首页 | 本学科首页   官方微博 | 高级检索  
相似文献
 共查询到20条相似文献,搜索用时 917 毫秒
1.

Background  

Large-scale climatic variability has been implicated in the population dynamics of many vertebrates throughout the Northern Hemisphere, but has not been demonstrated to directly influence dynamics at multiple trophic levels of any single system. Using data from Isle Royale, USA, comprising time series on the long-term dynamics at three trophic levels (wolves, moose, and balsam fir), we analyzed the relative contributions of density dependence, inter-specific interactions, and climate to the dynamics of each level of the community.  相似文献   

2.

Background  

A key challenge for conservation biologists is to determine the most appropriate demographic and genetic management strategies for wildlife populations threatened by disease. We explored this topic by examining whether genetic background and previous pathogen exposure influenced survival of translocated animals when captive-bred and free-ranging bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) were used to re-establish a population that had been extirpated in the San Andres Mountains in New Mexico, USA.  相似文献   

3.

Background  

We used a simple experimental design to test for the effects of microcosm scaling on the growth and survival of the mosquito, Culex pipiens. Microcosm and mesocosm studies are commonly used in ecology, and there is often an assumption that scaling doesn't affect experimental outcomes. The assumption is implicit in the design; choice of mesocosms may be arbitrary or based on convenience or cost. We tested the hypothesis that scale would influence larvae due to depth and surface area effects. Larvae were predicted to perform poorly in microcosms that were both deep and had small openings, due to buildup of waste products, less exchange with the environment, and increased competition. To determine if the choice of scale affected responses to other factors, we independently varied leaf litter quantity, whose effects on mosquitoes are well known.  相似文献   

4.

Background  

Autochthony in forest tree stands is characterized by a number of criteria, among which the range over which stands act as a population has been suggested to play a central role. Therefore, measures are needed for the delineation of populations or the detection of subpopulation structure. It is argued here that methods of population delineation must be based on the combined consideration of spatial distances and genetic differences between adult individuals. Conventional approaches and a set of newly developed methods are applied to seven isozyme loci in four beech stands which are distinguished by different types of forest management based on natural regeneration.  相似文献   

5.

Background  

The continued depletion of tropical rainforests and fragmentation of natural habitats has led to significant ecological changes which place most top carnivores under heavy pressure. Various methods have been used to determine the status of top carnivore populations in rainforest habitats, most of which are costly in terms of equipment and time. In this study we utilized, for the first time, a rigorous track classification method to estimate population size and density of clouded leopards (Neofelis nebulosa) in Tabin Wildlife Reserve in north-eastern Borneo (Sabah).  相似文献   

6.

Background  

SNP data of goats of three Mediterranean countries were used for population studies and reconstruction of geographical patterning. 496 individuals belonging to Italian, Albanian and Greek breeds were genotyped to assess the basic population parameters.  相似文献   

7.

Background  

Mating outside the pair-bond is surprisingly common in socially monogamous birds, but rates of extra-pair paternity (EPP) vary widely between species. Although differences in life-history and contemporary ecological factors may explain some interspecific variation, evolutionary forces driving extra-pair (EP) mating remain largely obscure. Also, since there is a large phylogenetic component to the frequency of EPP, evolutionary inertia may contribute substantially to observed EP mating patterns. However, the relative importance of plasticity and phylogenetic constraints on the incidence of EP mating remains largely unknown.  相似文献   

8.

Background

Abiotic and biotic factors in a local habitat may strongly impact the community residing within, but spatially structured metacommunities are also influenced by regional factors such as immigration and colonization. We used three years of monthly treehole census data to evaluate the relative influence of local and regional factors on our study system.

Results

Every species responded to at least one of three local environmental factors measured: water volume, leaf litter mass, and presence of a top predator. Several species were affected by water volume, and a non-exclusive group of species were influenced by leaf litter mass. Relative abundance of Aedes triseriatus was higher in treeholes with higher volumes of water, and relative abundances of three out of six other species were lower in treeholes with higher volumes of water. Leaf litter mass positively affected densities of Aedes triseriatus and relative abundance of several dipteran species. The density of the top predator, Toxorhynchites rutilus, affected the relative abundance of the two most common species, A. triseriatus and Culicoides guttipennis. Treeholes with T. rutilus had an average of two more species than treeholes without T. rutilus. We found little evidence of synchrony between pairs of treeholes, either spatially or temporally. There were high levels of spatial and temporal turnover, and spatial turnover increased with distance between patches.

Conclusion

The strong effects of water volume, leaf litter mass, and presence of a top predator, along with the high temporal turnover strongly suggest that species presence and density are determined by local factors and changes in those factors over time. Both low water volume and high predator densities can eliminate populations in local patches, and those populations can recolonize patches when rain refills or predators exit treeholes. Population densities of the same species were not matched between pairs of treeholes, suggesting variation in local factors and limited dispersal. Distance effects on spatial turnover also support limitations to dispersal in the metacommunity, and we conclude that the weight of evidence favors a strong influence of local factors relative to regional factors.  相似文献   

9.

Background  

Climate change is particularly pronounced in the High Arctic and a better understanding of the repercussions on ecological processes like herbivory, predation and pollination is needed. Arthropods play an important role in the high-arctic ecosystem and this role is determined by their density and activity. However, density and activity may be sensitive to separate components of climate. Earlier emergence due to advanced timing of snowmelt following climate change may expose adult arthropods to unchanged temperatures but higher levels of radiation. The capture rate of arthropods in passive open traps like pitfall trap integrates density and activity and, therefore, serves as a proxy of the magnitude of such arthropod-related ecological processes. We used arthropod pitfall trapping data and weather data from 10 seasons in high-arctic Greenland to identify climatic effects on the activity pattern of nine arthropod taxa.  相似文献   

10.

Background

Development rates of Aedes aegypti are known to vary with respect to many abiotic and biotic factors including temperature, resource availability, and intraspecific competition. The relative importance of these factors and their interactions are not well established across populations. We performed meta-analysis on a dataset of development rate estimates from 49 studies.

Results

Meta-analytic results indicated that the environmental factor of temperature is sufficient to explain development rate variability in Ae. aegypti. While diet and density may greatly impact other developmental phenotypes, these results suggest that for development rate these factors should never be considered to the exclusion of temperature. The effect of temperature on development rate is not homogenous or constant. The sources of heterogeneity of the effect of temperature are difficult to analyze due to lack of consistent reporting of larval rearing methods.

Conclusions

Temperature is the most important ecological determinant of development rate in Ae. aegypti, but its effect is heterogeneous. Ignoring this heterogeneity is problematic for models of vector population and vector-borne disease transmission.  相似文献   

11.

Background

Long-distance migratory birds in North America have undergone precipitous declines over the past half-century. Although the trend is clear, for many migrating species underpinning the exact causes poses a challenge to conservation due to the numerous stressors that they encounter. Climate conditions during all phases of their annual cycle can have important consequences for their survival. Here, using 15 years of capture-recapture dataset, we determined the effects of various climate factors during the breeding, wintering, and migrating stages on the annual survival of a western yellow-breasted chat (Icteria virens auricollis) population breeding in southwestern Canada.

Results

El Niño effects over the entire annual cycle had little influence on the annual apparent survival of yellow-breasted chats. However, we found evidence that wind conditions during migration, specifically average westerly wind speed or the frequency of storm events, had significant adverse effects on adult annual apparent survival. In comparison, precipitation levels on wintering ground had little to no influence on adult annual apparent survival, whereas growing degree days on the breeding ground had moderate but positive effects.

Conclusions

In the face of climate change and its predicted impacts on climate processes, understanding the influence of weather conditions on the survival of migrating birds can allow appropriate conservation strategies to be adopted for chats and other declining neotropical migrants.
  相似文献   

12.

Background  

The aim of the study was to examine the role that melatonin production plays in the regulation of sleep consolidation in a population of shiftworkers working and sleeping in their natural environments.  相似文献   

13.

Background  

Understanding the dispersal and genetic structure of invasive insects across islands is important for designing management plans that are appropriate at spatial and temporal scales. For invasive parasites, population dynamics are largely determined by the distribution and density of their host species. The introduced parasitic fly, Philornis downsi, parasitises nestlings of endemic birds on all major islands of the Galápagos archipelago. The fly's high mortality and fitness impacts are of conservation concern for vulnerable and declining species of Darwin's finches. Using microsatellite data in Bayesian clustering and landscape genetic analyses, we examine gene flow and dispersal in P. downsi between three islands and across habitats (highlands, lowlands) and examine for the presence of population bottlenecks. We also examine variation at the mitochondrial gene CO1 across islands to establish if cryptic species were present.  相似文献   

14.

Background  

Insects can resist parasites using the costly process of melanotic encapsulation. This form of physiological resistance has been studied under laboratory conditions, but the abiotic and biotic factors affecting resistance in natural insect populations are not well understood. Mite parasitism of damselflies was studied in a temperate damselfly population over seven seasons to determine if melanotic encapsulation of mite feeding tubes was related to degree of parasitism, host sex, host size, emergence timing, duration of the emergence period, and average daily air temperature.  相似文献   

15.
Nitrogen fertilization is one of the factors that influences Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) population density. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of three N application rates (75, 205 and 335 mg/l) and three ratios of NO3:NH4+ ions (92:8, 75:25 and 55:45) in standard nutrient solution (205 mg/l N) on the population density of B. tabaci. The experiments were conducted on spring-summer hydroponic crops of tomato. The effect of plant stratum on the whitefly population was also determined. The aggregation of B. tabaci adults as well as their oviposition rate was higher at 205 and 335 mg/l N than on plants grown at 75 mg/l N. By the end of the experiment (60 d after infestation), the number of nymphs on plants at 205 mg/l N was higher than on plants at 75 mg/l N. The number of pupae was lowest on plants supplied with 75 mg/l N. An increase in NH4+ percentage in standard nutrient solution (from 25% to 45% of the total N) reduced adult population density and oviposition rate. The density of nymphs and pupae, at 60 d after infestation, was lower on the tomato plants grown at 75:25 and 55:45 NO3:NH4+ ratios compared to the 92:8 ratio. The 75:25 and 55:45 NO3:NH4+ ratios resulted in a higher incidence of blossom-end rot of tomato fruit, with a lower incidence of disorder at 75:25 than at the 55:45 ratio. Plant stratum influenced adult whitefly distribution in two years of the study. Middle stratum leaves were more attractive to adults in both years. The results demonstrate the effects of N fertilization (N rate and the ratio of NO3:NH4+) and plant stratum on B. tabaci population density.  相似文献   

16.

Background  

Bipolar disorder (BPD) is a widespread condition characterized by recurring states of mania and depression. Lithium, a direct inhibitor of glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK3) activity, and a mainstay in BPD therapeutics, has been proposed to target GSK3 as a mechanism of mood stabilization. In addition to mood imbalances, patients with BPD often suffer from circadian disturbances. GSK3, an essential kinase with widespread roles in development, cell survival, and metabolism has been demonstrated to be an essential component of the Drosophila circadian clock. We sought to investigate the role of GSK3 in the mammalian clock mechanism, as a possible mediator of lithium's therapeutic effects.  相似文献   

17.

Background  

Studies of population genetic structures provide an indication of direction and magnitude of larval transport and hence are an important component in the assessment of the ability of reefs to recover from severe disturbance. This paper reports data on population genetic structures in the coral Pocillopora damicornis from 26 reefs in Kenya and Tanzania.  相似文献   

18.
Diurnal temperature amplitude is known to have a large influence on insect life history. Population density affects intraspecific competition and many other aspects of insect life history. However, there is limited information on the interactive effects of these factors on insects. Here, we tested the interactive effects of three diurnal temperature amplitudes (22 ± 0°C, 22 ± 6°C, and 22 ± 12°C) and three population densities on the development, survival, longevity, and fecundity of the English grain aphid Sitobion avenae (Fabricius) (Homoptera: Aphididae). At a constant temperature, increasing population density reduced the growth and survival of early-instar nymphs, increased longevity, and reduced fecundity. At a low population density, increasing temperature amplitude inhibited nymph development. However, even at a high temperature amplitude, nymph survival rate was higher than expected, and reproduction was possible because the recovery of the lower night-temperatures eliminated thermal stress. Increasing the population density reduced, and even reversed, the negative effects of the wide temperature amplitude. This may reflect synergistic interactions between population density and wide temperature amplitude as these stressors each incur energetic costs. These findings emphasize the importance of temperature amplitude and population density for improving prediction accuracy and damage assessment during pest control modeling.  相似文献   

19.

Background  

There is much debate concerning which ecological constraints are the most limiting factors to seedling recruitment in disturbed communities. We provide the first comparison between selective herbivory and plant competition effects among two post-mined forest ecosystems (primary succession) and one post-fire woodland ecosystem (secondary succession). Animal exclosure assessments of nine common species across eight sites were performed for comparison within three locations separated by up to 200 km. Additionally, we asked whether pre-browsed plants differed in nutrient content between or within species in the separate systems.  相似文献   

20.

Background  

Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus are both vectors of chikungunya virus (CHIKV). The two Aedes species co-exist in the Indian Ocean region and were involved in the 2005-2006 CHIKV outbreaks. In the Reunion Island, a single mutation in the viral envelope has been selected that leads to high levels of replication in Ae. albopictus, and a short extrinsic incubation period as the virus could be found in saliva as early as two days after infection. An important question is whether this variant is associated with adverse effects impacting some mosquito life-history traits such as survival and reproduction.  相似文献   

设为首页 | 免责声明 | 关于勤云 | 加入收藏

Copyright©北京勤云科技发展有限公司  京ICP备09084417号