Rapid adaptation to cold in the invasive cane toadRhinella marina

In the COVID-19 pandemic, people’s dwellings suddenly became a predominant site of economic activity. We argue that, predictably, policy-makers and employers took the home for granted as a background support of economic life. Acting as if home is a cost-less resource that is free for appropriation in an emergency, ignoring how home functions as a site of gendered relations of care and labour, and assuming home is a largely harmonious site, all shaped the invisibility of the imposition. Taking employee flexibility for granted and presenting work-from-home as a privilege offered by generous employers assumed rapid adaptation. As Australia emerges from lockdown, ‘building back better’ to meet future shocks entails better supporting adaptive capabilities of workers in the care economy, and of homes that have likewise played an unacknowledged role as buffer and shelter for the economy. Investing in infrastructure capable of providing a more equitable basis for future resilience is urgent to reap the benefits that work-from-home offers. This article points to the need for rethinking public investment and infrastructure priorities for economic recovery and reconstruction in the light of a gender perspective on COVID-19 ‘lockdown’ experience. JEL Codes: E01, E22, J24

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Growth, Development and Innate Capacity for Increase in Aphytis Chrysomphali Mercet and A. Melinus Debach, Parasites of California Red Scale, Aonidiella Aurantii (Mask.), In Relation to Temperature.

Australian Journal of Zoology ◽

10.1071/zo9740213 ◽

1974 ◽

Vol 22 (2) ◽

pp. 213 ◽

Cited By ~ 31

Author(s):

I Abdelrahman

Keyword(s):

Negative Relationship ◽

Differential Mortality ◽

Female Progeny ◽

Annual Fluctuation ◽

Adaptation To Cold ◽

Rate Of Increase ◽

Total Progeny ◽

Searching Ability ◽

Pupal Mortality ◽

Threshold Of Development

A, melinus produced more female progeny and more than twice as many total progeny as A. chrysomphali; it also destroyed almost twice as many hosts through oviposition and mutiliation. A. chrysomphali had a longer post-oviposition period than A. melinus, especially at 30�C. The proportion of single progeny in a host was higher for A, chrysomphali than for A. melinus at all temperatures, and was related to temperature positively in A. chrysomphali and inversely in A. melinus. Large old female A. melinus produced only males at the end of their lives; they did not mate at that stage when offered males, not because they were aged but because they mate only once in their lives. As temperature decreased, female A. melznus ceased producing females earlier, probably because temperature affected either longevity of sperms or the mechanism controlling their release. Differential mortality, temperature, and age of mothers all influenced sex ratio. Pupal mortality was inversely related to temperature within the observed range 20-30�C; in female pupae of A. chrysomphali it was lower than that in either female or male pupae of A. melinus; it was higher in male than female pupae in A. melinus. A. melinus lived longer than A. chrysomphali at all temperatures. Duration of development was longer for A. chrysomphali than for A. melinus at 30�C, but shorter at 20 and 25�C. The threshold of development was 8.5C for A. chrysomphali and 11C for A. melinus. A. chrysomphali had a higher rm at 20 and 25�C than A. melinus, but much lower at 30�C. The highest rate of increase was at > 30�C for A. melinus, and at about 25�C for A. chrysomphali. The rm of the parasites was 3.1-5.0 times that of red scale, depending on parasite species and temperature. A. chrysomphali is smaller than A. melinus, and from the positive relationship between adaptation to cold and speed of development, and the negative relationship between speed of development and size, a negative relationship between size and adaptation to cold within Aphytis spp. may be postulated. A. chrysomphali is more adapted to cold and less to heat than A. melinus. This explains the seasonal and annual fluctuation in their relative abundance in southern Australia. The species would complement each other in controlling red scale; from the data presented here it is possible that Aphytis spp. in Australia may have evolved into more efficient control agents of red scale than elsewhere. Knowledge on the searching ability of Aphytis at different host densities is wanting.

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Genome sequences reveal global dispersal routes and suggest convergent genetic adaptations in seahorse evolution

Nature Communications ◽

10.1038/s41467-021-21379-x ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Chunyan Li ◽

Melisa Olave ◽

Yali Hou ◽

Geng Qin ◽

Ralf F. Schneider ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Coastal Waters ◽

Genetic Basis ◽

De Novo ◽

Ocean Currents ◽

Rapid Adaptation ◽

Developmental Gene ◽

De Novo Genome Assembly ◽

Biogeographic Patterns ◽

Hippocampus Erectus ◽

New Habitats

AbstractSeahorses have a circum-global distribution in tropical to temperate coastal waters. Yet, seahorses show many adaptations for a sedentary, cryptic lifestyle: they require specific habitats, such as seagrass, kelp or coral reefs, lack pelvic and caudal fins, and give birth to directly developed offspring without pronounced pelagic larval stage, rendering long-range dispersal by conventional means inefficient. Here we investigate seahorses’ worldwide dispersal and biogeographic patterns based on a de novo genome assembly of Hippocampus erectus as well as 358 re-sequenced genomes from 21 species. Seahorses evolved in the late Oligocene and subsequent circum-global colonization routes are identified and linked to changing dynamics in ocean currents and paleo-temporal seaway openings. Furthermore, the genetic basis of the recurring “bony spines” adaptive phenotype is linked to independent substitutions in a key developmental gene. Analyses thus suggest that rafting via ocean currents compensates for poor dispersal and rapid adaptation facilitates colonizing new habitats.

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Temperament, Plasticity, and Emotions in Defensive Behaviour of Paca (Mammalia, Hystricognatha)

Animals ◽

10.3390/ani11020293 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. 293

Author(s):

Selene S. C. Nogueira ◽

Sérgio L. G. Nogueira-Filho ◽

José M. B. Duarte ◽

Michael Mendl

Keyword(s):

Conservation Status ◽

Behavioural Plasticity ◽

Affective States ◽

Defensive Behaviour ◽

Rapid Adaptation ◽

Behavioural Responses ◽

Judgement Bias ◽

Temperament Dimension ◽

Ambiguous Cue

Within a species, some individuals are better able to cope with threatening environments than others. Paca (Cuniculus paca) appear resilient to over-hunting by humans, which may be related to the behavioural plasticity shown by this species. To investigate this, we submitted captive pacas to temperament tests designed to assess individual responses to short challenges and judgement bias tests (JBT) to evaluate individuals’ affective states. Results indicated across-time and context stability in closely correlated “agitated”, “fearful” and “tense” responses; this temperament dimension was labelled “restless”. Individual “restless” scores predicted responses to novelty, although not to simulated chasing and capture by humans in a separate modified defence test battery (MDTB). Restless animals were more likely to show a greater proportion of positive responses to an ambiguous cue during JBT after the MDTB. Plasticity in defensive behaviour was inferred from changes in behavioural responses and apparently rapid adaptation to challenge in the different phases of the MDTB. The results indicate that both temperament and behavioural plasticity may play a role in influencing paca responses to risky situations. Therefore, our study highlights the importance of understanding the role of individual temperament traits and behavioural plasticity in order to better interpret the animals’ conservation status and vulnerabilities.

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Family quarrels in seeds and rapid adaptive evolution in Arabidopsis

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ◽

10.1073/pnas.1817733116 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 116 (19) ◽

pp. 9463-9468 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Katherine S. Geist ◽

Joan E. Strassmann ◽

David C. Queller

Keyword(s):

Adaptive Evolution ◽

Kin Selection ◽

Conflicts Of Interest ◽

A Priori ◽

Flowering Plant ◽

Rapid Adaptation ◽

Arms Races ◽

Evolutionary Conflict ◽

Alternative Hypotheses

Evolutionary conflict can drive rapid adaptive evolution, sometimes called an arms race, because each party needs to respond continually to the adaptations of the other. Evidence for such arms races can sometimes be seen in morphology, in behavior, or in the genes underlying sexual interactions of host−pathogen interactions, but is rarely predicted a priori. Kin selection theory predicts that conflicts of interest should usually be reduced but not eliminated among genetic relatives, but there is little evidence as to whether conflict within families can drive rapid adaptation. Here we test multiple predictions about how conflict over the amount of resources an offspring receives from its parent would drive rapid molecular evolution in seed tissues of the flowering plant Arabidopsis. As predicted, there is more adaptive evolution in genes expressed in Arabidopsis seeds than in other specialized organs, more in endosperms and maternal tissues than in embryos, and more in the specific subtissues involved in nutrient transfer. In the absence of credible alternative hypotheses, these results suggest that kin selection and conflict are important in plants, that the conflict includes not just the mother and offspring but also the triploid endosperm, and that, despite the conflict-reducing role of kinship, family members can engage in slow but steady tortoise-like arms races.

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