Merely Birds of Passage: Lady Hariot Dufferin's Travel Writings and Medical Work in India, 1884-88

This article examines the travel writings and medical work in India of Lady Hariot Dufferin, Vicereine of India between 1884 and 1888. Lady Dufferin accompanied her husband, the Viceroy Lord Dufferin, through various social and political engagements in India, and carved her own niche in colonial and postcolonial history as a pioneer in the medical training of women in India. The article examines her travel writings on India and explores the nature of her complicity in the Raj, as well as the gendered nature of the separate public role she created for herself in relation to her 'zenana work' in providing medical care for the women of India. The author suggests that, through her work, Lady Dufferin challenges and extends the theoretical paradigms of postcolonialist and feminist critiques of empire.

Caged birds and cloning machines: how student imagery 'speaks' to us about cultures of schooling and student participation

With the advent of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), there is an increasing requirement that schools ensure children and young people's views are voiced, listened to and taken seriously on matters of significance. Encouraging these shifts by law is one thing; changing the culture in schools is another. For a significant proportion of schools, actively engaging students' voices on how they experience education poses a significant challenge and crucial gaps may exist between the rhetoric espoused and a school's readiness for genuine student involvement. This ethnographic study illuminates tensions that persist between headteachers' espoused views of how students are valued and students' creative images of their actual post-primary schooling experience. If cultures of schooling are to nurture the true spirit of democratic pupil participation implied by changes in the law, there is a need to develop genuine processes of student engagement in which students and staff can collaborate towards greater shared understandings of a school's priorities.

Two Birds, One Stone: Combining Student Assessment and Socio-Legal Research

We describe here a method of assessment for students. A number of short-comings of traditional assessment methods, especially essays and examinations, are discussed and an alternative assessment method, the student project, is suggested. The method aims not just to overcome the short-comings of more traditional methods, but also to provide over-worked and under-resourced academics with viable primary data for socio-legal research work. Limitations to the method are discussed, with proposals for minimising the impact of these limitations. The whole �student project� approach is also discussed with reference to the Quality Assurance Agency benchmark standards for law degrees, standards which are expected of all institutions in the UK.

Getting to the root of neuronal signalling in plant-parasitic nematodes using RNA interference

A variety of genes expressed in preparasitic second-stage juveniles (J2) of plant-parasitic nematodes appear to be vulnerable to RNA interference (RNAi) in vitro by coupling double-stranded (ds)RNA soaking with the artificial stimulation of pharyngeal pumping. Also, there is mounting evidence that the in planta generation of nematode-specific double-stranded RNAs (dsRNAs) has real utility in the control of these pests. Although neuronally-expressed genes in Caenorhabditis elegans are commonly refractory to RNAi, we have discovered that neuronally-expressed genes in plant-parasitic nematodes are highly susceptible to RNAi and that silencing can be induced by simple soaking procedures without the need for pharyngeal stimulation. Since most front-line anthelmintics that are used for the control of nematode parasites of animals and humans act to disrupt neuromuscular coordination, we argue that intercellular signalling processes associated with neurons have much appeal as targets for transgenic plant-based control strategies for plant-parasitic nematodes. FMRFamide-like peptides (FLPs) are a large family of neuropeptides which are intimately associated with neuromuscular regulation, and our studies on flp gene function in plant-parasitic nematodes have revealed that their expression is central to coordinated locomotory activities. We propose that the high level of conservation in nervous systems across nematodes coupled with the RNAi-susceptibility of neuronally-expressed genes in plant-parasitic nematodes provides a valuable research tool which could be used to interrogate neuronal signalling processes in nematodes.

Early birds are sexy: male age, dawn song and extrapair paternity in blue tits, Cyanistes (formerly Parus) caeruleus

Sexual selection theory predicts that signals reflecting the relative quality of individuals should be used in mate choice. Females could base their choice of copulation partners on male secondary sexual traits that honestly signal male age, as predicted by the age-based indicator mechanism. Studies have shown that female blue tits prefer older males and that aspects of dawn song reflect male quality, but it remains unknown whether dawn song characteristics correlate with male age. We compared dawn song characteristics of second-year (SY) and older (ASY) male blue tits (cross-sectional analysis), and tested for age-related changes within individuals (longitudinal analysis) and differential overwinter survival of SY males. We further investigated the relation between dawn song and paternity gain and loss. We found that ASY male blue tits began to sing earlier relative to sunrise than did SY males. This difference in the onset of dawn singing was due to age-related changes in individual performance rather than differential survival of individuals with varying expression of the trait. Males that began to sing earlier at dawn had more mating partners, and were more likely to gain extrapair paternity. Our findings suggest that the onset of dawn song can provide a simple mechanism for females to assess the relative quality of their mate and of neighbouring males. We propose that females use the onset of singing as a cue for their choice of extrapair partners. (c) 2006 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Genome sequence of the metazoan plant-parasitic nematode Meloidogyne incognita

Plant-parasitic nematodes are major agricultural pests worldwide and novel approaches to control them are sorely needed. We report the draft genome sequence of the root-knot nematode Meloidogyne incognita, a biotrophic parasite of many crops, including tomato, cotton and coffee. Most of the assembled sequence of this asexually reproducing nematode, totaling 86 Mb, exists in pairs of homologous but divergent segments. This suggests that ancient allelic regions in M. incognita are evolving toward effective haploidy, permitting new mechanisms of adaptation. The number and diversity of plant cell wall-degrading enzymes in M. incognita is unprecedented in any animal for which a genome sequence is available, and may derive from multiple horizontal gene transfers from bacterial sources. Our results provide insights into the adaptations required by metazoans to successfully parasitize immunocompetent plants, and open the way for discovering new antiparasitic strategies.

Parasitic foraminifers on a deep-sea chiton (Mollusca, Polyplacophora, Leptochitonidae) from Iceland

Epibiotic foraminifers selectively settle on the most food-rich area of the host substrate, even when the species acts as a facultative ectoparasite in later life stages. In 398 specimens examined of the deep-sea chiton Leptochiton arcticus from Iceland, 46% show evidence of infestation by foraminifers, with many showing extensive shell damage from present and past bioeroding epibionts. Disturbances to the inner layer of the host shell are indicative of parasitism, as evidenced both by wound healing calcification and protrusions of the foraminiferan tubules. The epibionts employ different feeding strategies at different stages of their life cycle, taking advantage of nutrient availability from the posterior respiration currents and excrement of the chitons as juveniles, and feeding parasitically as adults. Epibiont persistence on individual hosts-through successive generations, or long-term continuous bioerosion by epibionts-allow larger adult parasitic foraminifers of Hyrrokkin sarcophaga to penetrate the thick tail valve of a chiton and feed parasitically on the host tissue. The proportion of chitons infested increases with host size, indicating that epibionts are accumulated through a chiton's life, seemingly without major detriment to host survivorship.

Phylogeographic analysis of North American populations of the parasitic herbaceous plant Monotropa hypopitys reveals a complex history of range expansion from multiple late glacial refugia

Aim We carried out a phylogeographic study across the range of the herbaceous plant species Monotropa hypopitys L. in North America to determine whether its current disjunct distribution is due to recolonization from separate eastern and western refugia after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Location North America: Pacific Northwest and north-eastern USA/south-eastern Canada. Methods Palaeodistribution modelling was carried out to determine suitable climatic regions for M. hypopitys at the LGM. We analysed between 155 and 176 individuals from 39 locations spanning the species' entire range in North America. Sequence data were obtained for the chloroplast rps2 gene (n=168) and for the nuclear ITS region (n=158). Individuals were also genotyped for eight microsatellite loci (n=176). Interpolation of diversity values was used to visualize the range-wide distribution of genetic diversity for each of the three marker classes. Minimum spanning networks were constructed showing the relationships between the rps2 and ITS haplotypes, and the geographical distributions of these haplotypes were plotted. The numbers of genetic clusters based on the microsatellite data were estimated using Bayesian clustering approaches. Results The palaeodistribution modelling indicated suitable climate envelopes for M. hypopitys at the LGM in both the Pacific Northwest and south-eastern USA. High levels of genetic diversity and endemic haplotypes were found in Oregon, the Alexander Archipelago, Wisconsin, and in the south-eastern part of the species' distribution range. Main conclusions Our results suggest a complex recolonization history for M. hypopitys in North America, involving persistence in separate eastern and western refugia. A generally high degree of congruence between the different marker classes analysed indicated the presence of multiple refugia, with at least two refugia in each area. In the west, putative refugia were identified in Oregon and the Alexander Archipelago, whereas eastern refugia may have been located in the southern part of the species' current distribution, as well as in the 'Driftless Area'. These findings are in contrast to a previous study on the related species Orthilia secunda, which has a similar disjunct distribution to M. hypopitys, but which appears to have recolonized solely from western refugia. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Differential effects of magnetic pulses on the orientation of naturally migrating birds

In migratory passerine birds, strong magnetic pulses are thought to be diagnostic of the remagnetization of iron minerals in a putative sensory system contained in the beak. Previous evidence suggests that while such a magnetic pulse affects the orientation of migratory birds in orientation cages, no effect was present when pulse-treated birds were tested in natural migration. Here we show that two migrating passerine birds treated with a strong magnetic pulse, designed to alter the magnetic sense, migrated in a direction that differed significantly from that of controls when tested in natural conditions. The orientation of treated birds was different depending on the alignment of the pulse with respect to the magnetic field. These results can aid in advancing understanding of how the putative iron-mineral-based receptors found in birds' beaks may be used to detect and signal the intensity and/or direction of the Earth's magnetic field.

Agricultural intensification and biodiversity partitioning in European landscapes comparing plants, carabids, and birds

Effects of agricultural intensification (AI) on biodiversity are often assessed on the plot scale, although processes determining diversity also operate on larger spatial scales. Here, we analyzed the diversity of vascular plants, carabid beetles, and birds in agricultural landscapes in cereal crop fields at the field (n = 1350), farm (n = 270), and European-region (n = 9) scale. We partitioned diversity into its additive components alpha, beta, and gamma, and assessed the relative contribution of beta diversity to total species richness at each spatial scale. AI was determined using pesticide and fertilizer inputs, as well as tillage operations and categorized into low, medium, and high levels. As AI was not significantly related to landscape complexity, we could disentangle potential AI effects on local vs. landscape community homogenization. AI negatively affected the species richness of plants and birds, but not carabid beetles, at all spatial scales. Hence, local AI was closely correlated to beta diversity on larger scales up to the farm and region level, and thereby was an indicator of farm-and region-wide biodiversity losses. At the scale of farms (12.83-20.52%) and regions (68.34-80.18%), beta diversity accounted for the major part of the total species richness for all three taxa, indicating great dissimilarity in environmental conditions on larger spatial scales. For plants, relative importance of alpha diversity decreased with AI, while relative importance of beta diversity on the farm scale increased with AI for carabids and birds. Hence, and in contrast to our expectations, AI does not necessarily homogenize local communities, presumably due to the heterogeneity of farming practices. In conclusion, a more detailed understanding of AI effects on diversity patterns of various taxa and at multiple spatial scales would contribute to more efficient agri-environmental schemes in agroecosystems.