Population Declines, Viable Breeding Areas, and Management Options for Flamingos in Southern Africa

Habitat rehabilitation or intervention to prevent species declines are rarely employed in Africa. I argue that despite protection in national parks, active intervention is necessary to halt declines in southern Africa's Greater ( Phoenicopterus ruber ) and Lesser ( Phoeniconaias minor ) Flamingo populations. Flamingos are long-lived species that breed sporadically at only two localities in southern Africa: the Makgadikgadi Pans in Botswana and Etosha National Park in Namibia. Despite well-publicized breeding on Etosha Pan, flamingos have experienced only three major breeding events in 40 years. Breeding failure occurs when high evaporation rates rapidly dry the pan, and up to 100,000 flightless chicks may starve. Consequently, pairs breeding in Etosha exhibit extraordinarily low recruitment (0.040 young pair/year) and extrapolations indicate that adults can replace themselves only if they breed for 38 to 50 years and all offspring survive. Because survival of offspring from fledging to adulthood (5 years) is about 46%, this breeding lifespan rises to an unrealistic 83 years, making Etosha a nonviable breeding site. Alternative, suitable flamingo habitats in Africa are being mined for soda-ash, are damaged by pollution, or are unprotected. Accordingly, continent-wide estimates and those from southern Africa alone suggest a population decline of about 40% in both species over the last 15 years. Because Namibia regularly supports 84% of the Greater and 93% of the Lesser Flamingos in southern Africa, conservation strategies are best focused there. Simple but effective management methods, based on those employed in western Europe, could reverse these downward trends. In Etosha a small island surrounded by a water-filled depression would allow up to 4000 pairs to breed annually. The benefits of enhancing the breeding of flamingos in Etosha include research opportunities, tourism revenue, and a safe haven for two Red Data species.     

Nuptial feeding in tettigoniids male costs and the rates of fecundity increase

Summary A recent debate has centred on the importance of paternal investment for the origin and maintenance of nuptial feeding in insects. Some authors have argued that the rates of nutrient incorporation are likely to be too slow to allow a male to fertilize the eggs that he helps to produce and cannot be considered as paternal investment. Here I report the results of some experiments that show that the positive effects of nutrient donation on female reproduction for one species of spermatophylax producing tettigoniid can be realized within 24 to 48 h. Furthermore, mating was found to induce a refractory period in the female that was longer than the time taken for the incorporation of nutrients and oviposition. Thus, the nurturant male is likely to fertilize the eggs even if last-male sperm precedence is high. The cost of spermatophylax production was manifest as a 5-day recovery period between matings. Thus males and their donations are likely to be limited resources for females resulting in a reversal of the typical sex roles.     

Female choice contributes to offspring fitness in the field cricket,Gryllus bimaculatus (De Geer)

Summary Females of the field cricket, Gryllus bimaculatus, are known to mate non-randomly with respect to male size. The reproductive output of females allowed to choose their mates was compared with that of females allocated mates. Females allowed to choose their mates laid a greater proportion of their available eggs, thereby investing more heavily in reproduction. Female choice did not appear to influence hatching success, suggesting that no short term benefits are derived from non-random mating. However, the offspring of females allowed to choose their mates developed more rapidly and began their own reproductive output before those of females who had been allocated mates. Furthermore, the faster developing offspring of females who chose their mates tended to have a consistantly higher survival rate as well as a lower variance in survival (i.e. less risk of mortality) at adult eclosion. Female choice may therefore contribute to offspring fitness and thus to long term reproductive success. Females allocated large males as mates did not equal those of females allowed to choose their mates, in terms of reproductive output and offspring fitness. This suggests that females may choose their mates with regard to a mixture of characters of which male size is only one.     

Food and the deceptive acquisition of mates by polygynous male harriers

Summary Female northern harriers Circus cyaneus are polygynous, marsh-nesting raptors, whose mate choices are enigmatic. I determined the mate choice cues employed by females by correlating the order in which males were chosen with characters that 1) significantly influenced reproductive success; 2) were assessable prior to settlement; and 3) varied between breeding situations. Only nest sites and male provisioning performance met all these conditions: wet nest sites significantly (P<0.05) increased nest survival and high provisioning rates significantly (P<0.01) enhanced brood survival. The order in which females settled was strongly correlated with provisioning performance in both years (r _s -0.65, and r _s -0.84), but not with nest site quality. Females thus apperared to choose males principally on provisioning performance. Despite using the same cue, however, females choosing mated males reared only 0.28 young for every nestling raised by concurrently settling monogamous females (the lowest ratio recorded for any avian species). Extrapolation of male courtship provisioning patterns from clutch sizes and laying date indicated that females received similar proportions prior to and during egg-laying, but that males later preferentially fed females. Secondary females therefore chose mated males on the basis of a temporally changing and unreliable cue. The polyterritoriality, cooperative harems, skewed sex ratio, and sexy-son hypotheses were all inadequate in explaining polygyny in harriers. Female choice of mated males among harriers is best explained by the deceitful provisioning of food by males.     

The acetochlor registration partnership state ground water monitoring program

The Acetochlor Registration Partnership (ARP) conducted a 7-yr ground water monitoring program at a total of 175 sites in seven states: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Wisconsin. While acetochlor [2-chloro-N-(ethoxymethyl)-N-(2-ethyl-6-methylphenyl)-acetamide] was the primary focus, the analytical methods also quantified alachlor [2-chloro-N-(2,6-diethylphenyl)-N-(methoxymethyl)-acetamide], atrazine [6-chloro-N-ethyl-N'-(1-methylethyl)-1,3,5-triazine-2,4-diamine], metolachlor [2-chloro-N-(2-ethyl-6-methylphenyl)-N-(2-methoxy-1-methylethyl)-acetamide], and two classes of soil degradates for acetochlor, alachlor, and metolachlor. Ground water samples were collected monthly for five years and quarterly for two additional years. All samples were analyzed for the presence of parent herbicides, and degradates were monitored during the last three years. Parent acetochlor was detected above 0.1 microg L(-1) in three or more samples at just seven sites. Alachlor and metolachlor were also rarely detected, but atrazine was detected in 36% of all samples analyzed. Even more widespread were the tertiary amide sulfonic acid (ethanesulfonic acid, ESA) degradates of acetochlor, alachlor, and metolachlor, which were detected at 81, 76, and 106 sites, respectively. The other class of monitored soil degradates (oxanilic acid, OXA) was detected less frequently, at 26, 16, and 63 sites for acetochlor OXA, alachlor OXA, and metolachlor OXA, respectively. The geographic distribution of detections did not follow the pattern originally expected when the study began. Rather than being a function primarily of soil texture, the detection of these herbicides in shallow ground water was related to site-specific factors associated with local topography, the occurrence of surface water drainage features, irrigation practices, and the vertical positioning of the well screen.     

THE GROUND WATER FLUX OF NITROGEN AND PHOSPHORUS TO BERMUDA'S COASTAL WATERS1

ABSTRACT: The concentrations of dissolved fixed inorganic nitrogen (ΣN) in Bermuda ground waters can be very high due to both natural and anthropogenic processes. The high anthropogenic flux is due to domestic cesspit operation. Mass balance calculations indicate that ground water seepage, especially rich in ΣN, is a major source of nutrients into the near shore coastal zone of Bermuda. The ground water flux of ΣN is approximately 1.5 to 4 times that of the sewage flux of ΣN to Bermuda's nearshore waters. This input of ΣN may be important in the development of algal blooms in these waters. Our work, coupled with other recent investigations, suggests that the ground water input of nutrients into nearshore marine waters is an important process globally.     

Patterns of fluctuating asymmetry in beetle horns: an experimental examination of the honest signalling hypothesis

Recent theoretical arguments have claimed that negative relationships between the size and symmetry of secondary sexual traits are indicative of honest signalling of male quality. The patterns of fluctuating asymmetry in beetle horns have been proposed to support the honest signalling hypothesis. Here we examine three assumptions of the hypothesis, (1) that traits are costly to produce; (2) the levels of fluctuating asymmetry are indicative of stress imposed during development; and (3) that males with larger traits should have more symmetrical traits, using the horned beetle, Onthophagus taurus. Experimental manipulations of brood mass were used to manipulate horn size and asymmetry. The development of horns was found to be environmentally determined and costly in terms of delayed development and increased risk of pre-adult mortality. Decreasing resource availability increased relative horn asymmetry. However, horn height was positively related to absolute horn asymmetry. While the results do support the hypothesis that sexual selection on secondary sexual traits should increase levels of fluctuating asymmetry, they provide no support for the notion that the patterns of asymmetry honestly signal male quality. Horns are used in disputes between males and may be indicative of male parental investment. Thus, we conclude that while horn size may be an indication of male quality, the patterns of fluctuating asymmetry are not. Received: 16 December 1996 / Accepted after revision: 5 May 1997     

Calling characteristics of parasitized and unparasitized populations of the field cricket Teleogryllus oceanicus

Summary Examination of three populations of the field cricket Teleogryllus oceanicus revealed the presence of an acoustically-orienting parasitoid fly, Ormia ochracea (Tachinidae), in the population of crickets that has been introduced to the Hawaiian Islands. The cricket is native to Australia and the Pacific, and the fly is native to North America but has also been introduced to Hawaii. Up to 27% of males and 7% of females in Hawaii were infested with fly larvae. Song structure in the parasitized Hawaiian population was distinct from that of the other two groups, with the Hawaiian crickets showing several reduced song parameters. In addition, onset and cessation of calling at dusk and dawn were more abrupt in the Hawaiian population. These results are consistent with selective pressure from the phonotactic flies to decrease risky calling. Silent males were present in all three populations, suggesting that these noncallers may not represent a unique adaptation to the parasitoid. Correspondence to: M. Zuk