirtspflanzen.

     

Resource partitioning in a guild of aphid species associated with creeping thistle Cirsium arvense

Four aphid species (Aphis fabae cirsiiacanthoidis Scop., Brachycaudus cardui (L.), Capitophorus carduinus Walker and Uroleucon cirsii (L.)) feed on the creeping thistle Cirsium arvense. They utilize different parts of their host plant and at different times. A wide niche is typical of C. carduinus and U. cirsii, whereas A. f. crisiiacanthoidis and B. cardui, show narrower but overlapping niches. Morphological features such as stylet length and body size as well as colony size and density are associated with the choice of feeding site. C. carduinus, the smallest species with the shortest stylets was able to use leaf veins and lamina, while the other species mainly used the stem and peduncles. Within this group, A. f. cirsiiacanthoidis and B. cardui are restricted to the upper part of the stem because of their short stylets, but adult U. cirsii, the species with the longest stylets, can also feed at the base of the stem.

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Räumliche und zeitliche ressourcenaufteilung in der blattlausgilde an der ackerkratzdistel cirsium arvense

Zusammenfassung An der Ackerkratzdistel leben vier Blattlausarten (Aphis fabae cirsiiacanthoidis Scop., Brachycaudus cardui (L.), Capitophorus carduinus Walker und Uroleucon cirsii (L.)), die im Verlauf der Vegetationsperiode verschiedene Strukturen ihrer Wirtspflanze nutzen. Eine breite Nische ist für U. cirsii und C. carduinus typisch, während A. f. cirsiiacanthoidis und B. cardui engere Nischen besitzen, die sich nahezu überlappen. Die Nahrungsplatzwahl wird sowohl durch morphologische Parameter wie Stilettlänge und Körpergewicht als auch durch Koloniegröe und Dispersion innerhalb der Kolonie beeinflut. Die kleinste Art, C. carduinus, die auch das kürzeste Stilett besitzt, ist in der Lage, an Blattadern und auf der Blattspreite zu saugen. Die anderen Arten bevorzugen Stengel, Seitenstengel und Blütenstiele. Innerhalb dieser Gruppe können A. f. cirsiiacanthoidis und C. carduinus wegen ihrer kürzeren Stilette nur am oberen Teil des Stengels saugen, während adulte U. cirsii aufgrund ihrer längeren Stilette auch an der Stengelbasis leben können.

     

Individual variation in the foraging strategies of young yellow perch (Perca flavescens) from the Ottawa River

Differences in the foraging strategies among young individuals of the yellow perch (Perca flavescens) were observed in the laboratory by using two kinds of food (Daphnia and brine shrimp) separately and together. Individuals differed significantly in their ability for feeding attempts, time interval between two consecutive feeding attempts, feeding angles, regurgitation rate, and number of unsuccessful attempts and in their food preference. It is concluded that there are individuals with different foraging strategies. Variability in foraging strategies within single species populations is important because it may explain how the conspecific individuals may differ in their overall feeding behaviour.