Identification of Shell Colour Pigments in Marine Snails Clanculus pharaonius and C. margaritarius (Trochoidea; Gastropoda).

Colour and pattern are key traits with important roles in camouflage, warning and attraction. Ideally, in order to begin to understand the evolution and ecology of colour in nature, it is important to identify and, where possible, fully characterise pigments using biochemical methods. The phylum Mollusca includes some of the most beautiful exemplars of biological pigmentation, with the vivid colours of sea shells particularly prized by collectors and scientists alike. Biochemical studies of molluscan shell colour were fairly common in the last century, but few of these studies have been confirmed using modern methods and very few shell pigments have been fully characterised. Here, we use modern chemical and multi-modal spectroscopic techniques to identify two porphyrin pigments and eumelanin in the shell of marine snails Clanculus pharaonius and C margaritarius. The same porphyrins were also identified in coloured foot tissue of both species. We use high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to show definitively that these porphyrins are uroporphyrin I and uroporphyrin III. Evidence from confocal microscopy analyses shows that the distribution of porphyrin pigments corresponds to the striking pink-red of C. pharaonius shells, as well as pink-red dots and lines on the early whorls of C. margaritarius and yellow-brown colour of later whorls. Additional HPLC results suggest that eumelanin is likely responsible for black spots. We refer to the two differently coloured porphyrin pigments as trochopuniceus (pink-red) and trochoxouthos (yellow-brown) in order to distinguish between them. Trochopuniceus and trochoxouthos were not found in the shell of a third species of the same superfamily, Calliostoma zizyphinum, despite its superficially similar colouration, suggesting that this species has different shell pigments. These findings have important implications for the study of colour and pattern in molluscs specifically, but in other taxa more generally, since this study shows that homology of visible colour cannot be assumed without identification of pigments.

Hierarchical structures of cactus spines that aid in the directional movement of dew droplets.

Three species of cactus whose spines act as dew harvesters were chosen for this study: Copiapoa cinerea var. haseltoniana, Mammillaria columbiana subsp. yucatanensis and Parodia mammulosa and compared with Ferocactus wislizenii whose spines do not perform as dew harvesters. Time-lapse snapshots of C. cinerea showed movement of dew droplets from spine tips to their base, even against gravity. Spines emanating from one of the areoles of C. cinerea were submerged in water laced with fluorescent nanoparticles and this particular areole with its spines and a small area of stem was removed and imaged. These images clearly showed that fluorescent water had moved into the stem of the plant. Lines of vascular bundles radiating inwards from the surface areoles (from where the spines emanate) to the core of the stem were detected using magnetic resonance imaging, with the exception of F. wislizenii that does not harvest dew on its spines. Spine microstructures were examined using SEM images and surface roughness measurements (Ra and Rz) taken of the spines of C. cinerea It was found that a roughness gradient created by tapered microgrooves existed that could potentially direct surface water from a spine tip to its base.This article is part of the themed issue 'Bioinspired hierarchically structured surfaces for green science'.

Seasonal Patterns of Spore Dispersal of Phaeosphaeria spp. and Stagonospora spp.

The spatial and temporal patterns of discharge and dissemination of airborne spores of Phaeosphaeria spp. and Stagonospora spp. were studied. Both ascospores and pycnidiospores of the pathogens were deposited at various densities on microscope slides used as spore samplers. The maximum deposition of the spores was observed during the period of August to October. A multiple regression analysis was used to determine which weather factors significantly explained the variation measured in the numbers of ascospores that settled on microscope slides. Rainfall, air temperature, and relative air humidity were influential in the release of Phaeosphaeria spp. ascospores into the air. The amount of airborne ascospores was a function of the variables and remained largely under their control. The liberation of ascospores was favored by air temperature above 0°C, rainfall greater than 1 mm, and high relative humidity. The range of atmospheric conditions stimulating air dispersal of ascospores was wider than that for pycnidiospores. Pycnidiospores were sampled only during rainy days. Their release was affected adversely by air temperature below 5°C. Multiple regression models based on weather data were developed and verified for their predictive ability and accuracy by jackknife and cross-validation procedures, as well as by comparisons of observed and predicted mean numbers of deposited ascospores per microscope slide after a substitution of each period data set with a set of data of the other respective time interval. The numbers of airborne ascospores predicted by the regression models were in a good agreement with the observed values. The jackknife and cross-validation techniques allowed use of the limited data sets for both the parameter estimation and validation processes in a development of simulation models. The airborne inoculum appeared to be omnipresent over cereal areas year round, except during periods with freezing temperatures and a snow cover. Such an omnipresence of inoculum of the pathogens poses a danger to crops and could be of importance in the epidemiology of Stagonospora (= Septoria) blotches under the climatic conditions of central Poland.