Microorganisms colonizing allochthonous detritus (live oak leaves) incubated in a north Florida estuary show metabolic activity that can be assayed reproducibly by the incorporation of [32P]H3PO4 and [1‐14C] sodium acetate into the lipids in a 2‐h period without introducing subculture bias. Relatively uncolonized live oak leaves show only about 1% of the biosynthetic capacity of leaves incubated in the estuary for 1 week. Lipid synthesis is proportional to time for at least 2 h and also to detrital mass. Random sampling from pooled portions of many leaves greatly reduces the variance of activities from individual leaves. Rates of phospholipid synthesis paralleled the total extractable ATP and the alkaline phosphatase activity during a 6‐week incubation of live oak leaves in Apalachicola Bay. Rates of 14C incorporation into lipids paralleled the respiratory and the α‐d‐mannosidase

One of the predictions of theoretical treatments of soft-bottom benthos is: if disturbance were responsible for the persistence of a species in a community, that species should become disproportionately abundant in recently disturbed patches. We investigated this predict~on using marine free-living nematode species in subtidal (2 to 3 m depth) sediments off the Florida panhandle (2g054.55'N, 84"31.45'W), frequently disturbed by stingrays (Dasyatis sabina). In disturbed sediments nematode densities gradually increased over 4 d until they exceeded abundances in background sediments 96 h after the initial disturbance. None of the species examined responded to disturbance in the manner expected. We conclude that small-scale natural disturbances are not important in the maintenance of nematode species in this community.

Several states have revised their civil commitment statutes in recent years. A majority of the recent revisions reflect judicial directives to provide more explicit commitment criteria, but in some instances, criteria have been broadened in reaction to the difficulty of getting some individuals hospitalized under strict criteria. Such statutory changes have impacted considerably on both process and outcome of the civil commitment system. Adoption of explicit commitment criteria has resulted most visibly in substantial reduction of hospital admissions and census. The present study examines the impact of explicit changes in commitment criteria in Florida following the 1982 enactment of amendments to the Baker Act. A total of 80 commitment hearings are reviewed before and after the law took effect to determine procedural effects of the law on degree of defense counsel advocacy, client dispositions, and on the court’s adherence to more explicit criteria. State hospital admissions, discharge, and census information is examined in order to identify the larger impact of 1982 statutory changes on the commitment system. Evidence from hearings and state data suggests that changes in the Florida law impacted significantly on both process and outcome of the civil commitment system. Clients referred to commitment hearings are more dangerous, and may represent a new “hard-core” group remaining after more explicit eligibility criteria are applied by local intake, and emergency detention facilities. State hospital admissions and census in Florida declined significantly following enactment of the 1982 law, consistent with findings from other states enacting similar statutory reforms, Implications for deinstitutionalization policy and administration are discussed.

Previous tests for aggregation of organisms among sampling units that vary in size and tests for size-based sample-unit selection fail to account for variation in the size of the sample unit. When sample units vary in size, tests that assume equal-sized sample units overestimate the degree of aggregation and have a tendency to find selection for large-sized sample units. Previous tests for selection of large or small leaves by phytophagous insects have been biased toward detecting selection for large leaves when no leaf selection or selection for small leaves may actually be present, and toward detecting aggregation even when populations are Poisson random or repulsed. We derive explicitly the population mean and variance of the number of organisms per sample unit when the size of the sample unit is random, and we outline procedures to estimate the degree of aggregation and test for size-based sample-unit selection using a generalized linear model based on a Poisson null hypothesis of independent random placement.

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