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Detailed information on fruiting phenology provides new insights on wood-inhabiting fungal detection
2017
Abstract Fruiting phenology traits may have a large effect on the detection of fungal species. Detailed studies considering these biologically important traits are, however, surprisingly scarce. We conducted a rigorous fruit body monitoring of wood-inhabiting fungal occurrences over one fruiting season. Taxon-specific longevity of the fruiting was different between different morphological groups. This was mainly due to agaric fruiting being shorter than other groups. Different number and timing of surveys are needed to detect the majority of the fruiting taxa of different wood-inhabiting fungal groups.
Acclimation capacity and rate change through life in the zooplankton Daphnia
2020
When a change in the environment occurs, organisms can maintain an optimal phenotypic state via plastic, reversible changes to their phenotypes. These adjustments, when occurring within a generation, are described as the process of acclimation. While acclimation has been studied for more than half a century, global environmental change has stimulated renewed interest in quantifying variation in the rate and capacity with which this process occurs, particularly among ectothermic organisms. Yet, despite the likely ecological importance of acclimation capacity and rate, how these traits change throughout life among members of the same species is largely unstudied. Here we investigate these re…
Do colour morphs of wall lizards express different personalities?
2021
Abstract Colour morphs sometimes have different behavioural strategies which may be maintained by frequency or density dependence mechanisms. We investigated temporal changes in behavioural reaction to a novel environment among colour morphs (yellow, orange, white) of the European wall lizard (Podarcis muralis). Adult males were given two 15 min experimental trials, and their locomotion was highly consistent between the two trials. Boldness, freezing and escape behaviour were less repeatable. Colour morphs differed in their locomotion and freezing behaviour. Boldness was similar among the morphs, whereas escape behaviour was lowest in yellow morph. Consequently, yellow morph males tended to…
Hydrogel‐Based 3D Bioprinting for Bone and Cartilage Tissue Engineering
2020
As a milestone in soft and hard tissue engineering, a precise control over the micropatterns of scaffolds has lightened new opportunities for the recapitulation of native body organs through three dimentional (3D) bioprinting approaches. Well-printable bioinks are prerequisites for the bioprinting of tissues/organs where hydrogels play a critical role. Despite the outstanding developments in 3D engineered microstructures, current printer devices suffer from the risk of exposing loaded living agents to mechanical (nozzle-based) and thermal (nozzle-free) stresses. Thus, tuning the rheological, physical, and mechanical properties of hydrogels is a promising solution to address these issues. Th…
A head start for life history development? Family income mediates associations between height and immune response in men.
2018
OBJECTIVES Male height and health affect a diverse range of social and economic outcomes such as competition for resources and mates. Life history theory predicts that limited availability of bioenergetic resources curbs the development of central life history functions such as somatic growth, immunity, and investment in offspring. Although genetic factors are important determinants of height, other factors such as income level may affect the incidence of infections during ontogeny, thus having indirect effects on somatic growth. We tested whether growing up in families with a higher income positively affects height and immune function. MATERIALS AND METHODS Seventy-three young Latvian men …
A preliminary investigation about the observation of regional skin temperatures following cumulative training loads in triathletes during training ca…
2019
There are controversial results in the literature concerning the concept that cumulative training load could affect basal skin temperature in the days following training sessions. The objective was to measure skin temperature in triathletes during a training camp with cumulative training load. Ten male recreational triathletes involved in a training camp underwent measurements of perception of pain and fatigue (visual analogue scale), skin temperature (infrared thermography), and jump performance (counter movement jump test) before, one day, and two days after the beginning of the training camp. All measurements were performed before the breakfast. Jump height did not differ between the day…
Condition-dependent ecdysis and immunocompetence in the amphipod crustacean, Gammarus pulex.
2010
The exoskeleton of arthropods forms an efficient protection against pathogens, but this first line of defence is periodically weakened during ecdysis, increasing the opportunity for surrounding pathogens to invade the body cavity. Since the richness of pathogens in the environment can be spatially and temporally variable, arthropods may have a fitness advantage in moulting in a place and time of low infection risk. Consistent with this hypothesis, we found that the amphipod crustacean, Gammarus pulex , exhibits temporal adjustment of the moult cycle in response to elevated risks of infection. Interestingly, this phenomenon is variable between two populations and independent of levels of im…
One taxon does not fit all: Herb-layer diversity and stand structural complexity are weak predictors of biodiversity in Fagus sylvatica forests
2016
Abstract Since adequate information on the distribution of biodiversity is hardly achievable, biodiversity indicators are necessary to support the management of ecosystems. These surrogates assume that either some habitat features, or the biodiversity patterns observed in a well-known taxon, can be used as a proxy of the diversity of one or more target taxa. Nevertheless, at least for certain taxa, the validity of this assumption has not yet been sufficiently demonstrated. We investigated the effectiveness of both a habitat- and a taxa-based surrogate in six European beech forests in the Apennines. Particularly, we tested: (1) whether the stand structural complexity and the herb-layer speci…
DNA barcoding the phyllosoma of Scyllarides squammosus (H. Milne Edwards, 1837) (Decapoda: Achelata: Scyllaridae)
2016
Scyllarides has the largest number of species with commercial importance within the Scyllaridae family. As for other achelate lobsters, however, little is known of the unique long-lived planktonic phyllosoma stages of any of these tropical and temperate species. Recently, a large and diverse collection of Scyllaridae phyllosoma, compiled from cruises along the Coral Sea and spanning several years, has been analysed. Molecular evidence from DNA-barcoding and phylogenetic analyses is provided here on the identity of S. squammosus phyllosoma larvae, including stages that were previously undescribed or poorly known. As a consequence, the growth and morphological changes that occur during the mi…
Regional endothermy as a trigger for gigantism in some extinct macropredatory sharks
2017
Otodontids include some of the largest macropredatory sharks that ever lived, the most extreme case being Otodus (Megaselachus) megalodon. The reasons underlying their gigantism, distribution patterns and extinction have been classically linked with climatic factors and the evolution, radiation and migrations of cetaceans during the Paleogene. However, most of these previous proposals are based on the idea of otodontids as ectothermic sharks regardless of the ecological, energetic and body size constraints that this implies. Interestingly, a few recent studies have suggested the possible existence of endothermy in these sharks thus opening the door to a series of new interpretations. Accord…