Various biological characteristics, including seasonal abundance, diurnal resting habits, feeding behavior, larval habitats, and oviposition, of Culex epidesmus were studied in Gorakhpur District, Uttar Pradesh, India, from 1990 to 1999. Prevalence of adults was recorded between June and October, with a peak in August. The bushy undergrowth of mango and teakwood plantations served as diurnal re...

Pacific lampreys (Entosphenus tridentatus) have resided in the Columbia River Basin for millennia and have great ecological and cultural importance. The role of habitat contamination in the recent decline of the species has rarely been studied and was the main objective of this effort. A wide range of contaminants (115 analytes) was measured in sediments and tissues at 27 sites across a large g...

Many freshwater shrimps (Decapoda, Caridea) have amphidromous life histories, with extended planktonic larval development in the sea. Larvae either are hatched upstream to drift down to the sea or are carried and released there by females. After development, postlarvae (juveniles) must migrate back up to their adult freshwater habitat. An amphidromous life cycle thus involves long distance migr...

Evolutionary biologists typically assume that the number of eggs fertilized or developing embryos produced is correlated with an individual's fitness. Using microsatellite markers, we document for the first time estimates of realized fitness quantified as the number of offspring surviving to adulthood in an insect under field conditions. In a territorial damselfly whose males defend tree hole o...

The effect of organic enrichment of the larval habitat on mosquito oviposition was determined in 2 replicated field experiments. In the first study, Culex stigmatosoma and Culex quinque-fasciatus oviposition (as measured by the number of early instar larvae) reached a maximum peak soon after flooding and then declined to a substantially lower equilibrium level. A group of ponds that later recei...

SYNOPSIS. Newly settled or hatched juveniles of marine benthic invertebrates generally experience very high mortality. Juvenile mortality can profoundly affect adult populations, but little is known about how individual variation in juvenile quality affects performance. Several recent studies have demonstrated that differences in size, larval nutrient stores, or larval feeding history can stron...

Chilades pandava (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) larval food quality was studied to determine its influence on adult life history traits. A wild population from Cycas nongnoochiae (Cycadales: Cycadaceae) endemic habitat behaved similarly to the population collected from a garden setting. Cycas micronesica, Cycas revoluta, and Cycas seemannii leaves were used as high-quality food, whereas C nongnoochi...

In the lakes of the Middle Rio Doce, Minas Gerais (MG), two groups of larval Libellulidae are distinguished by preferences of habitat use: one uses mainly aquatic macrophytes and the other uses the bottom substrate. The goal of this work was to verify if there is a morphological distinction between the two groups of species. Thirteen body measures were taken from the larvae and analyzed. No dif...

Oviposition site selection has been recognized as critical both for the survival and population dynamics of mosquitoes. Volatile substances released from larval habitats have been implicated as potential olfactory cues mediating oviposition. In our continuing studies of cues involved in oviposition site selection, we collected material from the larval habitats of Anopheles albimanus Wiedemann a...

—We sampled larval fish in 1999 and 2001 on a restored floodplain along the lower Cosumnes River, California, from the onset of flooding to when the sites dried or when larval fish became rare. We collected more than 13,000 fish, of which prickly sculpin Cottus asper made up the majority (73%). Eleven species made up 99% of the catch. Three native fishes (prickly sculpin, Sacramento sucker Cato...