Beitrag zum Vorkommen und Ausbreitung des Trauer-Rosenkäfers Oxythyrea funesta (Poda, 1761) (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae) in Deutschland:: ein Citizen-Science-Projekt

Der auffällig gezeichnete Trauerrosenkäfer Oxythyrea funesta konnte sich in den letzten 30 Jahren in Mitteleuropa rasant ausbreiten und eignet sich auch deshalb als Modell für Citizen-Science-Projekte. Bei „kerbtier.de“ wurde 2019 ein Kartierungsprojekt gestartet, um die Art durch Fotos der Nutzer gezielt zu melden und die Ausbreitung in Deutschland besser zu dokumentieren. Es wurden insgesamt 1.345 Anfragen von 309 Nutzern ausgewertet. Unsere Ergebnisse bestätigen, dass Oxythyrea funesta mittlerweile aus allen Regionen Deutschlands nachgewiesen ist und in der südlichen Hälfte Deutschlands eine weit verbreitete und häufige Art ist. In Norddeutschland liegt ihr aktueller Verbreitungsschwerpunkt in und um die Städte Hannover, Bremen und Hamburg. Generell scheint die Art vom Klimawandel zu profitieren, sowie durch das Vorhandensein von ausreichend Blütenpflanzen und Komposthaufen in urbanen Gebieten, wo die Art überwiegend dokumentiert wurde. Die Eignung von Citizen-Science-Projekten in der Biodiversitätsforschung wird diskutiert.The characteristic white-spotted rose beetle Oxythyrea funesta has spread rapidly in Central Europe over the past 30 years and is therefore a suitable model for Citizen Science projects. A project to document the dispersal of O. funesta in Germany was started on “kerbtier.de” in 2019 to record the species through photos uploaded by the users. 1,345 inquiries from 309 users were evaluated. Our results show that O. funesta is currently present in all regions of Germany and became a widespread and common species in the southern half of Germany. In Northern Germany, its current distribution is focused in and around the cities of Hanover, Bremen and Hamburg. In general, the species appears to benefit from climate change, as well as from the presence of sufficient flowering plants and compost heaps in urban areas where the species has been mainly documented. The suitability of Citizen-Science-projects in biodiversity research is discussed

El Zonda, portavoz del espacio público sanjuanino

En este trabajo analizamos al semanario El Zonda (San Juan, 1839) como el medio representante de la esfera pública sanjuanina, surgida bajo los auspicios de un grupo de jóvenes intelectuales encabezados por Sarmiento, que intentaron constituirse en intermediarios válidos entre el poder provincial y la sociedad. Motivados por la convicción de que la educación y los periódicos eran los medios eficaces para promover el progreso local, auspiciaron valiosas iniciativas que impactaron de manera dispar en el espacio público cuyano, como la creación de la Sociedad Dramática y Filarmónica, la Sociedad Literaria y el Colegio de Pensionistas de Santa Rosa, además del semanario. Este periódico fue renovador en varios sentidos: presentó una nueva concepción estética periodística, al tiempo que se valió de novedosas estrategias comunicacionales para instalar un discurso “renovador” y captar nuevos lectores, incluyendo a las mujeres. Además asumió un perfil político-pedagógico, pero no partidario, abandonando todo fin económico. Inobjetablemente suscitó controversias no obstante su efímera existencia (sólo seis números) la que estuvo condicionada por la conjunción de varias razones: la exigüidad de suscripciones, que imposibilitaron su sostenimiento económico y, con el correr del tiempo, la disipación de la complacencia del poder político de turno, actitudes que podrían responder a las severas críticas a la sociedad local emitidas desde sus enunciados.Facultad de Periodismo y Comunicación Socia

Dark Matter and Fundamental Physics with the Cherenkov Telescope Array

The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is a project for a next-generation observatory for very high energy (GeV-TeV) ground-based gamma-ray astronomy, currently in its design phase, and foreseen to be operative a few years from now. Several tens of telescopes of 2-3 different sizes, distributed over a large area, will allow for a sensitivity about a factor 10 better than current instruments such as H.E.S.S, MAGIC and VERITAS, an energy coverage from a few tens of GeV to several tens of TeV, and a field of view of up to 10 deg. In the following study, we investigate the prospects for CTA to study several science questions that influence our current knowledge of fundamental physics. Based on conservative assumptions for the performance of the different CTA telescope configurations, we employ a Monte Carlo based approach to evaluate the prospects for detection. First, we discuss CTA prospects for cold dark matter searches, following different observational strategies: in dwarf satellite galaxies of the Milky Way, in the region close to the Galactic Centre, and in clusters of galaxies. The possible search for spatial signatures, facilitated by the larger field of view of CTA, is also discussed. Next we consider searches for axion-like particles which, besides being possible candidates for dark matter may also explain the unexpectedly low absorption by extragalactic background light of gamma rays from very distant blazars. Simulated light-curves of flaring sources are also used to determine the sensitivity to violations of Lorentz Invariance by detection of the possible delay between the arrival times of photons at different energies. Finally, we mention searches for other exotic physics with CTA.Comment: (31 pages, Accepted for publication in Astroparticle Physics

A Novel Tool for the Assessment of Pain: Validation in Low Back Pain

Joachim Scholz and colleagues develop and validate an assessment tool that distinguishes between radicular and axial low back pain

Advertisement of unreceptivity - Perfume modifications of mason bee females (Osmia bicornis and O. cornuta) and a non-existing antiaphrodisiac.

Females of many monandrous insect species announce their receptivity either by specialised sex-pheromones or by a signature mixture of cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs). The trigger that shuts down the sex-pheromone release or initialises a change in CHC bouquet is thought to be either the mating per se or male pheromones transferred during copulation. Besides a conversion of female volatiles, the application of antiaphrodisiacs, male derived pheromones that render mated females unattractive to competitors, is another strategy to protect females from further sexual chasings. This simple pattern becomes more complicated in the monandrous mason bees Osmia bicornis (syn: O. rufa) and O. cornuta due to a post-copulation phase in their mating sequence. Males display a stereotypic behaviour right after the intromission that induces females' unreceptivity. This post-copulatory display is predestined both to trigger a transition of the CHC profile and for the application of an antiaphrodisiac. However, the postulated antiaphrodisiac was not detectable even on freshly mated females. Moreover, the male's post-copulatory display did not trigger a change in the CHC bouquet and neither did the insemination. Instead the CHC profile of freshly emerged females changes into the bouquet of nesting females simply by age as an ontogenetic process in both Osmia species. This autonomous change in the CHC profile coincides with an age-specific decrease of young female's willingness to mate. How the resulting short period of female receptivity without back coupling by storage of sperm and the lack of an antiaphrodisiac fit into the behavioural ecology of the studied mason bee species is discussed

Morphogenesis of honeybee hypopharyngeal gland during pupal development

Abstract Background The hypopharyngeal gland of worker bees contributes to the production of the royal jelly fed to queens and larvae. The gland consists of thousands of two-cell units that are composed of a secretory cell and a duct cell and that are arranged in sets of about 12 around a long collecting duct. Results By fluorescent staining, we have examined the morphogenesis of the hypopharyngeal gland during pupal life, from a saccule lined by a pseudostratified epithelium to the elaborate organ of adult worker bees. The hypopharyngeal gland develops as follows. (1) Cell proliferation occurs during the first day of pupal life in the hypopharyngeal gland primordium. (2) Subsequently, the epithelium becomes organized into rosette-like units of three cells. Two of these will become the secretory cell and the duct cell of the adult secretory units; the third cell contributes only temporarily to the development of the secretory units and is eliminated by apoptosis in the second half of pupal life. (3) The three-cell units of flask-shaped cells undergo complex changes in cell morphology. Thus, by mid-pupal stage, the gland is structurally similar to the adult hypopharyngeal gland. (4) Concomitantly, the prospective secretory cell attains its characteristic subcellular organization by the invagination of a small patch of apical membrane domain, its extension to a tube of about 100 μm in length (termed a canaliculus), and the expansion of the tube to a diameter of about 3 μm. (6) Finally, the canaliculus-associated F-actin system becomes reorganized into rings of bundled actin filaments that are positioned at regular distances along the membrane tube. Conclusions The morphogenesis of the secretory units in the hypopharyngeal gland of the worker bee seems to be based on a developmental program that is conserved, with slight modification, among insects for the production of dermal glands. Elaboration of the secretory cell as a unicellular seamless epithelial tube occurs by invagination of the apical membrane, its extension likely by targeted exocytosis and its expansion, and finally the reorganisation of the membrane-associated F-actin system. Our work is fundamental for future studies of environmental effects on hypopharyngeal gland morphology and development

Secretory cells in honeybee hypopharyngeal gland: polarized organization and age-dependent dynamics of plasma membrane

The honeybee hypopharyngeal gland consists in numerous units, each comprising a secretory cell and a canal cell. The secretory cell discharges its products into a convoluted tubular membrane system, the canaliculus, which is surrounded at regular intervals by rings of actin filaments. Using probes for various membrane components, we analyze the organization of the secretory cells relative to the apicobasal configuration of epithelial cells. The canaliculus was defined by labeling with an antibody against phosphorylated ezrin/radixin/moesin (pERM), a marker protein for the apical membrane domain of epithelial cells. Anti-phosphotyrosine visualizes the canalicular system, possibly by staining the microvillar tips. The open end of the canaliculus leads to a region in which the secretory cell is attached to the canal cell by adherens and septate junctions. The remaining plasma membrane stains for Na,K-ATPase and spectrin and represents the basolateral domain. We also used fluorophore-tagged phalloidin, anti-phosphotyrosine and anti-pERM as probes for the canaliculus in order to describe fine-structural changes in the organization of the canalicular system during the adult life cycle. These probes in conjunction with fluorescence microscopy allow the fast and detailed three-dimensional analysis of the canalicular membrane system and its structural changes in a developmental mode or in response to environmental factors

Large-scale monitoring of effects of clothianidin-dressed oilseed rape seeds on pollinating insects in Northern Germany: effects on honey bees (Apis mellifera)

Possible effects of clothianidin seed-treated oilseed rape on honey bee colonies were investigated in a large-scale monitoring project in Northern Germany, where oilseed rape usually comprises 25–33 % of the arable land. For both reference and test sites, six study locations were selected and eight honey bee hives were placed at each location. At each site, three locations were directly adjacent to oilseed rape fields and three locations were situated 400 m away from the nearest oilseed rape field. Thus, 96 hives were exposed to fully flowering oilseed rape crops. Colony sizes and weights, the amount of honey harvested, and infection with parasites and diseases were monitored between April and September 2014. The percentage of oilseed rape pollen was determined in pollen and honey samples. After oilseed rape flowering, the hives were transferred to an extensive isolated area for post-exposure monitoring. Total numbers of adult bees and brood cells showed seasonal fluctuations, and there were no significant differences between the sites. The honey, which was extracted at the end of the exposure phase, contained 62.0–83.5 % oilseed rape pollen. Varroa destructor infestation was low during most of the course of the study but increased at the end of the study due to flumethrin resistance in the mite populations. In summary, honey bee colonies foraging in clothianidin seed-treated oilseed rape did not show any detrimental symptoms as compared to colonies foraging in clothianidin-free oilseed rape. Development of colony strength, brood success as well as honey yield and pathogen infection were not significantly affected by clothianidin seed-treatment during this study