Female reproductive fluid concentrations affect sperm performance of alternative male phenotypes in an external fertilizer

There is growing evidence that the female reproductive fluid (FRF) plays an important role in cryptic female choice through its differential effect on the performance of sperm from different males. In a natural spawning event, the male(s) may release ejaculate closer or further away from the spawning female. If the relative spatial proximity of competing males reflects the female pre-mating preference towards those males, then favoured males will encounter higher concentrations of FRF than unpreferred males. Despite this being a common situation in many external fertilizers, whether different concentrations of FRF can differentially influence the sperm performance of distinct male phenotypes (favoured and unfavoured by the female) remains to be elucidated. Here, we tested this hypothesis using the grass goby (Zosterisessor ophiocephalus), a fish with distinct territorial-sneaker reproductive tactics and female pre-mating preference towards territorial males, that consequently mate in an advantaged position and whose sperm experience higher concentrations of FRF. Our findings revealed a differential concentration-dependent effect of FRF over sneaker and territorial sperm motility only at low concentrations (i.e. at the distance where sneakers typically ejaculate), with increasing FRF concentrations (i.e. close to the eggs) similarly boosting the sperm performance of both sneaker and territorial males. The ability to release sperm close to the eggs is a prerogative of territorials, but FRF can likewise advantage the sperm of those sneakers that are able to get closer, allowing flexibility in the direction of female post-mating choice.     

Mutual support and selection between branches of damaged plants

Snow (1931) showed that the fate of a branch of a plant that had suffered local herbivory could be determined by correlative effects of other branches. This neglected work was continued in the current study, herbivory being simulated by the removal of leaves of different ages from pea plants with two branches. A damaged branch was suppressed when an undamaged alternative branch was present; otherwise the damage never prevented continued development. The removal of mature leaves had a smaller effect than the removal of immature, expanding leaves. When leaves were removed from both branches it was the branches that suffered less damage to their immature leaves that continued shoot development. Branches from which all photosynthetic leaves were repeatedly removed developed only when they retained their immature leaves and remained dominant, inhibiting the development — but not the photosynthesis — of the other branch on the same plant. Accounting for these results requires mechanisms that compare the different branches of the plant and select for development the ones that have the greatest potential for future, rather than present, photosynthesis. It is concluded that a compartmentalized or sectorial distribution of essential substrates can be modified by correlative relations that are probably mediated by hormones.     

Integrating conservation and development: incorporating vulnerability into biodiversity-assessment of areas

Protection of regional biodiversity requires that priority for protection of individual areas be based on both the contribution the area can make to representing overall biodiversity and the degree to which the area, in the absence of action, is vulnerable to loss of its biodiversity. Attempts to apply these criteria together largely have been ad hoc. A solution to this problem is presented for environmental surrogate data, based on environmental diversity (ED). ED uses a standard ecological continuum model to link environmental pattern to species-level biodiversity, so that a set of areas can be characterized by its relative expected biodiversity. This allows explicit incorporation of estimates of area-vulnerability, interpreted as the relative probability that any member species will not persist, into biodiversity assessments. The contribution of a given area to regional expected biodiversity is influenced not only by its own vulnerability value, but also by the vulnerability of other areas. Increasing the degree of protection of any area (reducing its vulnerability) will increase expected biodiversity: however, expected regional biodiversity sometimes may be maximized when limited resources for protection are directed to an area with lower vulnerability rather than to one with higher vulnerability.The allocation of land uses in a region need not be viewed as an all-or-nothing assignment of protection. The effect of a particular management regime on the biodiversity of a given area can be equated with some consequent degree of vulnerability; viewed positively, a management regime that offers some degree of biodiversity protection can make a measurable contribution to the protection of the biodiversity of a region.     

The adaptive significance of colour pattern polymorphism in the Australian scincid lizard Lampropholis delicata

Females of Lampropholis delicata are dimorphic for colour pattern, the difference between morphs being the presence or absence of a distinct white mid-lateral stripe. A less distinct striped morph occurs also in males. We evaluated alternative hypotheses for the maintenance of this polymorphism by examining temporal and spatial variation in morph frequency, testing for differential selection among morphs using data on body size and reproductive traits from preserved specimens, and experimentally manipulating colour pattern in free-ranging lizards of both sexes, to assess the influence of the lateral stripe on survival rates. We found that the relative frequency of striped individuals varied among populations and decreased from north to south in both sexes, coincident with an increasing incidence of regenerated tails. Morph frequencies did not change through time within a population. Striped gravid females appeared to survive better and produced larger clutches than did non-striped females. In our experimental study, the relationship between survival and colour morph differed between the two sexes; males painted with a white lateral stripe had lower survival than control (brown stripe) males, but survival did not differ between striped and control females. The different response in the two sexes may be due partly to differences in temperature and microhabitat selection. We propose that the white lateral stripe decreases susceptibility to predators in gravid females but increases risk of predation in males, especially in combination with low temperatures. The polymorphism might be maintained by: (1) opposing fitness consequences of the stripe in males and females; (2) sex-specific habitat selection; and (3) gene flow in combination with spatial variation in relative fitness of the two morphs.     

Decrease in tolerance to fenvalerate, in resistantHelicoverpa armigera after pupal diapause

Pyrethroid resistant and susceptible adults ofHelicoverpa armigera (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) were screened for tolerance to pyrethroids after 6 wk or 12 wk pupal diapuse. Resistant larvae and F₂ larvae from a cross between resistant and susceptible parents (two replicates), were reared under conditions to induce pupal diapause. After eclosion, adults were tested in glass vials coated with the pyrethroid fenvalerate, at a dose (DD) that is known to discriminate between susceptible and heterozygous resistant individuals. In all diapause experiments, the frequency of resistance was lower in the test groups that had experienced diapause compared with the non-diapausing control group. The underlying cause of the decline is not certain but selective mortality of resistant versus susceptible individuals could not account for all the difference in two of the three experiments — tolerance to the pyrethroid, fenvalerate, is most likely to have declined either as a consequence of diapause or from the extended time of development associated with diapause. These results indicate that monitoring programs could underestimate pyrethroid resistance frequencies when usingH. armigera adults emerging from diapause.     

Cryptic coloration and choice of escape microhabitats by grasshoppers (Orthoptera: Acrididae)

Cryptic coloration is found in many Orthoptera, especially in Acrididae, showing a great variety of forms. In a grasshopper assemblage in southeastern Brazil, preferences for escape places were detected; grasshoppers tended to escape to backgrounds in which they seem to be more cryptic. Coloration was measured using the Simpson diversity index, to quantify 'aspect diversity' (diversity of colours and shapes of patches along the insect's body). A weak positive correlation was found between grasshoppers' aspect diversity and diversification in use of escape places (use of many backgrounds to escape). Grasshoppers with similar colour patterns tended to use the same structures (leaves, sandy soil, stones) to escape.     

Selection of a proteolytic enzyme to solubilize lean beef tissue

Many proteases are available for the hydrolysis of various protein substrates. The qualitative effect of most experimental variables on reaction progress is known, so it is possible to devise a rational procedure for selecting the best enzyme. Reaction time and enzyme concentration should be chosen in the region where they have little effect on reaction progress. Substrate concentration should be low to avoid possible product inhibition. Each enzyme should be tested at its optimum pH, and at a range of temperatures around (mainly below) the reported temperature optimum. Enzyme cost and other relevant factors should also be considered in the enzyme selection. Using this selection procedure Alcalase was chosen as the most appropriate enzyme for solubilizing lean beef tissue.     

Microtubule arrays in the cortex and near the germinal vesicle of immature starfish oocytes

An extensive array of long, crisscrossing microtubules has been discovered in the cortex of oocytes of the starfish Pisaster ochraceus. The microtubules were visualized in cortex preparations by indirect immunofluorescence microscopy using antibodies to tubulin. The cortical array of microtubules is present in all oocytes before and for about 30 min after the application of 1-methyladenine, the hormone that induces oocyte maturation. The presence of microtubules was confirmed by electron microscopy. The microtubules in this array are depolymerized when oocytes are treated with colchicine or nocodozole and are augmented when oocytes are treated with taxol. Dihydrocytochalasin B treatment of the oocytes causes the microtubules to aggregate, presumably by altering a microfilament network also found in the cortex. The distribution of microtubules was also explored in whole oocytes stained with antitubulin. One or two aster-like structures were observed adjacent to the germinal vesicle of each oocyte.     

Isolation of methotrexate-resistant cell lines in Petunia hybrida upon stepwise selection procedure

Summary Cell suspensions of Petunia hybrida were subjected to a selection procedure in which the concentration of the selective agent, methotrexate (MTX), was gradually elevated. In mammalian cells, this procedure frequently results in MTX-resistant mutants due to amplification of the gene coding for dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR), the target protein of MTX.Five suspension lines were isolated, with degrees of resistance ranging from 10 to 500 M MTX (in wild type the LD_99.9 is 0.2 M). MTX^R phenotypes were unstable, as manifested by the loss of resistance upon prolonged growth in the absence of drug. All of the mutants also exhibited high values of MTX-binding protein (60- to 400-fold higher than that of the wild type), which declined to intermediate values upon MTX withdrawal. Finally, cellular extracts from all of the mutants also showed high specific staining of DHFR-activity in gels.The results suggest that the resistance of MTX in these plant cell-lines is mediated by the elevation of the amounts of DHFR, probably as a consequence of gene amplification.