Q. We run a courier service delivering time-sensitive documents around the Twin Cities by bicycle. Recently, an employee broke her leg while skiing. Now she is unable to perform her job as bicycle courier. Do we have to put her in a different job while her leg is in a cast?
A. Although your employee is impaired in her ability to deliver documents by bicycle, she is not likely to be disabled under the ADA. To qualify as a disability, an impairment must be more than a minor or transitory impairment (i.e., lasting more than six months). Here, your employee is not likely to be disabled if her broken leg will heal in less than six months.
Because she is not disabled, you do not need to accommodate her injury. Even if you were obligated to provide reasonable accommodations, disregarding the essential functions of her job and putting her in a new job is not likely to be considered a reasonable accommodation that you would be obligated to provide.
Although she may not have protections under disability discrimination laws, if you are an FMLA employer and she is a qualified employee, she may be entitled to up 12 weeks of leave from work to recover from her injury. If she is able to return to her job after her FMLA leave entitlement expires, you would be obligated to reinstate her to her previous position following the leave.
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Just what makes that little old ant change a flower's nectar content?Public release date: 24-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Richard Hund rhund@botany.org 314-577-9557 American Journal of Botany
Ants foraging on nectar transmit yeasts that change sugar-chemistry and may affect subsequent pollinator visitations and plant fitness
Ants play a variety of important roles in many ecosystems. As frequent visitors to flowers, they can benefit plants in their role as pollinators when they forage on sugar-rich nectar. However, a new study reveals that this mutualistic relationship may actually have some hidden costs. By transmitting sugar-eating yeasts to the nectar on which they feed, ants may be indirectly altering the nectar-chemistry and thus affecting subsequent pollinator visitations.
Many species of plants benefit from interacting with ants, and some even secrete special sugary substances to attract ants. Plants produce sugar, in the form of nectar, and in exchange ants provide services such as pollination or protection from herbivores.
The main components of nectar that attract pollinators include three dominant sugarssucrose, fructose, and glucoseand amino acids (or proteins). The chemical composition of nectar differs among plant species and has been thought to be a conservative trait linked to pollinator type. For example, plants pollinated by hummingbirds tend to have nectar with high amounts of sucrose. In addition, nectar composition is thought to be regulated by the plant.
"When people think about how flowers are pollinated, they probably think about bees," notes Clara de Vega, a postdoctoral researcher at the Estacin Biolgica de Doana, Spain. "But ants also pollinate flowers, and I am interested in the role ants play in pollination since it is still poorly understood."
De Vega joined forces with Carlos M. Herrera, an evolutionary ecologist at the Estacin Biolgica de Doana, to investigate the relationship between ant pollinators and nectarivorous yeasts. Nectar-dwelling yeasts, which consume sugars, have recently been discovered in the flowers of many temperate and tropical plant species. De Vega and Herrera have already discovered that some ant species not only carry certain types of sugar-metabolizing yeasts on their bodies, but they also effectively transmit these yeasts to the nectar of flowers they visit.
In their most recent work, published in the American Journal of Botany (http://www.amjbot.org/content/100/4/792.full.pdf+html), De Vega and Herrera investigated whether flowers visited by these ants differed from flowers that were not visited by ants in their sugar chemistry, and whether sugar-chemistry was correlated with the abundance of ant-transmitted yeasts found in the nectar.
By excluding ants from visiting inflorescences of a perennial, parasitic plant, Cytinus hypocistis, and comparing the nectar chemistry to inflorescences that were visited by ants, the authors tested these ideas experimentally.
When the authors compared the sugar content in the nectar of flowers visited by ants versus those enclosed in nylon mesh bags to exclude ants, they found that nectar of flowers exposed to ants had higher levels of fructose and glucose, but lower levels of sucrose compared with the ant-excluded flowers.
Interestingly, in flowers visited by ants, there was a high correlation between yeast cell density and sugar content. Nectar that had higher densities of yeast had more fructose and less sucrose, suggesting that the types of yeasts change the sugar content of the nectar. Flowers that were excluded from ants did not have any yeast in their nectar.
"Our study has revealed that ants can actually change the nectar characteristics of the flowers they are pollinating," says de Vega. "The microorganisms, specifically yeasts, that are present on the surface of ants change the composition of sugar in the flowers nectar."
"This means that nectar composition is not completely controlled by the flowerit is something created in cooperation with the ants that visit the flower," she notes. "We also think that these ant-transported yeasts might have the potential to affect plant reproduction."
Indeed, if a plant cannot control the sugar content of its nectar, then it may lose some of its target pollinators, which would potentially affect overall seed set and plant fitness.
Moreover, if introducing these yeasts to nectar changes the chemistry of the very components that serve to attract pollinators, then perhaps ants are indirectly changing the foraging behavior of subsequent flower visitors and thereby affecting seed dispersal patterns.
This study has revealed an additional layer in the complex association between ants and flowering plants, as pollinating ants alter sugar-nectar chemistry in flowers via sugar-consuming yeasts. But the story does not end here. De Vega plans to continue researching the role that these nectarivorous yeasts play on the reproduction of plants.
"I plan to study the whole interaction of plants, yeasts, and pollinatorshow are they interrelated and what mechanisms shape these relations?"
###
Clara de Vega and Carlos M. Herrera. 2013. Microorganisms transported by ants induce changes in floral nectar composition of an ant-pollinated plant. American Journal of Botany 100(4): 792-800. DOI: 10.3732/ajb.1200626
The full article in the link mentioned is available for no charge for 30 days following the date of this summary at http://www.amjbot.org/content/100/4/792.full.pdf+html. After this date, reporters may contact Richard Hund at ajb@botany.org for a copy of the article.
The Botanical Society of America (http://www.botany.org) is a non-profit membership society with a mission to promote botany, the field of basic science dealing with the study and inquiry into the form, function, development, diversity, reproduction, evolution, and uses of plants and their interactions within the biosphere. It has published the American Journal of Botany (http://www.amjbot.org) for nearly 100 years. In 2009, the Special Libraries Association named the American Journal of Botany one of the Top 10 Most Influential Journals of the Century in the field of Biology and Medicine.
For further information, please contact the AJB staff at ajb@botany.org.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Just what makes that little old ant change a flower's nectar content?Public release date: 24-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Richard Hund rhund@botany.org 314-577-9557 American Journal of Botany
Ants foraging on nectar transmit yeasts that change sugar-chemistry and may affect subsequent pollinator visitations and plant fitness
Ants play a variety of important roles in many ecosystems. As frequent visitors to flowers, they can benefit plants in their role as pollinators when they forage on sugar-rich nectar. However, a new study reveals that this mutualistic relationship may actually have some hidden costs. By transmitting sugar-eating yeasts to the nectar on which they feed, ants may be indirectly altering the nectar-chemistry and thus affecting subsequent pollinator visitations.
Many species of plants benefit from interacting with ants, and some even secrete special sugary substances to attract ants. Plants produce sugar, in the form of nectar, and in exchange ants provide services such as pollination or protection from herbivores.
The main components of nectar that attract pollinators include three dominant sugarssucrose, fructose, and glucoseand amino acids (or proteins). The chemical composition of nectar differs among plant species and has been thought to be a conservative trait linked to pollinator type. For example, plants pollinated by hummingbirds tend to have nectar with high amounts of sucrose. In addition, nectar composition is thought to be regulated by the plant.
"When people think about how flowers are pollinated, they probably think about bees," notes Clara de Vega, a postdoctoral researcher at the Estacin Biolgica de Doana, Spain. "But ants also pollinate flowers, and I am interested in the role ants play in pollination since it is still poorly understood."
De Vega joined forces with Carlos M. Herrera, an evolutionary ecologist at the Estacin Biolgica de Doana, to investigate the relationship between ant pollinators and nectarivorous yeasts. Nectar-dwelling yeasts, which consume sugars, have recently been discovered in the flowers of many temperate and tropical plant species. De Vega and Herrera have already discovered that some ant species not only carry certain types of sugar-metabolizing yeasts on their bodies, but they also effectively transmit these yeasts to the nectar of flowers they visit.
In their most recent work, published in the American Journal of Botany (http://www.amjbot.org/content/100/4/792.full.pdf+html), De Vega and Herrera investigated whether flowers visited by these ants differed from flowers that were not visited by ants in their sugar chemistry, and whether sugar-chemistry was correlated with the abundance of ant-transmitted yeasts found in the nectar.
By excluding ants from visiting inflorescences of a perennial, parasitic plant, Cytinus hypocistis, and comparing the nectar chemistry to inflorescences that were visited by ants, the authors tested these ideas experimentally.
When the authors compared the sugar content in the nectar of flowers visited by ants versus those enclosed in nylon mesh bags to exclude ants, they found that nectar of flowers exposed to ants had higher levels of fructose and glucose, but lower levels of sucrose compared with the ant-excluded flowers.
Interestingly, in flowers visited by ants, there was a high correlation between yeast cell density and sugar content. Nectar that had higher densities of yeast had more fructose and less sucrose, suggesting that the types of yeasts change the sugar content of the nectar. Flowers that were excluded from ants did not have any yeast in their nectar.
"Our study has revealed that ants can actually change the nectar characteristics of the flowers they are pollinating," says de Vega. "The microorganisms, specifically yeasts, that are present on the surface of ants change the composition of sugar in the flowers nectar."
"This means that nectar composition is not completely controlled by the flowerit is something created in cooperation with the ants that visit the flower," she notes. "We also think that these ant-transported yeasts might have the potential to affect plant reproduction."
Indeed, if a plant cannot control the sugar content of its nectar, then it may lose some of its target pollinators, which would potentially affect overall seed set and plant fitness.
Moreover, if introducing these yeasts to nectar changes the chemistry of the very components that serve to attract pollinators, then perhaps ants are indirectly changing the foraging behavior of subsequent flower visitors and thereby affecting seed dispersal patterns.
This study has revealed an additional layer in the complex association between ants and flowering plants, as pollinating ants alter sugar-nectar chemistry in flowers via sugar-consuming yeasts. But the story does not end here. De Vega plans to continue researching the role that these nectarivorous yeasts play on the reproduction of plants.
"I plan to study the whole interaction of plants, yeasts, and pollinatorshow are they interrelated and what mechanisms shape these relations?"
###
Clara de Vega and Carlos M. Herrera. 2013. Microorganisms transported by ants induce changes in floral nectar composition of an ant-pollinated plant. American Journal of Botany 100(4): 792-800. DOI: 10.3732/ajb.1200626
The full article in the link mentioned is available for no charge for 30 days following the date of this summary at http://www.amjbot.org/content/100/4/792.full.pdf+html. After this date, reporters may contact Richard Hund at ajb@botany.org for a copy of the article.
The Botanical Society of America (http://www.botany.org) is a non-profit membership society with a mission to promote botany, the field of basic science dealing with the study and inquiry into the form, function, development, diversity, reproduction, evolution, and uses of plants and their interactions within the biosphere. It has published the American Journal of Botany (http://www.amjbot.org) for nearly 100 years. In 2009, the Special Libraries Association named the American Journal of Botany one of the Top 10 Most Influential Journals of the Century in the field of Biology and Medicine.
For further information, please contact the AJB staff at ajb@botany.org.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Authorities search a storage unit at Gibson Self Storage as they continue to investigate the slayings of Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland, his wife and a top prosecutor, Saturday, Aug. 13, 2013 in Seagoville, Texas. Authorities investigating the death of a Texas district attorney arrested Eric Williams, a former justice of the peace and charged him Saturday with making a "terroristic threat" after searching his home. (AP Photo/The Dallas Morning News, Michael Ainsworth) MANDATORY CREDIT; MAGS OUT; TV OUT; INTERNET USE BY AP MEMBERS ONLY; NO SALES
Authorities search a storage unit at Gibson Self Storage as they continue to investigate the slayings of Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland, his wife and a top prosecutor, Saturday, Aug. 13, 2013 in Seagoville, Texas. Authorities investigating the death of a Texas district attorney arrested Eric Williams, a former justice of the peace and charged him Saturday with making a "terroristic threat" after searching his home. (AP Photo/The Dallas Morning News, Michael Ainsworth) MANDATORY CREDIT; MAGS OUT; TV OUT; INTERNET USE BY AP MEMBERS ONLY; NO SALES
File - In this April 15, 2013 file photo, the home of Eric Lyle Williams is shown in Kaufman, Texas. Texas authorities have arrested the former justice of the peace's wife, Kim Lene Williams. Online jail records do not list charges against her and officials in Kaufman County wouldn't immediately comment on the reason for her arrest. A law enforcement official has said authorities are trying to build a case against Eric Lyle Williams in the deaths of Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife, Cynthia. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez, File)
File - This photo provided by the Kaufman County Sheriff's Office shows Eric Williams. Texas authorities have arrested the former justice of the peace's wife, Kim Lene Williams. Online jail records do not list charges against her and officials in Kaufman County wouldn't immediately comment on the reason for her arrest. A law enforcement official has said authorities are trying to build a case against Eric Lyle Williams in the deaths of Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife, Cynthia. (AP Photo/Kaufman County Sheriff's Office, File)
File - In this April 15, 2013 file photo, a printed sign on the door of the home of Eric Lyle Williams directs media to a spokesperson for the Williams family in Kaufman, Texas. Texas authorities have arrested the former justice of the peace's wife, Kim Lene Williams. Online jail records do not list charges against her and officials in Kaufman County wouldn't immediately comment on the reason for her arrest. A law enforcement official has said authorities are trying to build a case against Eric Lyle Williams in the deaths of Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife, Cynthia. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez, File)
KAUFMAN, Texas (AP) ? Authorities say the wife of a former judge has confessed to being involved in the shooting deaths of a North Texas district attorney, his wife and an assistant prosecutor.
Kim Lene Williams was arrested early Wednesday. Kaufman County sheriff's spokesman Lt. Justin Lewis says Williams is being charged in all three deaths. Lewis says she is being held on $10 million bond.
According to an arrest warrant affidavit, Williams told investigators Tuesday that she was involved in the shootings of Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland, his wife, Cynthia, and one of his prosecutors, Mark Hasse.
The investigation has also focused on her husband, Eric Williams, whom McLelland and Hasse successfully prosecuted for theft.
The McLellands were found dead March 30, two months after Hasse was slain.
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Public release date: 24-Apr-2013
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