Search results for "LIFE-HISTORY"
showing 10 items of 49 documents
Effect of river restoration on life-history strategies in fish communities
2019
Assessments of river restoration outcomes are mostly based on taxonomic identities of species, which may not be optimal because a direct relationship to river functions remains obscure and results are hardly comparable across biogeographic borders. The use of ecological species trait information instead of taxonomic units may help to overcome these challenges. Abundance data for fish communities were gathered from 134 river restoration projects conducted in Switzerland, Germany and Finland, monitored for up to 15 years. These data were related to a dataset of 22 categories of ecological traits describing fish life-history strategies to assess the outcome of the restoration projects. Restora…
Rich resource environment of fish farms facilitates phenotypic variation and virulence in an opportunistic fish pathogen
2020
Phenotypic variation is suggested to facilitate the persistence of environmentally growing pathogens under environmental change. Here, we hypothesized that the intensive farming environment induces higher phenotypic variation in microbial pathogens than natural environment, because of high stochasticity for growth and stronger survival selection compared to the natural environment. We tested the hypothesis with an opportunistic fish pathogen Flavobacterium columnare isolated either from fish farms or from natural waters. We measured growth parameters of two morphotypes from all isolates in different resource concentrations and two temperatures relevant for the occurrence of disease epidemic…
Bryophytes of Europe Traits (BET) dataset
2023
The Bryophytes of Europe Traits (BET) dataset includes values for 65 biological and ecological traits and 25 bioclimatic variables for all 1816 bryophytes included in the European Red List (Hodgetts et al. 2019). The traits are compiled from several regional trait datasets and manually complemented using Floras, species-specific literature and expert knowledge. The bioclimatic variables are calculated using the European range of each species. Details regarding the trait compilation and extraction of bioclimatic variables can be found in the corresponding data paper (Van Zuijlen et al. 2023).
Assessing the Cost of Mounting an Immune Response
2003
International audience; The evolution of parasite resistance has often been assumed to be governed by antagonistic selection pressures. Defense against pathogens, by mounting an immune response, confers evident benefits but may also incur costs, so that the optimal level of defense is expected to depend on the balance between benefits and costs. Although the benefits of immune surveillance are well known, estimates of costs are still equivocal. Here we studied the behavioral and physiological modifications associated with exposure to a onreplicating antigen (lipopolysaccharide [LPS] of Escherichia coli) in a passerine species, the house sparrow (Passer domesticus).We further investigated wh…
Absence of long-term effects of reproduction on longevity in the mouse model.
2014
Background Most human demographic data, particularly those on natural fertility populations, find no relationship or even a positive association between fertility and longevity. The present study aims to ascertain whether there is a trade-off between fertility and longevity in the mouse model. Methods The study was focused on the first litter produced by 10- to 14-wk-old hybrid (C57BL/6JIco female X CBA/JIco male) mice. A single female/male per litter was individually housed with a male/female at the age of 25 and 52 wk, respectively, until the end of reproductive life in females or natural death in males under controlled housing conditions. Post-reproductive females and virgin mice were re…
Transcriptomes of parents identify parenting strategies and sexual conflict in a subsocial beetle
2015
This work was funded by UK NERC grants to M.G.R. and A.J.M. an NERC studentship to D.J.P. the University of Georgia and a US NSF grant to A.J.M. and M.G.R. Parenting in the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides is complex and, unusually, the sex and number of parents that can be present is flexible. Such flexibility is expected to involve specialized behaviour by the two sexes under biparental conditions. Here, we show that offspring fare equally well regardless of the sex or number of parents present. Comparing transcriptomes, we find a largely overlapping set of differentially expressed genes in both uniparental and biparental females and in uniparental males including vitellogenin, ass…
The oxidative cost of reproduction depends on early development oxidative stress and sex in a bird species
2016
In the early 2000s, a new component of the cost of reproduction was proposed: oxidative stress. Since then the oxidative cost of reproduction hypothesis has, however, received mixed support. Different arguments have been provided to explain this. Among them, the lack of a life-history perspective on most experimental tests was suggested. We manipulated the levels of a key intracellular antioxidant (glutathione) in captive zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) during a short period of early life and subsequently tested the oxidative cost of reproduction. Birds were allowed to mate freely in an outdoor aviary for several months. We repeatedly enlarged or reduced their broods to increase or redu…
Association Mapping Based on a Common-Garden Migration Experiment Reveals Candidate Genes for Migration Tendency in Brown Trout
2019
A better understanding of the environmental and genetic contribution to migratory behavior and the evolution of traits linked to migration is crucial for fish conservation and fisheries management. Up to date, a few genes with unequivocal influence on the adoption of alternative migration strategies have been identified in salmonids. Here, we used a common garden set-up to measure individual migration distances of generally highly polymorphic brown trout Salmo trutta from two populations. Fish from the assumedly resident population showed clearly shorter migration distances than the fish from the assumed migratory population at the ages of 2 and 3 years. By using two alternative analytical …
Predicting biological invasions in marine habitats through eco-physiological mechanistic models: a case study with the bivalveBrachidontes pharaonis
2013
Aim We used a coupled biophysical ecology (BE)-physiological mechanistic modelling approach based on the Dynamic Energy Budget theory (DEB, Dynamic energy budget theory for metabolic organisation, 2010, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge; DEB) to generate spatially explicit predictions of physiological performance (maximal size and reproductive output) for the invasive mussel, Brachidontes pharaonis. Location We examined 26 sites throughout the central Mediterranean Sea. Methods We ran models under subtidal and intertidal conditions; hourly weather and water temperature data were obtained from the Italian Buoy Network, and monthly CHL-a data were obtained from satellite imagery. Results …
A colloquio con Gaspare Spatuzza. Un racconto di vita, una storia di stragi
2016
C’è un periodo della storia del nostro Paese che avremmo potuto raccontare come fosse il momento si sono aperte le porte dell’inferno. Questo sono state le stragi di mafia dei primi anni Novanta, con i lutti e le distruzioni provocate dall’attacco allo Stato da parte di Cosa Nostra e di altri poteri occulti. Si tratta di vicende narrate e indagate in tanti modi. La novità di questo studio è la strada, il percorso attraverso cui il lettore può esplorare la quotidianità di Cosa Nostra, quell’inferno dei vivi che – dopo aver tentato di fare guerra allo Stato – ancora oggi brucia vite umane, tiene sotto giogo interi quartieri, città, economie nazionali e internazionali. Il libro è il racconto d…