Body wiping behavior, integumentary secretions and rates of evaporative water loss (EWL) were examined in six species of Florida tree frogs (Anura: Hylidae). Additionally, morphology of the integument and dermal glands were compared among these and one other Florida tree frog (Hyla andersonii), an arid-adapted tree frog (Phyllomedusa hypochondrialis), and a highly aquatic frog (Rana utricularia...

Clonal organisms with occasional sex are important for our general understanding of the costs and benefits that maintain sexual reproduction. Cyclically parthenogenetic aphids are highly variable in their frequency of sexual reproduction. However, studies have mostly focused on free-living aphids above ground, whereas dispersal constraints and dependence on ant-tending may differentially affect...

Turions are frost resistant, vegetative dormant organs produced by aquatic plants. Tissue N, P, K, Ca, and Mg content was estimated in turions of 5 rooting, non-carnivorous plant species of the genera Caldesia, Hydrocharis, and Potamogeton and in 7 rootless carnivorous plant species of the genera Aldrovanda and Utricularia, and compared with concentrations of these nutrients in ambient waters e...

The capability to sense and respond to external mechanical stimuli at various timescales is essential to many physiological aspects in plants, including self-protection, intake of nutrients and reproduction. Remarkably, some plants have evolved the ability to react to mechanical stimuli within a few seconds despite a lack of muscles and nerves. The fast movements of plants in response to mechan...