A view from the countryside

Guest Editorial

A view from the countryside     

Diapause embryos in the neustonic copepodAnomalocera patersoni

The neustonic copepodAnomalocera patersoni Templeton, collected from the Gulf of Naples from January to May 1988, laid subitaneous and diapause eggs that were of equal size and dark and smooth in appearance. In January and February, most eggs were subitaneous and hatched within 2 to 3 d at room temperature. Conspicuous numbers of diapause eggs were first obtained in February when several clutches contained a second egg type which did not hatch in a subitaneous manner. By March and April, most clutches contained only diapause eggs. Transmission electron microscope studies of subitaneous and diapause eggs revealed striking morphological differences. Subitaneous eggs had a thin vitelline coat covering the plasma membrane, whereas diapause eggs were enveloped by a complex four-layer structure which is assembled after spawning and which probably serves as a protective shell during dormancy. No major morphological differences were discernible in the oogenic cycle of females spawning either of the two egg types. Diapause eggs were shown to be embryos in early stages of development, and segmentation of these embryos was arrested for the entire 6-mo period of investigation. Diapause eggs hatched after 7 mo of dormancy.     

Disease progression and mortality in neoplasticMya arenaria in the field

Four 6-mo mark-and-recapture experiments conducted in Long Island Sound, USA, from 1988 to 1990, involving approximately 2250 individual observations, demonstrated that under natural conditions significantly higher mortality (p0.001, chi-square test) occurred amongMya arenaria (L.) with hematopoietic neoplasia than those diagnosed as non-neoplastic. Using a blood-screening technique, the clams were diagnosed and placed in one of three diagnostic groups based on the severity of the disease (the percentage neoplastic cells per total number of blood cells): non-neoplastic (NN), 0%; low-severity neoplastic (LSN), < 50%; high-severity neoplastic (HSN), > 50%. Mortality of those clams initially diagnosed as HSN ranged from 48% to 78%, depending on the test period, as compared to 3% to 21% for the non-neoplastic. Mortality in the LSN treatment varied from 8% to 34%. Both progression and remission were evident in clams at all stages of the disease. Mortality and rates of progression and remission in individuals appeared to be linked to water temperatures. Differential mortality may be responsible for the apparent seasonal cycle of prevalence in populations.     

Natural disasters: a framework for research and teaching

Natural disasters are defined in this paper by relating the impact of extreme geophysical events to patterns of human vulnerability. Hazard perception is shown to be a factor that limits the mitigation of risk. The historical development of disaster studies is traced and five different schools of thought are identified. The current International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR) is evaluated critically with regard to its potential for unifying the disparate strands of knowledge and its scope as a vehicle for education.
A pedagogical framework for disaster studies is presented. Time and space provide valuable unifying factors, while the subject matter can be differentiated according to the continua and dichotomies that it presents. In disaster studies as in other branches of higher education, an ecocentric approach is preferable to a technocentric one, as many of the poorer nations of the world, which are most afflicted by natural catastrophe, will have to rely for mitigation on maintaining their ecological sustainability, instead of depending on sophisticated technology. Valuable insights into the impact of environmental extremes on mankind are gained from the study of disasters as human ecology.     

Shelter, housing and recovery: a comparison of u.s. Disasters

In this paper we examine the issues associated with the temporary sheltering and housing of victims after natural disasters in the United States. Specific topics addressed include differential access to shelter and housing aid according to social class, ethnicity and related demographic factors; the relationship between post-disaster shelter and housing and long-term recovery; the role of social support networks in the sheltering of victims; and the implications of the research for the provision of shelter and housing aid after disasters.     

Dominions and desert clickers (Orthoptera:Acrididae): influences of resources and male signaling on female settlement patterns

Summary Previous field work on the grasshopper Ligurotettix coquilletti revealed that females were not evenly distributed among male mating territories, Larrea tridentata (creosote) bushes, but were clustered at particular locations. These sites generally harbored several signaling males simultaneously and also possessed foliage preferred by the insects as a food source, this preference being based on the relative concentrations of various extra-foliar compounds. The clustering of females, therefore, could result from a preference for specific bushes because of the resources (i.e., food) available there and/or an orientation to groups of males per se. Here, we present the results of 3 field experiments in which we controlled the spatial distribution and intensity of male signals using a computer-operated system of loudspeakers and monitored the movement of individually marked females released in the study area. When male song was identical at high and low quality territories (all having single loudspeakers), females still aggregated at the high quality sites, indicating that variability in host plant quality alone may be sufficient to promote a skewed distribution of females. Among high quality territories, females did not discriminate between sites with one versus three loudspeakers (all broadcasting the same signal), but displayed a strong preference for sites (all having single loudspeakers) with a high intensity signal over a low intensity one. Field measurements showed that the songs of grouped males were more intense than those of lone males, implying that the signaling of grouped males may have enhanced the settlement of females at the bushes harboring male groups above and beyond that influenced by territory quality alone. We conclude that female attraction to host plants is influenced primarily by male signaling, whereas their subsequent retention is more dependent on territory quality. An experiment on male settlement failed to show an aggregative tendency, suggesting that male groups form through the passive accumulation of individuals at high quality sites.     

Yield and grain quality of spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L., cv. Drabant) exposed to different concentrations of ozone in open-top chambers

Spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L., cv. Drabant) was exposed to different concentrations of ozone in open-top chambers for two growing seasons, 1987 and 1988, at a site located in south-west Sweden. The chambers were placed in a field of commercially grown spring wheat. The treatments were charcoal-filtered air (CF), non-filtered air (NF) and non-filtered air plus extra ozone (NF(+)). In 1988, one additional ozone concentration (NF(++)) was used. Grain yield was affected by the ozone concentration of the air. Air filtration resulted in an increase in grain yield of about 7% in both years, compared to NF. The addition of ozone (NF(+), NF(++)) reduced grain yield and increased the content of crude protein of the grain in both years. Filtration of the air had no significant effect on the content of crude protein, compared to NF. The results showed a strong positive chamber effect on grain yield in the cold and wet summer of 1987. In 1988, there was no net chamber effect on grain yield. The relative differences between the CF, NF and NF(+) treatments with respect to grain yield were of the same magnitude in the two years, despite the very different weather conditions.     

Black cherry growth response to ambient ozone and EDU

Field-grown black cherry (Prunus serotina Ehrh.) seedlings were treated with the antioxidant ethylenediurea (EDU) to evaluate height, diameter, and above-ground dry-weight biomass growth response to ambient ozone over four years. Nine blocks with 44 trees/block were used in a randomized complete block design with three foliar spray treatments: (1) 1000 ppm EDU mixed with a surfactant and water; (2) surfactant mixed with water; and (3) water only. In each growing season treatments were applied seven times at approximately 10-day intervals. Repeated measures analysis of variance indicated significant (P< or =0.05) treatment and year effects for log-transformed height and diameter growth over the four-year period. After four years, EDU-treated trees were approximately 17% taller and stem diameters were 21% greater than non-EDU-treated trees. Total above-ground dry-weight biomass at the end of four years was 47% greater for EDU-treated trees compared to non-EDU-treated trees.     

Digestive mechanics and gluttonous feeding in the feather starOligometra serripinna (Echinodermata: Crinoidea)

The movement and digestion of food in the gut ofOligometra serripinna (Carpenter) were studied at Lizard Island (14°3842S; 145°2710E) in the austral winter of 1986. Feather stars in the laboratory were fed a brief, small meal of brine shrimp nauplii and killed at increasing time intervals thereafter. Histological reconstructions showed that the ingested nauplii progressed along the digestive tract surprisingly quickly. Some nauplii were found in the mid and hind intestine in only 30 min, and all of the nauplii had reached the hind intestine and rectum in 1 h. Digestion of the nauplii had started at 1 h, and only a few fragments of naupliar exoskeleton remained in the hind intestine and rectum 5 h after the start of feeding. Videotape analysis showed that no fecal pellets were released during this experiment. In the natural environment ofO. serripinna, ingested particles may similarly be transported quickly to the hind part of the gut and digested there — when feather stars were fixed in the field, most of the gut contents were found in the hind intestine and rectum.O. serripinna, which efficiently rejects inert particles before they are ingested, usually defecates infrequently (probably not more than once over a span of many hours) and differs from some other feather stars that ingest numerous inert particles and defecate much more frequently. When specimens ofO. serripinna were fed continuously on brine shrimp nauplii,Artemia sp. (San Francisco strain), in the laboratory, the feather stars fed gluttonously, packing their guts with several hundred nauplii in 1 to 2 h. Thereafter, superfluous feeding began (i.e., further ingestions appeared to force undigested nauplii, some of them still living, out of the anus). These observations suggest thatO. serripinna usually feeds at relatively modest rates in its natural habitat, but can feed gluttonously to take advantage of infrequent patches of highly concentrated, nutritious particles (e.g. copepod swarms, migrating demersal zooplankton, and invertebrate gametes from mass spawnings). It is likely that such patches of nutritious particles are usually small enough to drift out of reach of the feather stars before gluttonous feeding proceeds to superfluous feeding. Opportunities for superfluous feeding in nature are probably very infrequent (e.g. ingestion of coral gametes and embryos after a mass spawning), and the feather stars evidently have no behavior that stops further ingestions after the gut becomes filled to capacity.