Single Generation (single + generation)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Genetic Effects of Multiple Generations of Supportive Breeding

CONSERVATION BIOLOGY, Issue 6 2001
Jinliang Wang
This procedure is intended to increase population size without introducing exogenous genes into the managed population. Previous work examining the genetic effects of a single generation of supportive breeding has shown that although a successful program increases the census population size, it may reduce the genetically effective population size and thereby induce excessive inbreeding and loss of genetic variation. We expand and generalize previous analyses of supportive breeding and consider the effects of multiple generations of supportive breeding on rates of inbreeding and genetic drift. We derived recurrence equations for the inbreeding coefficient and coancestry, and thereby equations for inbreeding and variance effective sizes, under three models for selecting captive breeders: at random, preferentially among those born in captivity, and preferentially among those born in the wild. Numerical examples indicate that supportive breeding, when carried out successfully over multiple generations, may increase not only the census but also the effective size of the supported population as a whole. If supportive breeding does not result in a substantial and continuous increase of the census size of the breeding population, however, it might be genetically harmful because of elevated rates of inbreeding and genetic drift. Resumen: La práctica de apoyar poblaciones silvestres débiles mediante la captura de una fracción de los individuos silvestres, su cautiverio para la reproducción y la liberación a su descendencia en habitas naturales para que convivan con organismos silvestres se conoce como reproducción de apoyo y se ha empleado ampliamente en la biología de la conservación y en el manejo de pesca y vida silvestre. Este procedimiento tiene la intención de incrementar el tamaño de la población sin introducir genes exógenos en la población bajo manejo. Trabajos previos sobre los efectos genéticos de una sola generación de reproducción de apoyo muestran que, aunque un programa exitoso incrementa el tamaño poblacional, puede reducir la población genéticamente efectivae inducir así un exceso de consanguinidad y pérdida de variación genética. Expandimos y generalizamos análisis previos de la reproducción de apoyo y consideramos los efectos de múltiples generaciones de reproducción de soporte en las tasas de consanguinidad y de deriva génica. Derivamos ecuaciones de recurrencia para el coeficiente de consanguinidad y de coancestría, y por tanto ecuaciones de tamaños efectivos de consanguinidad y de varianza, para tres modelos de selección de reproductores en cautiverio : aleatoria, preferentemente entre los nacidos en cautiverio y preferentemente entre los nacidos en libertad. Los ejemplos numéricos indican que la reproducción de apoyo, cuando es exitosa en múltiples generaciones, puede ser favorable para el incremento no solo del tamaño, sino del tamaño efectivo de la población soportada en su conjunto. Sin embargo, si la reproducción de soporte no resulta en un incremento sustancial y continuo del tamaño de la población, puede ser genéticamente dañina debido a las altas tasas de consanguinidad y de deriva genética. [source]


Risk assessment for nonindigenous pests: 1.

DIVERSITY AND DISTRIBUTIONS, Issue 5 2001
Mapping the outputs of phenology models to assess the likelihood of establishment
Abstract This paper demonstrates the use of phenology models mapped over the landscape as a tool in support of risk assessments for nonindigenous plant pests. Drawing on the relationship between pest development and temperature, the approach uses gridded sequential interpolated temperatures at a resolution of 1 km, linked with phenology models, to predict the potential for a pest to develop throughout the landscape. The potential for establishment of Colorado beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata) in England and Wales was used as an illustration. The likelihood of the pest completing a single generation during a 30-year period (1961,90) was computed. Summaries of phenology, based firstly upon point temperature series from weather stations and secondly upon temperatures interpolated across the landscape, were compared. The results revealed that the use of point data led to a 70% likelihood of over-estimating the area at risk from year to year. In the case of average long-term risk however, the point-based and landscape-wide distributions of establishment potential were similar. We demonstrate how the use of phenology models running on a daily time scale provides date based results, so allowing outputs to be tied in with periods in the cropping cycle. The application of daily data in computing the phenological results, unlike the main body of published work on pest risk assessment which uses averaged monthly data, reflects more fully the underlying variability and degrees of sensitivity of the pest to changes in weather. [source]


Risk assessment for nonindigenous pests: 2.

DIVERSITY AND DISTRIBUTIONS, Issue 5 2001
Accounting for interyear climate variability
Abstract The paper firstly discusses the importance of accounting for interyear variability when assessing the likelihood of establishment of an alien pest. The potential establishment of Colorado beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata) is used as an illustration within the geographical context of England and Wales. An aggregate risk index is introduced as a probabilistic representation of the likelihood that a pest might complete a single generation over a 30-year period (1961,90). Data for individual years were used to compute, objectively, the interyear distribution of risk across the landscape. The standard deviation in area at risk (26 800 km2) was high relative to the average proportion of the landscape potentially at risk (95 700 km2). In 40% of years, the area at risk was estimated to be higher than ,average'. Secondly, the paper demonstrates multiple indices of risk that reflect different aspects of pest risk assessment. Viewing risk from a variety of perspectives provides a means of gauging the consistency and therefore reliability of the results. This contrasts with current practice, where a single mapped output is commonly presented to decision makers. Modelling using a daily time step allowed the use of indices to investigate the long-term probabilities of biotic and abiotic events of short duration. These indices include estimates of pest activity and flight potential. [source]


Response of multiple generations of beet armyworm, Spodoptera exigua (Hübner), feeding on transgenic Bt cotton

JOURNAL OF APPLIED ENTOMOLOGY, Issue 2 2009
G. Wu
Abstract Development, reproduction and food utilization of three successive generations of beet armyworm, Spodoptera exigua (Hübner), fed on transgenic and non-transgenic Bt cotton were examined. Significantly longer larval life-span and lower pupal weight were observed in three successive generations of S. exigua fed on transgenic Bt cotton compared with non-transgenic Bt cotton. Significantly higher survival rate and adult fecundity of S. exigua were found in three successive generations of S. exigua fed on transgenic Bt cotton compared with non-transgenic Bt cotton. The survival rate and adult fecundity of S. exigua were occurred significant increase in the third generation compared with the first generation after feeding on transgenic Bt cotton. Significantly lower consumption, frass and relative growth rate (RGR) were observed in three successive generations of S. exigua fed on transgenic Bt cotton compared with non-transgenic Bt cotton. Cotton variety significantly affected all indices of larval consumption and utilization in three successive generations of S. exigua, except for efficiency of conversion of ingested food. However, beet armyworm generation only significantly affected RGR of S. exigua. The results of this study indicated food quality on the diet-utilization efficiency of S. exigua was different along with beet armyworm generation. Measuring multigenerational development and food utilization of S. exigua at individual and population level in response to Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) can provide a more meaningful evaluation of long-term population dynamics than experiments on a single generation. It is imperative to develop an appropriate multigenerational pest management tactic to monitor the field population dynamics of non-target pests (e.g., beet armyworm) in agricultural Bt cotton ecosystem. [source]


Moving to suburbia: ontogenetic and evolutionary consequences of life on predator-free islands

JOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY, Issue 5-6 2002
Daniel T. Blumstein
Aim Many species find themselves isolated from the predators with which they evolved. This situation commonly occurs with island biota, and is similar to moving from the dangerous inner-city to the suburbs. Economic thinking tells us that we should expect costly antipredator behaviour to be lost if it is no longer beneficial. The loss of antipredator behaviour has important consequences for those seeking to translocate or reintroduce individuals from predator-free islands back to the predator-rich mainland, but we have neither a detailed understanding of the mechanisms of loss nor information on the time course of relaxed selection. Some antipredator behaviours are experience-dependent: experience with predators is required for their proper performance. In these cases, antipredator behaviour is lost after only a single generation of isolation, but it should be able to be regained following exposure to predators. Other behaviours may be more `hard-wired'. The evolutionary loss of antipredator behaviour may occur over as few as several generations, but behaviours may also persist for many thousands of years of predator-free living. Location Australia and New Zealand. Methods I discuss the results of a series of studies designed to document the mechanisms and time course of relaxed selection for antipredator behaviour in macropodid marsupials. Controlled studies of visual, acoustic and olfactory predator recognition, as well as field studies of antipredator vigilance focused on several species of kangaroos and wallabies. Results Visual predator recognition may be retained following 9500 years of relaxed selection, but olfactory and acoustic predator recognition may have to be learned. Insular populations allow humans to approach closer before fleeing than mainland animals. Insular species may retain `group size effects' , the ability to seek safety in numbers , when they are exposed to any predators. Main conclusions I suggest that the presence of any predators may be an important factor in maintaining functional antipredator behaviour. Managers should pay particular attention as to the source and evolutionary history of their population when planning translocations or reintroductions. [source]


Dispersal of the emerald ash borer, Agrilus planipennis, in newly-colonized sites

AGRICULTURAL AND FOREST ENTOMOLOGY, Issue 4 2009
Rodrigo J. Mercader
Abstract 1Emerald ash borer Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) is an invasive forest insect pest threatening more than 8 billion ash (Fraxinus spp.) trees in North America. Development of effective survey methods and strategies to slow the spread of A. planipennis requires an understanding of dispersal, particularly in recently established satellite populations. 2We assessed the dispersal of A. planipennis beetles over a single generation at two sites by intensively sampling ash trees at known distances from infested ash logs, the point source of the infestations. Larval density was recorded from more than 100 trees at each site. 3Density of A. planipennis larvae by distance for one site was fit to the Ricker function, inverse power function, and the negative exponential function using a maximum likelihood approach. The prediction of the best model, a negative exponential function, was compared with the results from both sites. 4The present study demonstrates that larval densities rapidly declined with distance, and that most larvae (88.9 and 90.3%) were on trees within 100 m of the emergence point of the adults at each site. The larval distribution pattern observed at both sites was adequately described by the negative exponential function. [source]


Feedback under the microscope , I. Thermodynamic structure and AGN-driven shocks in M87

MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY, Issue 4 2010
E. T. Million
ABSTRACT We present the first in a series of papers discussing the thermodynamic properties of M87 and the central regions of the Virgo Cluster in unprecedented detail. Using a deep Chandra exposure (574 ks), we present high-resolution thermodynamic maps created from the spectra of ,16 000 independent regions, each with ,1000 net counts. The excellent spatial resolution of the thermodynamic maps reveals the dramatic and complex temperature, pressure, entropy and metallicity structure of the system. The ,X-ray arms', driven outwards from M87 by the central active galactic nuclei (AGN), are prominent in the brightness, temperature and entropy maps. Excluding the ,X-ray arms', the diffuse cluster gas at a given radius is strikingly isothermal. This suggests either that the ambient cluster gas, beyond the arms, remains relatively undisturbed by AGN uplift or that conduction in the intracluster medium (ICM) is efficient along azimuthal directions, as expected under action of the heat-flux-driven buoyancy instability (HBI). We confirm the presence of a thick (,40 arcsec or ,3 kpc) ring of high-pressure gas at a radius of ,180 arcsec (,14 kpc) from the central AGN. We verify that this feature is associated with a classical shock front, with an average Mach number M= 1.25. Another, younger shock-like feature is observed at a radius of ,40 arcsec (,3 kpc) surrounding the central AGN, with an estimated Mach number M, 1.2. As shown previously, if repeated shocks occur every ,10 Myr, as suggested by these observations, then AGN-driven weak shocks could produce enough energy to offset radiative cooling of the ICM. A high significance enhancement of Fe abundance is observed at radii 350,400 arcsec (27,31 kpc). This ridge is likely formed in the wake of the rising bubbles filled with radio-emitting plasma that drag cool, metal-rich gas out of the central galaxy. We estimate that at least ,1.0 × 106 solar masses of Fe has been lifted and deposited at a radius of 350,400 arcsec; approximately the same mass of Fe is measured in the X-ray bright arms, suggesting that a single generation of buoyant radio bubbles may be responsible for the observed Fe excess at 350,400 arcsec. [source]


Linkage disequilibrium and natural selection for mimicry in the Batesian mimic Hypolimnas misippus (L.) (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) in the Afrotropics

BIOLOGICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY, Issue 1 2010
IAN J. GORDON
On two occasions, on opposite sides of the African continent (Cape Coast, Ghana, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania), high adult population densities in the polymorphic butterfly Hypolimnas misippus (a presumed mimic of Danaus chrysippus) were followed by linkage disequilibrium in combinations of fore- and hindwing colour patterns. On both occasions, disequilibrium was caused by significant changes in morph frequencies favouring rarer and more mimetic forms. Recaptures were too few for analysis at Dar, although the changes there took place within a single generation and must have been the result of differential survival. Recapture rate data and survival rate estimates at Cape Coast support the hypothesis that selective predation was responsible, as does the observation of synchronous linkage disequilibrium at Dar in the model D. chrysippus, indicating parasitic mimicry. There was clear selection for the perfection of mimicry for forewings at Dar and for hindwings at Cape Coast. Disequilibrium is also reported for two other sites, Legon (Ghana) and Boksburg (South Africa) and, in all four sites, it was associated with an increase in the most mimetic forms. New chemical evidence is presented to support the contention that D. chrysippus is a defended model. Although all the evidence leads to the conclusion that H. misippus is a Batesian mimic of D. chrysippus, many questions remain, particularly with regard to the identity of predators, the episodic nature of selective predation events, and their apparent lack of lasting and significant impact on overall gene frequencies. We conclude that H. misippus presents both challenges and opportunities for studies on mimicry, and we suggest that linkage disequilibrium can be a useful generic indicator for Gestalt predation on polymorphic prey. © 2010 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2010, 100, 180,194. [source]