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1.
    
Individual-level diet variation was investigated in Gracilinanus microtarsus , an insectivorous marsupial whose diet is affected by sex and season in the highly seasonal Brazilian Cerrado. To measure individual-level diet variation, the diets of individual males and females were compared to that of their population in the warm-wet and cool-dry seasons using the proportional similarity index (PS i ). This index varies from 1 (complete overlap between the individual i  's and population's diets) toward 0 (decreasing overlap). Mean PS i values were computed as a measure of the degree of interindividual diet variation (the larger the mean PS i value, the smaller the variation among individuals' diets). Interindividual diet variation among females was similar between seasons, whereas among males it decreased from the warm-wet to the cool-dry season. Diet variation among males is probably reduced in the cool-dry season because of constraints on food consumption generated by interactions between endogenous (physiological needs associated with high rates of body mass growth) and exogenous (food limitation) factors.  相似文献   

2.
    
The dynamics of population niches result from the variation in resource use within individuals and also from the variation between individuals. The prevalence of one mechanism or the other leads to competing hypotheses about the major mechanisms underlying the empirical observations of the contraction/expansion dynamics of the trophic niche in natural populations. In this study, we investigated how within‐ and between‐individual variation in resource use shapes the food niche dynamics of the woolly mouse opossum, Marmosa paraguayana (Didelphimorphia: Didelphidae), in a remnant of the highly seasonal Cerrado in south‐eastern Brazil. To do so, we analysed the faecal samples of live‐trapped individuals to determine their diets within the wet and dry seasons. In addition to a seasonal shift in the composition of the diet, the population trophic niche was significantly wider during the dry season than the wet season. This expansion resulted from larger between‐individual variation in the dry season that was not related to sex preferences, whereas the individual niche widths did not significantly increase from the wet to the dry seasons. Our findings add to the growing list of animal populations that show individual‐level variation in resource use. Furthermore, these results represent a pattern of individual‐level response to seasonal changes that is different from patterns reported for other organisms. We suggest that a pathway to build more realistic foraging models and produce more accurate predictions on population and community dynamics is to consider between‐individual variation and short‐term niche dynamics.  相似文献   

3.
    
Body condition is an important trait that reflects the capacity of individuals to acquire food or resist disease, eventually allowing successful reproduction and survival. We first quantified the effects of condition on life history and a secondary sexual trait using long‐term lifetime data on condition in a migratory bird species, the barn swallow, Hirundo rustica. Second, we quantified sources of individual variation in condition by separating the within‐individual from the between‐individual components of variation of environmental condition and age on body condition. Therefore, we were able to partition variation as a result of selection and phenotypic plasticity. Within‐individual variation in body condition increased in early life until middle age (i.e. 3–4 years of age) in the two sexes followed by only a slight decrease in body condition during senescence in males but not in females. After accounting for age‐dependent variation, condition could be partitioned into a within‐individual plastic response to environmental conditions during migration and a nonplastic response (i.e. a between‐individual difference) to environmental conditions experienced in the African winter quarters. Specifically, there was a within‐individual increase in body condition as environmental conditions during migration improved in both males and females, independent of age. There was a between‐individual effect of condition found in the winter quarter in body condition of females, but not in males, which was attributed to the disappearance of females in poor body condition from the study population as a result of the higher natal dispersal of low‐quality females compared to high‐quality ones during years with favourable environmental conditions in the African winter quarters. Males and females also tended to be in better body condition during the warmer springs upon arrival at the breeding grounds. There was a temporal decline in female body condition during 1991–2007, whereas no significant trend was detected in males. Therefore, both intrinsic (e.g. age and sex) and extrinsic factors (e.g. climate) affected body condition. © 2011 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2012, 105 , 420–434.  相似文献   

4.
Many secondary sexual characters vary in a systematic way with the age of individuals, with young and old individuals displaying at lower levels than individuals of intermediate age. Analyses quantifying the within-individual and among-individual components of phenotypic variation can help partition effects of phenotypic plasticity and selective mortality. We analysed phenotypic variation in the expression of a secondary sexual character, tail length, in male and female barn swallows Hirundo rustica from four European populations studied during 11-26 years, using linear mixed effect models to describe age-related expression. Tail length increased from yearlings to intermediate aged birds with a subsequent decrease at old age. In males, this age-related pattern was because of both within-subject and between-subject effects, with no difference among populations. Males having longer lifespan had shorter tails when young than those having shorter lifespan. Females showed similar patterns of age-related variation as males, with no difference among populations. The major difference between sexes was that the between-subject effects (i.e. disappearance effects or selection) were much more important for males compared to females for which lifetime variation in tail length was mainly because of a within-subject effect (i.e., a plastic response). These findings suggest that whereas males trade greater expression of the secondary sexual character at young age against longevity, that was not the case for females. This is consistent with tail length being more costly in males than in females, with the cost of long tails potentially being offset by elevated mating success, whereas that is not the case in females.  相似文献   

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Although intraindividual variability (IIV) in behavior is fundamental to ecological dynamics, the factors that contribute to the expression of IIV are poorly understood. Using an individual‐based model, this study examined the effects of stochasticity on the evolution of IIV represented by the residual variability of behavior. The model describes a population of prey with nonoverlapping generations, in which prey take refuge upon encountering a predator. The strategy of a prey is characterized by the mean and IIV (i.e., standard deviation) of hiding duration. Prey with no IIV will spend the same duration hiding in a refuge at each predator encounter, while prey with IIV will have variable hiding durations among encounters. For the sources of stochasticity, within‐generation stochasticity (represented by random predator encounters) and between‐generation stochasticity (represented by random resource availability) were considered. Analysis of the model indicates that individuals with high levels of IIV are maintained in a population in the presence of between‐generation stochasticity even though the optimal strategy in each generation is a strategy with no IIV, regardless of the presence or absence of within‐generation stochasticity. This contradictory pattern emerges because the mean behavioral trait and IIV do not independently influence fitness (e.g., the sign of the selection gradient with respect to IIV depends on the mean trait). Consequently, even when evolution eventually leads toward a strategy with no IIV (i.e., the optimal strategy), greater IIV may be transiently selected. Between‐generation stochasticity consistently imposes such transient selection and maintain high levels of IIV in a population.  相似文献   

7.
    
  1. Spatial and temporal variation in networks has been reported in different studies. However, the many effects of habitat structure and food resource availability variation on network structures have remained poorly investigated, especially in individual‐based networks. This approach can shed light on individual specialization of resource use and how habitat variations shape trophic interactions.
  2. To test hypotheses related to habitat variability on trophic interactions, we investigated seasonal and spatial variation in network structure of four populations of the marsupial Gracilinanus agilis in the highly seasonal tropical savannas of the Brazilian Cerrado.
  3. We evaluated such variation with network nestedness and modularity considering both cool‐dry and warm‐wet seasons, and related such variations with food resource availability and habitat structure (considered in the present study as environmental variation) in four sites of savanna woodland forest.
  4. Network analyses showed that modularity (but not nestedness) was consistently lower during the cool‐dry season in all G. agilis populations. Our results indicated that nestedness is related to habitat structure, showing that this metric increases in sites with thick and spaced trees. On the other hand, modularity was positively related to diversity of arthropods and abundance of fruits.
  5. We propose that the relationship between nestedness and habitat structure is an outcome of individual variation in the vertical space and food resource use by G. agilis in sites with thick and spaced trees. Moreover, individual specialization in resource‐rich and population‐dense periods possibly increased the network modularity of G. agilis. Therefore, our study reveals that environment variability considering spatial and temporal components is important for shaping network structure of populations.
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Extra‐pair paternity (EPP) is often linked to male age in socially monogamous vertebrates; that is, older males are more likely to gain EPP and less likely to be cuckolded. However, whether this occurs because males improve at gaining paternity as they grow older, or because “higher quality” males that live longer are preferred by females, has rarely been tested, despite being central to our understanding of the evolutionary drivers of female infidelity. Moreover, how extra‐pair reproduction changes with age within females has received even less attention. Using 18 years of longitudinal data from an individually marked population of Seychelles warblers (Acrocephalus sechellensis), we found considerable within‐individual changes in extra‐pair reproduction in both sexes: an early‐life increase and a late‐life decline. Furthermore, males were cuckolded less as they aged. Our results indicate that in this species age‐related patterns of extra‐pair reproduction are determined by within‐individual changes with age, rather than differences among individuals in longevity. These results challenge the hypothesis—based on longevity reflecting intrinsic quality—that the association between male age and EPP is due to females seeking high‐quality paternal genes for offspring. Importantly, EPP accounted for up to half of male reproductive success, emphasizing the male fitness benefits of this reproductive strategy. Finally, the occurrence of post‐peak declines in extra‐pair reproduction provides explicit evidence of senescence in infidelity in both males and females.  相似文献   

10.
    
Subindividual variation among repeated organs in plants constitutes an overlooked level of variation in phenotypic selection studies, despite being a major component of phenotypic variation. Animals that interact with plants could be selective agents on subindividual variation. This study examines selective pressures exerted during post‐dispersal seed predation and germination on the subindividual variation of seed size in hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna). With a seed offering experiment and a germination test, we estimated phenotypic selection differentials for average and subindividual variation of seed size due to seed predation and germination. Seed size affects germination, growth rate and the probability of an individual seed of escaping predation. Longer seeds showed higher germination rates, but this did not result in significant selection on phenotypes of the maternal trees. On the other hand, seed predators avoided wider seeds, and by doing so exerted phenotypic selection on adult average and subindividual variation of seed size. The detected selection on subindividual variation suggests that the levels of phenotypic variation within individual plants may be, at least partly, the adaptive consequence of animal‐mediated selection.  相似文献   

11.
    
Phytochemical investigation of the Tibetan medicinal plant Ixeridium gracile resulted in the isolation and identification of twelve flavonoids and two coumarins, compounds 1-14, the dimeric '2alpha,3alpha-epoxy-5,7,3',4'-tetrahydroxyflavan-(4beta-->8)-epicatechin' (1) being a new constituent. The free-radical-scavenging potentials of different extract fractions as well as of the pure compounds towards the DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) radical were evaluated, and are discussed in terms of structure-activity relationship (SAR). The flavonoids were found to be the major constituents contributing to the free-radical-scavenging activity of I. gracile, but the high concentration of coumarins additionally contributed to the observed activity.  相似文献   

12.
Rubiaceae contains the largest number of distylous species in the Angiosperms, but the evolution and control of distyly is poorly understood in this group. Atypical distylous populations and species have been described in this family and associated with disturbance, pollination failure and impaired reproductive success. Some of these atypical taxa belong to Psychotria, the largest genus in the family. In the present study, we investigate the pollination and breeding biology of Psychotria carthagenensis Jacq., a widely distributed species that has been described as typically distylous. Fieldwork was carried out mainly at the Panga Ecological Station, in Uberlândia, MG, Brazil. We carried out phenological observations, floral biology studies and hand pollination experiments within the Panga Ecological Station population. We complemented these data with herbarium and field surveys from elsewhere in Brazil. The studied population bloomed at the beginning of the rains (September–December). The main pollinators were Bombus and small Halictidae bees. The Panga Ecological Station population presented pin‐monomorphism with only two thrum individuals in more than 100 flowering individuals surveyed. Hand pollinations at the Panga Ecological Station showed self‐compatibility and intramorph compatibility. Typical distyly and isoplethy were found in other areas and both morphs appeared in herbarium material. However, pin‐monomorphism was also observed elsewhere in Brazil. Typical distyly, pin‐monomorphism and homostyly observed concurrently in Brazilian populations of P. carthagenensis indicate that alternative reproductive strategies, probably favoring selfing, appear to have developed independently in this species.  相似文献   

13.
    
Leaf shelters function as microclimatic refuges, reducing arthropod exposure to climatic fluctuations of surrounding habitats. Although facilitation is expected to increase under stressful conditions, empirical studies investigating the patterns of variation and magnitude of effects of ecosystem engineering (EE) at different spatial and temporal scales are still scarce. In this study, we evaluated the facilitation consequences of leaf shelter created by gall-inducers on arthropod communities of Miconia ligustroides (DC.) Naudin (Melastomataceae). We evaluated how such effects change at the leaf and plant levels in a habitat subject to strong climatic seasonality. The presence of leaf shelters on M. ligustroides increased arthropod diversity and biomass, modified the species composition at both the leaf and plant levels, during wet and dry seasons. However, the addition of artificial leaf shelters during the dry season showed greater abundance, richness, and biomass of arthropods when compared to shelters added during the wet season. Regarding the global effects of artificial leaf shelters on the diversity of arthropods associated with M. ligustroides, the dry season showed strong and positive effects, increasing the abundance, richness, and biomass of arthropods by an average of 65% for both years. Our study contributes to a better understanding of the patterns of variation and magnitude of EE at different spatial and temporal scales and provides new insights into the importance of shelters for aridity-sensitive species.  相似文献   

14.
    
Female reproductive capacity declines dramatically in the fourth decade of life as a result of an age‐related decrease in oocyte quality and quantity. The primary causes of reproductive aging and the molecular factors responsible for decreased oocyte quality remain elusive. Here, we show that aging of the female germ line is accompanied by mitochondrial dysfunction associated with decreased oxidative phosphorylation and reduced Adenosine tri‐phosphate (ATP) level. Diminished expression of the enzymes responsible for CoQ production, Pdss2 and Coq6, was observed in oocytes of older females in both mouse and human. The age‐related decline in oocyte quality and quantity could be reversed by the administration of CoQ10. Oocyte‐specific disruption of Pdss2 recapitulated many of the mitochondrial and reproductive phenotypes observed in the old females including reduced ATP production and increased meiotic spindle abnormalities, resulting in infertility. Ovarian reserve in the oocyte‐specific Pdss2‐deficient animals was diminished, leading to premature ovarian failure which could be prevented by maternal dietary administration of CoQ10. We conclude that impaired mitochondrial performance created by suboptimal CoQ10 availability can drive age‐associated oocyte deficits causing infertility.  相似文献   

15.
    
Seasonal reproduction patterns are typically observed in small ruminants and are a major limitation for production efficiency in most meat- and dairy-type production systems. Indeed, selection for reduced seasonality could be an appealing strategy for the small ruminant industry worldwide, although its genetic background has been poorly analyzed. One of the main limitations relied on the availability of appropriate analytical tools to cope with the circular (i.e. year-round) pattern of lambing and kidding data. The recent development of a heteroskedastic circular mixed model provided the statistical tool to go deeply into the knowledge of seasonality in small ruminants. In this study, 26 005 lambing distribution records from 4764 Ripollesa ewes collected in 20 purebred flocks were analyzed. The model accounted for systematic (lambing interval and ewe age), permanent environmental (flock-year-season and ewe) and additive genetic sources of variation influencing both mean and dispersion pattern (i.e. heteroskedasticity). Systematic effects suggested that first-lambing ewes and short lambing intervals delayed lambing date (~30 days) and increased dispersion of the lambing period. Nevertheless, this was partially compensated by ewe age, given that youngest females tended to concentrate the lambing peak. Flock-year-season, permanent ewe and additive genetic sources of variation reached moderate variance components for direct (and residual) effects on lambing distribution, they being 0.119 (0.156), 0.092 (0.132) and 0.195 (0.170) radians2, respectively. Moreover, all 95% credibility intervals were placed far from the null estimate. Covariances between direct and residual effects where high and positive for additive genetic (posterior mean, 0.814) and permanent ewe effects (posterior mean, 0.917), whereas it was not relevant for flock-year-season. Selection for direct additive genetic effects should be able to advance or delay the lambing peak, whereas selection applied on residual additive genetic effects should increase or reduce seasonality (i.e. concentrate or flatten the lambing peak). Moreover, the positive and relevant genetic covariance between direct and residual effects also suggested correlated genetic responses. As example, genetic selection for earlier lambing peaks must also reduce seasonality, whereas selection for narrower lambing seasons may originate a delay in the lambing peak. These results must be viewed as the first attempt to analyze systematic, environmental and genetic sources of variation of lambing distribution within the circular paradigm, they providing a reliable characterization of these effects within the context of an heteroskedastic model.  相似文献   

16.
    
The lymphatic vascular system plays an important role in tissue fluid homeostasis. Lymphedema is a chronic, progressive, and incurable condition that leads to lymphatic fluid retention; it may be primary (heritable) or secondary (acquired) in nature. Although there is a growing understanding of lymphedema, methods for the prevention and treatment of lymphedema are still limited. In this study, we investigated differential protein expressions in sham‐operated and lymphedema‐operated mice for 3 days, using two‐dimensional gel electrophoresis (2‐DE) and mass spectrometry analysis. Male improved methodology for culturing noninbred (ICR) mice developed lymphedema in the right hindlimb. Twenty functional proteins were found to be differentially expressed between lymphedema induced‐right leg tissue and normal left leg tissue. Out of these proteins, the protein levels of apolipoprotein A‐1 preprotein, alpha‐actinin‐3, mCG21744, parkinson disease, serum amyloid P‐component precursor, annexin A8, mKIAA0098 protein, and fibrinogen beta chain precursor were differentially upregulated in the lymphedema mice compared with the sham‐operated group. Western blotting analysis was used to validate the proteomics results. Our results showing differential up‐regulation of serum amyloid P‐component precursor, parkinson disease, and apolipoprotein A‐1 preprotein in lymphedema model over sham‐operated model suggest important insights into pathophysiological target for lymphedema. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.  相似文献   

17.
    
A field experiment was conducted to examine the effect of perceived predation risk on the use of foraging areas by juvenile and adult primates under different conditions of local food abundance. Wild squirrel monkeys, Saimiri sciureus, were observed in an experiment conducted during the dry and the wet seasons at a site in Eastern Amazonia, Brazil. Animals were presented with feeding platforms that differed in food quantity and exposure to aerial predators through varying vegetative cover. In the dry season, juveniles and adults chose platforms based solely on food quantity. However, in the wet season, juveniles foraged preferentially on high-reward platforms only if cover level also was high (i.e., potentially offered greater concealment from predators). In contrast, adults showed the same pattern of platform use regardless of season. These results indicate that age and local resource availability based on seasonality affect whether primates forage in a predator-sensitive manner. Juveniles may be more sensitive to predation risk when foraging, and individuals may take fewer risks when resource abundance is high in their environment.  相似文献   

18.
    
Our ability to infer unobservable disease‐dynamic processes such as force of infection (infection hazard for susceptible hosts) has transformed our understanding of disease transmission mechanisms and capacity to predict disease dynamics. Conventional methods for inferring FOI estimate a time‐averaged value and are based on population‐level processes. Because many pathogens exhibit epidemic cycling and FOI is the result of processes acting across the scales of individuals and populations, a flexible framework that extends to epidemic dynamics and links within‐host processes to FOI is needed. Specifically, within‐host antibody kinetics in wildlife hosts can be short‐lived and produce patterns that are repeatable across individuals, suggesting individual‐level antibody concentrations could be used to infer time since infection and hence FOI. Using simulations and case studies (influenza A in lesser snow geese and Yersinia pestis in coyotes), we argue that with careful experimental and surveillance design, the population‐level FOI signal can be recovered from individual‐level antibody kinetics, despite substantial individual‐level variation. In addition to improving inference, the cross‐scale quantitative antibody approach we describe can reveal insights into drivers of individual‐based variation in disease response, and the role of poorly understood processes such as secondary infections, in population‐level dynamics of disease.  相似文献   

19.
Summary Based on population genetics theory of the evolution of multigene families, the sequence variability of the variable regions of immunoglobulins compiled by Kabat et al. (1976) has been analysed. An amino acid identity coefficient either within or between species is calculated separately for both the hypervariable and the framework regions. Under the somatic mutation hypothesis, the somatic component of amino acid diversity is in addition to the germ line component and should contribute an amount of change between the hypervariable and framework regions that is independent of the time since the divergence of any two immunoglobulin gene families. The relationship between the identity coefficient of the hypervariable region and that of the framework region is shown to be not in accord with such prediction. The result indicates that the rate of evolutionary accumulation of amino acid replacements in the hypervariable region is roughly three times more rapid than in the framework region and the hypervariability within a species is a necessary consequence of the high evolutionary rate.Contribution no. 1271 from the National Institute of Genetics, Mishima 411, Japan  相似文献   

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