Search results for "evolution"

Should dispersers be fast learners? Modeling the role of cognition in dispersal syndromes.

2021

Abstract Both cognitive abilities and dispersal tendencies can vary strongly between individuals. Since cognitive abilities may help dealing with unknown circumstances, it is conceivable that dispersers may rely more heavily on learning abilities than residents. However, cognitive abilities are costly and leaving a familiar place might result in losing the advantage of having learned to deal with local conditions. Thus, individuals which invested in learning to cope with local conditions may be better off staying at their natal place. In order to disentangle the complex relationship between dispersal and learning abilities, we implemented individual‐based simulations. By allowing for develo…

Empathy in Technology Design and Graffiti

2021

This paper discusses empathic understanding, what it means, and how it can be acquired. After an overview of some theories and models from the existing literature, two experiments are presented, where participants were assessing graffiti works. From the results of these experiments, it can be concluded that empathic understanding involves both embodied processes and abstract inferences. Furthermore, understanding can be based on perceived, mechanistic bodily similarities and movements or on folk-psychological inferences mentalized between the observer/empathizer and an object/empathized. Empathic understanding it can also be gained by recognizing and implementing learned bodily skills and c…

Functional structure of European forest beetle communities is enhanced by rare species

2022

Biodiverse communities have been shown to sustain high levels of multifunctionality and thus a loss of species likely negatively impacts ecosystem functions. For most taxa, however, roles of individual species are poorly known. Rare species, often most likely to go extinct, may have unique traits and functional roles. Alternatively, rare species may be functionally redundant, such that their loss would not disrupt ecosystem functions. We quantified the functional role of rare species by using captures of wood-living (saproxylic) beetle species, combined with recent databases of morphological and ecological traits, from three regions in central and northern Europe. Using a rarity index based…

Moraaliset tunteet ja maltillinen subjektivismi Edvard Westermarckin relativistisessa etiikan teoriassa

2002

Implications of fisheries‐induced evolution for population recovery: Refocusing the science and refining its communication

2019

The argument that sufficiently high fishing mortality (selective or not) can effect genetic change in fished populations has gained considerable traction since the late 1970s. The intervening decades have provided compelling experimental and model‐based evidence that fisheries‐induced evolution (FIE) can cause genetic changes in life history, behaviour and body shape, given sufficiently high trait heritability, selection intensity and time. Fisheries‐induced evolution research has also identified or inferred negative implications to population recovery and sustainable yield, prompting calls for evolutionarily enlightened management to reduce the probability of FIE and mitigate its risks. Su…

Cormorant predation mortality of perch (Perca fluviatilis) in coastal and archipelago areas, northern Baltic Sea

2021

Abstract Perch (Perca fluviatilis) is an important prey species of the great cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo sinensis) in the coastal waters of the northern Baltic Sea. The annual predation mortality caused by cormorants was estimated based on the consumed numbers of perch in relation to the abundance of perch in vulnerable age groups in the sea. We used existing stock assessment data (Archipelago Sea) or a simple population model in other areas (Gulf of Finland, Bothnian Sea, and Quark), based on commercial and recreational perch catches, and estimated fishing and natural mortalities, with distributions describing our understanding about the likelihood of different values for every variable…

Discretising Keyfitz' entropy for studies of actuarial senescence and comparative demography

2023

1. Keyfitz’ entropy is a widely used metric to quantify the shape of the survivorship curve of populations, from plants, to animals, and microbes. Keyfitz’ entropy values 1 correspond to species with a decreasing mortality rate with age (negative senescence), and a Keyfitz entropy of exactly 1 corresponds to a constant mortality rate with age. Keyfitz’ entropy was originally defined using a continuous-time model, and has since been discretised to facilitate its calculation from discrete-time demographic data. 2. Here, we show that the previously used discretisation of the continuous-time metric does not preserve the relationship with increasing, decreasing, or constant mortality rates. To r…

Proton Structure Functions at Next-to-Leading Order in the Dipole Picture with Massive Quarks

2023

We predict heavy quark production cross sections in deep inelastic scattering at high energy by applying the color glass condensate effective theory. We demonstrate that, when the calculation is performed consistently at next-to-leading order accuracy with massive quarks, it becomes possible, for the first time in the dipole picture with perturbatively calculated center-of-mass energy evolution, to simultaneously describe both the light and heavy quark production data at small xBj. Furthermore, we show how the heavy quark cross section data provides additional strong constraints on the extracted nonperturbative initial condition for the small-xBj evolution equations.

Antipredatory function of head shape for vipers and their mimics.

2011

Most research into the adaptive significance of warning signals has focused on the colouration and patterns of prey animals. However, behaviour, odour and body shape can also have signal functions and thereby reduce predators' willingness to attack defended prey. European vipers all have a distinctive triangular head shape; and they are all venomous. Several non-venomous snakes, including the subfamily Natricinae, commonly flatten their heads (also known as head triangulation) when disturbed. The adaptive significance of this potential behavioural mimicry has never been investigated. We experimentally tested if the triangular head shape typical of vipers offers protection against predation.…

Using the centre-periphery framework to explore human-carnivore relations

2023

Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2019-000940-M Living alongside carnivores can incur both costs and benefits on people's lifeways. While positive outcomes of carnivore presence can foster coexistence, negative relations with carnivores can trigger carnivores' killing and undermine their conservation. In response to this, conservation efforts increasingly focus on promoting positive human-carnivore relations, most often through improvements in the flow of economic benefits from carnivores to local communities. However, there is a question mark over the effectiveness and potential consequences of market-based instruments for carnivore conservation. To understand the opportunities and p…