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First Experimental Evidence (first + experimental_evidence)
Selected AbstractsIndirect facilitation of an anuran invasion by non-native fishesECOLOGY LETTERS, Issue 4 2003Michael J. Adams Abstract Positive interactions among non-native species could greatly exacerbate the problem of invasions, but are poorly studied and our knowledge of their occurrence is mostly limited to plant-pollinator and dispersal interactions. We found that invasion of bullfrogs is facilitated by the presence of co-evolved non-native fish, which increase tadpole survival by reducing predatory macroinvertebrate densities. Native dragonfly nymphs in Oregon, USA caused zero survival of bullfrog tadpoles in a replicated field experiment unless a non-native sunfish was present to reduce dragonfly density. This pattern was also evident in pond surveys where the best predictors of bullfrog abundance were the presence of non-native fish and bathymetry. This is the first experimental evidence of facilitation between two non-native vertebrates and supports the invasional meltdown hypothesis. Such positive interactions among non-native species have the potential to disrupt ecosystems by amplifying invasions, and our study shows they can occur via indirect mechanisms. [source] Against Bergmann's rule: fly sperm size increases with temperatureECOLOGY LETTERS, Issue 1 2002Wolf U. Blanckenhorn A long-standing school textbook biological rule, Bergmann's rule, asserts that animals (and their constituent parts) grow bigger when it is colder. This seems to hold for many warm-blooded animals, as well as for egg, cell and body size of most cold-blooded animals. A unifying mechanism producing this pattern has not been found. We here provide the first experimental evidence that the size of an important type of cell, namely sperm, increases (rather than decreases) with temperature in a cold-blooded animal, the yellow dung fly. By pointing to an exception, our work either questions the generality of one prominent category of explanation of Bergmann's rule, that of a physiological constraint, or alternatively suggests that sperm differ fundamentally in their physiology from other cells. [source] Coselection for microbial resistance to metals and antibiotics in freshwater microcosmsENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY, Issue 9 2006Ramunas Stepanauskas Summary Bacterial resistances to diverse metals and antibiotics are often genetically linked, suggesting that exposure to toxic metals may select for strains resistant to antibiotics and vice versa. To test the hypothesis that resistances to metals and antibiotics are coselected for in environmental microbial assemblages, we investigated the frequency of diverse resistances in freshwater microcosms amended with Cd, Ni, ampicillin or tetracycline. We found that all four toxicants significantly increased the frequency of bacterioplankton resistance to multiple, chemically unrelated metals and antibiotics. An ampicillin-resistant strain of the opportunistic human pathogen Ralstonia mannitolilytica was enriched in microcosms amended with Cd. Frequencies of antibiotic resistance were elevated in microcosms with metal concentrations representative of industry and mining-impacted environments (0.01,1 mM). Metal but not antibiotic amendments decreased microbial diversity, and a weeklong exposure to high concentrations of ampicillin (0.01,10 mg l,1) and tetracycline (0.03,30 mg l,1) decreased microbial abundance only slightly, implying a large reservoir of antibiotic resistance in the studied environment. Our results provide first experimental evidence that the exposure of freshwater environments to individual metals and antibiotics selects for multiresistant microorganisms, including opportunistic human pathogens. [source] Electric-Field-Assisted Nanostructuring of a Mott InsulatorADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS, Issue 17 2009Vincent Dubost Abstract Here, the first experimental evidence for a strong electromechanical coupling in the Mott insulator GaTa4Se8 that allows highly reproducible nanoscaled writing by means of scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) is reported. The local electric field across the STM junction is observed to have a threshold value above which the clean (100) surface of GaTa4Se8 becomes mechanically instable: at voltage biases >1.1,V, the surface suddenly inflates and comes in contact with the STM tip, resulting in nanometer-sized craters. The formed pattern can be indestructibly "read" by STM at a lower voltage bias, thus allowing 5,Tdots inch,2 dense writing/reading at room temperature. The discovery of the electromechanical coupling in GaTa4Se8 might give new clues in the understanding of the electric pulse induced resistive switching recently observed in this stoichiometric Mott insulator. [source] Clinically reported heterozygous mutations in the PINK1 kinase domain exert a gene dosage effect,HUMAN MUTATION, Issue 11 2009Eng-King Tan Abstract Mutations in the gene encoding phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN)-induced kinase 1 (PINK1) have been associated with the loss of dopaminergic neurons characteristic of familial and sporadic Parkinson disease. We developed an in vitro system of stable human dopaminergic neuronal cell lines coexpressing an equivalent copy of normal and mutant PINK1 to simulate "heterozygous" and "homozygous" states in patients. Mutants in the N-terminus, C-terminus, and kinase domain were generated and cloned into a two-gene mammalian expression vector to generate stable mammalian expression cell lines producing an equivalent copy number of wild-type/mutant PINK1. The cell lines were subjected to oxidative stress and the rate of apoptosis and change in mitochondrial membrane potential (,,m) were assessed. Cell lines expressing kinase and C-terminus mutants exhibited a greater rate of apoptosis and decrease in ,,m, and increased time-dependent cell loss when subjected to oxidative stress compared to the wild-type. Cell lines expressing two copies of kinase mutants exhibited a greater apoptosis rate and ,,m decrease than those expressing one copy of the mutant. In time-dependent experiments, there was a significant difference between "homozygous," "heterozygous," and wild-type cell lines, with decreasing cell survival in cell lines expressing mutant copies of PINK1 compared to the wild-type. We provided the first experimental evidence that clinically reported PINK1 heterozygous mutations exert a gene dosage effect, suggesting that haploinsufficiency of PINK1 is the most likely mechanism that increased the susceptibility to dopaminergic cellular loss. Hum Mutat 30:1551,1557, 2009. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Unequal food distribution among great egret Ardea alba nestlings: parental choice or sibling aggression?JOURNAL OF AVIAN BIOLOGY, Issue 5 2004Bonnie J. Ploger In broods of great egrets Ardea alba and other birds with siblicidal nestlings, the first-hatched brood members generally secure far more food than do their juniors. This feeding advantage could be caused by parental favoritism, or by seniors attacking and thereby dominating their juniors. We investigated these possibilities by comparing how fathers and mothers allocated food among their offspring when chicks were free to fight versus when they were physically separated by a Plexiglas barrier. When free to fight, dominant nestlings received significantly more food than did their subordinates. When nestlings were separated, mothers, but not fathers, delivered significantly more food per meal to the , (second-ranked) chick than to other nestlings. This is the first experimental evidence of differential feeding by parents in a species with aggressive nestlings. [source] Do pipits use experimentally supplemented rich sources of calcium more often in an acidified area?JOURNAL OF AVIAN BIOLOGY, Issue 2 2001S. Bure How birds respond to the recent phenomenon of calcium deficiency in acidified areas is still poorly known. This study, carried out in the Jeseníky Mountains (heavily polluted, acidified area in the Czech Republic), in alpine ecosystems of central Norway, and in the limestone part of the Malá Fatra Mountains (Slovak Republic), provides the first experimental evidence that birds select and bring supplemented calcium-rich items to their nestlings more often in an acidified area. Meadow Pipits Anthus pratensis and Water Pipits A. spinoletta selected calcium-rich items (mainly snail shells) from various materials placed near their nests and this selectivity did not differ between areas or species. Thinning of egg shells (8% at blunt pole, 5% at egg side) suggests that Meadow Pipits in the Jeseníky Mountains were negatively influenced by the low calcium availability, in spite of their ability to adjust foraging behaviour. [source] An experimental test for effects of the maternal environment on delayed germinationJOURNAL OF ECOLOGY, Issue 5 2010Katja Tielbörger Summary 1.,Recent models on bet-hedging germination in annual plants assume a negative relationship between the proportion of offspring that germinate and the quality of the maternal environment. An increase in the proportion of seeds remaining dormant in the next year, when produced in seasons with high reproduction may result from selection that avoids overcrowding in the following year. 2.,We present the first empirical test of this prediction by utilizing a field experiment in Israel which manipulated the entire maternal environment. We subjected semi-arid and Mediterranean annual plant communities to different rainfall treatments: control, reduced and increased rainfall. We then related maternal environment quality to offspring germination fractions for three focal species in two consecutive seasons. 3.,There was a negative relationship between the quality of the maternal environment and offspring germination fraction in four out of twelve cases. The negative relationship was stronger for the least competitive species and in the environment with high competition intensity, supporting the role of competition for the observed pattern. 4.,Our results suggest that competition with all neighbours is more likely to explain the pattern than sib competition. 5.,Synthesis. Our findings provide the first experimental evidence of a highly reliable cue (productivity of maternal environment) that allows for plants to respond to their future biotic environment. There is an urgent need for testing predictions of theoretical models in natural populations and for incorporating the role of density dependence in studies of bet-hedging germination. [source] Carbohydrate storage enhances seedling shade and stress tolerance in a neotropical forestJOURNAL OF ECOLOGY, Issue 2 2007JONATHAN A. MYERS Summary 1To survive in forest understoreys, seedlings must depend on carbohydrate reserves when they experience negative carbon balance imposed by occasional light reduction and tissue loss to herbivores and diseases. We present the first experimental evidence in support of this hypothesis, using seven woody neotropical species. 2We transplanted seedlings that had recently expanded their first photosynthetic cotyledon or leaf to the forest understorey (1% of full sun) and quantified initial biomass and total non-structural carbohydrate (TNC) in stems, roots and storage cotyledons. We then randomly assigned seedlings to control and two stress treatments: light reduction (0.08% of full sun for 8 weeks) and complete defoliation. 3First-year survival of control seedlings, a comparative measure of shade tolerance, differed widely among species. The two stress treatments reduced survival and relative growth rates (RGR) of all species. Shade-tolerant species were little impacted by the stress treatments, whereas the two least shade-tolerant species experienced 100% mortality. 4In all treatments, 8-week and first-year survival was positively correlated with initial TNC pool size in stems and roots. By contrast, survival was generally not correlated with initial TNC concentration in any organ, TNC pools in cotyledons, seed mass or seedling biomass. 5TNC in stems and roots, but not in cotyledons, decreased in response to light reduction and defoliation over 8 weeks. Leaf area recovery of defoliated seedlings was positively correlated with initial TNC pools in stems and roots. 6First-year survival in each treatment was negatively correlated with 0,8 week RGR of control seedlings, suggesting higher stress tolerance of species with inherently slow growth rates in shade. RGR of control seedlings from 0 to 8 weeks was negatively correlated with initial TNC pools, but not concentrations, in stems and roots. After 8 weeks, RGR was positive for all species, without clear relationships with survival or TNC. 7We conclude that carbohydrate storage in stems and roots enhances long-term survival in shade by enabling seedlings to cope with periods of biotic and abiotic stress. Carbohydrate storage is a key functional trait that can explain species differences in growth and survival that lead to species coexistence through niche assembly processes and life-history trade-offs. [source] Combined tissue factor pathway inhibitor and thrombomodulin deficiency produces an augmented hypercoagulable state with tissue-specific fibrin depositionJOURNAL OF THROMBOSIS AND HAEMOSTASIS, Issue 1 2008S. A. MARONEY Summary.,Background and Objective:,Tissue factor pathway inhibitor (TFPI) and thrombomodulin (TM) are endothelial-associated anticoagulant proteins thought to control hemostasis in specific vascular beds. Here, we have examined the consequences of TFPI deficiency in the presence of a compounding procoagulant state caused by reduced TM function. Methods and results:,TFPI+/,/TMpro/pro mice are born at less than expected frequency in either TFPI+/,/TMpro/+ or TMpro/pro mothers but are born at near the expected frequency in TMpro/+ mothers. Adult TFPI+/,/TMpro/pro mice have elevated thrombin,antithrombin complex and increased thrombus volume in an electrical injury model of venous thrombosis. In striking contrast to mice with single deficiency of TFPI or TM, TFPI+/,/TMpro/pro mice exhibit augmented fibrin deposition not only in the liver, but also in the cerebral microvasculature. Conclusions:,TFPI+/,/TMpro/pro mice exhibit partial intrauterine lethality when carried by mothers with an underlying prothrombotic state, providing the first experimental evidence in an animal model that TFPI-dependent control of hemostasis in the vascular bed of the placenta fulfills a critical role for successful pregnancy outcome. In addition to the placenta, partial TFPI deficiency interacts with decreased TM function in an organ selective manner to produce fibrin deposition in other specific vascular beds, the liver and brain. [source] Investigating lipoprotein biogenesis and function in the model Gram-positive bacterium Streptomyces coelicolorMOLECULAR MICROBIOLOGY, Issue 4 2010Benjamin J. Thompson Summary Lipoproteins are a distinct class of bacterial membrane proteins that are translocated across the cytoplasmic membrane primarily by the Sec general secretory pathway and then lipidated on a conserved cysteine by the enzyme lipoprotein diacylglycerol transferase (Lgt). The signal peptide is cleaved by lipoprotein signal peptidase (Lsp) to leave the lipid-modified cysteine at the N-terminus of the mature lipoprotein. In all Gram-positive bacteria tested to date this pathway is non-essential and the lipid attaches the protein to the outer leaflet of the cytoplasmic membrane. Here we identify lipoproteins in the model Gram-positive bacterium Streptomyces coelicolor using bioinformatics coupled with proteomic and downstream analysis. We report that Streptomyces species translocate large numbers of lipoproteins out via the Tat (twin arginine translocase) pathway and we present evidence that lipoprotein biogenesis might be an essential pathway in S. coelicolor. This is the first analysis of lipoproteins and lipoprotein biogenesis in Streptomyces and provides the first evidence that lipoprotein biogenesis could be essential in a Gram-positive bacterium. This report also provides the first experimental evidence that Tat plays a major role in the translocation of lipoproteins in a specific bacterium. [source] Does attraction to conspecifics explain the patch-size effect?OIKOS, Issue 8 2009An experimental test Recent theory suggests that attraction to conspecifics during habitat selection can be one potential, yet untested, mechanism for animal sensitivity to habitat fragmentation. The least flycatcher Empidonax minimus, a highly territorial migratory bird, has previously been shown to be attracted to conspecifics and sensitive to patch size by avoiding small patches of riparian forest in Montana, USA. I used a large-scale field experiment in this region to test the conspecific attraction hypothesis for explaining sensitivity to patch size, and I supplemented this experiment by estimating whether vegetation structure, nest predation, or nest parasitism rates could better explain patterns of sensitivity to patch size. Vegetation structure did not vary consistently with patch size, based on a random sample of patches across 150,km of the Madison and Missouri Rivers, Montana. Nest predation and parasitism rates by brown-headed cowbirds Molothrus ater also did not vary with patch size during the experiment. However, when conspecific cues were simulated across a gradient of patch sizes, flycatchers settled in all patches , and their sensitivity to patch size vanished , providing strong support for the conspecific attraction hypothesis. These results provide the first experimental evidence that attraction to conspecifics can indeed help explain area sensitivity in nature and highlight how understanding the role of animal behavior in heterogeneous landscapes can aid in interpreting pressing conservation issues. [source] Non-consumptive effects of predatory mites on thrips and its host plantOIKOS, Issue 6 2009Andreas Walzer Recent reviews on trait-mediated interactions in food webs suggest that trait-mediated effects are as important in triggering top,down trophic cascades as are density-mediated effects. Trait-mediated interactions between predator and prey result from non-consumptive predator effects changing behavioural and/or life history traits of prey. However, in biological control the occurrence of trait-mediated interactions between predators, prey and plants has been largely ignored. Here, we show that non-consumptive predator effects on prey cascade down to the plant in an agro-ecological food chain. The study system consisted of the predatory mites P. persimilis and N. californicus, the herbivorous non-target prey western flower thrips F. occidentalis and the host plant bean. Irrespective of predator species and risk posed to prey, the presence of predator eggs led to increased ambulation, increased mortality and decreased oviposition of thrips. Furthermore, the presence of predator eggs reduced leaf damage caused by thrips. To our knowledge this is the first experimental evidence suggesting a positive trophic cascade triggered by non-consumptive predator effects on non-target prey in an augmentative biological control system. [source] Localized dynamics in network glassesPHYSICA STATUS SOLIDI (C) - CURRENT TOPICS IN SOLID STATE PHYSICS, Issue 11 2004C. Halcoussis Abstract In this work we studied by means of inelastic x-ray scattering (IXS) the nature of collective excitations in the network forming glass Ba(PO3)2. In particular, we provide the first experimental evidence for the presence of a multitude of collective excitations in a glass, situated in the energy span from 5 to 20 meV. Their nearly dispersionless evolution from 5 to 25 nm,1 suggests their largely localized nature mainly caused by the incorporated metallic cations acting as network modifiers. We suggest that these non-propagating vibrational states result from an eigenvector exchange with propagating density fluctuations of an "acoustic" character. This study gives an insight into the excess of vibrational states known as the "Boson" peak from many neutron and optical scattering experiments and being omnipresent in all kinds of glasses. (© 2004 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [source] Turbulent flows on forested hilly terrain: the recirculation regionTHE QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY, Issue 625 2007D. Poggi Abstract A number of analytical and numerical studies employing first-order closure principles have suggested that canopy flows on gentle sinusoidal hills feature a recirculation region, situated on the lee side, that can dramatically affect scalar transfer between the biosphere and the atmosphere. To date, the onset of this region, and its effects on bulk flow properties, have not been experimentally investigated. We study the applicability of first-order closure schemes jointly with the properties of this recirculation region, using detailed laser Doppler anemometry (LDA) measurements. These experiments are conducted in a neutrally stratified boundary-layer flow within a large flume over a train of gentle and narrow hills. The canopy is composed of an array of vertical cylinders with a frontal-area index concentrated in the upper third, to resemble a tall hardwood forest at maximum leaf area. The LDA measurements are recorded for both sparse and dense canopies. We find that, while the onset of a recirculation region is ambiguous in the sparse-canopy case, it is well delineated in the dense-canopy case. This finding constitutes the first experimental evidence confirming the analytical and numerical model predictions concerning this region in dense canopies on gentle hills. Moreover, we show that the presence of the recirculation region can explain the anomalous pressure variation across the hill (first reported in numerical simulations) using an ,effective hill shape' function. Detailed momentum-flux measurements show, surprisingly, that the effective mixing length leff within the canopy and in the inner layer is not significantly affected by the recirculation region. We expected leff to be comparable to the size of the vortex responsible for the recirculation zone, but the measurements show that leff maintains its canonical canopy turbulence shape. Using laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) measurements, we find that the recirculation region is not characterized by a classical ,rotor', but by a highly intermittent zone with alternating positive and negative velocity values in the lower layers of the canopy. These LIF measurements may explain why leff maintains its canonical canopy turbulence shape in the recirculation region. The LIF measurements also show that the main mechanism for scalar transfer within the recirculation region is a sequence of accumulation,ejection episodes that are quasi-periodic in nature. Copyright © 2007 Royal Meteorological Society [source] Old Molecules for New Receptors: Trp(Nps) Dipeptide Derivatives as Vanilloid TRPV1 Channel BlockersCHEMMEDCHEM, Issue 4 2006Angeles Bonache Dr. Abstract The transient receptor potential vanilloid member 1 (TRPV1), an integrator of multiple pain-producing stimuli, is regarded nowadays as an important biological target for the discovery of novel analgesics. Here, we describe the first experimental evidence for the behavior of an old family of analgesic dipeptides, namely Xaa-Trp(Nps) and Trp(Nps)-Xaa (Xaa=Lys, Arg) derivatives, as potent TRPV1 channel blockers. We also report the synthesis and biological investigation of a series of new conformationally restricted Trp(Nps)-dipeptide derivatives with improved TRPV1/NMDA selectivity. Compound 15,b, which incorporates an N-terminal 2S -azetidine-derived Arg residue, was the most selective compound in this series. Collectively, a new family of TRPV1 channel blockers emerged from our results, although further modifications are required to fine-tune the potency/selectivity/toxicity balance. [source] | ||||||||||