Search results for "evolutionary"
showing 10 items of 4392 documents
Are there plenty of fish in the sea? How life history traits affect the eco-evolutionary consequences of population oscillations
2022
Understanding fish population oscillations is important for both fundamental population biology and for fisheries science. Much research has focused on the causes of population oscillations, but the eco-evolutionary consequences of population oscillations are unclear. Here, we used an empirically parametrised individual-based simulation model to explore the consequences of oscillations with different amplitudes and wavelengths. We show that oscillations with a wavelength shorter than the maximum lifespan of the fish produce marked differences in the evolutionary trajectories of asymptotic length. Wavelengths longer than the maximum lifespan of the fish, in turn, mainly manifest as ecologica…
Decentralized classification in societies of autonomous and heterogenous robots
2011
This paper addresses the classification problem for a set of autonomous robots that interact with each other. The objective is to classify agents that “behave” in “different way”, due to their own physical dynamics or to the interaction protocol they are obeying to, as belonging to different “species”. This paper describes a technique that allows a decentralized classification system to be built in a systematic way, once the hybrid models describing the behavior of the different species are given. This technique is based on a decentralized identification mechanism, by which every agent classifies its neighbors using only local information. By endowing every agent with such a local classifie…
La genètica de les migracions humanes: Seguint el rastre de les migracions a través del nostre genoma
2014
La reconstruccio de les migracions humanes es possible gracies a la informacio aportada per diverses disciplines. L’estudi de la diversitat genetica de les poblacions humanes actuals ens revela quins han estat els esdeveniments demografics i moviments migratoris passats que han deixat una empremta en el nostre genoma. El coneixement dels moviments migratoris en temps prehistorics ens permet comprovar hipotesis proposades des d’altres disciplines cientifiques. De la mateixa manera, la distribucio de la diversitat genetica en el futur dependra, en gran part, de les intenses migracions humanes actuals facilitades pels avencos tecnologics.
CoproID predicts the source of coprolites and paleofeces using microbiome composition and host DNA content
2020
Shotgun metagenomics applied to archaeological feces (paleofeces) can bring new insights into the composition and functions of human and animal gut microbiota from the past. However, paleofeces often undergo physical distortions in archaeological sediments, making their source species difficult to identify on the basis of fecal morphology or microscopic features alone. Here we present a reproducible and scalable pipeline using both host and microbial DNA to infer the host source of fecal material. We apply this pipeline to newly sequenced archaeological specimens and show that we are able to distinguish morphologically similar human and canine paleofeces, as well as non-fecal sediments, fro…
A mate to die for? A model of conditional monogyny in cannibalistic spiders.
2012
Monogynous males in various species actively limit themselves to mating with a single female in their lifetime. Whereas previous models have considered monogyny as an obligate mating strategy, here we explore the potential of monogyny to evolve as a context-specific (conditional) behavior. Using a state-dependent dynamic game model based on the biology of the cannibalistic spider Argiope bruennichi, we confirm that conditional monogyny can evolve under broad conditions, including an even sex ratio. We predict that males should make a terminal investment when mating with large, virgin females, especially if population density is low and the encounter occurs late in the season. We encourage e…
Considering safety issues in minimum losses reconfiguration for MV distribution networks
2009
This paper offers a new perspective over the traditional problem of the multiobjective optimal reconfiguration of electrical distribution systems in regular working state. The issue is indeed here formulated including also safety issues. Indeed, dimensioning the earth electrodes of their own secondary substations, distribution companies take into account the probable future configurations of the network due to transformations of overhead lines into cable lines or realization of new lines. On the contrary, they do not consider that, during normal working conditions. the structure of the network can be modified for long periods as a consequence of reconfiguration manoeuvres, with differences …
Consistent phenological shifts in the making of a biodiversity hotspot: the Cape flora
2011
Abstract Background The best documented survival responses of organisms to past climate change on short (glacial-interglacial) timescales are distributional shifts. Despite ample evidence on such timescales for local adaptations of populations at specific sites, the long-term impacts of such changes on evolutionary significant units in response to past climatic change have been little documented. Here we use phylogenies to reconstruct changes in distribution and flowering ecology of the Cape flora - South Africa's biodiversity hotspot - through a period of past (Neogene and Quaternary) changes in the seasonality of rainfall over a timescale of several million years. Results Forty-three dist…
How important are terrestrial organic carbon inputs for secondary production in freshwater ecosystems?
2017
Article
Marine food web perspective to fisheries‐induced evolution
2021
Abstract Fisheries exploitation can cause genetic changes in heritable traits of targeted stocks. The direction of selective pressure forced by harvest acts typically in reverse to natural selection and selects for explicit life histories, usually for younger and smaller spawners with deprived spawning potential. While the consequences that such selection might have on the population dynamics of a single species are well emphasized, we are just beginning to perceive the variety and severity of its propagating effects within the entire marine food webs and ecosystems. Here, we highlight the potential pathways in which fisheries‐induced evolution, driven by size‐selective fishing, might reson…
Evolutionary genomics can improve prediction of species' responses to climate change
2020
Abstract Global climate change (GCC) increasingly threatens biodiversity through the loss of species, and the transformation of entire ecosystems. Many species are challenged by the pace of GCC because they might not be able to respond fast enough to changing biotic and abiotic conditions. Species can respond either by shifting their range, or by persisting in their local habitat. If populations persist, they can tolerate climatic changes through phenotypic plasticity, or genetically adapt to changing conditions depending on their genetic variability and census population size to allow for de novo mutations. Otherwise, populations will experience demographic collapses and species may go ext…