The Niche Exploitation Pattern of the Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher

GENERAL REFERENCE LIST Barbour, M.T., J. Gerritsen, B.D. Snyder, and J.B. Stribling. 1999. Rapid Bioassessment Protocols for Use in Wadeable Streams and Rivers: Periphyton, Benthic Macroinvertebrates, and Fish . 2 nd ed. EPA 814-B-99-002. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Water.

Arthropods, the most diverse component of terrestrial ecosystems, occupy a tremendous variety of functional niches and microhabitats across a wide array of spatial and temporal scales. We propose that conservation biologists should take advantage of terrestrial arthropod diversity as a rich data source for conservation planning and management. For reserve selection and design, documentation of the microgeography of selected arthropod taxa can delineate distinct biogeographic zones, areas of endemism, community types, and centers of evolutionary radiation to improve the spatial resolution of conservation planning. For management of natural areas, monitoring of terrestrial arthropod indicators can provide early warnings of ecological changes, and can be used to assay the effects of further fragmentation on natural areas that no longer support vertebrate indicator species. Many arthropod indicators respond to environmental changes more rapidly than do vertebrate indicators, which may exhibit population responses that do not become evident until too late for proactive management. Not all arthropod taxa are equally effective as indicators for conservation planning, and the qualities of indicators can differ for purposes of inventory versus monitoring. Assemblages of arthropod taxa used as biogeographic probes in inventories should exhibit relatively high species diversity, high endemism, and encompass the geographic range of interest. For monitoring purposes, indicator assemblages should exhibit varying sensitivity to environmental perturbations and a diversity of life-history and ecological preferences.



Resumen: Los artropodos, el componente mas diverso de los ecosistemas terrestres, ocupa una tremenda variedad de nichos funcionales y microhabitats a lo largo de una amplio espectro de escalas espaciales y temporales. Nosotros proponemos que los biologos de conservacion deberian aprovechar la diversidad de los atropodos terrestres como una rica fuente para el planeamiento y manejo conservacionista. La documentacion de la microgeografia de ciertos taxones de artropodos puede delinear zonas biogeograficas precisas, areas de endemismo, tipos de comunidades, y centros de radiacion evolutiva para mejorar la resolucion espacial en el planeamiento conservacionista destinado a la seleccion y diseno de reservas. En cuanto al manejo de areas naturales, el monitoreo de artropodos terrestres puede proveer de avisos tempranos sobre cambios ecologicos y puede ser usado para investigar los efectos de la fragmentacion subsecuente de areas naturales que ya no mantienen especies de vertebrados indicadoras. Muchos artropodos indicadores responden a los cambios hambientales mas rapidamente que vertebrados indicadores, los cuales pueden exhibir respuestas poblacionales que solo se hacen evidentes cuando ya es muy tarde para el manejo proteccionista. No todos los taxones de artropodos son igualmente efectivos como indicadores para el planeamiento conservacionista, y las calidades de los indicadores pueden variar dependiendo si su uso es con fines de inventario o de monitoreo. Las asociaciones de artropodos usados como sondas en inventarios deberian exhibir diversidades especificas relativamente altas, alto endemismo y deberian abarcar el rango geografico de interes. Si son usados con propositos de monitoreo, las asociaciones de indicadores deberian exhibir diferentes sensibilidades a las perturbaciones ambientales, y diversidad en cuanto a historias de vida y preferencias ecologicas.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/2386811.pdf

Terrestrial Arthropod Assemblages: Their Use in Conservation Planning

The ability of a 650 base pair section of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) gene to provide species-level identifications has been demonstrated for large taxonomic assemblages of animals such as insects, birds, and fishes, but not for the subphylum Crustacea, one of the most diverse groups of arthropods. In this study, we test the ability of COI to provide identifications in this group, examining two disparate levels in the taxonomic hierarchy — orders and species. The first phase of our study involved the development of a sequence profile for 23 dominant crustacean orders, based upon the analysis of 150 species, each belonging to a different family. The COI amino acid data placed these taxa into cohesive assemblages whose membership coincided with currently accepted boundaries at the order, superorder, and subclass levels. Species-level resolution was subsequently exam- ined in an assemblage of Decapoda and in representatives of the genera Daphnia (Cladocera) and Gammarus (Amphipoda). These studies revealed that levels of nucleotide sequence divergence were from 19 to 48 times greater between congeneric species than between individuals of a species. We conclude that sequence variation in the COI barcode region will be very effective for discriminating species of Crustacea. Resume : Il a ete demontre que l'utilisation d'une section de 650 paires de bases du gene mitochondrial de la cyto- chrome c oxydase I (COI) permet de faire des identifications au niveau specifique de grands ensembles taxonomiques d'animaux tels que les insectes, les oiseaux et les poissons, mais pas encore dans le sous-phylum des crustaces, l'un des groupes les plus diversifies d'arthropodes. Nous testons dans notre etude le potentiel de l'utilisation de COI pour faire des identifications dans ce groupe en examinant deux niveaux disparates de la hierarchie taxonomique — les ordres et les especes. La premiere phase de notre recherche consiste en l'etablissement de profils de sequences pour 23 des ordres principaux de crustaces, d'apres l'analyse de 150 especes, appartenant chacune a une famille differente. Les donnees sur les acides amines de COI permettent de placer ces taxons en ensembles cohesifs dont la composition coincide avec les frontieres couramment acceptees aux niveaux de l'ordre, du super-ordre et de la sous-classe. Nous avons ensuite etudie la determination au niveau specifique chez un ensemble de decapodes et chez des representants des genres Daphnia (Cladocera) et Gammarus (Amphipoda). Ces etudes revelent que les niveaux de divergence des sequences de nucleotides sont de 19 a 48 fois plus importants entre les especes d'un meme genre qu'entre les indivi- dus d'une meme espece. Nous concluons que la variation des sequences dans la region du code-barre de COI devrait permettre de separer de facon tres efficace les especes de crustaces.

/pdf/biological-identifications-through-dna-barcodes-the-case-of-3xog40rbp1.pdf

Biological identifications through DNA barcodes: the case of the Crustacea

During flight, many insect wings undergo dramatic deformations that are controlled largely by the architecture of the wing. The pattern of supporting veins in wings varies widely among insect orders and families, but the functional significance of phylogenetic trends in wing venation remains unknown, and measurements of the mechanical properties of wings are rare. In this study, we address the relationship between venation pattern and wing flexibility by measuring the flexural stiffness of wings (in both the spanwise and chordwise directions) and quantifying wing venation in 16 insect species from six orders. These measurements show that spanwise flexural stiffness scales strongly with the cube of wing span, whereas chordwise flexural stiffness scales with the square of chord length. Wing size accounts for over 95% of the variability in measured flexural stiffness; the residuals of this relationship are small and uncorrelated with standardized independent contrasts of wing venation characters. In all species tested, spanwise flexural stiffness is 1-2 orders of magnitude larger than chordwise flexural stiffness. A finite element model of an insect wing demonstrates that leading edge veins are crucial in generating this spanwise-chordwise anisotropy.

/pdf/flexural-stiffness-in-insect-wings-i-scaling-and-the-3sq46x31cf.pdf

Flexural stiffness in insect wings. I. Scaling and the influence of wing venation.

An introduction to the study of insects , An introduction to the study of insects , مرکز فناوری اطلاعات و اطلاع رسانی کشاورزی

An introduction to the study of insects

Detailed descriptions of insect orders, families, and many individual species are illustrated with 1,200 drawings and 142 superb color paintings. Illustrations - which use the unique Peterson Identification System to distinguish one insect from another - include size lines to show the actual length of each insect. A helpful glossary explains the technical terms of insect anatomy.

A Field Guide to the Insects of America North of Mexico

Course Objectives: Course Objectives: This course is the first in a series of two courses integrating human anatomy and physiology. In this course we will take a systems approach to understanding basic human structure and their respective functions. Material covered in this course includes basic anatomical terminology, basic biochemical and metabolic pathways, cell and tissue structure and function, and examination of the integumentary, skeletal, muscular, digestive and urinary systems.

Donald Joyce Borror

Papers

An introduction to the study of insects

A Field Guide to the Insects of America North of Mexico

Dictionary of word roots and combining forms

Pengenalan Pelajaran Serangga

A Revision of the Libelluline Genus Erythrodiplax: Odonata