Ontogeny of diet changes in a tropical benthic carnivorous fish, Parupeneus barberinus (Mullidae): relationship between foraging behaviour, habitat use, jaw size, and prey selection

Parupeneus barberinus forages on benthic invertebrates using a wide range of foraging modes, including vigorous digging in the substratum, resulting in considerable disturbance to the benthos. Polychaetes were the most important prey item for all size classes, but fishes less than 120 mm total length consumed more small ostracods and nematodes than did larger fishes. Fishes greater than 120 mm total length consumed mostly bivalves, and fishes over 240 mm total length consumed mostly bivalves and crabs. A morphological examination of the feeding apparatus suggested that the size of important prey items consumed was determined by gape height and jaw width. Prey available to different size classes of fishes was determined by combining information on microhabitat use, foraging behaviours, and prey volumes in the substratum. Small fishes spent more time foraging on the reef flat and slope, compared with larger fishes that foraged mostly on the reef edge and base. In addition smaller fishes foraged mostly in the upper 2 cm of sediment, whereas larger fishes often foraged to depths of 10 cm. Selection ratios showed that different size classes of fishes selectively extracted different prey items from the substratum. Small fishes showed a preference for ostracods whereas large fishes selected for bivalves and crabs. Although polychaetes were the dominant prey item for all size classes, they were consistently selected against.     

Cuticular hydrocarbons correlate with fertility, not dominance, in a paper wasp, Polistes dominulus

Cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs) are information-rich signals in social insects that coordinate behaviors within nests. However, in some taxa, the precise information conveyed by CHCs is poorly understood. In particular, there is a debate over whether CHCs convey information about their bearer's dominance or fertility. Distinguishing between dominance and fertility signaling is difficult because fertility and rank are frequently correlated within social insect colonies. This study disentangles those relationships by examining CHCs of Polistes dominulus paper wasps during the early nest-founding stage before dominance and fertility become correlated. First, we confirm that dominance and fertility are not associated in early spring foundresses. Then we show that CHCs are more strongly associated with fertility than dominance. There was no relationship between cuticular hydrocarbon profiles and a wasp’s ability to dominate rivals through aggression, suggesting that CHCs are unlikely to provide information about dominance. However, there was a significant correlation between ovarian development and the CHC profile, suggesting that CHCs could convey valuable information about their bearer's fertility. Furthermore, our data provide a potential mechanism for chemical signaling of fecundity, as there is a relationship between endogenous juvenile hormone titer (a gonadotropin), degree of ovarian development, and the CHC profile. Hormonal regulation of CHC profile expression offers a physiological mechanism to coordinate behavior, physical state, and signal expression.     

Are white-crowned sparrow badges reliable signals?

Status badges, such as crown plumage, mediate intraspecific interactions. The reliability of crown morphology as a status badge in male mountain white-crowned sparrows (Zonotrichia leucophrys oriantha) is uncertain. We examined morphological and physiological correlates of the proportion of crown that was white (“crown-white”) in 178 male mountain white-crowned sparrows during the 2008–2009 breeding seasons. Using a paired experimental design, we presented territory-holding males with white-enhanced and white-reduced decoys and recorded aggressive behaviors. To assess physiological constraints on signal bluffing, a subsample of birds was captured and released after manipulating natural crowns to simulate bluffed white-enhanced or white-reduced crowns; corticosterone concentrations were assayed from blood drawn upon recapture and after a restraint-induced stressor. We found a significant positive association between crown-white and a measure of body size—tarsus length—which is an established indicator of resource-holding potential. In the decoy challenge, males responded more aggressively toward white-enhanced than white-reduced decoys. In the hormone experiment, white-enhanced birds had higher baseline corticosterone levels, whereas white-reduced birds had similar concentrations to controls. Furthermore, white-enhanced birds had an attenuated restraint-induced corticosterone response, while white-reduced birds mounted a significantly larger increase in corticosterone than controls. Taken together, these findings indicate that crown-white is a reliable status badge of resource-holding potential in male mountain white-crowned sparrows during the breeding season.     

Spatio-temporal and species-specific variation in PBDE levels/patterns in British Columbia's coastal waters

Congener-specific levels of PBDEs were measured in the livers and some muscle tissues of Dungeness crab (Cancer magister), English sole (Pleuronectes vetulus) and spiny dogfish (Squalus acanthias). Highest concentrations (1,200-560 ng/g lipid) were found in crab collected near heavily urbanized areas (pop. approximately 0.3-1.8 million), followed by moderate levels at pulp/paper mills sites ( approximately 150 ng/g), and lowest levels occurred in areas that were somewhat removed from industrial/populated areas (< 24 ng/g). Temporal increases in total PBDEs and particularly in BDE-47 for Dungeness crab collected near pulp and paper and urbanized areas between 1994 and 2000 were observed. These correspond to Canadian and worldwide trends seen for PBDEs in biota. English sole and dogfish showed a pattern similar to that of the Columbia River whitefish samples, which corresponded closely to the patterns in the "penta" commercial mixture. Conversely, Dungeness crab were enriched in lower chlorinated PBDEs, particularly BDE-47 and BDE-49, compared to the fish and shark species from BC.     

Population and community resilience in multitrophic communities

Diversity-stability relationships have long been a topic of controversy in ecology, but one whose importance has been re-highlighted by increasing large-scale threats to global biodiversity. The ability of a community to recover from a perturbation (or resilience) is a common measure of stability that has received a large amount of theoretical attention. Yet, general expectations regarding diversity-resilience relations remain elusive. Moreover, the effects of productivity and its interaction with diversity on resilience are equally unclear. We examined the effects of species diversity, species composition, and productivity on population-and community-level resilience in experimental aquatic food webs composed of bacteria, algae, heterotrophic protozoa, and rotifers. Productivity manipulations were crossed with manipulations of the number of species and species compositions within trophic groups. Resilience was measured by perturbing communities with a nonselective, density-independent, mortality event and comparing responses over time between perturbed communities and controls. We found evidence that species diversity can enhance resilience at the community level (i.e., total community biomass), though this effect was more strongly expressed in low-productivity treatments. Diversity effects on resilience were driven by a sampling/selection effect, with resilient communities showing rapid response and dominance by a minority of species (primarily unicellular algae). In contrast, diversity had no effect on mean population-level resilience. Instead, the ability of a community's populations to recover from perturbations was dependent on species composition. We found no evidence of an effect of productivity, either positive or negative, on community- or population-level resilience. Our results indicate that the role of diversity as an insurer of stability may depend on the level of biological organization at which stability is measured, with effects emerging only when focusing on aggregate community properties.     

Orchid-fungus fidelity: a marriage meant to last?

The characteristics of plant-mycorrhizae associations are known to vary in both time and space, but the ecological consequences of variation in the dynamics of plant-fungus interactions are poorly understood. For example, do plants associate with single fungi or multiple fungi simultaneously, and do the associations persist through a plant's lifetime or do plants support a succession of different fungi? We investigated these and other questions related to plant-fungus interactions in Goodyera pubescens, an evergreen terrestrial orchid of the eastern United States, that interacts with closely related fungi in the genus Tulasnella. Unlike the mycorrhizal associations of other plants, orchid-mycorrhizal associations only benefit the orchid, based on current evidence. Many terrestrial orchids have been found to associate with specific groups of fungi. This characteristic could potentially limit orchids to relatively narrow ranges of environmental conditions and may be a contributing factor in the decline of many orchids in the face of changing environmental conditions. We found that G. pubescens protocorms (developing embryos prior to leaf production) and adults associated with only one fungal individual at a time. The orchid-fungus association persists for years, but during a drought period that was associated with the death of many plants, surviving plants were able to switch to new fungal individuals. These results suggest that G. pubescens interacts with the same fungal partner during periods of modest environmental variation but is able to switch to a different fungal partner. We hypothesize that the ability to switch fungi allows G. pubescens to survive more extreme environmental perturbations. However, laboratory experiments suggest that switching fungi has potential costs, as it increases the risk of mortality, especially for smaller individuals. Our findings indicate that it is unlikely that switching fungi is a common way to improve tolerance of less severe environmental fluctuations and disturbances. These findings may have important implications for plant responses to severe climatic events or to more gradual environmental changes such as global warming.     

Fertilizer source effect on ground and surface water quality in drainage from turfgrass

Nutrients in surface and ground water can affect human and aquatic organisms that rely on water for consumption and habitat. A mass-balance field study was conducted over two years (July 2000-May 2001) to determine the effect of nutrient source on turfgrass runoff and leachate. Treatments were arranged in an incomplete randomized block design on a slope of 7 to 9% of Arkport sandy loam (coarseloamy, mixed, active, mesic Lamellic Hapludalf) and seeded with Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.) and perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.). Three natural organic (dairy and swine compost and a biosolid) and two synthetic organic nutrient sources (readily available urea and controlled-release N source sulfur-coated urea) were applied at rates of 50 and 100 kg N ha(-1) per application (200 kg ha(-1) yr(-1)). Runoff water collected from 33 storms and composite monthly leachate samples collected with ion exchange resins were analyzed for nitrate (NO3- -N), phosphate (PO4(3-) -P), and ammonium (NH4+ -N). Nutrient concentrations and losses in both runoff and leachate were highest for the 20-wk period following turfgrass seeding. The NO3- -N and NH4+ -N losses declined significantly once turfgrass cover was established, but PO4(3-) -P levels increased in Year 2. Turf's ability to reduce nutrient runoff and leachate was related to overall plant growth and shoot density. The use of natural organics resulted in greater P loss on a percent applied P basis, while the more soluble synthetic organics resulted in greater N loss.     

Comparative study of metamorphosis in tropical reef fishes

This study explores the types of changes in pigmentation and morphology that occur immediately after settlement in 13 families of tropical reef fishes encompassing 34 species. The morphology of individual fishes was recorded daily from when they were first caught at night as they came into the vicinity of a reef to settle. Changes in pigmentation and morphology were species specific and often varied greatly among species within a family or genus. Pigmentation changes were typically rapid (<36 h) and dramatic. Morphological changes involved the elongation and regression of fin spines and changes in head shape and body depth. Eighteen percent of species experienced changes in snout shape and dorsal spine length of greater than 5%. Similarly, 15% experienced changes in pectoral fin length and head length of greater than 5%. Changes typically occurred gradually over 6 or more days, although in about 44% of the species the major change in one of the measured body dimensions occurred rapidly (within 36 h). Moderately strong positive relationships were found between both growth and developmental rates and the extent of metamorphosis in the damselfishes (Pomacentridae) (r=0.48 and 0.63, respectively). This suggests there may be a minimum level of development necessary to be a fully functional demersal juvenile. Although many of the changes that occur are subtle compared to the preceding development, these changes occur at an important ecological transition. Published online: 16 August 2002