Pheromones and colonization: reassessment of the milkweed bug migration model (Heteroptera: Lygaeidae: Lygaeinae)

Summary. Research on insect migration has justifiably emphasized females – the so-called “oogenesis-flight syndrome”– since it is the females that place the eggs into new habitats. The large and small milkweed bugs, Oncopeltus fasciatus and Lygaeus kalmii, respectively, have featured prominently in studies of insect migration and sequestration of host plant toxins for chemical defense. Here we report that males of these species, and males of another well-studied lygaeine (Neacoryphus bicrucis), produce pheromones in glands usually considered to serve only a defensive role in Heteroptera (the metathoracic scent glands), and that these pheromones are exploited by a tachinid parasitoid as a host-finding kairomone. The pheromones are mixtures of C₆ and C₈ saturated and unsaturated esters reminiscent of lepidopteran pheromones, and the key compound of the O. fasciatus pheromone has now been correctly identified as (E)-2,7-octadienyl acetate. It is proposed that the concept of the oogenesis-flight syndrome for these kinds of insects should accommodate the role of males in the migration process. The hypothesis is presented that male-produced pheromones play a significant role in guiding colonization of new habitats in many heteropteran species. In addition, data are presented suggesting that there is a trade-off between the amount of pheromone produced by colonizing males and the host breadth of the species. Received 21 December 1998; accepted 15 February 1999.     

Competitiveness and prospects for the African mining industry

Since the 1960s the Kédia mines have been the main source of iron ore for Mauritania. In the 1970s SN1M, the Mauritanian state enterprise responsible for the mining of the country's iron ore, concerned about the eventual depletion of its reserves at Kédia, and at the urging of its European customers, undertook to develop new iron-ore deposits at the Guelbs. The deposits at the Guelbs, however, were low-grade magnetite ore as opposed to the high-grade hematite ore at Kedia, and were much more costly to mine and process. The cost of the Guelbs project and its failure to meet production targets have strained the resources of SNIM to a financial and technical breaking point. The paper suggests that one solution to SNIM's difficulty may be to mothball the Guelbs project and to develop instead other deposits in the vicinity of the Guelbs.     

CHEMICAL RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN SURFACE WATER AND THE GROUND IN SOUTH FLORIDA1

ABSTRACT: Analyses of soil and water were made in a stretch of shallow ground north of a cypress head in South Florida. The area is covered with water for part of the year, and it flows slowly southward. The soil is primarily peat formed from the local graminid vegetation during its decay. The top layer consists of a blue-green algal mat whose decay products contribute to the peat also. Collections of soil (including the top layer) were made layer by layer and anlyzed for cations and anions and for ion exchange capacity. The latter appears to be high enough in all layers to account for the ion content within the soil and surrounding waters. It probably is a very important buffer system that retards limestone erosion. CEC values ranged from 20 to 190 meg/100 gm dry soil from bedrock to surface.     

Desorption of chlorinated hydrocarbons from spiked and anthropogenically contaminated sediments

The desorption of 20 chlorinated organics from sediments has been studied using a nitrogen purge/Tenax trap system for separating the “dissolved” and “sorbed” fractions in sediment/water slurries. The desorption partition coefficient, K_D, was found to decrease with increasing temperature and suspended sediment concentration. While some differences in K_D and desorption rates were observed for the study chemicals, considering their wide range of physical/chemical properties such as K_OW, these changes were small. Desorption half-lives averaged about 60d at 4°C, 40d at 20°C and 10d at 40°C under continuous gaseous purging. Estimates of the loadings of chemicals via desorption from bottom sediments in Lake Ontario are compared to loadings of these chemicals to the lake from the Niagara River.     

Managing inland water for leisure and recreation — an example from Southern England

Summary The private enterprise development of a series of disused gravel pits, situated just 20 miles from the centre of London, into an attractive and commercially viable theme park for leisure and recreation is described.

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