The trophic impact of small mammals in successional grasslands

The habitat use and diets of small mammals inhabiting grassland plots of different successional ages were investigated by live-trapping and faecal analysis over a period of 16 months. The contribution of the major plant life forms and the structural profile of the vegetation of each plot and the availability of insect prey were assessed. The dominant species of small mammal found on each plot were Sorex araneus, S. minutus, Apodemus sylvaticus and Microtus agrestis . Small mammals were most commonly found in the late and mid-successional stages, reflecting the habitat structure and food availability. A wide range of insects and other invertebrates were eaten by all four species and insects formed 50–62% of the animal prey taken. The incidence of certain prey in the diets differed between plots. The daily consumption rate of invertebrates by shrews and mice was estimated at some 6800 prey per ha. The greatest predatory impact came from shews but A. sylvaticus showed increased consumption of invertebrates in spring. The combined predatory impact of the grassland small mammal community on insect populations alone was estimated to average 0.01% per day and is predicted to be greatest in the mid-successional stages.     

THE BIOCHEMISTRY OF NITRIFYING MICROORGANISMS

• 1 Biological nitrification is mediated primarily by two genera of bacteria, Nitrosomonas and its marine form Nitrosocystis, oxidizing ammonia to nitrite, and Nitrobacter, converting nitrite into nitrate. These are chemoautotrophic organisms since they usually derive their energy for growth by oxidizing these inorganic nitrogen compounds and their carbon from carbon dioxide, carbonates or bicarbonates.
• 2 The morphology and structure of these Gram-negative bacteria studied by electron microscopy show numerous intracellular membranes reminiscent of those in photosynthetic bacteria and blue-green algae. These structures may therefore be associated with the production of ATP.
• 3 The bacteria are difficult to grow in pure cultures in sufficient amounts for biochemical work since their generation time is around 10 hr. and the yields are only about one hundredth of those obtained with heterotrophic bacteria. Thus in continuous cultures great care must be taken to avoid ‘wash-out’ of the cells. Since Nitrosomonas and Nitrosocystis produce copious amounts of nitrous acid, which would eventually retard growth, pH stat units are used to titrate the cultures continuously with a solution of sodium carbonate, to hold the pH around 7–8.
• 4 The respiratory chain which is associated with cell membranes, contains flavin, quinones and many cytochromes linking to oxygen as a terminal acceptor. In Nitro-somonas-Nitrosocytis hydroxylamine is oxidized by the electron transfer chain and in Nitrobacter nitrous acid is utilized. The ammonia-oxidizing system, which in Nitrosomonas probably resides near the cell surface, does not appear to survive cell breakage. During the oxidation of hydroxylamine and nitrous acid by the respiratory chains, a phosphorylation occurs but the P/O ratios around 0–30 are low. There is little energy reserve material in the cells, possibly β-hydroxybutyrate and some metaphosphates and as soon as the oxidative processes are impaired the cells cease dividing.
• 5 Chemoautotrophic bacteria have a novel way of producing reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH). This involves a reversal of electron flow from reduced cytochrome c to nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) that is energy-dependent, thus requiring adenosine triphosphate.
• 6 Reductase enzymes, nitrate, nitrite and hydroxylamine reductases in Nitrobacter and nitrite and hydroxylamine reductases in Nitrosomonas, have been described. They appear to be readily extracted in soluble form and are probably assimilatory enzymes since ¹⁶N labelled nitrate, nitrite and hydroxylamine respectively in Nitrobacter and the last two in Nitrosomonas are readily incorporated into cell nitrogen. It has been suggested that a particulate nitrate reductase in Nitrobacter is coupled to the synthesis of adenosine triphosphate but adequate experimental evidence for this concept has not been produced.
• 7 Some recent observations with Nitrobacter suggest that it grows on acetate, deriving all its energy and carbon skeletons from this source but the mean generation time for the bacterium is unchanged. Under these conditions the carbon dioxide fixing enzymes of the pentose pathway are suppressed. This then is a case of facultative chemoautotrophy but there is no increase in the biosynthesis of the TCA enzymes. Whether this is a widespread phenomenon in other chemoautotrophic bacteria remains to be established. If this does prove to be the case it would aid their survival in a variety of habitats and extend their distribution in soils and seas.
• 8 The carbon dioxide fixing enzymes of the pentose pathway are found in the soluble parts of the cells. The major route is via the carboxydismutase system with only a small incorporation via the phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase enzyme. Enzymes of the tricarboxylic acid cycle have low activities compared with those in heterotrophs and this overall slow metabolism, rather than the lack of a specific enzyme such as NADH oxidase, may well account for the slow growth of these bacteria. Although there is very active glutamic dehydrogenase in Nitrosomonas that utilizes ammonia, the enzyme has a very small activity in Nitrobacter. This poses a problem of the route of incorporation of nitrite nitrogen into cell nitrogen in the latter bacterium.
• 9 A few heterotrophic fungi have been described which oxidize ammonia to nitrate but their activity is small compared with that of the nitrifying bacteria.
• 10 It is concluded that the nitrifying bacteria which have many novel biochemical features not met with in other organisms merit further study.

     

MOVEMENT OF EELWORMS: V. OBSERVATIONS ON APHELENCHOIDES RITZEMA-BOSI (SCHWARTZ, 1912) STEINER, 1932 ON FLORISTS' CHRYSANTHEMUMS

Adults of Aphelenchoides ritzema-bosi tend to migrate up the stems of chrysanthemum plants in stationary water films possibly by a negatively geotropic response. A current of water down the stem opposes such an upward movement. Greatest mobility occurred in thick films of water in places with a high concentration of epidermal hairs as at the top of the stem and on the undersurface of leaves. Ciné films of movement in thick and thin films showed that there were fundamental differences in the type of locomotion in these two environments. Invasion of leaves via stomata was observed and the method of movement is described. The presence of A. ritzema-bosi in leaves appears to render the epidermis permeable to water. During dry weather there is little movement inside the leaf, but after rainfall activity increases as water enters the leaf. Spread of eelworm infestation in the leaf occurs in the mesophyll and across veins although initially these act as barriers. Emergence occurs via the stomata, chiefly on the undersurface. When the leaf is wet, about 50% of the eelworms emerge in the first hour. During wet weather many eelworms were recovered from the surfaces of leaves and it is suggested that eelworms spread mostly under these conditions.     

Field Studies of Cereal Leaf Growth: IV. WINTER WHEAT LEAF EXTENSION IN RELATION TO TEMPERATURE AND LEAF WATER STATUS

Throughout winter and early spring, rule and auxanometer measurementsshowed that leaf extension rate (R_E) was directly related totemperature and stopped at about 0°C. During this period,both night and day time R_E responded similarly to temperature.Bright sunshine in late April and May caused fast transpirationwhich was associated with low leaf water potential () and slowR_E. When bright sun was obscured by cloud, R_E increased butthis did not compensate for previous slow R_E. Leaf turgor potential,calculated as the difference between and leaf osmotic potential,was large (0.6–1.8 MPa) and bore little relation to R_E.Low was associated with slower R_E than would have been expectedwithout water stress, but the relation was not unique. On abright day in May, adaptation to low occurred and during theafternoon R_E was faster than at similar values of and meristemtemperatures before noon. The response of R_E and duration ofleaf extension to temperature suggested that for any particularleaf grown under field conditions, variation in mean growingtemperature would affect final leaf length only slightly. Becausesevere water stress slows R_E without affecting the durationof leaf extension markedly, it decreases final leaf size.     

Behavioral Thermoregulation and the "Final Preferendum" Paradigm

Wider attention to Fry's (1947) "final preferendum" paradigmwould facilitate comparative studies of temperature preference(behavioral thermoregulation) among different animal groups.According to Fry's bipartite definition, the final preferendumis that temperature at which preference and acclimation areequal, and to which an animal in a thermal gradient will finallygravitate regardless of its prior thermal experience (acclimation).This paradigm is helpful in distinguishing between acute thermalpreferenda (measured within 2 hr or less after placing an animalin a thermal gradient), which are influenced by acclimationtemperature, and the species-specific final preferendum (measured24–96 hr after placement in the gradient), which is essentiallyindependent of prior acclimation because reacclimation occursduring the gravitation process. The paradigm does not take intoaccount non-thermal acclimatization influences (e.g., season,photoperiod, age, light intensity, salinity, disease, nutrition,pollutants, biotic interactions) which can also affect temperaturepreference. However, a graph of acutely preferred temperaturesversus acclimation temperatures can be employed to determinean equivalent acclimation temperature for any given acclimatizationstate, as a simple means of quantifying acclimatization statesresulting from interactions of many influences. This paradigm,developed for use with fishes, can also be applied to otherectothermic taxa, although it is most easily employed with aquaticorganisms because of the simplicity of specifying aquatic thermalenvironments in terms of water temperature alone. Methodologiesused in studies of behavioral thermoregulation should take theparadigm into account (especially with respect to length oftests) to enhance the comparative value of data across taxa.     

A LuxR homologue of Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae is required for optimal rice virulence

In Gram-negative bacteria a typical quorum sensing (QS) system usually involves the production and response to acylated homoserine lactones (AHLs). An AHL QS system is most commonly mediated by a LuxI family AHL synthase and a LuxR family AHL response regulator. This study reports for the first time the presence of a LuxR family-type regulator in Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae ( Xoo ), which has been designated as OryR. The primary structure of OryR contains the typical signature domains of AHL QS LuxR family response regulators: an AHL-binding and a HTH DNA binding motif. The oryR gene is conserved among 26 Xoo strains and is also present in the genomes of close relatives X. campestris pv. campestris and X. axonopodis pv. citri . Disrupting oryR in three Xoo strains resulted in a significant reduction of rice virulence. The wild-type Xoo strains do not seem to produce AHLs and analysis of the Xoo sequenced genomes did not reveal the presence of a LuxI-family AHL synthase. The OryR protein was shown to be induced by macerated rice and affected the production of two secreted proteins: a cell-wall-degrading cellobiosidase and a 20-kDa protein of unknown function. By expressing and purifying OryR it was then observed that it was solubilized when grown in the presence of rice extract indicating that there could be a molecule(s) in rice which binds OryR. The role of OryR as a possible in planta induced LuxR family regulator is discussed.     

Analysis of segment number and enzyme variation in a centipede reveals a cryptic species, Geophilus easoni sp. nov., and raises questions about speciation

Geophilomorph centipedes provide an unusual opportunity to examine patterns of variation in segment number within extant species. (Most other arthropod species are invariant in this respect.) Recent work on several geophilomorph species has revealed latitudinal clines in segment number, but has generally not called into question the identities of the species themselves. However, analysis of a unique pattern of variation in British populations of Geophilus carpophagus Leach, coupled with other morphological and enzyme data, reveals a cryptic species, Geophilus easoni sp. nov. This species has not yet been detected on the European mainland. Four distinct hypotheses are advanced regarding the speciation event through which G. easoni arose and the phylogeographic processes that resulted in the present distributions of the two species in Britain. Further study will be necessary to test these hypotheses. In any event, G. carpophagus and G. easoni provide something that has until now been absent: a case study of the genetic differences between closely-related geophilomorph species.