In insects, the outcome of intraspecific competition for food during development depends primarily upon larval density and larval sex, but effects will also depend on the particular trait under consideration and the species under study. Experimental manipulations of larval densities of a Madeiran population of the speckled wood butterfly Pararge aegeria confirmed that intraspecific competition ...

Developmental plasticity is the property of a given genotype to produce different phenotypes in response to the environmental conditions experienced during development. Chordates have two basic modes of development, direct and indirect. Direct development (mode of humans) was derived evolutionarily from indirect development (mode of many amphibians), the major difference being the presence of a...

The parasitoid Chelonus inanitus (Braconidae, Hymenoptera) oviposits into eggs of Spodoptera littoralis (Noctuidae, Lepidoptera) and, along with the egg, also injects polydnaviruses and venom, which are prerequisites for successful parasitoid development. The parasitoid larva develops within the embryonic and larval stages of the host, which enters metamorphosis precociously and arrests develop...

Ontogenetic changes in biomass and chemical composition were studied in the laboratory during the abbreviated larval and early juvenile development of the caridean shrimp Campylonotus vagans from the subantarctic Beagle Channel, Argentina. At 7F 0.5 jC, development from hatching to metamorphosis took about 44 days. The larvae started feeding on Artemia nauplii immediately after hatching, althou...

Caenorhabditis elegans postembryonic development consists of four discrete larval stages separated by molts. Typically, the speed of progression through these larval stages is investigated by visual inspection of the molting process. Here, we describe an automated method to monitor the timing of these discrete phases of C. elegans maturation, from the first larval stage through adulthood, using...

Antarctic krill embryos and larvae were experimentally exposed to 380 (control), 1000 and 2000 µatm pCO₂ in order to assess the possible impact of ocean acidification on early development of krill. No significant effects were detected on embryonic development or larval behaviour at 1000 µatm pCO₂; however, at 2000 µatm pCO₂ development was disrupted before gastrulation in 90 per cent of embryos...

1. Activity and microhabitat use are important factors determining species performance in habitats that differ in permanence and species composition of top predators. This study examined the relationship between the distribution across a gradient of habitat permanence and an associated transition in the composition of top predators and the behaviour of species of larval dragonflies. It also ass...

The behavior of pests targeted by Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) crops has been recognized as an important factor to define resistance management plans. However, most data do not include the possible impact resistance may have on the behavior of pests. To examine whether resistance influences behavior of European corn borer, Ostrinia nubilalis (Hübner) (Lepidoptera: Crambidae), neonates after expo...