Recruitment constraints on Singapore's dwindling fluted giant clam, Tridacna squamosa, population were studied by modelling fertilisation, larval transport, and settlement using real-time hydrodynamic forcing combined with knowledge of spawning characteristics, larval development, behaviour, and settlement cues. Larval transport was simulated using a finite-volume advection-diffusion model coup...

Genetic analysis of the Drosophila larval neuromuscular junction has identified some of the key molecules that regulate synaptic plasticity. Among these molecules, the expression level of Fasciclin II (FasII), a homophilic cell adhesion molecule, is critically important for determining the final form of the neuromuscular junction. Genetic reduction of FasII expression by 50% yields more elabora...

Fishery species that reside in no-take, marine reserves often show striking increases in size and abundance relative to harvested areas, with the potential for larval spillover to harvested populations. The benefits of spillover, however, may not be realized if the populations or habitats outside of reserves are too degraded. We quantified oyster population density and demographics such as recr...

Theoretical arguments suggest that increased plant productivity may not only increase consumer densities but also their fluctuations. While increased consumer densities are commonly observed in fertilization experiments, experiments are seldom performed at a spatial and temporal scale where effects on population fluctuations may be observed. In this study we used a natural gradient in soil fert...

The relative contributions of ancestry, chance, and past and ongoing selection to variation in one adaptive (larval feeding rate) and one seemingly nonadaptive (pupation height) trait were determined in populations of Drosophila melanogaster adapting to either low or high larval densities in the laboratory. Larval feeding rates increased rapidly in response to high density, and the effects of a...

Larvae of Aedes albopictus Skuse typically inhabit natural and artificial containers. Since these larval habitats are replenished by rainfall, Ae. albopictus may experience increased loss of immature stages in areas with high levels of rainfall. In this study, we investigated the effects of rainfall and container water level on population density, and oviposition activity of Ae. albopictus. In ...

macrobrachium rosenbergii lifecycle is unique so that the adults thrive in freshwater and larval development requires brackish water environments near to estuaries as close as possible to larval body isosmotic for minimum na/k-atpase activity and maximum atp storage. osmoregulation system at early larval stages is not formed and larval osmoregulation is mainly attributed to na/k-atpase activity...

small cabbage white butterfly, pieris rapae (l.) (l.) (lep.: pieridae) and diamondback moth, plutella xylostella (l.) (lep. plutellidae) are two of the most important insect pests of the family brassicaceae. use of resistant varieties is suitable management strategy for control of these pests. in order to study the population fluctuations of p. rapae and p. xylostella, eight cultivars of caulif...

At 15 commercial highbush blueberry farms, fields where row middles were tilled had 72% lower larval density of Popillia japonica than fields with grass in row middles. Popillia japonica larval populations were similar in the perimeters of tilled and untilled fields. Soil parameters measured in these sites were not correlated with larval density of P. japonica. Samples of adult beetles on bushe...