scholarly journals Sexual and developmental variations of ecto-parasitism in damselflies

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shatabdi Paul ◽  
Md Kawsar Khan ◽  
Marie E. Herberstein
Keyword(s):  
Body Condition ◽  
Developmental Stages ◽  
Natural Populations ◽  
Parasite Load ◽  
Parasite Prevalence ◽  
Total Body Length ◽  
Developmental Differences ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Developmental Variations ◽  
Species Specific

AbstractThe prevalence and intensity of parasitism can have different fitness costs between sexes, and across species and developmental stages. This variation could arise because of species specific sexual and developmental differences in body condition, immunity, and resistance. Theory predicts that the prevalence of parasitism will be greater in individuals with poor body condition and the intensity of parasitism will be greater in individuals with larger body size. These predictions have been tested and verified in vertebrates. In insects, however, contradictory evidence has been found in different taxa. Here, we tested these predictions on two species of Agriocnemis (Agriocnemis femina and Agriocnemis pygmaea) damselflies, which are parasitized by Arrenurus water mite ectoparasites. We measured body weight, total body length, abdomen area and thorax area of non-parasitized damselflies and found body condition varied between males and females, between immature females and mature females and between A. femina and A. pygmaea. Then, we calculated the parasite prevalence, i.e., the frequency of parasitism and intensity, i.e., the number of parasites per infected damselfly in eleven natural populations of both species. In line to our predictions, we observed greater prevalence in immature females than mature females but found no difference in parasite prevalence between males and females. Furthermore, we found that parasite load was higher in females than males and in immature females than mature females. Our result also showed that the frequency and intensity of parasitism varied between the two studied species, being higher in A. pygmaea than A. femina. Our study provides evidence that parasitism impacts sexes, developmental stages and species differentially and suggests that variation may occur due to sex, developmental stage, and species-specific resistance and tolerance mechanism.

Some like it hot? Developmental differences in Yellow-bellied Toad (Bombina variegata) tadpoles from geographically close but different habitats

2016 ◽  
Vol 94 (2) ◽  
pp. 69-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Dittrich ◽  
S. Drakulić ◽  
M. Schellenberg ◽  
J. Thein ◽  
M.-O. Rödel
Keyword(s):  
Body Condition ◽  
Common Garden ◽  
Developmental Time ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Developmental Differences ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Term Survival ◽  
Species Population ◽  
Bombina Variegata ◽  
Species Specific

The key for the long-term survival of species is their potential to respond to changing conditions. These reactions are usually species-specific and may vary between populations. The Yellow-bellied Toad (Bombina variegata (L., 1758)) occurs in forested and open areas. We wanted to know whether tadpoles react plastically to different environmental conditions, and if so, whether reaction norms are species, population, or season specific. In a common garden experiment, we compared developmental traits (developmental time, size, body condition) of metamorphs from different habitats (forest vs. quarry) in close geographic proximity. Tadpoles from both habitats grew up under shaded and sunny conditions. The experiments were run during early and late breeding season. We detected different developmental strategies between populations, concerning treatments and season on a microgeographic scale. Tadpoles with quarry origin developed faster and reached larger body sizes, at the expense of lower body condition. Major risks affecting tadpole’s survival in the open habitat are high temperatures and high desiccation. Forest tadpoles were comparatively smaller in size, but showed higher plasticity and higher body condition. Under changing climatic conditions, quarry population may reach temperatures above their thermal limits. In contrast, forest conditions may mitigate increasing temperatures. Forest populations could be better adapted to future climate change.

scholarly journals Developmental expression of the 412 retrotransposon in natural populations of D. melanogaster and D. simulans

2000 ◽  
Vol 76 (3) ◽  
pp. 217-226 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. BORIE ◽  
C. LOEVENBRUCK ◽  
C. BIEMONT
Keyword(s):  
Expression Pattern ◽  
Copy Number ◽  
Developmental Stages ◽  
Population Sample ◽  
Natural Populations ◽  
Developmental Expression ◽  
Regulatory Sequences ◽  
Copy Numbers ◽  
Species Specific ◽  
Very High

We analysed the pattern of expression of retrotransposon 412 through developmental stages in various populations of Drosophila simulans and D. melanogaster differing in 412 copy number. We found that the 412 expression pattern varied greatly between populations of both species, indicating that such patterns were not entirely species-specific. In D. simulans, total transcripts increased with number of 412 copies in the chromosomes when this number was low, and then decreased for high copy numbers. D. melanogaster, which has a higher 412 copy number than D. simulans, had overall a lower global 412 expression, but again showed variation in 412 expression pattern between populations. These results suggest that in populations of D. simulans with low 412 copy number, the expression pattern of this element depends not only on copy number but also on host cellular regulatory sequences near which the elements were inserted. In D. simulans populations with high copy number overall transcription was on the contrary globally repressed, as observed in D. melanogaster. A population from Canberra (Australia) which had a very high 412 copy number was found to be associated with very high expression of 412 over all developmental stages, suggesting that the above 412 expression regulation processes are overcome in this population sample. The analysis of hybrids between geographically distinct populations of D. simulans showed that 412 expression was trans-regulated differently according to developmental stages, implying complex interactions between the 412 element and stage-specific host genes.

scholarly journals The evolution of alternative splicing in Drosophila

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren Gibilisco ◽  
Qi Zhou ◽  
Shivani Mahajan ◽  
Doris Bachtrog
Keyword(s):  
Developmental Stages ◽  
Early Embryo ◽  
Adult Tissues ◽  
Zygotic Transcription ◽  
Somatic Tissues ◽  
Alternatively Spliced ◽  
Specialized Function ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Species Specific ◽  
Gene Expression Levels

Alternative pre-mRNA splicing (“AS”) greatly expands proteome diversity, but little is known about the evolutionary landscape of AS in Drosophila, and how it differs between embryonic and adult stages, or males and females. Here we study the transcriptome from several tissues and developmental stages in males and females from four species across the Drosophila genus. We find that 20-37% of multi-exon genes are alternatively spliced. While males generally express a larger number of genes, AS is more prevalent in females, suggesting that the sexes adopt different expression strategies for their specialized function. While the number of total genes expressed increases during early embryonic development, the proportion of expressed genes that are alternatively spliced is highest in the very early embryo, before the onset of zygotic transcription. This indicates that females deposit a diversity of isoforms into the egg, consistent with abundant AS found in ovary. Cluster analysis by gene expression levels (“GE”) show mostly stage-specific clustering in embryonic samples, and tissue-specific clustering in adult tissues. Clustering embryonic stages and adult tissues based on AS profiles results in stronger species-specific clustering, and over development, samples segregate by developmental stage within species. Most sex-biased AS found in flies is due to AS in gonads, with little sex-specific splicing in somatic tissues.

Leucocyte profiles and body condition in breeding brown boobies and red-tailed tropicbirds: effects of breeding stage and sex

2013 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nina Dehnhard ◽  
Janos C. Hennicke
Keyword(s):  
Body Condition ◽  
Foraging Strategy ◽  
Seabird Species ◽  
Breeding Stage ◽  
Christmas Island ◽  
Investment In Reproduction ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Species Specific ◽  
Phaethon Rubricauda ◽  
Leucocyte Profiles

Foraging in a habitat with highly unpredictable availability of prey, breeding seabirds have to balance their investment in reproduction with their own energetic requirements, including their immune system. This study aimed to investigate the influence of breeding stage (incubation and chick rearing) and sex on body condition and leucocyte profiles in two sympatrically breeding tropical seabird species on Christmas Island, Indian Ocean: the strongly size-dimorphic, inshore-foraging brown booby (Sula leucogaster) and the monomorphic offshore-foraging red-tailed tropicbird (Phaethon rubricauda). Brown booby males were in poorer body condition than females. Male brown boobies had a higher heterophil/lymphocyte (H/L) ratio (indicating higher stress levels), and higher eosinophil numbers (suggesting higher intestinal parasite loads) than females, and sex differences in H/L ratio and body condition were more pronounced during chick rearing. The results suggest that in brown boobies, incubation was energetically less demanding for males than chick rearing, but that the smaller males were energetically more challenged than females during both breeding stages. In the monomorphic red-tailed tropicbird, there were no differences in body condition between sexes and breeding stage, and there was no influence of sex or breeding stage on the leucocyte profiles. The results suggest that incubation and chick rearing are equally demanding for males and females, and that the increased energetic demands of chick rearing are likely to be buffered by a bimodal foraging strategy by both sexes. Our results show that breeding stage as well as sex- and species-specific foraging behaviour can affect leucocyte profiles and particularly the H/L ratio differentially in sympatrically breeding seabird species.

scholarly journals Characterizing territoriality and the mechanisms that mediate it in female Anolis gundlachi lizards

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Ellee G. Cook
Keyword(s):  
Body Condition ◽  
Morphological Characteristics ◽  
Parasite Load ◽  
Field Studies ◽  
Territorial Behavior ◽  
Territory Size ◽  
Free Living ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Territorial Behaviors

Territoriality is a suite of behaviors through which animals secure access to particular areas or resources. It is prevalent across animal groups and has the potential to exert substantial influence on fitness by mediating how individuals are distributed across the landscape, which individuals interact socially, and those that have access to resources. Territoriality has been the subject of extensive research on animal behavior over the last century and has influenced our understanding of other aspects of species ecology, such as mating systems. However, a substantial portion of research on territoriality has focused primarily on males, despite the fact that females of many species are also observed to exhibit territoriality. This is particularly true of studies investigating the mechanisms that modulate territoriality, such as circulating hormones and morphological characteristics including body condition. As such, two important questions remain open for many territorial taxa--within territorial species, do both sexes use similar repertoires of territorial behavior, and if so, are these behaviors mediated by the same mechanisms in both females? The aim of this dissertation has been to pursue these two questions in the lizard Anolis gundlachi. Anolis have figured prominently in territorial research over the last century but are plagued with the same pitfall of lack of studies of females, which is a common problem across many groups, as is observed in other species. Integrating field studies and laboratory techniques, I characterized the behavior and space use of free-living female A. gundlachi in Puerto Rico to assess whether females exhibit similar behavioral patterns as males. As part of this research, I assessed the potential for individual variation in body condition to mediate differences in territory size. I also characterized the testosterone and corticosterone profiles of free-living male and female A. gundlachi, and staged territorial intrusions among females to evaluate the potential for these hormones to mediate differences in territorial behavior across the sexes and among females. Finally, I evaluated the potential for a tradeoff between testosterone, corticosterone, and parasite load by measuring parasite loads of Plasmodium sp. in the same free-living population. Together, the results presented in this dissertation demonstrate that female A. gundlachi exhibit territorial behaviors that highly resemble those observed in male A. gundlachi and other species of Anolis. However, two mechanisms commonly implicated in the control of territoriality in males--metrics of body size and circulating hormones concentrations--did not explain similar patterns in females. In addition, we found no evidence of a tradeoff between hormone concentration and parasite load. Taken together, these results demonstrate that different mechanisms may influence similar behaviors exhibited by males and females of the same species. In combination with a growing body of work investigating the evolution of territorial and other aggressive behaviors in females, our findings demonstrate the need for more direct studies of females to more clearly understand why these behaviors have arisen in both sexes and to identify the mechanisms that mediate them in females.

scholarly journals A multi-bioassay integrated approach to assess antifouling potential of extracts from the Mediterranean sponge Ircinia oros

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucia De Marchi ◽  
Carlo Pretti ◽  
Alessia Cuccaro ◽  
Matteo Oliva ◽  
Federica Tardelli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Developmental Stages ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Common Species ◽  
Marine Diatom ◽  
Cellular Damage ◽  
Inhibition Of Growth ◽  
Aliivibrio Fischeri ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Ircinia Oros ◽  
Species Specific

AbstractThe phylum Porifera and their symbionts produce a wide variety of bioactive compounds, playing a central role in their ecology and evolution. In this study, four different extracts (obtained by non-polar and semi-polar extraction methodologies) of the Mediterranean sponge Ircinia oros were tested through a multi-bioassay integrated approach to assess their antifouling potential. Tests were performed using three common species, associated with three different endpoints: the marine bacterium Aliivibrio fischeri (inhibition of bioluminescence), the marine diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum (inhibition of growth), and different development stages of the brackish water serpulid Ficopomatus enigmaticus (gametes: sperm motion, vitality inhibition and cellular damage; larvae: development; adults: AChE (acetylcholinesterase)-inhibitory activity). The effects of extracts were species specific and did not vary among different extraction methodologies. In particular, no significant reduction of bioluminescence of A. fischeri was observed for all tested samples. By contrast, extracts inhibited P. tricornutum growth and had toxic effects on different F. enigmaticus’ developmental stages. Our results suggest that the proposed test battery can be considered a suitable tool as bioactivity screening of marine natural products.

scholarly journals The Effect of an Anthropogenic Magnetic Field on the Early Developmental Stages of Fishes—A Review

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 1210
Author(s):  
Krzysztof Formicki ◽  
Agata Korzelecka-Orkisz ◽  
Adam Tański
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Fields ◽  
Developmental Stages ◽  
Negative Influence ◽  
Pigment Cells ◽  
Egg Activation ◽  
Industrial Equipment ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Early Developmental Stages ◽  
Species Specific ◽  
Early Developmental

The number of sources of anthropogenic magnetic and electromagnetic fields generated by various underwater facilities, industrial equipment, and transferring devices in aquatic environment is increasing. These have an effect on an array of fish life processes, but especially the early developmental stages. The magnitude of these effects depends on field strength and time of exposure and is species-specific. We review studies on the effect of magnetic fields on the course of embryogenesis, with special reference to survival, the size of the embryos, embryonic motor function, changes in pigment cells, respiration hatching, and directional reactions. We also describe the effect of magnetic fields on sperm motility and egg activation. Magnetic fields can exert positive effects, as in the case of the considerable extension of sperm capability of activation, or have a negative influence in the form of a disturbance in heart rate or developmental instability in inner ear organs.

scholarly journals No sex differences in learning in wild bumblebees

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felicity Muth ◽  
Amber D Tripodi ◽  
Rene Bonilla ◽  
James P Strange ◽  
Anne S Leonard
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
Associative Learning ◽  
Sierra Nevada ◽  
Comparative Cognition ◽  
Natural Populations ◽  
Interspecific Variation ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Learning Ability ◽  
Learning Performance ◽  
Males And Females

Abstract Females and males often face different sources of selection, resulting in dimorphism in morphological, physiological, and even cognitive traits. Sex differences are often studied in respect to spatial cognition, yet the different ecological roles of males and females might shape cognition in multiple ways. For example, in dietary generalist bumblebees (Bombus), the ability to learn associations is critical to female workers, who face informationally rich foraging scenarios as they collect nectar and pollen from thousands of flowers over a period of weeks to months to feed the colony. While male bumblebees likely need to learn associations as well, they only forage for themselves while searching for potential mates. It is thus less clear whether foraging males would benefit from the same associative learning performance as foraging females. In this system, as in others, cognitive performance is typically studied in lab-reared animals under captive conditions, which may not be representative of patterns in the wild. In the first test of sex and species differences in cognition using wild bumblebees, we compared the performance of Bombus vancouverensis nearcticus (formerly bifarius) and Bombus vosnesenskii of both sexes on an associative learning task at Sierra Nevada (CA) field sites. Across both species, we found that males and females did not differ in their ability to learn, although males were slower to respond to the sucrose reward. These results offer the first evidence from natural populations that male bumblebees may be equally as able to learn associations as females, supporting findings from captive colonies of commercial bees. The observed interspecific variation in learning ability opens the door to using the Bombus system to test hypotheses about comparative cognition.

scholarly journals Development and Interrogation of a Transcriptomic Resource for the Giant Triton Snail (Charonia tritonis)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
AH Klein ◽  
CA Motti ◽  
AK Hillberg ◽  
T Ventura ◽  
P Thomas-Hall ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Developmental Stages ◽  
Cell Signalling ◽  
Natural Populations ◽  
Olfactory Receptors ◽  
Gill Tissue ◽  
Abundant Species ◽  
Population Outbreaks ◽  
Coral Reef Ecosystems ◽  
Specialist Predators ◽  
G Protein Coupled

AbstractGastropod molluscs are among the most abundant species that inhabit coral reef ecosystems. Many are specialist predators, along with the giant triton snail Charonia tritonis (Linnaeus, 1758) whose diet consists of Acanthaster planci (crown-of-thorns starfish), a corallivore known to consume enormous quantities of reef-building coral. C. tritonis are considered vulnerable due to overexploitation, and a decline in their populations is believed to have contributed to recurring A. planci population outbreaks. Aquaculture is considered one approach that could help restore natural populations of C. tritonis and mitigate coral loss; however, numerous questions remain unanswered regarding their life cycle, including the molecular factors that regulate their reproduction and development. In this study, we have established a reference C. tritonis transcriptome derived from developmental stages (embryo and veliger) and adult tissues. This was used to identify genes associated with cell signalling, such as neuropeptides and G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), involved in endocrine and olfactory signalling. A comparison of developmental stages showed that several neuropeptide precursors are exclusively expressed in post-hatch veligers and functional analysis found that FFamide stimulated a significant (20.3%) increase in larval heart rate. GPCRs unique to veligers, and a diversity of rhodopsin-like GPCRs located within adult cephalic tentacles, all represent candidate olfactory receptors. In addition, the cytochrome P450 superfamily, which participates in the biosynthesis and degradation of steroid hormones and lipids, was also found to be expanded with at least 91 genes annotated, mostly in gill tissue. These findings further progress our understanding of C. tritonis with possible application in developing aquaculture methods.

scholarly journals Going Wild: Lessons from Naturally Occurring T-Lymphotropic Lentiviruses

2006 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 728-762 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sue VandeWoude ◽  
Cristian Apetrei
Keyword(s):  
Immune Responses ◽  
Natural Populations ◽  
Host Immune Responses ◽  
Experimental Systems ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
Immunodeficiency Virus ◽  
New Directions ◽  
Species Specific ◽  
Lentiviral Infections ◽  
Hiv Aids

SUMMARY Over 40 nonhuman primate (NHP) species harbor species-specific simian immunodeficiency viruses (SIVs). Similarly, more than 20 species of nondomestic felids and African hyenids demonstrate seroreactivity against feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) antigens. While it has been challenging to study the biological implications of nonfatal infections in natural populations, epidemiologic and clinical studies performed thus far have only rarely detected increased morbidity or impaired fecundity/survival of naturally infected SIV- or FIV-seropositive versus -seronegative animals. Cross-species transmissions of these agents are rare in nature but have been used to develop experimental systems to evaluate mechanisms of pathogenicity and to develop animal models of HIV/AIDS. Given that felids and primates are substantially evolutionarily removed yet demonstrate the same pattern of apparently nonpathogenic lentiviral infections, comparison of the biological behaviors of these viruses can yield important implications for host-lentiviral adaptation which are relevant to human HIV/AIDS infection. This review therefore evaluates similarities in epidemiology, lentiviral genotyping, pathogenicity, host immune responses, and cross-species transmission of FIVs and factors associated with the establishment of lentiviral infections in new species. This comparison of consistent patterns in lentivirus biology will expose new directions for scientific inquiry for understanding the basis for virulence versus avirulence.

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