pinecone/core-2020-05-10-deduplication huggingface dataset:
Experimental evolution reveals that sperm competition intensity selects for longer, more costly sperm

It is the differences between sperm and eggs that fundamentally underpin the differences between the sexes within reproduction. For males, it is theorized that widespread sperm competition leads to selection for investment in sperm numbers, achieved by minimizing sperm size within limited resources for spermatogenesis in the testis. Here, we empirically examine how sperm competition shapes sperm size, after more than 77 generations of experimental selection of replicate lines under either high or low sperm competition intensities in the promiscuous flour beetle Tribolium castaneum. After this experimental evolution, populations had diverged significantly in their sperm competitiveness, with sperm in ejaculates from males evolving under high sperm competition intensities gaining 20% greater paternity than sperm in ejaculates from males that had evolved under low sperm competition intensity. Males did not change their relative investment into sperm production following this experimental evolution, showing no difference in testis sizes between high and low intensity regimes. However, the more competitive males from high sperm competition intensity regimes had evolved significantly longer sperm and, across six independently selected lines, there was a significant association between the degree of divergence in sperm length and average sperm competitiveness. To determine whether such sperm elongation is costly, we used dietary restriction experiments, and revealed that protein-restricted males produced significantly shorter sperm. Our findings therefore demonstrate that sperm competition intensity can exert positive directional selection on sperm size, despite this being a costly reproductive trait
Friendly foes: the evolution of host protection by a parasite

Hosts are often infected by multiple parasite species, yet the ecological and evolutionary implications of the interactions between hosts and coinfecting parasites are largely unknown. Most theoretical models of evolution among coinfecting parasites focus on the evolution of virulence, but parasites may also evolve to protect their hosts by reducing susceptibility (i.e. conferring resistance) to other parasites or reducing the virulence of coinfecting parasites (i.e. conferring tolerance). Here, we analyse the eco-evolutionary dynamics of parasite-conferred resistance and tolerance using coinfection models. We show that both parasite-conferred resistance and tolerance can evolve for a wide range of underlying trade-offs. The shape and strength of the trade-off qualitatively affects the outcome causing shifts between the minimisation or maximisation of protection, intermediate stable strategies, evolutionary branching, and bistability. Furthermore, we find that a protected dimorphism can readily evolve for parasite-conferred resistance, but find no evidence of evolutionary branching for parasite-conferred tolerance, in general agreement with previous work on host evolution. These results provide novel insights into the evolution of parasite-conferred resistance and tolerance, and suggest clues to the underlying trade-offs in recent experimental work on microbe-mediated protection. More generally, our results highlight the context dependence of host-parasite relationships in complex communities
Divergent artificial selection for female reproductive investment has a sexually concordant effect on male reproductive success

This is the final version of the article. Available from Wiley via the DOI in this record.Depending on the genetic architecture of male and female fitness, sex-specific selection can have negative, positive, or neutral consequences for the opposite sex. Theory predicts that conflict between male and female function may drive the breakdown of intrasexual genetic correlations, allowing sexual dimorphism in sexually antagonistic traits. Reproductive traits are the epitome of this, showing highly differentiated proximate functions between the sexes. Here we use divergent artificial selection lines for female reproductive investment to test how female-specific selection on a sex-limited trait affects male reproductive success in a precocial bird, the Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica). We demonstrate that selection for increased egg investment in females positively affects male reproductive success both in competitive and non-competitive mating situations. This increased reproductive success was linked to a relatively larger left testis in males originating from lines selected for high female reproductive investment. Given that female quail have functional gonads only on their left side, this correlated response indicates that selection has acted on the shared developmental basis of male and female gonads. Our study thereby provides evidence for a positive genetic correlation between key reproductive traits in males and females despite a high degree of sexual dimorphism, and suggests that, in this system, selection on reproductive function is sexually concordant.The study was financially supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (PP00P3_128386 and PP00P3_157455 to BT and P2ZHP3_164962 to JLP)
Genomic associations with bill length and disease reveal drift and selection across island bird populations

Island species provide excellent models for investigating how selection and drift operate in wild populations, and for determining how these processes act to influence local adaptation and speciation. Here, we examine the role of selection and drift in shaping genomic and phenotypic variation across recently separated populations of Berthelot's pipit (Anthus berthelotii), a passerine bird endemic to three archipelagos in the Atlantic. We first characterized genetic diversity and population structuring that supported previous inferences of a history of recent colonizations and bottlenecks. We then tested for regions of the genome associated with the ecologically important traits of bill length and malaria infection, both of which vary substantially across populations in this species. We identified a SNP associated with variation in bill length among individuals, islands, and archipelagos; patterns of variation at this SNP suggest that both phenotypic and genotypic variation in bill length is largely shaped by founder effects. Malaria was associated with SNPs near/within genes involved in the immune response, but this relationship was not consistent among archipelagos, supporting the view that disease resistance is complex and rapidly evolving. Although we found little evidence for divergent selection at candidate loci for bill length and malaria resistance, genome scan analyses pointed to several genes related to immunity and metabolism as having important roles in divergence and adaptation. Our findings highlight the utility and challenges involved with combining association mapping and population genetic analysis in nonequilibrium populations, to disentangle the effects of drift and selection on shaping genotypes and phenotypes
Lineages evolved under stronger sexual selection show superior ability to invade conspecific competitor populations

Despite limitations on offspring production, almost all multicellular species use sex to reproduce. Sex gives rise to sexual selection, a widespread force operating through competition and choice within reproduction, however, it remains unclear whether sexual selection is beneficial for total lineage fitness, or if it acts as a constraint. Sexual selection could be a positive force because of selection on improved individual condition and purging of mutation load, summing into lineages with superior fitness. On the other hand, sexual selection could negate potential net fitness through the actions of sexual conflict, or because of tensions between investment in sexually selected and naturally selected traits. Here, we explore these ideas using a multigenerational invasion challenge to measure consequences of sexual selection for the overall net fitness of a lineage. After applying experimental evolution under strong versus weak regimes of sexual selection for 77 generations with the flour beetle Tribolium castaneum, we measured the overall ability of introductions from either regime to invade into conspecific competitor populations across eight generations. Results showed that populations from stronger sexual selection backgrounds had superior net fitness, invading more rapidly and completely than counterparts from weak sexual selection backgrounds. Despite comprising only 10% of each population at the start of the invasion experiment, colonizations from strong sexual selection histories eventually achieved neartotal introgression, almost completely eliminating the original competitor genotype. Population genetic simulations using the design and parameters of our experiment indicate that this invasion superiority could be explained if strong sexual selection had improved both juvenile and adult fitness, in both sexes. Using a combination of empirical and modeling approaches, our findings therefore reveal positive and wide-reaching impacts of sexual selection for net population fitness when facing the broad challenge of invading competitor populations across multiple generations
Community-based research on the effectiveness of the home smoke alarm in waking up children

Smoke alarms are required in many developed countries and are believed to save lives. Although\ud
smoke alarms are felt to be especially valuable for waking sleepers, it has been reported [1] that\ud
34% of fire fatalities during the sleeping period occurred despite a working smoke alarm. While\ud
some of these fatalities may have been a result of a person being intimate with the fire or their\ud
escape being blocked (and thus smoke alarms would have little or no value), some fatalities may\ud
have occurred because people had slept through their smoke alarm, or had not been awoken by\ud
their alarm quickly enough to have sufficient time to escape
Experimental studies of gypsum plasterboards and composite panels under fire conditions

Gypsum plasterboards are commonly used to protect the light gauge steel-framed walls in buildings from fires. Single or multiple plasterboards can be used for this purpose, whereas recent research has proposed a composite panel with a layer of external insulation between two plasterboards. However, a good understanding of the thermal behaviour of these plasterboard panels under fire conditions is not known. Therefore, 15 small-scale fire tests were conducted on plasterboard panels made of 13 and 16 mm plasterboards and four different types of insulations with varying thickness and density subject to standard fire conditions in AS 1530.4. Fire performance of single and multiple layers of gypsum plasterboards was assessed including the effects of interfaces between adjacent plasterboards. Effects of using external insulations such as glass fibre, rockwool and cellulose fibre were also determined. The thermal performance of composite panels developed from different insulating materials of varying densities and thicknesses was examined and compared. This paper presents the details of the fire tests conducted in this study and their valuable time–temperature data for the tested plasterboard panels. These data can be used for the purpose of developing and validating accurate thermal numerical models of these panels
Kinetic analysis of endothermic degradation of magnesium hydroxide, calcium hydroxide and calcium carbonate in the context of passive fire protection

In a fire scenario, huge amounts of heat are generated and high temperatures rapidly achieved in such a way that the integrity of structural materials becomes compromised. One of the aims of passive fire protection is the use of building materials that are able to absorb at least part of that heat and maintain the structural materials under critical temperatures for longer times in order to gain evacuation time. Gypsum panels are commonly used in building walls, but they only absorb heat at temperatures around 110 degrees C. We use three inorganic fillers, Mg(OH)(2), Ca(OH)(2) and CaCO3, which undergo endothermic transitions at high temperatures to obtain an improved panel with a richer heat-absorbing profile. With this formulation, the time to reach temperatures of the order of 500 degrees C, critical for steel and reinforced concrete, is significantly increased. In this work, we focus on the kinetics of the endothermic fillers as an essential ingredient for further spatially extended simulations that include macroscopic heat and mass transfer phenomena or sample heterogeneities. However, kinetics may be affected as well by heat transfer effects that occur at molecular levels. Copyright (c) 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version
Thermal performance of load-bearing walls made of cold-formed hollow flange channel sections in fire

Typical load-bearing LSF walls are made of conventional lipped channel section studs and gypsum plasterboards. Current research at the QUT is investigating the effects of using new thin-walled stud sections on the fire resistant rating of LSF walls, in particular the use of Hollow Flange Channel (HFC) sections. A sound knowledge on the thermal performance of these LSF walls is essential, but expensive and time consuming nature of fire tests has acted as a barrier. In this study finite element models were developed to predict the thermal performance of load bearing LSF walls made of HFC section studs exposed to fire on one side. The developed models were validated using the results of five full scale standard fire tests of LSF walls. They were then extended to perform a parametric study where the effects of stud dimensions, geometries, spacings and wall configuration were evaluated. The hot and cold flange time-temperature profiles of HFC studs were developed as a function of the above parameters, which can be used to predict the FRR of LSF walls. This paper presents the fire tests, and details of the developed finite element models and the thermal performance results of LSF walls made of HFC studs
The Piloted Transition to Flaming in Smoldering Fire Retarded and Non-Fire Retarded Polyurethane Foam

Research paper published in the journal 'Fire and Materials' in 2008The piloted transition from smoldering to flaming, though a significant fire safety\ud
concern, has not been previously extensively studied. Experimental results are\ud
presented on the piloted transition from smoldering to flaming in non-fire retarded\ud
(NFR) polyurethane foam and the fire retarded polyurethane foam Pyrell. The\ud
samples are small blocks, vertically placed in the wall of an upward wind tunnel.\ud
The free surface is exposed to an oxidizer flow and a radiant heat flux. The\ud
smolder product gases pass upwards through a pilot. The experiments on NFR\ud
foam show that the smolder velocity and peak smolder temperature, which\ud
increase with the oxygen concentration and heat flux, are strongly correlated to the\ud
transition to flaming event, in that there are minimum values of these parameters\ud
for transition to occur. The existence of a minimum smolder velocity for ignition\ud
supports the concept of a gaseous mixture reaching a lean flammability limit as the\ud
criterion for the transition to flaming. To compensate for the solid- and gas-phase\ud
effects of the fire retardants on the piloted transition in Pyrell, it was necessary to\ud
increase the oxygen concentration and the power supplied to the smolder igniter\ud
and the pilot. The piloted transition is observed in oxygen concentrations above\ud
17% in NFR foam, and above 23% in Pyrell. The results show that although Pyrell\ud
is less flammable than NFR foam, it is still susceptible to smoldering and the\ud
piloted transition to flaming in oxygen-enriched environments, which is of interest\ud
for special applications such as future space missions
Pollen morphology of Iranian species of Typha L. (Typhaceae) and its taxonomic significance

12 páginas, 6 figuras, 1 tabla.Pollen analyses of 12 Iranian species of Typha L. were conducted through light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Among the twelve studied species, we found that five species, T. caspica, T. latifolia, T. lugdunensis, T. minima and T. shuttleworthii, present pollen in tetrads, whereas the remaining seven species, T. angustifolia, T. azerbaijanensis, T. domingensis, T. grossheimii, T. kalatensis, T. laxmanii and T. tourcomanica, have pollen in monads. The exine of Typha species is mostly reticulate although a few species present perforate-microreticulate and rugulate exine. Our analyses revealed that using a combination of light microscopy and scanning eletron microscopy characters the identification of species is feasible. A diagnostic key based on palynological traits is presented for all studied taxa.We thank Dr. A. A. Maas soumi for providing herbarium vouchers from TARI and for useful comments in an earlier version of this manuscript.\ud
M. Moussavi and F. Aghbeigi for providing\ud
facilities to study IRAN specimens. M. Rahmani for assistance with SEM analysis. The study on the family Typhaceae in IRAN was partially supported by Project 105 of the Islamic Azad University, Garmsar branch, Research Council to SMM Hamdi.\ud
J. G. Segarra-Moragues was supported by an\ud
ARAID (Agencia Aragonesa para la Investigación y el Desarrollo) postdoctoral contract.Peer reviewe
Optimizing land use for the delivery of catchment ecosystem services

© The Ecological Society of America. Despite widespread implementation of best management practices, sustainable farming is neither practical nor possible in certain locations, where protecting water quality and promoting agricultural production are likely to be incompatible. Some strategic prioritization of land-use options and acceptance of continually degraded waterbodies may be required to ensure optimization of multiple ecosystem services in catchments (also known as watersheds or drainage basins). We examine approaches to prioritization and propose catchment buffering capacity as a concept to manage the pressure–impact relationship between land use and aquatic ecosystems. Catchment buffering capacity can be considered as a continuum of biogeochemical, hydrological, and ecological catchment properties that define this relationship. Here, we outline a conceptual framework to assist prioritization: (1) establish a water-quality target, (2) quantify the gap in compliance to achieve the desired target, (3) assess catchment sensitivity to change, and (4) determine the adaptive capacity of catchment communities to reach the target
Marine microplastic debris: a targeted plan for understanding and quantifying interactions with marine life

Microscopic plastic (microplastic) debris is a marine pollutant that threatens aquatic biota and ecosystems. Microplastics have been detected throughout the world's oceans; however, the relative importance of different processes that control the spatial distribution and long-term fate of microplastics in the marine environment remains largely unknown. Results from laboratory and field studies indicate that interactions between microplastic debris and marine organisms may play an important role in redistributing plastic in the oceans. We provide an overview of the various mechanisms through which marine life and microplastics can interact. By considering coupled physical–biological processes, we also identify regions where these interactions are most likely to occur, and outline a new research agenda that aims to determine their prevalence in the marine environment. We hypothesize that biological interactions are key to understanding the movement, impact, and fate of microplastics in the oceans.Funding
was provided by the Natural Environment Research
Council (grant NE/L007010)
Creating a safe operating space for wetlands in a changing climate

Many of the world’s wetlands may be profoundly affected by climate change over the coming decades.\ud
Although wetland managers may have little control over the causes of climate change, they can help to\ud
counteract\ud
its effects through local measures. This is because direct anthropogenic impacts, such as water\ud
extraction and nutrient loading, work in concert with climate change to damage wetlands. Control of these\ud
local stressors may therefore ameliorate undesired effects of climate change, such as a shift towards dominance\ud
by invasive floating plants, increasingly frequent cyanobacteria blooms, or extinction of key species.\ud
Using the iconic Doñana wetlands in Spain as a case study, we illustrate how the concept of creating a “safe\ud
operating space” may be implemented to better ensure that ecosystems do not surpass thresholds for collapse\ud
during an era of global change.WIMEK grant for a research stay at WUR. JAE DOCTORES. European Union. European Social Fund. Grant Number: ESF2007‐2013. Spanish Ministry for Economy and Competitiveness. EU FP7 project FAST. Grant Number: 607131.\ud
    European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program. Grant Number: 641762Peer reviewe
Characteristic trajectories of ecosystem services in mountains

Intensification of land use and management over recent decades has resulted in trade-offs between food or timber production and other ecosystem services (ES). Despite an increase in scholarly publications on ES, the temporal aspects of ES trade-offs have largely been neglected to date. Here we explore how past and future land-use trajectories (pathways of change) influence ES over time, using mountain landscapes as a model. Based on a synthesis of 51 cases of temporal changes in ES within mountain landscapes, we analyze how changes in land-use intensity influence the supply of ten key services and we describe six typical examples (archetypes) of ES change. Our analysis reveals that land-use intensity is an important factor shaping these archetypes. Land-use intensification often degrades ES (eg recreation and water regulation), with the exception of services targeted by intensification (food or timber) and with differences between forest and agricultural intensification. Service degradation following intensification is not always reversed by reductions in land-use intensity (termed “extensification”). (Résumé d'auteur
Conflict in invasive species management

This is the final version of the article. Available from Ecological Society of America via the DOI in this record.As invasive species management becomes more ambitious in scope and scale, projects are increasingly challenged by disputes and conflicts among people, which can produce undesirable environmental and social outcomes. Here, we examine when and how conflicts have arisen from invasive species management, and consider why some management approaches may be more prone to conflict than others. Insufficient appreciation of sociopolitical context, non-existent or perfunctory public and community engagement, and unidirectional communications can all foster “destructive” conflict. We propose that approaches to conflict in invasive species management might be transformed by anticipating disagreements, attending more carefully to the social-ecological contexts of management, adopting more inclusive engagement mechanisms, and fostering more open, responsive communication. Conflicts may be unavoidable, but they can be anticipated and need not be destructive.SLC was supported by a scholarship from the University of Exeter