The impact of economic complexity on energy demand in OECD countries

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - This paper investigates the role of economic complexity on energy demand using the panel dataset of 25 Organization for Economic Co-operation and...     

The impact of economic complexity on carbon emissions: evidence from France

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - This paper reanalyzes the determinants of the CO2 emissions in France. For this purpose, it considers the unit root test with two structural breaks...     

Individual responsiveness to shock and colony-level aggression in honey bees: evidence for a genetic component

The phenotype of the social group is related to phenotypes of individuals that form that society. We examined how honey bee colony aggressiveness relates to individual response of male drones and foraging workers. Although the natural focus in colony aggression has been on the worker caste, the sterile females engaged in colony maintenance and defense, males carry the same genes. We measured aggressiveness scores of colonies and examined components of individual aggressive behavior in workers and haploid sons of workers from the same colony. We describe for the first time, that males, although they have no stinger, do bend their abdomen (abdominal flexion) in a posture similar to stinging behavior of workers in response to electric shock. Individual worker sting response and movement rates in response to shock were significantly correlated with colony scores. In the case of drones, sons of workers from the same colonies, abdominal flexion significantly correlated but their movement rates did not correlate with colony aggressiveness. Furthermore, the number of workers responding at increasing levels of voltage exhibits a threshold-like response, whereas the drones respond in increasing proportion to shock. We conclude that there are common and caste-specific components to aggressive behavior in honey bees. We discuss implications of these results on social and behavioral regulation and genetics of aggressive response.     

A new approach to the renewable energy-growth nexus: evidence from the USA

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The climate change is one of the leading problems in the today’s world. The rise of the renewable energy meets the sustainable growth objectives...     

Effects of intracolony variability in behavioral development on plasticity of division of labor in honey bee colonies

There is a genetic component to plasticity in age polyethism in honey bee colonies, such that workers of some genotypes become precocious foragers more readily than do workers of other genotypes, in colonies lacking older bees. Using colonies composed of workers from two identifiable genotype groups, we determined that intracolony differences in the likelihood of becoming a precocious forager are a consequence of differences in rates of behavioral development that are also evident under conditions leading to normal development. An alternative hypothesis, that differences in the likelihood of becoming a precocious forager are due to differences in general sensitivity to altered colony conditions, was not supported. In three out of three trials, workers from the genotype group that was more likely to exhibit precocious foraging in single cohort colonies also foraged at relatively younger ages in colonies in which workers exhibited normal behavioral development. In contrast, in three out of three trials, workers from the genotype group that was more likely to exhibit precocious foraging in single-cohort colonies did not show disproportionately more overaged nursing in colonies in which workers exhibited delayed development. These results indicate that genotypic differences in plasticity in age-related division of labor are based on genotypic differences in rates of behavioral development.     

The role of motorized boats in fishers’ productivity in marine protected versus non-protected areas in Davao Gulf,Philippines

Environment, Development and Sustainability - The Philippine fisheries sector continues to play a critical role in the livelihood of coastal households; however, the country’s fisheries...     

Physiological correlates of genetic variation for rate of behavioral development in the honeybee, Apis mellifera

Two factors that influence age at onset of foraging in honeybees are juvenile hormone (JH) and colony age demography (older bees inhibit behavioral development of younger bees). We tested the hypothesis that genetic variation among bees for these factors influences genetic variation in behavioral development. Pairs of colonies showing genetic differences in rates of behavioral development were identified in a screening experiment and bees from these colonies were used for physiological and behavioral assays. Six pairs were assayed, three with European bees only and three with both European and Africanized bees. There was genetic variation for the following four components: (1) production of JH in four pairs (experiment 1); (2) sensitivity to JH in three pairs (experiment 2); (3) sensitivity to social inhibition in three pairs (experiment 3), and (4) potency of social inhibition in four pairs (experiment 4). Cross-fostering assays (experiment 5), which allowed all four components to be evaluated simultaneously, revealed genetic variation for production of JH, sensitivity to JH, or sensitivity to social inhibition in five of six pairs, and potency of social inhibition in five of six pairs. There was often evidence for genotypic differences in more than one component, and no consistent pattern of association among any of the components. Africanized bees had faster rates of behavioral development than European bees, but there were no racial differences in patterns of variation among the four components. These results indicate that there are at least several, apparently distinct, physiological processes associated with JH and colony age demography upon which natural selection can act to alter the rate of behavioral development in honeybees. Received: 8 December 1998 / Received in revised form: 29 July 1999 / Accepted: 8 August 1999     

Biogeographical,biochemical and genetic differentiation among North American saccoglossids (Hemichordata; Enteropneusta; Harrimaniidae)

Populations of two common enteropneusts, Saccoglossus bromophenolosus King et al., 1994 and S. kowalevskii (Agassiz 1873) were sampled between 1991 and 1993 from the southern and northern extremes of their respective ranges: Nova Scotia/Maine and Padilla Bay, Washington for S. bromophenolosus and Maine/South Carolina for S. kowalevskii. Though previously considered a single species, the two taxa were clearly distinct biochemically and genetically. Four of five allozyme loci were diagnostic and indicative of differentiation at the species level. Sequence divergence (27%) of a portion of the mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene suggests that the two taxa have been genetically isolated for a considerable time; hybridization was not evident in sympatric populations. Both taxa contained high concentrations of bromoorganics. The constant association of bromophenols and bromoindoles with S. bromophenolosus and bromopyrroles with S. kowalevskii when they occur sympatrically indicates that bromoorganic contents were genetically and not environmentally determined. Consistent associations between external morphology and bromoorganic contents for additional saccoglossid species support the use of bromoorganics as indices of evolutionary clades in the Enteropneusta.     

Globalization and environmental problems in developing countries

Environmental Science and Pollution Research -     

Development of plant-friendly vermicompost using novel biotechnological methods

Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management - For the first time in the world, raw tea waste from tea plants was mineralized by rapid biotechnological methods using beneficial worms, enzymes...