Effects of Three Plant Powders on Behaviour, Mortality and Reproductive Fitness of Callosobruchus maculatus (Fabricius) (Coleoptera: Bruchidae)

The effects of powders from dry flower buds of Eugenia aromatica Baill., seeds of Piper guineense Schum and Thonn and fruits of Capsicum frutescens L. on adult behaviour, mortality and reproductive fitness of the cowpea seed beetle, Callosobruchus maculatus (Fab.) were investigated under ambient laboratory conditions. All experiments were carried out in glass Petri plates. All powders elicited aversion in adult beetles. The contact toxicity symptoms included restlessness, loss of coordination, knock down and eventual death of adult beetles. These behaviours were more pronounced with E. aromatica in which adult beetles died within 16 hours. P. guineense and C. frutescens powders did not cause 100% mortality of adult beetles, even after 24 hours. Each of the three powders significantly (P<0.05) reduced the mating competition of adult males after sub-lethal exposure for one, two, and three hours, respectively. E. aromatica powder caused more reduction in male mating competition for females than any of the other two powders after each period of exposure. Receptiveness of treated females to courting males was also decreased by exposure to any of the three powders. Similarly, E. aromatica powder caused greater decreases in female receptiveness to males than any of the other two powders after each period of exposure. Exposure of either adult male or female C. maculatus to the powders for sub-lethal times of three, six and nine hours significantly reduced the fecundity of the beetles. E. aromatica powder caused the most reduction of eggs laid and also significantly reduced fertility of the eggs.

Increased serotonin concentration and tryptophan hydroxylase activity in reproductive organs of copulator males:a case of adaptive plasticity

Individual male rats may systematically display or not copulatory behavior when paired with receptive females. Although these phenotypes are associated with differences in brain organization and function, they might also do so at the level of the reproductive organs. We then used high performance liquid chromatography to quantify serotonin concentration and the activity of tryptophan hydroxylase in the reproductive organs of copulator and non-copulator males. Sexual behavior display was compared between groups and parameters of fertility and reproductive fitness were determined for copulator males. Copulator males had higher concentrations of serotonin in the epididymis, testicle and ventral prostate than their non-copulator counterparts, as it was found for epididymal and testicular tryptophan hydroxylase activity. However, preliminary data shows that serotonin elevation occurs in copulator males only until they have accumulated several sexual encounters, so it might be a response to genital gratification or sexual rewarding. Interestingly, only epididymal serotonin concentration correlated with reproductive fitness, offspring number, mating success and seminal plug volume in copulator males. Our results support that copulator and non-copulator male rats feature a phenotype-specific serotoninergic tone in the epididymis, testicle and ventral prostate gland. The observation documenting that epididymal serotonin concentration correlated with parameters that monitor male fertility and reproductive fitness in copulator males predicts that epididymal factors increase their chances of parenting offspring.

The influence of female age on male mating preference and reproductive success in cabbage beetle, Colaphellus bowringi

The influence of female age on male mating preference and reproductive success has been studied using a promiscuous cabbage beetle, Colaphellus bowringi Baly （Coleoptera： Chrysomelidae）. In a simultaneous choice test, middle-aged females had significantly greater mating success than young and old females. In single pair trials, when paired with middle-aged virgin males, middle-aged females mated faster, copulated longer, and had greater fecundity and fertility than young or old females, while the longevity of males was not significantly affected by female age. This study on C. bowringi suggests that middle-aged females are more receptive to mating, which can result in the highest male reproductive success.

The effects of habitat fragmentation on the reproduction and abundance of Angadenia berteroi

Aims The pine rocklands of southern Florida are a fire-dependent forest associated with outcrops of limestone.Pine rockland plants have sev-eral adaptations to fire,and for many species,burning increases plant growth,flowering and seedling establishment.The pine rockland forest has been reduced and fragmented in recent decades.Outside of Everglades National Park,only 2%of the original pine rocklands remain,and they are in the form of small fragments.Our objective is to investigate the effects of fragmentation and habitat quality on abun-dance and plant reproductive fitness of Angadenia berteroi(A.D.C.)Miers,a threatened species of the southern Florida pine rockland.Methods We estimated the density of plants using a stratified random sam-pling design,and reproductive fitness(in terms of percentage of plants with flowers and fruit)by walking transects in an array of habitat fragments of different sizes and degrees of isolation(distance to the nearest fragment)as well as in continuous habitat.Structural equation modeling(SEM)was employed to investigate how A.berteroi reproductive fitness was affected by fragmentation and habitat quality.Important Findings Habitat fragment size was correlated with the density of A.berteroi,but did not have a great impact on its reproductive success.However,habitat quality represented by litter depth and subcan-opy cover had strong negative effects on the reproductive fitness of A.berteroi,suggesting that increased light availability and low litter cover resulting from recent fires may favor reproduction.

Effects of nectar-robbing on plant reproduction and evolution

The relationship between plant and pollinator is considered as the mutualism because plant benefits from the pollinator’s transport of male gametes and pollinator benefits from plant’s reward.Nectar robbers are frequently described as cheaters in the plant-pollinator mutualism,because it is assumed that they obtain a reward(nectar)without providing a service(pollination).Nectar robbers are birds,insects,or other flower visitors that remove nectar from flowers through a hole pierced or bitten in the corolla.Nectar robbing repre-sents a complex relationship between animals and plants.Whether plants benefit from the relationship is always a con-troversial issue in earlier studies.This paper is a review of the recent literatures on nectar robbing and attempts to acquire an expanded understanding of the ecological and evolutionary roles that robbers play.Understanding the effects of nectar robbers on the plants that they visited and other flower visi-tors is especially important when one considers the high rates of robbing that a plant population may experience and the high percentage of all flower visitors that nectar robbers make to some species.There are two standpoints in explaining why animals forage on flowers and steal nectar in an illegitimate behavior.One is that animals can only get food in illegitimate way because of the mismatch of the morphologies of animals’mouthparts and floral structure.The other point of view argues that nectar robbing is a relatively more efficient,thus more energy-saving way for animals to get nectar from flowers.This is probably associated with the difficulty of changing attitudes that have been held for a long time.In the case of positive effect,the bodies of nectar robbers frequently touch the sex organs of plants during their visiting to the flowers and causing pollination.The neutral effect,nectar robbers’behavior may destruct the corollas of flowers,but they neither touch the sex organs nor destroy the ovules.Their behavior does not affect the fruit sets or seed sets of the hosting plant.Besides the direct impacts on plants,nectar robbers may also have an indirect effect on the behavior of the legitimate pollinators.Under some circumstances,the change in pollinator behavior could result in improved repro-ductive fitness of plants through increased pollen flow and out-crossing.