OBSERVED AND SIMULATED CHANGES IN GENETIC QUALITY IN NATURAL POPULATIONS OF HYPHANTRIA CUNEA

1971 ◽  
Vol 103 (6) ◽  
pp. 893-906 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. F. Morris

AbstractAnnual changes in genetic quality were measured in natural populations of Hyphantria cunea Drury for 12 years in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Models for heritability and natural selection pressure, derived independently from experimental data, are used to simulate the changes in quality over the same period. In seven of eight areas, observed and simulated trends are significantly correlated. Regressions between observed and calculated values, examined with respect to both means and slopes, suggest how these preliminary models may be refined. The influence of genetic changes on the natural regulation of population density is discussed briefly, but analysis is deferred to a later paper in this series on H. cunea.

1976 ◽  
Vol 108 (7) ◽  
pp. 673-684 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. F. Morris

AbstractThe percentage encapsulation of its common insect parasites by Hyphantria cunea Drury was measured in natural populations in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia over a period of 17 years, and the variables affecting encapsulation were studied in laboratory experiments. Percentage encapsulation varied with the species, stage, and activity of the parasite, and the stage and genetic strain of the host. Differences in encapsulation from area to area and particularly from year to year were closely related to short-term changes in the genetic constitution of the host population resulting from natural selection pressures. The application of these results to biological control and to population modeling is discussed briefly.


1976 ◽  
Vol 108 (11) ◽  
pp. 1291-1294 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. F. Morris

AbstractParasitism in natural populations of Hyphantria cunea Drury was measured in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, 1957–1973. Thirteen parasite species were recovered during this period but only a few caused an appreciable degree of mortality. The per cent mortality showed an immediate rather than a delayed response to host density, the relationship being direct up to a density of about 10 host colonies per mile, then inverse. Possible reasons for this sort of relationship are discussed.


2018 ◽  
Vol 194 ◽  
pp. 188-192
Author(s):  
D. I. Shokasheva

Natural populations of crayfish are in depression in Russia and local species are not cultivated. In this situation, experimental cultivation of allochtonous australian crayfish Cherax quadricarinatus is conducted. This species is distinguished by high reproductive abilities and good consumer properties. It has domesticated in Russia spontaneously and produced 9–10 generations in Astrakhan Region. Certain natural selection in the process of domestication provides adaptive ability of this species to local environments and its capabil­ity to reproduce a viable progeny, so there is no doubts in good prospects of its cultivation in industrial conditions.


Genetics ◽  
1974 ◽  
Vol 77 (3) ◽  
pp. 569-589
Author(s):  
Martin L Tracey ◽  
Francisco J Ayala

ABSTRACT Recent studies of genetically controlled enzyme variation lead to an estimation that at least 30 to 60% of the structural genes are polymorphic in natural populations of many vertebrate and invertebrate species. Some authors have argued that a substantial proportion of these polymorphisms cannot be maintained by natural selection because this would result in an unbearable genetic load. If many polymorphisms are maintained by heterotic natural selection, individuals with much greater than average proportion of homozygous loci should have very low fitness. We have measured in Drosophila melanogaster the fitness of flies homozygous for a complete chromosome relative to normal wild flies. A total of 37 chromosomes from a natural population have been tested using 92 experimental populations. The mean fitness of homozygous flies is 0.12 for second chromosomes, and 0.13 for third chromosomes. These estimates are compatible with the hypothesis that many (more than one thousand) loci are maintained by heterotic selection in natural populations of D. melanogaster.


1991 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary K. Meffe

Much light can be shed on life history evolution through study of responses of organisms to chronic exposure to a novel or perturbed environment. To determine the influence of 28 yr of temporally unpredictable thermal elevation on their life history patterns, I sampled eastern mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki) from a thermally elevated (outflow from a nuclear reactor) and an ambient (farm pond) habitat in South Carolina every month for 2 yr. Fish from the artificially heated environment reproduced all year, had higher reproductive investments (higher clutch sizes and reproductive biomass), and smaller offspring than did fish from the ambient environment, which ceased reproduction from October through March, typical for natural populations of the region. Likely environmental factors responsible for these differences include unpredictable food resources, higher mortality from thermal death, and higher predation by fishes and birds in the heated waters. The extent to which these life history alterations are the result of adaptive genetic changes versus phenotypically plastic responses remains to be tested.


1972 ◽  
Vol 104 (8) ◽  
pp. 1197-1207 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. F. Morris

AbstractThe number of predators inhabiting nests of Hyphantria cunea Drury was recorded annually for 13 years in four areas in New Brunswick and two areas on the coast of Nova Scotia. The most common groups were the pentatomids and spiders, which sometimes reproduced within the nests, but the mean number per nest was low in relation to the number of H. cunea larvae in the colonies. The rate of predation on fifth-instar larvae was low. Small or timid predators appeared to prey largely on moribund larvae or small saprophagans during the principal defoliating instars of H. cunea.No relationship could be detected between the number of larvae reaching the fifth instar and the number of predators in the colony; nor could any functional or numerical response of the predators to either the initial number of larvae per colony or the population density of colonies be found. It is concluded that the influence of the nest-inhabiting predators is small and relatively stable, and may be treated as a constant in the development of models to explain the population dynamics of H. cunea.H. cunea is a pest in parts of Europe and Asia, where it has been accidentally introduced from North America. The introduction to other continents of the North American predator, Podisus maculiventiis (Say), is discussed briefly.


Parasitology ◽  
1983 ◽  
Vol 86 (2) ◽  
pp. 335-344 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. J. Minchella ◽  
P. T. Loverde

SUMMARYA method of interrupting the life-cycle of the human blood fluke Schistosoma by increasing the proportion of genetically insusceptible intermediate host snails in natural populations was first proposed nearly 25 years ago. The method assumes that insusceptible snails will be at a selective advantage over susceptible snails when the schistosome parasite is present, and therefore natural selection will act to increase the proportion of alleles for insusceptibility. A major objection to the proposed technique is ‘If insusceptible snails are at a selective advantage, then why are they not predominant in natural populations that transmit disease?’ One explanation of this paradox is that insusceptibility may be associated with a disadvantageous character or a physiological defect. This study tests this hypothesis by measuring the relative reproductive success of susceptible and insusceptible snails under controlled conditions. Results indicate that insusceptible (unsuitable) snails are negatively affected in the presence of either susceptible snails or schistosome parasites. Furthermore, in the presence of both susceptible snails and schistosome parasites, insusceptible snails are selectively disadvantaged compared to susceptible snails. These results obtained under laboratory-controlled conditions suggest a plausible answer as to why insusceptible snails are not predominant in natural populations that transmit disease.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melanie J. Heckwolf ◽  
Britta S. Meyer ◽  
Robert Häsler ◽  
Marc P. Höppner ◽  
Christophe Eizaguirre ◽  
...  

AbstractWhile environmentally inducible epigenetic marks are discussed as one mechanism of transgenerational plasticity, environmentally stable epigenetic marks emerge randomly. When resulting in variable phenotypes, stable marks can be targets of natural selection analogous to DNA sequence-based adaptation processes. We studied both postulated pathways in natural populations of three-spined sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus) and sequenced their methylomes and genomes across a salinity cline. Consistent with local adaptation, populations showed differential methylation (pop-DMS) at genes enriched for osmoregulatory processes. In a two-generation experiment, 62% of these pop-DMS were insensitive to salinity manipulation, suggesting that they could be stable targets for natural selection. Two-thirds of the remaining inducible pop-DMS became more similar to patterns detected in wild populations from the corresponding salinity, and this pattern accentuated over consecutive generations, indicating a mechanism of adaptive transgenerational plasticity. Natural DNA methylation patterns can thus be attributed to two epigenetic pathways underlying the rapid emergence of adaptive phenotypes in the face of environmental change.


Symmetry ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 1512
Author(s):  
Reuven Yosef ◽  
Michal Daraby ◽  
Alexei Semionovikh ◽  
Jakub Z. Kosicki

Behavioral handedness is known to enhance an individual’s handling capabilities. However, the ecological advantages in brachyuran crustaceans remain unclear, despite the Ocypode species having been studied extensively. Thus, in this study, we analyzed the laterality of the endemic Red Sea ghost crab on one beach in Eilat, Israel. We successfully documented the laterality of the large cheliped in 125 crabs; in 60 (48.0%), the right cheliped was larger, and in 64 (51.2%), the left. We also observed temporal segregation between the right- and left-clawed crabs. The right-handed crabs start activity just after sunrise, while left-handed crabs appear ca. 40 min after it. Similarly, temporal segregations were also observed in the evening. The right-clawed crab activity peaked ca. 20 min before sunset, while the left-clawed crabs were active uniformly. Additionally, burrow entrances corresponded to the larger cheliped of the resident individual and is probably a self-defense-related behavior. We conclude that cheliped laterality in O. saratan populations should be considered as a bimodal trait, where left- and right-handedness is not under natural selection pressure.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Waqas Chaudhry ◽  
Nicole Vega ◽  
Adithi Govindan ◽  
Rodrigo Garcia ◽  
Esther Lee ◽  
...  

AbstractBacteriophages are deemed either lytic (virulent) or temperate, respectively depending on whether their genomes are transmitted solely horizontally, or both horizontally and vertically. To elucidate the ecological and evolutionary conditions under which natural selection will favor the evolution and maintenance of lytic or temperate modes of phage replication and transmission, we use a comprehensive mathematical model of the dynamics of temperate and virulent phage in populations of bacteria sensitive and resistant to these viruses. For our numerical analysis of the properties of this model, we use parameters estimated with the temperate bacteriophage Lambda, λ, it’s clear and virulent mutants, andE. colisensitive and resistant - refractory to these phages. Using batch and serial transfer population dynamic and reconstruction experiments, we test the hypotheses generated from this theoretical analysis. Based on the results of this jointly theoretical and experimental study, we postulate the conditions under which natural selection will favor the evolution and maintenance of lytic and temperate modes of phage replication and transmission. A compelling and novel prediction thisin silico,in vitro, andin plasticostudy makes is lysogenic bacteria from natural populations will be resistant-refractory to the phage for which they are lysogenic as well as lytic phage sharing the same receptors as these temperate viruses.


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