Habitat use by colonies of Philoponella republicana (Araneae: Uloboridae).

This is the published version. Copyright 1985 American Arachnological SocietyPhiloponella republicana (Araneae, Uloboridae) is a communal orb-weaving spider. Colonies of this spider were found more frequently in interface forest than in high forest or mountain savannah forest. This does not appear to be due to differences in insect abundance among forest types, but is correlated with greater complexity of the understory in the interface forest. This may be due to the need for supports for colony attachment lines. Within the interface forest, the location of colonies is correlated with local insect abundance. When flying insects are excluded from colonies, individual spiders can respond by increasing the distance between orbs in the colony, and colonies can respond by abandoning the site and moving to a new location

Behavioral Interactions between Parasites and Hosts: Host Suicide and the Evolution of Complex Life Cycles

The study of parasites and their hosts has typically focused on the physiological, morphological, and immunological adaptations to parasitism, adaptations which the parasite employs to survive and reproduce in the host and those used by the host in self-defense. This paper explores instead some of the behavioral aspects of the parasite-host relationship. The parasite can alter the behavior of the host in ways which will facilitate dispersal of parasite propagules to new hosts or increase the amount of energy available for the parasite's growth. The host in turn can employ behavioral defense mechanisms as well as the more familiar physiological and immunological defense mechanisms. In one of the most interesting forms of behavioral defense, a host may use its own death to increase its inclusive fitness. Since some types of parasitic infections cause death or sterility of the host they also result in the host's genetic death. Although the host may be unable to affect its individual reproductive fitness it can affect its inclusive fitness. The host can change the time and nature of its death; it can "commit suicide," or behave aberrantly and increase the probability of death by predation, thus preventing the maturation of its parasite and lowering the risk of parasitic infection for other members of the host specie^. If the mature parasite would have been more likely to infect the host's kin than nonkin, the host's suicidal behavior will increase its inclusive fitness and thus have a positive selective value. I will first discuss four types of parasitic life cycles and behavioral interactions between these parasites and their hosts. The phenomenon of host suicide and situations where this phenomenon might be expected to occur will be discussed in detail. Finally, I will outline the role that host suicide may have played in the evolution of complex life cycles

A mitochondrial DNA restriction enzyme cleavage map for the scorpion Hadrurus arizonensis (Iuridae).

This is the published version. Copyright 1991 Ecology & Evolutionary BiologyMitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) was prepared from a single individual of the scorpion Hadrurus arizonensis Ewing. The total size of the mitochondrial genome was estimated to be 13 850 to 14 000 base pairs. The mtDNA was surveyed for cleavage sites using 17 six-base restriction enzymes and three four-base enzymes. The technique of double digests was used to construct a map of the cleavage sites generated in this mtDNA by nine six-base restriction enzymes

Population genetics of Anelosimus eximius (Araneae: Theridiidae)

This is the published version. Copyright 1986 American Arachnological SocietyAnelosimus eximius is a cooperative, group-living neotropical spider. Colonies consist of up to several thousand individuals, and colonies may be aggregated into local colony clusters. The colony clusters are patchily distributed, and are often separated from their neighbors by a km or more. In this study individuals were collected from colonies located in Panama and Suriname. These individuals were subjected to horizontal starch gel electrophoresis and screened for polymorphisms in 46 enzyme systems. A total of 51 scorable loci were found, of which seven were polymorphic. The results were analyzed with Wright's F statistics which were used to investigate the amount of genetic differentiation in the population attributable to subdivision of the population into colonies, colony clusters, local populations and the geographic regions of Panama and Suriname. Most of the genetic differentiation in the A. eximius sampled was due to subdivision of the population into colony clusters and into geographic regions. There was no evidence of differentiation among colonies in a colony cluster, and little differentiation among collection sites within Panama or Suriname. In contrast, within a local population, samples from adjacent colony clusters were sometimes fixed for different alleles at one or more loci, and the Panama and Suriname samples were fixed for different alleles at three loci

Attitude-behaviour consistency: the role of group norms, attitude accessibility, and mode of behavioural decision-making

This is the author's post-print version of an article published in the European Journal of Social Psychology, Vol 33, No 5: pp.591-608. The definitive version is available at www3.interscience.wiley.comThe interplay between two perspectives that have recently been applied in the attitude area—the social identity approach to attitude-behaviour relations (Terry & Hogg, 1996) and the MODE model (Fazio, 1990a)—was examined in the present research. Two experimental studies were conducted to examine the role of group norms, group identification, attitude accessibility, and mode of behavioural decision-making in the attitude-behaviour relationship. In Study 1 (Nu=u211), the effects of norms and identification on attitude-behaviour consistency as a function of attitude accessibility and mood were investigated. Study 2 (Nu=u354) replicated and extended the first experiment by using time pressure to manipulate mode of behavioural decision-making. As expected, the effects of norm congruency varied as a function of identification and mode of behavioural decision-making. Under conditions assumed to promote deliberative processing (neutral mood/low time pressure), high identifiers behaved in a manner consistent with the norm. No effects emerged under positive mood and high time pressure conditions. In Study 2, there was evidence that exposure to an attitude-incongruent norm resulted in attitude change only under low accessibility conditions. The results of these studies highlight the powerful role of group norms in directing individual behaviour and suggest limited support for the MODE model in this context

Restriction Endonuclease Cleavage Site and Length Polymorphisms in Mitochondrial DNA of Apis mellifera mellifera and A. m. carnica (Hymenoptera: Apidae)

This is the published version. copyright 1990 Entomological Society of America.Restriction endonuclease cleavage maps of mitochondrial DNAs of Scandinavian Apis mellifera mellifera L., of German, Austrian, and Yugoslavian A. m. carnica Pollman, and of Austrian "Nigra" honey bees are compared with previously published maps of mitochondrial DNA from North American bees of European ancestry and Brazilian Africanized bees. A. m. mellifera mitochondrial DNA is characterized by a pattern of cleavage sites unique among the honey bee populations thus far investigated. Variation in size of the mitochondrial DNA molecule is common among families (hives) of A. m. mellifera and appears to involve several distinct regions that span a region at least 5.1 kilobase pairs in length. Some elements of size variation seem to be confined to the A. m. mellifera population, whereas others are shared with Africanized bees. A. m. carnica mitochondrial DNA is characterized by a pattern of cleavage sites, which differs from that of A. m. mellifera and the Africanized bees but is similar to that of the domestic North American bees of European ancestry

Population Structure in an Indian Cooperative Spider, Stegodyphus sarasinorum Karsch (Eresidae)

This is the publisher's version, also available electronically from http://www.americanarachnology.org/JoA_tocs/JOA_contents_v22n2.html.Twenty-nine colonies of a population of the cooperative spider Stegodyphus sarasinorum Karsch (Eresidae), from two sites in Bangalore, Karnataka State, India, were examined using protein allozyme electrophoresis . Thirty-five enzyme systems were examined . Twenty-two enzymes (the products of 25 putative loci) gave scorable results . Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PDH) werepolymorphic with two alleles each; hexokinase exhibited uninterpretable variation . The rest were monomorphic. One LDH allele was found at only one of two collection sites, and one G6PDH allele was found only at the other collection site. The pattern of variation in S. sarasinorum is similar to that found in three other studies of cooperative spiders : extreme population subdivision, with most colonies consisting of identical homozygotes

The Leishmania major BBSome subunit BBS1 is essential for parasite virulence in the mammalian host

Bardet–Biedl syndrome (BBS) is a human genetic disorder with a spectrum of symptoms caused by primary cilium dysfunction. The disease is caused by mutations in one of at least 17 identified genes, of which seven encode subunits of the BBSome, a protein complex required for specific trafficking events to and from the primary cilium. The molecular mechanisms associated with BBSome function remain to be fully elucidated. Here, we generated null and complemented mutants of the BBSome subunit BBS1 in the protozoan parasite, Leishmania. In the absence of BBS1, extracellular parasites have no apparent defects in growth, flagellum assembly, motility or differentiation in vitro but there is accumulation of vacuole-like structures close to the flagellar pocket. Infectivity of these parasites for macrophages in vitro is reduced compared with wild-type controls but the null parasites retain the ability to differentiate to the intracellular amastigote stage. However, infectivity of BBS1 null parasites is severely compromised in a BALB/c mouse footpad model. We hypothesize that the absence of BBS1 in Leishmania leads to defects in specific trafficking events that affect parasite persistence in the host. This is the first report of an association between the BBSome complex and pathogen infectivity

A cohort study of the recovery of health and wellbeing following colorectal cancer (CREW study): protocol paper

Background: the number of people surviving colorectal cancer has doubled in recent years. While much of the literature suggests that most people return to near pre-diagnosis status following surgery for colorectal cancer, this literature has largely focused on physical side effects. Longitudinal studies in colorectal cancer have either been small scale or taken a narrow focus on recovery after surgery. There is a need for a comprehensive, long-term study exploring all aspects of health and wellbeing in colorectal cancer patients. The aim of this study is to establish the natural history of health and wellbeing in people who have been treated for colorectal cancer. People have different dispositions, supports and resources, likely resulting in individual differences in restoration of health and wellbeing. The protocol described in this paper is of a study which will identify who is most at risk of problems, assess how quickly people return to a state of subjective health and wellbeing, and will measure factors which influence the course of recovery. Methods: this is a prospective, longitudinal cohort study following 1000 people with colorectal cancer over a period of two years, recruiting from 30 NHS cancer treatment centres across the UK. Questionnaires will be administered prior to surgery, and 3, 9, 15 and 24 months after surgery, with the potential to return to this cohort to explore on-going issues related to recovery after cancer. Discussion: outcomes will help inform health care providers about what helps or hinders rapid and effective recovery from cancer, and identify areas for intervention development to aid this process. Once established the cohort can be followed up for longer periods and be approached to participate in related projects as appropriate and subject to funding<br/

Hydroacoustic monitoring of oceanic spreading centers : past, present, and future

Author Posting. © The Oceanography Society, 2012. This article is posted here by permission of The Oceanography Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Oceanography 25, no. 1 (2012): 116–127, doi:10.5670/oceanog.2012.10.Mid-ocean ridge volcanism and extensional faulting are the fundamental processes that lead to the creation and rifting of oceanic crust, yet these events go largely undetected in the deep ocean. Currently, the only means available to observe seafloor-spreading events in real time is via the remote detection of the seismicity generated during faulting or intrusion of magma into brittle oceanic crust. Hydrophones moored in the ocean provide an effective means for detecting these small-magnitude earthquakes, and the use of this technology during the last two decades has facilitated the real-time detection of mid-ocean ridge seafloor eruptions and confirmation of subseafloor microbial ecosystems. As technology evolves and mid-ocean ridge studies move into a new era, we anticipate an expanding network of seismo-acoustic sensors integrated into seafloor fiber-optic cabled observatories, satellite-telemetered surface buoys, and autonomous vehicle platforms.SOSUS studies discussed in this paper were supported by the NOAA Vents Program and during 2006–2009 by the National Science Foundation, Grant OCE-0623649