scholarly journals Plant feeding promotes diversification in the Crustacea

2017 ◽  
Vol 114 (33) ◽  
pp. 8829-8834 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alistair G. B. Poore ◽  
Shane T. Ahyong ◽  
James K. Lowry ◽  
Erik E. Sotka
Keyword(s):  
Plant Material ◽  
Animal Species ◽  
Phylogenetic Distribution ◽  
Resource Base ◽  
Present Evidence ◽  
Species Numbers ◽  
Plant Feeding ◽  
Dietary Transition ◽  
Important Trait ◽  
Terrestrial Insects

About half of the world’s animal species are arthropods associated with plants, and the ability to consume plant material has been proposed to be an important trait associated with the spectacular diversification of terrestrial insects. We review the phylogenetic distribution of plant feeding in the Crustacea, the other major group of arthropods that commonly consume plants, to estimate how often plant feeding has arisen and to test whether this dietary transition is associated with higher species numbers in extant clades. We present evidence that at least 31 lineages of marine, freshwater, and terrestrial crustaceans (including 64 families and 185 genera) have independently overcome the challenges of consuming plant material. These plant-feeding clades are, on average, 21-fold more speciose than their sister taxa, indicating that a shift in diet is associated with increased net rates of diversification. In contrast to herbivorous insects, most crustaceans have very broad diets, and the increased richness of taxa that include plants in their diet likely results from access to a novel resource base rather than host-associated divergence.

The Hornsby Bend Hyacinth Facility in Austin, Texas

1987 ◽  
Vol 19 (10) ◽  
pp. 41-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ray Dinges ◽  
Jim Doersam
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Protection ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Plant Material ◽  
Animal Species ◽  
Performance Data ◽  
Operational Performance ◽  
Fish Production ◽  
Protection Agency ◽  
Functional Characteristics ◽  
The City

The Hornsby Bend Hyacinth Facility, the first such system built under the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency “Construction Grants Program”, represents the culmination of over a decade of experience at the City of Austin with hyacinth treatment. The facility consists of three culture basins 265 m in length with an area of 1.6 ha. To permit year-round hyacinth culture, basins are covered with a 2.06 ha unitary greenhouse structure. Fenced exclusion areas at intervals along sides of basins serve as natural aerators and enhance fish production. The system, operated in an aerobic mode, was designed to daily treat about three million liters of sludge lagoon supernatant. Exclusion of large vertebrate predators and stocking of basins with selected animal species will provide a unique ecosystem. Basins were planted with hyacinth in late October, 1985 and discharge commenced on February 3, 1986. Functional characteristics and ecological considerations of the facility are discussed and operational performance data are presented. Maintenance harvesting of hyacinth and disposition of plant material are described. Application of greenhoused hyacinth treatment systems are addressed.

Long-Delay and Selective Association in Food Aversion Learning: The Role of Cue Location

1984 ◽  
Vol 36 (1b) ◽  
pp. 65-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. G. Sullivan
Keyword(s):  
Animal Species ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Olfactory Cues ◽  
Conditioning Chamber ◽  
Food Aversion ◽  
Present Evidence ◽  
Food Container ◽  
Sense Modality ◽  
Conditioned Behaviour

Cue location has been an uncontrolled variable in food-aversion studies. While tastes are always attributes of the ingested object, visual, auditory and olfactory cues are often attributes of the food container or are located elsewhere in the conditioning chamber. A review of experimental studies indicates that cues which are attributes of the ingested object are almost invariably associated with both immediate and delayed illness, regardless of the sense modality of the cue and of the animal species involved. Cues which are attributes of the food container or conditioning chamber are associated with immediate but not delayed illness, again regardless of the sense modality and animal subject. Within the limits of present evidence, the same effects of cue location appear to occur when shock is the reinforcer. It is suggested that the association of attribute cues across delays is mediated by the conditioned behaviour, which is directed at the object of which they are attributes and which is biologically related to the subsequent reinforcement.

scholarly journals From marine park to future genomic observatory? Enhancing marine biodiversity assessments using a biocode approach

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yin Cheong Aden Ip ◽  
Ywee Chieh Tay ◽  
Su Xuan Gan ◽  
Hui Ping Ang ◽  
Karenne Tun ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Diversity ◽  
Animal Species ◽  
Marine Biodiversity ◽  
Dna Barcodes ◽  
Undescribed Species ◽  
Marine Fauna ◽  
Species Numbers ◽  
Marine Park ◽  
First Results ◽  
Genomic Observatory

Few tropical marine sites have been thoroughly characterised for their animal species, even though they constitute the largest proportion of multicellular diversity. A number of focused biodiversity sampling programmes have amassed immense collections to address this shortfall, but obstacles remain due to the lack of identification tools and large proportion of undescribed species globally. These problems can be partially addressed with DNA barcodes (“biocodes”), which have the potential to facilitate the estimation of species diversity and identify animals to named species via barcode databases. Here, we present the first results of what is intended to be a sustained, systematic study of the marine fauna of Singapore’s first marine park, reporting more than 365 animal species, determined based on DNA barcodes and/or morphology represented by 931 specimens (367 zooplankton, 564 macrofauna including 36 fish). Due to the lack of morphological and molecular identification tools, only a small proportion could be identified to species solely based on either morphology (24.5%) or barcodes (24.6%). Estimation of species numbers for some taxa was difficult because of the lack of sufficiently clear barcoding gaps. The specimens were imaged and added to “Biodiversity of Singapore” (http://singapore.biodiversity.online), which now contains images for > 13,000 species occurring in the country.

scholarly journals Symbiont-Mediated Digestion of Plant Biomass in Fungus-Farming Insects

2021 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 297-316 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongjie Li ◽  
Soleil E. Young ◽  
Michael Poulsen ◽  
Cameron R. Currie
Keyword(s):  
Plant Material ◽  
Plant Biomass ◽  
Herbivorous Insects ◽  
Bacterial Symbionts ◽  
Seminal Work ◽  
Carbohydrate Active Enzyme ◽  
Plant Feeding ◽  
Enzyme Discovery ◽  
Genomic Studies ◽  
Dead Plant

Feeding on living or dead plant material is widespread in insects. Seminal work on termites and aphids has provided profound insights into the critical nutritional role that microbes play in plant-feeding insects. Some ants, beetles, and termites, among others, have evolved the ability to use microbes to gain indirect access to plant substrate through the farming of a fungus on which they feed. Recent genomic studies, including studies of insect hosts and fungal and bacterial symbionts, as well as metagenomics and proteomics, have provided important insights into plant biomass digestion across insect–fungal mutualisms. Not only do advances in understanding of the divergent and complementary functions of complex symbionts reveal the mechanism of how these herbivorous insects catabolize plant biomass, but these symbionts also represent a promising reservoir for novel carbohydrate-active enzyme discovery, which is of considerable biotechnological interest.

Temporal Patterns in the Arthropod Trace-Fossil Record

1990 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 66-98
Author(s):  
Joanne Kluessendorf ◽  
Donald G. Mikulic
Keyword(s):  
Organic Material ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
Animal Species ◽  
Temporal Patterns ◽  
Trace Fossil ◽  
Anoxic Conditions ◽  
Terrestrial Insects

Arthropods are currently abundant and diverse in many environments, with terrestrial insects alone accounting for at least 70% of all extant animal species (Barnes, 1980). The fossilization potential of arthropods, however, is low. With the exception of trilobites, ostracods, and decapods, most arthropod exoskeletons are weakly mineralized and contain abundant organic material. Multielement construction and ecdysis (shedding of exoskeleton during life) introduces the problem of disarticulation and transportation. Therefore, preservation of most arthropods as body fossils requires exceptional circumstances such as rapid burial or anoxic conditions.

scholarly journals Enhanced problem-solving ability as an adaptation to urban environments in house mice

2021 ◽  
Vol 288 (1945) ◽  
pp. 20202504
Author(s):  
Lara Vrbanec ◽  
Vanja Matijević ◽  
Anja Guenther
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Inhibitory Control ◽  
Mus Musculus ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Animal Species ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
House Mice ◽  
Important Trait ◽  
Human Animal ◽  
Problem Solve

Humans have a large impact on the distribution and abundance of animal species worldwide. The ecological effects of human-altered environments are being increasingly recognized and understood, but their effects on evolution are largely unknown. Enhanced cognitive abilities and the ability to innovate have been suggested as crucial traits for thriving in human-altered habitats. We tested if house mice ( Mus musculus ) subspecies have evolved enhanced innovative problem-solving abilities throughout their commensal lives with humans. The time that subspecies lived commensally with humans ranges between approximately 3000 years to more than 11 000 years, thus providing an excellent example of human–animal coexistence. In addition, we tested whether differences in problem-solving were mediated by differences in object and place exploration, motivation, persistence or inhibitory control. We found that populations of subspecies living commensally the longest excelled in problem-solving across seven food-extraction tasks over subspecies living commensally short or intermediate times. These differences were not mediated by exploration, motivation, persistence or inhibitory control suggesting that subspecies have evolved better cognitive abilities when living commensally in urban environments. This suggests that the ability to problem-solve may be an important trait promoting prosperity in human-altered environments.

scholarly journals Comparison of ploughing vs. ploughless cultivation in terms of energy expenditure and quality

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Piotr Szczyglak
Keyword(s):  
Energy Expenditure ◽  
Fuel Consumption ◽  
Experimental Research ◽  
Soil Profile ◽  
Plant Material ◽  
Crop Residue ◽  
Crop Residues ◽  
Resource Base ◽  
Soil Cultivation ◽  
Agricultural Farm

The article discusses the basic technologies of soil cultivation and presents the results of analyses of the effectiveness of the product resource base of ploughless cultivation machines manufactured in Poland. The study also describes the design of a prototype MultiCat 6HD aggregated tillage unit, which should be regarded as innovative, and presents the methodology of experimental research focused on the aggregated unit and machines for traditional plough tillage. The experiment determined fuel consumption, effective and operational efficiency, the depth of placing and mixing of crop residues and the indicator of crop residue surface embedding. Based on the conducted analyses, it was found that ploughless cultivation required approx. 30% less expenditure for fuel as compared to the traditional plough tillage. In addition, a more favourable distribution of plant material within the soil profile was found along with almost identical embedding of crop residues, as compared to the plough tillage. It was demonstrated that the application of ploughless cultivation based on the MultiCat 6HD aggregated unit would improve agricultural farm competitiveness.

scholarly journals Understanding the Evolution of Nutritive Taste in Animals: Insights from Biological Stoichiometry and Nutritional Geometry

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lee M. Demi ◽  
Brad W. Taylor ◽  
Benjamin J. Reading ◽  
Michael G. Tordoff ◽  
Robert R. Dunn
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
General Framework ◽  
Animal Species ◽  
Sensory Biology ◽  
Phylogenetic Distribution ◽  
Nutritional Geometry

AbstractA major conceptual gap in taste biology is the lack of a general framework for understanding the evolution of different taste modalities among animal species. We turn to two complementary nutritional frameworks, biological stoichiometry theory and nutritional geometry, to develop hypotheses for the evolution of different taste modalities in animals. We describe how the attractive tastes of Na, Ca, P, N and C containing compounds are consistent with principles of both frameworks based on their shared focus on nutritional imbalances and consumer homeostasis. Specifically, we suggest that the evolution of multiple nutritive taste modalities can be predicted by identifying individual elements that are typically more concentrated in the tissues of animals than plants. Additionally, we discuss how consumer homeostasis can inform our understanding of why some taste compounds (i.e., Na, Ca and P salts) can be either attractive or aversive depending on concentration. We also discuss how these complementary frameworks can help to explain the phylogenetic distribution of different taste modalities and improve our understanding of the mechanisms that lead to loss of taste capabilities in some animal lineages. The ideas presented here will stimulate research that bridges the fields of evolutionary biology, sensory biology and ecology.

Author response for "Perceptual rivalry across animal species"

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olivia Carter ◽  
Bruno Swinderen ◽  
David Leopold ◽  
Shaun Collin ◽  
Alex Maier
Keyword(s):  
Animal Species ◽  
Author Response ◽  
Perceptual Rivalry

Anchoring Fibrils in Arterial Endothelium

1969 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
pp. 274-275
Author(s):  
A. Trillo
Keyword(s):  
Carotid Arteries ◽  
Animal Species ◽  
Cell Layer ◽  
Present Communication ◽  
Internal Elastic Lamina ◽  
Endothelial Cell Layer ◽  
Structural Details ◽  
Rats And Mice ◽  
Arterial Endothelium ◽  
Elastic Lamina

There are conflicting reports regarding some fine structural details of arteries from several animal species. Buck denied the existence of a sub-endothelial space, while Karrer and Keech described a space of variable width which separates the endothelium from the underlying internal elastic lamina in aortas of aging rats and mice respectively.The present communication deals with the ultrastrueture of the interface between the endothelial cell layer and the internal elastic lamina as observed in carotid arteries from rabbits of varying ages.

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