Animals that guide directions of their locomotion or their migration routes by the lines of the geomagnetic field use either polarity or inclination compasses to determine the field polarity (the north or south direction). Distinguishing the two compass types is a guideline for estimation of the molecular principle of reception and has been achieved for a number of animal groups, with the exception of insects. A standard diagnostic method to distinguish a compass type is based on reversing the vertical component of the geomagnetic field, which leads to the opposite reactions of animals with two different compass types. In the present study, adults of the mealworm beetle Tenebrio molitor were tested by means of a two-step laboratory test of magnetoreception. Beetles that were initially trained to memorize the magnetic position of the light source preferred, during the subsequent test, this same direction, pursuant geomagnetic cues only. In the following step, the vertical component was reversed between the training and the test. The beetles significantly turned their preferred direction by 180 degrees. Our results brought until then unknown original findings that insects, represented here by the T. molitor species, use-in contrast to another previously researched Arthropod, spiny lobster-the inclination compass. 相似文献
A fundamental question in sympatric speciation is how trophic divergence is achieved. We used an extremely young (<8,000 years)
species flock of pupfish (Cyprinodon spp.) from Laguna Chichancanab in south-eastern Mexico to examine divergent evolution of preferences for different feeding
substrates. In a test aquarium, we presented four feeding substrates (sand, gravel, a plastic plant, and blank bottom), but
no actual food was offered. The four feeding substrates were chosen to mirror the most common substrate types in Laguna Chichancanab.
Previous studies demonstrated that benthic food items prevail in the diet of most Cyprinodon species. C. beltrani preferred sand, whereas C. labiosus preferred gravel. F1 hybrids of both species showed intermediate preferences. C. maya searched for food equally at all substrates. As the test fish were reared under identical laboratory conditions (i.e., in
the absence of feeding substrates), the species-specific preferences appear to be genetically fixed, suggesting rapid divergent
evolution of feeding behaviors. 相似文献
Environment, Development and Sustainability - Our aim is to determine the factors influencing a visitor’s decision to stay in a green accommodation facility. Visitors from six tourist sites... 相似文献
Watershed processes and their effects on coasts are shaped by numerous interacting natural and societal factors. The knowledge of these factors and processes is often limited. This makes the field prone to politicisations with debates, research, and interventions being confined to a few selected factors. Debates on the causes of high river sediment loads and coastal sedimentation in Java have focussed on rainfed agriculture on peasants’ private lands, while other drivers have been neglected. This has undermined the effectiveness of watershed management. This paper links the sedimentation of the Segara Anakan lagoon on Java’s south coast with landscape characteristics and transformations in its catchment. Three-fourths of the lagoon have silted up since 1857/60. This is the result of a much broader range of drivers than commonly assumed to date. In addition to rainfed agriculture on peasants’ private lands, these drivers include coffee cultivation, timber extraction, plantation development, and in-migration in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century; erosion on contested state forest and plantation lands; state forest management practices; slope cuts to enlarge agricultural fields; agriculture in riparian zones; erosion from roads, trails, and settlements; river channel and floodplain modifications; and volcanic eruptions. The choice and expectations of societal responses aimed at reducing river sediment loads and coastal sedimentation hence need to be reconsidered, and related debates and research agendas must be broadened.
We detected Hepatitis E virus in serum samples of wild rabbits that were hunted in 1989 around the city of Greifswald, Germany. The recovery of one partial sequence and subsequent phylogenetic analysis indicates a close relationship to rabbit HEV sequences from France and suggests a long-established circulation of rabbit HEV in Europe. 相似文献