Flower change in Oenothera drummondii Hooker as a response to pollinators' visits

Flower change in Oenothera drummondii Hooker as a response to pollinators' visits. The colour and shape of flowers of Oenothera drummondii change owing to senescence, pollination and/or nectar withdrawal. This phenomenon is interpreted as a signal emitted by the plant to 'inform' the potential pollinator of its new status as a rewardless flower. This method of signalling might be important for the pollinators in order to save energy in seeking the correct flowers and for the plant to ensure visits to those flowers that have not yet been visited.     

Social Play or the Development of Social Behavior in Ferrets (Mustela putorius)?

Ferrets are the domesticated form of the European polecat. Changesin ferret kit, face to face orientation (en face) were describedfor littermate dyads at 46, 62, and 94 days after birth. Enface characteristics were discussed in terms of their appropriatenessfor reported burrow attachment and subsequent dispersal of polecatkits to illustrate both the transactional and the developmentalnature of our approach and to emphasize the neglected developmentalproblem of knowing the organization of kit behavior in its ecologicalsetting. This emphasis brings into question the appropriatenessof play criteria, reduces the heuristic value of play for thoseinterested in development, and suggests the importance of multipleendpoints for developmental investigations. Play also limitsdevelopmental investigations because of the nature of ethologicalbehavioral categories: Their adult, motivational, and evolutionaryemphases direct attention to "functional" rather than "analytic"questions. Although these questions are complementary, theyare not equally appropriate for problems of evolution and developmentbecause the former direct our attention of behavior of youngorganisms while the latter direct our attention to mechanismsof the developmental process. Our evaluation of play appliesequally well to other functional categories of behavior, suchas sexual and aggressive behavior.     

Taiz, L. and Zeiger, E. Plant physiology. 3rd edn.

Plant physiology is part of the essential core curriculum everybotanist has to master. As usually non-motile organisms thatare, in most cases, fixed to a single locality for their entirelifetime, plants have special needs to cope with widely disparate,and often highly changeable environmental conditions. Physiologicaladaptations play as great a role in