Life history

Dietary variation in males and females can shape the expression of offspring life histories and physiology. However, the relative contributions of maternal and paternal dietary variation to phenotypic expression of latter generations is currently unknown. We provided male and female Drosophila melanogaster diets differing in sucrose concentration prior to reproduction, and similarly subjected grandoffspring to the same treatments. We then investigated the phenotypic consequences of this dietary variation among grandsons and granddaughters. We demonstrate transgenerational effects of dietary sucrose, mediated through the grandmaternal lineage, which mimic the direct effects of sucrose on lifespan, with opposing patterns across sexes; low sucrose increased female, but decreased male, lifespan. Dietary mismatching of grandoffspring-grandparent diets increased lifespan and reproductive success, and moderated triglyceride levels, of grandoffspring, providing insights into the physiologic...

Reproduction is one of the most energetically demanding life-history stages. As a result, breeding individuals often experience trade-offs, where energy is diverted away from maintenance (cell repair, immune function) toward reproduction. While it is increasingly acknowledged that oncogenic processes are omnipresent, evolving and opportunistic entities in the bodies of metazoans, the associations among reproductive activities, energy expenditure, and the dynamics of malignant cells have rarely been studied. Here, we review the diverse ways in which age-specific reproductive performance (e.g., reproductive aging patterns) and cancer risks throughout the life course may be linked via trade-offs or other mechanisms, as well as discuss situations where trade-offs may not exist. We argue that the interactions between host–oncogenic processes should play a significant role in life-history theory, and suggest some avenues for future research.

The degree to which vertebrate herbivores exploitatively compete for the same food plant may depend on the level of compensatory plant growth. Such compensation is higher when there is reduced density‐dependent competition in plants after herbivore damage. Whether there is relief from competition may largely be determined by the life‐history stage of plants under herbivory. Such stage‐specific compensation may apply to seasonal herbivory on the clonal aquatic plant sago pondweed (Potamogeton pectinatus L.). It winters in sediments of shallow lakes as tubers that are foraged upon by Bewick's Swans (Cygnus columbianus bewickii Yarrell), whereas aboveground biomass in summer is mostly consumed by ducks, coots, and Mute Swans. Here, tuber predation may be compensated due to diminished negative density dependence in the next growth season. However, we expected lower compensation to summer herbivory by waterfowl and fish as density of aboveground biomass in summer is closely related t...

Using a life-table approach, pairs of exephippial sibs of Daphnia pulex were surveyed for sources of variation in life-history traits, and daphnids derived from diapausing and subitaneous eggs were assessed for differences in variance for these traits. Significant variation due to initial body length and sibs pair effect was observed in traits of exephippial females at the first adult instar (FAI). These results suggest higher environmental and genetic variability of life-history traits at the FAI in daphnids hatching from diapausing eggs than that in parthenogenetically derived ones. Exephippial females exhibited significantly higher variation in life-history properties at the FAI in response to various food levels, as well as within a high food treatment. The largest difference was found for the size of the first clutch and the body length of the juveniles produced in this clutch. Variance for relative fitness in females emerging from diapause was also higher than that for ones de...

Selection pressures due to parasitism play an important role in driving the evolution of life history traits of birds in general and of behaviour at the nest in particular. Eggshell bacterial load has been shown to predict hatching failure (i.e. the probability of embryo infection) but the relationships between the bacterial environment of the nest and life history characteristics of birds remain poorly investigated. We explored interspecific variation in eggshell bacterial load of mesophilic bacteria, Enterococcus spp., Staphylococcus spp. and Enterobacteriaceae groups across 24 bird species and assessed whether bacterial load is associated with breeding traits. Interspecific variation was much higher than intraspecific variation for all measures of bacterial load even after controlling for annual variation. Thus, we were able to assess the correlation between bacterial community characteristics and life history traits. After correcting for phylogenetic effects, we found that nest ...

Marine reserves are rapidly becoming an important tool for protection and recovery of depleted marine populations. However, the relative value of reserves to particular species is strongly dependent on its life history and behavior. We present a general conceptual framework for considering dispersal in simple demographic models. This framework includes transition matrices that consist of two age-structured models connected by transition probabilities for general migration, ontogenetic shifts, and recruitment in both a reserve and an unprotected area. We show that life history characteristics and perturbation analysis can be used to predict changes in growth rate due to a decrease in adult mortality resulting from a marine reserve for different levels and types of dispersal. Reserves enhanced growth rate for all species irrespective of net dispersal between the reserve and surrounding matrix habitat, but the efficacy of reserves relative to catch reduction depended significantly on t...

The juvenile life history and age composition of Klamath River fall chinook salmon (Oncorhvnchus tshawvtscha) were determined for adult populations returning to major spawning tributaries from 1984 to 1986. Three juvenile life histories were identified from the analysis of adult scales. Most adults exhibited scale patterns indicative of typical summer emigration but a significant portion of some tributary populations had extended juvenile rearing. Measurements of scale radius and circuli counts were used to determine indices of early freshwater growth and size at ocean entry. Comparisons between tributary populations showed differences in proportions of life history type and in freshwater growth rates. Age at maturity was inversely related to the rate of growth during the first year. Older age-at-return groups showed higher incidence of extended juvenile freshwater rearing. Age composition analysis showed that very few older aged adults returned to spawn on major Klamath River tribu...

By estimating probabilistic reaction norms for age and size at maturation, we show that maturation schedules of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) off Labrador and Newfoundland shifted toward earlier ages and smaller sizes during the late 1980s and early 1990s, when these populations underwent a severe collapse in biomass and subsequently were closed for directed commercial fishing. We also demonstrate that this trend towards maturation at younger ages and smaller sizes is halted and even shows signs of reversal during the closure of the fisheries. In addition, our analysis reveals that males tend to mature earlier and at a smaller size than females and that maturation age and size decrease with increasing latitude. Importantly, the maturation reaction norms presented here are robust to variation in survival and growth (through phenotypic plasticity) and are thus strongly indicative of rapid evolutionary changes in cod maturation as well as of spatial and sex-specific genetic variation. We...

This study aims to examine the biography of pantomime figures named  Jemek Supardi, who is known as the maestro of Indonesian pantomime, which includes: life history, way of thinking and his roles in developing pantomime in Indonesia. This study uses biographical theory, by telling the life of a character. This study also uses some supporting theories: life history theory, creativity theory, and role theory. This research is a qualitative research with a biographical study approach to describe the history of one's life (life history). Data collection techniques are carried out by observation, interviews and documentation. Jemek Supardi Supardi's research as subject of study. Data analysis by arranging, sorting, categorizing and grouping the results of observations, interviews, and documentation studies that have been collected. Data analysis is process by reducing the data become a logical and systematic the description. The results and the discussions from The Background of...

Calyptrate flies include about 22,000 extant species currently classified into Hippoboscoidea (tsetse, louse, and bat flies), the muscoid grade (house flies and relatives) and the Oestroidea (blow flies, bot flies, flesh flies, and relatives). Calyptrates are abundant in nearly all terrestrial ecosystems, often playing key roles as decomposers, parasites, parasitoids, vectors of pathogens, and pollinators. For oestroids, the most diverse group within calyptrates, definitive fossils have been lacking. The first unambiguous fossil of Oestroidea is described based on a specimen discovered in amber from the Dominican Republic. The specimen was identified through digital dissection by CT scans, which provided morphological data for a cladistic analysis of its phylogenetic position among extant oestroids. The few known calyptrate fossils were used as calibration points for a molecular phylogeny (16S, 28S, CAD) to estimate the timing of major diversification events among the Oestroidea. Re...

We track the strategic choices of Rhode Island Coalition against Domestic Violence (RICADV), a statewide collective actor working in one media market to expand opportunities to promote its mission. We reconstruct an organizational life history describing how RICADV built its communications capacity and deepened internal and external relations, thereby increasing media standing with Rhode Island journalists. To measure growth in media standing quantitatively, we analyze print coverage of three comparable clusters of domestic violence murders occurring in Rhode Island between 1996 and 2002. Over this interval, RICADV rose from invisibility to become Rhode Island reporters' foremost source for background information on domestic-violence murders. Also, the use of language identifying these murders as domestic violence increased sixteen-fold. Stressing dialogic and relational approaches, we conclude that despite restricted access to corporatized media markets, intentional collective ...

Dissertação apresentada ao Instituto de Biociências do Campus de Rio Claro, Universidade Estadual Paulista, como parte dos requisitos para obtenção do título de Mestre em Ciências Biológicas (Biologia Celular e Molecular). ... PROGRAMA DE PÓS-GRADUAÇÃO EM ...

Several primate species form expectations based on others’ outcomes, responding negatively when their outcomes differ from their partners’. The function and evolutionary pathway of this behavior are unknown, in part because all of the species which have been tested thus far share traits related to a gregarious lifestyle, intelligence, and cooperativeness. Our goal was to test whether inequity is a homology among primates or a convergence by comparing one species known to show social comparisons, the chimpanzee, to another great ape which differs on several of these life history characteristics. Using a protocol identical to one used previously with chimpanzees, we tested whether orangutans, an intelligent but predominantly solitary species with few opportunities to cooperate, responded similarly. To allow for a strong comparison with chimpanzees (and other species), we used socially housed adults of both sexes, tested with members of their social group. Orangutans did not respond ne...

Summary1. Little is known about the predators of insect eggs in fresh waters. This study describes aspects of the life history of a scathophagid fly (Acanthocnema sp.), whose larvae are predators of aquatic insect eggs.2. Because the Acanthocnema predator oviposits its eggs on the surface of aquatic insect egg masses, all insect egg masses were collected regularly within a 200‐m reach of Redwood Creek (California, U.S.A.) between September 2003 and June 2007. Acanthocnema predators were found predominantly within egg masses of the caddifly Neophylax rickeri (Trichoptera: Uenoidae).3. There was a mean of 0.25 Acanthocnema individuals per N. rickeri egg mass (n = 2367 egg masses). In general, N. rickeri egg masses were more commonly found clustered in aggregations (93.7%) than singly (6.3%), and Acanthonema were found more often within the aggregations of N. rickeri (98.7%) compared to singly laid egg masses (1.3%).4. The duration of the Acanthocnema predator life stages was: egg 2.9 ...

The present study describes the morphology of Oplophoridae and Bresiliidae larvae collected during the cruise of the RV Thalassa in the Southwestern Atlantic Ocean in 1999. The larvae were caught by oblique hauls from the surface to 200 meters using a bongo net. Thirteen stages of five species of Oplophoridae (Acanthephyra sp.1 to 4, and Janicella spinicauda), and two stages

Patterns of actuarial senescence can be highly variable among species. Previous comparative analyses revealed that both age at the onset of senescence and rates of senescence are linked to the species’ position along the fast-slow life-history continuum. As there are few long-term datasets of wild populations with known-age individuals, intraspecific (i.e. between-population) variation in senescence is understudied and limited to comparisons of wild and captive populations of the same species, mostly birds and mammals. In this paper, we examined how population position along the fast-slow life history continuum affects senescence patterns in an amphibian,Bombina variegata. We used capture-recapture data collected in four populations with contrasted life history strategies. Senescence trajectories were drawn using Bayesian capture-recapture models. We show that in “slow” populations the onset of senescence was earlier and individuals aged at a faster rate than individuals in “fast” p...

The rhesus macaque population at Cayo Santiago increases annually and is in urgent need of control. In-depth assessmentsof the colony's population genetic and pedigree structures provide a starting point for improving the colony's long-termmanagement program. We evaluated the degree of genetic variation and coefficients of inbreeding and kinship of the CayoSantiago colony by using pedigree and short tandem repeat (STR) data from 4738 rhesus macaques, which represent 7 extantsocial groups and a group of migrant males. Information on each animal's parentage, sex, birth date, and date of death orremoval from the island were used to generate estimates of mean kinship, kinship value, gene value, genome uniqueness(GU), founder equivalents (fe), and founder genome equivalents (fg). Pedigree and STR analyses revealed that the socialgroups have not differentiated genetically from each other due to male-mediated gene flow (that is, FST estimates were in thenegative range) and exhi...

A survey on the genus Exallonyx Kieffer, 1904 (Hymenoptera: Proctotrupidae) was conducted in northern Iran. The specimens were collected using Malaise traps during 2010-2011. The genus Exallonyx and six species were collected and identified for the first time from Iran: Exallonyx ater (Gravenhorst, 1807), E. brevicornis (Haliday, 1839), E. formicarius Kieffer, 1904, E. ligatus (Nees, 1834), E. minor Townes, 1981 and E. nixoni Townes, 1981. A key is presented for identification of Exallonyx species occurring in northern Iran.

Recent research has shown that low genetic variation in individuals can increase susceptibility to infection and group living may exacerbate pathogen transmission. In the eusocial diploid termites, cycles of outbreeding and inbreeding characterizing basal species can reduce genetic variation within nestmates during the life of a colony, but the relationship of genetic heterogeneity to disease resistance is poorly understood. Here we show that, one generation of inbreeding differentially affects the survivorship of isolated and grouped termites ( Zootermopsis angusticollis) depending on the nature of immune challenge and treatment. Inbred and outbred isolated and grouped termites inoculated with a bacterial pathogen, exposed to a low dose of fungal pathogen or challenged with an implanted nylon monofilament had similar levels of immune defence. However, inbred grouped termites exposed to a relatively high concentration of fungal conidia had significantly greater mortality than outbre...