Bombardier beetles (Coleoptera, Carabidae, Brachininae) possess a remarkable defense mechanism where a hot chemical spray is released from the tip of their abdomen, with an audible explosive sound. To date, the repellent properties of these chemicals have been tested against a limited number of taxa, such as amphibians and insects. To investigate the impact of bombardier beetle defenses on avian predators, feeding trials were conducted using the bombardier beetle (Pheropsophus jessoensis) and the Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica), a sympatric and generalist predator. All naïve, hand-reared quail attacked live beetles, indicating the absence of an innate aversion to them. However, most of the quail rejected consuming the beetles whether or not the beetles sprayed them with chemicals. Naïve quail also rejected dead P. jessoensis individuals. These results support the recent hypothesis that it is not essential for P. jessoensis to spray noxious chemicals to deter predators. We also found that some of the quail exposed to live P. jessoensis remembered to avoid them for up to 5 weeks. Our results provide the first evidence of the repelling effects of bombardier beetle defense mechanisms on avian predators.
A dicentric X chromosome was found in a female fetus during cytogenetic studies performed on amniotic cells. Blood samples from the parents showed normal karyotypes and the pregnancy was terminated. The mechanism for the formation of this ‘de novo’ rearrangement is discussed. 相似文献
Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Nowadays, the use of different nanoscale structures has been introduced to a large number of research areas. One of these is the treatment and... 相似文献
Recruitment precision, i.e. the proportion of recruits that reach an advertised food source, is a crucial adaptation of social
bees to their environment. Studies with honeybees showed that recruitment precision is not a fixed feature, but it may be
enhanced by factors like experience and distance. However, little is known regarding the recruitment precision of stingless
bees. Hence, in this study, we examined the effects of experience and spatial distance on the precision of the food communication
system of the stingless bee Scaptotrigona mexicana. We conducted the experiments by training bees to a three-dimensional artificial patch at several distances from the colony.
We recorded the choices of individual recruited foragers, either being newcomers (foragers without experience with the advertised
food source) or experienced (foragers that had previously visited the feeder). We found that the average precision of newcomers
(95.6 ± 2.61%) was significantly higher than that of experienced bees (80.2 ± 1.12%). While this might seem counter-intuitive
on first sight, this “loss” of precision can be explained by the tendency of experienced recruits to explore nearby areas
to find new rewarding food sources after they had initially learned the exact location of the food source. Increasing the
distance from the colony had no significant effect on the precision of the foraging bees. Thus, our data show that experience,
but not the distance of the food source, affected the patch precision of S. mexicana foragers. 相似文献
The effect of a long-term exposure of tenchs to different concentrations (10 and 100 micro g/L) of the pesticide carbofuran has been evaluated. Microsomal hepatic cytochrome P450 subfamily 1A (CYP1A) and 3A (CYP3A) activities, as well as the phase II enzyme uridine diphospho-glucuronosyltransferase (UDPGT) activity were evaluated as adequate biomarkers of fish exposure to environmentally relevant concentrations of the pesticide carbofuran in freshwater ecosystems. A clear time-dependent inhibition of both CYP1A and UDPGT activities was observed in fish exposed to the highest dose of carbofuran with respect to controls, whereas in the case of CYP3A activity, values of exposed animals did not show a clear pattern of alteration during the experiment. The results of the present study demonstrated that hepatic CYP1A and UDPGT activities from tench could be considered as sensitive biomarkers for carbamate pesticides in polluted water, thus allowing future and ecologically relevant biomonitoring studies with this species. 相似文献
A hydroponic screening method was used to identify high biomass crop plants with the ability to accumulate metals. Highest values of shoot accumulation were found in maize cv. Ranchero, rapeseed cv. Karat, and cardoon cv. Peralta for Pb (18 753 mg kg(-1)), Zn (10 916 mg kg(-1)), and Cd (242 mg kg(-1)), respectively. Subsequently, we tested the potential of these three cultivars for the phytoextraction of a metal spiked compost, finding out that, in cardoon and maize plants, increasing Zn and Cd concentrations led to lower values of root and shoot DW. By contrast, rapeseed shoot growth was not significantly affected by Cd concentration. Finally, a metal polluted soil was used to check these cultivars' phytoextraction capacity. Although the soil was phytotoxic enough to prevent the growth of cardoon and rapeseed plants, maize plants phytoextracted 3.7 mg Zn pot(-1). We concluded that the phytoextraction performance of cultivars varies depending on the screening method used. 相似文献
The assessment of aquifer vulnerability is a very important task, especially in agricultural areas because the quality and availability of groundwater affects both the sustainability of agriculture and the quality of life. In this study, an integrated approach is considered, with the use of the generic and agricultural DRASTIC models as well as a geographic information system (GIS), to assess groundwater vulnerability in the agricultural area of Barrax, in the province of Albacete, in Spain. Seven parameters—depth to water, net recharge, aquifer media, soil media, topography, impact of vadose zone media, and hydraulic conductivity of the aquifer (DRASTIC)—have been considered as weighted layers to enable an accurate groundwater risk mapping. The results of the generic DRASTIC model indicated very low vulnerability to contamination for Barrax groundwater due to limited urban and industrial development in the wider area. However, agricultural activities impose pressure to groundwater resources and the results of the agricultural DRASTIC model show that 6.86% of the study area is characterized by very high, 2.29% by high, 47.28% by medium, 38.28% by low, and the remaining 5.29% by no vulnerability to groundwater contamination. The distribution of nitrate concentration in groundwater in the area under study is quite well correlated with the agricultural DRASTIC vulnerability index. Sensitivity analysis was also performed to acknowledge statistical uncertainty in the estimation of each parameter used, to assess its impact, and thus to identify the most critical parameters that require further investigation. Depth to water and impact of vadose zone are the parameters that had the most noticeable impact on the generic DRASTIC vulnerability index followed by the soil media and topography. In contrast, the agricultural DRASTIC method is more sensitive to the removal of the depth to water parameter followed by the topography and the soil media parameters. 相似文献
Soil pollution with Cd is an environmental problem common in the world, and it is necessary to establish what Cd concentrations
in soil could be dangerous to its fertility from toxicity effects and the risk of transference of this element to plants and
other organisms of the food chain. In this study, we assessed Cd toxicity on soil microorganisms and plants in two semiarid
soils (uncultivated and cultivated). Soil ATP content, dehydrogenase activity, and plant growth were measured in the two soils
spiked with concentrations ranging from 3 to 8000 mg Cd/kg soil and incubated for 3 h, 20 days, and 60 days. The Cd concentrations
that produced 5%; 10%;, and 50%; inhibition of each of the two soil microbiological parameter studied (ecological dose, ED,
values) were calculated using two different mathematical models. Also, the effect of Cd concentration on plant growth of ryegrass
(Lolium perenne, L.) was studied in the two soils. The Cd ED values calculated for soil dehydrogenase activity and ATP content were higher
in the agricultural soils than in the bare soil. For ATP inhibition, higher ED values were calculated than for dehydrogenase
activity inhibition. The average yields of ryegrass were reduced from 5.03 to 3.56 g in abandoned soil and from 4.21 to 1.15
g in agricultural soil with increasing concentrations of Cd in the soil. Plant growth was totally inhibited in abandoned and
agricultural soils at Cd concentrations above 2000 and 5000 mg/kg soil, respectively. There was a positive correlation between
the concentration of Cd in the plants and the total or DTPA-extractable concentrations of Cd in the soil. 相似文献
Pharmaceuticals, once ingested, are commonly metabolized in the body into more polar and soluble forms. These compounds might not be completely removed in the wastewater treatment plants and consequently being discharged into the aquatic ecosystem. In this work, a multi-class sensitive method for the analysis of 21 compounds, including 7 widely consumed pharmaceuticals and 14 relevant metabolites, has been developed based on the use of UHPLC-MS/MS in selected reaction monitoring (SRM) mode. The method was validated in six surface waters (SW) and six effluent wastewaters (EWW) at realistic concentration levels that can be found in waters. The optimized method was applied to the analysis of different types of water samples (rivers, lakes and effluent wastewater), detecting nearly all the parent compounds and metabolites investigated in this work. This fact illustrates that not only pharmaceuticals but also their metabolites are commonly present in these types of waters. Analytical research and monitoring programs should be directed not only towards parent pharmaceuticals but also towards relevant metabolites to have a realistic overview of the impact of pharmaceuticals in the aquatic environment. 相似文献