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Size Evolution (size + evolution)
Kinds of Size Evolution Selected AbstractsADAPTATION TO EXPERIMENTAL ALTERATIONS OF THE OPERATIONAL SEX RATIO IN POPULATIONS OF DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTEREVOLUTION, Issue 2 2008Max Reuter Theory predicts that males adapt to sperm competition by increasing their investment in testis mass to transfer larger ejaculates. Experimental and comparative data support this prediction. Nevertheless, the relative importance of sperm competition in testis size evolution remains elusive, because experiments vary only sperm competition whereas comparative approaches confound it with other variables, in particular male mating rate. We addressed the relative importance of sperm competition and male mating rate by taking an experimental evolution approach. We subjected populations of Drosophila melanogaster to sex ratios of 1:1, 4:1, and 10:1 (female:male). Female bias decreased sperm competition but increased male mating rate and sperm depletion. After 28 generations of evolution, males from the 10:1 treatment had larger testes than males from other treatments. Thus, testis size evolved in response to mating rate and sperm depletion, not sperm competition. Furthermore, our experiment demonstrated that drift associated with sex ratio distortion limits adaptation; testis size only evolved in populations in which the effect of sex ratio bias on the effective population size had been compensated by increasing the numerical size. We discuss these results with respect to reproductive evolution, genetic drift in natural and experimental populations, and consequences of natural sex ratio distortion. [source] A STATISTICAL TEST OF UNBIASED EVOLUTION OF BODY SIZE IN BIRDSEVOLUTION, Issue 12 2002Folmer Bokma Abstract., Of the approximately 9500 bird species, the vast majority is small-bodied. That is a general feature of evolutionary lineages, also observed for instance in mammals and plants. The avian interspecific body size distribution is right-skewed even on a logarithmic scale. That has previously been interpreted as evidence that body size evolution has been biased. However, a procedure to test for unbiased evolution from the shape of body size distributions was lacking. In the present paper unbiased body size evolution is defined precisely, and a statistical test is developed based on Monte Carlo simulation of unbiased evolution. Application of the test to birds suggests that it is highly unlikely that avian body size evolution has been unbiased as defined. Several possible explanations for this result are discussed. A plausible explanation is that the general model of unbiased evolution assumes that population size and generation time do not affect the evolutionary variability of body size; that is, that micro- and macroevolution are decoupled, which theory suggests is not likely to be the case. [source] NUPTIAL GIFTS AND THE EVOLUTION OF MALE BODY SIZEEVOLUTION, Issue 3 2002Kenneth M. Fedorka Abstract In many insect systems, males donate nuptial gifts to insure an effective copulation or as a form of paternal investment. However, if gift magnitude is both body size-limited and positively related to fitness, then the opportunity exists for the gift to promote the evolution of large male size. In the striped ground cricket, Allonemobius socius, males transfer a body size-limited, somatic nuptial gift that is comprised primarily of hemolymph. To address the implications of this gift on male size evolution, we quantified the intensity and direction of natural (fecundity) and sexual (mating success) selection over multiple generations. We found that male size was under strong positive sexual selection throughout the breeding season. This pattern of selection was similar in successive generations spanning multiple years. Male size was also under strong natural selection, with the largest males siring the most offspring. However, multivariate selection gradients indicated that gift size, and not male size, was the best predictor of female fecundity. In other words, direct fecundity selection for larger gifts placed indirect positive selection on male body size, supporting the hypothesis that nuptial gifts can influence the evolution of male body size in this system. Although female size was also under strong selection due to a size related fecundity advantage, it did not exceed selection on male size. The implications of these results with regard to the maintenance of the female-biased size dimorphic system are discussed. [source] Insight into diversity, body size and morphological evolution from the largest Early Cretaceous enantiornithine birdJOURNAL OF ANATOMY, Issue 5 2008Zhonghe Zhou Abstract Most of Mesozoic bird diversity comprises species that are part of one of two major lineages, namely Ornithurae, including living birds, and Enantiornithes, a major radiation traditionally referred to as ,opposite birds'. Here we report the largest Early Cretaceous enantiornithine bird from north-east China, which provides evidence that basal members of Enantiornithes share more morphologies with ornithurine birds than previously recognized. Morphological evolution in these two groups has been thought to be largely parallel, with derived members of Enantiornithes convergent on the ,advanced' flight capabilities of ornithurine birds. The presence of an array of morphologies previously thought to be derived within ornithurine and enantiornithine birds in a basal enantiornithine species provides evidence of the complex character evolution in these two major lineages. The cranial morphology of the new specimen is among the best preserved for Mesozoic avians. The new species extends the size range known for Early Cretaceous Enantiornithes significantly and provides evidence of forelimb to hind limb proportions distinct from all other known members of the clade. As such, it sheds new light on avian body size evolution and diversity, and allows a re-evaluation of a previously proposed hypothesis of competitive exclusion among Early Cretaceous avian clades. [source] Food limitation explains most clutch size variation in the Nazca boobyJOURNAL OF ANIMAL ECOLOGY, Issue 4 2001L. D. Clifford Summary 1,Natural selection is expected to optimize clutch size, but intrapopulation variation is maintained in many bird species. The Nazca booby provides a simple system in which to investigate clutch size evolution because clutch size and brood size are decoupled due to obligate siblicide. The indirect effect of brood size on clutch size evolution can therefore be eliminated. 2,In Nazca boobies, second eggs provide insurance against the failure of the first egg or early death of the first hatchling, but approximately half of all females lay only one egg. We tested the hypothesis that one-egg clutches result from food limitation by providing female Nazca boobies with supplemental food. 3,A higher proportion of supplemented females produced two-egg clutches than did control females. Supplemented females produced larger second-laid eggs than did control females, but not first-laid eggs. Laying date and laying interval were not affected. 4,Comparisons of clutch size and egg volume between years indicated that the supplemental feeding experiment was not conducted in a year with a poor natural food supply. Thus supplemented females produced larger clutch sizes despite apparently normal natural food levels. 5,This experiment nearly completes our understanding of clutch size variation in the Nazca booby, and indicates that food limitation and the costs of egg-laying should be considered carefully in studies of clutch size evolution. [source] Evolution of avian clutch size along latitudinal gradients: do seasonality, nest predation or breeding season length matter?JOURNAL OF EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY, Issue 5 2010E. M. GRIEBELER Abstract Birds display a latitudinal gradient in clutch size with smaller clutches in the tropics and larger in the temperate region. Three factors have been proposed to affect this pattern: seasonality of resources (SR), nest predation and length of the breeding season (LBS). Here, we test the importance of these factors by modelling clutch size evolution within bird populations under different environmental settings. We use an individual-based ecogenetic simulation model that combines principles from population ecology and life history theory. Results suggest that increasing SR from the tropics to the poles by itself or in combination with a decreasing predation rate and LBS can generate the latitudinal gradient in clutch size. Annual fecundity increases and annual adult survival rate decreases from the tropics to the poles. We further show that the annual number of breeding attempts that (together with clutch size) determines total annual egg production is an important trait to understand latitudinal patterns in these life history characteristics. Field experiments that manipulate environmental factors have to record effects not only on clutch size, but also on annual number of breeding attempts. We use our model to predict the outcome of such experiments under different environmental settings. [source] Body size evolution in Mesozoic birds: little evidence for Cope's ruleJOURNAL OF EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY, Issue 6 2008R. J. BUTLER Abstract Cope's rule, the tendency towards evolutionary increases in body size, is a long-standing macroevolutionary generalization that has the potential to provide insights into directionality in evolution; however, both the definition and identification of Cope's rule are controversial and problematic. A recent study [J. Evol. Biol. 21 (2008) 618] examined body size evolution in Mesozoic birds, and claimed to have identified evidence of Cope's rule occurring as a result of among-lineage species sorting. We here reassess the results of this study, and additionally carry out novel analyses testing for within-lineage patterns in body size evolution in Mesozoic birds. We demonstrate that the nonphylogenetic methods used by this previous study cannot distinguish between among- and within-lineage processes, and that statistical support for their results and conclusions is extremely weak. Our ancestor,descendant within-lineage analyses explicitly incorporate recent phylogenetic hypotheses and find little compelling evidence for Cope's rule. Cope's rule is not supported in Mesozoic birds by the available data, and body size evolution currently provides no insights into avian survivorship through the Cretaceous,Paleogene mass extinction. [source] Cope's rule in cryptodiran turtles: do the body sizes of extant species reflect a trend of phyletic size increase?JOURNAL OF EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY, Issue 4 2006D. S. MOEN Abstract Cope's rule of phyletic size increase is questioned as a general pattern of body size evolution. Most studies of Cope's rule have examined trends in the paleontological record. However, neontological approaches are now possible due to the development of model-based comparative methods, as well as the availability of an abundance of phylogenetic data. I examined whether the phylogenetic distribution of body sizes in extant cryptodiran turtles is consistent with Cope's rule. To do this, I examined body size evolution in each of six major clades of cryptodiran turtles and also across the whole tree of cryptodirans (n = 201 taxa). Extant cryptodiran turtles do not appear to follow Cope's rule, as no clade showed a significant phyletic body size trend. Previous analyses in other extant vertebrates have also found no evidence for phyletic size increase, which is in contrast to the paleontological data that support the rule in a number of extinct vertebrate taxa. [source] Population balance model for nucleation, growth, aggregation, and breakage of hydrate particles in turbulent flowAICHE JOURNAL, Issue 8 2010Boris V. Balakin Abstract This article describes a computational model for the size evolution of hydrate particles in a pipeline-pump system with turbulent flow. The model is based on the population balance principle, and the simulation results were validated with data from an experimental study of a flow loop containing hydrate particles reported in the literature. It is found that the particle size is significantly influenced by aggregation and breakage, related to shear in the flow, and that these effects are comparable to those of growth and nucleation, related to diffusional processes. Two different approaches for hydrate growth and nucleation, one of continuous nucleation during the process and one of only an initial nucleation-pulse, were used. This was done to compare the aggregation and breakage parameters which come out when fitting the models output to experiment. These two approaches are found to give rise to similar aggregation/breakage parameters, lending credence to the pbm-based modeling. © 2009 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2010 [source] Nanoparticle formation through solid-fed flame synthesis: Experiment and modelingAICHE JOURNAL, Issue 4 2009W. Widiyastuti Abstract The preparation of silica nanoparticles through solid-fed flame synthesis was investigated experimentally and theoretically. Monodispersed submicrometer- and micrometer-sized silica powders were selected as solid precursors for feeding into a flame reactor. The effects of flame temperature, residence time, and precursor particle size were investigated systematically. Silica nanoparticles were formed by the nucleation, coagulation, and surface growth of the generated silica vapors due to the solid precursor evaporation. Numerical modeling was conducted to describe the mechanism of nanoparticle formation. Evaporation of the initial silica particles was considered in the modeling, accounting for its size evolution. Simultaneous mass transfer modeling due to the silica evaporation was solved in combination with a general dynamics equation solution. The modeling and experimental results were in agreement. Both results showed that the methane flow rate, carrier gas flow rate, and initial particle size influenced the effectiveness of nanoparticle formation in solid-fed flame synthesis. © 2009 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2009 [source] Comparative assessment of the water balance and hydrology of selected Ethiopian and Kenyan Rift LakesLAKES & RESERVOIRS: RESEARCH AND MANAGEMENT, Issue 3 2008Tenalem Ayenew Abstract The study area is part of the East African Rift system, characterized by a cluster of lakes occupying an extremely faulted rift floor with geothermal manifestations. Some of the lakes illustrated contrasting water levels and size evolution over the last few decennia, believed to have been caused by various natural and anthropogenic factors. The relative importance of these factors, however, is unknown. This study attempts to present the hydrology of the lakes in a broader context, by giving more emphasis to lake water level fluctuations and to the water balance. These factors have far-reaching implications in regard to future management of the lake basin water. It also provides information on the relation of the groundwater with the lakes, and with the local and regional groundwater flow system from the adjacent highlands to the floor of the Rift. The methods utilized in this study include conventional hydrogeological field surveys, and hydrometeorological and data analyses, coupled with digital image processing and spatial analysis under a Geographic Information System environment. Ancillary supporting information has been obtained from environmental isotopes and hydrochemical data. The study results indicate the terminal Ethiopian lakes changed in size and water level significantly over the last half century. In contrast, the Kenyan lakes only exhibited slight changes. The lakes in both countries exhibit a striking similarity in their subsurface hydraulic connection, and are strongly governed by complex rift geological structures. Groundwater plays a vital role in the water balance of the study lakes. The study results indicate that future sustainable use of the study lakes demands that serious attention be given to the role of the groundwater component of the lake water balances. [source] Isolation of microsatellite loci in the Capricorn silvereye, Zosterops lateralis chlorocephalus (Aves: Zosteropidae)MOLECULAR ECOLOGY RESOURCES, Issue 3 2003F. D. Frentiu Abstract The Capricorn silvereye (Zosterops lateralis chlorocephalus) is ideally suited to investigating the genetic basis of body size evolution. We have isolated and characterized a set of microsatellite markers for this species. Seven out of 11 loci were polymorphic. The number of alleles detected ranged from two to five and observed heterozygosities between 0.12 and 0.67. One locus, ZL49, was found to be sex-linked. This moderate level of diversity is consistent with that expected in an isolated, island population. [source] Ionization, shocks and evolution of the emission-line gas of distant 3CR radio galaxiesMONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY, Issue 1 2000P. N. Best An analysis of the kinematics and ionization state of the emission-line gas of a sample of 14 3CR radio galaxies with redshifts z,1 is carried out. The data used for these studies, deep long-slit spectroscopic exposures from the William Herschel Telescope, are presented in an accompanying paper. It is found that radio sources with small linear sizes (,150 kpc) have lower ionization states, higher emission-line fluxes and broader line widths than larger radio sources. An analysis of the low-redshift sample of Baum et al. demonstrates that radio galaxies at low redshift show similar evolution in their velocity structures and emission-line ratios from small to large radio sources. The emission-line ratios of small radio sources are in agreement with theoretical shock ionization predictions, and their velocity profiles are distorted. Together with the other emission-line properties, this indicates that shocks associated with the radio source dominate the kinematics and ionization of the emission-line gas during the period that the radio source is expanding through the interstellar medium. Gas clouds are accelerated by the shocks, giving rise to the irregular velocity structures observed, whilst shock compression of emission-line gas clouds and the presence of the ionizing photons associated with the shocks combine to lower the ionization state of the emission-line gas. By contrast, in larger sources the shock fronts have passed well beyond the emission-line regions; the emission-line gas of these larger radio sources has much more settled kinematical properties, indicative of rotation, and emission-line ratios consistent with the dominant source of ionizing photons being the active galactic nucleus. This strong evolution with radio size of the emission-line gas properties of powerful radio galaxies mirrors the radio size evolution seen in the nature of the optical,ultraviolet continuum emission of these sources, implying that the continuum alignment effect is likely to be related to the same radio source shocks. [source] Competition as a selective mechanism for larger offspring size in guppiesOIKOS, Issue 1 2008Farrah Bashey Highly competitive environments are predicted to select for larger offspring. Guppies Poecilia reticulata from low-predation populations have evolved to make fewer, larger offspring than their counterparts from high-predation populations. As predation co-varies with the strength of competition in natural guppy populations, here I present two laboratory experiments that evaluate the role of competition in selecting for larger offspring size. In the first experiment, paired groups of large and small newborns from either a high- or a low-predation population were reared in mesocosms under a high- or a low-competition treatment. While large newborns retained their size advantage over small newborns in both treatments, newborn size increased growth only in the high-competition treatment. Moreover, the increase in growth with size was greater in guppies derived from the low-predation population. In the second experiment, pairs of large and small newborns were reared in a highly competitive environment until reproductive maturity. Small size at birth delayed maturation and the effect of birth size on male age of maturity was greater in the low-predation population. These results support the importance of competition as a selective mechanism in offspring size evolution. [source] Body weight distributions of European HymenopteraOIKOS, Issue 3 2006Werner Ulrich Species number,body weight distributions are generally thought to be skewed to the right. Hence it is assumed that the number of relatively small species is larger than the number of relatively large species. While this pattern is well documented in vertebrates, comparative studies on larger invertebrate taxa are still scarce. Here I show that the weight distributions of European Hymenoptera (based on 12,601 species body weight data compiled from major catalogues) do not exhibit a general trend towards right skewed species,body weight distributions. Skewness did not depend on the number of species per taxon. Species richness peaked at intermediate body weights irrespective of taxonomic level. Kernel density analysis revealed that hymenopteran taxa had between one and four peaks in their size distributions with larger taxa having fewer peaks. Within genus variability in body weight was allometrically related to mean body weight (,2=,1.81) in line with a proportional rescaling pattern. These results call for a rethinking about the generality of current vertebrate centred models of body size evolution. [source] From observations to physics: Cosmological evolution of radio galaxiesASTRONOMISCHE NACHRICHTEN, Issue 2-3 2009A.D. Kapi Abstract Recent theoretical progress has allowed us to determine the influence of the intrinsic properties of radio galaxies and their environments on their luminosity and size evolution. There are still, however, considerable uncertainties regarding our understanding of radio source evolution, in particular the relationship between CSS and GPS sources and larger radio galaxies. Here, we present our preliminary results on the cosmological evolution of the entire radio galaxy population. We use recent analytical models for the dynamical and luminosity evolution of FR II radio galaxies to convert observational data into distributions of source properties such as pressure of the source lobes. As input parameters we use the observed P - D (radio power,linear size) diagrams built up from flux-limited radio samples with complete redshift information. This allows us to examine the environments of evolving radio sources, and to shed more light on the (early) evolutionary tracks of radio galaxies (© 2009 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [source] Genome size evolution and polyploidy in the Daphnia pulex complex (Cladocera: Daphniidae)BIOLOGICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY, Issue 1 2009ROLAND VERGILINO Genome size was estimated in 49 clones of the Daphnia pulex complex from temperate and subarctic locations using flow cytometry and microsatellite DNA analyses. Significant genome size differences were found in diploid species belonging to the two genetically distinct groups (the pulicaria and the tenebrosa groups), with clones from the tenebrosa group having genome sizes 22% larger than those in the pulicaria group. Combined flow cytometry and microsatellite DNA analyses revealed that nearly all polyploid clones in the D. pulex complex are triploid and not tetraploid, as was previously suggested. Sequencing analyses of the ND5 gene to position clones in their respective clades within the D. pulex complex have uncovered three triploid clones of Daphnia middendorffiana with a D. pulex maternal parent. This result was unexpected because Daphnia pulicaria has always been identified as the maternal parent of these hybrid polyploid clones. Triploid clones likely owe their origins to interactions between sexual and asexual populations. Further interactions in the tenebrosa group have generated tetraploid clones but these events have been rare. © 2009 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2009, 97, 68,79. [source] | |||||||||||||