Search results for "INTRAS"

Intraspecific Communication Through Chemical Signals in Female Mice: Reinforcing Properties of Involatile Male Sexual Pheromones

2006

In rodents, social and reproductive behaviors critically depend on chemical signals, including sexual pheromones that have been suggested (but not demonstrated) to be rewarding. In this work, we analyze this issue by studying the chemoinvestigatory behavior of adult female mice (without experience with male-derived chemicals) toward 1) the synthetic odorant citralva, 2) bedding soiled by different conspecifics (females, males, and castrated males), and 3) volatiles derived from bedding soiled by males and castrated males (confronted in 2-choice tests). We also study whether these chemical signals are able to induce conditioned place preference, a reliable test for rewarding properties of st…

Intralocus tactical conflict: Genetic correlations between fighters and sneakers of the dung beetle Onthophagus taurus

2015

Males and females differ in their phenotypic optima for many traits, and as the majority of genes are expressed in both sexes, some alleles can be beneficial to one sex but harmful to the other (intralocus sexual conflict; ISC). ISC theory has recently been extended to intrasexual dimorphisms, where certain alleles may have opposite effects on the fitness of males of different morphs that employ alternative reproductive tactics (intralocus tactical conflict; ITC). Here, we use a half-sib breeding design to investigate the genetic basis for ISC and ITC in the dung beetle Onthophagus taurus. We found positive heritabilities and intersexual genetic correlations for almost all traits investigat…

Breeding state and season affect interspecific interaction types: indirect resource competition and direct interference.

2011

Indirect resource competition and interference are widely occurring mechanisms of interspecific interactions. We have studied the seasonal expression of these two interaction types within a two-species, boreal small mammal system. Seasons differ by resource availability, individual breeding state and intraspecific social system. Live-trapping methods were used to monitor space use and reproduction in 14 experimental populations of bank voles Myodes glareolus in large outdoor enclosures with and without a dominant competitor, the field vole Microtus agrestis. We further compared vole behaviour using staged dyadic encounters in neutral arenas in both seasons. Survival of the non-breeding over…

Larval competition in Drosophila melanogaster: effects on development time

1990

The effects on development time of larval competition that is interrupted at different times are analyzed in an experiment with constant larval density and varying proportions of two competing strains. Interruption of competition is carried out by means of the overfeeding technique, which allows for the study of individuals that, after several days under competition stress, either complete their development in crowded conditions or migrate to a vial with fresh food where the rest of their development takes place. Results of mean development time and within-vial variance of development time show that individuals under strong competition stress can arrest their development retaining the capab…

Genetic analysis of reaction time variability: room for improvement?

2013

Background. Increased reaction time variability (RTV) on cognitive tasks requiring a speeded response is characteristic of several psychiatric disorders. In attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the association with RT is strong phenotypically and genetically, yet high RTV is not a stable impairment but shows ADHD-sensitive improvement under certain conditions, such as those with rewards. The state regulation theory proposed that the RTV difference score, which captures change from baseline to a rewarded or fast condition, specifically measures ‘state regulation’. By contrast, the interpretation of RTV baseline (slow, unrewarded) scores is debated. We aimed to investigate directl…

Role of nitric oxide in pheromone-mediated intraspecific communication in mice

2009

Nitric oxide is known to take part in the control of sexual and agonistic behaviours. This is usually attributed to its role in neural transmission in the hypothalamus and other structures of the limbic system. However, socio-sexual behaviours in rodents are mainly directed by chemical signals detected by the vomeronasal system, and nitric oxide is abundant in key structures along the vomeronasal pathway. Thus, here we check whether pharmacological treatments interfering with nitrergic transmission could affect socio-sexual behaviour by impairing the processing of chemical signals. Treatment with an inhibitor of nitric oxide synthesis (Nomega-Nitro-l-arginine methyl ester hydrochloride, L-N…

A taxonomic revision of the Capparis spinosa group (Capparaceae) from the Mediterranean to Central Asia

2014

A revision of the Capparis spinosa group has been carried out in southern Europe, northern Africa, western and central Asia, in order to provide a uniform taxonomic treatment of its representatives. The xerotropical origin of this group, showing disjunct distribution in several holoarctic and paleotropical regions, is underlined and the different species concepts historically adopted are discussed. In the present treatment a single species is recognized, C. spinosa , represented in the study area by two subspecies. C. spinosa subsp. spinosa shows derived characters, high polymorphism and a wide distribution range from the Mediterranean eastwards to China and Nepal. C. spinosa subsp. rupestr…

Where is the line? Phylogeography and secondary contact of western Palearctic coal tits (Periparus ater: Aves, Passeriformes, Paridae)

2013

In this study, a phylogeographic scenario of the coal tit (Periparus ater) was reconstructed based on a fragment of the mitochondrial control region, and within- and between-population genetic diversity was analysed with a focus on the western Palearctic breeding range. We inferred a first pan-European delimitation of a postulated secondary contact zone among coal tits from the north-eastern Palearctic ater subspecies group and those from the south-western Palearctic abietum group. Generally, between-population differentiation was greatest in the Mediterranean range, which was explained by a greater separation in multiple Pleistocene refuge areas compared to the lower differentiation across…

Hadwenius tursionis (Marchi, 1873) n. comb. (Digenea, Campulidae) from the bottlenose dolphin Tursiops truncatus (Montagu, 1821) in the western Medit…

1994

The taxonomic position of Synthesium tursionis (Marchi, 1873) (Digenea, Campulidae) is revised, based on material from 147 worms from four bottlenose dolphins Tursiops truncatus stranded off the Comunidad Valenciana (Spanish western Mediterranean). The species is transferred to Hadwenius, as H. tursionis n. comb., and characterised by a high length/width ratio of the body, spinose cirrus and unarmed metraterm. Synthesium, a monotypic genus, becomes a synonym of Hadwenius. The intraspecific variation of some morphological traits is briefly discussed.

2021

Amplicon sequencing of partial regions of the ribosomal RNA loci (rDNA) is widely used to profile microbial communities. However, the rDNA is dynamic and can exhibit substantial interspecific and intraspecific variation in copy number in prokaryotes and, especially, in microbial eukaryotes. As change in rDNA copy number is a common response to environmental change, rDNA copy number is not necessarily a property of a species. Variation in rDNA copy number, especially the capacity for large intraspecific changes driven by external cues, complicates analyses of rDNA amplicon sequence data. We highlight the need to (i) interpret amplicon sequence data in light of possible interspecific and intr…