Search results for "Agricultural"
showing 10 items of 5177 documents
Sexual selection in a wolf spider: Male drumming activity, body size, and viability
1996
Females are often believed to actively choose highly ornamented males (males with extravagant morphological signals or intense sexual display), and ornaments should be honest signals of male viability. However, this belief is relying only on some pieces of empirical evidence from birds. Our study reports active female choice on sexual display that indicates male viability in spiders. We established trials in which we studied female choice in relation to male courtship drumming activity and body size. Females chose the most actively drumming males as mating partners, but the body size of the males did not seem to be selected. Male drumming activity turned out to be a good predictor of male v…
Micropropagation of Sicilian cultivars with an aim to preserve genetic diversity in hazelnut (Corylus avellana L.)
2018
The use of a small number of cultivars in agriculture can lead to a loss of agrobiodiversity. Since in vitro techniques are valuable tools for conserving plant biodiversity, an efficient micropropagation protocol for four Italian hazelnut cultivars, ‘Carrello’, ‘Ghirara’, ‘Minnulara’, and ‘Panottara’, was developed. The highest axillary bud survival was obtained after decontamination with 40 min 1% sodium hypochlorite followed by 40 min 0.1% sodium merthiolate in ‘Minnulara’ and ‘Ghirara’, while the 35þ35 min treatment was the best for ‘Carrello’ and ‘Panottara’. Shoot multiplication was higher in ‘Minnulara’ and ‘Ghirara’ when 6.6 lM N6-benzyladenine was used, even if some hyperhydric shoo…
Marine protected areas rescue a sexually selected trait in European lobster
2020
Abstract Marine protected areas (MPAs) are increasingly implemented worldwide to maintain and restore depleted populations. However, despite our knowledge on the myriad of positive responses to protection, there are few empirical studies on the ability to conserve species’ mating patterns and secondary sexual traits. In male European lobsters (Homarus gammarus), the size of claws relative to body size correlates positively with male mating success and is presumably under sexual selection. At the same time, an intensive trap fishery exerts selection against large claws in males. MPAs could therefore be expected to resolve these conflicting selective pressures and preserve males with large cl…
Quantitative genetics of temperature performance curves of Neurospora crassa
2020
AbstractEarth’s temperature is increasing due to anthropogenic CO2emissions; and organisms need either to adapt to higher temperatures, migrate into colder areas, or face extinction. Temperature affects nearly all aspects of an organism’s physiology via its influence on metabolic rate and protein structure, therefore genetic adaptation to increased temperature may be much harder to achieve compared to other abiotic stresses. There is still much to be learned about the evolutionary potential for adaptation to higher temperatures, therefore we studied the quantitative genetics of growth rates in different temperatures that make up the thermal performance curve of the fungal model systemNeuros…
How to fight multiple enemies : target-specific chemical defences in an aposematic moth
2017
Animals have evolved different defensive strategies to survive predation, among which chemical defences are particularly widespread and diverse. Here we investigate the function of chemical defence diversity, hypothesizing that such diversity has evolved as a response to multiple enemies. The aposematic wood tiger moth (Arctia plantaginis) displays conspicuous hindwing coloration and secretes distinct defensive fluids from its thoracic glands and abdomen. We presented the two defensive fluids from laboratory-reared moths to two biologically relevant predators, birds and ants, and measured their reaction in controlled bioassays (no information on colour was provided). We found that defensive…
Sex-allocation conflict and sexual selection throughout the lifespan of eusocial colonies.
2018
AbstractModels of sex allocation conflict are central to evolutionary biology but have mostly assumed static decisions, where resource allocation strategies are constant over colony lifespan. Here, we develop a model to study how the evolution of dynamic resource allocation strategies is affected by the queen-worker conflict in annual eusocial insects. We demonstrate that the time of dispersal of sexuals affects the sex allocation ratio through sexual selection on males. Furthermore, our model provides three predictions that depart from established results of classic static allocation models. First, we find that the queen wins the sex allocation conflict, while the workers determine the max…
Northern European Salmo trutta (L.) populations are genetically divergent across geographical regions and environmental gradients
2020
The salmonid fish Brown trout is iconic as a model for the application of conservation genetics to understand and manage local interspecific variation. However, there is still scant information about relationships between local and large-scale population structure, and to what extent geographical and environmental variables are associated with barriers to gene flow. We used information from 3,782 mapped SNPs developed for the present study and conducted outlier tests and gene–environment association (GEA) analyses in order to examine drivers of population structure. Analyses comprised >2,600 fish from 72 riverine populations spanning a central part of the species' distribution in norther…
Plant stress biology in epigenomic era.
2020
Recent progress in "omics" methodologies allow us to gain insight into the complex molecular regulatory networks underlying plant responses to environmental stresses. Among the different genome-wide analysis, epigenomics is the most under-investigated "omic" approach requiring more critical and speculative discussion about approaches, methods and experimental designs. Epigenomics allows us to gain insight into the molecular adaptation of plants in response to environmental stresses. The identification of epigenetic marks transmitted during filial generations enables new theories to be developed on the evolution of living organisms in relation to environmental changes. The molecular mechanis…
Dynamic Precision Phenotyping Reveals Mechanism of Crop Tolerance to Root Herbivory.
2016
The western corn rootworm (WCR; Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte) is a major pest of maize (Zea mays) that is well adapted to most crop management strategies. Breeding for tolerance is a promising alternative to combat WCR but is currently constrained by a lack of physiological understanding and phenotyping tools. We developed dynamic precision phenotyping approaches using 11C with positron emission tomography, root autoradiography, and radiometabolite flux analysis to understand maize tolerance to WCR. Our results reveal that WCR attack induces specific patterns of lateral root growth that are associated with a shift in auxin biosynthesis from indole-3-pyruvic acid to indole-3-aceton…
Characterization of the resistance to Vip3Aa in Helicoverpa armigera from Australia and the role of midgut processing and receptor binding.
2016
AbstractCrops expressing genes from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt crops) are among the most successful technologies developed for the control of pests but the evolution of resistance to them remains a challenge. Insect resistant cotton and maize expressing the Bt Vip3Aa protein were recently commercialized, though not yet in Australia. We found that, although relatively high, the frequency of alleles for resistance to Vip3Aa in field populations of H. armigera in Australia did not increase over the past four seasons until 2014/15. Three new isofemale lines were determined to be allelic with previously isolated lines, suggesting that they belong to one common gene and this mechanism is relative…