Patterns of annual and seasonal immune investment in a temporal reproductive opportunist

Historically, investigations of how organismal investments in immunity fluctuate in response to environmental and physiological changes have focused on seasonally breeding organisms that confine reproduction to seasons with relatively unchallenging environmental conditions and abundant resources. The red crossbill, Loxia curvirostra , is a songbird that can breed opportunistically if conifer seeds are abundant, on both short, cold, and long, warm days, providing an ideal system to investigate environmental and reproductive effects on immunity. In this study, we measured inter- and intra-annual variation in complement, natural antibodies, PIT54 and leucocytes in crossbills across four summers (2010–2013) and multiple seasons within 1 year (summer 2011–spring 2012). Overall, we observed substantial changes in crossbill immune investment among summers, with interannual variation driven largely by food resources, while variation across multiple seasons within a single cone year was less pronounced and lacked a dominant predictor of immune investment. However, we found weak evidence that physiological processes (e.g. reproductive condition, moult) or abiotic factors (e.g. temperature, precipitation) affect immune investment. Collectively, this study suggests that a reproductively flexible organism may be able to invest in both reproduction and survival-related processes, potentially by exploiting rich patches with abundant resources. More broadly, these results emphasize the need for more longitudinal studies of trade-offs associated with immune investment.

The results of pre-sowing conifer seeds treatment by growth stimulators

The article studies the influence of different fertilizing products on vigor and germinating ability of Scots pine and common spruce seeds. The research involved the following products: Humate+7, Potassium humate “Sufler”, Biohumus, Agrostimul VE, Emistim-R, Gibberellin, Etamon. The soaking of seeds in products leads to an increase in vigor, on average, between 31 and 37.0 % for Scots pine and between 5 and 13.0 % for common spruce. The germinating ability of Scots pine and common spruce seeds increases, on average, by 16.0 and 17.0 % correspondingly. Among all the products the least effective was “Etamon”. In its case, the germinating ability of seeds in laboratory conditions was 53.0 % which is 10.0 % lower than in control. The treatment by stimulators significantly influenced the development of a root system. The intensive root growth happens in the cases of “Gibberellin” and “Humate+7” – 4.4 and 5 cm corresponding to the variants of the experiment. The pre-sowing treatment positively increases the length of germs. In this case, the best results were achieved with “Gibberellin” and “Biohumus” products that gave the increase of 1.7 and 1.5 cm respectively.

Irradiating Set with UV Diodes and Microprocessor System of Automatic Dose Control

The article describes the development and testing of an irradiating set with UV diodes for presowing treatment of conifer seeds equipped with an original microprocessor system of automatic dose adjustment for maintenance of the required dose of UV irradiation.

Patterns of annual and seasonal immune investment in a temporal reproductive opportunist

Historically, investigations of how organisms’ investments in immunity fluctuate in response to environmental and physiological changes have focused on seasonally breeding organisms that confine reproduction to seasons with mild environmental conditions and abundant resources. Consequently, knowledge of how harsh environmental conditions and reproductive effort may interact to shape investment in immunity remains limited. The red crossbill, Loxia curvirostra, is a songbird that can breed on both short, cold and long, warm days if conifer seeds are abundant. This species provides an ideal system to investigate the influence of environmental fluctuations, reproductive investment, and their potential interactions on patterns of immune investment. In this study, we measured inter- and intra-annual immune variation in crossbills across four consecutive summers (2010-2013) and multiple seasons within one year (summer 2011-spring 2012) to explore how physiological and environmental factors impact this immune variation. Overall, the data suggest that immunity varies seasonally, among years, and in response to environmental fluctuations in food resources, precipitation, and temperature, but less in response to physiological measures such as reproduction. Collectively, this system demonstrates that a reproductively flexible organism may breed when conditions allow simultaneous investment in survival-related processes rather than at the expense of them.

Ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) as predators of conifer seeds

Many species of ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) are important predators of seeds. While the consumption of herb seeds has been intensively studied, little attention has been paid to the consumption of seeds of gymnosperm plants. Here, we determined the consumption of seeds of six coniferous species by four common carabid species and compared carabid preference for conifer and selected common angiosperm weed seed species. In no-choice experiments, the large carabid species Pseudoophonus rufipes preferentially consumed the seeds of Picea abies, Larix decidua and Pinus sylvestris. Pinus sylvestris was also preferred by another large carabid, Pterostichus melanarius. The smaller carabids Harpalus affinis and H. rubripes consumed conifer seeds reluctantly. The intensity of seed consumption by carabids decreased with increasing seed size. In choice experiments, both of the large carabid species preferred the small conifer seeds of P. sylvestris and L. decidua over herb seeds of similar size (Dipsacus fullonum, Galeopsis speciosa, Polygonum lapathifolium). Carabids may prefer conifer seeds because of their soft seed coats, regardless of their chemical protections. Postdispersal predation of seeds by carabids may be an important mortality factor in some conifer species.

The Nossa Senhora da Luz flora from the Early Cretaceous (early Aptian-late Albian) of Juncal in the western Portuguese Basin

A new fossil flora is described from the Early Cretaceous of the western Portuguese Basin, based on a combined palynological-mesofossil study. The fossil specimens were extracted from samples collected in the Nossa Senhora da Luz opencast clay pit complex near the village of Juncal in the Estremadura region. The plant-bearing sediments belong to the Famalicão Member of the Figueira da Foz Formation, considered late Aptianearly Albian in age. The palynological assemblage is diverse, including 588 spores and pollen grains assigned to 30 genera and 48 species. The palynoflora is dominated by fern spores and conifer pollen. Angiosperm pollen is also present, but subordinate. The mesofossil flora is less diverse, including 175 specimens ascribed to 17 species, and is dominated by angiosperm fruits and seeds. The mesofossil flora also contains conifer seeds and twigs as well as fossils with selaginellaceous affinity. The fossil assemblage indicates a warm and seasonally dry climate for the Nossa Senhora da Luz flora.

Histology of resin vesicles and oleoresin terpene composition of conifer seeds

The seed coats of several conifers contain terpene-filled resin vesicles, which may be involved in the protection of the dormant embryo and the seed storage tissue against herbivores or pathogens. We analyzed the terpenoid composition of seeds from four Abies species (Abies amabilis Douglas ex J. Forbes, Abies balsamea (L.) Mill., Abies grandis (Douglas ex D. Don) Lindl., and Abies lasiocarpa (Hook.) Nutt.), two Thuja species (Thuja plicata Donn ex D. Don and Thuja occidentalis L.), and three Tsuga species (Tsuga canadensis (L.) Carrière, Tsuga mertensiana (Bong.) Carrière, and Tsuga heterophylla (Raf.) Sarg.) and examined histological features of resin vesicles in seeds from one species from each genus. Resin vesicle morphology was generally similar among the species analyzed. The composition of the seed terpenes varied largely between species. The described seed terpene profiles of the nine species will serve as a foundation for future studies into the function of seed terpenes and resin vesicles in the seed coat.

How Conifer Diversity and Availability Influence the Abundance and Biology of the Red Crossbill

In order to understand the distributions and abundances of animals, many environmental factors must be considered, particularly the availability of food resources. Food resources are especially important to nomadic species that move in response to the spatial and temporal availability of these specific food resources that are critical to their survival. An example of such nomadic species is the red crossbill (Loxia curvirostra), which specializes on conifer seeds, a resource that significantly varies both temporally and geographically. Thus, crossbills will move large distances each year to find areas with abundant conifer seeds. While conifer seeds impact the distribution, abundance, and reproductive rate of crossbills, it is likely not the only factor driving these patterns. To truly understand what drives the distribution and abundance of crossbills across North America, further study is needed not only on how external environmental factors such as food abundance affect these patterns, but how tradeoffs among internal physiological processes such as reproduction and survival related processes such as immune function may affect when crossbills irruptively migrate or whether or not reproduction occurs. Historically, research to understand how organisms orchestrate their annual cycles with respect to these costly and conflicting physiological processes has focused narrowly on seasonal breeders that constrain reproduction to times of year when thermoregulatory demand is low (i.e., summer), which provide limited opportunities to reveal how physiological costs of different processes may interact with environmental conditions to influence the evolution of investment strategies. In this study, we are examining how the diversity, abundance, and size of cone crop of conifers influence both 1) the quantity and diversity of red crossbills, as well as 2) their seasonal modulation in investment patterns in reproduction and self-maintenance processes such as immune function in Grand Teton National Park, where crossbills can be found breeding in both summer and winter. Preliminary results from this study have indicated that both conifer diversity and cone crop size affect overall quantity and vocal type diversity of crossbills in Grand Teton National Park, as well as affecting their investment in reproduction and immunity. Overall, results from this study will provide information on how species in general and crossbills, specifically, respond to rapidly changing environments, which has become increasingly important in light of the effects of anthropogenic change.