7. Food and Food Habits

7. Food and Food HabitsJournal of Animal Ecology, Vol. 40, No. 3 (Oct., 1971), pp. 797-798Published by: British Ecological SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3463 .

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Abstracts 797

Sidebotham, T. J. Crawford- (1970). Differential susceptibility of species of slugs to metaldehyde/ bran and to methiocarb baits. Oecologia, 5, 303-24.

The effects of the baits were investigated on nine species of slug. In some species, different susceptibilities to the two baits indicated that neither is suitable for ecological work. As a molluscicide, methiocarb is better than metaldehyde.

Smith, A. Nelson- (1968). The effects of oil pollution and emulsifier cleansing on shore life in south-west Britain. J. appl. Ecol. 5, 97-107.

Of animals inhabiting rocky shores, molluscs are the worst affected by detergents. Examples are given of the proliferation of algae on shores where grazers (especially limpets) have been destroyed by emulsifiers. Recolonization of a denuded shore is most rapidly achieved by mobile or viviparous species.

Young, C. L. & Stephen, W. P. (1970). The acoustical behavior of Acheta domesticus L. (Orthop- tera: Gryllidae) following sublethal doses of parathion, dieldrin and sevin. Oecologia, 4, 143-62.

Parathion acts on the peripheral neuromuscular system and thoracic ganglia, while dieldrin and sevin act on components of the brain.

6. PRODUCTION ECOLOGY AND ECOLOGICAL ENERGETICS

Clark, B. W. & Coleman, D. C. (1970). A comparative study of the effects of acute and chronic gamma radiation on total-soil respiration. Pedobiologia, 10, 199-206.

Leach, J. H. (1970). Epibenthic algal production in an intertidal mudflat. Limnol. Oceanogr. 15, 514-21.

Epibenthic algal production in an estuarine mudflat (R. Ythan, Aberdeenshire) was measured during 1968 by a "4C method. Seasonal production was correlated with solar radiation, temperature, and standing crop of functional chlorophyll, but not with the amount of organic carbon. Standing crop of living plant material in the sediments was equivalent to 1500 of organic carbon in summer and 1000 in winter. Annual production (31 g C/m2) was equivalent to about a third of mean organic carbon in the sediments.

Steele, J. H. & Baird, I. E. (1968). Production ecology of a sandy beach. Limnol. Oceanogr. 13, 14-25.

The vertical distribution of pigments and organic matter and the yearly cycle of production in a sandy beach at Loch Ewe, Ross-shire, are described for positions at low water and to a sublittoral depth of 13 m. The chlorophyll and carbon content of the populations attached to the sand grains increases with in- creasing depth of overlying water. At low-water mark, viable diatom populations are found to 20 cm deep in the sand. The effects of wave action, however, keep these populations at a relatively low level so that the yearly primary production of the benthic flora is in the range 4-9 g C/M2.

7. FOOD AND FOOD HABITS

Bartonek, J. C. & Murdy, H. W. (1970). Summer foods of Lesser Scaup in subarctic taiga. Arctic, 23, 35-44.

Lesser Scaup (Aythya affinis) on the taiga north of Great Slave Lake, N.W.T., Canada eat almost entirely animal material. In mid-summer juveniles eat free-swimming animals, Chaoboridae and Con- chostraca; whereas in late summer they, like the adults, eat bottom-associated organisms, amphipods, odonates and corixids. Concomitant sampling showed that seeds, copepods, and cladocerans were seldom or never eaten.

Chaston, I. (1968). A study on the exploitation of invertebrate drift by brown trout (Salmo trutta L.) in a Dartmoor stream. J. appl. Ecol. 5, 721-9.

The aquatic component of invertebrate drift is not exploited for food.



798 Abstracts

Eastman, D. S. & Jenkins, D. (1970). Comparative food habits of red grouse in northeast Scot- land, using fecal analysis. J. Wildl. Mgmt, 34, 612-20.

The preferred food was always heather, although some grasses were taken when available.

Feeny, P. (1970). Seasonal changes in oak leaf tannins and nutrients as a cause of spring feeding by winter moth caterpillars. Ecology, 51, 565-81.

A study of spring feeding by Lepidoptera on English oak trees. The author considers that seasonal changes in the texture and chemical composition of the leaves are related to the extent and nature of the feeding. Tannins inhibit the growth of the larvae and may do so by reducing the availability of nitrogen or perhaps by changing leaf palatability.

Grime, J. P., MacPherson-Stewart, S. F. & Dearman, R. S. (1968). An investigation of leaf palatability using the snail Cepaea nemoralis L. J. Ecol. 56, 405-20.

Laboratory experiments were used to assess the palatability of fifty-two native plants to Cepaea nemoralis. Only 20%. of the species examined were palatable and a high proportion of these were plants associated with disturbed habitats and fertile soils. With the exception of Holcus lanatus, grasses were rejected.

Mason, C. F. (1970). Food, feeding rates and assimilation in woodland snails. Oecologia, 4, 358-73.

Food of free-living snails was determined by faecal analysis. Consumption and assimilation were studied using an ash-ratio method.

Murdoch, W. W. (1969). Switching in general predators: experiments on predator specificity and stability of prey populations. Ecol. Monogr. 39, 335-54.

'Switching' in predators which attack several prey species can potentially stabilize the numbers in prey populations. The theory of switching and laboratory experiments are discussed and it is concluded that, if the results are generally applicable, switching in nature is probably rare and that invertebrate predators probably do not stabilize the numbers of their prey by this mechanism. The relevance of switching to co- existence of competing prey species and prey species diversity is discussed.

8. PARASITES AND DISEASES

Jones, M. G. (1968). Observations on hymenopterous parasites of frit fly Oscinella frit L. on oats. J. appl. Ecol. 5, 445-50.

Hymenopterous parasites emerge too late to attack the immature stages of the panicle generation of frit flies.

Scott, M. (1968). The pathogenicity of Aeromonas salmonicida (Griffin) in sea and brackish waters. J. gen. Microbiol. 50, 321-7.

Sea trout Salmo trutta and brown trout S. fario both acquired infection by contact with infected S. fario but the species differed in their resistance to infection. About 90Y of the sea trout became infected and died within 7 days. About 7500 of the brown trout developed, and died from, an atypical form of the disease.

9. PHYSIOLOGY AND BEHAVIOUR

Brown, L. E. (1969). Field experiments on the movements of Apodemus sylvaticus L. using trapping and tracking techniques. Oecologia, 2, 198-222.

Mice lived in super-families with a dominant male in control. The dominant patrolled a large territory, and the remainder of the super-family mostly remained within this. Subordinates moved in groups, and females maintained compact ranges. Factors influencing behaviour and population control are discussed.



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7. Food and Food Habits