Search results for "SIZE"
showing 10 items of 2718 documents
Continental-scale patterns of pathogen prevalence: a case study on the corncrake
2014
Pathogen infections can represent a substantial threat to wild populations, especially those already limited in size. To determine how much variation in the pathogens observed among fragmented populations is caused by ecological factors, one needs to examine systems where host genetic diversity is consistent among the populations, thus controlling for any potentially confounding genetic effects. Here, we report geographic variation in haemosporidian infection among European populations of corncrake. This species now occurs in fragmented populations, but there is little genetic structure and equally high levels of genetic diversity among these populations. We observed a longitudinal gradient…
REPLICATED ORIGIN OF FEMALE-BIASED ADULT SEX RATIO IN INTRODUCED POPULATIONS OF THE TRINIDADIAN GUPPY (POECILIA RETICULATA)
2014
There are many theoretical and empirical studies explaining variation in offspring sex ratio but relatively few that explain variation in adult sex ratio. Adult sex ratios are important because biased sex ratios can be a driver of sexual selection and will reduce effective population size, affecting population persistence and shapes how populations respond to natural selection. Previous work on guppies (Poecilia reticulata) gives mixed results, usually showing a female-biased adult sex ratio. However, a detailed analysis showed that this bias varied dramatically throughout a year and with no consistent sex bias. We used a mark-recapture approach to examine the origin and consistency of fema…
Factors influencing the extent of inbreeding depression: an example from scots pine
1999
Detailed studies suggest that the level of inbreeding depression may vary between populations. In a study of Scots pine from Finland, the level of inbreeding depression was much lower in northern than in southern populations. We have examined theoretically whether population genetic factors, such as the level of selfing, intensity of selection against heterozygotes or homozygotes, level of mutation, a bottleneck, finite population size, or the level of polyembryony could account for this difference. Higher selfing or stronger selection against heterozygotes in the north, both at biologically reasonable levels, appear to produce changes consistent with the observed differences and we conside…
Cultivation ofZymomonas mobilis 113 S at Different Mixing Regimes and their Influence on the Levan Formation
2001
The Zymomonas mobilis I 13 S strain was cultivated in a bioreactor with a working volume of 1.4 I at different stirring regimes in a 15% initial sucrose medium The levan obtained in the fermentation process was analyzed by gel filtration. Because the sucrose/biomass ratio in the fermentation broth decreased to below 300 g/g, the insufficient concentration of sucrose might have decreased the concentration of levan. Besides the growth characteristics of the population, the mixing intensity and flow structure were also found to influence the molecular mass of levan. At 600 rpm, the microorganisms produced levan with a molecular mass lower than at 300 rpm. The stirring of a fermentation broth w…
A New Multinomial Accuracy Measure for Polling Bias
2014
In this article, we propose a polling accuracy measure for multi-party elections based on a generalization of Martin, Traugott, and Kennedy's two-party predictive accuracy index. Treating polls as random samples of a voting population, we first estimate an intercept only multinomial logit model to provide proportionate odds measures of each party's share of the vote, and thereby both unweighted and weighted averages of these values as a summary index for poll accuracy. We then propose measures for significance testing, and run a series of simulations to assess possible bias from the resulting folded normal distribution across different sample sizes, finding that bias is small even for polls…
Population trends of birds across the iron curtain: Brain matters
2011
One approach to assess human impact on species’ population dynamics is to correlate ecological traits of species with their long-term population trends. Yet, few studies investigated population trends in multiple regions that differ in human impact to reveal which traits explain population trends over larger geographic areas and which only regionally. We examined the relationship between various species traits and long-term population trends of 57 common passerine bird species from 1991 to 2007 in three adjacent regions in central Europe that experienced differences in socioeconomic history: North-Western Germany, Eastern Germany and the Czech Republic. We tested effects of habitat, dietary…
Do not disturb the family: roles of colony size and human disturbance in the genetic structure of lesser kestrel
2015
Dispersal and philopatry are fundamental processes influencing the genetic structure and persistence of populations, and might be affected by isolation and habitat perturbation. Habitat degradation induced by human activities could have detrimental consequences on the genetic structure of populations. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the role of human impact in promoting or disrupting the genetic structure. Here, we conducted a genetic analysis using 12 polymorphic microsatellite markers of 70 lesser kestrels Falco naumanni from 10 breeding colonies of two subpopulations in Sicily (southern Italy). Genetic differentiation between the two subpopulations was negligible, and linear dista…
Population size estimation of larval coregonids in large lakes: Stratified sampling design with a simple prediction model for vertical distribution
2009
Abstract The lake-specific vertical distribution of larval coregonids was assessed annually in Finnish lakes by bongo net sampling. The effect of inter-annual and inter-lake variation in vertical distributions on population estimates of larval coregonids were analysed in 1999–2008. The vertical distribution of newly hatched vendace ( Coregonus albula (L.)) and European whitefish ( Coregonus lavaretus L. s.l.) larvae was analysed and high inter-annual and lake-specific variation in the larval vertical distribution was found. Generally, in both littoral and pelagic areas, larvae were aggregated near the water surface, mostly in the top 30 cm layer. We compared observed and predicted density e…
Variation in egg size and offspring phenotype among and within seven Arctic charr morphs.
2022
Maternal effects have the potential to alter early developmental processes of offspring and contribute to adaptive diversification. Egg size is a major contributor to offspring phenotype, which can influence developmental trajectories and potential resource use. However, to what extent intraspecific variation in egg size facilitates evolution of resource polymorphism is poorly understood. We studied multiple resource morphs of Icelandic Arctic charr, ranging from an anadromous morph—with a phenotype similar to the proposed ancestral phenotype—to sympatric morphs that vary in their degree of phenotypic divergence from the ancestral anadromous morph. We characterized variation in egg size and…
Limited effects of size-selective harvesting and harvesting-induced life-history changes on the temporal variability of biomass dynamics in complex f…
2023
Harvesting has been implicated in destabilizing the abundances of exploited populations. Because selective harvesting often targets large individuals, some studies have proposed that exploited populations often experience demographic shifts toward younger, smaller individuals and become more sensitive to environmental fluctuations. The theory of consumer–resource dynamics has been applied to address the impacts of harvesting in simple modular food webs, but harvested populations are embedded in a complex food web in nature. In addition, exploited populations have been shown to undergo trait evolution or phenotypic changes toward early maturation at smaller sizes. Using an empirically derive…