scholarly journals A phenotypically plastic magic trait promoting reproductive isolation in sticklebacks?

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monica V. Garduno Paz ◽  
Felicity A. Huntingford ◽  
Sean Garrett ◽  
Colin E. Adams
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Sexual Maturity ◽  
Early Age ◽  
Evolutionary Divergence ◽  
Trophic Morphology ◽  
Pelagic Prey ◽  
First Time ◽  
Magic Traits ◽  
Plastic Trait

AbstractThis study identifies one possible mechanism whereby gene flow is interrupted in populations undergoing evolutionary divergence in sympatry; this is an important issue in evolutionary biology that remains poorly understood. Variation in trophic morphology was induced in three-spined stickleback by exposing them from an early age either to large benthic or to small pelagic prey. At sexual maturity, females given a choice between two breeding males, showed positive assortative mate choice for males raised on the same diet as themselves. The data indicate that this was mediated through a preference for males with trophic morphology similar to that of fish with which the females were familiar (from their pre-testing holding tanks). In trials where the female did not choose the most familiar male, the evidence suggests that either she had difficulty discriminating between two similar males or was positively choosing males with more extreme morphologies (more benthic-like or pelagic -like). This study has shown for the first time that expression of a plastic trait induced at an early age, not only results in specialisation for local foraging regimes but can also play a significant role in mate choice. This is equivalent to an environmentally induced, plastic version of the “magic traits” that promote ecologically-driven divergence in sympatry, hence the proposed descriptor “plastic magic trait”.

scholarly journals A phenotypically plastic magic trait promoting reproductive isolation in sticklebacks?

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 123-131
Author(s):  
Monica V. Garduno-Paz ◽  
Felicity A. Huntingford ◽  
Sean Garrett ◽  
Colin E. Adams
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Sexual Maturity ◽  
Early Age ◽  
Evolutionary Divergence ◽  
Trophic Morphology ◽  
Pelagic Prey ◽  
First Time ◽  
Magic Traits ◽  
Plastic Trait

Abstract This study identifies one possible mechanism whereby gene flow is interrupted in populations undergoing evolutionary divergence in sympatry; this is an important issue in evolutionary biology that remains poorly understood. Variation in trophic morphology was induced in three-spined stickleback by exposing them from an early age either to large benthic or to small pelagic prey. At sexual maturity, females given a choice between two breeding males, showed positive assortative mate choice for males raised on the same diet as themselves. The data indicate that this was mediated through a preference for males with trophic morphology similar to that of fish with which the females were familiar (from their pre-testing holding tanks). In trials where the female did not choose the most familiar male, the evidence suggests that either she had difficulty discriminating between two similar males or was positively choosing males with more extreme morphologies (more benthic-like or pelagic-like). This study has shown for the first time that expression of a plastic trait induced at an early age, not only results in specialisation for local foraging regimes but can also play a significant role in mate choice. This is equivalent to an environmentally induced, plastic version of the “magic traits” that promote ecologically-driven divergence in sympatry, hence the proposed descriptor “plastic magic trait”.

scholarly journals A shift towards early-age desexing of cats under veterinary care in Australia

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Loic Mazeau ◽  
Claire Wylie ◽  
Lara Boland ◽  
Julia A. Beatty
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Animal Welfare ◽  
Sexual Maturity ◽  
Early Age ◽  
Patient Records ◽  
Electronic Patient Records ◽  
Domestic Cats ◽  
Front Line ◽  
Age At Surgery ◽  
First Time

AbstractThe global problem of unowned domestic cats, driven by their phenomenal reproductive success, carries significant economic, animal welfare and biodiversity costs. Desexing owned cats prior to puberty prevents unwanted litters that contribute to unowned cat populations. The prevalence and predictors of desexing, and the age at which surgery was carried out were investigated using anonymized electronic patient records in the VetCompass Australia database of cats presented to veterinary practices. Of 52,941 cats born between 2010 and 2017, 83.6% were desexed. Among 7463 desexed females, 21.5% had been desexed by 4 months of age, 59.8% by 6 months and 85.4% by 1 year. Sex, breed, location and socioeconomic indices significantly influenced desexing status and age at surgery. Cats born between 2010 and 2017 had greater odds of being desexed than cats born between 1995and 2009 at each age cut-off (≤ 4 months [OR 1.76, CI95 1.58–1.97], ≤ 6 months [OR 1.50, CI95 1.38–1.62] and ≤ 1 year [OR 2.33, CI95 2.11–2.57] p < 0.001). Most cats presented to veterinarians in Australia are desexed. Compared with cats born before 2010, cats born later are significantly younger at desexing but, even so, many cats would have reached sexual maturity before surgery. These findings will inform the design of front-line strategies promoting prepubertal desexing and they demonstrate, for the first time, a shift towards desexing younger cats.

scholarly journals Male-male interactions select for conspicuous male colouration in damselflies

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Md Kawsar Khan ◽  
Marie E. Herberstein
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Choice Experiment ◽  
Sexual Maturity ◽  
Female Mate Choice ◽  
Female Preference ◽  
Male Mating ◽  
Female Mate Preference ◽  
Female Mate ◽  
Juvenile Males ◽  
First Time

AbstractMale ornamentation, such as conspicuous male colouration, can evolve through female mate choice. Alternatively, in species without overt female mate preference, conspicuous male colouration can evolve via intrasexual selection to resolve male-male competition or to prevent costly male-male mating attempts. Here, we investigated the drivers of conspicuous male colouration in an ontogenetic colour changing damselfly, Xanthagrion erythroneurum, where the juvenile males are yellow and change colour to red upon sexual maturity. We first showed that red males were chromatically and achromatically more conspicuous than the yellow males. We then quantified the condition of the males and showed that red males were larger and in better condition than yellow males. We tested female preference in a choice experiment where we artificially manipulated male colour, and found that females did not choose mates based on male colouration. We further tested whether the male colouration affected male-male interactions. We presented red and yellow males in the breeding arena, and found that red males received less intra- and interspecific aggression than yellow males. Our study experimentally showed, for the first time, that male conspicuousness is not a target of female mate choice in damselflies. Intra- and interspecific male-male interactions therefore appear to be the driver of conspicuous male colouration in damselflies.

Darwin's two competing phylogenetic trees: marsupials as ancestors or sister taxa?

2012 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. David Archibald
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Record ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Phylogenetic Trees ◽  
Charles Darwin ◽  
The Other ◽  
Charles Lyell ◽  
Single Origin ◽  
Molecular Studies ◽  
Richard Owen ◽  
First Time

Studies of the origin and diversification of major groups of plants and animals are contentious topics in current evolutionary biology. This includes the study of the timing and relationships of the two major clades of extant mammals – marsupials and placentals. Molecular studies concerned with marsupial and placental origin and diversification can be at odds with the fossil record. Such studies are, however, not a recent phenomenon. Over 150 years ago Charles Darwin weighed two alternative views on the origin of marsupials and placentals. Less than a year after the publication of On the origin of species, Darwin outlined these in a letter to Charles Lyell dated 23 September 1860. The letter concluded with two competing phylogenetic diagrams. One showed marsupials as ancestral to both living marsupials and placentals, whereas the other showed a non-marsupial, non-placental as being ancestral to both living marsupials and placentals. These two diagrams are published here for the first time. These are the only such competing phylogenetic diagrams that Darwin is known to have produced. In addition to examining the question of mammalian origins in this letter and in other manuscript notes discussed here, Darwin confronted the broader issue as to whether major groups of animals had a single origin (monophyly) or were the result of “continuous creation” as advocated for some groups by Richard Owen. Charles Lyell had held similar views to those of Owen, but it is clear from correspondence with Darwin that he was beginning to accept the idea of monophyly of major groups.

John Horsley

1932 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-164
Author(s):  
George Macdonald
Keyword(s):  
Great Book ◽  
Early Age ◽  
Present Purpose ◽  
First Time

On January 12th, 1732, John Horsley, Presbyterian divine and schoolmaster, died suddenly at Morpeth at the early age of 46. The following March or April witnessed the publication of his great book, in which real scholarship was for the first time brought to bear upon the interpretation of Romano-British antiquities. The occurrence of this double bicentenary seems to provide an appropriate opportunity for reminding readers of the Journal of the magnitude of the achievement represented by the Britannia Romana. A fully documented account of the author's career, together with an estimate of the value of his work, will appear in the forthcoming volume of Archaeologia Aeliana. For the present purpose, therefore, a brief summary will suffice.

Pregnancy and the Risk of Rheumatoid Arthritis in a Highly Predisposed North American Native Population

2012 ◽  
Vol 39 (12) ◽  
pp. 2253-2260 ◽  
Author(s):  
CHRISTINE A. PESCHKEN ◽  
DAVID B. ROBINSON ◽  
CAROL A. HITCHON ◽  
IRENE SMOLIK ◽  
DONNA HART ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Rheumatoid Arthritis ◽  
North American ◽  
Shared Epitope ◽  
Reproductive History ◽  
Early Age ◽  
Age At First Birth ◽  
Native Population ◽  
First Birth ◽  
Pregnancy Smoking ◽  
First Time

Objective.To examine reproductive history and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) risk in a highly predisposed population of North American Natives (NAN) with unique fertility characteristics.Methods.The effect of pregnancy on the risk of RA was examined by comparing women enrolled in 2 studies: a study of RA in NAN patients and their unaffected relatives; and NAN patients with RA and unrelated healthy NAN controls enrolled in a study of autoimmunity. All participants completed questionnaires detailing their reproductive history.Results.Patients with RA (n = 168) and controls (n = 400) were similar overall in age, education, shared epitope frequency, number of pregnancies, age at first pregnancy, smoking, and breastfeeding history. In multivariate analysis, for women who had ≥ 6 births the OR for developing RA was 0.43 (95% CI 0.21–0.87) compared with women who had 1–2 births (p = 0.046); for women who gave birth for the first time after age 20 the OR for developing RA was 0.33 (95% CI 0.16–0.66) compared with women whose first birth occurred at age ≤ 17 (p = 0.001). The highest risk of developing RA was in the first postpartum year (OR 3.8; 95% CI 1.45–9.93) compared with subsequent years (p = 0.004).Conclusion.In this unique population, greater parity significantly reduced the odds of RA; an early age at first birth increased the odds, and the postpartum period was confirmed as high risk for RA onset. The protective effect of repeated exposure to the ameliorating hormonal and immunological changes of pregnancy may counterbalance the effect of early exposure to the postpartum reversal of these changes.

scholarly journals Neural network detected in a presumed vestigial trait: ultrastructure of the salmonid adipose fin

2011 ◽  
Vol 279 (1728) ◽  
pp. 553-563 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. A. Buckland-Nicks ◽  
M. Gillis ◽  
T. E. Reimchen
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Primary Cilia ◽  
Free Edge ◽  
Energetic Cost ◽  
Developmental Constraints ◽  
Fisheries Science ◽  
Adipose Fin ◽  
First Time ◽  
Two Sides ◽  
Turbulent Water

A wide variety of rudimentary and apparently non-functional traits have persisted over extended evolutionary time. Recent evidence has shown that some of these traits may be maintained as a result of developmental constraints or neutral energetic cost, but for others their true function was not recognized. The adipose fin is small, fleshy, non-rayed and located between the dorsal and caudal fins on eight orders of basal teleosts and has traditionally been regarded as vestigial without clear function. We describe here the ultrastructure of the adipose fin and for the first time, to our knowledge, present evidence of extensive nervous tissue, as well as an unusual subdermal complex of interconnected astrocyte-like cells equipped with primary cilia. The fin contains neither adipose tissue nor fin rays. Many fusiform actinotrichia, comprising dense striated macrofibrils, support the free edge and connect with collagen cables that link the two sides. These results are consistent with a recent hypothesis that the adipose fin may act as a precaudal flow sensor, where its removal can be detrimental to swimming efficiency in turbulent water. Our findings provide insight to the broader themes of function versus constraints in evolutionary biology and may have significance for fisheries science, as the adipose fin is routinely removed from millions of salmonids each year.

Variation III: Social Environment and Epigenetics

Mate Choice ◽  
2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gil G. Rosenthal
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Social Environment ◽  
Sexual Maturity ◽  
Horizontal Transmission ◽  
Epigenetic Modifications ◽  
Older Individuals ◽  
Mating Preferences ◽  
Sources Of Variation ◽  
Sexually Mature

This chapter focuses on social interactions, in the broadest sense, as sources of variation in mate choice and mating preferences. These interactions can be divided into three categories corresponding to when they are specified and which individuals are involved. The first includes effects that are determined before birth and transmitted vertically from parents: epigenetic modifications to the genome and the fetal or embryonic environment. The second includes influences between birth and sexual maturity, when the phenotypes of parents and/or other sexually mature, older individuals (oblique transmission) direct the development of preferences in choosers. Experience with courters and choosers after sexual maturity, or experience with other juveniles that shapes subsequent preferences, constitutes peer (horizontal) transmission.

scholarly journals Characterization of Titanium Nanotube Reinforced Cementitious Composites: Mechanical Properties, Microstructure, and Hydration

Materials ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 1617 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyeonseok Jee ◽  
Jaeyeon Park ◽  
Erfan Zalnezhad ◽  
Keunhong Jeong ◽  
Seung Min Woo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Properties ◽  
Cement Paste ◽  
Cementitious Materials ◽  
Cement Clinker ◽  
Early Age ◽  
Potential Candidate ◽  
Hydration Kinetics ◽  
Cement Pastes ◽  
Viable Solution ◽  
First Time

In recent years, nano-reinforcing technologies for cementitious materials have attracted considerable interest as a viable solution for compensating the poor cracking resistance of these materials. In this study, for the first time, titanium nanotubes (TNTs) were incorporated in cement pastes and their effect on the mechanical properties, microstructure, and early-age hydration kinetics was investigated. Experimental results showed that both compressive (~12%) and flexural strength (~23%) were enhanced with the addition of 0.5 wt.% of TNTs relative to plain cement paste at 28 days of curing. Moreover, it was found that, while TNTs accelerated the hydration kinetics of the pure cement clinker phase (C3S) in the early age of the reaction (within 24 h), there was no significant effect from adding TNTs on the hydration of ordinary Portland cement. TNTs appeared to compress the microstructure by filling the cement paste pore of sizes ranging from 10 to 100 nm. Furthermore, it could be clearly observed that the TNTs bridged the microcracks of cement paste. These results suggested that TNTs could be a great potential candidate since nano-reinforcing agents complement the shortcomings of cementitious materials.

Reproductive biology of two sympatric colubrid snakes, Chironius flavolineatus and Chironius quadricarinatus, from the Brazilian Cerrado domain

2010 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 463-473 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberta Richard Pinto ◽  
Otavio Augusto Vuolo Marques ◽  
Ronaldo Fernandes
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Biology ◽  
Sexual Maturity ◽  
Egg Production ◽  
Sympatric Species ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Reproductive Pattern ◽  
Brazilian Cerrado ◽  
Wet Season ◽  
Reproductive Cycles ◽  
First Time

AbstractThe reproductive biology of Chironius flavolineatus and C. quadricarinatus from the Brazilian Cerrado domain is described, including sexual maturity, female fecundity, and reproductive cycles of males and females. Egg-laying is recorded here for the first time for C. quadricarinatus. Males of both species attain sexual maturity with a smaller snout-vent length than females. Females of C. flavolineatus have an extended reproductive cycle with egg production during the wet season, whereas males exhibit year-round sperm production. Chironius quadricarinatus has continuous reproductive cycles in both sexes. Differences in reproductive pattern between these two sympatric species are probably related to phylogenetic constraints on intrageneric lineages of Chironius.

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