Increased herbicide use in silviculture over the last several decades has led to concern over potential water contamination, which may affect biotic health. In the southeastern United States, pine flatwoods are important for timber production and are often interspersed with cypress wetlands. Cypress domes are isolated, shallow basins that collect surficial waters from adjacent forested areas an...

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES Arthropods of different taxonomic identity including chironomid midges are known to induce allergic response in humans. The present study was done to access two common chironomid species Chironomus circumdatus and Polypedilum nubifer for their sensitizing potential as an allergen in atopic patients and controls. METHODS Following preparation of allergenic extracts of t...

The interacting effects of cadmium toxicity and food limitation on the midge, Chironomus riparius, were studied during chronic exposure in laboratory experiments. If the food was supplied ad libitum, both larval developmental time and mortality of the larvae were negatively affected by cadmium concentrations of 2.0-16.2 micrograms/L. The number of eggs deposited per female and the mean life spa...

Chironomid midges are amongst the most abundant and diverse holo­ metabolous insects of the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic. Eretmoptera murphyi Schaeffer, 1914, has been enigmatic to systematists since the first discovery of adult females on South Georgia. The rediscovery of the species as a suspected introduction to Signy Island (South Orkney Islands) allows the description of the immature stages...

This paper describes the basis for a water-only acute chironomid toxicity test guideline using first-instar larvae. The method is based on the OECD test guidelines for the acute Daphnia sp. immobilization test and the long-term tests with Chironomus sp., reflecting the common test procedures currently used by the European agrochemical industry. Development of this guideline proposal is importan...

Two laboratory experiments were conducted to evaluate the amount of P utilization from two different types of sparingly soluble phosphate rock by aquatic biotic communities. The first type was Mussoorie Phosphate Rock or MPR (sedimentary in origin) and other was Purulia Phosphate Rock or PPR (igneous in origin). The two trials were with eight different treatment combinations. Among various trea...

A widespread example of coevolution between behaviour and morphology is that crypsis is associated with motionlessness. Surprisingly, however, the adaptive function of this association has never been investigated experimentally. We tested whether the risk of being detected by a predator is affected by crypsis, movement or an interaction between these two traits. We show that, to avoid being det...