scholarly journals Vigilance in reindeer (Rangifer tarandus); evolutionary history, predation and human interference

Polar Biology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eigil Reimers ◽  
Sindre Eftestøl ◽  
Jonathan E. Colman
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Variability ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Rangifer Tarandus ◽  
Behavioral Responses ◽  
Low Density ◽  
Anatomy And Physiology ◽  
Vigilance Behaviour ◽  
Key Drivers ◽  
Southern Norway ◽  
Warning Time

AbstractTo elucidate genetic variability in vigilance behaviour for reindeer with historical differences in their interactions with predators and humans, we measured vigilance frequency and duration for grazing reindeer in Southern Norway (Rondane and Norefjell-Reinsjøfjell), Svalbard (Edgeøya and Nordenskiöld Land) and Barf/Royal Bay and Busen in the southern Hemisphere (South Georgia). Averaged for all areas, frequency and duration of vigilance bouts were less than 0.5 and 2.5 s, respectively. Frequency was insignificantly 1.3 times higher in Rondane than Edgeøya, and significantly 2.0, 3.5, 5.2 and 12.4 times higher than Norefjell, Nordenskiöld Land, Barf/Royal Bay and Busen, respectively. Duration per vigilance bout was not different amongst the areas. Thus, while frequency varied considerably, duration remained constant, supporting a hard-wired adaptation to, among other suggestions, an open landscape. Plasticity in frequency allows for flexible behavioral responses to environmental factors with predation, domestication and hunting key drivers for reindeer. Other factors include (1) the open, treeless alpine/Arctic environment inhabited by Rangifer subspecies allowing warning time, (2) grouping behaviour, (3) relative low density of predators and (4) the anatomy and physiology of ungulate vision.

Vigilance and fright behaviour in the insular Svalbard reindeer (Rangifer tarandus platyrhynchus)

2011 ◽  
Vol 89 (8) ◽  
pp. 753-764 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eigil Reimers ◽  
Steinar Lund ◽  
Torbjørn Ergon
Keyword(s):  
Human Activities ◽  
Rangifer Tarandus ◽  
Lower Probability ◽  
Supporting Evidence ◽  
Svalbard Archipelago ◽  
Svalbard Reindeer ◽  
Vigilance Behaviour ◽  
Southern Norway ◽  
Wild Reindeer ◽  
Flight Initiation

The insular Svalbard reindeer ( Rangifer tarandus platyrhynchus Vrolik, 1829) provide an opportunity to study vigilance behaviour in the absence of predators and parasitizing insects. We measured vigilance and fright and flight response during summer 2006 in the Svalbard archipelago; in four areas on Nordenskiöld Land on the island Spitzbergen and in one area on the island Edgeøya. Vigilance was higher in reindeer on Edgeøya than in the four Spitzbergen areas. Males were less vigilant than lactating and barren females and vigilance decreased with increasing group size. The relaxed vigilance behaviour in Svalbard reindeer compared with wild reindeer in southern Norway demonstrates a vigilance threshold in the absence of traditional predators of Rangifer Hamilton Smith, 1827. Alert, flight initiation, and escape distances were all shorter in Adventdalen, with Longyearbyen and its considerably higher amounts of human activities and infrastructure than in the other study areas, supporting evidence of habituation towards humans. There were no systematic vigilance or differences in fright and flight responses between reindeer in Colesdalen, Reindalen, and Sassendalen, indicating that a combination of low level of human activities including hunting, recreation, and scientific activities affected the animals differently. Lower probability of assessing before fleeing in Edgeøya (63% vs. 94% in the Nordenskiöld Land areas), along with their higher vigilance, may indicate more frequent interactions with polar bears ( Ursus maritimus Phipps, 1774) in Edgeøya.

Elaborating the role of reflection and individual differences in the study of folk-economic beliefs

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Arceneaux
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Behavioral Responses ◽  
History Of ◽  
Economic Beliefs

AbstractIntuitions guide decision-making, and looking to the evolutionary history of humans illuminates why some behavioral responses are more intuitive than others. Yet a place remains for cognitive processes to second-guess intuitive responses – that is, to be reflective – and individual differences abound in automatic, intuitive processing as well.

scholarly journals Genetic Diversity of Rice stripe necrosis virus and New Insights into Evolution of the Genus Benyvirus

Viruses ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 737
Author(s):  
Issiaka Bagayoko ◽  
Marcos Giovanni Celli ◽  
Gustavo Romay ◽  
Nils Poulicard ◽  
Agnès Pinel-Galzi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Diversity ◽  
Genetic Variability ◽  
Sierra Leone ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Molecular Diversity ◽  
Genomic Data ◽  
Gene Recombination ◽  
Necrosis Virus ◽  
History Of ◽  
Complex Evolutionary History

The rice stripe necrosis virus (RSNV) has been reported to infect rice in several countries in Africa and South America, but limited genomic data are currently publicly available. Here, eleven RSNV genomes were entirely sequenced, including the first corpus of RSNV genomes of African isolates. The genetic variability was differently distributed along the two genomic segments. The segment RNA1, within which clusters of polymorphisms were identified, showed a higher nucleotidic variability than did the beet necrotic yellow vein virus (BNYVV) RNA1 segment. The diversity patterns of both viruses were similar in the RNA2 segment, except for an in-frame insertion of 243 nucleotides located in the RSNV tgbp1 gene. Recombination events were detected into RNA1 and RNA2 segments, in particular in the two most divergent RSNV isolates from Colombia and Sierra Leone. In contrast to BNYVV, the RSNV molecular diversity had a geographical structure with two main RSNV lineages distributed in America and in Africa. Our data on the genetic diversity of RSNV revealed unexpected differences with BNYVV suggesting a complex evolutionary history of the genus Benyvirus.

scholarly journals Anatomy and physiology of Cattail as related to different population densities

2015 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 01-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
F.F. CORRÊA ◽  
R.H. MADAIL ◽  
S. BARBOSA ◽  
M.P. PEREIRA ◽  
E.M. CASTRO ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Growth Rate ◽  
High Density ◽  
Root Anatomy ◽  
Low Density ◽  
Typha Angustifolia ◽  
Anatomy And Physiology ◽  
Shoot Ratio ◽  
Root Shoot Ratio ◽  
Apoplastic Barriers ◽  
Density Population

The objective of this work was to evaluate the effects of the population density of Typha angustifolia plants in the anatomical and physiological characteristics. Plants were collected from populations of high density (over 50% of colonization capacity) and low density (less than 50% of colonization capacity) and cultivated under controlled greenhouse conditions. Plants from both populations were grown in plastic trays containing 4 L of nutritive solution for 60 days. At the end of this period, the relative growth rate, leaf area ratio, net assimilatory rate, root/shoot ratio, leaf anatomy, root anatomy, and catalase and ascorbate peroxidase activities were evaluated. Plants from high density populations showed increased growth rate and root/shoot ratio. Low density populations showed higher values of stomatal index and density in leaves, as well as increased palisade parenchyma thickness. Root epidermis and exodermis thickness as well as the aerenchyma proportion of high density populations were reduced, these plants also showed increased vascular cylinder proportion. Only catalase activity was modified between the high and low density populations, showing increased values in low density populations. Therefore, different Typha angustifolia plants show differences in its anatomy and physiology related to its origins on high and low density conditions. High density population plants shows increased growth capacity related to lower apoplastic barriers in root and this may be related to increased nutrient uptake capacity.

scholarly journals How diverse can rare species be on the margins of genera distribution?

AoB Plants ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alice Backes ◽  
Geraldo Mäder ◽  
Caroline Turchetto ◽  
Ana Lúcia Segatto ◽  
Jeferson N Fregonezi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Diversity ◽  
Population Structure ◽  
Genetic Variation ◽  
Genetic Variability ◽  
Habitat Loss ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Founder Effects ◽  
Geographical Isolation ◽  
Genetic Diversity And Structure ◽  
Genetic Patterns

Abstract Different genetic patterns have been demonstrated for narrowly distributed taxa, many of them linking rarity to evolutionary history. Quite a few species in young genera are endemics and have several populations that present low variability, sometimes attributed to geographical isolation or dispersion processes. Assessing the genetic diversity and structure of such species may be important for protecting them and understanding their diversification history. In this study, we used microsatellite markers and plastid sequences to characterize the levels of genetic variation and population structure of two endemic and restricted species that grow in isolated areas on the margin of the distribution of their respective genera. Plastid and nuclear diversities were very low and weakly structured in their populations. Evolutionary scenarios for both species are compatible with open-field expansions during the Pleistocene interglacial periods and genetic variability supports founder effects to explain diversification. At present, both species are suffering from habitat loss and changes in the environment can lead these species towards extinction.

Continents as a chemical boundary layer

1981 ◽  
Vol 301 (1461) ◽  
pp. 359-373 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Heat Flux ◽  
Surface Heat Flux ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Surface Heat ◽  
Low Density ◽  
Alternate Model ◽  
Mantle Component ◽  
Double Diffusive

Tectospheric structure can be described in terms of three basic types of surficial boundary layers: chemical (c.b.l.), mechanical (m.b.l.) and thermal (t.b.l.). Beneath old ocean basins the thickness of the c.b.l. ( ca . 40 km) is less than that of either the m.b.l. ( ca . 100 km) or the t.b.l. ( ca . 150 km), but the hypothesis that a similar structure underlies the old continental cratons is difficult to reconcile with seismic observations. We therefore examine an alternate model which postulates a much thicker c.b.l. beneath the cratons whose mantle component consists of a low-density peridotite depleted in its basaltic constituents. On the basis of seismological and petrological data it is inferred that this augmented c.b.l. extends below the m.b.l. to depths exceeding 150 km and acts to stabilize a thick ( > 200 km) t.b.l. against convective disruption. Because of its refractory nature the sub-m.b.l. portion of the c.b.l. constitutes a stable geochemical reservoir which has evidently been impregnated by large-ion lithophile elements fluxing from the deep mantle or from descending slabs. Consequently, its heat production is high ( ca . 0.1 μW/m 3 ) and it contributes significantly to the surface heat flux. The evolutionary history and dynamics of the continental c.b.l. are not well understood, especially the role of double-diffusive instabilities, but the fusion of the continental masses into ‘supercontinents’ and the orogenic compression that this entails are thought to be important processes in c.b.l. formation.

scholarly journals PSIII-15 Genetic variability of Russian domestic reindeer populations (Rangifer Tarandus) by microsatellites

2020 ◽  
Vol 98 (Supplement_4) ◽  
pp. 237-238
Author(s):  
Veronika R Kharzinova ◽  
Arsen V Dotsev ◽  
Anastasiya D Solovieva ◽  
Valeriy I Fedorov ◽  
Larisa D Shimit ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Diversity ◽  
Genetic Variability ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Rangifer Tarandus ◽  
R Package ◽  
Komi Republic ◽  
Middle Level ◽  
Taiga Zone ◽  
Isolated Populations ◽  
Mountain Taiga

Abstract Domestic reindeer are bred across the Russian tundra from the Kola Peninsula to Chukotka and in the mountain-taiga zone. To understand the genetic diversity and population structure of domestic reindeer, 528 individuals were analyzed using 14 microsatellites. The sample included the Nenets breed of the Komi Republic (NEN_K, n = 42), Nenets (NEN_N, n = 148), Yamalo-Nenets (NEN_Y, n = 46), Archangelsk (NEN_A, n = 47), Murmansk (NEN_M, n = 43), Taymyr (NEN_T, n = 52) regions; the Even (EVN, n = 33), the Evenk (EVK, n = 31), the Chukotka (CHUY, n = 33) breeds of Yakutia; the Chukotka breed (CHU, n = 40) of Chukotka Region; the Tuvinian (TUV, n = 32) and Mongolian (MGL, n = 21) populations of the Tuva Republic and Mongolia. Calculations were done in R package “diveRsity,” software SplitsTree 4.14.6., Structure 2.3.4. Possibly due to permanent exchanges with animals among farms of the Nenets region and thus introduction of “foreign” alleles into the herds, a higher level of genetic diversity was found in NEN_N (HE=0.699; AR =6.086). All groups had a significant homozygote excess with the maximal value of FIS in geographically isolated populations MGL (0.326) and TUV (0.229). Neighbor-Net tree showed formation of three main clusters according to breed origin and breeding region: (1) the Nenets reindeer from different regions, (2) three breeds of Yakutia and (3) TUV and MGL populations. CHU branched individually with a distance from others. At K=11 of STRUCTURE, we observed a clear clustering of CHU, MGL, TUV, NEN_T. A middle level of admixture was detected in NEN_A, NEN_Y, NEN_M and NEN_N with NEN_K and CHUY with EVN/EVK, which formed one cluster. Here, we obtained more detailed information on genetic variability of Russian domestic reindeer, which would assist to fill current gaps in knowledge about this essential species for many indigenous peoples of the Far North. The study was funded by the RSF within Project no. 16-16-10068-P.

scholarly journals Salinized rivers: degraded systems or new habitats for salt-tolerant faunas?

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 20151072 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben J. Kefford ◽  
David Buchwalter ◽  
Miguel Cañedo-Argüelles ◽  
Jenny Davis ◽  
Richard P. Duncan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Saline Habitats ◽  
Novel Taxa ◽  
Global Concern ◽  
The Common ◽  
Key Drivers ◽  
Lotic Environments ◽  
Flowing Waters ◽  
Freshwater Salinization ◽  
New Habitats

Anthropogenic salinization of rivers is an emerging issue of global concern, with significant adverse effects on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Impacts of freshwater salinization on biota are strongly mediated by evolutionary history, as this is a major factor determining species physiological salinity tolerance. Freshwater insects dominate most flowing waters, and the common lotic insect orders Ephemeroptera (mayflies), Plecoptera (stoneflies) and Trichoptera (caddisflies) are particularly salt-sensitive. Tolerances of existing taxa, rapid adaption, colonization by novel taxa (from naturally saline environments) and interactions between species will be key drivers of assemblages in saline lotic systems. Here we outline a conceptual framework predicting how communities may change in salinizing rivers. We envision that a relatively small number of taxa will be saline-tolerant and able to colonize salinized rivers (e.g. most naturally saline habitats are lentic; thus potential colonizers would need to adapt to lotic environments), leading to depauperate communities in these environments.

scholarly journals Reindeer carcasses provide foraging habitat for several bird species of the alpine tundra.

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
pp. 36-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rudy Badia
Keyword(s):  
Rangifer Tarandus ◽  
Food Resource ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Anthus Pratensis ◽  
Meadow Pipit ◽  
Passerine Species ◽  
Calcarius Lapponicus ◽  
Southern Norway ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Near Threatened

On August of 2016, 323 wild tundra reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) were struck by lightning on southern Norway, killing virtually the entire herd.  During fieldwork for parallel studies in 2017, we opportunistically registered the occurrence and behavior of avian species on carcasses from this mass die-off. Several passerine species other than corvids were observed actively foraging on arthropods that are typically associated with carcass decomposition, such as blowfly (Calliphoridae sp.) adults and larvae. In decreasing order of abundance, five passerine species (excluding corvids) were observed taking arthropods at the site: the Meadow Pipit (Anthus pratensis, least concern), Northern Wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe, least concern), Common ReedBunting(Emberizaschoeniclus, near threatened), Bluethroat (Lusciniasvecica, near threatened), and Lapland Bunting (Calcarius lapponicus, vulnerable) (status according to IUCN). Previous studies on these passerines have documented a very sharp decline in their abundance in Norway. The insect abundance associated with ungulate carcasses may provide an important food resource for such species, and may impact their life history, fitness, and eventually population dynamics. This mechanism, however, has received almost no attention from the scientific community, and warrants further investigation.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document