Host-parasitoid relationship in different Cotesia melitaearum and Melitaea cinxia populations around the Baltic Sea

The relationship between hosts and parasites is one of the most studied interactions between living organisms, and it is both universal and common in nature. Parasitoids are special type of parasites whose offspring develop attached to or within a single host organism that it ultimately consumes and kills. Hosts are arthropods and most parasitoids belong to the insect order Hymenoptera. For almost two decades metapopulation research on the Glanville fritillary butterfly (Melitaea cinxia) has been conducted in the Åland Islands, Finland. The studies have been concerned with the population dynamics, evolution, genetics, behavior, natural history and life history characteristics of M. cinxia, as well as with species interacting with the butterfly. The parasitoids of M. cinxia have been under long term studies and much has been learned about specific host-parasitoid interactions during the past decade. The research for this Master s thesis was done in the Åland Islands during summer 2010. I conducted a reciprocal transplant style experiment in order to compare the performance of host butterflies (M. cinxia) under attack by different parasitoid wasps (C. melitaearum). I used hosts and parasitoids from five origins around the Baltic Sea: Öland, Uppland, Åland, Saaremaa and Pikku-Tytärsaari. The host-parasitoid relationship was studied in terms of host susceptibility and parasitoid virulence, addressing specifically the possible effects of inbreeding and local adaptation of both parasitoids and their hosts. I compared various factors such as host defence ratio, parasitoid development rate, cocoon production rate etc. I also conducted a small scale C. melitaearum egg development experiment and C. melitaearum external morphology comparison between different parasitoid populations. The results show that host resistance and parasitoid virulence differ between both host and parasitoid populations. For example, Öland hosts were most susceptible to parasitoids and especially vulnerable to Pikku-Tytärsaari wasps. Pikku-Tytärsaari wasps were most successful in terms of parasitoids virulence and efficiency except in Saaremaa hosts, where the wasp did not succeed. Saaremaa hosts were resistant except towards Åland parasitoids. I did not find any simple pattern concerning host resistance and parasitoid virulence between inbred and outbred populations. Also, the effect of local adaptation was not detected, perhaps because metapopulation processes disturb local adaptation of the studied populations. Morphological comparisons showed differences between studied wasp populations and sexual dimorphism was obvious with females being bigger that males. There were also interesting differences among populations in male and female wing shapes. The results raise many further questions. Especially interesting were Pikku-Tytärsaari wasps that did well in terms of efficiency and virulence. Pikku-Tytärsaari is a small, isolated island in the Gulf of Finland and both the host and parasitoids are extremely inbred. For the host and parasitoid to persist in the island, the host has to have some mechanisms to escape the parasitoid. Further research will be done on the subject to discover the mechanisms of Pikku-Tytärsaari host s ability to escape parasitism. Also, genetic analyses will be conducted in the near future to determine the relatedness of used C. melitaearum populations.

Effect of GPS on understanding relationship between mobile map and environment : A field experiment

Objectives: GPS technology enables the visualisation of a map reader s location on a mobile map. Earlier research on the cognitive aspects of map reading identified that searching for map-environment points is an essential element for the process of determining one s location on a mobile map. Map-environment points refer to objects that are visualized on the map and are recognizable in the environment. However, because the GPS usually adds only one point to the map that has a relation to the environment, it does not provide a sufficient amount of information for self-location. The aim of the present thesis was to assess the effect of GPS on the cognitive processes involved in determining one s location on a map. Methods: The effect of GPS on self-location was studied in a field experiment. The subjects were shown a target on a mobile map, and they were asked to point in the direction of the target. In order for the map reader to be able to deduce the direction of the target, he/she has to locate himself/herself on the map. During the pointing tasks, the subjects were asked to think aloud. The data from the experiment were used to analyze the effect of the GPS on the time needed to perform the task. The subjects verbal data was used to assess the effect of the GPS on the number of landmark concepts mentioned during a task (landmark concepts are words referring to objects that can be recognized both on the map and in the environment). Results and conclusions: The results from the experiment indicate that the GPS reduces the time needed to locate oneself on a map. The analysis of the verbal data revealed that the GPS reduces the number of landmark concepts in the protocols. The findings suggest that the GPS guides the subject s search for the map-environment points and narrows the area on the map that must be searched for self-location.

Misalignment as a Therapeutic Resource

The article reports conversation analysis of a single cognitive psychotherapy session in which an interactional misalignment between the therapist and the patient emerges, culminates, and is mitigated. Through this case study, the interactional practices lead- ing to a rupture in therapeutic alliance and the practices leading to its mending are explored. In the session the therapist pursues investigative orientation in relation to the patient’s experience under discussion, whereas the patient maintains orientation to “troubles-telling.” The diverging projects of the participants amount to overt misalign- ment. Eventually, the therapist brings the relationship of the patient and herself as a topic of conversation in ways which turn the misalignment into a resource of therapeu- tic work. The microanalysis of actual interactional patterns in this single case is linked to discussions of therapeutic alliance in psychotherapeutic literature.