Search results for " Selection"

Przeszczepy narządowe w okresie epidemii COVID-19

2020

Epidemia COVID-19 zmieniła podejście do kwalifikacji dawców i biorców przeszczepów narządowych. Kwalifikacja następuje po obowiązkowym wykonaniu tomografii komputerowej płuc i testu RT-PCR na obecność wirusa, w wyniku indywidualnej oceny korzyści i ryzyka zakażenia. W bardziej odległym okresie od transplantacji na ciężkość objawów w większym stopniu niż leczenie immunosupresyjne wpływają zaawansowany wiek i współchorobowości. Pierwszym krokiem w redukcji leczenia immunosupresyjnego u biorców przeszczepów narządowych jest odstawienie leku antyproliferacyjnego z pozostawieniem inhibitora kalcyneuryny i steroidów. Terapia immunosupresyjna znamiennie wydłuża czas eliminacji wirusa, ale może ogr…

A mate to die for? A model of conditional monogyny in cannibalistic spiders.

2012

Monogynous males in various species actively limit themselves to mating with a single female in their lifetime. Whereas previous models have considered monogyny as an obligate mating strategy, here we explore the potential of monogyny to evolve as a context-specific (conditional) behavior. Using a state-dependent dynamic game model based on the biology of the cannibalistic spider Argiope bruennichi, we confirm that conditional monogyny can evolve under broad conditions, including an even sex ratio. We predict that males should make a terminal investment when mating with large, virgin females, especially if population density is low and the encounter occurs late in the season. We encourage e…

2014

Captive breeding for conservation purposes presents a serious practical challenge because several conflicting genetic processes (i.e., inbreeding depression, random genetic drift and genetic adaptation to captivity) need to be managed in concert to maximize captive population persistence and reintroduction success probability. Because current genetic management is often only partly successful in achieving these goals, it has been suggested that management insights may be found in sexual selection theory (in particular, female mate choice). We review the theoretical and empirical literature and consider how female mate choice might influence captive breeding in the context of current genetic…

Influences of geographic differentiation in the forewing warning signal of the wood tiger moth in Alaska

2014

Aposematic organisms have warning signals advertising their unpalatability to predators, and because signal efficiency is better in higher densities, positive frequency-dependent selection is expected to select against less common signals. The wood tiger moth (Parasemia plantaginis) occurs across the Holarctic and its conspicuous hindwings serve as warning signals to predators. It also has conspicuous black and white forewing patterns that could act as warning signals, or help to hide the moth by preventing predators from seeing the outline of the moth’s body (a strategy known as disruptive coloration). In Alaska, the predominant forewing pattern changes distinctly between the regions aroun…

Inclusive fitness and sexual conflict: How population structure can modulate the battle of the sexes

2014

Competition over reproductive opportunities among members of one sex often harms the opposite sex, creating a conflict of interest between individual males and females. Recently, this battle of the sexes has become a paradigm in the study of intersexual coevolution. Here, we review recent theoretical and empirical advances suggesting that – as in any scenario of intraspecific competition – selfishness (competitiveness) can be influenced by the genetic relatedness of competitors. When competitors are positively related (e.g. siblings), an individual may refrain from harming its competitor(s) and their mate(s) because this can improve the focal individual's inclusive fitness. These findings r…

Operational sex ratio and resource defence as predictors of the mating system in European bitterling

2003

Operational sex ratio (OSR), the ratio of sexually active males to fertilizable females in a population, plays a central role in the theory of mating systems by predicting that the intensity of male–male competition and the degree of sexual selection increases as the OSR becomes increasingly male biased. At high values of OSR, however, resource defence theory predicts the breakdown of territoriality and a shift towards scramble competition with a decrease in sexual selection. The direction that correlations between OSR and resource competition and variance in mating success will take depends on the biology of the species of interest. We investigated the effects of male population density an…

Selection on life-history traits and genetic population divergence in rotifers

2009

A combination of founder effects and local adaptation – the Monopolization hypothesis – has been proposed to reconcile the strong population differentiation of zooplankton dwelling in ponds and lakes and their high dispersal abilities. The role genetic drift plays in genetic differentiation of zooplankton is well documented, but the impact of natural selection has received less attention. Here, we compare differentiation in neutral genetic markers (FST) and in quantitative traits (QST) in six natural populations of the rotifer Brachionus plicatilis to assess the importance of natural selection in explaining genetic differentiation of life-history traits. Five life-history traits were measur…

REPLICATED ORIGIN OF FEMALE-BIASED ADULT SEX RATIO IN INTRODUCED POPULATIONS OF THE TRINIDADIAN GUPPY (POECILIA RETICULATA)

2014

There are many theoretical and empirical studies explaining variation in offspring sex ratio but relatively few that explain variation in adult sex ratio. Adult sex ratios are important because biased sex ratios can be a driver of sexual selection and will reduce effective population size, affecting population persistence and shapes how populations respond to natural selection. Previous work on guppies (Poecilia reticulata) gives mixed results, usually showing a female-biased adult sex ratio. However, a detailed analysis showed that this bias varied dramatically throughout a year and with no consistent sex bias. We used a mark-recapture approach to examine the origin and consistency of fema…

Mate recognition as a reproductive barrier in sexual and parthenogenetic Eucypris virens (Crustacea, Ostracoda)

2013

Mate selection is one of the motors of evolution and of particular importance in the case of organisms in which sexual and parthenogenetic populations coexist. Sexual populations of the ostracod species complex Eucypris virens are often mixed with parthenogenetic ones. A powerful mate selection mechanism must exist to avoid time, energy and sperm loss, for the maintenance and success of sexual reproduction in these mixed populations. There are four types of E. virens individuals: males (diploid), sexual females (diploid) and asexual females (parthenogenetic and either di- or triploid). From one parthenogenetic population and two populations with males of E. virens, we sampled early stage ju…

Different demography of friends and strangers: an experiment on the impact of kinship and familiarity in Clethrionomys glareolus.

1989

We examined demographic effects of familiarity and relatedness in the bank vole Clethrionomys glareolus (Schreber) in four 0.5-ha enclosures in Central Finland. In two enclosures were mature voles which had overwintered together and some of their mature off-spring (hereafter referred to as “Friends”), and in the other two individuals of the same species captured from different localities near the study area (“Strangers”). The experiment lasted from June to September. The populations of Friends reached densities twice as high as those of Strangers with a significantly higher rate of recruitment and survival of the young. This may have been due to mutual familiarity decreasing antagonism towa…