Search results for "Behavior"
showing 10 items of 13975 documents
In Vitro Regeneration of Capparis spinosa L. by Using a Temporary Immersion System
2019
Three caper (Capparis spinosa L.) biotypes grown on the Sicilian island of Salina (38°
Potential impact of genetically modified Lepidoptera-resistant Brassica napus in biodiversity hotspots: Sicily as a theoretical model
2018
The general increase of the cultivation and trade of Bt transgenic plants resistant to Lepidoptera pests raises concerns regarding the conservation of animal and plant biodiversity. Demand for biofuels has increased the cultivation and importation of oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.), including transgenic lines. In environmental risk assessments (ERAs) for its potential future cultivation as well as for food and feed uses, the impact on wild Brassicaeae relatives and on non-target Lepidoptera should be assessed. Here we consider the potential exposure of butterflies as results of possible cultivation or naturalization of spilled seed in Sicily (Italy). Diurnal Lepidoptera, which are pollinat…
2019
Street greeneries and other green spaces within the urban matrix can potentially reduce air pollution and increase urban biodiversity. Yet, these services can be negatively affected by anthropogenic stress factors. In the boreo-nemoral zone, large amounts of salts are spread each year for deicing the pavement. To address the effect of deicing salt on street lines of lime trees and how this cascades up to influence the surrounding arthropod biodiversity, we compared heavily salt-polluted and less polluted sites in the city of Riga, Latvia. We analyzed the impairment of foliar functions and development of aphids’ colonies using a common garden experiment. We found marked variation in the soil…
Simultaneous speciation in the European high mountain flowering plant genus Facchinia (Minuartia s.l., Caryophyllaceae) revealed by genotyping-by-seq…
2017
Understanding the relative importance of different mechanisms of speciation in a given lineage requires fully resolved interspecific relationships. Using Facchinia, a genus of seven species centred in the European Alps, we explore whether the polytomy found by Sanger sequencing analyses of standard nuclear (ITS) and plastid markers (trnQ-rps16) is a hard or soft polytomy by substantially increasing the amount of DNA sequence data, generated by genotyping-by-sequencing. In comparison to 142 phylogenetically informative sites in the Sanger sequences the GBS sequences yielded 3363 phylogenetically informative sites after exclusion of apparently oversaturated SNPs. Maximum parsimony, maximum li…
Genetic structuring in Atlantic haddock contrasts with current management regimes
2020
AbstractThe advent of novel genetic methods has made it possible to investigate population structure and connectivity in mobile marine fish species: knowledge of which is essential to ensure a sustainable fishery. Haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus) is a highly exploited marine teleost distributed along the coast and continental shelf on both sides of the North Atlantic Ocean. However, little is known about its population structure. Here, we present the first study using single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers to assess the genetic population structure of haddock at multiple geographic scales, from the trans-Atlantic to the local (fjord) level. Genotyping 138 SNP loci in 1329 individual…
The influence of space and time on the evolution of altruistic defence: the case of ant slave rebellion.
2016
How can antiparasite defence traits evolve even if they do not directly benefit their carriers? An example of such an indirect defence is rebellion of enslaved Temnothorax longispinosus ant workers against their social parasite Temnothorax americanus, a slavemaking ant. Ant slaves have been observed to kill their oppressors' offspring, a behaviour from which the sterile slaves cannot profit directly. Parasite brood killing could, however, reduce raiding pressure on related host colonies nearby. We analyse with extensive computer simulations for the Temnothorax slavemaker system under what conditions a hypothetical rebel allele could invade a host population, and in particular, how host-para…
Highly contrasted population genetic structures in a host-parasite pair in the Caribbean Sea.
2017
Evolution and population genetic structure of marine species across the Caribbean Sea are shaped by two complex factors: the geological history and the present pattern of marine currents. Characterizing and comparing the genetic structures of codistributed species, such as host–parasite associations, allow discriminating the relative importance of environmental factors and life history traits that influenced gene flow and demographic events. Using microsatellite and Cytochrome Oxidase I markers, we investigated if a host–parasite pair (the heart urchin Meoma ventricosa and its parasitic pea crab Dissodactylus primitivus) exhibits comparable population genetic structures in the Caribbean Sea…
Genetic analysis of goldsinny wrasse reveals evolutionary insights into population connectivity and potentialevidence of inadverent translocationvia …
2017
The salmon industry is heavily dependent on wrasse for delousing infected fish. The goldsinny wrasse is numerically the most important, and each year, millions are harvested from the wild and transported large distances into fish farms. Population genetic knowledge is required to sustainably exploit this species. Here, 1051 goldsinny wrasses from 16 locations across Scandinavia, the British Isles, and Spain were genotyped with 14 microsatellite and 36 SNP markers. Within-population genetic diversity decreased towards north, and a genetic break was observed across the North Sea. Samples from Northern Norway differed from rest of the Scandinavian samples, and samples from the British Isles di…
North African hybrid sparrows (Passer domesticus, P. hispaniolensis) back from oblivion – ecological segregation and asymmetric mitochondrial introgr…
2016
A stabilized hybrid form of the house sparrow (Passer domesticus) and the Spanish sparrow (P. hispaniolensis) is known as Passer italiae from the Italian Peninsula and a few Mediterranean islands. The growing attention for the Italian hybrid sparrow and increasing knowledge on its biology and genetic constitution greatly contrast the complete lack of knowledge of the long-known phenotypical hybrid sparrow populations from North Africa. Our study provides new data on the breeding biology and variation of mitochondrial DNA in three Algerian populations of house sparrows, Spanish sparrows, and phenotypical hybrids. In two field seasons, the two species occupied different breeding habitats: Spa…
Cannibalism facilitates gigantism in a nine-spined stickleback (Pungitius pungitius) population
2016
Cannibalism is a taxonomically widespread phenomenon that can fundamentally affect the structure and stability of aquatic communities, including the emergence of a bimodal size distribution (“dwarfs” and “giants”) in fish populations. Emergence of giants could also be driven or facilitated by parasites that divert host resources from reproduction to growth. We studied the trophic ecology of giant nine-spined sticklebacks (Pungitius pungitius) in a Finnish pond to evaluate the hypotheses that gigantism in this population would be facilitated by cannibalism and/or parasitic infections by Schistocephalus pungitii cestode. Stomach content analyses revealed an initial ontogenetic dietary shift f…