Download or read book Evaluating a Predator Induced Phenotype in a Mixed Species Context written by Ellie Anne Baker and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page 49 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Phenotypic plasticity, a single genotype producing multiple phenotypes in response to environmental change, is crucical to our understanding ecological and evolutionary processes. Adaptive plasticity describes phenotypic response wherein a subsequent fitness benefit is conferred to the plastic individual. Predator-induced plasticity is a well-studied form of adaptive plasticity. For instance, numerous tadpole species exposed to aquatic predators produce more muscular and brightly colored tail fins, which have been shown to improve survival chances in subsequent predator encounters compared to noninduced individuals. However, predator-induced phenotypes can be costly when expressed in a non-lethal environment. Current understanding of the relative costs and adaptive benefits of predator-induced plasticity is based on intraspecific comparisons. However, multiple species differing in their plastic abilities often co-occur and interact with one another in nature. Few studies have evaluated whether the adaptive benefits and relative costs of predator-induced plasticity are retained in multi-species assemblages (a more ecologically-relevant setting). We conducted a two-phased experiment to evaluate the adaptive value and relative costs of a predator-induced phenotype in tadpoles of the Pine Woods Treefrog, Hyla femoralis, in the presence and absence of a congeneric species, the Squirrel Treefrog (Hyla squirella). Hyla femoralis and H. squirella share ecological settings and close evolutionary ties, yet larval H. squirella does not exhibit the same phenotypic response (changes in body/tail morphology) to predation risk as larval H. femoralis does. In Phase I (Induction), single-species assemblages were assigned to one of two predator-exposure (induction) treatments: a non-lethal treatment with a caged dragonfly nymph or a control with no predator. After four weeks, H. femoralis tadpoles from both induction treatments were photographed for morphometric analysis to quantify any plastic responses ( change in morphology) to perceived predation risk. We found that larval H. femoralis morphology significantly differed between induced and noninduced populations. In Phase II (Predation Trials), tadpoles from single (H. femoralis only) and mixed-species assemblages (H. femoralis and H. squirella) were exposed to one of two predation treatments: a lethal, free-swimming predator treatment or a no-predator control. Periodic survival estimates were determined for both assemblages in lethal treatments to quantify possible survival advantages conferred by the inducible phenotype in larval H. femoralis. Growth metrics (size at emergence) and a development metric (time to emergence) were collected for both assemblages in control treatments to quantify possible costs associated with induced plasticity. Survival data supports that the adaptive advantage of increased survival in induced H. femoralis tadpoles is retained in mixed-species assemblages. Size at emergence in larval H. femoralis was not affected by induction treatment or assemblage type. Conversely, time-to emergence was significantly impacted by induction treatment. Induced H. femoralis tadpoles in both single and mixed-species assemblages took longer to reach metamorphosis, indicating predators likely have a stronger effect on developmental timelines than the presence of another tadpole species. This study aims to contribute revelatory insights into the ecology and maintenance of adaptive plasticity in natural, complex community systems.
Download or read book Ecology and Evolution of Livebearing Fishes Poeciliidae written by Gary K. Meffe and published by . This book was released on 1989 with total page 488 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Eco evolutionary Dynamics written by Andrew P. Hendry and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2020-06-09 with total page 410 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In recent years, scientists have realized that evolution can occur on timescales much shorter than the 'long lapse of ages' emphasized by Darwin - in fact, evolutionary change is occurring all around us all the time. This work provides an authoritative and accessible introduction to eco-evolutionary dynamics, a cutting-edge new field that seeks to unify evolution and ecology into a common conceptual framework focusing on rapid and dynamic environmental and evolutionary change.
Download or read book Chemical Ecology in Aquatic Systems written by Christer Brönmark and published by . This book was released on 2012-03 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: However, our knowledge of this "chemical network" is still negligible.
Download or read book The Ecology and Evolution of Inducible Defenses written by Ralph Tollrian and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 1999-01-17 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Inducible defenses--those often dramatic phenotypic shifts in prey activated by biological agents ranging from predators to pathogens--are widespread in the natural world. Yet research on the inducible defenses used by vertebrates, invertebrates, and plants in terrestrial, marine, and freshwater habitats has largely developed along independent lines. Tollrian and Harvell bring together leading researchers from all fields to review common themes and explore emerging ideas. Contributors examine organisms as different as unicellular algae and higher vertebrates, and consider defenses ranging from immune systems to protective changes in morphology, behavior, chemistry, and life history.
Download or read book Phenotypic Switching written by Herbert Levine and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2020-06-10 with total page 773 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Phenotypic Switching: Implications in Biology and Medicine provides a comprehensive examination of phenotypic switching across biological systems, including underlying mechanisms, evolutionary significance, and its role in biomedical science. Contributions from international leaders discuss conceptual and theoretical aspects of phenotypic plasticity, its influence over biological development, differentiation, biodiversity, and potential applications in cancer therapy, regenerative medicine and stem cell therapy, among other treatments. Chapters discuss fundamental mechanisms of phenotypic switching, including transition states, cell fate decisions, epigenetic factors, stochasticity, protein-based inheritance, specific areas of human development and disease relevance, phenotypic plasticity in melanoma, prostate cancer, breast cancer, non-genetic heterogeneity in cancer, hepatitis C, and more. This book is essential for active researchers, basic and translational scientists, clinicians, postgraduates and students in genetics, human genomics, pathology, bioinformatics, developmental biology, evolutionary biology and adaptive opportunities in yeast. - Thoroughly addresses the conceptual, experimental and translational aspects that underlie phenotypic plasticity - Emphasizes quantitative approaches, nonlinear dynamics, mechanistic insights and key methodologies to advance phenotypic plasticity studies - Features a diverse range of chapter contributions from international leaders in the field
Download or read book Eco Evolutionary Dynamics written by and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2014-08-12 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The theme of this volume is to discuss Eco-evolutionary Dynamics. - Updates and informs the reader on the latest research findings - Written by leading experts in the field - Highlights areas for future investigation
Download or read book Invasive Species in Forests and Rangelands of the United States written by Therese M. Poland and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-02-01 with total page 455 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This open access book describes the serious threat of invasive species to native ecosystems. Invasive species have caused and will continue to cause enormous ecological and economic damage with ever increasing world trade. This multi-disciplinary book, written by over 100 national experts, presents the latest research on a wide range of natural science and social science fields that explore the ecology, impacts, and practical tools for management of invasive species. It covers species of all taxonomic groups from insects and pathogens, to plants, vertebrates, and aquatic organisms that impact a diversity of habitats in forests, rangelands and grasslands of the United States. It is well-illustrated, provides summaries of the most important invasive species and issues impacting all regions of the country, and includes a comprehensive primary reference list for each topic. This scientific synthesis provides the cultural, economic, scientific and social context for addressing environmental challenges posed by invasive species and will be a valuable resource for scholars, policy makers, natural resource managers and practitioners.
Download or read book Escaping From Predators written by William E. Cooper, Jr and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2015-05-28 with total page 459 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When a predator attacks, prey are faced with a series of 'if', 'when' and 'how' escape decisions – these critical questions are the foci of this book. Cooper and Blumstein bring together a balance of theory and empirical research to summarise over fifty years of scattered research and benchmark current thinking in the rapidly expanding literature on the behavioural ecology of escaping. The book consolidates current and new behaviour models with taxonomically divided empirical chapters that demonstrate the application of escape theory to different groups. The chapters integrate behaviour with physiology, genetics and evolution to lead the reader through the complex decisions faced by prey during a predator attack, examining how these decisions interact with life history and individual variation. The chapter on best practice field methodology and the ideas for future research presented throughout, ensure this volume is practical as well as informative.
Download or read book In the Wrong Place Alien Marine Crustaceans Distribution Biology and Impacts written by Bella S. Galil and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2011-04-01 with total page 714 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In The Wrong Place: Alien Marine Crustaceans - Distribution, Biology And Impacts provides a unique view into the remarkable story of how shrimps, crabs, and lobsters – and their many relatives – have been distributed around the world by human activity, and the profound implications of this global reorganization of biodiversity for marine conservation biology. Many crustaceans form the base of marine food chains, and are often prominent predators and competitors acting as ecological engineers in marine ecosystems. Commencing in the 1800s global commerce began to move hundreds – perhaps thousands – of species of marine crustaceans across oceans and between continents, both intentionally and unintentionally. This book tells the story of these invasions from Arctic waters to tropical shores, highlighting not only the importance and impact of all prominent crustacean invasions in the world's oceans, but also the commercial exploitation of invasive crabs and shrimps. Topics explored for the first time in one volume include the historical roots of man's impact on crustacean biogeography, the global dispersal of crabs, barnacle invasions, insights into the potential scale of tropical invasions, the history of the world's most widely cultured shrimp, the invasive history and management of red king crabs in Norway, Chinese mitten crabs in England, and American blue crabs in Europe, the evolutionary ecology of green crabs, and many other subjects as well, touching upon all ocean shores.
Download or read book Noninvasive Survey Methods for Carnivores written by Robert A. Long and published by Island Press. This book was released on 2012-09-26 with total page 399 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The status of many carnivore populations is of growing concern to scientists and conservationists, making the need for data pertaining to carnivore distribution, abundance, and habitat use ever more pressing. Recent developments in “noninvasive” research techniques—those that minimize disturbance to the animal being studied—have resulted in a greatly expanded toolbox for the wildlife practitioner. Presented in a straightforward and readable style, Noninvasive Survey Methods for Carnivores is a comprehensive guide for wildlife researchers who seek to conduct carnivore surveys using the most up-to-date scientific approaches. Twenty-five experts from throughout North America discuss strategies for implementing surveys across a broad range of habitats, providing input on survey design, sample collection, DNA and endocrine analyses, and data analysis. Photographs from the field, line drawings, and detailed case studies further illustrate on-the-ground application of the survey methods discussed. Coupled with cutting-edge laboratory and statistical techniques, which are also described in the book, noninvasive survey methods are effi cient and effective tools for sampling carnivore populations. Noninvasive Survey Methods for Carnivores allows practitioners to carefully evaluate a diversity of detection methods and to develop protocols specific to their survey objectives, study area, and species of interest. It is an essential resource for anyone interested in the study of carnivores, from scientists engaged in primary research to agencies or organizations requiring carnivore detection data to develop management or conservation plans.
Download or read book Host Manipulation by Parasites written by David P. Hughes and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2012-06-07 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Parasites that manipulate the behaviour of their hosts represent striking examples of adaptation by natural selection. This text provides an authoritative review of host manipulation by parasites that assesses developments in the field and lays out a framework for future research.
Download or read book Evolution s Wedge written by David Pfennig and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2012-10-25 with total page 319 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Evolutionary biology has long sought to explain how new traits and new species arise. Darwin maintained that competition is key to understanding this biodiversity and held that selection acting to minimize competition causes competitors to become increasingly different, thereby promoting new traits and new species. Despite Darwin’s emphasis, competition’s role in diversification remains controversial and largely underappreciated. In their synthetic and provocative book, evolutionary ecologists David and Karin Pfennig explore competition's role in generating and maintaining biodiversity. The authors discuss how selection can lessen resource competition or costly reproductive interactions by promoting trait evolution through a process known as character displacement. They further describe character displacement’s underlying genetic and developmental mechanisms. The authors then consider character displacement’s myriad downstream effects, ranging from shaping ecological communities to promoting new traits and new species and even fueling large-scale evolutionary trends. Drawing on numerous studies from natural populations, and written for a broad audience, Evolution’s Wedge seeks to inspire future research into character displacement’s many implications for ecology and evolution.
Download or read book Ecology Systematics and the Natural History of Predaceous Diving Beetles Coleoptera Dytiscidae written by Donald A. Yee and published by Springer. This book was released on 2014-07-14 with total page 484 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Predaceous diving beetles (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae) constitute one of the largest families of freshwater insects (~ 4,200 species). Although dytiscid adults and larvae are ubiquitous throughout a variety of aquatic habitats and are significant predators on other aquatic invertebrates and vertebrates, there are no compilations that have focused on summarizing the knowledge of their ecology, systematics, and biology. Such knowledge would benefit anyone working in aquatic systems where dytiscids are an important part of the food web. Moreover, this work will allow a greater appreciation of dytiscids as model organisms for investigations of fundamental principles derived from ecological and evolutionary theory. Contributed chapters are by authors who are actively engaged in studying dytiscids and each chapter offers a synthesis of the current knowledge of a variety of topics and will provide future directions for research.
Download or read book Cephalopod Behaviour written by Roger T. Hanlon and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2018-03-22 with total page 383 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A fully updated overview of the causation, function, development and evolution of cephalopod behaviour, richly illustrated in full colour.
Download or read book Individual Development and Evolution written by Gilbert Gottlieb and published by Psychology Press. This book was released on 2001-09-01 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work is intended to portray the interrelationship of heredity, individual development, and the evolution of species in a way that can be understood by nonspecialists. In striving to offer a straightforward historical exposition of the complex topic of nature and nurture, the author tells the story through a central cast of characters beginning with Lamarck in 1809 and ending with a synthesis of his own that depicts how extragenetic behavioral changes in individual development could be the first stages in the pathway leading to evolutionary change. On the way to that goal, he describes relevant conceptual aspects of genetics, embryological development, and evolutionary biology in a nontechnical and accurate way for students and colleagues in the behavioral and social sciences. The book presents a highly selected review as a prelude to the description of a developmental theory of the phenotype in which behavioral change leads eventually to evolutionary change. This book grew out of an invited interdisciplinary course of lectures for advanced undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Presenting the various ways about thinking about heredity, individual development, and evolution, the author had three goals in mind: *to establish the relevance of individual development to the evolution of species; *to describe the most appropriate way to think about or conceptualize heredity in relation to individual development; *to show that this somewhat unorthodox manner of conceptualizing heredity and individual development gives rise to a new way to think about the behavioral pathway leading to evolution. In conclusion, the present work will provide a contribution toward the possible dissolution of the nature-nurture dichotomy, as well as a contribution to evolutionary theory.
Download or read book Recognition and Alleviation of Distress in Laboratory Animals written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2008-04-10 with total page 137 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Scientific advances in our understanding of animal physiology and behavior often require theories to be revised and standards of practice to be updated to improve laboratory animal welfare. This new book from the Institute for Laboratory Animal Research (ILAR) at the National Research Council, Recognition and Alleviation of Distress in Laboratory Animals, focuses on the stress and distress which is experienced by animals when used in laboratory research. This book aims to educate laboratory animal veterinarians; students, researchers, and investigators; animal care staff, as well as animal welfare officers on the current scientific and ethical issues associated with stress and distress in laboratory animals. It evaluates pertinent scientific literature to generate practical and pragmatic guidelines. Recognition and Alleviation of Distress in Laboratory Animals focuses specifically on the scientific understanding of the causes and the functions of stress and distress, the transformation of stress to distress, and the identification of principles for the recognition and alleviation of distress. This book discusses the role of humane endpoints in situations of distress and principles for the minimization of distress in laboratory animals. It also identifies areas in which further scientific investigation is needed to improve laboratory animal welfare in order to adhere to scientific and ethical principles that promote humane care and practice.
