Xiaohua Dai

SHORT-DURATION DAYTIME MOVEMENTS OF A COW HERD OF AFRICAN ELEPHANTS

Abstract We examined daytime movements of a herd of African elephants (Loxodonta africana) at 10-min, 15-min, and 20-min intervals in Pongola Game Reserve, South Africa. This group tended to proceed in a consistent direction during consecutive movements, especially during long moves. Serial movement lengths and serial movement angles were autocorrelated at 10-min and 15-min intervals but not at 20-min intervals, indicating that 20-min intervals may be a suitable temporal scale to avoid oversampling. Herd movements followed a Lévy-modulated correlated random walk. In addition, looping movements were detected. Spatial scale of the loops averaged about 1 km. Movement strategies that include both Lévy walks and correlated random walks are thought to optimize foraging.

Movement Patterns of African Elephants (Loxodonta africana) in Different Habitat Types

In this paper we analyse the daytime movements of African elephants (Loxodonta africana) in different habitats in the Pongola Game Reserve, South Africa. On average adult males moved faster than females in all habitat types except when grouped together (then females moved at the faster male pace). Elephants demonstrated distinct movement patterns in different habitat types. All the movement parameters indicate that the elephants turned less the further they were from a large permanent body of water (Jozini Dam) and for males with increasing distance to the females. Male and female elephants turned more in habitat types that had favourable resources such as forage and shade, than they did in unfavourable habitats. Thus, the elephants used a direct movement strategy — turning less — when needing to get to a destination more quickly (e.g. toward water or mates), rather than significantly increasing their speed. It is hypothesized that these elephants are optimizing energy efficiency while still varying their foraging approach and search intensity. Patterns of movement through a habitat will affect ecological impacts in that habitat and so habitat-related movement pattern studies of this type could assist landscape planning (e.g. waterhole design and distribution) and large herbivore conservation.

Complete mitochondrial genome of a leaf-mining beetle, Agonita chinensis Weise (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae)

Abstract The complete circular mitochondrial genome of Agonita chinensis was 16,395 bp in length, which contained two ribosomal RNA genes, 22 transfer RNAs, 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs) and one non-coding AT-rich region with the length of 2001 bp. All of the 22 tRNA genes displayed a typical clover-leaf structure, with the exception of tRNASer (TCT). Twelve PCGs were initiated by ATN codons, except that nad1 started with TTG. Only four PCGs used the typical stop codon ‘TAA’ and ‘TGA’, while nine PCGs terminated with incomplete stop codons (TA or T). Phylogenetic analysis based on 13 PCGs of Chrysomelidae mitogenomes showed that A. chinensis was closely related to Cassida viridis.

Complete mitochondrial genome of a leaf-mining beetle, Rhadinosa nigrocyanea (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) with phylogenetic consideration

Abstract The complete circular mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) of Rhadinosa nigrocyanea was 17,965 bp in length, which contained 2 ribosomal RNA genes, 22 transfer RNAs, 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs) and 1 non-coding AT-rich region with the length of 3002 bp. All of the 22 tRNA genes displayed a typical clover-leaf structure, with the exception of tRNASer (TCT). 12 PCGs were initiated by ATN codons, except for ND1 started with TTG. Only six PCGs used the typical stop codon ‘TAA’ and ‘TGA’, while seven PCGs terminated with incomplete stop codons (TA or T). Phylogenetic analysis showed that R. nigrocyanea grouped with Cassidinae species, sister to Clytrinae + Cryptocephalinae.

Complete mitochondrial genome of a leaf beetle, Callispa bowringi (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae)

Abstract The complete circular mitochondrial genome of Callispa bowringi was 17,060 bp in length, including two ribosomal RNA genes, 22 transfer RNAs, 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs) and one 2246-bp non-coding AT-rich region. All 22 tRNA genes displayed a typical clover-leaf structure except for tRNASer (AGN). All 13 PCGs initiated with ATN codons. Only three PCGs used the incomplete stop codons “TA” or “T”, while ten PCGs terminated with typical stop codons “TAA” and “TGA”. Phylogenetic analysis based on 13 PCGs of Chrysomelidae mitogenomes showed that C. bowringi was closely related to Agonita chinensis and Rhadinosa nigrocyanea.

Global pattern of plant utilization across different organisms: Does plant apparency or plant phylogeny matter?

Abstract The present study is the first to consider human and nonhuman consumers together to reveal several general patterns of plant utilization. We provide evidence that at a global scale, plant apparency and phylogenetic isolation can be important predictors of plant utilization and consumer diversity. Using the number of species or genera or the distribution area of each plant family as the island “area” and the minimum phylogenetic distance to common plant families as the island “distance”, we fitted presence–area relationships and presence–distance relationships with a binomial GLM (generalized linear model) with a logit link. The presence–absence of consumers among each plant family strongly depended on plant apparency (family size and distribution area); the diversity of consumers increased with plant apparency but decreased with phylogenetic isolation. When consumers extended their host breadth, unapparent plants became more likely to be used. Common uses occurred more often on common plants and their relatives, showing higher host phylogenetic clustering than uncommon uses. On the contrary, highly specialized uses might be related to the rarity of plant chemicals and were therefore very species‐specific. In summary, our results provide a global illustration of plant–consumer combinations and reveal several general patterns of plant utilization across humans, insects and microbes. First, plant apparency and plant phylogenetic isolation generally govern plant utilization value, with uncommon and isolated plants suffering fewer parasites. Second, extension of the breadth of utilized hosts helps explain the presence of consumers on unapparent plants. Finally, the phylogenetic clustering structure of host plants is different between common uses and uncommon uses. The strength of such consistent plant utilization patterns across a diverse set of usage types suggests that the persistence and accumulation of consumer diversity and use value for plant species are determined by similar ecological and evolutionary processes.

Mitochondrial genome of a leaf-mining beetle Prionispa champaka Maulik (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Cassidinae)

Abstract Prionispa champaka is a leaf-mining species which feeds on Pollia spp. and widely distributes in southern China. The complete mitogenomic sequence of P. champaka (Chrysomelidae: Cassidinae) was obtained and annotated, with a length of 20,494 bp. It was longer than those of other Chrysomelid species (not including Bruchinae) because of its much longer non-coding sequences. Gene arrangement and content of P. champaka was identical to the most common type in insects, and it was also biased toward AT (accounting for 78.4%). Phylogenetic analysis based on mitochondrial PCGs indicated that P. champaka was closely clustered with 5 other Cassidinae species, supporting the traditional morphological classification within Cassidinae.

Complete mitochondrial genome of a leaf-mining beetle, Podagricomela nigricollis (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae)

Abstract Podagricomela nigricollis is a citrus pest that distributes in South China. Currently, there was no complete mitochondrial genome of Podagricomela species available in GenBank. Here, we reported the complete circular mitogenome of P. nigricollis. It had a total length of 16,756 bp, including 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 tRNA genes, two rRNA genes, and one A + T-rich region. Among the 13 PCGs, only four (NAD5, NAD4, NAD4l, NAD1) located on the L-strand, whereas the other nine (NAD2, COX1, COX2, ATP8, ATP6, COX3, NAD3, NAD6, COB) located on the H-strand. Phylogenetic analysis using nucleotide sequences of the 13 PCGs indicated that P. nigricollis were clustered with six Galerucinae species, which was consistent with previous morphological classification.