Search results for "3(59)"

Pole-to-Pole Connections: Similarities between Arctic and Antarctic Microbiomes and Their Vulnerability to Environmental Change

2017

The global biogeography of microorganisms remains poorly resolved, which limits the current understanding of microbial resilience toward environmental changes. Using high-throughput 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing, we characterized the microbial diversity of terrestrial and lacustrine biofilms from the Arctic, Antarctic and temperate regions. Our analyses suggest that bacterial community compositions at the poles are more similar to each other than they are to geographically closer temperate habitats, with 32% of all operational taxonomic units (OTUs) co-occurring in both polar regions. While specific microbial taxa were confined to distinct regions, representing potentially endemic popul…

SETAC GLB and SETAC Europe SAC: a liaison promoting the next generation of ecotoxicologists and environmental chemists

2018

Environmental sciences Europe 30(1), 41s12302-018-0171-z (2018). doi:10.1186/s12302-018-0171-z

Individual differences in behavioral consistency are related to sequential access to resources and body condition in a producer-scrounger game

2014

Investigating the evolution of consistent between-individual behavioral differences necessitates to explain the emergence of within-individual consistency. Relying on a recent mathematical model, we here test the prediction that the emergence of differences in within-individual consistency is related to the sequential access to resources in a frequency-dependent foraging game. To this end we used flocks of zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) engaged in a producer-scrounger foraging game. Tactic investment (i.e., the proportion of hops with the head down) significantly predicted successful tactic use (i.e., the proportion of seeds produced). In support of predictions, we found that individua…

Chronic Background Radiation Correlates With Sperm Swimming Endurance in Bank Voles From Chernobyl

2022

Sperm quantity and quality are key features explaining intra- and interspecific variation in male reproductive success. Spermatogenesis is sensitive to ionizing radiation and laboratory studies investigating acute effects of ionizing radiation have indeed found negative effects of radiation on sperm quantity and quality. In nature, levels of natural background radiation vary dramatically, and chronic effects of low-level background radiation exposure on spermatogenesis are poorly understood. The Chernobyl region offers a unique research opportunity for investigating effects of chronic low-level ionizing radiation on reproductive properties of wild organisms. We captured male bank voles (Myo…

Editorial: Chemical Ecology and Conservation Biological Control

2022

International audience

Sequential infection can decrease virulence in a fish–bacterium–fluke interaction: Implications for aquaculture disease management

2019

Hosts are typically infected with multiple strains or genotypes of one or several parasite species. These infections can take place simultaneously, but also at different times, i.e. sequentially, when one of the parasites establishes first. Sequential parasite dynamics are common in nature, but also in intensive farming units such as aquaculture. However, knowledge of effects of previous exposures on virulence of current infections in intensive farming is very limited. This is critical as consecutive epidemics and infection history of a host could underlie failures in management practises and medical intervention of diseases. Here, we explored effects of timing of multiple infection on viru…

Potential for adaptation to climate change: family-level variation in fitness-related traits and their responses to heat waves in a snail population.

2017

Background On-going global climate change poses a serious threat for natural populations unless they are able to evolutionarily adapt to changing environmental conditions (e.g. increasing average temperatures, occurrence of extreme weather events). A prerequisite for evolutionary change is within-population heritable genetic variation in traits subject to selection. In relation to climate change, mainly phenological traits as well as heat and desiccation resistance have been examined for such variation. Therefore, it is important to investigate adaptive potential under climate change conditions across a broader range of traits. This is especially true for life-history traits and defences ag…

Tadpole Responses to Environments With Limited Visibility: What We (Don’t) Know and Perspectives for a Sharper Future

2022

Amphibian larvae typically inhabit relatively shallow freshwater environments, and within these boundaries there is considerable diversity in the structure of the habitats exploited by different species. This diversity in habitat structure is usually taken into account in relation to aspects such as locomotion and feeding, and plays a fundamental role in the classification of tadpoles into ecomorphological guilds. However, its impact in shaping the sensory worlds of different species is rarely addressed, including the optical qualities of each of these types of water bodies and the challenges and limitations that they impose on the repertoire of visual abilities available for a typical vert…

Editorial: From Meristems to Floral Diversity: Developmental Options and Constraints

2021

Interspecific information on predation risk affects nest site choice in a passerine bird

2018

Abstract Background Breeding site choice constitutes an important part of the species niche. Nest predation affects breeding site choice, and has been suggested to drive niche segregation and local coexistence of species. Interspecific social information use may, in turn, result in copying or rejection of heterospecific niche characteristics and thus affect realized niche overlap between species. We tested experimentally whether a migratory bird, the pied flycatcher Ficedula hypoleuca, collects information about nest predation risk from indirect cues of predators visiting nests of heterospecific birds. Furthermore, we investigated whether the migratory birds can associate such information w…