bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
How did the Great Auk raise its young?
Authors: HOUSTON A. I. , WOOD J. , WILKINSON M. 
Published: August 2010

AbstractThe extant auks show three strategies of chick rearing – precocial (chicks leave the nest site when a few days old), intermediate (young raised to a mass of around 20% of adult mass) and semi‐precocial (young raised to a mass of around 65% of adult mass). It is not known which strategy the extinct Great Auk used. In this paper, we investigate this issue by a novel combination of a time and energy budget model and phylogenetic comparison. The first approach indicates that for reasonable estimates of the equation parameters, the Great Auk could have followed an intermediate strategy. For a limited range of parameters, the Great Auk could have followed the semi‐precocial strategy. Phylogenetic comparison shows that it is unlikely that the Great Auk followed a precocial strategy. The results suggest that the Great Auk followed an intermediate strategy as does its presumed closest extant relative the Razorbill.
Population differentiation in the swordtail characin (Corynopoma riisei ): a role for sensory drive?
Authors: ARNQVIST G. , KOLM N. 
Published: August 2010

AbstractSensory drive, where the efficacy of a sexual signal depends on the environment in which it is employed, is a potential mechanism behind divergent evolution of secondary sexual traits. Male swordtail characins are equipped with a narrow and transparent extension of the gill cover with a flag‐like structure at its tip. This opercular flag mimics a prey item and is employed by males as a ‘lure’ to attract the attention of females during mating attempts. We conducted a study of genetic and morphological differentiation across swordtail characin populations throughout their native range in Trinidad. The morphology of the opercular flag varied across populations and several aspects of this variation match the predicted hallmarks of sensory drive. First, morphological differentiation of the flag across populations was unrelated to genetic similarity at neutral genetic markers. Second, the shape of the flag covaried with those aspects of body shape that should reflect adaptation to different feeding regimes. Third, and most importantly, the shape of the flag covaried across populations with those environmental characteristics that should most closely reflect differences in local prey abundance. Overall, our results are consistent with a scenario where the evolution of this male sexual signal tracks food‐related shifts in female sensory biases across populations, thus providing at least provisional support for a role for sensory drive in population differentiation.
Spatial seed and pollen games: dispersal, sex allocation, and the evolution of dioecy
Authors: FROMHAGE LUTZ , KOKKO HANNA 
Published: August 2010

AbstractThe evolutionary forces shaping within‐ and across‐species variation in the investment in male and female sex function are still incompletely understood. Despite earlier suggestions that in plants the evolution or cosexuality vs. dioecy, as well as sex allocation among cosexuals, is affected by seed and pollen dispersal, no formal model has explicitly used dispersal distances to address this problem. Here, we present a game‐theory model as well as a simulation study that fills in this gap. Our model predicts that dioecy should evolve if seeds and pollen disperse widely and that sex allocation among cosexuals should be biased towards whichever sex function produces more widely dispersing units. Dispersal limitations stabilize cosexuality by reinforcing competition between spatially clumped dispersal units from the same source, leading to saturating fitness returns that render sexual specialization unprofitable. However, limited pollen dispersal can also increase the risk of selfing, thus potentially selecting for dioecy as an outbreeding mechanism. Finally, we refute a recent claim that cosexuals should always invest equally in both sex functions.
Sex‐specific selection on energy metabolism – selection coefficients for winter survival
Authors: BORATYŃSKI Z. , KOSKELA E. , MAPPES T. , OKSANEN T. A. 
Published: August 2010

AbstractSelection for different fitness optima between sexes is supposed to operate on several traits. As fitness‐related traits are often energetically costly, selection should also act directly on the energetics of individuals. However, efforts to examine the relationship between fitness and components of the energy budget are surprisingly scarce. We investigated the effects of basal metabolic rate (BMR, the minimum energy required for basic life functions) and body condition on long‐term survival (8 winter months) with manipulated densities in enclosed populations of bank voles (Myodes glareolus). Here, we show that survival selection on BMR was clearly sex‐specific but density‐independent. Both the linear selection gradient and selection differential for BMR were positive in females, whereas survival did not correlate with male characteristics. Our findings emphasize the relative importance of individual physiology over ecological factors (e.g. intra‐specific competition). Most current models of the origin of endothermy underline the importance of metabolic optima in females, whose physiology evolved to fulfil demands of parental provisioning in mammals. Our novel findings of sex‐specific selection could be related to these life history differences between sexes.
Resistance to environmental stress in Drosophila ananassae: latitudinal variation and adaptation among populations
Authors: SISODIA S. , SINGH B. N. 
Published: August 2010

AbstractGeographical variation in traits related to fitness is often the result of adaptive evolution. Stress resistance traits in Drosophila often show clinal variation, suggesting that selection affects resistance traits either directly or indirectly. Multiple stress resistance traits were investigated in 45 natural populations of Drosophila ananassae collected from all over India. There was significant positive correlation between starvation resistance and lipid content. Significant negative correlations between desiccation and lipid content and between desiccation and heat resistance were also found. Flies from lower latitudes had higher starvation resistance, heat resistance and lipid content but the pattern was reversed for desiccation resistance. These results suggest that flies from different localities varied in their susceptibility to starvation because of difference in their propensity to store body lipid. Multiple regression analysis provided evidence of climatic selection driven by latitudinal variation in the seasonal amplitude of temperature and humidity changes within the Indian. Finally, our results suggest a high degree of variation in stress resistance at the population level in D. ananassae.
SHORT COMMUNICATION: A phantom extinction? New insights into extinction dynamics of the Don‐hare Lepus tanaiticus
Authors: PROST S. , KNAPP M. , FLEMMIG J. , HUFTHAMMER A. K. , KOSINTSEV P. , STILLER M. , HOFREITER M. 
Published: August 2010

AbstractThe Pleistocene to Holocene transition was accompanied by a worldwide extinction event affecting numerous mammalian species. Several species such as the woolly mammoth and the giant deer survived this extinction wave, only to go extinct a few thousand years later during the Holocene. Another example for such a Holocene extinction is the Don‐hare, Lepus tanaiticus, which inhabited the Russian plains during the late glacial. After being slowly replaced by the extant mountain hare (Lepus timidus), it eventually went extinct during the middle Holocene. Here, we report the phylogenetic relationship of L. tanaiticus and L. timidus based on a 339‐basepair (bp) fragment of the mitochondrial D‐loop. Phylogenetic tree‐ and network reconstructions do not support L. tanaiticus and L. timidus being different species. Rather, we suggest that the two taxa represent different morphotypes of a single species and the extinction of ‘L. tanaiticus’ represents the disappearance of a local morphotype rather than the extinction of a species.
Sexual conflict in wing size and shape in Drosophila melanogaster
Authors: ABBOTT J. K. , BEDHOMME S. , CHIPPINDALE A. K. 
Published: August 2010

AbstractIntralocus sexual conflict occurs when opposing selection pressures operate on loci expressed in both sexes, constraining the evolution of sexual dimorphism and displacing one or both sexes from their optimum. We eliminated intralocus conflict in Drosophila melanogaster by limiting transmission of all major chromosomes to males, thereby allowing them to win the intersexual tug‐of‐war. Here, we show that this male‐limited (ML) evolution treatment led to the evolution (in both sexes) of masculinized wing morphology, body size, growth rate, wing loading, and allometry. In addition to more male‐like size and shape, ML evolution resulted in an increase in developmental stability for males. However, females expressing ML chromosomes were less developmentally stable, suggesting that being ontogenetically more male‐like was disruptive to development. We suggest that sexual selection over size and shape of the imago may therefore explain the persistence of substantial genetic variation in these characters and the ontogenetic processes underlying them.
Retracted: The adaptive value of gluttony: predators mediate the life history trade‐offs of satiation threshold
Authors: PRUITT J. N. , KRAUEL J. J. 
Published: August 2010

AbstractAnimals vary greatly in their tendency to consume large meals. Yet, whether or how meal size influences fitness in wild populations is infrequently considered. Using a predator exclusion, mark–recapture experiment, we estimated selection on the amount of food accepted during an ad libitum feeding bout (hereafter termed ‘satiation threshold’) in the wolf spider Schizocosa ocreata. Individually marked, size‐matched females of known satiation threshold were assigned to predator exclusion and predator inclusion treatments and tracked for a 40‐day period. We also estimated the narrow‐sense heritability of satiation threshold using dam‐on‐female‐offspring regression. In the absence of predation, high satiation threshold was positively associated with larger and faster egg case production. However, these selective advantages were lost when predators were present. We estimated the heritability of satiation threshold to be 0.56. Taken together, our results suggest that satiation threshold can respond to selection and begets a life history trade‐off in this system: high satiation threshold individuals tend to produce larger egg cases but also suffer increased susceptibility to predation.
An EST‐based genome scan using 454 sequencing in the marine snailLittorina saxatilis
Authors: GALINDO J. , GRAHAME J. W. , BUTLIN R. K. 
Published: August 2010

AbstractGenome scans have been used in the studies of ecological speciation to find genomic regions (‘outlier loci’) showing reduced gene flow between divergent populations/species. High‐throughput sequencing (‘454’) offers new opportunities in this field via transcriptome sequencing. Divergent ecotypes of the marine gastropodLittorina saxatilisrepresent a good example of incipient ecological speciation. We performed a 454‐based genome scan between H and M ecotypes ofL. saxatilisfrom the British Isles using cDNA of pooled individuals. Allele frequencies were calculated for 2454 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), within 572 contigs, and 7% of loci were detected as outliers. Functional annotation of the contigs containing outlier SNPs showed that they included shell matrix and muscle proteins (lithostathine, mucin, titin), proteins involved in energetic metabolism (arginine kinase, NADH dehydrogenase) and reverse transcriptases. Follow‐up investigations into these proteins and unannotated outliers will be a promising route in the study of ecological speciation inL. saxatilis.
Evolutionary dynamics of mating system shifts in Arabidopsis lyrata
Authors: WILLI Y. , MÄÄTTÄNEN K. 
Published: August 2010

AbstractOutcrossing is the prevalent mode of reproduction in plants and animals despite its substantial costs, while selfing and mixed mating occur at much lower frequency. Comparative research on plants has demonstrated the lability of self‐incompatibility, but there is little information about the transition on a within‐species level from self‐incompatibility to predominant selfing. We studied variation in mating system among 18 populations of Arabidopsis lyrata within a phylogenetic context to shed light on the evolution of selfing. Realized and potential mating systems were assessed by genetic analysis with microsatellite markers and hand‐self‐pollinations on 30 plants from each population. The fraction of self‐incompatible plants in a population was highly correlated with the outcrossing rate, showing that the spread of self‐compatibility is accompanied by or soon followed by an increase in the rate of selfing. The four predominantly selfing populations (outcrossing rates < 0.25) fell into more than one phylogenetic cluster, suggesting that the transition to selfing occurred more than once independently. Hence, A. lyrata offers an opportunity for the comparative analysis of outcrossing as a predominant mode of reproduction in plants and of the causes of the shift to selfing.
Selective lignin and polysaccharide removal in natural fungal decay of wood as evidenced by in situ structural analyses
Authors: Martínez Angel T. , Rencoret Jorge , Nieto Lidia , Jiménez‐Barbero Jesús , Gutiérrez Ana , del Río José C. 
Published: August 2010

SummarySelective modification/degradation of the main plant polymers (cellulose, hemicelluloses and lignin) was investigated in a hardwood after white and brown‐rot fungal decay under environmental conditions. The chemical changes produced in the plant cell wall were analysed in situ, by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) at the gel state, and analytical pyrolysis. Two‐dimensional (2D) NMR of the white‐rotted wood showed only cellulose and (deacetylated) hemicellulose, and the complete removal of lignin. On the other hand, the brown‐rotted wood showed the nearly complete absence of polysaccharides, while the main features of lignin structure, as revealed by 2D‐NMR, could be observed. These included well‐resolved aromatic and side‐chain cross‐signals, although the intensity of the latter signals was lowered indicating a reduction in the number of side‐chain linkages (β‐O‐4′ and β‐β′) per aromatic unit (their relative abundances remaining unchanged). These results contrast with a recent study concluding that the aromatic polymer after brown‐rot decay is not longer recognized as lignin. Some oxidative alteration of lignin during brown‐rot decay was evidenced and, more interesting, several compounds with 3‐methoxycatechol skeleton were released upon pyrolysis. Lignin demethylation is consistent with recent brown‐rot transcriptomic/secretomic studies showing overexpression of methanol oxidase, which could use lignin‐derived methanol to generate the peroxide required for cellulose depolymerization via Fenton chemistry.
Characteristics of adolescent excessive drinkers compared with consumers and abstainers
Authors: TOMCIKOVA ZUZANA , MADARASOVA GECKOVA ANDREA , VAN DIJK JITSE P. , REIJNEVELD SIJMEN A. 
Published: August 2010

Abstract
Introduction and Aims. This study aimed at comparing adolescent abstainers, consumers and excessive drinkers in terms of family characteristics (structure of family, socioeconomic factors), perceived social support, personality characteristics (extraversion, self‐esteem, aggression) and well‐being. Design and Methods. Cross‐sectional data were obtained from 3694 elementary school students in the 8th and 9th grades from several cities in Slovakia (mean age 14.5, 49.0% men; response rate 93%). Respondents completed questions on the use of alcohol and on family structure (parental divorce), the socioeconomic position of the family (parents' education and family affluence), perceived social support, extraversion, self‐esteem, aggression and psychological well‐being. They were split into three groups based on the pattern of alcohol use—abstainers, consumers and excessive drinkers (i.e. being drunk at least once during the past 4 weeks). Results. The results showed significant differences between abstainers, consumers and excessive drinkers in almost every characteristic explored. A risky pattern of alcohol consumption occurs more frequently among adolescents who have divorced parents, higher socioeconomic position, higher scores for perceived social support from friends, extraversion, negative self‐esteem and aggression, and lower scores for social support from family and for well‐being. Discussion and Conclusions. A risky pattern of alcohol consumption is more likely among relatively easily identifiable groups of adolescents from high socioeconomic position and divorced families. Their personalities and social networks have characteristics that could be accommodated in preventive interventions as well.[Tomcikova Z, Madarasova Geckova A, van Dijk JP, Reijneveld SA. Characteristics of adolescent excessive drinkers compared with consumers and abstainers. Drug Alcohol Rev 2010]
1H and 31P NMR Lipidome of Ethanol‐Induced Fatty Liver
Authors: Fernando Harshica , Kondraganti Shakuntala , Bhopale Kamlesh K. , Volk David E. , Neerathilingam Muniasamy , Kaphalia Bhupendra S. , Luxon Bruce A. , Boor Paul J. , Shakeel Ansari G.A. 
Published: August 2010

Background:  Hepatic steatosis (fatty liver), an early and reversible stage of alcoholic liver disease, is characterized by triglyceride deposition in hepatocytes, which can advance to steatohepatitis, fibrosis, cirrhosis, and ultimately to hepatocellular carcinoma. In the present work, we studied altered plasma and hepatic lipid metabolome (lipidome) to understand the mechanisms and lipid pattern of early‐stage alcohol‐induced‐fatty liver.Methods:  Male Fischer 344 rats were fed 5% alcohol in a Lieber‐DeCarli diet. Control rats were pair‐fed an equivalent amount of maltose‐dextrin. After 1 month, animals were killed and plasma collected. Livers were excised for morphological, immunohistochemical, and biochemical studies. The lipids from plasma and livers were extracted with methyl‐tert‐butyl ether and analyzed by 750/800 MHz proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR) and phosphorus (31P) NMR spectroscopy on a 600 MHz spectrometer. The NMR data were then subjected to multivariate statistical analysis.Results:  Hematoxylin and Eosin and Oil Red O stained liver sections showed significant fatty infiltration. Immunohistochemical analysis of liver sections from ethanol‐fed rats showed no inflammation (absence of CD3 positive cells) or oxidative stress (absence of malondialdehyde reactivity or 4‐hydroxynonenal positive staining). Cluster analysis and principal component analysis of 1H NMR data of lipid extracts of both plasma and livers showed a significant difference in the lipid metabolome of ethanol‐fed versus control rats. 31P NMR data of liver lipid extracts showed significant changes in phospholipids similar to 1H NMR data. 1H NMR data of plasma and liver reflected several changes, while comparison of 1H NMR and 31P NMR data offered a correlation among the phospholipids.Conclusions:  Our results show that alcohol consumption alters metabolism of cholesterol, triglycerides, and phospholipids that could contribute to the development of fatty liver. These studies also indicate that fatty liver precedes oxidative stress and inflammation. The similarities observed in plasma and liver lipid profiles offer a potential methodology for detecting early‐stage alcohol‐induced fatty liver disease by analyzing the plasma lipid profile.
Urban Mining in Times of Raw Material Shortage
Authors: Klinglmair Manfred , Fellner Johann 
Published: August 2010

SummaryThe present article investigates to what extent and level of success urban mining—the recovery of resources from anthropogenic stock—has been applied in the past during shortages of primary resources. As a case study, the Austrian economy during World War I—when raw materials indeed had to be substituted from secondary sources—is analyzed here.By means of material flow analysis, the management of copper, an important and relatively scarce metal that is difficult to substitute, is examined. The combination of increased demand for copper (for ammunition) and constraints on supply from sources other than the domestic anthroposphere highlights the importance of planning for and surveying urban mining activities. The results also indicate limitations to extracting a large share of copper from the anthroposphere, even in the face of a critical shortage. Although extreme measures, such as confiscation, were taken, only 1.7 kilograms of copper per capita (kg Cu/cap), amounting to perhaps as little as 10% of the anthropogenic stock, could be made available through the end of the war.
The Secondary Market for Life Insurance in the United Kingdom, Germany, and the United States: Comparison and Overview
Authors: Gatzert Nadine 
Published: August 2010

AbstractIn this article, we identify key characteristics and implications of the secondary market for life insurance. We examine the oldest secondary market, which is the market in the United Kingdom, the relatively young market in Germany, and the controversial U.S. market. We summarize the available data to describe the current market situation and market potential, which strongly depend on developments in the primary markets and capital markets, as well as on regulatory and legal aspects. Next, we discuss benefits and risks associated with a secondary market, which depend on each market's unique features. The three markets considered in this article are fundamentally different, and the comparative assessment is intended to offer insight into their functioning and key factors.
Longer survival associated with HLA‐A*03, B*14 among 212 hemochromatosis probands with HFE C282Y homozygosity and HLA‐A and ‐B typing and haplotyping1
Authors: Barton James C. , Clayborn Barton J. , Acton Ronald T. 
Published: August 2010

AbstractBackground:  Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) haplotypes may influence iron phenotypes in patients with HFE hemochromatosis and could affect survival.Methods:  We tabulated general characteristics of HLA‐A and ‐B types and haplotypes of HFE C282Y/C282Y probands diagnosed in medical care and analyzed these data to identify HLA survival modifiers.Results:  There were 212 probands (130 men, 82 women). Mean follow‐up was 12.0 ± 6.4 yr (0.1–41.2 yr; 34 deaths). HLA‐A*03 was more prevalent in men (76.9% vs. 61.0% women; P = 0.0129); 35.4% of men and 29.3% of women had A*03, B*07; and 7.7% of men and 8.5% of women had A*03, B*14. Twenty‐three probands had cirrhosis; none had A*03, B*14. Positivity for A*03 or A*03, B*07 was not a significant predictor or modifier of survival. In multiple regression analyses, A*03, B*14 predicted longer survival (P = 0.0004). Kaplan–Meier analysis confirmed longer survival in probands with A*03, B*14 (P = 0.0199, log‐rank test). After excluding the 23 non‐A*03, B*14 probands with cirrhosis, survival of probands with A*03, B*14 was still greater than that of probands without A*03, B*14 (P = 0.0254; log‐rank test). Twenty‐four years after diagnosis, cumulative survival of probands with and without A*03, B*14 was 100% and 58%, respectively. The percentage of deaths due to iron overload was lower in probands with A*03, B*14 (0% vs. 21.9%; P = 0.0392).Conclusions:  In hemochromatosis probands with HFE C282Y/C282Y, survival was longer in those with HLA‐A*03, B*14. Earlier age at diagnosis and less severe iron overload in probands with A*03, B*14 could explain this difference.