Negative density-dependent emigration of males in an increasing red deer population

In species with polygynous mating systems, females are regarded as food-limited, while males are limited by access to mates. When local density increases, forage availability declines, while mate access for males may increase due to an increasingly female-biased sex ratio. Density dependence in emigration rates may consequently differ between sexes. Here, we investigate emigration using mark-recovery data from 468 young red deer Cervus elaphus marked in Snillfjord, Norway over a 20-year period when the population size has increased sixfold. We demonstrate a strong negative density-dependent emigration rate in males, while female emigration rates were lower and independent of density. Emigrating males leaving the natal range settled in areas with lower density than expected by chance. Dispersing males moved 42 per cent longer at high density in 1997 (37 km) than at low density in 1977 (26 km), possibly caused by increasing saturation of deer in areas surrounding the marking sites. Our study highlights that pattern of density dependence in dispersal rates may differ markedly between sexes in highly polygynous species. Contrasting patterns reported in small-scale studies are suggestive that spatial scale of density variation may affect the pattern of temporal density dependence in emigration rates and distances.     

Does Height Off the Ground Affect Bird Visitation and Fruit Set in the Pollen‐Limited Mistletoe Peraxilla tetrapetala (Loranthaceae)?

For pollination studies of forest species it is sometimes only possible to work on those flowers nearest to the ground. We test whether using low flowers introduces bias, by measuring height effects on bird visitation and fruit set in one mistletoe species pollinated by bellbirds in New Zealand. At this site, previous studies have shown fruit set near the ground to be pollen limited. We measured fruit set on 32 mistletoes at different heights in 11 host trees. Mistletoe fruit set varied significantly among host trees but did not vary with height. Although bellbirds generally forage preferentially in the upper part of the forest, mistletoe flowers appear to be attractive enough to ensure adequate visitation and fruit set at all heights.     

Female choice linked to male dorsal fin height in a shortfin molly

Sexual selection is a possible mechanism of speciation. This could be true even in systems where female mate choice has not been clearly observed, because pre-existing biases may be expressed if female decision-making results in male trait evolution. In some mollies, males have enlarged dorsal fins and courtship display is the prevailing mating process. In others, male dominance is thought to play a greater role. We tested females of a species in the latter group, Poecilia mexicana, for consistent preference related to dorsal fin morphology. We found that females were biased toward larger dorsal fins. This latent preference could be an important driver in trait evolution.     

Identification of the coding region for the putidaredoxin reductase gene from the plasmid of Pseudomonas putida

The first 12 NH₂-terminal amino acids of the Pseudomonas putida putidaredoxin reductase were shown to be Met-Asn-Ala-Asn-Asp-Asn-Val-Val-Ile-Val-Gly-Thr. Comparison of these data with the DNA sequence of the BamHI-HindIII 197-base fragment derived from the PstI 2.2-kb fragment obtained from the P. putida plasmid showed that the putidaredoxin reductase gene was downstream from the cytochrome P-450 gene and the intergenic region had the 24-nucleotide sequence TAAACACATGGGAGTGCGTGCTAA. The Shine-Dalgarno sequence GGAG was detected in this region. The initiating triplet for the reductase gene was GTG, which normally codes for valine, but in the initiating codon position codes for methionine. From the amino acid sequence and X-ray data comparisons with other flavoproteins, what appears to be the AMP binding region of the FAD can be recognized in the NH₂-terminal portion of the reductase involving residues 5–35.This article was presented during the proceedings of the International Conference on Macromolecular Structure and Function, held at the National Defence Medical College, Tokorozawa, Japan, December 1985.     

Contrast-FEL—A Test for Differences in Selective Pressures at Individual Sites among Clades and Sets of Branches

A number of evolutionary hypotheses can be tested by comparing selective pressures among sets of branches in a phylogenetic tree. When the question of interest is to identify specific sites within genes that may be evolving differently, a common approach is to perform separate analyses on subsets of sequences and compare parameter estimates in a post hoc fashion. This approach is statistically suboptimal and not always applicable. Here, we develop a simple extension of a popular fixed effects likelihood method in the context of codon-based evolutionary phylogenetic maximum likelihood testing, Contrast-FEL. It is suitable for identifying individual alignment sites where any among the K≥2 sets of branches in a phylogenetic tree have detectably different ω ratios, indicative of different selective regimes. Using extensive simulations, we show that Contrast-FEL delivers good power, exceeding 90% for sufficiently large differences, while maintaining tight control over false positive rates, when the model is correctly specified. We conclude by applying Contrast-FEL to data from five previously published studies spanning a diverse range of organisms and focusing on different evolutionary questions.     

An Efficient Regression Type Estimator in Survey Sampling

For the estimation of population mean in simple random sampling, an efficient regression-type estimator is proposed which is more efficient than the conventional regression estimator and hence than mean per unit estimator, ratio and product estimators and many other estimators proposed by various authors. Some numerical examples are included for illustration.     

The Accelerated Failure Time Model Under Biased Sampling

Summary Chen (2009, Biometrics) studies the semi‐parametric accelerated failure time model for data that are size biased. Chen considers only the uncensored case and uses hazard‐based estimation methods originally developed for censored observations. However, for uncensored data, a simple linear regression on the log scale is more natural and provides better estimators.     

ASSESSMENT OF POTENTIAL BIAS WITH SNOWSHOE HARE FECAL PELLET-PLOT COUNTS

Abstract: The fecal pellet-plot method has been used extensively for snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus) population studies across the species' range, but potential biases associated with the technique have not been addressed adequately. We studied hare pellet-plots in northern Idaho to quantify pellet decomposition rates across environmental gradients, and conducted feeding trials on captive hares to assess the role of diet on pellet production rates. We found that across our study area pellet numbers tended to be higher on plots with high vegetative cover, which likely was a reflection of hare habitat choice rather than lesser pellet decomposition in such habitat. A pellet decomposition experiment indicated that pellet persistence was negatively related to moisture level, and that pellets produced by hares during summer decomposed more quickly than those from winter. We found that only 19% of fecal pellets collected from plots located across northern Idaho were produced by hares during winter. There was a correlation between pellet numbers from plots that were pre-cleared 1 year earlier and estimated numbers of hares on 6 study areas. A similar correlation was lacking for pellet counts from uncleared plots, implying that hare population estimation via pellet-plot counts should involve plot pre-clearing. In captive studies, juvenile hares produced slightly fewer pellets per day per gram of food ingested than adults, but pellet production was similar across diets comprised of 10 different browse species. We conclude that for our study area the fecal pellet-plot method may be subject to notable pellet decomposition bias, and therefore recommend that use of the method elsewhere across the species' range be preceded by assessment of both the pellet-hare density relationship and pellet decomposition rates across habitats.