Upper Cretaceous Bryozoa from Need's Camp, South Africa

Main articleThe bryozoan fauna from the Upper Cretaceous limestones of the lower quarry at Need's Camp, South Africa is revised. Eighteen cyclostomatous species are identified, of which twelve are new: Desmeplagioecia primitiva, Diastopora solida, Pustulopora minuta, Spiropora irregularis, Clausa crassa, Foliopora expansa, ldmidronea robusta, ldmidronea africana, ldmidronea capensis, ldmidronea langi, ldmonea compressa, and Multicavea rotunda. The fauna seems to indicate a shallow-water, strongly agitated environment and differs in composition from the probably contemporaneous fauna from Madagascar. There is a suggestion that distinct biogeographical provinces may be represented.Non

Review of the methods to determine the hazard and toxicity of pesticides to bumblebees

Methods to determine the impact of pesticides on bumblebees are described. They are classified into laboratory tests to determine the acute toxicity and the hazard to bumblebees, (semi) field tests, and brood tests. The reproducibility and the significance of the data for practical purpose are discussed. Standardized laboratory toxicity tests supply reproducible data. In hazard tests, both in the laboratory and semi field tests, the exposure is not proportionate to the number of adult insects and the brood. Field tests provide realistic data on the hazard of a pesticide to bumblebee colonies but when the results are interpreted it must be taken in account that the test plot is only a portion of the total foraging area of a bumblebee colony. In a brood nest, due to the disorderly structure, only major effects can be recognized. Laboratory rearing of bumblebee brood should be developed to produce a standardized brood test that supplies reproducible dat

Reproduction of Varroa destructor in sealed worker bee brood cells of Apis mellifera carnica and Apis mellifera syriaca in Jordan

The reproduction of the honey bee mite, Varroa destructor in sealed worker bee brood cells represents an important factor for the population development of this parasite in honey bee colonies. In this study, the relative infestation levels of worker brood cells, mite fertility (mites that lay at least one egg) and reproductive rate (number of viable adult daughters per mother mite) of Varroa mite in worker brood cells of Apis m. carnica and Apis m. syriaca were compared in fall 2003 and summer 2004 at two locations in Jordan. The relative infestation levels in sealed worker brood cells ranged from 23 – 32 % in fall and 19 – 28 % in summer. The average fertility of Varroa mite ranged between 90 - 98% in colonies of A. m. carnica and between 88 - 96 % in A. m. syriaca with minor differences between colonies and locations. The number of total progeny of fertile mites in worker brood cells was 4.0 in both bee races. The reproductive rate was high with 2.7 and 2.6 in both honey bee races. The post-capping period of the worker brood cells differs only slightly between both bee races and between locations (284.4 h on average, n = 4,000). Our data reveal surprisingly high mite fertility and reproductive rates in both honeybee races under Mediterranean conditions of Jordan. The possible physiological background of Varroa reproduction and the impact of mite fertility on the development of Varroa tolerance are discussed

A game theoretic model of kleptoparasitism with strategic arrivals and departures of beetles at dung pats

Dung beetles Onthophagus taurus lay their eggs in brood balls within dung pats. The dung that is used must be sufficiently fresh, and so beetles must keep moving from pat to pat to find fresh dung. If another beetle finds a brood ball it will usually eat the egg inside and lay its own egg in the brood ball instead of constructing its own ball. Thus, beetles will often stay near their eggs to guard them. We model a population of beetles where the times of arrival and departure from pats are strategic choices, and investigate optimal strategies depending upon environmental conditions, which can be reduced to two key parameters, the cost of brood ball construction and the ease of finding balls to parasitise. We predict that beetles should follow one of three distinct behaviors; stay in patches for only short periods, arrive late and be purely parasitic, remain in pats for longer periods in order to guard their brood balls. Under different conditions populations can consist of the first of these types only, a combination of the first and second types, or a combination of all three types

Factors Affecting Abundance of Adult Karner Blues (\u3ci\u3eLycaeides Melissa Samuelis\u3c/i\u3e) (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) in Wisconsin Surveys 1987-95

At 141 pine-oak barrens in central and northwestern Wisconsin, 3,702 Karner blues (Lycaeides melissa samuelis Nabokov) were found in 81.1 hr of transect surveys during spring and 6,094 individuals in 116.6 hr during sum­mer. Adults offive other closely related lycaenids occurred with Karner blues. The percentage of Karner blue males (of sexed individuals) correlated nega- tively with advancing date within brood, exceeded 50% on peak date within brood, but showed wide variability on a given date. Karner blues occasionally occurred up to 800 m from the nearest larval host, or in tiny, isolated host stands. However, all individuals were within 3-5 km of other larger Karner blue populations. Karner blue abundance significantly increased with decreasing latitude, increasing temperature, nearness to midpoint within brood, decreasing site canopy, increasing larval host abundance, and in summer compared to spring. Long-term monitoring sites showed dramatic but relatively similar fluctuations among broods (median of 2.8-fold change among ten brood pairs) that apparently varied by individual brood rather than season or year. Extensive dense host patches and dense Karner blues were in sites rep- resenting a diversity of management histories

Brood sow management

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Assessing the Consequences of Brood Parasitism and Nest Predation On Seasonal Fecundity in Passerine Birds

Brood parasites and nest predators reduce the seasonal fecundity and, hence, the population growth rates of their victims. However, most field studies do not measure directly how parasites and predators decrease seasonal fecundity, but instead measure the impact of these organisms on individual nesting attempts. Because a female may renest after losing a nest to predation, abandoning a parasitized nest, or successfully fledging a brood, knowing how brood parasites and nest predators reduce the number of offspring fledged from individual nesting attempts is not equivalent to knowing their impact on seasonal fecundity. We address this problem by developing a mathematical model that: estimates several parameters describing the natural history of this system, including the brood-parasitism rate, nest-predation rate, and probability of nest abandonment in response to a parasitism event; and extrapolates to seasonal fecundity from these parameters and others describing the length of the breeding season, the timing of events in the nesting cycle, and the productivity of parasitized and unparasitized nests. We also show how different researchers using different observational methodologies to study exactly the same population likely would arrive at noticeably different conclusions regarding the intensity of brood parasitism, and we provide mathematical formulas for comparing among several of these measures of parasitism. Our procedures extend Mayfield's method for calculating nest-success rates from nest-history data in that we simultaneously estimate parameters describing nest predation and brood parasitism, predict seasonal fecundity from these parameters, and provide confidence intervals on all parameter estimates. The model should make the design and interpretation of logistically difficult empirical studies more efficient. It also can be specialized to species affected by nest predators but not brood parasites. We use the model to analyze prairie Warbler (Dendroica discolor) and Black-capped Vireo (Vireo atricapillus) nesting data. We estimate the model's parameters for these species and use the resulting estimates to predict seasonal fecundity. For both species, the predicted seasonal fecundity closely matches the value measured directly.Integrative Biolog

Environmental assessment for the Satellite Power System (SPS): Studies of honey bees exposed to 2.45 GHz continuous wave electromagnetic energy

Post treatment brood development was normal and teratological effects were not detected at exposures of 3 to 50 mw sq cm for 30 minutes. Post treatment survival, longevity, orientation, navigation, and memory of adult bees were also normal after exposures of 3 to 50 mw sq cm for 30 minutes. Post treatment longevity of confined bees in the laboratory was normal after exposures of 3 to 50 mw sq cm for 24 hours. Thermoregulation of brood nest, foraging activity, brood rearing, and social interaction were not affected by chronic exposure to 1 mw sq cm during 28 days. In dynamic behavioral bioassays the frequency of entry and duration of activity of unrestrained, foraging adult bees was identical in microwave exposed areas versus control areas

Infestation levels of Varroa destructor in local honey bees of Jordan

To determine Varroa mite infestation levels in Jordan, a survey covering 180 colonies of two bee types (Apis m. syriaca and Apis m. syriaca hybrids) from six locations of 4 climatic zones was conducted during August, 8 month after the last treatment. Sampled colonies had 8-10 frames covered with bees and 3-4 brood frames. Levels of infestation were determined on both adult worker bees and in sealed worker brood cells. Two-way ANOVA showed no significant differences due to bee type with average adult bee infestation of 10.9 % and 13.1 % on hybrid and local bee types, respectively. Average infestation levels in sealed brood worker cells were 37.6 % and 32.5 % in hybrid and local bee types, respectively. Differences in infestation levels on adult bees were significant due to location and ranged between 6.9 - 18.6 % in Daba’a (Desert climate) and Jerash (Dry Mediterranean), respectively. In sealed worker brood cells infestation levels ranged between 15.7 - 84.7 % in Baqa (Dry Mediterranean) and Jerash, respectively. This indicates clearly that the usual scheduled Varroa control practice by a single chemical treatment in autumn could be insufficient. Therefore, to prevent damages or even losses of colonies, including diagnosis of infestation rates as part of integrated Varroa management is highly recommended

Brood patch and sex-ratio observations indicate breeding provenance and timing in New Zealand storm petrel (Fregetta maoriana)

We used measurements of brood patch and moult status to estimate the breeding phenology of New Zealand Storm-Petrel, using birds caught at sea within the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park near Auckland, New Zealand. Birds caught October–January had completely downy brood patches, whereas birds caught February–April had bare brood patches with an observed male bias in the February sex-ratio, consistent with a female pre-laying exodus typical of petrels and with the existence of an unknown colony in the region. No birds captured exhibited primary moult, which is known to occur in storm-petrels during their non-breeding season. Our data support the conclusion that the New Zealand storm-petrel breeds during January–June in northern New Zealand and that field surveys for the species on offshore islands in this region during this period are warrante