Origins of asexuality in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Bryobia</Emphasis>mites (Acari: Tetranychidae)

Background  

Obligate asexual reproduction is rare in the animal kingdom. Generally, asexuals are considered evolutionary dead ends that are unable to radiate. The phytophagous mite genus Bryobia contains a large number of asexual species. In this study, we investigate the origin and evolution of asexuality using samples from 111 populations in Europe, South Africa and the United States, belonging to eleven Bryobia species. We also examine intraspecific clonal diversity for one species, B. kissophila, by genotyping individuals from 61 different populations. Knowledge on the origin of asexuality and on clonal diversity can contribute to our understanding of the paradox of sex.     

Termite cohabitation: the relative effect of biotic and abiotic factors on mound biodiversity

1. Termites are important ecosystem engineers that improve primary productivity in trees and animal diversity outside their mounds. However, their ecological relationship with the species nesting inside their mounds is poorly understood. 2. The presence of termite cohabitant colonies inside 145 Cornitermes cumulans mounds of known size and location was recorded. Using network‐theoretical methods in conjunction with a suite of statistical analyses, the relative influence of biotic and abiotic drivers of termite within‐mound diversity on the composition and species richness of the termite community was investigated, specifically builder presence and physical aspects of the mound. 3. We found that richness inside the mound increases with mound size, and the species similarity between mounds decreases with distance. The physical attributes (abiotic drivers) of termite mounds (size and relative distance to other mounds) are the strongest predictors of termite species richness and composition. The biotic driver (presence of a builder colony) has an important, though smaller, negative effect on within‐mound termite species richness. 4. The findings suggest that the termites' physical manipulation of their environment is an important driver of within‐mound community diversity. More generally, the approach taken here, using a combination of statistical and network‐theoretical methods, can be used to determine the relative importance of abiotic and biotic drivers of diversity in a wide range of communities of interacting species.     

The Changing Face of Natural Resources Students,Education, and the Profession

ABSTRACT There are many challenges facing natural resources programs in North American higher education today. Pressures exerted by a new generation of students, changing workplace requirements (including undergraduate core-knowledge requirements), and an increasingly specialized professoriate are great but not insurmountable. We discuss each of these issues and pose potential solutions to address each including adopting new pedagogical techniques for content delivery (e.g., adapting courses to be inclusive of new technologies), revising curriculum to meet the needs of a new suite of learners (e.g., developing curricula that allow structured flexibility of choices, designing a core curriculum that is a mix of single-discipline courses and courses that integrate across disciplines), and new strategies for faculty engagement in discipline-specific survey courses. By remaining deliberate and effective in our pursuit of quality higher education we have the opportunity to ensure we are delivering the best possible education to the future professionals of our disciplines.     

Collecting Variable-concentration Isothermal Titration Calorimetry Datasets in Order to Determine Binding Mechanisms

Isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) is commonly used to determine the thermodynamic parameters associated with the binding of a ligand to a host macromolecule. ITC has some advantages over common spectroscopic approaches for studying host/ligand interactions. For example, the heat released or absorbed when the two components interact is directly measured and does not require any exogenous reporters. Thus the binding enthalpy and the association constant (Ka) are directly obtained from ITC data, and can be used to compute the entropic contribution. Moreover, the shape of the isotherm is dependent on the c-value and the mechanistic model involved. The c-value is defined as c = n[P]tKa, where [P]t is the protein concentration, and n is the number of ligand binding sites within the host. In many cases, multiple binding sites for a given ligand are non-equivalent and ITC allows the characterization of the thermodynamic binding parameters for each individual binding site. This however requires that the correct binding model be used. This choice can be problematic if different models can fit the same experimental data. We have previously shown that this problem can be circumvented by performing experiments at several c-values. The multiple isotherms obtained at different c-values are fit simultaneously to separate models. The correct model is next identified based on the goodness of fit across the entire variable-c dataset. This process is applied here to the aminoglycoside resistance-causing enzyme aminoglycoside N-6''-acetyltransferase-Ii (AAC(6'')-Ii). Although our methodology is applicable to any system, the necessity of this strategy is better demonstrated with a macromolecule-ligand system showing allostery or cooperativity, and when different binding models provide essentially identical fits to the same data. To our knowledge, there are no such systems commercially available. AAC(6'')-Ii, is a homo-dimer containing two active sites, showing cooperativity between the two subunits. However ITC data obtained at a single c-value can be fit equally well to at least two different models a two-sets-of-sites independent model and a two-site sequential (cooperative) model. Through varying the c-value as explained above, it was established that the correct binding model for AAC(6'')-Ii is a two-site sequential binding model. Herein, we describe the steps that must be taken when performing ITC experiments in order to obtain datasets suitable for variable-c analyses.Download video file.^{(61M, mov)}     

Effects of Hunting on Response Behaviors of Wild Reindeer

ABSTRACT Because wild reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) are hunted in southern Norway, reindeer may perceive all recreationists as threats. Potential adverse effects of hunting on reindeer behavior may be exacerbated by other forms of recreation because the number of skiers and hikers in areas inhabited by reindeer has also increased. The Norefjell-Reinsjøfjell wild reindeer area is used extensively for recreation and tourism. Reindeer hunting was introduced in the area in 1992, and harvest rate has been stable at about 38% of winter herd size. We recorded behavioral responses of reindeer to a person approaching directly on foot or skis during 1992 and again in 2002–2006. Compared to 1992, flight-initiation distance increased and fewer groups assessed the observer before taking flight during 2002–2006. In winter, when reindeer are usually comparably more vigilant than in other seasons, flight-initiation distance increased from only 60 m to 115 m and escape distance decreased from 400 m to 210 m. Neither alert distance, calf carcass weights (23.6 ± 0.7 [SE] kg to 22.4 ± 0.2 kg), nor reindeer herd size (661 ± 73 to 579 ± 15) changed during the 15 years of our study. Reindeer appeared to habituate to the observer because they initiated flight at shorter distances as the number of approaches on the same day increased. In Norefjell-Reinsjøfjell, encounters with a person on foot or skis did not result in behavioral responses likely to entail substantial energy costs for reindeer; therefore, hunting at current levels appears compatible with other recreational activities.     

The Simulium vernum group (Diptera: Simuliidae) in Europe: multiple character sets for assessing species status

The value of using characters from multiple sources – chromosomes, ecology, gene sequences, and morphology – to evaluate the species status of closely related black flies is demonstrated for three European members of the Simulium vernum group: Simulium crenobium (Knoz, 1961), Simulium juxtacrenobium Bass & Brockhouse, 1990, and Simulium vernum s.s. Macquart, 1826. Simulium juxtacrenobium is a chromosomally, molecularly, and morphologically distinct species that diverged from S. crenobium and S. vernum s.s. about 2 Mya. It is specialized for intermittent streams, is univoltine, and is recorded for the first time from northern Europe, based on collections from Finland and Sweden, representing a range extension of about 1800 km. In contrast, S. crenobium, although confirmed as a distinct species, differs from S. vernum s.s. by only a few larval and chromosomal characters, and by a breeding habitat restricted to mountain spring brooks. Whereas all four character sets independently support the specific distinctness of S. juxtacrenobium and S. vernum s.s., multiple character sets are required to establish the specific validity of S. crenobium.     

Temperature,predator–prey interaction strength and population stability

Warming could strongly stabilize or destabilize populations and food webs by changing the interaction strengths between predators and their prey. Predicting the consequences of warming requires understanding how temperature affects ingestion (energy gain) and metabolism (energy loss). Here, we studied the temperature dependence of metabolism and ingestion in laboratory experiments with terrestrial arthropods (beetles and spiders). From this data, we calculated ingestion efficiencies (ingestion/metabolism) and per capita interaction strengths in the short and long term. Additionally, we investigated if and how body mass changes these temperature dependencies. For both predator groups, warming increased metabolic rates substantially, whereas temperature effects on ingestion rates were weak. Accordingly, the ingestion efficiency (the ratio of ingestion to metabolism) decreased in all treatments. This result has two possible consequences: on the one hand, it suggests that warming of natural ecosystems could increase intrinsic population stability, meaning less fluctuations in population density; on the other hand, decreasing ingestion efficiencies may also lead to higher extinction risks because of starvation. Additionally, predicted long‐term per capita interaction strengths decreased with warming, which suggests an increase in perturbation stability of populations, i.e., a higher probability of returning to the same equilibrium density after a small perturbation. Together, these results suggest that warming has complex and potentially profound effects on predator–prey interactions and food‐web stability.     

Genetic variation in South Indian castes: evidence from Y-chromosome, mitochondrial, and autosomal polymorphisms

Background

Major population movements, social structure, and caste endogamy have influenced the genetic structure of Indian populations. An understanding of these influences is increasingly important as gene mapping and case-control studies are initiated in South Indian populations.

Results

We report new data on 155 individuals from four Tamil caste populations of South India and perform comparative analyses with caste populations from the neighboring state of Andhra Pradesh. Genetic differentiation among Tamil castes is low (R_ST = 0.96% for 45 autosomal short tandem repeat (STR) markers), reflecting a largely common origin. Nonetheless, caste- and continent-specific patterns are evident. For 32 lineage-defining Y-chromosome SNPs, Tamil castes show higher affinity to Europeans than to eastern Asians, and genetic distance estimates to the Europeans are ordered by caste rank. For 32 lineage-defining mitochondrial SNPs and hypervariable sequence (HVS) 1, Tamil castes have higher affinity to eastern Asians than to Europeans. For 45 autosomal STRs, upper and middle rank castes show higher affinity to Europeans than do lower rank castes from either Tamil Nadu or Andhra Pradesh. Local between-caste variation (Tamil Nadu R_ST = 0.96%, Andhra Pradesh R_ST = 0.77%) exceeds the estimate of variation between these geographically separated groups (R_ST = 0.12%). Low, but statistically significant, correlations between caste rank distance and genetic distance are demonstrated for Tamil castes using Y-chromosome, mtDNA, and autosomal data.

Conclusion

Genetic data from Y-chromosome, mtDNA, and autosomal STRs are in accord with historical accounts of northwest to southeast population movements in India. The influence of ancient and historical population movements and caste social structure can be detected and replicated in South Indian caste populations from two different geographic regions.