First ultrastructural description of an apomictic opsiblastic egg in freshwater Gastrotricha.

Freshwater gastrotrichs have a biphasic lifecycle that reputedly involves the production of three types of eggs: apomictic and fast hatching (tachyblastic ova), apomictic and delayed hatching (opsiblastic ova), and plaque-bearing eggs (potentially derived from mixis). While some details of oogenesis and eggshell structure are known for tachyblastic ova, there are few details on other egg types. Here, we provide the first ultrastructural description of the oviposited opsiblastic eggs of the freshwater gastrotrich, Lepidodermella squamata. Scanning electron microscopy revealed the eggshell surface to be ornamented with long flattened pillar-like structures centered on polygonal plates that are pitted along their periphery. Transmission electron microscopy showed the pits to lead to a vast labyrinth of tubular spaces and larger cavities throughout the thick apical layer of the shell. The basal layer of the shell is amorphous and connected to a network of fine fibers that traverse an extra-oocyte space and forms a protective sheet around the uncleaved oocyte. The uncleaved oocyte has a dense layer of peripheral ooplasm surrounding a core of organelles including mitochondria, membrane-bound secretion granules, endoplasmic reticulum, and a single nucleus in a granular, ribosome-rich cytoplasm. Secretion granules are the most abundant organelles and presumably contain lipid-rich yolk that will be used as energy for delayed cleavage, thus functioning in temporal dispersal. These data are compared to the fine structure of invertebrate resting eggs across the phylogenetic spectrum to determine the novelty of opsiblastic egg structure in L. squamata.

Behavioral Integration of Individual Psychological Assessment Feedback: Assessor and Social Support.

The present study investigates the role of perceived social support and development-focused feedback techniques on behavioral integration of feedback in the context of individual psychological assessment. We hypothesized that development-focused techniques would predict participants' motivational intention to act on feedback and tested whether perceived social support would mediate or moderate the relationship between motivational intention and behavioral outcomes. We performed structural equation modeling analyses on data collected at two time-points. Two hundred and forty (N = 240) participants completed questionnaires immediately after their feedback session (T1) and 138 of them completed questionnaires three months later (T2). The model results, χ2 = 230.09, p < .01, CFI = .97, TLI = .97, SRMR = .06, RMSEA = .03 90% CI [.02, .05], suggest that development-focused techniques predict motivational intention, social support mediates the relationship between motivational intention and developmental activities (R2 = .31), and social support also interacts with development-focused techniques to predict behavior change (R2 = .40). The relationship between social support and behavioral change is higher when the assessor uses few development-focused techniques (at -1 SD, b = .32, p < .001, 95% CI [.27, .36]). The study provides empirical insights about how behavioral change unfolds in an IPA feedback context and suggests that participants could benefit from obtaining social support to act on feedback. Assessors should focus on development during feedback and encourage the participant to seek social support to facilitate their subsequent professional development. Because the findings rely on self-reported data, future studies would benefit from including observed measures.

The Use of UAS to Release the Egg Parasitoid Trichogramma spp. (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) Against an Agricultural and a Forest Pest in Canada.

The egg parasitoid Trichogramma spp. (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) is a widely used biocontrol agent against lepidopteran pests. Historically, Trichogramma were deployed either by plane or by using cardboard cards on which parasitized eggs are glued and manually installed at sites. Plane deployment is costly and card installation is time consuming, but the use of Trichogramma has been shown to be efficient against several pests. In 2016 and 2017, a research project investigated the potential use of unmanned aerial system for distributing Trichogramma as biocontrol agents against two major pests: an agricultural pest of maize, the European corn borer, Ostrinia nubilalis (Hübner) (Lepidoptera: Crambidae), and a forest pest, the eastern spruce budworm, Choristoneura fumiferana (Clemens) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae). Exposure duration of parasitized eggs to field conditions (temperature, predation, etc.) in maize fields influenced the Trichogramma's emergence rate, suggesting that timing of parasitoid releases with their emergence is essential. Although parasitism of naturally occurring eggs in maize fields could not be compared due to the low density of the European corn borer, parasitism of sentinel eggs by Trichogramma was more prominent in plots with unmanned aircraft systems (UAS)-releases compared to control plots. For spruce budworm, treatment with Trichogramma increased egg parasitism and there was no difference between the deployment by UAS and by Trichocards. We discuss these results in the context of pest biology and management. We also discuss the advantages and shortcomings of both methods and offer insights into where future work might go to further leverage the use of UAS in managing these important pests.