scholarly journals Spines and baskets in apex predatory sea scorpions uncover unique feeding strategies using 3D-kinematics

iScience ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 103662
Author(s):  
Michel Schmidt ◽  
Roland R. Melzer ◽  
Roy E. Plotnick ◽  
Russell D.C. Bicknell
2011 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Frelich ◽  
Martin Šlachta ◽  
František Střeleček ◽  
Jana Lososová

Profitability of dairy farming in relation to the type of feeding systemWe investigated the profitability of dairy farms in relation to the type of feeding system (seasonal pasture vs. permanent housing). An economic analysis was carried out of data on the structure and financial health of 50 farms in 2007 using questionnaires filled in by the farmers. The Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was applied to reveal causal relationships between a number of characteristics of the farms. The two axis of PCA explained 40.48% and 16.13% of the variability among the selected farm characteristics. Profitability related more to the number of subsidies, the area of arable land, the number of livestock and to the milk and plant production than to the area of meadows and pastures. Although a better cow performance was achieved on farms with confined herds, the profit per agricultural area and profit rate did not differ significantly between the two feeding strategies (P>0.05). The profit was 3,259 and 3,655 CZK/ha on average and the profit rate 7.9% and 5.6% on average on farms with pastured herds and on farms with confined herds, respectively. A lowering of input costs and a more effective utilisation of grasslands may further enhance profitability.


2002 ◽  
Vol 80 (9) ◽  
pp. 2373 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. L. Mader ◽  
S. M. Holt ◽  
G. L. Hahn ◽  
M. S. Davis ◽  
D. E. Spiers

1995 ◽  
Vol 31 (10) ◽  
pp. 29-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. E. Thorpe ◽  
C. Young Cho

Most species in aquaculture are new to cultivation and so behave like wild animals. They are products of evolution, with adaptations to specific habitat conditions. In the wild, food is not available uniformly throughout the day or the year, or in space, and rarely exceeds the fishes needs. Competition is energetically expensive, reducing growth efficiency. Consequently, feeding activity patterns have evolved, implying internal appetite rhythms, which optimise food intake under these various constraints. Salmonids can adapt quickly to short term variation in food availability, but show seasonal genetically determined anorexia. Rational feeding regimes in culture should take all such features into account. When appetite is high naturally, food should be presented so that it is economically indefensible - where every individual can eat, and where fighting does not pay. At periods of anorexia it will be prudent to offer no food. Manufacturers' feed tables are usually regimes devised to meet the bioenergetic needs of fishes, as they are understood in a physico-chemical sense. While useful first approximations, they do not take into account these evolutionary features of the fishes, and can lead to waste. Methods of presentation are described which allow the fish to determine when food shall be available, and in ways which, by diminishing the advantages of social dominance, ensure relatively even opportunities to feed for all individuals in the population. Allowing the fish to set the time-table reduces the likelihood of waste.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Griffin A. Moyer ◽  
◽  
Jesse Lee ◽  
Christopher Eddy ◽  
Elena A. Miranda ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Shaoshuai Liu ◽  
Maria Jose Ladera-Carmona ◽  
Minna M. Poranen ◽  
Aart J. E. van Bel ◽  
Karl-Heinz Kogel ◽  
...  

AbstractMacrophage migration inhibitory factors (MIFs) are multifunctional proteins regulating major processes in mammals, including activation of innate immune responses. In invertebrates, MIF proteins participate in the modulation of host immune responses when secreted by parasitic organisms, such as aphids. In this study, we assessed the possibility to use MIF genes as targets for RNA interference (RNAi)-based control of the grain aphid Sitobion avenae (Sa) on barley (Hordeum vulgare). When nymphs were fed on artificial diet containing double-stranded (ds)RNAs (SaMIF-dsRNAs) that target sequences of the three MIF genes SaMIF1, SaMIF2 and SaMIF3, they showed higher mortality rates and these rates correlated with reduced MIF transcript levels as compared to the aphids feeding on artificial diet containing a control dsRNA (GFP-dsRNA). Comparison of different feeding strategies showed that nymphs’ survival was not altered when they fed from barley seedlings sprayed with naked SaMIF-dsRNAs, suggesting they did not effectively take up dsRNA from the sieve tubes of these plants. Furthermore, aphids’ survival was also not affected when the nymphs fed on leaves supplied with dsRNA via basal cut ends of barley leaves. Consistent with this finding, the use of sieve tube-specific YFP-labeled Arabidopsis reporter lines confirmed that fluorescent 21 nt dsRNACy3, when supplied via petioles or spraying, co-localized with xylem structures, but not with phloem tissue. Our results suggest that MIF genes are a potential target for insect control and also imply that application of naked dsRNA to plants for aphid control is inefficient. More efforts should be put into the development of effective dsRNA formulations.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 6081
Author(s):  
Pragna Prathap ◽  
Surinder Singh Chauhan ◽  
Brian J. Leury ◽  
Jeremy James Cottrell ◽  
Frank Rowland Dunshea

The increasing need for sustainable livestock production demands more research in the field of greenhouse gas (GHG), particularly methane (CH4), measurement and mitigation. Dietary interventions, management, and biotechnological strategies to reduce the environmental impacts and economic implications of enteric CH4 emissions are needed. While the use of biotechnological interventions and management strategies can be challenging on a routine basis, feed additive supplementation appears to be the most researched, developed, and ready to use strategy to mitigate enteric CH4 emissions. This paper discusses various recently developed feeding strategies to reduce enteric CH4 emissions in livestock. Additionally, the manuscript reviews various technologies developed for CH4 estimation since the accurate and reliable estimation of CH4 emissions can be a limiting step in the development and adoption of any mitigation strategy.


Author(s):  
Kristina D Lowe ◽  
Mark A Lott ◽  
Chad D Jensen

Abstract Objective  This study evaluated associations between parent–child connectedness and communication, parent feeding behaviors (restriction, pressure to eat, and monitoring), and age- and sex-standardized child body mass index (zBMI) in a sample of pre-adolescent children aged 8–12 years. Methods  A community sample of three hundred and eight child–parent dyads completed measures of communication and connectedness. Parents completed a feeding behavior measure and children were weighed and their height was measured. We examined whether parental feeding behaviors and parent–child communication and connectedness predicted child zBMI and whether parental feeding behaviors moderated the association between parent–child communication and connectedness and child zBMI. Results  Feeding restriction was positively associated with zBMI, while both pressure to eat and food monitoring exhibited negative associations with zBMI. Child-reported communication was inversely associated with zBMI and parental pressure to eat moderated this association such that lower pressure to eat predicted a stronger association between communication and zBMI. Conclusions  These findings are consistent with previous research suggesting that parent feeding strategies and parent–child communication are important contributors to child weight status. This study also provides preliminary evidence suggesting that adaptive parent–child communication is associated with lower body mass when parents avoid pressuring their child to eat. Our study provides an important extension of this body of research into middle childhood, a relatively understudied developmental stage.


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