Geographic Size Variation in Tamiasciurus douglasii: Significance in Relation to Conifer Cone Morphology

1986 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  
pp. 317-325 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. L. Lindsay
Keyword(s):  
Size Variation ◽  
Cone Morphology ◽  
Conifer Cone

Elevated nest predation risk promotes offspring size variation in birds with prolonged parental care.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gretchen F. Wagner ◽  
Emeline Mourocq ◽  
Michael Griesser
Keyword(s):  
Predation Risk ◽  
Reproductive Cycle ◽  
Perceived Risk ◽  
Nest Predation ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Size Variation ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Offspring Size ◽  
Natural Predation ◽  
Risk Spreading

Predation of offspring is the main cause of reproductive failure in many species, and the mere fear of offspring predation shapes reproductive strategies. Yet, natural predation risk is ubiquitously variable and can be unpredictable. Consequently, the perceived prospect of predation early in a reproductive cycle may not reflect the actual risk to ensuing offspring. An increased variance in investment across offspring has been linked to breeding in unpredictable environments in several taxa, but has so far been overlooked as a maternal response to temporal variation in predation risk. Here, we experimentally increased the perceived risk of nest predation prior to egg-laying in seven bird species. Species with prolonged parent-offspring associations increased their intra-brood variation in egg, and subsequently offspring, size. High risk to offspring early in a reproductive cycle can favour a risk-spreading strategy particularly in species with the greatest opportunity to even out offspring quality after fledging.

High-Temperature Synthesis of CdSe-Based Core/Shell, Core/Shell/Shell, and Core/Graded-Shell Nanoplatelets for Stable and Efficient Narrowband Emitters

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aurelio A. Rossinelli ◽  
Henar Rojo ◽  
Aniket S. Mule ◽  
Marianne Aellen ◽  
Ario Cocina ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Dots ◽  
High Temperature ◽  
Equilibrium Shape ◽  
Size Variation ◽  
Crystal Defects ◽  
Atomic Scale ◽  
Quantum Yields ◽  
Core Shell ◽  
Compositional Gradient ◽  
High Quality

<div>Colloidal semiconductor nanoplatelets exhibit exceptionally narrow photoluminescence spectra. This occurs because samples can be synthesized in which all nanoplatelets share the same atomic-scale thickness. As this dimension sets the emission wavelength, inhomogeneous linewidth broadening due to size variation, which is always present in samples of quasi-spherical nanocrystals (quantum dots), is essentially eliminated. Nanoplatelets thus offer improved, spectrally pure emitters for various applications. Unfortunately, due to their non-equilibrium shape, nanoplatelets also suffer from low photo-, chemical, and thermal stability, which limits their use. Moreover, their poor stability hampers the development of efficient synthesis protocols for adding high-quality protective inorganic shells, which are well known to improve the performance of quantum dots. <br></div><div>Herein, we report a general synthesis approach to highly emissive and stable core/shell nanoplatelets with various shell compositions, including CdSe/ZnS, CdSe/CdS/ZnS, CdSe/Cd<sub>x</sub>Zn<sub>1–x</sub>S, and CdSe/ZnSe. Motivated by previous work on quantum dots, we find that slow, high-temperature growth of shells containing a compositional gradient reduces strain-induced crystal defects and minimizes the emission linewidth while maintaining good surface passivation and nanocrystal uniformity. Indeed, our best core/shell nanoplatelets (CdSe/Cd<sub>x</sub>Zn<sub>1–x</sub>S) show photoluminescence quantum yields of 90% with linewidths as low as 56 meV (19.5 nm at 655 nm). To confirm the high quality of our different core/shell nanoplatelets for a specific application, we demonstrate their use as gain media in low-threshold ring lasers. More generally, the ability of our synthesis protocol to engineer high-quality shells can help further improve nanoplatelets for optoelectronic devices.</div>

Documenting Intraspecfic Genome Size Variation in Soybean

Crop Science ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 261 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Lane Rayburn ◽  
D. P. Biradar ◽  
R. L. Nelson ◽  
R. McCloskey ◽  
K. M. Yeater
Keyword(s):  
Genome Size ◽  
Size Variation ◽  
Genome Size Variation

Spatial Patterns of Chloroplast DNA and Cone Morphology Variation within Populations of a Pinus banksiana-Pinus contorta Sympatric Region

1991 ◽  
Vol 138 (1) ◽  
pp. 156-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
David B. Wagner ◽  
Zhong-Xu Sun ◽  
Diddahally R. Govindaraju ◽  
Bruce P. Dancik
Keyword(s):  
Chloroplast Dna ◽  
Spatial Patterns ◽  
Pinus Banksiana ◽  
Pinus Contorta ◽  
Cone Morphology

Evolutionary history, not ecogeographic rules, explains size variation of tropical insects along elevational gradients

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (12) ◽  
pp. 2513-2523
Author(s):  
Carlos Garcia‐Robledo ◽  
Christina S. Baer ◽  
Kes Lippert ◽  
Vikas Sarathy
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Size Variation ◽  
Elevational Gradients

scholarly journals Independent evolution towards larger body size in the distinctive Faroe Island mice

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ricardo Wilches ◽  
William H Beluch ◽  
Ellen McConnell ◽  
Diethard Tautz ◽  
Yingguang Frank Chan
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Small Body ◽  
Laboratory Mouse ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Natural Populations ◽  
Size Variation ◽  
Phenotypic Traits ◽  
Island Population ◽  
Multiple Loci

Abstract Most phenotypic traits in nature involve the collective action of many genes. Traits that evolve repeatedly are particularly useful for understanding how selection may act on changing trait values. In mice, large body size has evolved repeatedly on islands and under artificial selection in the laboratory. Identifying the loci and genes involved in this process may shed light on the evolution of complex, polygenic traits. Here, we have mapped the genetic basis of body size variation by making a genetic cross between mice from the Faroe Islands, which are among the largest and most distinctive natural populations of mice in the world, and a laboratory mouse strain selected for small body size, SM/J. Using this F2 intercross of 841 animals, we have identified 111 loci controlling various aspects of body size, weight and growth hormone levels. By comparing against other studies, including the use of a joint meta-analysis, we found that the loci involved in the evolution of large size in the Faroese mice were largely independent from those of a different island population or other laboratory strains. We hypothesize that colonization bottleneck, historical hybridization, or the redundancy between multiple loci have resulted in the Faroese mice achieving an outwardly similar phenotype through a distinct evolutionary path.

scholarly journals Different environmental variables predict body and brain size evolution in Homo

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuel Will ◽  
Mario Krapp ◽  
Jay T. Stock ◽  
Andrea Manica
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Net Primary Productivity ◽  
Brain Size ◽  
Environmental Influence ◽  
Size Variation ◽  
Evolutionary Pattern ◽  
Statistical Framework ◽  
Size Evolution ◽  
Major Predictor

AbstractIncreasing body and brain size constitutes a key macro-evolutionary pattern in the hominin lineage, yet the mechanisms behind these changes remain debated. Hypothesized drivers include environmental, demographic, social, dietary, and technological factors. Here we test the influence of environmental factors on the evolution of body and brain size in the genus Homo over the last one million years using a large fossil dataset combined with global paleoclimatic reconstructions and formalized hypotheses tested in a quantitative statistical framework. We identify temperature as a major predictor of body size variation within Homo, in accordance with Bergmann’s rule. In contrast, net primary productivity of environments and long-term variability in precipitation correlate with brain size but explain low amounts of the observed variation. These associations are likely due to an indirect environmental influence on cognitive abilities and extinction probabilities. Most environmental factors that we test do not correspond with body and brain size evolution, pointing towards complex scenarios which underlie the evolution of key biological characteristics in later Homo.

scholarly journals Tempo and Mode of Ty Element Evolution in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Genetics ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 151 (4) ◽  
pp. 1341-1351 ◽  
Author(s):  
I King Jordan ◽  
John F McDonald
Keyword(s):  
Saccharomyces Cerevisiae ◽  
Negative Selection ◽  
Sequence Variation ◽  
Size Variation ◽  
Sequence Comparisons ◽  
Ty Elements ◽  
Ty Element ◽  
Amino Acid Sequence Variation ◽  
Element Evolution ◽  
High Level

Abstract The Saccharomyces cerevisiae genome contains five families of long terminal repeat (LTR) retrotransposons, Ty1–Ty5. The sequencing of the S. cerevisiae genome provides an unprecedented opportunity to examine the patterns of molecular variation existing among the entire genomic complement of Ty retrotransposons. We report the results of an analysis of the nucleotide and amino acid sequence variation within and between the five Ty element families of the S. cerevisiae genome. Our results indicate that individual Ty element families tend to be highly homogenous in both sequence and size variation. Comparisons of within-element 5′ and 3′ LTR sequences indicate that the vast majority of Ty elements have recently transposed. Furthermore, intrafamily Ty sequence comparisons reveal the action of negative selection on Ty element coding sequences. These results taken together suggest that there is a high level of genomic turnover of S. cerevisiae Ty elements, which is presumably in response to selective pressure to escape host-mediated repression and elimination mechanisms.

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