The combined effects of pre‐ and post‐copulatory processes are masking sexual conflict over mating rate in Gerris buenoi

In polygynandrous animals, post‐copulatory processes likely interfere with precopulatory sexual selection. In water striders, sexual conflict over mating rate and post‐copulatory processes are well documented, but their combined effect on reproductive success has seldom been investigated. We combine genetic parentage analyses and behavioural observations conducted in a competitive reproductive environment to investigate how pre‐ and post‐copulatory processes influence reproductive success in Gerris buenoi Kirkaldy. Precopulatory struggles had antagonistic effects on male and female reproductive success: efficiently gaining copulations was beneficial for males, whereas efficiently avoiding copulations was profitable for females. Also, high mating rates and an intermediate optimal resistance level of females supported the hypothesis of convenience polyandry. Contrary to formal predictions, high mating rates (i.e. the number of copulations) did not increase reproductive success in males or decrease reproductive success in females. Instead, the reproductive success of both sexes was higher when offspring were produced with several partners and when there were few unnecessary matings. Thus, male and female G. buenoi displayed different interests in reproduction, but post‐copulatory processes were masking the effects of copulatory mating success on reproductive success. Given the high mating rates observed, sperm competition could easily counter the effect of mating rates, perhaps in interaction with cryptic female choice and/or fecundity selection. Our study presents a complex but realistic overview of sexual selection forces at work in a model organism for the study of sexual conflict, confirming that insights are gained from investigating all episodes in the reproduction cycle of polygynandrous animals.     

Multivariate selection and intersexual genetic constraints in a wild bird population

When selection differs between the sexes for traits that are genetically correlated between the sexes, there is potential for the effect of selection in one sex to be altered by indirect selection in the other sex, a situation commonly referred to as intralocus sexual conflict (ISC). While potentially common, ISC has rarely been studied in wild populations. Here, we studied ISC over a set of morphological traits (wing length, tarsus length, bill depth and bill length) in a wild population of great tits (Parus major) from Wytham Woods, UK. Specifically, we quantified the microevolutionary impacts of ISC by combining intra‐ and intersex additive genetic (co)variances and sex‐specific selection estimates in a multivariate framework. Large genetic correlations between homologous male and female traits combined with evidence for sex‐specific multivariate survival selection suggested that ISC could play an appreciable role in the evolution of this population. Together, multivariate sex‐specific selection and additive genetic (co)variance for the traits considered accounted for additive genetic variance in fitness that was uncorrelated between the sexes (cross‐sex genetic correlation = ?0.003, 95% CI = ?0.83, 0.83). Gender load, defined as the reduction in a population's rate of adaptation due to sex‐specific effects, was estimated at 50% (95% CI = 13%, 86%). This study provides novel insights into the evolution of sexual dimorphism in wild populations and illustrates how quantitative genetics and selection analyses can be combined in a multivariate framework to quantify the microevolutionary impacts of ISC.     

Evolutionary routes to stable ownership

Ownership can evolve in potentially any species. Drawing on insights from across disciplines, we distinguish between possession and ownership and present species‐neutral criteria for ownership, defined as respect for possession. We use a variant of the tug‐of‐war evolutionary game to demonstrate how ownership can evolve in the form of a new, biologically realistic strategy, Restraint With Retaliation (RWR). In our game, resource holding potential (RHP) is assumed to be equal between interactants, and resource holding asymmetry determines whether ownership is adaptive. RWR will be evolutionarily stable when the ratio of resource holdings between interactants is relatively low, but not when this ratio is sufficiently high. We offer RWR as one evolutionary route to ownership among many, and discuss how ownership unites previously described behavioural phenomena across taxa. We propose that some but not all mechanisms of territory formation and maintenance can be considered ownership, and show that territories are not the only resources that can be owned. We argue that ownership can be a powerful cooperative solution to tragedies of the commons and problems of collective action throughout the biological world. We advance recent scholarship that has begun to investigate the biological importance of ownership, and we call for a comprehensive account of its evolutionary logic and taxonomic distribution. We propose that ownership should be considered a fundamental, unifying biological phenomenon.     

Strong sexual selection in males against a mutation load that reduces offspring production in seed beetles

Theory predicts that sexual reproduction can increase population viability relative to asexual reproduction by allowing sexual selection in males to remove deleterious mutations from the population without large demographic costs. This requires that selection acts more strongly in males than females and that mutations affecting male reproductive success have pleiotropic effects on population productivity, but empirical support for these assumptions is mixed. We used the seed beetle Callosobruchus maculatus to implement a three‐generation breeding design where we induced mutations via ionizing radiation (IR) in the F₀ generation and measured mutational effects (relative to nonirradiated controls) on an estimate of population productivity in the F₁ and effects on sex‐specific competitive lifetime reproductive success (LRS) in the F₂. Regardless of whether mutations were induced via F₀ males or females, they had strong negative effects on male LRS, but a nonsignificant influence on female LRS, suggesting that selection is more efficient in removing deleterious alleles in males. Moreover, mutations had seemingly shared effects on population productivity and competitive LRS in both sexes. Thus, our results lend support to the hypothesis that strong sexual selection on males can act to remove the mutation load on population viability, thereby offering a benefit to sexual reproduction.     

Female behaviour and the interaction of male and female genital traits mediate sperm transfer during mating

Natural selection and post‐copulatory sexual selection, including sexual conflict, contribute to genital diversification. Fundamental first steps in understanding how these processes shape the evolution of specific genital traits are to determine their function experimentally and to understand the interactions between female and male genitalia during copulation. Our experimental manipulations of male and female genitalia in red‐sided garter snakes (Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis) reveal that copulation duration and copulatory plug deposition, as well as total and oviductal/vaginal sperm counts, are influenced by the interaction between male and female genital traits and female behaviour during copulation. By mating females with anesthetized cloacae to males with spine‐ablated hemipenes using a fully factorial design, we identified significant female–male copulatory trait interactions and found that females prevent sperm from entering their oviducts by contracting their vaginal pouch. Furthermore, these muscular contractions limit copulatory plug size, whereas the basal spine of the male hemipene aids in sperm and plug transfer. Our results are consistent with a role of sexual conflict in mating interactions and highlight the evolutionary importance of female resistance to reproductive outcomes.     

Emplacement and resistance: Social and political complexities in development‐induced displacement in Papua New Guinea

This paper argues that attending to social and political factors in development‐induced displacement is critical even for projects that involve resettlement of small populations. Taking the resettlement of two villages by the Lihir Gold Mine in Papua New Guinea as a unique case study, I analyse why one village was relatively successfully resettled, while the other has been very complicated, leading to hostility and conflict. In these cases the initial focus of all concerned in reaching a resettlement agreement was on the adequacy of compensation and housing, which mimicked the focus in the literature during the 1990s on impoverishment and compensation. From the late 1990s there have been calls for greater attention to social and political aspects of displacement and resettlement. Early attention to these factors in the Lihir case, particularly the key concepts of emplacement and disemplacement, would have highlighted flaws in the resettlement agreement and would have made it easier to avert the conflict and resistance that arose.     

Balancing competing life‐stage requirements in salmon habitat rehabilitation: between a rock and a hard place

Gravel augmentation is often applied to rivers and streams to rehabilitate salmonid spawning and incubation habitat. However, the effect of gravel size on salmon spawning utilization and embryo survival during incubation is not well understood. We conducted an experiment on a regulated and previously mined Northern California salmonid‐bearing stream in which different sized gravel (small, medium, and large) patches were placed into the stream's degraded spawning reach. We documented Oncorhynchus tshawytscha (Chinook salmon) spawning activity within the three gravel sizes for two seasons. In addition, we deployed Chinook salmon embryos into each gravel size patch and allowed them to incubate until estimated emergence time. Although all experimental gravel sizes were predicted to be within the spawning population's mobilization capabilities, model results indicated the probability of salmon building redds decreased as substrate size increased. Conversely, embryo survival increased as gravel size increased. A possible mechanism of disparate Chinook salmon embryo survival is provided by an observed decrease in embryo survival correlating with greater presence of embryo predators (leeches), which are associated with smaller gravel. Our results indicate a parent‐offspring conflict in optimal spawning gravel size for Chinook salmon, and suggest that an intermediate gravel size would maximize overall reproductive success across both spawning and incubation life stages.     

Whether to have a second child or not? An integrative approach to women's reproductive decision-making in current China

The transition to low fertility worldwide has led to introduction of diverse frameworks across disciplines to understand its causes and consequences. Previous attempts to compare the relative importance of the key factors influencing women's fertility decision-making largely focused on a single rather than multiple steps of decision-making—an important problem if different factors are associated with different steps. Furthermore, insufficient attention has been paid explicitly to husband's and already-born children's influences, two potentially important factors. Here we introduce a framework covering three steps of reproductive decision-making—ideal family size, fertility desire and fertility intention—and test it using multi-level survey data collected from Chinese one-child mothers. Mother's attitudes towards having two children were paramount factors underlying her ideal family size, and husband's and the firstborn child's attitudes were critical to her desire to have a second child, which in turn played a decisive role in her intention to have a second child. Although husband's attitude was related to all steps, most factors were only relevant to one step; e.g., perceived child mortality and value for old-age security predicted ideal family size, admiration—a prerequisite for social learning—for two-child families predicted fertility desire, and physical/economic constraints primarily predicted fertility intention. Our study emphasizes multiple decision-makers in family reproduction; indicates the relative importance of fertility-influencing factors could vary with steps of decision-making; and has important implications for population policy in low-fertility societies.     

斑马鱼作为骨骼疾病模型的研究进展

斑马鱼作为一种优良的动物模型已被广泛应用于人类相关疾病机理及药物筛选的研究。由于斑马鱼骨骼发育过程和调控机制与哺乳动物高度保守,目前已成功构建斑马鱼骨骼疾病模型。本文首先介绍斑马鱼骨骼发育过程和分子调控机制,并对斑马鱼模型骨骼研究的基本方法及在骨骼药物筛选中的研究现状进行分析和总结,以期对斑马鱼作为骨骼疾病模型进行药物筛选或基础研究提供参考。     

主要组织相容性复合体单倍型鸭抗原处理相关转运体单抗的制备

目的制备鸭抗原处理相关转运体(TAP)特异性单抗,为深入利用实验鸭开展免疫学研究提供实验材料。方法利用大肠埃希菌诱导表达主要组织相容性复合体(MHC)单倍型HBW-SPF鸭TAP蛋白肽结合区片段,表达产物经镍柱纯化后免疫BALB/c小鼠,采用ELISA技术筛选特异性单抗分泌杂交瘤细胞株。将阳性细胞株制备小鼠腹水,作为一抗,与多次截短表达TAP蛋白肽结合区进行蛋白免疫印迹试验,鉴定单抗针对的抗原表位。通过间接免疫荧光试验比较该单抗对实验鸭和鸡外周血淋巴细胞的反应性,利用免疫组织化学技术检测对SPF鸡、SPF鸭、鹌鹑、鹅和SPF猪的特异性。结果获得一株鸭TAP单抗1A6,抗原表位位于²⁹⁷NARHQMLQQAVLDATAGTGMVVQEAI³²²,对鸡和鸭外周血淋巴细胞具有免疫荧光反应性;在鸡和鸭的肠黏膜固有层检测到大量特异性信号,在猪、鹌鹑和鹅没有检测到信号。结论获得了一株具有鸡和鸭反应性的抗原转运相关体特异性的单抗,可运用于禽类实验动物在禽病学和禽免疫学方面的研究。