scholarly journals Do Dominant Ants Affect Secondary Productivity, Behavior and Diversity in a Guild of Woodland Ants?

Diversity ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 460
Author(s):  
Jean-Philippe Lessard ◽  
Katharine L. Stuble ◽  
Nathan J. Sanders

The degree to which competition by dominant species shapes ecological communities remains a largely unresolved debate. In ants, unimodal dominance–richness relationships are common and suggest that dominant species, when very abundant, competitively exclude non-dominant species. However, few studies have investigated the underlying mechanisms by which dominant ants might affect coexistence and the maintenance of species richness. In this study, we first examined the relationship between the richness of non-dominant ant species and the abundance of a dominant ant species, Formica subsericea, among forest ant assemblages in the eastern US. This relationship was hump-shaped or not significant depending on the inclusion or exclusion of an influential observation. Moreover, we found only limited evidence that F. subsericea negatively affects the productivity or behavior of non-dominant ant species. For example, at the colony-level, the size and productivity of colonies of non-dominant ant species were not different when they were in close proximity to dominant ant nests than when they were away and, in fact, was associated with increased productivity in one species. Additionally, the number of foraging workers of only one non-dominant ant species was lower at food sources near than far from dominant F. subsericea nests, while the number of foragers of other species was not negatively affected. However, foraging activity of the non-dominant ant species was greater at night when F. subsericea was inactive, suggesting a potential mechanism by which some non-dominant species avoid interactions with competitively superior species. Gaining a mechanistic understanding of how patterns of community structure arise requires linking processes from colonies to communities. Our study suggests the negative effects of dominant ant species on non-dominant species may be offset by mechanisms promoting coexistence.

PeerJ ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. e4293 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Mark Elbroch ◽  
Anna Kusler

Background Interspecific competition affects species fitness, community assemblages and structure, and the geographic distributions of species. Established dominance hierarchies among species mitigate the need for fighting and contribute to the realized niche for subordinate species. This is especially important for apex predators, many of which simultaneous contend with the costs of competition with more dominant species and the costs associated with human hunting and lethal management. Methods Pumas are a widespread solitary felid heavily regulated through hunting to reduce conflicts with livestock and people. Across their range, pumas overlap with six apex predators (gray wolf, grizzly bear, American black bear, jaguar, coyote, maned wolf), two of which (gray wolf, grizzly bear) are currently expanding in North America following recovery efforts. We conducted a literature search to assess whether pumas were subordinate or dominant with sympatric apex predators, as well as with three felid mesocarnivores with similar ecology (ocelot, bobcat, Canada lynx). We also conducted an analysis of the spatial distributions of pumas and their dominant sympatric competitors to estimate in what part of their range, pumas are dominant versus subordinate. Results We used 64 sources to assess dominance among pumas and other apex predators, and 13 sources to assess their relationships with felid mesocarnivores. Evidence suggested that wolves, grizzly bears, black bears, and jaguars are dominant over pumas, but that pumas are dominant over coyotes and maned wolves. Evidence suggested that pumas are also dominant over all three felid mesocarnivores with which they share range. More broadly, pumas are subordinate to at least one other apex carnivore in 10,799,252 (47.5%) of their 22,735,268 km2 range across North and South America. Discussion Subordinate pumas change their habitat use, suffer displacement at food sources, likely experience increased energetic demands from harassment, exhibit increased starvation, and are sometimes directly killed in competitive interactions with dominant competitors. Nevertheless, we lack research clearly linking the costs of competition to puma fitness. Further, we lack research that assesses the influence of human effects simultaneous with the negative effects of competition with other sympatric carnivores. Until the time that we understand whether competitive effects are additive with human management, or even potentially synergistic, we encourage caution among managers responsible for determining harvest limits for pumas and other subordinate, apex carnivores in areas where they are sympatric with dominant species. This may be especially important information for managers working in regions where wolves and brown bears are recolonizing and recovering, and historic competition scenarios among multiple apex predators are being realized.


2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-68
Author(s):  
RIZHAM MAULIDAR ◽  
AGUSTINUS M. SAMOSIR

Maulidar R, Samosir AM. 2016. The relationship between shrimp production and mangrove condition in Cimanuk Delta, Indramayu, West Java. Bonorowo Wetlands 6: 59-68. The aim of this research was to evaluate the relationship of shrimp resources condition with mangrove ecosystems in Cimanuk Delta, Indramayu. Prediction of shrimp productivity analyzed at the community and population level, then linked to the condition of mangrove vegetation and water quality. The results of the analysis showed community and population productivity of the shrimp were positively related to the density of mangrove. Overall, the secondary productivity of the community, population, and density of mangroves in the Pabean Ilir village was higher than Pagirikan village. The results of the analysis of shrimp productivity of commodity in Pabean Ilir village was 323,360 gm-2yrs-1, while in the Pagirikan village was 185,766 gm-2yrs-1. Secondary productivity of the dominant species Penaeus merguiensis and Metapenaeus monoceros was 147,350 and 66,677 gm-2yrs-1 while in Pagirikan village was 87,633 and 47,536 gm-2yrs-1.


2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rattanamanee Chomchan ◽  
Sunisa Siripongvutikorn ◽  
Panupong Puttarak

Background: Plants are the major food sources which possess marvelous health benefits and wellness to human. To date, the effort to improve composites in plants using bio-fortification technique is expedient in order to obtain super plant foods. Selenium (Se) is an essential trace element works on antioxidant system in living things. Se has been bio-fortified into plants worldwide to increase Se content in plants as well as improve some plant bioactive compounds and biological properties. However, restricted documents were elucidated on the summary and underlying mechanisms which provide beneficial effects on plant phytochemicals and bioactivities improvement. This review attempts to study available literatures on Se bio-fortified plants and clarified possible routes that Se may effect to plants. Increasing the content of Se bio-fortified to plants resulted in both positive and negative effects. The appropriate exogenous concentration of Se bio-fortified to individual plants which can support growth or induce them to the early stage of stress are the vital strategic to provide desired effects on an improvement of phytochemicals, for example, chlorophyll, phenolic compounds, ascorbic acid. Moreover, the greater antioxidant, anti-cancer and prebiotic properties were also reported while higher doses of Se were toxic to plants. Consequently, Se bio-fortification can be claimed as a unique strategy to improve plant treasures.Keywords: Selenium, Bio-fortification, Phytochemicals, Bioactivities


2019 ◽  
pp. 46-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladimir V. Klimanov ◽  
Sofiya М. Kazakova ◽  
Anna A. Mikhaylova

The article examines the impact of various socio-economic and financial indicators on the resilience of Russian regions. For each region, the integral index of resilience is calculated, and its correlation dependence with the selected indicators is revealed. The study confirms the relationship between fiscal resilience and socio-economic resilience of the regions. The analysis of panel data for 75 regions from 2007 to 2016 shows that there are significant differences in the dynamics of indicators in different periods. In particular, the degree of exposure to the negative effects of the crises of 2008—2009 and 2014—2015 in non-resilient regions is higher than in resilient ones.


2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 159
Author(s):  
Eva Krisna

“Batombe” is an oral tradition of the Nagari Abai society at Sangir Batanghari Subdistrict, South Solok District, West Sumatra Province. Batombe is exchanging rhymes (berbalas pantun) which is performed as an entertainment on the wedding party (baralek). Batombe is identical with Great House (Rumah Gadang) Nagari Abai which is a unique house because it is a long traditional custom house that has many rooms. It reaches 21 rooms. The rhymes in batombe tends to deliver a feeling of lilting so the singers often drift into the atmosphere of the show. Therefore, as part of community life, batombe often cause a negative effects for the singers soul. This paper describes various things, such as: who batombe singer is; the time to perform this activity; the relationship between batombe and Great House (Rumah Gadang) at Nagari Abai; and the negative effects caused by batombe for the singers. This paper based on the fact that in oral tradition there is a close relationship between text and the speakers and text with context (place, time and atmosphere), a multidisciplinary approach is used in this paper, such as historical, sociological, anthropological, and psychological approach. The method used is descriptive analysis method.AbstrakBatombe adalah tradisi lisan masyarakat Nagari Abai, Kecamatan Sangir Batanghari, Kabupaten Solok Selatan, Provinsi Sumatra Barat. Batombe adalah tradisi berbalas pantun yang dilakukan sebagai hiburan pada pesta pernikahan (baralek). Batombe identik dengan rumah gadang Nagari Abai yang unik, yakni rumah adat dengan ruangan yang sangat panjang hingga 21 ruangan. Pantun-pantun batombe cenderung menyampaikan perasaan yang mendayu-dayu sehingga para pedendangnya sering hanyut ke dalam suasana pertunjukan. Oleh sebab itu, sebagai bagian dari kehidupan masyarakat, seringkali batombe menyebabkan efek negatif bagi (kejiwaan) para pedendangnya. Tulisan ini mendeskripsikan berbagai hal, seperti penutur batombe, waktu untuk melakukan batombe, hubungan batombe dengan rumah gadang di Nagari Abai, dan efek negatif yang ditimbulkan batombe bagi pedendangnya. Tulisan ini bertolak dari kenyataan bahwa pada tradisi lisan terdapat hubungan erat, antara lain seperti teks dengan penutur dan teks dengan konteks (tempat, waktu, dan suasana). Pendekatan multidisipliner digunakan pada tulisan ini, yakni pendekatan historis, sosiologis, antropologis, dan psikologis. Metode yang digunakan adalah metode analisis deskriptif.


Author(s):  
Bahram Alamdary Badlou

We report a rare case of unrepaired Tetralogy_Pantalogy of Fallot (TOF_POF) in a 20 years old Persian girl Mrs Zeynab S., who presented with cyanotic finger tops appearance, ongoing chronic thrombolytic destruction processes, and remarkable thrombocytopenia [1,2], heart ventricular septal defect (VSD), and might atrial septal defect (ASD), anxiety, sleep disorders, nightmares, and limited social life. Additionally, the relationship between underlying mechanisms, possible treatments of the thrombocytopenia, erythrocytosis, and unrepaired cardiovascular leakages remains unknown.


2020 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun-Jie Tang ◽  
Shuang Feng ◽  
Xing-Dong Chen ◽  
Hua Huang ◽  
Min Mao ◽  
...  

: Neurological diseases bring great mental and physical torture to the patients, and have long-term and sustained negative effects on families and society. The attention to neurological diseases is increasing, and the improvement of the material level is accompanied by an increase in the demand for mental level. The p75 neurotrophin receptor (p75NTR) is a low-affinity neurotrophin receptor and involved in diverse and pleiotropic effects in the developmental and adult central nervous system (CNS). Since neurological diseases are usually accompanied by the regression of memory, the pathogenesis of p75NTR also activates and inhibits other signaling pathways, which has a serious impact on the learning and memory of patients. The results of studies shown that p75NTR is associated with LTP/LTD-induced synaptic enhancement and inhibition, suggest that p75NTR may be involved in the progression of synaptic plasticity. And its pro-apoptotic effect is associated with activation of proBDNF and inhibition of proNGF, and TrkA/p75NTR imbalance leads to pro-survival or pro-apoptotic phenomena. It can be inferred that p75NTR mediates apoptosis in the hippocampus and amygdale, which may affect learning and memory behavior. This article mainly discusses the relationship between p75NTR and learning memory and associated mechanisms, which may provide some new ideas for the treatment of neurological diseases.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robbie I’Anson Price ◽  
Francisca Segers ◽  
Amelia Berger ◽  
Fabio S Nascimento ◽  
Christoph Grüter

Abstract Social information is widely used in the animal kingdom and can be highly adaptive. In social insects, foragers can use social information to find food, avoid danger or choose a new nest site. Copying others allows individuals to obtain information without having to sample the environment. When foragers communicate information they will often only advertise high quality food sources, thereby filtering out less adaptive information. Stingless bees, a large pantropical group of highly eusocial bees, face intense inter- and intra-specific competition for limited resources, yet display disparate foraging strategies. Within the same environment there are species that communicate the location of food resources to nest-mates and species that do not. Our current understanding of why some species communicate foraging sites while others do not is limited. Studying freely foraging colonies of several co-existing stingless bee species in Brazil, we investigated if recruitment to specific food locations is linked to (1) the sugar content of forage, (2) the duration of foraging trips and (3) the variation in activity of a colony from one day to another and the variation in activity in a species over a day. We found that, contrary to our expectations, species with recruitment communication did not return with higher quality forage than species that do not recruit nestmates. Furthermore, foragers from recruiting species did not have shorter foraging trip durations than those from weakly-recruiting species. Given the intense inter- and intraspecific competition for resources in these environments, it may be that recruiting species favour food resources that can be monopolised by the colony rather than food sources that offer high-quality rewards.


2021 ◽  
pp. 026540752199356
Author(s):  
Alexandra Cournoyer ◽  
Julie C. Laurin ◽  
Marie-Ève Daspe ◽  
Sophie Laniel ◽  
Anne-Sophie Huppé

Many couples transitioning into parenthood are at risk for dyadic adjustment declines. It is therefore important to explore key, theory-driven deterrents of enduring relationships during this period, as well as potential underlying mechanisms. This study examined the relationship between perceived conditional negative regard (i.e. a behavior that thwarts basic psychological needs; T1), stress (T1), and dyadic adjustment (T2) during the transition to parenthood. Primiparous couples ( N = 144) were recruited to fill out an online questionnaire when their babies were 6-months (T1) and 12-months (T2). Path analysis with an Actor-Partner Interdependence Mediation Model was conducted. Results show that for each partner (actor effects), stress (T1) mediated the link between perceived conditional negative regard (T1), and later dyadic adjustment (T2). For the partner effects, while stress (T1) did not play a mediating role between these variables, other partner effects were found. Each primiparous parent’s perceived conditional negative regard (T1) was associated with the other parent’s later dyadic adjustment (T2). However, when examining longitudinal changes in stress and dyadic adjustment over time (T2, controlling for respective T1), no significant associations were found. Overall, the findings shed light on the dyadic associations of conditional negative regard, and the mechanisms through which it is negatively tied with dyadic adjustment during the transition to parenthood.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi Xin She ◽  
Qing Yang Yu ◽  
Xiao Xiao Tang

AbstractInterleukins, a group of cytokines participating in inflammation and immune response, are proved to be involved in the formation and development of pulmonary fibrosis. In this article, we reviewed the relationship between interleukins and pulmonary fibrosis from the clinical, animal, as well as cellular levels, and discussed the underlying mechanisms in vivo and in vitro. Despite the effects of interleukin-targeted treatment on experimental pulmonary fibrosis, clinical applications are lacking and unsatisfactory. We conclude that intervening in one type of interleukins with similar functions in IPF may not be enough to stop the development of fibrosis as it involves a complex network of regulation mechanisms. Intervening interleukins combined with other existing therapy or targeting interleukins affecting multiple cells/with different functions at the same time may be one of the future directions. Furthermore, the intervention time is critical as some interleukins play different roles at different stages. Further elucidation on these aspects would provide new perspectives on both the pathogenesis mechanism, as well as the therapeutic strategy and drug development.


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