Revista de Biología Tropical Vol.57 (Suppl. 1)
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Ítem Plants and butterflies of a small urban preserve in the Central Valley of Costa Rica(2009) Nishida, Kenji; Nakamura, Ichiro; Morales Sánchez, CarlosCosta Rica’s most populated area, the Central Valley, has lost much of its natural habitat, and the little that remains has been altered to varying degrees. Yet few studies have been conducted to assess the need for conservation in this area. We present preliminary inventories of plants, butterflies, and day-flying moths of the Reserva Ecológica Leonelo Oviedo (RELO), a small Premontane Moist Forest preserve within the University of Costa Rica campus, located in the urbanized part of the Valley. Butterflies are one of the best bio-indicators of a habitat’s health, because they are highly sensitive to environmental changes and are tightly linked to the local flora. A description of the RELO’s physical features and its history is also presented with illustrations. Approximately 432 species of ca. 334 genera in 113 families of plants were identified. However, only 57 % of them represent species native to the Premontane Moist Forest of the region; the rest are either exotic or species introduced mostly from lowland. More than 200 species of butterflies in six families, including Hesperiidae, have been recorded.Ítem Substrate vibrations in the scorpion Centruroides margaritatus (Scorpiones: Buthidae) during courtship(Rev. Biol. Trop. (Int. J. Trop. Biol. ISSN-0034-7744) Vol. 57 (Suppl. 1): 267-274, November 2009, 2009-11) Briceño Lobo, Daniel; Bonilla Murillo, FabiánMating behavior in Centruroides margaritatus, as in other scorpion species, includes a series of rapid rocking or shaking movements of the male (“juddering”). It has been suggested that substrate vibrations are generated by juddering and that females respond to them by approaching the male, but its functional significance remains little studied. For the first time, substrate vibrations produced by males during courtship in Centruroides margaritatus are documented. The male started juddering after his first physical contact with the female and only one type of male vibratory signal was registered. The signal is produced during a series of rapid shaking of the male’s body from front to rear and consists of multiple short pulses. Each pulse is called a judder and several judders “a series”. The average duration of each judder was 0.018±0.009s (n=50) with an interval of 0.028±0.013s (n=50); the average duration of each series of judders was 4.2±3.5s with an interval between series of 3.5±6.3s and a rate of 0.21±0.17 series per second. The females responded in 72% of the time to the males juddering.Ítem Ultrastructure and histology of organogenesis induced from shoot tips of maize (Zea mays, Poaceae)(Revista de Biología Tropical; vol.57(supl.1), 2009-11) Marín Méndez, Walter; Sánchez Chacón, Ethel; Gatica Arias, Andrés Mauricio; Ramírez Fonseca, Pilar; Freer Bustamante, Enrique; Valdez Melara, MartaShoot tips of maize (Zea mays L.) were cultured on Murashige and Skoog medium supplemented with 2 mg/l BA +1 mg/l 2,4-D +40 mg/l, to investigate phases of ontogenetic development. The study used light microscopy as well as scanning and transmission electronic microscopy techniques. Shoot tips of maize are composed of small cells with a dense cytoplasm and a prominent nucleus. The process of organogenesis began with swelling of the shoot tip, as the first evidence of organogenic calli formation observed three weeks after culture get started. There were two morphologically different types of cells within the organogenic calli. The layer consisted of large cells with small nucleus, free-organelle cytosol, irregular plasmatic membrane, trichomelike structures, and thick cell walls. In the inner cell layer, small and isodiametric cells with a prominent nucleus, small vacuoles, endoplasmatic reticulum, Golgi, mitochondrias and chloroplasts were observed. The presence of trichomes in the more active morphogenic zones could indicate an organogenic potential. Rev. Biol. Trop. 57 (Suppl. 1): 129-139. Epub 2009 November 30.