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Vertebrate defense against parasites: Interactions between avoidance, resistance, and tolerance
2017
Hosts can utilize different types of defense against the effects of parasitism, including avoidance, resistance, and tolerance. Typically, there is tremendous heterogeneity among hosts in these defense mechanisms that may be rooted in the costs associated with defense and lead to trade‐offs with other life‐history traits. Trade‐offs may also exist between the defense mechanisms, but the relationships between avoidance, resistance, and tolerance have rarely been studied. Here, we assessed these three defense traits under common garden conditions in a natural host–parasite system, the trematode eye‐fluke Diplostomum pseudospathaceum and its second intermediate fish host. We looked at host ind…
Not all sex ratios are equal : the Fisher condition, parental care and sexual selection
2017
The term ‘sex roles’ encapsulates male–female differences in mate searching, competitive traits that increase mating/fertilization opportunities, choosiness about mates and parental care. Theoretical models suggest that biased sex ratios drive the evolution of sex roles. To model sex role evolution, it is essential to note that in most sexually reproducing species (haplodiploid insects are an exception), each offspring has one father and one mother. Consequently, the total number of offspring produced by each sex is identical, so the mean number of offspring produced by individuals of each sex depends on the sex ratio (Fisher condition). Similarly, the total number of heterosexual matings …
HERITABILITIES OF DOMINANCE-RELATED TRAITS IN MALE BANK VOLES (CLETHRIONOMYS GLAREOLUS)
1998
A number of studies have shown that in several animal species females prefer dominant males as mating partners, but fewer attempts have been made to measure possible indirect benefits of this choice. One reason for this may be that, even though dominance is a widely used concept, the definition of dominance still remains controversial. Furthermore, defining and measuring the heritability of social behaviors is problematic because they are not individual traits but, by definition, involve interactions between at least two individuals. In this study we estimated heritabilities and coefficients of additive genetic variances (CVA) for male traits that are closely associated with dominance and f…
Experimental contact zones reveal causes and targets of sexual selection in hybridizing lizards
2016
Divergence in sexually selected traits in allopatry should affect the degree and direction of hybridization. However, few studies have established the causes and targets of sexual selection during secondary contact. Common wall lizards (Podarcis muralis) from north-central Italy have highly exaggerated male sexual traits compared to populations in Western Europe. Using experimental populations, we show that this creates asymmetries in male dominance, spatial habitat use and reproductive success upon secondary contact. Hybridization occurred almost exclusively between males of the Italian lineage and females of the Western European lineage. We provide evidence to suggest stronger ongoing sel…
Parentage Atlas of Italian Grapevine Varieties as Inferred From SNP Genotyping.
2021
The Italian grape germplasm is characterized by a high level of richness in terms of varieties number, with nearly 600 wine grape varieties listed in the Italian National Register of Grapevine Varieties and with a plethora of autochthonous grapes. In the present study an extended SNP genotyping has been carried out on Italian germplasm of cultivated Vitis vinifera subsp. sativa and Vitis hybrids. Several hundred Italian varieties maintained in the repositories of scientific Institutions and about one thousand additional varieties derived from previous studies on European, Southern Italy, Magna Graecia and Georgian germplasm were considered. The large genotyping data obtained were used to ch…
Characterization of Sicilian rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.) germplasm through a multidisciplinary approach.
2020
In Sicily, small differences exist between wild and cultivated rosemary biotypes; VOCs and genetic profiles may be a useful tool to distinguish them. A germplasm collection of Rosmarinus officinalis L. was harvested from 15 locations in Sicily. Eleven wild and four cultivated populations were collected and, due to the surveyed area covered, they can be considered as a representative panel of Sicilian genetic background of the species. Ex situ plant collection was transferred to the field cultivation in homogeneous conditions for characterizing through a multidisciplinary approach. The study included morphological traits observations (growth habitus, flower color, number and size of leaves, …
Long-Term Prophylactic Antibiotic Treatment: Effects on Survival, Immunocompetence and Reproduction Success of Parasemia plantaginis (Lepidoptera: Er…
2016
Hundreds of insect species are nowadays reared under laboratory conditions. Rearing of insects always implicates the risk of diseases, among which microbial infections are the most frequent and difficult problems. Although there are effective prophylactic treatments, the side effects of applied antibiotics are not well understood. We examined the effect of prophylactic antibiotic treatment on the overwintering success of wood tiger moth (Parasemia plantaginis) larvae, and the postdiapause effect on their life-history traits. Four weeks before hibernation larvae were treated with a widely used antibiotic (fumagillin). We monitored moths' survival and life-history traits during the following …
Evolutionary constraints of warning signals: A genetic trade-off between the efficacy of larval and adult warning coloration can maintain variation i…
2016
To predict evolutionary responses of warning signals under selection, we need to determine the inheritance pattern of the signals, and how they are genetically correlated with other traits contributing to fitness. Furthermore, protective coloration often undergoes remarkable changes within an individual's lifecycle, requiring us to quantify the genetic constraints of adaptive coloration across all the relevant life stages. Based on a 12 generation pedigree with > 11,000 individuals of the wood tiger moth (Arctia plantaginis), we show that high primary defense as a larva (large warning signal) results in weaker defenses as adult (less efficient warning color), due to the negative genetic cor…
Predator-induced Contemporary Evolution, Phenotypic Plasticity, and the Evolution of Reaction Norms in Guppies
2017
An increasingly large number of studies have demonstrated the ability of populations to undergo contemporary or rapid evolution. Little explored in this regard is the role of phenotypic plasticity, although it can influence eco-evolutionary dynamics and hence evolutionary rates. Here we quantify the evolution of life history and plasticity in Trinidadian guppies transplanted from high to novel low predation environments. Common-garden results show that after only nine years, or 13–27 generations, the introduced guppies have diverged from their ancestral population in both litter size and offspring weight and in the plastic response of both traits to food availability. Given these findings, …
Early life of fathers affects offspring fitness in a wild rodent.
2019
Intergenerational fitness effects on offspring due to the early life of the parent are well studied from the standpoint of the maternal environment, but intergenerational effects owing to the paternal early life environment are often overlooked. Nonetheless, recent laboratory studies in mammals and ecologically relevant studies in invertebrates predict that paternal effects can have a major impact on the offspring's phenotype. These nongenetic, environment-dependent paternal effects provide a mechanism for fathers to transmit environmental information to their offspring and could allow rapid adaptation. We used the bank vole Myodes glareolus, a wild rodent species with no paternal care, to …