Grasshopper feeding rates, preferences, and growth on safflower

Laboratory experiments were conducted to measure the feeding rates, preferences, survival rates, maturation times, and weight gain of four common species of grasshoppers (Orthoptera: Acrididae) on four lines of safflower (Carthamus tinctorius). When safflower lines were presented individually, all were readily consumed although consumption differed significantly according to grasshopper species, age and sex, and to safflower line. Consumption was greatest on a safflower line devoid of spines. However, grasshoppers also fed readily on spiny lines, and results of experiments in which all safflower lines were presented together indicated preferences that did not necessarily correspond to the results of the single-line feeding trials. Camnula pellucida, a graminivorous species, did feed on safflower, but restricted feeding almost exclusively to stem cambium, whereas Melanoplus bivittatus, M. packardii and M. sanguinipes fed mainly on the heads, flowers and leaves. Highly significant differences in grasshopper maturation time and weight gain were apparent among grasshopper species, and among safflower lines. Seedtec-5, the line which was least digestible, least consumed and least preferred nevertheless yielded rapid development and the greatest body weights of grasshoppers. All species of Melanoplus developed more quickly and gained more weight on safflower than on wheat. One species, M. packardii, was more able to utilise safflower than its congeners, and may gain competitive advantage if safflower becomes widely grown.     

Changes in the Activity of the Maturation-Promoting Factor Are Correlated with Those of a Major Cyclic AMP and Calcium-Independent Protein Kinase During the First Mitotic Cell Cycles in the Early Starfish Embryo

Many studies suggest that MPF activation depends on protein phosphorylation or that MPF is itself a protein kinase. In the present report, cyclic variations of MPF activity have been correlated in vivo with changes in the extent of protein phosphorylation or in vitro with changes of a major protein kinase during the first cell cycles of fertilized starfish eggs. This cycling protein kinase neither requires cAMP nor Ca²⁺. Neither colchicine nor aphidicoline, which inhibits cleavage and chromosome replication respectively, was found to suppress the synchronous and cyclic variations of both MPF and protein kinase activities. Protein synthesis was found to be required for both MPF and protein kinase activities to reappear after their simultaneous drop at the time of mitotic or meiotic cleavages. Production of either MPF or protein kinase activities is not the immediate result of protein synthesis since there is a delay at each cell cycle between the time when protein synthesis is required and the time when both MPF and protein kinase activities are produced. This suggests that both MPF and protein kinase activities might involve some post-translational modification of a precursor protein synthesized during the preceeding cell cycle.     

中国平脉树螽属五新种记述：直翅目：螽斯科：树螽亚科

本文报道中国平脉树螽属5个新种。每个新种皆有详细的形态描述和形态特征图。所有模式标本存于北京农业大学昆虫标本室。     

Changes in Abscisic Acid Content in Axis and Cotyledons of Developing Phaseolus vulgaris Embryos and their Physiological Consequences

Prevost, I. and Le Page–Degivry, M. Th. 1985. Changesin absicisic acid content in axis and cotyledons of developingPhaseolus vulgaris embryos and their physiological consequences.—J.exp. Bot. 36: 1900–1905.Changes in abscisic acid (ABA)content with time were measured in embryonic axes and in cotyledonsof Phaseolus vulgaris embryos using a radio–immunoassay.During embryogenesis, a similar pattern was observed in bothtissues: ABA increased to a maximum 29 d after an thesis, followedby a decrease as the seed matured. The level of ABA in the cotyledonswas always much higher than that in the axes. In in vitro cultures,the duration of the lag phase before germination of isolatedembryonic axes increased with ABA content. The presence of cotyledonsalways lengthened the lag phase; longer lag phases were associatedwith greater concentrations of ABA in the cotyledons. Moreoverthe presence of cotyledons stimulated the growth of seedlings. Key words: ABA distribution, embryo maturation, axis and embryo germinability