Are life-history strategies of Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) and house mice (Mus musculus) dependent on environmental characteristics?

2014 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 172 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. V. Vadell ◽  
I. E. Gómez Villafañe ◽  
R. Cavia
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Litter Size ◽  
House Mouse ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Demographic Characteristics ◽  
Life History Strategies ◽  
Environmental Characteristics ◽  
Norway Rat ◽  
Rural Environments ◽  
Freezing Temperatures

Context Life-history theory attempts to explain the way in which an organism is adapted to its environment as well as explaining the differences in life-history strategies among and within species. Aims The aim of this paper was to compare life-history traits of the Norway rat and the house mouse living in different habitats and geographic regions so as to find patterns related to environmental characteristics on the basis of published ecological studies conducted before 2011. Methods The environments where rodent populations lived were characterised according to climate type, occurrence of freezing temperatures and frost, degree of anthropisation and trapping location. Four demographic characteristics were analysed. A canonical correspondence analysis was performed to explain the effects of environmental variables on the demographic characteristics of rodents. Information was gathered from 35 articles published between 1945 and 2010. Key results Most populations of both species showed differences in abundance throughout the year, but no defined pattern was common among populations. The pregnancy rate of Norway rat was highest during spring and autumn in urban environments, during spring and winter in rural environments and during summer in sylvan habitats. House mouse populations were most frequently reported to experience high pregnancy rates during summer. Contrary to urban and rural populations, in sylvan environments the occurrence of a reproductive break was the most commonly reported pattern for both species. Litter size of Norway rat depended on the degree of anthropisation and the occurrence of freezing temperatures and frost. Litter size was greater in rural environments and in areas without freezing temperatures and frost. House mouse did not show differences in litter size resulting from any of the environmental characteristics analysed. Conclusions Both species are able to modify their reproductive strategies according to environmental characteristics, especially according to the degree of anthropisation of the environment. In sylvan areas, where animals are more exposed to seasonal changes in weather conditions, changes in reproductive investment are more evident. Implications Regarding the implications for rodent control, the best time to apply control measures could be winter in sylvan and urban environments. In rural environments, the best time for conducting control efforts is less clear, although cold seasons seem also to be the best.

scholarly journals Thermal flexibility and a generalist life history promote urban tolerance in butterflies

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Corey Thomas Callaghan ◽  
Diana Bowler ◽  
Henrique Pereira
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Urban Expansion ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Life History Strategies ◽  
Continuous Measure ◽  
Butterfly Species ◽  
Night Time ◽  
Species Response ◽  
Species Specific

Urban expansion poses a serious threat to biodiversity. Given that the expected area of urban land cover is predicted to increase by 2-3 million km2 by 2050, urban environments are one of the most widespread human-dominated land-uses affecting biodiversity. Responses to urbanization differ greatly among species. Some species are unable to tolerate urban environments (i.e., urban avoiders), others are able to adapt and use areas with moderate levels of urbanization (i.e., urban adapters), and yet others are able to colonize and even thrive in urban environments (i.e., urban exploiters). Quantifying species-specific responses to urbanization remains an important goal, but our current understanding of urban tolerance is heavily biased towards traditionally well-studied taxa (e.g., mammals and birds). We integrated a continuous measure of urbanization — VIIRS night-time lights — with over 900,000 species’ observations from GBIF to derive a comprehensive analysis of species-specific (N=158 species) responses of butterflies to urbanization across Europe. The majority of butterfly species included in our analysis avoided urban areas, regardless of whether species’ urban tolerances were quantified as a mean score of urban tolerance across all occurrences (79%) or as a species’ response curve to the whole urbanization gradient (55%). We then used the species-specific responses to urbanization to assess which life history strategies promote urban tolerance in butterflies. These trait-based analyses found strong evidence that the average number of flight months, likely associated with thermal niche breath, and number of adult food types were positively associated with urban tolerance, while hostplant specialism was negatively associated with urban tolerance. Overall, our results demonstrate that specialist butterflies, both in terms of thermal and diet preferences, are most at risk from increasing urbanization, and should thus be considered in urban planning and prioritized for conservation.

Adaptive Evolution of Plant Life History in Urban Environments

2020 ◽  
pp. 142-156
Author(s):  
Amanda J. Gorton ◽  
Liana T. Burghardt ◽  
Peter Tiffin
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Adaptive Evolution ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Life History Traits ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Adaptive Divergence ◽  
Growing Season Length ◽  
Plant Life ◽  
Rural Environments ◽  
Shape Selection

Many of the environmental factors that shape selection on plant life-history traits, including temperature, water availability, growing-season length, nutrient availability, and biotic community, differ between urban and rural environments, as well as within urban environments. Therefore, we might expect that plant life-history traits are of central importance to plant adaptation to urban environments. While the study of adaptive evolution of plant life-history traits in urban environments is in its early stages, those studies that have been conducted provide clear evidence for adaptive divergence between urban and rural plant populations in plant life-history traits related to phenology, fecundity, and dispersal. This chapter reviews the existing studies that provide a foundation for understanding the adaptation of plant life histories in urban environments, and also point to directions of potentially fruitful further research.

scholarly journals The coevolution of mammae number and litter size

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas A. Stewart ◽  
Ihna Yoo ◽  
Nathan S. Upham
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Litter Size ◽  
Geographic Distribution ◽  
Species Level ◽  
Life History Strategies ◽  
Gestation Length ◽  
Offspring Survival ◽  
The One ◽  
Analyze Data

AbstractMammals are unique in provisioning their offspring with milk, lactiferous nourishment produced in glandular organs called mammae. Mammae number is hypothesized to coevolve with litter size, acting as a constraint on offspring survival. However, predicted canonical relations between mammae number and litter size (i.e., the ‘one-half’ and ‘identity’ rules) are untested across Mammalia. Here we analyze data for 2,301 species and show how these characters coevolve. In Mammalia, mammae number approximates the maximum reported litter size of a species, and mammae number explains more variation in litter size than other species-level traits (mass, gestation length, diet, and seasonality of contemporary geographic distribution). Clades show differences in these patterns, indicating that certain life history strategies might break the ‘rules’ of mammary evolution. Mammae number is an underappreciated constraint on fecundity that has influenced the radiation of mammals.

scholarly journals Natural variation in plant telomere length is associated with flowering time

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jae Young Choi ◽  
Liliia R Abdulkina ◽  
Jun Yin ◽  
Inna B Chastukhina ◽  
John T Lovell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Telomere Length ◽  
Flowering Time ◽  
Dna Sequences ◽  
Genome Wide Association Study ◽  
Genomic Analysis ◽  
Life History Strategies ◽  
Length Variation ◽  
Chromosomal Structure ◽  
Chromosome Integrity

Abstract Telomeres are highly repetitive DNA sequences found at the ends of chromosomes that protect the chromosomes from deterioration during cell division. Here, using whole genome re-sequencing and terminal restriction fragment assays, we found substantial natural intraspecific variation in telomere length in Arabidopsis thaliana, rice (Oryza sativa), and maize (Zea mays). Genome-wide association study (GWAS) mapping in A. thaliana identified 13 regions with GWAS-significant associations underlying telomere length variation, including a region that harbors the telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) gene. Population genomic analysis provided evidence for a selective sweep at the TERT region associated with longer telomeres. We found that telomere length is negatively correlated with flowering time variation not only in A. thaliana, but also in maize and rice, indicating a link between life history traits and chromosome integrity. Our results point to several possible reasons for this correlation, including the possibility that longer telomeres may be more adaptive in plants that have faster developmental rates (and therefore flower earlier). Our work suggests that chromosomal structure itself might be an adaptive trait associated with plant life history strategies.

scholarly journals Factors Contributing to the Relationship between Driving Mileage and Crash Frequency of Older Drivers

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (23) ◽  
pp. 6643 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lee ◽  
Guldmann ◽  
Choi
Keyword(s):  
Negative Binomial ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Vehicle Miles Traveled ◽  
Crash Frequency ◽  
Rural Environments ◽  
Lower Likelihood ◽  
Conditional Autoregressive ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Binomial Models

As a characteristic of senior drivers aged 65 +, the low-mileage bias has been reported in previous studies. While it is thought to be a well-known phenomenon caused by aging, the characteristics of urban environments create more opportunities for crashes. This calls for investigating the low-mileage bias and scrutinizing whether it has the same impact on other age groups, such as young and middle-aged drivers. We use a crash database from the Ohio Department of Public Safety from 2006 to 2011 and adopt a macro approach using Negative Binomial models and Conditional Autoregressive (CAR) models to deal with a spatial autocorrelation issue. Aside from the low-mileage bias issue, we examine the association between the number of crashes and the built environment and socio-economic and demographic factors. We confirm that the number of crashes is associated with vehicle miles traveled, which suggests that more accumulated driving miles result in a lower likelihood of being involved in a crash. This implies that drivers in the low mileage group are involved in crashes more often, regardless of the driver’s age. The results also confirm that more complex urban environments have a higher number of crashes than rural environments.

Intraspecific hybridization, life history strategies and potential invasion success in a parasitoid wasp

2012 ◽  
Vol 26 (6) ◽  
pp. 1311-1329 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chiara Benvenuto ◽  
Sandrine Cheyppe-Buchmann ◽  
Gérald Bermond ◽  
Nicolas Ris ◽  
Xavier Fauvergue
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Parasitoid Wasp ◽  
Invasion Success ◽  
Life History Strategies ◽  
Intraspecific Hybridization

scholarly journals High Genetic Variance in Life-History Strategies within Invasive Populations by Way of Multiple Introductions

2008 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 363-367 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benoît Facon ◽  
Jean-Pierre Pointier ◽  
Philippe Jarne ◽  
Violette Sarda ◽  
Patrice David
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Genetic Variance ◽  
Life History Strategies ◽  
Multiple Introductions
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