Search results for "Models"
showing 10 items of 8211 documents
The Effect of Predator Population Dynamics on Batesian Mimicry Complexes.
2022
Understanding Batesian mimicry is a classic problem in evolutionary biology. In Batesian mimicry, a defended species (the model) is mimicked by an undefended species (the mimic). Prior theories have emphasized the role of predator behavior and learning as well as evolution in model-mimic complexes but have not examined the role of population dynamics in potentially governing the relative abundances and even persistence of model-mimic systems. Here, we examined the effect of the population dynamics of predators and alternative prey on the prevalence of warning-signaling prey composed of models and mimics. Using optimal foraging theory and signal detection theory, we found that the inclusion …
Diversity in warning coloration: selective paradox or the norm?
2019
Aposematic theory has historically predicted that predators should select for warning signals to converge on a single form, as a result of frequency-dependent learning. However, widespread variation in warning signals is observed across closely related species, populations and, most problematically for evolutionary biologists, among individuals in the same population. Recent research has yielded an increased awareness of this diversity, challenging the paradigm of signal monomorphy in aposematic animals. Here we provide a comprehensive synthesis of these disparate lines of investigation, identifying within them three broad classes of explanation for variation in aposematic warning signals: …
Author Correction: Evaluation of three methods for biomass estimation in small invertebrates, using three large disparate parasite species as model o…
2018
Invertebrate biomass is considered one of the main factors driving processes in ecosystems. It can be measured directly, primarily by weighing individuals, but more often indirect estimators are used. We developed two indirect and non-destructive approaches to estimate biomass of small invertebrates in a simple manner. The first one was based on clay modelling and the second one was based on image analysis implemented with open-source software. Furthermore, we tested the accuracy of the widely used geometric approximation method (third method). We applied these three different methods to three morphologically disparate model species, an acanthocephalan worm, a crustacean and a flatworm. To …
Vegetation Patterns in the Hyperbolic Klausmeier Model with Secondary Seed Dispersal
2023
This work focuses on the dynamics of vegetation stripes in sloped semi-arid environments in the presence of secondary seed dispersal and inertial effects. To this aim, a hyperbolic generalization of the Klausmeier model that encloses the advective downhill transport of plant biomass is taken into account. Analytical investigations were performed to deduce the wave and Turing instability loci at which oscillatory and stationary vegetation patterns arise, respectively. Additional information on the possibility of predicting a null-migrating behavior was extracted with suitable approximations of the dispersion relation. Numerical simulations were also carried out to corroborate theoretical pre…
L'Ecuba euripidea: dramma della violenza sugli inermi
2010
This paper focuses on ‘violence on unarmed people’ as the unifying theme that underlies the structure of the tragedy with an anthropopoietic function, what means to build up, by contrast, models of human and humanity.. All the three forms of violence against unarmed people, which can be singled out in the tragedy, are analyzed. The first is the sacred violence of Polyxena’s sacrifice, which is represented as an unnecessary and avoidable killing, due to the excessive power of the winners Greeks on losers barbarians. The second is the criminal violence upon Polydorus, motivated by greed for gold but also due to the impunity in a destructive war. The third is the ‘maenadic’ violence by which H…
Vaginal infection of mice with HSV type 2 variant ER−: A new animal model for human primary genital HSV type 2 infections
1992
Abstract Studying the pathogenesis of vaginal infections in mice with two variants of Herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) strain ER we observed that both variants ER+ and ER− caused severe vaginitis but only ER+ invaded the CNS leading to lethal neurological disease. In contrast, mice infected with ER− cleared the virus from the vagina and recovered from infection. ER+ and ER− expressed equal levels of thymidine kinase (TK) indicating a TK-independent difference in neurovirulence. Using the non-neurovirulent variant ER−, we were able to investigate humoral immune responses late after infection. Vaginal infection with ER− suppressed serum antibody formation after a secondary systemic HSV-1 i…
Mouse models of cytomegalovirus latency: overview.
2002
Abstract Background: The molecular regulation of viral latency and reactivation is a central unsolved issue in the understanding of cytomegalovirus (CMV) biology. Like human CMV (hCMV), murine CMV (mCMV) can establish a latent infection in cells of the myeloid lineage. Since mCMV genome remains present in various organs after its clearance from hematopoietic cells first in bone marrow and much later in blood, there must exist one or more widely distributed cell type(s) representing the cellular site(s) of enduring mCMV latency in host tissues. Endothelial cells and histiocytes are candidates, but the question is not yet settled. Another long debated problem appears to be solved: mCMV establ…
(A,B) In vivo GCaMP6f signals recorded in layers M1, M5 and M9/10 of Mi1 (A) and Tm3 (B) neurons, before (blue, green) and after (gray, red) applicat…
2019
Sensory systems sequentially extract increasingly complex features. ON and OFF pathways, for example, encode increases or decreases of a stimulus from a common input. This ON/OFF pathway split is thought to occur at individual synaptic connections through a sign-inverting synapse in one of the pathways. Here, we show that ON selectivity is a multisynaptic process in the Drosophila visual system. A pharmacogenetics approach demonstrates that both glutamatergic inhibition through GluClα and GABAergic inhibition through Rdl mediate ON responses. Although neurons postsynaptic to the glutamatergic ON pathway input L1 lose all responses in GluClα mutants, they are resistant to a cell-type-specifi…
MODELING OF VOLATILITY IN THE ROMANIAN CAPITAL MARKET
2012
This paper aims to analyze the volatility of capital market in Romania by selecting a portfolio of representative indices (BET BET_FI and RASDAQ_C). In this respect, we want to identify the most appropriate model to estimate volatility by using modern econometric tools and useful GARCH models respectively. The study results highlight that EGARCH(1,1) model has managed to eliminate all traces of statistically significant autocorrelation and ARCH effects from the residuals from daily series, giving an accurate image of the Romanian capital market volatility.
Ultraviolet imaging of volcanic plumes: A new paradigm in volcanology
2017
Ultraviolet imaging has been applied in volcanology over the last ten years or so. This provides considerably higher temporal and spatial resolution volcanic gas emission rate data than available previously, enabling the volcanology community to investigate a range of far faster plume degassing processes than achievable hitherto. To date, this has covered rapid oscillations in passive degassing through conduits and lava lakes, as well as puffing and explosions, facilitating exciting connections to be made for the first time between previously rather separate sub-disciplines of volcanology. Firstly, there has been corroboration between geophysical and degassing datasets at â1 Hz, expeditin…