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436. Gut microbiota influences female choice and fecundity in the nuptial gift-giving species, Drosophila subobscura (Diptera: Drosophilidae)

Creator:
Walsh, Benjamin S., Heys, Chloe, and Lewis, Zenobia
Format:
print, počítač, and online zdroj
Type:
article, články, journal articles, model:article, and TEXT
Subject:
Zoologie, dvoukřídlí, octomilkovití, Diptera, Drosophilidae, Drosophila subobscura, microbiota, gut bacteria, mate preference, reproductive success, 2, and 59
Language:
English
Description:
Recently, there has been rapidly growing interest in the effects of the microbiota on host physiology and behaviour. Due to the nutritional value of bacteria, gut microflora may be particularly important in species that present nuptial gifts during courtship. Here, we explore whether the presence or absence of gut microbiota in males and females of the nuptial gift-giving species Drosophila subobscura (Collin, 1936) alters mating behaviour in terms of female preference, male investment, and female fecundity. We found that females that had been fed antibiotics, compared to females with intact gut bacteria, were more willing to mate with a male that had been fed normally. However female fecundity was higher when both males and females lacked gut bacteria compared to both individuals having a full complement of gut bacteria. This implies that the presence of the microbiota acts to reduce female fecundity in this species, and that male gut bacterial content influences female fecundity. Our results provide further evidence to the growing consensus that the microbiota of an individual may have important effects on both reproductive behaviour and physiology, and suggest that it may also contribute to the nutritional value of the nuptial gift in this system., Benjamin S. Walsh, Chloe Heys, Zenobia Lewis., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Rights:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ and policy:public

437. Habitat use of the mistle thrush (Turdus viscivorus): the importance of urban areas and permanent crops

Creator:
Chiatante, Gianpasquale
Format:
počítač and online zdroj
Type:
model:article and TEXT
Subject:
Turdidae, olive orchards, vineyards, MaxEnt, downslope shift, and Mediterranean Basin
Language:
English
Description:
The mistle thrush is a species that occurs in old-growth forests, especially coniferous forests, in hilly and mountain areas and avoids warm and dry areas and human settlements. Despite this, in recent decades, the mistle thrush has colonised Apulia, southern Italy's lowlands and coasts, in rural and urban contexts. This study investigates the habitat selection of this species in central Apulia, in both the breeding season and winter, by carrying out 301 point counts and 264 linear transects. Data were collected to build a Species Distribution Model (SDM) for each season with the MaxEnt algorithm and the regional land use map, selecting variables through the Akaike Information Criterion. Overlap in the suitability of both seasons was measured using Schoener's D. A total of 133 observations of mistle thrush were noted during the breeding season and 85 observations during winter. During the breeding season, the mistle thrush selected olive orchards, especially those near vineyards and urban areas, where it could find food and safe places to nest. In this period, however, it was also found in coniferous woodlands. The mistle thrush also used vineyards in winter, whereas it avoided urban areas in this period, possibly due to food scarcity. Non-irrigated arable lands were avoided all year round, whereas natural grasslands were only avoided during the winter. Irrigated arable lands positively affected the species. Furthermore, 60% of habitat characteristics were similar between the breeding and winter seasons. It is unclear what makes the mistle thrush shift its range southward and downslope. However, it is likely due to the general increase in forest cover, a positive rainfall trend in Central Italy during summer, and the absence of competition with similar species in central Apulia.
Rights:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ and policy:public

438. Haemogregarine (Apicomplexa: Adeleorina) infection in Vanderhaege's toad-headed turtle, Mesoclemmys vanderhaegei (Chelidae), from a Brazilian Neotropical savanna region

Creator:
Goes, Vinícius C, Brito, Elizângela S, Valadão, Rafael M, Gutierrez, Camila O, Picelli, Amanda M, and Viana, Lúcio A
Format:
print, počítač, and online zdroj
Type:
model:article and TEXT
Subject:
parazitologie, parasitology, prevalence, parasite intensity, hemoparasite, chelonian, Cerrado, 2, and 59
Language:
English
Description:
Knowledge of blood parasites in Brazilian chelonians is limited, since they have been recorded in only six species. Mesoclemmys vanderhaegei (Bour) is a freshwater turtle with a wide geographic distribution in Brazil, but there is little information about its natural history. This paper reports on a study of the prevalence and infection intensity of a haemogregarine in two subpopulations of M. vanderhaegei. The study was conducted in two areas of Cerrado in the Upper Paraguay River basin in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil, between November 2010 and August 2013. Ninety-five (53%) of the 179 turtles captured were positive for haemogregarine parasites. The parasitic forms observed were two morphotypes of intraerythrocytic gametocytes. The prevalence differed between size classes, increasing significantly according to the animals' body size. There was no significant difference between prevalence and sex, or between sampling periods. The mean parasite intensity was 9 parasites/2,000 erythrocytes (0.45%) and the parasite population presented an aggregated distribution, with an aggregation index of 19 and discrepancy of 0.772. This is the first record of a hemoparasite in the freshwater turtle M. vanderhaegei., Vinícius C. Goes, Elizângela S. Brito, Rafael M. Valadão, Camila O. Gutierrez, Amanda M. Picelli, Lúcio A. Viana., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Rights:
http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/ and policy:public

439. Harmonia axyridis (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae): Smelling the rat in native ladybird declines

Creator:
John J. Sloggett
Format:
print, počítač, and online zdroj
Type:
article, články, journal articles, model:article, and TEXT
Subject:
Zoologie, brouci, slunéčkovití, slunéčko východní, urbanizace, beetles, Coccinellidae, Harmonia axyridis, urbanization, Coleoptera, Adalia bipunctata, alien invasive, habitat compression, native species decline, 2, and 59
Language:
English
Description:
In the last two decades a huge amount of research has focused on the invasive harlequin ladybird, Harmonia axyridis, particularly on potential or actual deleterious effects that have arisen after it has colonised new regions. A focus of this work has been real or anticipated declines in native ladybird abundance since the introduction of H. axyridis, for which it is deemed responsible. Scientists have generally painted a very bleak picture of the effects of H. axyridis on native species: in this paper I argue that the picture painted is often too bleak. I use the case of the 2-spot ladybird, Adalia bipunctata, the species most often invoked as threatened by H. axyridis, to illustrate my point. While there is little question that H. axyridis has led to a decline in A. bipunctata populations in Europe, it seems likely that prior to the invasive ladybird's arrival A. bipunctata occurred in artificially high numbers in the urban environments in which it was typically studied. Pollution in towns and cities led to enhanced numbers of prey aphids on plants there which initially favoured A. bipunctata, and later H. axyridis. Thus one species, A. bipunctata, that has benefitted from an association with humans has been replaced by another, H. axyridis, just as brown rats replaced black rats in Europe and North America. Viewed with a longer perspective, A. bipunctata has more likely declined back to pre-industrial levels: the artificially high level from which it has declined recently was not a 'natural' one, and thus its decline from this level does not imply that it is now threatened or endangered. More broadly, we need a wider perspective, encompassing other ladybirds, longer timeframes and better comparisons with other (non-ladybird) invasive species to more clearly assess whether H. axyridis really poses as much of a threat as is often proposed., John J. Sloggett., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Rights:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ and policy:public

440. Has the currently warming climate affected populations of the mountain ringlet butterfly, Erebia epiphron (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae), in low-elevation mountains?

Creator:
Martin Konvička, Jiří Beneš, Oldřich Čížek, Tomáš Kuras, and Irena Klečková
Format:
print, počítač, and online zdroj
Type:
article, články, journal articles, model:article, and TEXT
Subject:
Zoologie, motýli, babočkovití, demografie, butterflies, Nymphalidae, demography, Erebia epiphron, alpine habitats, temperate mountains, climate warming, population structure, timberline, 2, and 59
Language:
English
Description:
Climate change scenarios predict losses of cold-adapted species from insular locations, such as middle high mountains at temperate latitudes, where alpine habitats extend for a few hundred meters above the timberline. However, there are very few studies following the fates of such species in the currently warming climate. We compared transect monitoring data on an alpine butterfly, Erebia epiphron (Nymphalidae: Satyrinae) from summit elevations of two such alpine islands (above 1300 m) in the Jeseník Mts and Krkonoše Mts, Czech Republic. We asked if population density, relative total population abundance and phenology recorded in the late 1990s (past) differs that recorded early in 2010s (present) and if the patterns are consistent in the two areas, which are separated by 150 km. We found that butterfly numbers recorded per transect walk decreased between the past and the present, but relative population abundances remained unchanged. This contradictory observation is due to an extension in the adult flight period, which currently begins ca 10 days earlier and lasts for longer, resulting in the same total abundances with less prominent peaks in abundance. We interpret this development as desynchronization of annual cohort development, which might be caused by milder winters with less predictable snow cover and more variable timing of larval diapause termination. Although both the Jeseník and Krkonoše populations of E. epiphron are abundant enough to withstand such desynchronization, decreased synchronicity of annual cohort development may be detrimental for innumerable small populations of relic species in mountains across the globe., Martin Konvička, Jiří Beneš, Oldřich Čížek, Tomáš Kuras, Irena Klečková., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Rights:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ and policy:public