Predaceous water beetles (Coleoptera, Hydradephaga) of the Lake St Lucia system, South Africa: biodiversity, community ecology and conservation implications

Water beetles are one of the dominant macroinvertebrate groups in inland waters and are excellent ecological indicators, reflecting both the diversity and composition of the wider aquatic community. The predaceous water beetles (Hydradephaga) make up around one-third of known aquatic Coleoptera and, as predators, are a key group in the functioning of many aquatic habitats. Despite being relatively well-known taxonomically, ecological studies of these insects in tropical and subtropical systems remain rare. A dedicated survey of the hydradephagan beetles of the Lake St Lucia wetlands (South Africa) was undertaken between 2013 and 2015, providing the first biodiversity census for this important aquatic group in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site within the Maputaland biodiversity hotspot. A total of 32 sites covering the entire spectrum of waterbody types were sampled over the course of three collecting trips. The Lake St Lucia wetlands support at least 68 species of Hydradephaga, a very high level of diversity comparing favourably with other hotspots on the African continent and elsewhere in the world and a number of taxa are reported for South Africa for the first time. This beetle assemblage is dominated by relatively widespread Afrotropical taxa, with few locally endemic species, supporting earlier observations that hotspots of species richness and centres of endemism are not always coincident. Although there was no significant difference in the number of species supported by the various waterbody types sampled, sites with the highest species richness were mostly temporary depression wetlands. This contrasts markedly with the distribution of other taxa in the same system, such as molluscs and dragonflies, which are most diverse in permanent waters. Our study is the first to highlight the importance of temporary depression wetlands and emphasises the need to maintain a variety of wetland habitats for aquatic conservation in this biodiverse region

SHORT COMMUNICATIONS: Localization of Oviductal Sperm-storage Tubules in the American Kestrel (\u3ci\u3eFalco sparverius\u3c/i\u3e)

Sperm-storage tubules (SST) are discrete tubular invaginations of the bird\u27s oviduct epithelium located in the anterior end of the vaginal folds, a region generally referred to as the uterovaginal junction (UVJ). [We prefer to refer to the UVJ sperm-storage sites collectively as the SST (originally used by Mero and Ogasawara 1970) because SST accurately describes their function and structure.] Of the 27 recognized orders of birds, SST have been identified histologically only in selected species of Charadriiformes and Procellariformes (Hatch 1983), Galliformes (Fujii and Tamura 1963), Anseriformes (Pal 1977), and Passeriformes (Bray et al. 1975). Whether SST are structures common to all birds, as suggested by Gilbert (1979) and Hatch (1983), remains to be investigated. The presence of SST has not been demonstrated histologically in the Falconiformes. The high frequency of copulations in the course of laying one clutch of eggs prompted Corten (1973) to suggest that SST do not exist in the Northern Goshawk (Accipiter gentilis). Bird and Buckland (1976) observed the mean duration of fertility following artificial insemination of the American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) to be 8.1 days (range = 4-12 days). They suggested that SST were present in the oviduct. We present evidence that SST exist at the UVJ of the American Kestrel. In addition, a technique for the precise localization and isolation of oviductal mucosa containing SST is described

Networks Underpinning Symbiosis Revealed Through Cross-Species eQTL Mapping.

Organisms engage in extensive cross-species molecular dialog, yet the underlying molecular actors are known for only a few interactions. Many techniques have been designed to uncover genes involved in signaling between organisms. Typically, these focus on only one of the partners. We developed an expression quantitative trait locus (eQTL) mapping-based approach to identify cause-and-effect relationships between genes from two partners engaged in an interspecific interaction. We demonstrated the approach by assaying expression of 98 isogenic plants (Medicago truncatula), each inoculated with a genetically distinct line of the diploid parasitic nematode Meloidogyne hapla With this design, systematic differences in gene expression across host plants could be mapped to genetic polymorphisms of their infecting parasites. The effects of parasite genotypes on plant gene expression were often substantial, with up to 90-fold (P = 3.2 × 10-52) changes in expression levels caused by individual parasite loci. Mapped loci included a number of pleiotropic sites, including one 87-kb parasite locus that modulated expression of >60 host genes. The 213 host genes identified were substantially enriched for transcription factors. We distilled higher-order connections between polymorphisms and genes from both species via network inference. To replicate our results and test whether effects were conserved across a broader host range, we performed a confirmatory experiment using M. hapla-infected tomato. This revealed that homologous genes were similarly affected. Finally, to validate the broader utility of cross-species eQTL mapping, we applied the strategy to data from a Salmonella infection study, successfully identifying polymorphisms in the human genome affecting bacterial expression

Research poster: Building infrastructure: Climate monitoring transects in Nevada

Research poste

Breeding density and brood size of rough-legged hawks in Northh-western Quebec

Peer reviewe

Analogy Mining for Specific Design Needs

Finding analogical inspirations in distant domains is a powerful way of solving problems. However, as the number of inspirations that could be matched and the dimensions on which that matching could occur grow, it becomes challenging for designers to find inspirations relevant to their needs. Furthermore, designers are often interested in exploring specific aspects of a product-- for example, one designer might be interested in improving the brewing capability of an outdoor coffee maker, while another might wish to optimize for portability. In this paper we introduce a novel system for targeting analogical search for specific needs. Specifically, we contribute a novel analogical search engine for expressing and abstracting specific design needs that returns more distant yet relevant inspirations than alternate approaches

Repeated Restraint and Sampling Results in Reduced Corticosterone Levels in Developing and Adult Captive American Kestrels (Falco sparverius)

Presents a study which evaluated the effects of repeated restraint on the ability of postnatally developing chicks and adults to respond to a repeated standardized stressor of capture and handling in a semialtricial raptorial species, the American kestrel. Blood sampling and general procedure; Corticosterone radioimmunoassay analysis; Corticosterone levels in postnatally developing chicks and adults