Search results for "HABIT"

Camouflage in arid environments: the case of Sahara-Sahel desert rodents

2020

Deserts and semi-deserts, such as the Sahara-Sahel region in North Africa, are exposed environments with restricted vegetation coverage. Due to limited physical surface structures, these open areas provide a promising ecosystem to understand selection for crypsis. Here, we review knowledge on camouflage adaptation in the Sahara-Sahel rodent community, which represents one of the best documented cases of phenotype-environment convergence comprising a marked taxonomic diversity. Through their evolutionary history, several rodent species from the Sahara-Sahel have repeatedly evolved an accurate background matching against visually-guided predators. Top-down selection by predators is therefore …

Mind the gap: Treefalls as drivers of parental trade-offs

2015

Tree-fall gaps are small-scale disturbances whose formation, colonization, and role in forest dynamics are well documented, but whose effects on animal ecology are still greatly overlooked, except for studies comparing species richness of gaps 6+ months old to that in the closed canopy. Other factors associated with the invasion of fresh tree-fall gaps such as animal breeding adaptations have been largely neglected. I studied the immediate (within hours and days) arrival of the poison frog Dendrobates tinctorius in new tree-fall gaps to examine the dynamics of their invasion in relation to tadpole rearing. I found that rearing sites are occupied sooner and tadpoles deposited at higher rates…

Preliminary study on the unusual properties in the habitat of Ranunculetum baudotii in Central Europe

2011

Abstract The study examines the patches of the saltwater association Ranunculetum baudotii in a new, atypical site; i.e., located more than 400 km away from the Baltic coastal line. They were found in a karst spring, and were the first locality of the community identified in Poland. The water and sediments within the patches were analyzed chemically in the laboratory, but, conductivity, water temperature and O2 content were measured in the field. The spring was determined to be a relatively stable aquatic habitat, with a typical chemical composition of subterranean water (a prevalence of hydro-carbonate, calcium and magnesium ions), and rich, e.g., in nitrogen and phosphorus, and disturbed …

Brief interventions in counselling for nutrition and the prevalence of metabolic syndrome in primary care adult patients

2018

This research i) examined the influence of a brief nutrition-based intervention among primary care patients in changing nutrition and clinical values related to metabolic syndrome (study 1), and ii) assessed nutrition and the prevalence of metabolic syndrome and its clinical determinants among primary care patients in different sociodemographic groups (study 2). In study 1, a systematic literature review was conducted on eight databases during Sept.-Oct. 2016 with a final update in Nov. 2017. In study 2, data (n=557 for RO II-III, n=251 for RO IV-V) collected in primary care practices in Central Finland in 2006-2008 for the EVI study were analysed using Chi-Square test, GLM and Logistic Reg…

Rats with elevated genetic risk for metabolic syndrome exhibit cognitive deficiencies when young

2021

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a known risk factor for cognitive decline. Using polygenic rat models selectively bred for high and low intrinsic exercise capacity and simultaneously modelling as low and high innate risk factor for MetS respectively, we have previously shown that adult animals with lower exercise capacity/higher MetS risk perform poorly in tasks requiring flexible cognition. However, it is not known whether these deficits in cognition are present already at young age. Also, it is unclear whether the high risk genome is related also to lower-level cognition, such as sensory gating measured as prepulse inhibition. In this study, young and adult (5-8 weeks and ∼9 months) rats sel…

Forest act habitats : Finnish woodland key habitats amid the intensive forestry

2014

Les puits de l’oppidum de l’Ermitage (Agen, Lot-et-Garonne).

2007

Within the context of a “projet collectif de recherche”, the publication of works directed by Richard Boudet on the hillfort of the Ermitage in Agen, two wells have been studied. The analysis of structures and artefacts (pottery, metal, wood) suggests that they were probably used to draw water and not devoted to chthonian rituals. Comparisons with other wells un South West of Gaul suggest that in most cases, they may have been used in the same way, even though, in very few cases rituals relating to the domestic field cannot be excluded.

Le dépôt de Quitteur (Haute-Saône) et les dépôts de bronzes en contexte d’habitat au Bronze final

2020

Le petit dépôt de bronzes découvert à Quitteur (commune de Beaujeu-Saint-Vallier-Pierrejux et Quitteur ; Haute-Saône - France), sur une moyenne terrasse de la Saône, est composé de trente-deux objets comprenant un assortiment d’éléments de parures (boutons à bélière, pendeloque, anneaux) associés à un couteau à manche massif et une armature de flèche. Le lieu de découverte du dépôt, dans l’espace occupé par les vestiges d’un habitat contemporain du RSFO, s’écarte de la majorité des dépôts de bronzes isolés comme l’archéologie les perçoit habituellement. À l’aide de quelques comparaisons géographiquement proches, il est alors permis de nous interroger sur le caractère apparemment inhabituel …

Dead wood and fungi : detection, diversity and conservation in boreal forests

2018

Dead wood and associated fungal communities are a crucial part of boreal forest ecosystems, and severely affected and threatened by human actions like commercial timber harvesting. Despite their importance for forest functioning, most wood-inhabiting fungal species, especially those producing small fruit bodies, are still ecologically and taxonomically poorly known. In addition, studies on dead wood profiles have neglected fine woody debris. This thesis includes detailed investigations of fruiting phenology of different morphological groups and complete dead wood profile of one semi-natural boreal forest. In addition, the diversity patterns of wood-inhabiting fungal communities according fo…

Substratum recognition as settlement cue for larvae of Dendropoma cristatum (Biondi, 1859)

2017

Despite the ecological relevance of the vermetid bioconstructions in the Mediterranean, little is known about the early life stage of Dendropoma cristatum. This study describes the preference for settlement substrata from D. cristatumlarvae. A field experiment was carried out to test the suitability of crustose coralline algae (CCA), D. cristatumadults and two inorganic substrata as settlement surfaces. The number of settling larvae varied among the four treatments with higher settlement success on organic surfaces. CCA and D. cristatumindividuals seem to promote attachment of young larvae and to induce the metamorphosis in recruits. This is probably due to biological or physical properties…