Environmental features influencing Carabid beetle (Coleoptera) assemblages along a recently deglaciated area in the Alpine region

Abstract.  1. The spatio-temporal approach was used to evaluate the environmental features influencing carabid beetle assemblages along a chronosequence of an Italian Alpine glacier foreland. The influence of environmental variables on species richness, morphology (wing and body length), and distribution along the chronosequence was tested.
2. Species richness was found to be a poor indicator of habitat due to weak influences by environmental variables. It seems that the neighbouring habitats of a glacier foreland are not able to determine significant changes in carabid species richness.
3. Instead it appears that history (age since deglaciation) and habitat architecture of a glacier foreland are strongly correlated to species adaptive morphological traits, such as wing morphology and body length. Assemblages characterised by species with reduced wing size are linked to the older stages of the chronosequence, where habitat is more structured. Assemblages characterised by the largest species are linked to the younger sites near the glacier. These morphological differentiations are explained in detail.
4. Habitat age can therefore be considered the main force determining assemblage composition. On the basis of the relationship between morphological traits and environmental variables, it seems likely that age since deglaciation is the main variable influencing habitat structure (primary effect) on the Forni foreland. The strong relationship between carabid assemblages and habitat type indicates that site age has but a secondary effect on carabid assemblages. This may be utilised to interpret potential changes in assemblages linked to future glacier retreat.     

Offspring size and survival in the frog Rana latastei: from among-population to within-clutch variation

Egg size is considered to be a major maternal effect for offspring in oviparous organisms. It has profound consequences on fitness, and differences in egg size are viewed as plastic responses to environmental variability. However, it is difficult to identify the effect of egg size per se because egg size can covary with genetic features of the mother and with other nongenetic factors. We analysed the relationship between offspring starting size (i.e. a proxy of egg size) and larval survival in the frog Rana latastei . We analysed this relationship: (1) among five populations at different altitudes; (2) among clutches laid from different females; and (3) among siblings within clutches, to evaluate the effect of starting size. We observed differences among populations for offspring size, but starting size was not related to altitude or genetic diversity. Mortality was higher in populations and families with small average starting size; however, among siblings, the relationship between starting size and mortality was not verified. The relationship observed among clutches may therefore be caused by covariation between egg size and other effects. This suggests that the covariation between egg size and other effects can result in apparent relationships between egg size and fitness-related traits. Proximate and ultimate factors can cause the phenotypic variation of hatchlings in the wild, and key traits can be related to this variation, but the underlying causes require further investigation.  © 2009 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society , 2009, 97 , 845–853.     

Growth and reproduction in the freshwater crab, Potamon fluviatile (Decapoda, Brachyura)

SUMMARY. 1. The patterns of relative and absolute growth and the reproductive biology of the freshwater crab Potamon fluviatile were studied in a natural population inhabiting a hill stream close to Florence, Italy, over an annual cycle. Periodical inspections of a stretch of the stream were made and morphological and anatomical analysis carried out.
2. As in other decapods, the females are smaller than the males (they can however occasionally reach larger dimensions). This may be determined by a lengthening of the moulting interval in the females, by their higher energetic cost of reproduction (since reproduction occurs simultaneously with moulting, at least in this habitat) and/or by a higher mortality rate resulting from the risks associated with carrying eggs and vagility.
3. The analysis of relative growth in secondary sexual characters (abdomen width and major chela length) with respect to carapace length, shows that the pre-puberty and puberty ecdysis occur at 15 and 35 mm carapace length respectively, which was also confirmed by the gonad weight, vas deferens in males, and the onset of vitellogencsis in females.
4. A delay between anatomical and functional (i.e. the ability to copulate successfully) maturity was observed in the males. Being larger may be an advantage in intra-sexual competition for mating, but larger males, being more vagile, are also more likely to meet receptive females. The females may mate before their puberty moult and store sperms in their seminal receptacles for when they attain full maturity; this could be adaptive since opportunities of encountering males are few and far between in their adult phase, characterized by their vagile and amphibious habits.     

心源性运动呼吸异常：心衰患者运动期间波浪式呼吸的临床观察*

目的: 探讨心力衰竭患者在运动期间诱发的异常波浪式呼吸模式(EIOB)的临床特点及发生机制。方法: 回顾分析38例NYHA Ⅲ-Ⅳ级患者完成的症状限制性功率递增极限心肺运动试验(CPET)。观察分析计算心力衰竭患者在CPET中EIOB的发生时间、频率、振幅等临床特点。结果: 本组患者男17女21在38例患者中,31例发生EIOB,发生率为81.6%。EIOB组每分通气量(VE )波浪振幅是(12±4)L/m(为平均值的81%±30%),周期(77.0±20.0)s。EIOB组中OB发生在运动前、运动中功率低于无氧阈时、恢复期或者全程分别为24、31、4和4例;除VE 外,在CPET的各项参数中,全部31例患者均表现EIOB的指标为VO₂、VCO₂、RER和PETO₂;29例患者 VE / V CO₂、VO₂/ VE 和BF出现EIOB;26例患者PETCO₂出现EIOB;25例患者VT、VO₂/HR出现EIOB;2例患者HR出现EIOB。结论: 严重心力衰竭患者易发生EIOB。就心脏功能对呼吸调控的影响及心衰患者呼吸异常发生机制进行了探讨。