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The aim of this study was to investigate the acute toxicity of pulp-paper industry wastewater using traditional and enrichment toxicity tests and to emphasize the importance of toxicity tests in wastewater discharge regulations. Enrichment toxicity tests are novel applications and give an idea of whether there is potential toxicity or growth-limiting and -stimulating conditions. Different organisms were used such as bacteria (floc and coliform bacteria), algae (Chlorella sp.), protozoa (Vorticella sp.), and fish (Lepistes sp.) to represent four trophic levels. Furthermore, chemical oxygen demand (COD) fractionation results were compared with these tests to assess the effect of COD subcategories on the determination of possible toxicity. The pulp-paper industry results revealed acute toxicity to at least two organisms in 6 of 20 effluent samples. The toxicity test results were assessed with chemical analyses such as COD, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), color, absorbable organic halogen (AOXs), and phenol. It was observed that the toxicity of the effluents could not be explained by using physicochemical analyses in four cases for the pulp-paper industry. The results clearly indicate that bioassay tests provide additional information on the toxicity potential of industrial discharges and effluents. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.

Within-group power asymmetries and the resulting reproductive skew, common in most social groups, may effectively be set at the very early stages of group formation, that is, when group membership is determined. Hence, groupmate choices can define an individual’s future reproductive success. We examined how groups of Polistes dominulus formed under natural, unconstrained conditions, using data on the nesting history, kinship and morphology of individually marked foundresses obtained during two consecutive seasons in southern Spain. Foundresses that hibernated in the same aggregation were more likely to start a nest together, but all of the foundresses at a nest were seldom from a single aggregation. Changes in group composition were frequent throughout the preworker period, mainly because some foundresses disappeared and other wasps joined established groups. Within-group relatedness, however, was not affected by the late arrival of wasps. Our results suggest that waiting to join an established group is a common nesting strategy in P. dominulu s. Only 16% of marked wasps used more than one nest. Foundresses that moved between groups tended to move to groups in which genetic relatedness among the resident foundresses was higher, but not necessarily relatedness to the moving wasp herself. Overall, nestmate choices were not associated with a single factor. High failure rates, particularly of single-foundress nests, however, suggest that ecological constraints (e.g. risk of predation, lack of resources) may have a stronger effect on individual nesting choices than previously considered.

Regulatory pathways in solitary species provide the raw materials for the evolution of sociality. Therefore, comparing the mechanisms that mediate reproductive plasticity in social species and their solitary ancestors can provide insight into the evolutionary origin of sociality. In many solitary insects, the effect of juvenile hormone (JH) on fertility is mediated through the fat body; individuals in good physical condition show a stronger fertility response to JH than individuals in poor physical condition. Here, we test whether a similar, condition-dependent JH response mediates fertility in workers of the primitively eusocial Polistes dominulus wasps. We test how body weight, JH, and adult nutrition influence worker ovarian development. Both JH-treatment and adult nutrition dramatically increased ovarian development. Body weight also influenced ovarian development, as large workers developed more eggs than smaller workers. Body weight and fat are strongly linked in P. dominulus workers, so these results suggest that the fat-dependent JH responsiveness common in solitary insects is conserved in social wasps. The simple, ancestral relationship between reproductive investment and physical condition may facilitate cooperation by allowing workers to adaptively allocate energy into reproduction based on their probability of successfully becoming a queen.

SUMMARY Foundresses and workers of Polistes paper wasps show slight morphological and physiological differences. However, after the emergence of the workers, the castes can be readily discriminated by their behaviour: the dominant foundress is the principal egg-layer, whereas workers perform different tasks linked to colony development. Previous studies have demonstrated in this genus that defence of the colony by the workers is more effectively carried out by a collective response elicited by venom volatiles used as alarm pheromones. In the present study, gas chromatography–mass spectrometry analyses of the venom volatiles of foundresses and workers of Polistes dominulus (Christ) show predominantly quantitative differences. Spiroacetals, mainly(E,E)-2,8-dimethyl-1,7-dioxaspiro[5.5]undecane, are significantly higher in the venom volatiles fraction of workers, whereas the amount of N-(3-methylbutyl)acetamide is almost double in foundresses. On the basis of the chemical results, behavioural assays were performed on fifteen field colonies to test the alarm response of the resident wasps to venom extracts from foundresses and workers. Our behavioural results suggest that worker venom has a stronger alarm effect on the colonies than that of the foundresses, which seems unable to elicit the complete alarm response ending with a final attack and sting. The venom volatiles of P. dominulusworkers serve mainly to alarm the colony whilst those of foundresses may also be linked to additional functions related to conspecific interactions.

Habitat spatial structure has a profound influence on bacterial life, yet there currently are no low-cost equipment-free laboratory techniques to reproduce the intricate structure of natural bacterial habitats. Here, we demonstrate the use of paper scaffolds to create landscapes spatially structured at the scales relevant to bacterial ecology. In paper scaffolds, planktonic bacteria migrate through liquid filled pores, while the paper’s cellulose fibers serve as anchor points for sessile colonies (biofilms). Using this novel approach we explore bacterial colonization dynamics in different landscape topographies, and characterize the community composition of Escherichia coli strains undergoing centimeter-scale range expansions in habitats structured at the micrometer scale. The bacteria-in-paper platform enables quantitative assessment of bacterial community dynamics in complex environments using everyday materials.

To establish a dominance order, social animals often rely on indicators of fighting to avoid costly aggressive encounters. In some species, individuals use colour patterns to signal their social status. Recent studies claimed that facial markings in the eusocial paper waspPolistes dominulusare status badges that allow co-foundresses to form a linear hierarchy based on individual quality. Here, we evaluated facial patterns in natural populations ofP. dominulus, in its native range, to observe whether the marks reflect overall wasp quality in different contexts. We used the same measures of clypeus patterns used by earlier studies, but did not find that they functioned as status badges. Our analyses showed no evidence that visual markers are related to: (i) size, (ii) probability of surviving winter, (iii) social rank in spring associations, or (iv) health status (assessed by the presence of strepsipteran endoparasites). Size, however, is important. Larger wasps are more likely to survive the winter and to acquire the dominant position in spring associations. Larvae infected with endoparasites become smaller adult wasps. These findings suggest that body size is a reliable quality indicator on which wasps build their social networks, and that clypeus patterning is not involved.

Several studies have shown that differences in the relative abundance of cuticular hydrocarbons occur between reproductives and non-reproductives in many social insects. These differences also exist between Polistes dominulus foundresses and their first emerged daughters (usually indicated as workers), but they gradually disappear when workers from orphaned colonies develop their ovaries and assume a reproductive role in the colony. However, hydrocarbons are not the exclusive components of cuticular layer of wasps. Mass-spectrometry analysis of cuticular methanol extracts from Polistes paper wasps showed a complex pattern of polar substances, partly or totally proteinaceous in nature. We found that these compounds, ranging from 918 to 2679 Da, showed a clear caste differentiation between foundresses and their first emerged daughters (usually indicated as "workers"), both in queen-right and in orphaned colonies. Conversely to hydrocarbons, workers from orphaned colonies maintain a significant difference from foundresses in the pattern of the medium molecular weight (MW) polar compounds obtained by MALDI-TOF. On the basis of such results we hypothesize that a reliable cue to identify foundresses from daughters, and not only their reproductive status, may exist in Polistes wasps. Although the great majority of previous work on social insect communication has focused on cuticular hydrocarbons, our findings suggest that the medium MW component of cuticular substances may be involved in recognition.

Data from the sublethal toxicity testing of effluents may or may not be predictive of field effects. Although qualitative studies have attempted to support a predictive relationship at select sites, few quantitative studies have been undertaken to establish whether general predictive relationships exist for diverse recipient environments. Since Canada's Environmental Effects Monitoring (EEM) Program encompasses a strong field component as well as a suite of sublethal toxicity tests, the Cycle 2 data set of the Pulp and Paper EEM Program presented an opportunity to elucidate whether relationships exist between various sublethal toxicity endpoints used in EEM and field effects that were determined in surveys of benthic invertebrate communities and fish populations. Sublethal toxicity data and key endpoints from the fish (gonad weight, liver weight and condition) and invertebrate surveys (taxon richness and abundance) were quantitatively analyzed using simple bivariate correlation analysis. Our preliminary analysis of the data did not reveal any meaningful general relationships between the field biomonitoring and sublethal toxicity data collected under the Pulp and Paper EEM Program. Although the sublethal toxicity tests are useful to assess changes in effluent quality, their ability to predict the field effects for the key endpoints that are currently measured for fish and benthos in the Pulp and Paper EEM Program remains unsubstantiated.

A significant portion of by-products generated at pulp and paper mills are biodegradable organics. Presently, over 70% of these by-products are disposed in landfills. Composting can be an effective process to stabilize and reuse them in value-added applications. Laboratory research has shown that adding nitrogen amendments to a mixture of paper mill by-products to achieve a C:N ratio of approximately 130 is sufficient to compost these organics. This paper describes evaluating the laboratory-developed mixes and amendments in a full-scale pilot. Two trials, one in fall and one in winter, were conducted to quantify seasonal variations. Each trial consisted of four windrows of approximately 85 tons each; two were amended with chicken litter and two with ammonium nitrate. Temperature, moisture, C:N ratio, volatile solids, pH, soluble salt contents, stability and maturity were monitored over the 76-120 days of composting. Data collected were analyzed using a general linear model repeated measures design. Result...

Dominance hierarchy in the primitively eusocial wasp Polistes japonicus was analysed in four colonies for two periods: (1) the first-brood period, when only early emerging workers are present on the nest, and (2) the mixed-brood period, when the first and second (last) broods are present on the nest. The rank in the dominance hierarchy was determined based on a sociogram showing a dominance–subordinance relationship for all pairs of workers. During the first-brood period, older workers were likely to be more dominant (older dominance hierarchy), while the rank of workers was reversed during the mixed-brood period, with younger workers being likely to be more dominant (younger dominance hierarchy). However, the oldest and youngest workers were not always the top-ranked workers in the dominance hierarchy during the first- and mixed-brood periods, respectively, and during the mixed-brood period no younger dominance hierarchy was evident when the first or second brood was analysed separately. Higher ranked workers displayed dominance behaviour more frequently, and the lowest ranked worker hardly displayed dominance behaviour. Most workers displayed dominance behaviours primarily towards the worker ranked immediately below in the dominance hierarchy during the mixed-brood period but not during the first-brood period. The bodies of younger workers were larger for the mixed brood, but not for the first brood in some colonies or the second brood in all colonies. The association between body size and rank in the dominance hierarchy was negative during the first-brood period and positive during the mixed-brood period, with a nearly significant trend also seen even when the analysis was limited to the second brood. To explain the above temporal change from an older dominance hierarchy to a younger dominance hierarchy, we propose the hypothesis that the probability of a worker inheriting the colony increases rapidly with colony development, and consequently younger larger workers attempt to move up the dominance hierarchy in order to produce their own offspring by becoming the superseder late in colony development, rather than working harmoniously so as to boost the overall production of reproductive progeny for a colony, which is the strategy adopted early in colony development.

Female mosquitofish exposed to pulp and paper mill effluent (PME) in the Fenholloway River, Florida, USA have masculinized secondary sex characteristics and altered aromatase enzyme activity. We and others have shown that the Fenholloway River PME contains androgenic and progestogenic substance(s). The present study was designed to test the hypothesis that the development and reproductive health of PME-exposed Fenholloway River mosquitofish are altered compared to mosquitofish living in Econfina River, which is the reference site. Fish were collected on a single day from both sites in June and August 1999 and January and June 2000. We compared standard length, anal fin length and segment number; body, liver, and gonad mass; and number of eggs and embryos from Fenholloway and Econfina River mosquitofish. The data were analyzed collectively for generalized site effect, for site effects during reproductive and nonreproductive seasons, and for repeatability of site effects between years. Mosquitofish exposed to PME in the Fenholloway River were generally smaller in length and mass, anal fin segment number was greater, and the number of embryos, but not oocytes, was significantly decreased compared to the reference site fish. Anal fin length and segment number and liver and testis masses were generally greater in Fenholloway compared to the Econfina River males. The importance of this study is that we have documented masculinized development and decreased embryo production in PME-exposed mosquitofish and that these site effects are generally consistent across seasons and between years.

The expression of alternative traits that benefit eusocial individuals but are not directly involved in reproductive differences among those individuals, which I call ‘eusocially selected traits’, may vary in response to environmental changes if this increases an individual’s inclusive fitness. In this study, I describe traits that separate individuals within the reproductive division of labor of Mischocyttarus mexicanus, a eusocial paper wasp, and determine whether observed eusocially selected traits vary across seasons. I examined M. mexicanus because females initiate new nests throughout most of the year where they experience different conditions depending on the season. Findings from this study suggest two main conclusions: (1) phenotypic differences among M. mexicanus females are mixed, showing specialized, generalized, and contextdependent eusocially selected traits and (2) a female’s position within the reproductive division of labor may be influenced by its state. The presence of context-dependent traits, e.g. large females initiated solitary nests in the spring and grouped nests during the summer, suggests that the payoff for pursuing different positions within the reproductive division of labor changes across seasons. The expression of context-dependent eusocially selected traits also suggests that, roles, instead of castes, may better reflect the reproductive division of labor among individuals of eusocial species like M. mexicanus.

Identifying the sex of larvae is important in social Hymenoptera. Until now for Polistes wasps it has been necessary to genotype larvae at microsatellite loci, and assign their sex based on homozygosity at these loci. In our study on the paper wasp Polistes dominulus we have found morphological differences between larval sexes that can be used for larvae from the 3rd instar on to easily and cheaply identify larval sex: the external gonopore and the shape and size of larval gonads. The robustness of these indicators was supported by genotype data at four microsatellite loci. Using gonopore and gonad features for sex assignment will assign diploid males as males, unlike techniques based on genetic loci or chromosomes.

Female Polistes paper wasps are capable of independent nesting, yet many populations demonstrate a mixture of solitary and cooperative nest foundation. Previous studies of Polistes have found survival and/or productivity advantages of cooperative nest foundation compared to solitary nesting, and reproductive skew models have been designed to predict the dynamics of such flexible cooperation. In this paper, we examine the success of different nesting strategies in a previously unstudied population of Polistes aurifer in southern California. The colony cycle of this population is less synchronous than that of other temperate species, and the frequency of solitary nesting averages 86.2%. Our data suggest that this low rate of cooperative nest founding is adaptive, as demonstrated by the lack of survival or productivity advantages for cooperative foundress associations. Due to foundress turnover and nest foundation later in the season, many nests produce only one set of offspring. This results in a loss of the eusocial nature of some nests in the population. Data from a small sample of multifoundress nests show significant positive reproductive skew, despite concession model predictions that skew should be low in populations with low ecological constraints on independent nesting. This lack of support for the concessions skew model reflects a diminished incentive for cooperation.

SUMMARY This study summarizes recent trends in China's paper and paperboard sector and projects supply and demand for each of the major grades through 2010. Baseline projections suggest that China's aggregate demand will grow from 48.0 million tonnes in 2003 to 68.5 million tonnes per year in 2010. With domestic production projected to reach 62.4 million tonnes per year, China is expected to dominate global capacity expansion for most major grades. China's annual demand for fibre furnish across all grades is projected to rise from 40.2 million tonnes in 2003 to reach 59.6 million tonnes by 2010. Of this, approximately 58 % will come from recovered paper, 25 % from wood-based pulp, and 17 % from nonwood pulp. This rapid growth has far-reaching implications for forest sustainability and rural livelihoods both within China and throughout the Asia-Pacific region. It will place new strains on China's domestic wood supply and may exacerbate forest conversion and illegal logging in key supplier countries, in add...

Several environmental contaminants have been found in paper mill effluent including substances with androgenic properties. The presence of androgenic substances in paper mill effluent was also indicated in the present study which demonstrated masculinized anal fins of female mosquitofish from the paper mill effluent contaminated Fenholloway River. In addition, when compared to the nearby Econfina River, which does not receive paper mill effluent, fewer females from the contaminated river were pregnant, they were smaller and their estradiol concentration exhibited greater variation. Males from the Fenholloway River and the Econfina River had similar sperm counts, but the testes were larger and greater variation in testosterone concentration was observed in male fish from the Fenholloway River. In males and females from the Fenholloway River, liver weights were increased and computer-aided behavior analysis demonstrated a reduction in their social behavior when compared to reference fish. We conclude that a number of sexual characteristics were affected in mosquitofish living in the paper mill contaminated Fenholloway River, with possible adverse effects on the reproduction of this population.

This paper compares the long-term data of EOX (Extractable Organic Halogens) determinations in sediments, trichloroguaiacol, i.e. 3,4,5-trichloroguaiacol and 4,5,6-trichloroguaiacol, determinations in the bile of perch (Perca fluviatilis L.) and changes in bottom fauna communities (Pontoporeia affinis L., Mesidotea entomon L., Valvata spp. L.) during 1994–2003. The study area is located at Kemi, on the Gulf of Bothnia, Northern Finland, and is affected by effluent discharged from the pulp and paper mills of Stora Enso Oyj and Oy Metsa-Botnia Ab. The Kemi municipal sewage plant, and River Kemijoki also impose a load in the same area. The main purpose of the study was to assess whether the state of the exposed water ecosystem has improved on the basis of the concentrations of organochlorine compounds in sediment and in perch, due to the modernisation of the wastewater treatment at the mills. In addition, we also investigated whether the changes in the bottom fauna community indicate an improvement in the purification of the effluents. The results indicate that the concentrations of trichloroguaiacols (

The tropical stingless bees are known to use diverse nest sites, and some species will nest within the nest of other insects including ants and termites. However, it has not been reported before that a stingless bee, Trigona cilipes (Fabricius) (Hymenoptera: Apidae), is able to establish its nest within the nest of the social paper wasp Epipona tatua (Cuvier) (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) as reported here. The bell-shaped nest with both wasps and bees was found in secondary forest in Peru, and held under observation for several weeks until collection. Description of nest architecture and some behavioral observations are presented. Trigona cilipes is usually found nesting with Azteca ants, and the behavioral flexibility that enables them to also colonize wasp nests results in several advantages that may favor wasp associations as discussed in the text.

The geomagnetic field can be used by insects for navigation and orientation, through different magnetoreception mechanisms. Magnetic sensitivity is very well documented in honeybees, ants and termites, but few studies have examined this capability in social wasps. The present study analyzed the magnetic sensitivity of the paper wasp Polybia paulista . The wasps' behavior was analyzed in the normal geomagnetic field and in the presence of external magnetic fields generated by permanent magnets or by Helmholtz coils. The frequency of foraging flights was measured in both conditions, and also the behavior of the individuals on the nest surface was analyzed. The magnetic field from the permanent magnet produced an increase in the frequency of departing foraging flights, and also the wasps grouped together on the nest surface in front of the magnet. The electromagnetic field created by the Helmholtz coils also increased foraging flights, but individuals did not show grouping behavior. This Helmholtz electromagnetic field induced wasp workers to perform “learning flights”. These results show for the first time that Polybia paulista wasps are sensitive to magnetic fields, including it in the list of animal models to study magnetoreception and magnetic sensitivity.

The first part of this investigation studied complex nature of chemical oxygen demand (COD ) parameter on local and overall effluents, which were obtained from two pulp and paper mills, located in the Northwest region of Russia. Contribution of individual compounds and fractions of matters having different chemical nature to COD for these effluents was established. The second part of this study shows that, qualitative and quantitative characteristics of priority pollutants and their contribution to COD for different pulp and paper mills are not the same, though these mills use similar technologies and produce similar products.

Temperature characteristics in paper models of Polistes wasp nests with various numbers (N = 7, 19, 37, or 61 cells) and lengths (L = 10–50 mm) of cells were measured in the field. Temperature distribution in a N61L50 model showed that the central cell provided the best thermal conditions in terms of gained temperature and its fluctuation. The mean temperature excess (difference between cell and ambient temperatures) observed in the diel trial 1 (L50 models with different cell numbers) was 1.5°C in N7 model and 2.3°C in N61, whereas in trial 2 (N37 models with different cell lengths) it was 0.6°C in the L10 model (with 10-mm-long cells) and 2.4°C in L50. In these trials, models with larger numbers of cells or longer cells attained a higher temperature. It seemed that length was more effective in gaining higher maximum temperature than the number of cells. By their heat insulation effect, peripheral cell rings ameliorated the temperature fluctuation in cells at the central part of the comb. Models with more and longer cells maintained temperature slightly higher than the ambient level even during the nighttime.

The influence of temperature variation on the humoral immune response using the plaque-forming cell (PFC) assay in freshwater fish Channa punctatus (Bloch) was investigated. The fish was exposed to 1% concentration (v/v in water) of paper and pulp mill effluent under standard laboratory conditions in glass aquaria. Effect of effluent exposure on the organ weight and organ cellularity was also evaluated. In general, lower temperature in winter produced a subdued response in control as well as experimental group. At higher temperature of summer and rainy seasons, an elevated response was observed. It was revealed that though suppressive effect of effluent was evident during all the seasons, in summer, extent of suppression was greater as compared to winter. Paper and pulp mill effluent exposure resulted in a decrease in the splenic and pronephric (head kidney) cellularity, with more pronounced effect in the summer season. We also studied the effects of the length of exposure on various parameters. Fish were exposed for 15, 30, 60, and 90 days to effluent. Short-term exposure for 15 days induced an elevated PFC response, but change was not statistically significant. Conversely, the exposure for 30, 60, and 90 days significantly reduced (p < 0.05-0.001) the PFC response. Long-term exposure also caused significant reduction (p < 0.05-0.01) in the weights of lymphoid organs (spleen, head kidney, and total kidney). These results show a suppressive effect of chemical constituents of paper and pulp mill effluent on the immune functions. Furthermore, results demonstrated that though modulatory effect of the temperature on immune functions is recognized, it was not a major contributory factor to the elevated immunotoxicity of paper and pulp mill effluent in the seasons of high temperature.

In the present critical review, my aim is to address serious calculation mistakes made by the authors. I do not want to review their interpretation of a given observation on 18 June 1840 made by Antonio Colla, who was a professor of Astronomy and Meteorology at the University of Parma. There is no sense interpreting Colla’s observation since the basic astronomical calculations have been made incorrectly by the authors Chiara Bertolin and Fernando Domínguez-Castro. Summarizing, in theory and practice, astronomer Antonio Colla could not have observed noctilucent clouds (NLC) at Parma on 18 June 1840. That is why the conclusions of the present paper are not valid.

In primitively eusocial insects, caste expression is flexible. Even though Polistes species are well known to show social trait variation (e.g., worker vs. gyne) depending on ecological context, loss of worker caste in some populations of a eusocial, worker-containing species has never been documented. We report first data on geographic variation in caste expression in Polistes biglumis. We compared physiological and behavioural traits of the first female offspring from four populations that experience different climatic conditions and social parasite prevalence. We demonstrated that the first female offspring to emerge in cold areas with high parasite prevalence had more abundant, gyne-like fat bodies and exhibited lower foraging effort, in comparison to the first female offspring produced in warm areas with low parasite prevalence. Thus, the populations under severe environmental conditions produced a totipotent female offspring and suppressed worker production, whereas the population living in less extreme environmental conditions produced worker-like females as first female offspring and gyne-like females as offspring that emerged later. The existence of mixed social strategies among populations of primitively eusocial species could have important consequences for the study of social evolution, shedding light on the sequence of steps by which populations evolve between the extremes of solitary state and eusocial state.

Only two out of 959 pre-emergence colonies of the paper wasp Polistes snelleni de Saussure surveyed between 1989 and 1996 in Sapporo, northern Japan, were found to be two-foundress colonies, and the others were single-foundress colonies. The two foundresses in one of the two colonies showed neither aggressive dominance behavior nor clear division of labor between them during a total of approximately 30 h in the first half of the pre-emergence stage. Although both of the foundresses foraged for pulp and laid eggs, only one foundress foraged for prey and delivered it to the other.

Social wasps from temperate zones have clear annual colony cycles, and the young queens hibernate during winter. In the subtropics, the only previously reported evidence for the existence of "hibernation" is the facultative winter aggregations of females during harsh climate conditions. As in temperate-zone species analyzed so far, we show in this study that in the paper wasp, Polistes versicolor, a subtropical species, body size increases as an unfavorable season approaches. Our morphological studies indicate that larger females come from winter aggregations--that is, they are new queens. Multivariate analyses indicate that size is the only variable analyzed that shows a relationship to the differences. Given the absence of a harsh climate, we suggest that the occurrence of winter aggregations in tropical P. versicolor functions to allow some females to wait for better environmental conditions to start a new nest, rather than all being obliged to start a new nest as soon as they emerge.

Eusocial polistine wasps comprise species in which new colonies are founded by single wasps or groups of foundresses (independent founding species) or by swarms of queens and workers (swarm founding species). The first ones have relatively small societies generally comprising only one egg-laying queen, while the second ones have larger colonies where several egg-laying queens are usually present. These differences in social organisation are expected to influence the acceptance threshold of conspecifics in the colony and the intra-colony communication modalities. In this paper, we showed by field experiments that Ropalidia opifex (a swarm founding species) presents a good discrimination between alien and nestmate conspecifics. Moreover by GC/MS, we identified 19 cuticular hydrocarbons in this species, and we demonstrated that cuticular signature in this species depends mainly on colony membership, not showing any correlation with fertility.

Female Polistes paper wasps can initiate colonies either solitarily or in cooperative groups. Reproduction is often distributed unequally in groups, even to the point of complete monopolization of breeding by the dominant group member. Transactional models of reproductive skew predict the degree of reproductive partitioning, assuming that the dominant controls group membership and will yield a proportion of reproduction to a subordinate as an incentive to stay peacefully in the group. Using a combination of demographic, genetic and morphological data from a population of P. dominulus, we test predictions of ‘classical’ two-person skew models as well as more complex ‘N-person’ models. This is the most comprehensive study of skew in this species to date, and the results generally do not support transactional models. We found no relationship between skew and relatedness for dyads, and complete skew was observed in unrelated groups despite the prediction for this population that such groups should not occur. In contrast to N-person model predictions, group size tended to increase with relatedness. Although we did find the predicted positive correlation between group size and skew for groups of nonrelatives, this relationship was weak. The zone of conflict between the predicted minimum and maximum staying incentives often spans the entire possible range of reproductive skew, suggesting that a ‘tug-of-war’ scenario may be more appropriate than a transactional framework for understanding within-colony dynamics. Overall, our results demonstrate that transactional skew models have little predictive power and are therefore unlikely to yield further insight into Polistes wasp societies.

The idea that insects play has often aroused skepticism. Nevertheless, the authors investigated the occurrence of a playlike behavior in young individuals of a paper wasp. Polistes dominulus foundresses hibernate in aggregations and found associative nests in the spring. In aggregations, wasps exhibit most of the rank-dependent behaviors that they will use in the nest 6 months later. In aggregations, precocious dominance interactions are performed with exaggerated frequencies, whereas aggression and trophallaxis are rare. Dominance behavior in aggregations is apparently useless, but it probably allows wasps to assess their dominance potential without any apparent reproductive competition. Surprisingly, these interactions may be best interpreted as play because dominance behavior in aggregations shares several features with mammalian play fighting.

The phylogeny of the paper wasp genus Polistes is investigated using morphological and behavioural characters, as well as molecular data from six genes (COI, 12S, 16S, 28S, H3, and EF1-α). The results are used to investigate the following evolutionary hypotheses about the genus: (i) that Polistes first evolved in Southeast Asia, (ii) that dispersal to the New World occurred only once, and (iii) that long-term monogyny evolved as an adaptation to overwintering in a temperate climate. Optimization of distribution records on the recovered tree does not allow unambiguous reconstruction of the ancestral area of Polistes. While the results indicate that Polistes dispersed into the New World from Asia, South America is recovered as the ancestral area for all New World Polistes: Nearctic species groups evolved multiple times from this South American stock. The final tree topology suggests strongly that the genus first arose in a tropical environment, refuting the idea of monogyny as an overwintering adaptation.

Parapolybia indica is a primitively eusocial paper wasp. It is widely distributed in southern parts of Asia from India through south Asia to northern, cool temperate Japan. This study investigated which females become replacement queens after the loss of the original queens. When the original queens were removed artificially or disappeared naturally, younger females (8.7 days old on average, n = 10) became replacement queens. They had not only younger sisters but also elder sisters. This type of queen replacement coincides with a so-called tropical pattern so far known in tropical-zone paper wasps but not in those from temperate-zones.

Summary Land restoration at a former landfill site, Bidston Moss, NW England, has involved heavy applications of paper mill sludge (PMS), a byproduct of paper recycling. The development of earthworm communities at the site has been assisted by earthworm inoculation. Initially low numbers of epigeic species were present, but as the restoration has progressed since 1996 a substantial number, biomass and diversity of earthworms has become established, including a variety of ecological types. In some areas there is substantial surface casting. Cast colour indicates selective consumption of PMS, and δ13C ratios suggest that PMS is a major nutrient source for earthworms. Although concentrations of copper in the PMS are higher than those typical for soils, concentrations in earthworm tissue are relatively low. Low availability of copper will reflect the high content of organic matter and clay, and relatively high pH, of the PMS.

The paper presents data regarding the Anthidiini species distribution in the Romanian fauna. The list includes 28 species, belonging to the following genera: Trachusa (one species), Archianthidium (one species), Paraanthidium (one species), Rhodanthidium (one species), Paraanthidiellum (three species), Icteranthidium (one species), Anthidium (seven species), Proanthidium (one species), Anthidiellum (one species), Stelis (nine species), Dioxys (one species), Dioxoides (one species); seven of them are rare in Romania, having only two or three reports, and Paraanthidiellum melanurum, Anthidium mocsaryi and Dioxoides tridentata need future confirmation. Distribution maps were made for each species, according to the studied material and data from literature.

The paper presents data on 33 palaearctic species of the Donaciinae (Donaciini, Haemoniini and Plateumarini tribes) and Criocerinae preserved in the new Chrysomelidae collection of “Grigore Antipa” National Museum of Natural History (Bucharest). Among the valuable species preserved in this collection, Macroplea appendiculata (Panzer) and M. mutica (Fabricius) - two very rare European Donaciinae beetles, should be mentioned.

The present paper is a relevant synthesis of collecting original data on the occurrence, quantitative representation and autecological data of three species of the genus Brachinus: B. crepitans Linnaeus, 1758, B. psophia Audinet-Serville, 1828 and B. explodens Duftschmid, 1812 from seven agricultural crops during 19 growing seasons 1977-2010 (wheat, sugar beet, apple orchards, sunflower, maize, potatoes, vineyards). The beetles were pitfall-trapped using predominantly 12 Barber pitfalls in each site, protected against precipitation. 945 specimens of Brachinus crepitans, 431 specimens of B. psophia and 175 specimens of B. explodens were collected.

Trampling of vegetation and soils by recreational activities is a recurrent concern in many lands where trail use is common. The degree of impact can vary with the myriad types of trail users. The Weaver and Dale article, “Trampling effects of hikers, motorcycles and horses in meadows and forests”, was the first to provide some insights about how different trampling agents might produce varied impacts. Weaver and Dale showed that horses and motorcycles produced greater impacts to soils and vegetation than hikers. This article appeared early in a relatively young field of study. The direct results of their research are still valuable today, but the greater impact of their paper was that it ushered in a phase of experimental trampling research that is ongoing. Because of their research and continual influence, land managers can now make better decisions about what type of recreation activity to discourage or encourage.

The majority of pulp and paper mills now biotreat their combined effluents using activated sludge. On the assumption that their wood-based effluents have negligible fixed N, and that activated-sludge microorganisms will not fix significant N, these mills routinely spend large amounts adding ammonia or urea to their aeration tanks (bioreactors) to permit normal biomass growth. N 2 fixation in seven Eastern Canadian pulp and paper mill effluent treatment systems was analyzed using acetylene reduction assays, quantitative nitrogenase ( nifH ) gene probing, and bacterial isolations. In situ N 2 fixation was undetectable in all seven bioreactors but was present in six associated primary clarifiers. One primary clarifier was studied in greater detail. Approximately 50% of all culturable cells in the clarifier contained nifH , of which >90% were Klebsiella strains. All primary-clarifier coliform bacteria growing on MacConkey agar were identified as klebsiellas, and all those probed contained nifH . In contrast, analysis of 48 random coliform isolates from other mill water system locations showed that only 24 (50%) possessed the nifH gene, and only 13 (27%) showed inducible N 2 -fixing activity. Thus, all the pulp and paper mill primary clarifiers tested appeared to be sites of active N 2 fixation (0.87 to 4.90 mg of N liter −1 day −1 ) and a microbial community strongly biased toward this activity. This may also explain why coliform bacteria, especially klebsiellas, are indigenous in pulp and paper mill water systems.

The biological effects of the waste waters released by Baikalsk Pulp and Paper Mill were studied in fish collected from Lake Baikal. Fish were also exposed in laboratory conditions to known inducers of hepatic monooxygenase activities. We did not find any differences in monooxygenase activities of grayling and sculpins caught near the pulp and paper mill compared to control fish caught in the middle part of Lake Baikal. The results showed that the waste water treatment in the mill is effective. Usually the treated waste water enters the lake diluted up to 5% concentration. However, only at 20% concentration did the treated waste water induce hepatic monooxygenase activities in the fish studied in laboratory conditions.

The effect of C:N ratio on the performance of bench-scale composting systems treating pulp and paper biosolids was investigated. The biosolids used were obtained from the Pine Falls Paper Company located in Manitoba. The biosolids, on a wet basis, consisted of 41% primary biosolids, 21% secondary biosolids, and 39% deinking plant sludge. The biosolids were mixed with bark to achieve an initial moisture content of 60%, resulting in a recipe consisting of 1.09 kg of bark per kg of biosolids on a dry basis. Four reactors (treatments) were run with C:N ratios of 107 (control; no N supplement), 55, 29, and 18. Each treatment was replicated three times. Sulfur coated urea was used as the N supplement. Parameters monitored included C:N ratio, N recovery, material compaction, temperature, qualitative odor observations, and volatile solids reduction. The relative microbial activity was observed in-directly using volatile solids removal and the relative heat generation data. The data showed a strong negative linear...

We recorded the numbers of cells, and where possible distinguished between cells containing pupating larvae and vacated cells, from 585 paper wasp nests from the northern North Island, New Zealand, plus nest site characteristics of 540 of these nests. Nests of Polistes chinensis antennalis and P. humilis developed at similar rates in early summer. P. c. antennalis nests were larger at the Post‐emergence stage than those of P. humilis, and contained more vacated cells but less capped cells. All of the P. c. antennalis nests had reached the Post‐emergence stage by February in Northland, but not in the other regions. P. c. antennalis nests in the Post‐emergence stage were larger in Northland than further south, and contained the most capped or vacated cells. Nests of both species were usually found in northern‐facing sites. Substrate did not affect nest size. Differences between the species in nest sites included greater use of manmade structures by P. c. antennalis; the use of leaves by P. humilis ...

There have been numerous environmental geochemistry studies using chemical, geological, ecological, and toxicological methods but each of these fields requires more subject specialist rigour than has generally been applied so far. Field-specific terminology has been misused and the resulting interpretations rendered inaccurate. In this paper, we propose a series of suggestions, based on our experience as teachers, researchers, reviewers, and editorial board members, to help authors to avoid pitfalls. Many scientific inaccuracies continue to be unchecked and are repeatedly republished by the scientific community. These recommendations should help our colleagues and editorial board members, as well as reviewers, to avoid the numerous inaccuracies and misconceptions currently in circulation and establish a trend towards greater rigour in scientific writing.

The specific features of spatio-temporal organization of the parasitoid-host system in a heterogeneous environment was analyzed. The spatial distribution of ectoparasitoids in different habitat types of their host Polistes dominulus (Christ) (Hymenoptera, Vespidae) was found to be non-uniform. Latibulus argiolus (Rossi) (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae) prevailed in the host nests located in shelters, while Elasmus schmitti Ruschka (Hymenoptera, Eulophidae) prevailed in the nests attached to plants.

Juvenile hormone (JH) has an important role in the behavior of eusocial Hymenoptera. Previous work has shown that JH influences aggression and dominance behavior in primitive eusocial insects that lack discrete queen and worker castes (e.g. Bombus bees and Polistes wasps). In contrast, JH is one of the factors that mediates temporal polyethism among workers in advanced eusocial insects that have reproductive castes (e.g. Apis bees and Polybiawasps). Therefore, initial observations suggest that JH may have different roles in primitive and advanced eusocial taxa. Here, we use detailed behavioral observations of marked individuals to test whether JH influences temporal polyethism in the primitive eusocial wasp Polistes dominulus. First, we show that workers in P. dominulus have an age-related division of labor, as workers switch from nest work to foraging as they mature. Then, we show that application of JH accelerates the onset of foraging behavior.Workers treated with JH start foraging at a younger age than control workers. Therefore, JH mediates temporal polyethism in the primitively eusocial insect Polistes dominulus.

Colonies of a temperate paper wasp Polistes snelleni were artificially orphaned in the laboratory to examine whether workers mated before orphaning can become inseminated egg-layers (replacement queens). Of 23 worker reproductives (with developed ovaries) in 14 colonies, 4 from 4 colonies were inseminated and became egg-layers. Since they did not contact males after orphaning, they were inseminated in the presence of foundress queens and became fertilized reproductives in orphan colonies without mating after orphaning. In addition to worker reproductives, 2 non-reproductive workers from 2 other colonies were also inseminated before orphaning. These results indicate that some workers of P. snelleni mate before orphaning and subsequently become inseminated egglayers after orphaning, showing the behavioural plasticity of temperate Polistes.

In order to identify potential risks of sediments contaminated by pulp and paper mill effluents, two boreal lake areas were investigated from core samples. Resin acids (RA) and their aromatized derivative retene were measured, suggesting that these aquatic toxicants can be long-lasting sources to expose benthic biota. On the other hand, dredging or other human actions can liberate toxicants, even from deep sediments, to an aqueous phase with harmful consequences to aquatic species. Since no historical sediment profiles were available, we investigated the toxic potential of sediment-water elutriates by way of the bioluminescent bacteria Vibrio fischeri. In this investigation, we therefore analyzed both the concentrations of toxic chemicals and the toxicity as profiles in two contaminated lake sediments in Finland. Freeze-dried sediment samples were purified with the liquid-liquid extraction and column separation methods. RA and retene were further analyzed by GC/MS and GC/FID techniques. The toxicity assessment by microbial tests from sediment-water elutriates represents an approximation of the ecotoxic potency of sediment layers containing wood-derived extractives. Elutriates were produced by mixing sediment and water in standardized volume ratio (sediment/water; 1:4, v/v), and, after 15 min of incubation, EC50 values were measured. In samples from the pre-industrial time and in a reference site of an uncontaminated lake, the concentrations of RA varied from 0.3 to 20 mg g–1 dw. Due to the wood-processing industry, the abundance of RA was dramatically increased at downstream sites. The most contaminated sediment layer contained 1070 mg g–1 of RA, dated back to the 1970s, representing the time of chlorine gas bleaching and before the secondary wastewater treatment technology. Retene occurred as a similar kind of concentration profile as RA, the highest concentrations being found from the deepest layers of industrial history. Besides trapping, this suggests a time-consuming process of retene formation under anaerobic conditions. For comparison, the detection limit of retene (0.1 mg g–1) was not exceeded in samples from pre-industrial time or in the reference site. RA and retene correlated with toxicity in some sediment-water elutriates, but it was obvious that other chemical and also physical factors were behind the strong toxicity observed in another investigated lake area. Results showed that historically massive concentrations of wood extractives have been buried in the industrial sediments. It is well detectable that the emissions and the toxicity have significantly decreased in accordance with the modernization of mills. According to our investigation, serious consideration of the potential ecotoxicological risks should be made when planning any dredging or remediation actions at areas contaminated in this manner.

Recent studies report that reproductive and non-reproductive roles of individuals can be associated with body size variation and/or physiological differences in many primitively eusocial wasps. This paper investigates the effects of the season on the body size and reproductive differences in Polistes satan. In pre-emergence colonies, inseminated females are significantly larger than subordinates for most of body measurements. Season has no effect on the differences related to the body size between inseminated females and uninseminated females from post-emergence colonies. However, most morphometric variables were significantly different between uninseminated females collected in distinct periods of the year. We suggest that seasonal variation may affect uninseminated females directly reflecting a flexible developmental programme in primitively eusocial wasps.

Although the effects of effluent from many paper production processes have been studied extensively, the effects of hot-soda process effluent have not been investigated. To determine the impacts of this process on a riverine ecosystem in Nepal, we sampled fishes, macroinvertebrates, and physicochemical/microhabitat parameters of the Narayani River in south-central Nepal upstream and downstream from the Bhrikuti Paper Mill before and after its opening. After the mill began operation, species richness of fish collections decreased downstream, relative to the upstream reference site. We also found a decrease in abundance of macroinvertebrates, as well as a downstream decrease in dissolved oxygen and an increase in alkalinity. Changes in benthic microhabitat were also apparent, including an increase in plant fiber detritus. Our results suggest that the environmental impact of this untreated soda-process effluent is similar to that of effluent from other paper production processes, and that operation ...