Optimal foraging and community structure: implications for a guild of generalist grassland herbivores

A particular linear programming model is constructed to predict the diets of each of 14 species of generalist herbivores at the National Bison Range, Montana. The herbivores have body masses ranging over seven orders of magnitude and belonging to two major taxa: insects and mammals. The linear programming model has three feeding constraints: digestive capacity, feeding time and energy requirements. A foraging strategy that maximizes daily energy intake agrees very well with the observed diets. Body size appears to be an underlying determinant of the foraging parameters leading to diet selection. Species that possess digestive capacity and feeding time constraints which approach each other in magnitude have the most generalized diets. The degree that the linear programming models change their diet predictions with a given percent change in parameter values (sensitivity) may reflect the observed ability of the species to vary their diets. In particular, the species which show the most diet variability are those whose diets tend to be balanced between monocots and dicots. The community-ecological parameters of herbivore body-size ranges and species number can possibly be related to foraging behavior.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/47765/1/442_2004_Article_BF00377109.pd

A role for Drosophila in understanding drug-induced cytotoxicity and teratogenesis

Drosophila research has been and continues to be an essential tool for many aspects of biological scientific research and has provided insight into numerous genetic, biochemical, and behavioral processes. As well, due to the remarkable conservation of gene function between Drosophila and humans, and the easy ability to manipulate these genes in a whole organism, Drosophila research has proven critical for studying human disease and the physiological response to chemical reagents. Methotrexate, a widely prescribed pharmaceutical which inhibits dihydrofolate reductase and therefore folate metabolism, is known to cause teratogenic effects in human fetuses. Recently, there has been resurgence in the use of methotrexate for inflammatory diseases and ectopic or unwanted pregnancies thus, increasing the need to fully understand the cytotoxicity of this pharmaceutical. Concerns have been raised over the ethics of studying teratogenic drugs like methotrexate in mammalian systems and thus, we have proposed a Drosophila model. We have shown that exposure of female Drosophila to methotrexate results in progeny with developmental abnormalities. We have also shown that methotrexate exposure changes the abundance of many fundamental cellular transcripts. Expression of a dihydrofolate reductase with a reduced affinity for methotrexate can not only prevent much of the abnormal transcript profile but the teratogenesis seen after drug treatment. In the future, such studies may generate useful tools for mammalian antifolate “rescue” therapies

Paleoproterozoic (~1.88Ga) felsic volcanism of the Iricoumé Group in the Pitinga Mining District area, Amazonian Craton, Brazil: insights in ancient volcanic processes from field and petrologic data

The Iricoumé Group correspond to the most expressive Paleoproterozoic volcanism in the Guyana Shield, Amazonian craton. The volcanics are coeval with Mapuera granitoids, and belong to the Uatumã magmatism. They have U-Pb ages around 1880 Ma, and geochemical signatures of &#945;-type magmas. Iricoumé volcanics consist of porphyritic trachyte to rhyolite, associated to crystal-rich ignimbrites and co-ignimbritic fall tuffs and surges. The amount and morphology of phenocrysts can be useful to distinguish lava (flow and dome) from hypabyssal units. The morphology of ignimbrite crystals allows the distinction between effusive units and ignimbrite, when pyroclasts are obliterated. Co-ignimbritic tuffs are massive, and some show stratifications that suggest deposition by current traction flow. Zircon and apatite saturation temperatures vary from 799°C to 980°C, are in agreement with most temperatures of &#945;-type melts and can be interpreted as minimum liquidus temperature. The viscosities estimation for rhyolitic and trachytic compositions yield values close to experimentally determined melts, and show a typical exponential decay with water addition. The emplacement of Iricoumé volcanics and part of Mapuera granitoids was controlled by ring-faults in an intracratonic environment. A genesis related to the caldera complex setting can be assumed for the Iricoumé-Mapuera volcano-plutonic association in the Pitinga Mining District.<br>O Grupo Iricoumé corresponde ao mais expressivo vulcanismo Paleoproterozóico do Escudo das Guianas, craton Amazônico. As rochas vulcânicas são coexistentes com os granitóides Mapuera, e pertencem ao magmatismo Uatumã. Possuem idades U-Pb em torno 1888 Ma, e assinaturas geoquímicas de magmas tipo-A. As vulcânicas do Iricoumé consistem de traquitos a riolitos porfiríticos, associados a ignimbritos ricos em cristal e tufos co-ignimbríticos de queda e surge. A quantidade e a morfologia dos fenocristais podem ser utilizadas para distinguir lava (fluxo e domo) de unidades hipabissais. A morfologia dos cristais em ignimbritos permite a distinção entre unidades efusivas e ignimbritos, quando os piroclastos estão obliterados. Tufos co-ignimbríticos são maciços e alguns exibem estratificações que sugerem deposição por correntes de tração. Temperaturas de cristalização de zircão e apatita variam de 799°C a 980°C, são compatíveis com temperaturas de líquidos tipo-A e podem ser interpretadas como temperatura liquidus mínima. Estimativas de viscosidade para composições riolíticas e traquíticas fornecem valores próximos a de líquidos determinadas experimentalmente e ilustram curvas típicas de decaimento exponencial, com a adição de água. O posicionamento das vulcânicas Iricoumé e de parte dos granitóides Mapuera foi controlado por falhas anelares em ambiente intracratônico. Uma gênese relacionada a ambiente de complexo de caldeiras pode ser assumida para a associação vulcano-plutônica Iricoumé-Mapuera no Distrito Mineiro de Pitinga