Peces fósiles de la formación Agua Nueva (Turoniano) en el Municipio de Vallecillo, Nuevo León, NE-México

Tesis (Doctor en Ciencias con especialidad en Geociencias) U.A.N.L.

Simulación por elemento finito del proceso de formado de conexiones T sin costura en caliente

Tesis (Doctor en Ingeniería de Materiales) U.A.N.L.

Estudios moleculares del hongo comestible y Ectomicorrizógeno Cantharellus spp. de algunas localidades de México

Tesis (Doctor en Ciencias con Especialidad en Manejo de Recursos Naturales) U.A.N.L.

Estado de la susceptibilidad y mecanismos de resistencia en Aedes aegypti (L) a insecticidas de mayor uso y alternativos en el Estado de Nuevo león

Tesis (Doctorado en Ciencias Biológicas) U.A.N.L.

Inhibición del gen de la trehalasa por transgénesis de RNA antisentido y su efecto en el patrón de crecimiento de plantas de Tabaco

Tesis (Doctorado en Ciencias con Especialidad en Biotecnología) U.A.N.L.

Determinación bioquímica, reductora ponderal y supresora de apetito de Smilax moranensis Martens & Galeotti y Centaurium quitense (Kunth) B.L: Robinson

Tesis (Doctor en Ciencias Biológicas con Especialidad en Productos Naturales) U.A.N.L.

Variabilitat genètica i estructura poblacional en tres espècies de la família Scombridae, Sarda sarda, Thunnus alalunga i Thunnus thynnus, basada en la regió control del DNA mitocondrial

Aquest treball es centra en el coneixement de l'estructura poblacional de tres espècies piscícoles de la família Scombridae, el bonítol (Sarda sarda), la bacora (Thunnus alalunga) i la tonyina (Thunnus thynnus) en la seva distribució de l'atlàntic i el mediterrani.

Coriolis interactions about x-y axes in symmetric tops

Selection rules and matrix elements are derived for Coriolis interactions between vibrational levels due to rotation about (x, y) axes in symmetric top molecules. The theory is developed in detail for the case of interaction between an A1 and an E species vibrational level in a C3v molecule; perturbations to both the positions and the intensities of the rovibration transitions in the spectrum are considered. A computer program has been written which calculates exactly the perturbed spectrum of two interacting rovibration bands according to this model, the results being presented directly by a graph plotter connected to the computer. This has been used to interpret perturbations observed in two pairs of interacting fundamentals in the spectrum of CH3F (ν2 - ν5 and ν3 - ν6) and one pair in CD3Cl (ν2 - ν5). The resulting analysis of the observed spectrum leads to new values for some vibration-rotation interaction constants and also leads to a unique determination of the sign relationship between the dipole moment derivatives in each pair of interacting normal vibrations. These sign relations are summarized in Figs. 8, 12, and 15.

Speciation in fig wasps

There are over 700 species of fig trees in the tropics and several thousand species of fig wasps are associated with their syconia (inflorescences). These wasps comprise a monophyletic family of fig pollinators and several diverse lineages of non-pollinating wasps. The pollinator larvae gall fig flowers, while larvae of non-pollinating species either initiate their own galls or parasitise the galls of other wasps. A single fig species has 1-4 pollinator species and also hosts up to 30 non-pollinating wasp species. Most wasps show a high degree of host plant specificity and are known from only a single fig species. However, in some cases wasps may be shared across closely related fig species. There is impressive morphological coevolution between figs and fig wasps and this, combined with a high degree of partner specificity, led to the expectation that figs and pollinators have cospeciated extensively. Comparison of deep phylogenies supports long-term codivergence of figs and pollinators, but also suggests that some host shifts have occurred. Phylogenies of more closely related species do not match perfectly and may even be incongruent, suggesting significant roles for processes other than strict cospeciation. Combined with recent evidence on host specificity patterns, this suggests that pollinator wasps may often speciate by host shifts between closely related figs, or by duplication (the wasp speciates but the fig doesn't). The frequencies and biological details of these different modes of speciation invite further study. Far less is known about speciation in non-pollinating fig wasps. Some lineages have probably coevolved with figs and pollinators for most of the evolutionary history of the symbiosis, while others appear to be more recent colonisers. Many species appear to be highly host plant specific, but those that lay eggs through the fig wall without entering the syconium (the majority of species) may be subject to fewer constraints on host-shifting than pollinators. There is evidence for substantial host shifting in at least one gens, but also evidence for ecological speciation on the same host plant by niche shifts in other cases. Finally, recent work has begun to address the issue of “community phylogeny” and provided evidence for long-term co-divergence of multiple pollinating and non-pollinating wasp lineages with their host figs.

Characterization of microsatellite markers for Sycoscapter nonpollinating fig wasps

We isolated 18 microsatellites from Sycoscapter australis, a nonpollinating fig wasp that develops in figs of Ficus macrophylla, and assessed their variability in 20 wasps. We further optimized nine of these loci for use in three other Sycoscapter species that develop in Ficus rubiginosa figs and assessed their variability in 47-140 wasps per species. These are the first microsatellites developed for nonpollinating fig wasps and show sufficient polymorphism to become important tools in evolutionary and genetical studies of Sycoscapter wasps.

Molecular dating and biogeography of fig-pollinating wasps

Figs and fig-pollinating wasps are obligate mutualists that have coevolved for over 60 million years. But when and where did pollinating fig wasps (Agaonidae) originate? Some studies suggest that agaonids arose in the Late Cretaceous and the current distribution of fig-wasp faunas can be explained by the break-up of the Gondwanan landmass. However, recent molecular-dating studies suggest divergence time estimates that are inconsistent with the Gondwanan vicariance hypothesis and imply that long distance oceanic dispersal could have been an important process for explaining the current distribution of both figs and fig wasps. Here, we use a combination of phylogenetic and biogeographical data to infer the age, the major period of diversification, and the geographic origin of pollinating fig wasps. Age estimates ranged widely depending on the molecular-dating method used and even when using the same method but with slightly different constraints, making it difficult to assess with certainty a Gondwanan origin of agaonids. The reconstruction of ancestral areas suggests that the most recent common ancestor of all extant fig-pollinating wasps was most likely Asian, although a southern Gondwana origin cannot be rejected. Our analysis also suggests that dispersal has played a more important role in the development of the fig-wasp biota than previously assumed. (C) 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Interference competition and high temperature reduce the ‘virulence’ of fig wasps and contribute to stability of a fig-wasp mutualism

Fig trees are pollinated by fig wasps, which also oviposit in female flowers. The wasp larvae gall and eat developing seeds. Although fig trees benefit from allowing wasps to oviposit, because the wasp offspring disperse pollen, figs must prevent wasps from ovipositing in all flowers, or seed production would cease, and the mutualism would go extinct. In Ficus racemosa, we find that syconia (‘figs’) that have few foundresses (ovipositing wasps) are underexploited in the summer (few seeds, few galls, many empty ovules) and are overexploited in the winter (few seeds, many galls, few empty ovules). Conversely, syconia with many foundresses produce intermediate numbers of galls and seeds, regardless of season. We use experiments to explain these patterns, and thus, to explain how this mutualism is maintained. In the hot summer, wasps suffer short lifespans and therefore fail to oviposit in many flowers. In contrast, cooler temperatures in the winter permit longer wasp lifespans, which in turn allows most flowers to be exploited by the wasps. However, even in winter, only in syconia that happen to have few foundresses are most flowers turned into galls. In syconia with higher numbers of foundresses, interference competition reduces foundress lifespans, which reduces the proportion of flowers that are galled. We further show that syconia encourage the entry of multiple foundresses by delaying ostiole closure. Taken together, these factors allow fig trees to reduce galling in the wasp-benign winter and boost galling (and pollination) in the wasp-stressing summer. Interference competition has been shown to reduce virulence in pathogenic bacteria. Our results show that interference also maintains cooperation in a classic, cooperative symbiosis, thus linking theories of virulence and mutualism. More generally, our results reveal how frequency-dependent population regulation can occur in the fig-wasp mutualism, and how a host species can ‘set the rules of the game’ to ensure mutualistic behavior in its symbionts.

A role for parasites in stabilising the fig-pollinator mutualism

Mutualisms are interspecific interactions in which both players benefit. Explaining their maintenance is problematic, because cheaters should outcompete cooperative conspecifics, leading to mutualism instability. Monoecious figs (Ficus) are pollinated by host-specific wasps (Agaonidae), whose larvae gall ovules in their "fruits'' (syconia). Female pollinating wasps oviposit directly into Ficus ovules from inside the receptive syconium. Across Ficus species, there is a widely documented segregation of pollinator galls in inner ovules and seeds in outer ovules. This pattern suggests that wasps avoid, or are prevented from ovipositing into, outer ovules, and this results in mutualism stability. However, the mechanisms preventing wasps from exploiting outer ovules remain unknown. We report that in Ficus rubiginosa, offspring in outer ovules are vulnerable to attack by parasitic wasps that oviposit from outside the syconium. Parasitism risk decreases towards the centre of the syconium, where inner ovules provide enemy-free space for pollinator offspring. We suggest that the resulting gradient in offspring viability is likely to contribute to selection on pollinators to avoid outer ovules, and by forcing wasps to focus on a subset of ovules, reduces their galling rates. This previously unidentified mechanism may therefore contribute to mutualism persistence independent of additional factors that invoke plant defences against pollinator oviposition, or physiological constraints on pollinators that prevent oviposition in all available ovules.

Fighting strategies in two species of fig wasp

Although theory exists concerning the types of strategies that should be used in contests over resources, empirical work explicitly testing its predictions is relatively rare. We investigated male fighting strategies in two nonpollinating. g wasp species associated with Ficus rubiginosa figs. In Sycoscapter sp. A, males did not assess each other before or during fights over mating opportunities. Instead,fights continued until the loser reached an energetic cost threshold that was positively correlated with its body size (fighting ability) and retreated. In Philotrypesis sp. B, pre fight assessment was indicated, with males attacking competitively inferior rivals to remove them from the competitor pool ( they then continued to do so until they reached a cost threshold that was again positively correlated with body size). Using data on species ecology, we discuss our findings with respect to theory on when different fighting strategies should evolve. We argue that the type of strategy used by a. g wasp species is determined by its relative benefits in terms of inclusive fitness. (c) 2008 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Microsatellite primers for Ficus racemosa and Ficus rubiginosa

We developed 11 polymorphic microsatellite loci each for the figs Ficus (Sycomorus) racemosa and Ficus (Urostigma) rubiginosa from AG- and TG-enriched genomic libraries. These 22 loci were investigated for cross-species amplification and polymorphism in 17–21 F. racemosa and 16–24 F. rubiginosa individuals from Townsville, Australia. Observed heterozygosities range from 0.12 to 0.90 in F. racemosa and from 0.25 to 1.0 in F. rubiginosa.