Female reproductive biology of the sand smelt in brackish lagoons of southern France

The breeding season of Atherina boyeri living in the brackish lagoons of Mauguio, Pérols and Méjean (Hérault, southern France) was very protracted (February-September). The peak of the reproductive effort occurred in April, May and June. Larger fishes started spawning earlier, and stopped later, than smaller ones. Batch fecundity varied from 4 to 447 oocytes and was positively related to female length and weight. Monthly mean fecundity increased at the beginning of the breeding season and decreased between June and July. Individual mean oocyte diameter ranged from 1.34 to 1.94 mm and was not related to fish length. Monthly mean oocyte size declined throughout the breeding season as water temperature rose. There was no trade-off between number and egg size. The strategy of these sand smelts seemed well adapted to ensure spawning success without endangering their survival. The highest reproductive effort period occurred in such a way that environmental conditions were suitable to the best survival and growth of hatched larvae. When breeding ceased, fishes, particularly the youngest ones, had enough time to improve their condition before overwintering.     

Age‐dependent trajectories differ between within‐pair and extra‐pair paternity success

Reproductive success is associated with age in many taxa, increasing in early life followed by reproductive senescence. In socially monogamous but genetically polygamous species, this generates the interesting possibility of differential trajectories of within‐pair and extra‐pair siring success with age in males. We investigate these relationships simultaneously using within‐individual analyses with 13 years of data from an insular house sparrow (Passer domesticus) population. As expected, we found that both within‐ and extra‐pair paternity success increased with age, followed by a senescence‐like decline. However, the age trajectories of within‐ and extra‐pair paternity successes differed significantly, with the extra‐pair paternity success increasing faster, although not significantly, in early life, and showing a delayed decline by 1.5 years on average later in life compared to within‐pair paternity success. These different trajectories indicate that the two alternative mating tactics should have age‐dependent pay‐offs. Males may partition their reproductive effort between within‐ and extra‐pair matings depending on their current age to reap the maximal combined benefit from both strategies. The interplay between these mating strategies and age‐specific mortality may explain the variation in rates of extra‐pair paternity observed within and between species.     

基于MaxEnt模型的道路对朱鹮繁殖地的影响

道路对野生动物适宜繁殖地影响的定量研究是目前道路生态学领域有待深入的内容之一.本文以国家一级保护动物朱鹮为研究对象,利用物种分布模型(SDM)中MaxEnt模型,通过对影响朱鹮繁殖地的环境变量进行自相关分析,剔除自相关系数大于0.8的环境变量,最终选择了10个环境变量为朱鹮繁殖地的影响因子,分别为最冷季度平均气温、景观类型、归一化植被指数、坡度、坡向、距水体距离、距水田距离、距高等级公路(县级及以上道路)距离、距低等级公路(乡镇和林间道路)距离、距居住地距离.通过对环境变量的贡献率进行分析表明: 最冷季度平均气温、景观类型以及距水田距离、距高等级公路距离是影响朱鹮筑巢的主要因子.分别研究了含道路变量(情景Ⅰ)、不含高等级公路(情景Ⅱ)以及不含低等级公路(情景Ⅲ)3种情景下朱鹮繁殖地适宜区分布.结果表明:道路对朱鹮繁殖地干扰影响显著,高等级公路的影响比低等级公路大,高等级公路和低等级公路的存在分别使朱鹮繁殖地适宜区的面积减小了66.23和35.69 km².朱鹮筑巢对高等级公路有明显的回避效应,平均回避距离为1500 m.本研究对未来制定朱鹮的保护管理措施具有重要意义,同时可为工程建设项目对野生动物的环境影响定量评价提供应用示范.     

Bayesian inference of genetic parameters for ultrasound scanning traits of Kivircik lambs

Ultrasound scanning traits have been adapted in selection programs in many countries to improve carcass traits for lean meat production. As the genetic parameters of the traits interested are important for breeding programs, the estimation of these parameters was aimed at the present investigation. The estimated parameters were direct and maternal heritability as well as genetic correlations between the studied traits. The traits were backfat thickness (BFT), skin+backfat thickness (SBFT), eye muscle depth (MD) and live weights at the day of scanning (LW). The breed investigated was Kivircik, which has a high quality of meat. Six different multi-trait animal models were fitted to determine the most suitable model for the data using Bayesian approach. Based on deviance information criterion, a model that includes direct additive genetic effects, maternal additive genetic effects, direct maternal genetic covariance and maternal permanent environmental effects revealed to be the most appropriate for the data, and therefore, inferences were built on the results of that model. The direct heritability estimates for BFT, SBFT, MD and LW were 0.26, 0.26, 0.23 and 0.09, whereas the maternal heritability estimates were 0.27, 0.27, 0.24 and 0.20, respectively. Negative genetic correlations were obtained between direct and maternal effects for BFT, SBFT and MD. Both direct and maternal genetic correlations between traits were favorable, whereas BFT–MD and SBFT–MD had negligible direct genetic correlation. The highest direct and maternal genetic correlations were between BFT and SBFT (0.39) and between MD and LW (0.48), respectively. Our results, in general, indicated that maternal effects should be accounted for in estimation of genetic parameters of ultrasound scanning traits in Kivircik lambs, and SBFT can be used as a selection criterion to improve BFT.