Search results for "cannibalism"
showing 10 items of 27 documents
ELF e le varietà linguistiche afro-asiatiche nella Sicilia dei migranti
2015
This study arises from recent research within the context of a new Sicily, where the various ethnic groups inhabiting it have become EFL users who have different cultural and linguistic backgrounds and appropriate the English without necessarily conforming to its grammatical and lexical norms. This phenomenon places Sicily in a complex position with regard to the construction of EFL speakers and English itself becomes the language that is used for everyday conversations and social interactions within and outside the communities in Sicily. Though Sicily is not a British ex-colony, a high number of immigrants living there speaks the so-called New Englishes as a result of British colonization.…
Mother and offspring fitness in an insect with maternal care: phenotypic trade-offs between egg number, egg mass and egg care
2014
Background Oviparous females have three main options to increase their reproductive success: investing into egg number, egg mass and/or egg care. Although allocating resources to either of these three components is known to shape offspring number and size, potential trade-offs among them may have key impacts on maternal and offspring fitness. Here, we tested the occurrence of phenotypic trade-offs between egg number, egg mass and maternal expenditure on egg care in the European earwig, Forficula auricularia, an insect with pre- and post-hatching forms of maternal care. In particular, we used a series of laboratory observations and experiments to investigate whether these three components no…
Sperm competition and small size advantage for males of the golden orb-web spider Nephila edulis
2000
Sexual selection, through female choice and/or male‐male competition, has influenced the nature and direction of sexual size dimorphism in numerous species. However, few studies have examined the influence of sperm competition on size dimorphism. The orb-web spider Nephila edulis has a polygamous mating system and extreme size dimorphism. Additionally, the frequency distribution of male body size is extremely skewed with most males being small and few large. The duration of copulation, male size and sexual cannibalism have been identified as the significant factors determining patterns of sperm precedence in spiders. In double mating trials, females were assigned to three treatments: either…
Costs of courtship and mating in a sexually cannibalistic orb-web spider: female mating strategies and their consequences for males
2002
The costs of courtship and mating may include increased risks of predation, the transmission of pathogens, and a loss of foraging opportunities. Thus, a female's decision to tolerate a courting male will depend upon how these costs offset the benefits of mating, which will depend on her reproductive and nutritional status. While these costs may be similar for mated and unmated females, the benefits of mating will be less for mated than virgin females. However, the cost of lost foraging opportunities may be higher for females with fewer nutritional reserves necessary for forming eggs. We examined how these costs and benefits influence the courtship and mating behaviour of male and female orb…
Mind the gap: Treefalls as drivers of parental trade-offs
2015
Abstract Tree‐fall gaps are small‐scale disturbances whose formation, colonization, and role in forest dynamics are well documented, but whose effects on animal ecology are still greatly overlooked, except for studies comparing species richness of gaps 6+ months old to that in the closed canopy. Other factors associated with the invasion of fresh tree‐fall gaps such as animal breeding adaptations have been largely neglected. I studied the immediate (within hours and days) arrival of the poison frog Dendrobates tinctorius in new tree‐fall gaps to examine the dynamics of their invasion in relation to tadpole rearing. I found that rearing sites are occupied sooner and tadpoles deposited at hig…
Sexual cannibalism in Nephila plumipes as a consequence of female life history strategies
2002
The evolution of sexual cannibalism has been modelled as both an adaptive and nonadaptive female strategy. Recent evidence from several species suggests a connection between female foraging and sexual cannibalism, but the precise benefits for females have remained obscure. Here, we investigate the difference between cannibalistic and noncannibalistic female Nephila plumipes by removing the potential nutritional benefit of cannibalism. Courting and mating males that were killed by a female were immediately removed so that the female could not consume them. Nevertheless, cannibalistic females gained more mass from maturation to oviposition and produced larger first clutches than noncannibalis…
On the evolutionary stability of female infanticide
1997
Territoriality among female rodents may have evolved as an adaptation to intraspecific competition for resources or, alternatively, to defend pups against infanticide. In order to evaluate the latter, we analyse the conditions that allow an infanticidal strategy to invade a population of non-infanticidal females, and the circumstances under which infanticide may become an evolutionarily stable strategy (ESS). Our game theoretical analyses indicate that infanticide has to be associated with some direct (cannibalism) or indirect (reduced competition) resource benefits in order to invade a non-infanticidal population. We also expect that females will primarily kill litters of nearby neighbors,…
Cibo, corporeità e spiritualità in Sante Impossibili di Michèle Roberts: la visione sovversiva del sacro pasto
2019
This paper takes into consideration the interconnections between, food, sexuality and spirituality which constitute the core of Michèle Roberts's novel Impossible Saints. We shall be focusing on the process of cannibalization of women's bodies, considering the term both in a metaphorical and in a literal sense with relation to the stories told in the novel. We shall examine the relationship between Roberts's "new" saints and food and the desecratory, macabre representations that the author offers of the sacred meal.
Size-dependent tradeoffs in aggressive behavior towards kin
2020
AbstractAggression between juveniles can be unexpected, as their primary motivation is to survive until their reproductive stage. However, instances of aggression, which may escalate to cannibalism, can be vital for survival, although the factors (e.g. genetic or environmental) leading to cannibalism vary across taxa. While cannibalism can greatly accelerate individual growth, it may also reduce inclusive fitness when kin are consumed. As a solution to this problem, some cannibals demonstrate kin discrimination and preferentially attack unrelated individuals. Here, we used both experimental and modeling approaches to consider how physical traits (e.g. size in relation to opponent) and genet…
Cannibalismo e antropopoiesi nella poesia iliadica
2010
Il contributo individua nel desiderio di cannibalismo una strategia di rappresentazione della violenza estrema nel poema dell'Iliade, che pone chi la esercita al di fuori dell'umano. In tal modo per converso il cannibalismo si rivela dispositivo antropopoietico in quanto costruisce modelli di umanità.