Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Joint Nesting in a Digger Wasp as an Evolutionarily Stable Preadaptation To Social Life

One suggested evolutionary origin of insect sociality is joint nesting by females of the same generation. Long before selection favoured joint nesting itself, it might have favoured some other incidental preadaptation such as the habit of 'entering' abandoned burrows, found in the usually solitary wasp Splaex ichneumoneus. We have comprehensive economic records of individually marked wasps. There is little evidence of consistent individual variation in nesting success. Wasps often abandon the nests they have dug, and other individuals adopt or 'enter' these empty burrows. 'Dig/Enter' is a good candidate for a mixed evolutionarily stable strategy : digging and entering decisions are not characteristic of particular individuals; the probability of entering is not conditional upon whether it is early or late in the season; there is no correlation between an individual's size and her tendency to dig or enter; there is no correlation between an individual's egg-laying success and her tendency to dig or enter; individuals do not choose to dig or enter on the basis of immediate past success; individuals do not dig and enter in runs, nor do they alternate; wasps do not choose to dig or enter on the basis of how long they have been searching. At one study site digging and entering decisions are roughly equally successful, but at another entering decisions are perhaps slightly more successful. Entering wasps seem not to distinguish empty, abandoned burrows from burrows that are still occupied. As a consequence of indiscriminate entering, two females sometimes co-occupy the same burrow. Co-occupation should not be called 'communal' because the wasps usually share the same brood cell, not just the same burrow. One might expect that wasps would gain some benefit from co-occupying, but they do not, for a number of reasons: only one egg is laid in a shared cell, and obviously only one of the two wasps can lay it; two wasps together do not fetch noticeably more food than one alone; two wasps together are no quicker at provisioning a cell than one wasp alone; wasps sometimes duplicate each others' efforts when they co-occupy a nest; co-occupying wasps often have costly fights. About all that can be said for joint nesting is that it may reduce parasitism. The risk of joint nesting is the price wasps pay for the advantages of taking over an already dug and abandoned burrow. A mathematical model assuming 'dig/enter' as a mixed evolutionarily stable strategy has some predictive success. If the parameters changed quantitatively, the Sphex model could come to predict selection in favour of joint nesting as such. The selection pressures would have to be very strong to overcome the demonstrated disadvantages of co-occupying. Variants of the Sphex model may be applicable to other species, and may help our understanding of the evolution of group living. The theory of evolutionarily stable strategies is relevant not just to the maintenance of behaviour but to its evolutionary change.
COMPETITIVE EFFECTS OF THE ALIEN INVASIVE CENTAUREA SOLSTITIALISL. ON TWO CHILEAN BACCHARIS SPECIES AT DIFFERENT LIFE-CYCLE STAGES

Varios estudios han revelado una variedad de mecanismos de invasion en las plantas aloctonas. Sin embargo, aun se conoce poco sobre como tales mecanismos y sus efectos asociados cambian a traves de diferentes estados del ciclo vida. En este estudio evaluamos, bajo condiciones controladas, el resultado de las interacciones competitivas entre la especie invasora Centaurea solstitialis L. (Asteraceae) y dos especies pioneras nativas del matorral chileno; Baccharis linearis (Ruiz et Pav.) Pers. y B. paniculata DC (Asteraceae). Estas interacciones fueron evaluadas combinando diferentes estados del ciclo de vida: semilla-semilla, planta-semilla y planta-planta. La germinacion de C. solstitialis fue explosiva, siendo mucho mas rapida que la de las especies nativas. La presencia de C. solstitialis (plantas o semillas) no disminuyo la germinacion de las especies nativas de Baccharis. Sin embargo, la presencia de plantas establecidas de C. solstitialis disminuyo significativamente la biomasa de las plantas de Baccharis. Entonces, el efecto de C. solstitialis sobre las especies de Baccharis vario en funcion del estado del ciclo de vida en el cual las interacciones ocurrieron. En el matorral chileno, la emergencia temprana y explosiva de C. solstitialis podria ser un importante mecanismo de invasion, ya que aquellas plantas prontamente establecidas podrian desplazar competitivamente a las plantulas de Baccharis que emergen mas tarde. La enorme abundancia de C. solstitialis en algunas zonas de matorral sugiere que el establecimiento de plantulas de estas dos especies pioneras podria estar siendo limitado.
Sex‐Specific Aggression and Antipredator Behaviour in Young Brown Trout

Sex differences in adult behaviour are often interpreted as consequences of sexual selection and/or different reproductive roles in males and females. Sex-specific juvenile behaviour, however, has received less attention. Adult brown trout males are more aggressive than females during spawning and juvenile aggression may be genetically correlated with adult aggression in fish. We therefore tested the prediction that immature brown trout males are more aggressive and bolder than immature females. Because previous work has suggested that precocious maturation increases dominance in salmonids, we included precocious males in the study to test the prediction that early sexual maturation increase male aggression and boldness. Aggression and dominance relations were estimated in dyadic contests, whereas boldness was measured as a response to simulated predation risk using a model heron. Independent of maturity state, males initiated more than twice as many agonistic interactions as females in intersexual contests. However, males were not significantly more likely to win these contests than females. The response to a first predator attack did not differ between sex categories, but males reacted less to a second predator attack than females. Sexual maturity did not affect the antipredator response in males. Since there is no evidence from field studies that stream-living immature male and female salmonids differ in growth rate, it appears unlikely that the sex differences demonstrated are behavioural consequences of sex-specific investment in growth. It seems more likely that sex-specific behaviour arises as a correlated response to sexually selected gene actions promoting differential behaviour in adult males and females during reproduction. Alternatively, sex differences may develop gradually during juvenile life, because a gradual developmental program should be less costly than a sudden behavioural change at the onset of sexual maturity.
Exploring plasma membrane stress response in Saccharomyces cerevisiae with functional genomics

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Soil nutrient availability determines the facilitative effects of cushion plants on other plant species at high elevations in the south-eastern Himalayas

Background: Cushions are the typical nurse species of high-elevation environments. However, few studies have explored the differences in facilitative power and environmental amelioration between nurse plants of different species that share a common cushion morphology. Aims: To compare the nurse effects of different alpine cushion plants and their mechanism. Methods: We compared the effects of two co-occurring cushion species, Potentilla articulata and Arenaria polytrichoides on species richness, Shannon–Wiener diversity and the evenness of vascular plant assemblages in the Himalayas. In addition, we compared the temperature and the soil nutrients within and outside the two cushion species. Results: The presence of either cushion species significantly increased the species richness and diversity in comparison with the areas outside the cushions; P. articulata cushions were associated with greater species richness than A. polytrichoides. Substrate temperatures were similar under the two species and in open areas, but nitrogen and potassium levels were higher under either of the two cushion species than they were outside. Soil phosphorus and potassium concentrations were significantly higher beneath P. articulata than beneath the A. polytrichoides cushions. Conclusions: Our results indicate that facilitation of local species richness by cushion plants contributes to the structure of the alpine plant community in the eastern Himalayas. The intensity of the nurse effect varies with the soil nutrient level beneath different benefactor species.
Seletividade e eficácia da aplicação sequencial de oxyfluorfen e de ioxynil-octanoato, em semeadura direta de cebola

Visando avaliar os efeitos do parcelamento da dose de oxyfluorfen e ioxyniloctanoato sobre a tolerância de plantas de cebola 'Granex 33' e a eficiencia no controle das plantas daninhas na cultura, instalada por semeadura direta, foram conduzidos dois experimentos, sendo um na presenca de plantas daninhas e o outro na ausencia das mesmas. Ioxynil-octanoato, quando aplicado em doses acima de 0,125 kg/ha, aos 19 DAS, foi menos seletivo para o cultivar Granex 33 do que o oxyfluorfen. O parcelamento da dose, em ate tres aplicacoes, aumentou a tolerância das plantas de cebola ao oxyfluorfen e ao ioxynil-octanoato. Oxyfluorfen, nas doses avaliadas, controlou Galinsoga parviflora e Amaranthus hybridus, porem nao controlou Lepidium virginicum e Coronopus didymus. Ioxynil-octanoato a 0,125 kg/ha, aos 19 DAS, mais duas aplicacoes de 0,25 kg/ha aos 34 e 65 DAS, controlou as especies daninhas presentes, com producao de bulbos semelhantes a testemunha capinada. Nenhum dos herbicidas influenciou a conservacao pos-colheita dos bulbos ate 120 dias de armazenamento.
The Biogeochemistry of Aluminum and of Certain Related Elements

T H HE present review was undertaken as part of a comprehensive work on the chemical factors of the environment that operate on living organisms. The preparation of such a work is of necessity a protracted task, and is likely to proceed more slowly at the present time than in normal years. It has therefore seemed appropriate to offer for publication one completed section, the more so in that this section affords an opportunity to discuss certain general principles that have been largely overlooked in the past. Three of the elements discussed, namely aluminum, gallium, and scandium, have recently been shown to play hitherto unsuspected parts in the metabolism of certain organisms; a review of the biology of these metals may therefore provide a useful background for further studies of their biochemistry. In scope the present account is limited to what may be called the natural history of the elements discussed, pharmacological and toxicological considerations, and discussion of the uses of the elements as implements of physiological research being entertained only when they throw light on the normal cycles of the biosphere. The elements treated are those of group III of the periodic table (Al, Ga, In, TI, Sc, Y, and the lanthanide rare earths), but only non-radioactive metals are considered. Boron has not been discussed because its chemical similarities to the other members of the group are limited mainly to rather formal analogies of no biochemical significance; its cosmochemical and geochemical history is very different from those of the elements treated. Moreover, in spite of the enormous body of work done on the agricultural biochemistry of boron, its metabolic role is still subject to much doubt and any review at the present time would probably be of ephemeral interest. Actinium has not been considered because its geochemical distribution depends on that of its ancestral elements, and its natural biological occurrence, though apparently recently under investigation in Vernadsky's laboratory, has never been discussed in print. In searching the literature, the Bibliography published by Willis (1939-42) and the review of Kehoe, Cholak, and Story (1940b) as well as other reviews mentioned below, have been most helpful. As far as possible all the papers cited have been studied in the original texts. The rarity of certain of the older works and the present inaccessibility of recent European publications has, bowever, often made such study impossible. All works known only as abstracts are noted as such in the bibliography. In certain cases, where a paper has been discussed by a series of authors who have clearly never read the work in question, reference to the original has disclosed a content quite different to that traditionally assigned. It is too much to hope that some new errors of this sort are not
Intestinal parasites of red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) and their zoonotic importance for humans in Kars province.

During 2004-2007, 20 carcasses of red foxes, found dead mainly due to road accidents in Kars province of Turkey, were collected and examined helminthologically. Fifteen of (75%) 20 necropsied foxes were infected with various helminth species. According to the results of intestinal wash examinations, the helminth community of the red fox in the necropsy is composed of 10 helminths and 1 arthropod species. The recovered species were Alaria alata (30%), Mesocestoides lineatus (60%), Taenia multiceps (10%), T. pisiformis (10%), T. taenuiformis (5%), Taenia spp. (10%), Echinococcus granulosus (5%), Toxascaris leonina (65%), Toxocara canis (20%), Capillaria spp. (5%) and Linguatula serrata (40%). This article appears to be the first report of the presence of both the adults and nymphs of Linguatula serrata in the intestines of fox. According to the results of fecal examinations, helminth eggs were found in 13 of 20 (65%) fox fecal samples. Revealed helminth species were as follows; Mesocestoides lineatus (55%), Toxascaris leonina (40%), Alaria alata (30%), Toxocara canis (15%), Capillaria spp. (15%), Taenia spp. (15%).
An Experiment with Glycerol-Frozen Red Blood Cells Stored at –80°C for up to 37 Years

Background and Objectives: Red cells frozen using 40% W/V glycerol are currently FDA approved for frozen storage at –80°C for up to 10 years. Materials and Methods: Red cells frozen with 40% W/V glycerol and stored at –80°C for up to 37 years were thawed, deglycerolized, and stored at 4°C for 24 h. Results: Red cells frozen for up to 37 years had mean freeze-thaw-wash recovery values of 75%, less than 1% hemolysis, and normal ATP, 2,3-DPG and P50 levels, and 60% of normal RBC K+ levels. Conclusions: Red cells frozen with 40% W/V glycerol can be stored at –80°C for up to 37 years with acceptable in vitro results.
Caractéristiques des peuplements forestiers recherchés par le cerf de Virginie en hiver à la limite nord de son aire de répartition

Nous avons etudie les preferences hivernales dhabitat chez le Cerf de Virginie (Odocoileus virginianus) dans l'est du Quebec. Dans ces conditions limites d'environnement, la mortalite hivernale par inanition peut depasser 40% lors dhivers rigoureux. Afin d'identifier les parametres du milieu relies a la repartition des cerfs, nous avons analyse la repartition des feces et du broutement a partir d'inventaires realises aux printemps 1994 et 1995. Une analyse de regression multiple a retenules variables explicatives suivantes : le type de peuplement, le couvert en coniferes (relation positive), la quantite de tiges arbustives feuillues disponibles (relation positive), le diametre moyen des arbres d'especes decidues (relation negative). Parallelement, l'evolution de la frequentation des peuplements par les cerfs durant lhiver a ete suivie par des releves des pistes dans la neige. Les cerfs ont utilise tous les types de peuplement au debut de l'hiver mais ont prefere les peuplements melanges a dominance de .
Molecular phylogenies of figs and their pollinator wasps

A bus termination method and apparatus, specifically, a terminator circuit, a driver/terminator circuit, and appropriate control logic. The terminator circuit and the driver/terminator circuit provide termination of an interface node to one of a first and a second voltage potential selected according to a previous logic value sampled on the input node at a time determined by a clock signal. The driver/terminator circuit also drives data values on the interface node. The terminator circuit and the driver/terminator circuit can be used in bus agents in a computer system. In one computer system configuration, a driving bus agent drives a signal line which is terminated by a predetermined terminating bus agent. Each bus agent compares its device identification to a bus master identification to determine whether to drive, terminate, or tristate the bus.
Slow growth, long-lived trees, and minimal disturbance characterize the dynamics of an ancient, montane forest in coastal British Columbia

Elucidating the factors that structure very old forests is crucial to understanding their dynamics. We reconstructed the history of an ancient (1000-year-old) stand in the mountains of coastal British Columbia that contained four tree species (Abies amabilis (Dougl.) Forbes, Chamaecyparis nootkatensis (D. Don) Spach. , Tsuga mertensiana (Bong.) Carr. , and Tsuga heterophylla (Raf.) Sarg. ) in the canopy and the seedling bank. Using dendrochronological procedures, we examined the growth patterns of all trees (>4.0 cm diameter at breast height) in four 0.25 ha mapped plots. We also sampled the seedling bank in the four plots. Age structures indicated variable but rather continuous recruitment for all species. Periods of increased amounts of release or rapid early growth occurred but were not pronounced. Overall, we found little evidence for stand-level disturbance or the formation of large gaps. All four tree species appear able to persist in the stand in the absence of major stand-level disturbance, but the m.
Ecological responses of dominant grasses along two climatic gradients in the Great Plains of the United States

Few empirical data exist to examine the influence of regional scale environmental gradients on productivity patterns of plant species. In this paper we analyzed the productivity of several dominant grass species along two climatic gradients, mean annual precipitation (MAP) and mean annual temperature (MAT), in the Great Plains of the United States. We used climatic data from 296 weather stations, species production data from Natural Resource Conservation Service rangeland surveys and a geographic information system to spatially integrate the data. Both MAP and MAT were significantly related to annual above-ground net primary production (ANPP). MAP explained 54% to 89% of the variation in ANPP of two C4 short-grasses, Bouteloua gracilis and Buchloe dactyloides, and two C4 tall-grasses, Andropogon gerardii and Schizachyrium scoparium (= Andropogon scoparius). MAT explained 19% to 41% of the variation in ANPP of two C4 grasses, B. gracilis and B. dactyloides, and 41% to 66% of the variation in ANPP of two C3 grasses, Agropyron smithii and Stipa comata. ANPP patterns for species along both gradients were described by either linear, negative exponential, logistic, normal or skewed curves. Patterns of absolute ANPP (g/m2) for species differed from those of relative ANPP (%) along the MAP gradient. Responses were similar for species with common functional characteristics (e.g. short-grasses, tall-grasses, C3, C4). Our empirical results support asymmetric responses of species to environmental gradients. Results demonstrate the importance of species attributes, type of environmental gradient and measure of species importance (relative or absolute productivity) in evaluating ecological response patterns.
Plant responses to competition and soil origin across a prairie–forest boundary

1 The distribution of different plant growth‐forms may be caused by interactions among plants. Previous studies show that prairie and forest vegetation have different competitive effects and also influence both resource availability and soil community structure. 2 I used a field experiment to distinguish between short‐term competitive effects and the long‐term effects of vegetation on soils. Soil cores were reciprocally transplanted between prairie and forest sites. Seedlings of a grass (Boutelouagracilis) and a shrub (Elaeagnuscommutata) were planted into these cores and grown with or without neighbours. 3 Soil origin did not significantly alter the survival, growth or responses to competition of either transplant species. Bouteloua and Elaeagnus growth was suppressed by neighbours to about the same extent in prairie, but only Bouteloua growth was suppressed in forest, resulting in a significant interaction between environment and competition. All except one of the interactions involving soil origin were not significant, suggesting that plant‐soil feedbacks did not modify the effects of competition or environment. 4 The results suggest that environment and competition have much larger influences on the performance of juvenile plants in the field than does soil origin. Further work is needed to determine the relative importance of resource competition and soil community effects on plant performance among species and study systems.
SOIL SEED BANK DYNAMICS IN TITHONIA DIVERSIFOLIA DOMINATED FALLOWLAND VEGETATION IN ILE-IFE AREA OF SOUTHWESTERN NIGERIA

The soil seedbank of Tithonia diversifolia, an invasive species which dominates open waste fallowland vegetation was studied. Two different roadside sites which vary in extent of open waste land were selected.The species composition of the established vegetation was assessed in the two diferent sites. Twenty top soil samples were collected at five different distances (15 cm, 30 cm, 45 cm, 60 cm, and 75 cm) inwards away from each main road in dry and rainy seasons and the seed bank composition was determined by greenhouse germination over a 6 month period. The similarity between the composition of the seed bank flora and that of the established vegetation was low. The least and the highest emerged seedlings density was recorded in the 15 metres and 75 metres respectively inwards away from the main road in both seasons. The results of the seedlings emergence is a reflection of the extent of open waste land dominated by the invasive species due to human disturbance (road construction) on both sites. Overall results suggest that the emergence of the species from the soil seed bank may be due to the impact of the invasive species Tithonia diversifolia on other plant species in the study environment.