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Here we found that dielectric measurement can be a sensitive probe to detect the behavior of electrons and electron-spin interaction in a strongly electron-correlated system. The CuO single crystal samples with and without excess holes were investigated by dielectric measurements in combination with magnetic susceptibility measurement. Only for the semiconducting single crystal with holes was dynamic dielectric relaxation with prominent frequency dispersion and large dielectric constants observed, suggesting localization of holes in the lattice. Coupling of hole and spin was directly observed by dielectric anomalies at the magnetic phase transitions. A pseudoferroelectric-like characteristic in the E–P plot was also observed. This study verifies that the holes are strongly coupled both to the vibrational and magnetic degrees of freedom in CuO. It also suggests the possibility of using dielectric measurement as a tool to investigate the coupling of electron and spin in strong correlated systems.

Antagonistic biological interactions with flower consumers and pathogens may influence reproductive success of flowering plants, affecting population dynamics and natural selection for floral traits. However, ecological and evolutionary consequences of the interactions may depend on both spatial and temporal patterns of the interactions. In a forest metapopulation of Primula sieboldii E. Morren, an endangered clonal plant species, we measured between-subpopulation patterns of seed sets and interactions with an influential flower consumer, a rove beetle, Eusphalerum bosatsu Watanabe, and a specific smut fungal pathogen, Urocystis tranzschelina (Lavrov) Zundel (Ustilaginales), for three years. Mean female fertility (seed set per flower) for individual subpopulations fluctuated moderately among years but was highly variable within each year among the five subpopulations studied. In two subpopulations, the impact of Eusphalerum beetle, was sufficiently large to result in almost complete failure in seed production over eight years including the three study and five previous preliminary observation years. In the two other subpopulations, seed set failure was caused by infection by the smut fungus. Infected capsules which constitute 10-30~ of the capsules produced in the subpopulations were filled with ustilospores instead of seeds. In the subpopulation that escaped flower damage by Eusphalerum beetles and smut fungal infection, seed sets of both pin and thrum flowers were much higher than in the other subpopulations. The spatial restriction of individual antagonistic agents to a part of subpopulations suggest that dispersal of the agents, as well as the mode of spatial subdivision of the plant population would be important for determining the overall effects of antagonistic interactions on plant performances at the metapopulation level.

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