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Abstract?Larval western toads (Bufo boreas) are known to exhibit antipredator behavior in response to both chemical alarm cues released from injured conspecifics and chemical cues of predatory invertebrates. In this study, we tested whether long-term exposure to predator and alarm cues resulted in an adaptive shift in life history characteristics of the toads. We raised groups of tadpoles in the presence of: (1) predatory backswimmers (Notonecta spp.) that were fed toad tadpoles, (2) nonpredatory water boatman (Corixidae), and (3) chemical alarm cues of injured conspecifics. Tadpoles raised in the presence of both chemical alarm cues and cues of predators fed tadpoles metamorphosed in significantly shorter time...
Ultraviolet-B (UV-B) radiation has been increasing in temperate latitudes in recent decades and is expected to continue rising for some time. Enhanced UV-B radiation can change plant chemistry, yet the effects of these changes on mammalian herbivores are unknown. To examine the influence of enhanced UV-B radiation on nutrition of a specialist and generalist hindgut fermenter, we measured nutritional and chemical constituents of three common North American range plants, big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata), yarrow (Achillea millefolium), and bluebunch wheatgrass (Pseudoregneria spicata), and how these changes influenced in vitro dry matter digestibility and in vivo digestibility by pygmy rabbits (Brachylagus idahoensis)...
Sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) comprises up to 99% of the winter and 50% of the summer diets of pygmy rabbits (Brachylagus idahoensis). Few animals specialize on such plants as sagebrush, which contain high levels of plant chemicals that can be toxic. We investigated the nutritional requirements of pygmy rabbits and their ability and propensity to consume sagebrush alone and as part of a mixed diet. We compared diet choices of pygmy rabbits with that of a generalist forager, the eastern cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus). Pygmy rabbits had a moderately low nitrogen requirement (306.5 mg N/kg0.75/d), but a relatively high energy requirement, needing 750.8 kJ digestible energy/kg0.75/d to maintain their body mass...
Acting simultaneously or sequentially, plants encounter multiple stresses from combined abiotic and biotic factors that result in decreased growth and internal reallocation of resources. The plant stress hypothesis predicts that environmental stresses on plants decrease plant resistance to insect herbivory by altering biochemical source?sink relationships and foliar chemistry, leading to more palatable food. Such changes in the nutritional landscape for insects may facilitate insect population outbreaks during periods of moderate stress on host plants. We examined the plant stress hypothesis with field experiments in continental grassland (USA) using the C4 grass Bouteloua gracilis. Water, nitrogen fertilizer, and...
Abstract--Young corn snakes, Elaphe guttata, were tested for responses to chemicals from heterospecific snakes. Corn snakes exhibited more tongueflicks to swabs freshly rubbed against the skin of an ophiophagous kingsnake, Lampropeltis getulus, than to blank swabs. Responses to L. getulus and a nonophiophagous western plains garter snake, Thamnophis radix haydeni, did not differ significantly. Corn snakes exhibited more tongue-flicks to swabs treated with chloroform extracts of the shed skins of L. getulus; an ophiophagous eastern coachwhip, Masticophisflagellum; anda nonophiophagous gray ratsnake, Elaphe obsoleta, than to blank swabs, but they did not discriminate between ophiophagous and nonophiophagous species...
We tested the hypothesis that the monoterpenoid levels in the ingesta from various digestive organs of sage grouse are less than that expected from the big sagebrush leaves ingested. Results supported the hypothesis. Dramatic reductions occurred between the gizzard and duodenum. Monoterpenoid levels in the ceca were nil; thus adverse effects of monoterpenoids on ceca microbes would also be nil. Published in Journal of Chemical Ecology, volume 15, issue 3, on pages 961 - 969, in 1989.
Ozone depletion has caused ultraviolet-B (UV-B) radiation to rise in temperate latitudes of both hemispheres. Enhanced UV-B radiation can affect plant nutritional chemistry, but the effects of these changes on mammalian herbivores are unknown. Therefore, we measured nutritional and chemical constituents of 18 forages and related changes to in vitro dry matter digestibility, and intake and in vivo digestibility of five of these plants by a ruminant herbivore (blue duiker, Cephalophus monticola) and a specialist (pygmy rabbit, Brachylagus idahoensis ) and generalist (eastern cottontail, Sylvilagus floridanus ) hindgut-fermenter. Forages were irradiated for three months with ambient (1X) or supplemental (1.6X) UV-B...