The gl8 locus of maize (Zea mays L.) was previously defined by a mutation that reduces the amount and alters the composition of seedling cuticular waxes. Sixty independently derived gl8 mutant alleles were isolated from stocks that carried the Mutator transposon system. A DNA fragment that contains a Mu8 transposon and that co-segregates with one of these alleles, gl8-Mu3142, was identified and...

Nocturnal fluxes may be a significant factor in the annual water budget of forested ecosystems. Here, we assessed sap flow in two co-occurring evergreen species (Eucalyptus parramattensis and Angophora bakeri) in a temperate woodland for 2 years in order to quantify the magnitude of seasonal nocturnal sap flow (E(n)) under different environmental conditions. The two species showed different diu...

An increasing trend in global streamflow has been variously attributed to global warming, land use, and a reduction in plant transpiration under higher CO2 levels. To separate these influences for the coterminous United States, we use a set of over 1000 United States Geological Survey stream gauges primarily from small, minimally disturbed watersheds to estimate annual streamflow per unit area ...

Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) plants subjected to water deficit, sodium chloride (NaCl), or abscisic acid treatments were shown to exhibit a significant increase in the amount of leaf cuticular lipids. These stress treatments led to increases in cuticular wax amount per unit area of 32% to 80%, due primarily to 29% to 98% increases in wax alkanes. Of these treatments, only water deficit in...

Fifty-one genotypes of sugarcane (Saccharum spp.) or closely related germplasm were evaluated in a pot experiment to examine genetic variation in transpiration efficiency. Significant variation in whole plant transpiration efficiency was observed, with the difference between lowest and highest genotypes being about 40% of the mean. Leaf gas exchange measurements were made across a wide range of...

Most mitotic mutants in Drosophila do not lead to lethality in early development despite the highly abnormal chromosome behaviour that they elicit. This has been explained as being the effect of maternally provided wild-type products. We have tested this hypothesis by studying cuticular clones derived from cells in which there has been loss of a marked Y chromosome due to chromosome nondisjunct...

In social insects, cuticular hydrocarbons are involved in species, kin, caste and nestmate recognition. Gas chromatography and mass spectrometry were used to compare the cuticular hydrocarbon composition of workers, males and queens of Melipona bicolor. The cuticular hydrocarbon composition of this species was found to consist mainly of C23, C25:1, C25, C27:1, C27, C29:1 and C29, which are alre...

insects, water can be gained through consumption, absorption of atmospheric water vapor and production of water during metabolism (Hadley, 1994). Simultaneously, water is lost through the processes of excretion, cuticular and respiratory transpiration and in bodily secretions. When living in desiccating environments, insects must be able to maintain water balance by restricting water loss (Edne...