TY - JOUR A1 - Schmuck, R. A1 - Kobelt, F. A1 - Linsenmair, Karl Eduard T1 - Adaptations of the reed frog Hyperbolius viridiflavus (Anura, Hyperbolidae) to its arid environment: V. Iridophores and nitrogen metabolism N2 - Ofall amphibians living in arid habitats, reed frogs (belonging to the super species Hyperolius viridiflavus) are the most peculiar. Froglets are able to tolerate dry periods of up to 35 days or longer immediately after metamorphosis, in climatically exposed positions. They face similar problems to estivating juveniles, i.e. enduranee of long periods of high temperature and low RH with rather limited energy and water reserves. In addition, they must have had to develop meehanisms to prevent poisoning by nitrogenous wastes that rapidly accumulate during dry periods as a metabolie consequenee of maintaining a non-torpid state. During dry periods, plasma osmolarity of H. v. taeniatus froglets strongly increased, mainly through urea accumulation. Urea accumulation was also observed during metamorphic climax. During postmetamorphic growth, chromatophores develop with the density and morphology typical of the adult pigmentary pattern. The dermal iridophore layer, which is still incomplete at this time, is fully developed within 4-8 days after metamorphosis, irrespective of maintenance conditions. These iridophores mainly contain the purines guanine and hypoxanthine. The ability of these purines to reflect light provides an excellent basis for the role of iridophores in temperature regulation. In individuals experiencing dehydration stress, the initial rate of purine synthesis is doubled in eomparison to specimens continuously maintained under wet season conditions. This increase in synthesis rate leads to a rapid increase in the thiekness of the iridophore layer, thereby effectively reducing radiation absorption. Thus, the danger of overheating is diminished during periods of water shortage when evaporative cooling must be avoided. After the development of an iridophore layer of sufficient thickness for effective radiation reflectance, synthesis of iridophore pigments does not cease. Rather, this pathway is further used during the remaining dry season for solving osmotic problems eaused by accumulation of nitrogenous wastes. During prolonged water deprivation, in spite of reduced metabolic rates, purine pigments are produced at the same rate as in wet season conditions. This leads to a higher relative proportion of nitrogen end products being stored in skin pigments under dry season conditions. At the end of an experimental dry season lasting 35 days, up to 38% of the accrued nitrogen is stored in the form of osmotically inactive purines in thc skin. Thus the osmotic problems caused by evaporative water loss and urea production are greatly reduced. KW - Biologie KW - Zoologie KW - Frosch Y1 - 1988 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-78094 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Linsenmair, Karl Eduard A1 - Schmuck, R. T1 - Adaptations of the reed frog Hyperbolius viridiflavus to its arid environment. III. Aspects of nitrogen metabolism and osmuregulation in the reed frog, H. viridiflavus taeniatus, with special reference to the role of iridophores N2 - Reed frogs of the superspecies Hyperolius viridiflavus occur throughout the seasonally very dry and hot African savannas. Despite their small size (300-700 mg), estivating reed frogs do not avoid stressful conditions above ground by burrowing into the soil, but endure the inhospitable climate relatively unprotected, clinging to mostly dry grass sterns. They must have emcient mechanisms to enable them to survive e.g. very high temperatures, low relative hurnidities, and high solar radiation loads. Mechanisms must also have developed to prevent poisoning by the nitrogenous wastes that inevitably result from protein and nucleotide turnover. In contrast to fossorial amphibians, estivating reed frogs do not become torpid. Reduction in metabolism is therefore rather Iimited so that nitrogenous wastes accumulate faster in these frogs than in fossorial amphibians. This severely aggravates the osmotic problems caused by dehydration. During dry periods total plasma osmolarity greatly increases, mainly due to urea accumulation. Of the total urea accumulated over 42 days of experimental water deprivation, 30% was produced during the first 7 days. In the next 7 days rise in plasma urea content was negligible. This strong initial increase of urea is seen as a byproduct of elevated amino acid catabolism following the onset of dry conditions. Tbe rise in total plasma osmolarity due to urea accumulation, however, is not totally disadvantageous, but enables fast rehydration when water is available for very short periods only. Voiding of urine and feces eeases once evaporative water loss exceeds 10% of body weight. Tberefore, during continuous water deprivation, nitrogenous end products are not excreted. After 42 days of water deprivation, bladder fluid was substantially depleted, and urea coneentration in the remaining urine (up to 447 mM) was never greater than in plasma fluid. Feces voided at the end of the dry period after water uptake contained only small amounts of nitrogenous end products. DSF (dry season frogs) seemed not to be uricotelic. Instead, up to 35% of the total nitrogenous wastes produced over 42 days of water deprivation were deposited in an osmotically inert and nontoxic form in iridophore crystals. The increase in skin purine content averaged 150 µg/mg dry weight. If urea had been the only nitrogenous waste product during an estivation period of 42 days, lethal limits of total osmolarity (about 700 mOsm) would have been reached 10-14 days earlier. Thus iridophores are not only involved in colour change and in reducing heat load by radiation remission, but are also important in osmoregulation during dry periods. The seIective advantages of deposition of guanine rather than uric acid are discussed. KW - Biologie KW - Zoologie KW - Frosch KW - Hyperolius viridiflavus KW - Estivation KW - Osmoregulation KW - Nitrogen metabolism KW - lridophores Y1 - 1988 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-78108 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Geise, W. A1 - Linsenmair, Karl Eduard T1 - Adaptations of the reed frog Hyperbolius viridiflavus to its arid environment. IV. Ecological significance of water economy with comments on thermoregulation and energy allocation N2 - No abstract available Y1 - 1988 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-30570 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Linsenmair, Karl Eduard T1 - Adaptations of the reed frog Hyperbolius viridiflavus to its arid environment: II. Some aspects of the water economy of H. viridiflavus nitidulus under wet and dry ... N2 - Adaptations to aridity ofthe reedfrog Hyperolius viridiflavus nitidulus, living in different parts of the seasonally very dry and hot West African savanna, are investigated ... KW - Zoologie Y1 - 1986 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-78395 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kobelt, F. A1 - Linsenmair, Karl Eduard T1 - Adaptations of the reed frog Hyperolius viridiflavus (Hyperoliidae) to its arid environment. VI. The iridophores in the skin as radiation reflectors N2 - No abstract available Y1 - 1992 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-30563 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kobelt, Frank A1 - Linsenmair, Karl Eduard T1 - Adaptations of the reed frog Hyperolius viridiflavus to its arid environment. I. The skin of Hyperolius viridiflavus nitidulus in wet and dry season conditions. N2 - Hyperolius viridiflavus nitidulus inhabits parts of the seasonally very hot and dry West African savanna. During the long lasting dry season, the small frog is sitting unhidden on mostly dry plants and has to deal with high solar radiation load (SRL), evaporative water loss (EWL) and small energy reserves. It seems to be very badly equipped to survive such harsh climatic conditions (unfavorable surface to volume ratio, very limited capacity to störe energy and water). Therefore, it must have developed extraordinary efficient mechanisms to solve the mentioned Problems. Some of these mechanisms are to be looked for within the skin of the animal (e.g. protection against fast desiccation, deleterious effects of UV radiation and over-heating). The morphology of the wet season skin is, in most aspects, that of a "normal" anuran skin. It differs in the Organization of the processes of the melanophores and in the arrangement of the chromatophores in the Stratum spongiosum, forming no "Dermal Chromatophore Unit". During the adaptation to dry season conditions the number of iridophores in dorsal and ventral skin is increased 4-6 times compared to wet season skin. This increase is accompanied by a very conspicuous change of the wet season color pattern. Now, at air temperatures below 35° C the color becomes brownish white or grey and changes to a brilliant white at air temperatures near and over 40° C. Thus, in dry season State the frog retains its ability for rapid color change. In wet season State the platelets of the iridophores are irregularly distributed. In dry season State many platelets become arranged almost parallel to the surface. These purine crystals probably act as quarter-wave-length interference reflectors, reducing SRL by reflecting a considerable amount of the radiated energy input. EWL is as low as that of much larger xeric reptilians. The impermeability of the skin seems to be the result of several mechanisms (ground substance, iridophores, lipids, mucus) supplementing each other. The light red skin at the pelvic region and inner sides of the limbs is specialized for rapid uptake of water allowing the frog to replenish the unavoidable EWL by using single drops of dew or rain, available for only very short periods. Y1 - 1986 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-30551 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Linsenmair, Karl Eduard T1 - Allokation elterlicher Investition beim Bienenwolf Philantus triangulum (Hymenoptera: Sphecidae) T1 - Allocation of parental investment in the beewolf Philantus triangulum (Hymenoptera: Sphecidae) N2 - No abstract available KW - Zoologie KW - Biene KW - Bienenwolf Y1 - 1991 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-78191 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Linsenmair, Karl Eduard T1 - Anemomenotactic orientation in beetles and scorpions N2 - Scorpions, living in North African semideserts are - in spite of disrupting experimental interferences - able to maintain a certain direction in their natural environment in the dark on a plane surface. Under comparable laboratory conditions, excluding the possibility of light or gravity orientation, they can orient themselves if a directed air current passes over the "arena." In most cases the scorpions do not run necessarily with or against the wind, but rather maintain constant angles to the air current for anywhere from minutes to many hours. They are running anemomenotactically (ref. 1). Under identical conditions many species of beetles also orient themselves to air currents (refs. 2 to 4). The main problems to be solved in the study of anemomenotactic orientation are: (1) Which physical qualities of the air current have an influence on the anemomenotaxis? (2) With which sense organs do beetles and scorpions perceive wind directions? (3) Which physiological mechanism is the basis of anemomenotactic orientation? (4) What is the biological significance of anemomenotaxis in beetles and scorpions? With respect to these problems, more study has been done on beetles than on scorpions. Therefore, due to lack of space, I shall discuss mainly some of the results obtained in experiments with dung beetles (Geotrupes silvaticus, G. ,Stercorarius, G. armifrons, G. niger, Scarabaeus variolosus) and tenebrionid beetles (Tenebrio molitor, Pimelia grossa, P. tenuicomis, Scaurus dubius). KW - Biologie KW - Skorpion KW - Käfer Y1 - 1972 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-78118 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Linsenmair, Karl Eduard T1 - Anemomenotaktische Orientierung bei Skorpionen (Chelicerata, Scorpiones) N2 - 1. Scorpions can orient menotactically to horizontal air currents (Fig. 1). 2. Changing the wind velocity from 0,05-0,1 m/sec to 3--5 m/sec has no influence on the menotactic angle kept by an anemomenotactic oriented scorpion (Fig. 2). 3. The receptors percieving the direction of air currents are the trichobothria. 4. Orientation to horizon landmarks, anemomenotactic and astromenotactic orientation does not exclude each other but complete themthelves mutually: a) A scorpion orienting to horizon landmarks learns the corresponding anemomenotactic and astromenotactic angle (Fig. 4). b) While orienting anemomenotactically (which is normally the main means of orientation when landmarks are absent) they continously learn new astromenotactical angles (Fig. 5), thus compensating for the movement of the moon or sun which can not be compensated otherwise. c) Short calms and short changes of wind direction can be overcome by astrotaxis. Y1 - 1968 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-44589 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Linsenmair, Karl Eduard T1 - Anemomenotaktische Orientierung bei Tenebrioniden und Mistkäfern (Insecta, Coleoptera) N2 - 1. Die Feistkäfer Pimelia grossa, P. tenuicornis, der Mehlkäfer Tenebrio molitor, die Mistkäfer Geotrupes silvaticus und G. stercorarius konnen sich unter entsprechenden Bedingungen rein anemomenotaktisch orientieren (Abb. 1-8). Sie bevorzugen Laufwinkel, die in relativ enge Winkelbereiche rechts und links der beiden Grundrichtungen führen (Abb. 3, 4, 26). 2. Die Bevorzugung bestimmter Winkelgrößen andert sich bei Geotrupes nicht gesetzmig mit der Tageszeit, der Temperatur (im Bereich 18-28° C) oder dem Fütterungszustand (Abb. 8-11). 3. Die untere Grenze der Windstärke, die eine menotaktische Einstellung ermöglicht, liegt für die Mistkäfer bei etwa 0,15 m/sec, für die Feistkäfer bei etwa 0,4 m/sec. Die obere Grenze befindet sich bei Geschwindigkeiten, die den Käfern ein Vorwärtskommen unmöglich machen. 4. Bei der menotaktischen Einstellung wird nur die Reizrichtung nicht aber die Reizstarke bewertet (Abb. 13-15). 5. Die Kontinuitat des Luftstroms ist keine Voraussetzung für die anemomenotaktische Orientierung: Die Käfer orientieren sich auch nach kurzen Windstößen (Abb. 17, 19, 21). Während der Windstille kommt es zu regelhaften Abweichungen von dem bei Wind eingehaltenen Kurs (Abb. 18). Das Ausmaß dieser Abweichungen wird nach häufigen Windunterbrechungen stark verringert (Abb. 20). 6. Gegen Turbulenzen des Luftstroms, wie sie über unebenem Untergrund entstehen, ist die Anemomenotaxis der Käfer nicht sehr anfällig (Abb. 22). 7. Die Sinnesorgane, die dem intakten Käfer die Windrichtungsbestimmung ermöglichen, sprechen auf Bewegungen im Pedicellus-Flagellumgelenk an. Ein Verlust der Endkolben hat beim Mistkäfer keinen Einfluß auf die Richtungs- und Winkelgrößenwahl, auch die Streuung wird nicht signifikant größer. 2 Flagellenglieder pro Antenne ermöglichen bei Windgeschwindigkeiten um oder über 1 m/sec noch eine anemomenotaktische Orientierung (Tabelle 3). 8. Bei 3 Mistkäfern, deren Fühler 4 Wochen bzw. 4 Monate vor dem Versuch entfernt worden waren, konnte wieder eine Orientierung nach der Windrichtung nachgewiesen werden (Abb. 23, Tabelle 1). 9. Die Kafer konnen Laufwinkel intramodal vierdeutig transponieren (z.B. Abb. 28, 29). Am deutlichsten tritt diese Fähigkeit bei Versuchsneulingen zutage, deren Laufe rein fluchtmotiviert sind: Sie wählen normalerweise denjenigen der 4 möglichen Laufwinkel, der der Aufsetzrichtung am nächsten liegt (vgl. Abb. 25, 26). 10. Die Existenz und die Wirkungsrichtung eines Drehkommandos, sowie die Beteiligung beider Grundorientierungen an der Anemomenotaxis werden nachgewiesen (Abb. 31). Die Fähigkeit, eine gleichbleibende Drehkommandogröße (die nie zu einer stärkeren Abweichung als 90° von einer Grundrichtung führen kann) mit verschiedenem Vorzeichen der Drehrichtung versehen zu konnen und die Möglichkeit zur Taxisumkehr (Abb. 32) erklären die orientierungsphysiologische Seite des vierdeutigen intramodalen Transponierens. 11. Versuchsergebnisse, die Aussagen uber den physiologischen Mechanismus der Anemomenotaxis der Käfer zulassen, sprechen für einen Kompensationsmechanismus. Die gegen die Kompensationstheorie der Menotaxis (JANDER, 1957) vorgebrachten Argumente werden im Rahmen der bisherigen Resultate kurz diskutiert. 12. Die möglichen biologischen Bedeutungen der Anemomenotaxis werden besprochen. Es wird angenommen, daß sie beim Appetenzverhalten des nach geruchlichen Schlüsselreizen "suchenden" Käfers ihre biologisch wichtigste Aufgabe erfüllt. Sie kann auch die basalen Aufgaben einer Raumorientierung übernehmen und so z.B. kompaßtreue Fluchtkurse steuern. N2 - 1. The tenebrionid beetles Pimelia grossa, P. tenuicornis, Tenebrio molitor, the dung beetles Geotrupes silvaticus and G. stercorarius can, under specific conditions, use pure anemomenotactic orientation (Figs. l-8). They prefer running-angles which have relatively narrow angular deviations, left and right, to the basic directions (Figs. 3, 4, 26). 2. The preferences for particular angle sizes do not constantly alter with respect to the times of day, temperature (between 18 and 28° C) or feeding conditions (Figs. 8-11). 3. The lowest wind velocities which will evoke menotactic orientation lie at about 0.15 m/sec (Geotrupes) and 0.4 m/sec (Pimelia). The upper limit for anemomenotactic orientation are velocities higher than those against which the animal can move. 4. Only stimulus direction, not strength is evaluated for menotaxis (Figs. 13-15). 5. The continuity of the air stream is not a hard and fast requirement for anemomenotactic orientation: beetles can also orient themselves to short puffs of wind (Figs. 17, 19, 21). During still air, between puffs, the beetles characteristically deviate from their adopted course (Fig. 18). However the more puffs and intervals the less the deviation becomes (Fig. 20). 6. The anemomenotactic orientation is not greatly disturbed in partly turbulent air (for example over rough ground)(Fig. 22). 7. The sense organ which allows the intact beetle to detect wind direction is situated in the pedicellus-flagellum joint. In Geotrupes the loss of the clubs does not have a detrimental effect on either choice of direction or angular preference, neither does it result in significantly larger standard deviations. 2 segments of the flagellum allow the beetle to anemomenotactically orientate to wind directions when the air stream is moving at, or above, 1 m/sec (Table 3). 8. 3 dung beetles were able to orient themselves to wind directions 4 weeks respectively 4 months after antennal amputation (Fig. 23, Table 1). 9. Beetles are able to transpose their running-angles intramodally (Figs. 28, 29). This ability is most obvious in experimentally naive animals whose locomotion is flight motivated. Of the four possible directions they choose the one nearest to that of their long axis after they have been placed on the substrate (Figs. 25, 26). 10. The existence and working direction of a Course order, and the participation of both basic orientations in anemomenotaxis are proven (Fig. 32). The ability to provide a sustained Course order size (that can never deviate over the 90° limit of the basic directions) with different signs (of the turning direction) and the possibility to reverse taxis explains the orientation physiology of the four intramodal transpositions. 11. A compensation mechanism is suggested as the basis for anemomenotaxis of beetles by the experimental evidence in this account. Two main objections against such a mechanism are debated in the discussion. 12. The possible biological significances of anemomenotaxis are discussed. It is proposed that this taxis has its most important significance in appetetive behavior of beetles that are in readiness for an olfactory sign-stimulus. It is proposed that anemomenotaxis can also fullfill the basic role of space orientation (for example, compass true alignment during flight). Y1 - 1969 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-44512 ER -