scholarly journals BIPARENTAL INBREEDING AND INTERREMNANT MATING IN A PERENNIAL PRAIRIE PLANT: FITNESS CONSEQUENCES FOR PROGENY IN THEIR FIRST EIGHT YEARS

Evolution ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 64 (3) ◽  
pp. 761-771 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stuart Wagenius ◽  
Helen H. Hangelbroek ◽  
Caroline E. Ridley ◽  
Ruth G. Shaw
Keyword(s):  
Plant Fitness ◽  
Biparental Inbreeding ◽  
Fitness Consequences ◽  
Prairie Plant

scholarly journals Plant ontogeny determines strength and associated plant fitness consequences of plant‐mediated interactions between herbivores and flower visitors

2020 ◽  
Vol 108 (3) ◽  
pp. 1046-1060
Author(s):  
Quint Rusman ◽  
Dani Lucas‐Barbosa ◽  
Kamrul Hassan ◽  
Erik H. Poelman
Keyword(s):  
Plant Fitness ◽  
Flower Visitors ◽  
Fitness Consequences ◽  
Plant Ontogeny

Dealing with hot rocky environments: Critical thermal maxima and locomotor performance in Leptodactylus lithonaetes (Anura: Leptodactylidae)

2019 ◽  
pp. 155-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivan Beltran
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Temperature ◽  
Extreme Temperature ◽  
Effect Of Temperature ◽  
Maximum Speed ◽  
Locomotor Performance ◽  
Extreme Temperatures ◽  
Physiological Limits ◽  
Fitness Consequences ◽  
Thermal Maximum ◽  
Environmental Temperatures

Environmental temperature has fitness consequences on ectotherm development, ecology and behaviour. Amphibians are especially vulnerable because thermoregulation often trades with appropriate water balance. Although substantial research has evaluated the effect of temperature in amphibian locomotion and physiological limits, there is little information about amphibians living under extreme temperature conditions. Leptodactylus lithonaetes is a frog allegedly specialised to forage and breed on dark granitic outcrops and associated puddles, which reach environmental temperatures well above 40 ˚C. Adults can select thermally favourable microhabitats during the day while tadpoles are constrained to rock puddles and associated temperature fluctuations; we thus established microhabitat temperatures and tested whether the critical thermal maximum (CTmax) of L. lithonaetes is higher in tadpoles compared to adults. In addition, we evaluated the effect of water temperature on locomotor performance of tadpoles. Contrary to our expectations, puddle temperatures were comparable and even lower than those temperatures measured in the microhabitats used by adults in the daytime. Nonetheless, the CTmax was 42.3 ˚C for tadpoles and 39.7 ˚C for adults. Regarding locomotor performance, maximum speed and maximum distance travelled by tadpoles peaked around 34 ˚C, approximately 1 ˚C below the maximum puddle temperatures registered in the puddles. In conclusion, L. lithonaetes tadpoles have a higher CTmax compared to adults, suggesting a longer exposure to extreme temperatures that lead to maintain their physiological performance at high temperatures. We suggest that these conditions are adaptations to face the strong selection forces driven by this granitic habitat.

Evaluation of Nurse Crops for Weed Control and Plant Establishment in Prairie Restoration

HortScience ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 485b-485
Author(s):  
Lisa M. Barry ◽  
Michael N. Dana
Keyword(s):  
Plant Biomass ◽  
Spring Barley ◽  
Dry Weight ◽  
Site Quality ◽  
Prairie Restoration ◽  
Plant Establishment ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Nurse Crops ◽  
Partridge Pea ◽  
Prairie Plant

Nurse crops are often recommended in prairie restoration planting. This work investigated several alternative nurse crops to determine their utility in prairie planting. Nurse crops were composed of increasing densities (900, 1800, or 2700 seeds/m2) of partridge pea, spring oats, spring barley, Canada wild rye, or equal mixtures of partridge pea and one of the grasses. The experimental design was a randomized complete-block set in two sites with three blocks per site and 48 treatments per block. Each 3 × 3-m plot contained 1 m2 planted in Dec. 1995 or Mar. 1996 with an equal mix of seven prairie species. The nurse crops were sown over each nine square meter area in April 1996. Plots lacking nurse crops served as controls. Evaluated data consisted of weed pressure rankings and weed and prairie plant dry weight. Nurse crop treatments had a significant effect on weed pressure in both sites. Barley (1800 and 2700 seeds/m2) as well as partridge pea + barley (2700 seeds/m2) were most effective at reducing weed pressure. When weed and prairie plant biomass values were compared, a significant difference was observed for site quality and planting season. Prairie plant establishment was significantly greater in the poorly drained, less-fertile site and spring-sown plots in both sites had significantly higher prairie biomass values. Overall, after two seasons, there was no advantage in using nurse crops over the control. Among nurse crop treatments, oats were most effective in reducing weed competition and enhancing prairie plant growth.

An Evolutionary Perspective on Mental Time Travel

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Suddendorf
Keyword(s):  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Deliberate Practice ◽  
Time Travel ◽  
Mental Time Travel ◽  
Evolutionary Perspective ◽  
Scenario Building ◽  
Memory Traces ◽  
Fitness Consequences ◽  
Nonhuman Animals ◽  
Archeological Evidence

This article examines the nature and evolution of mental time travel. Evidence for capacities in other animals is reviewed and evaluated in terms of which components of the human faculty appear to be shared and which are unique. While some nonhuman animals store episodic memory traces and can display a range of future-directed capacities, they do not appear to share the open-ended ability to construct mental scenarios, to embed them into larger narratives, nor to reflect and communicate on what they entail. Nested scenario building and the urge to exchange mental experiences seem to set human minds apart in this context as in many others. The article ends with a discussion of the archeological evidence for mental time travel, focusing on deliberate practice as an example of its tremendous fitness consequences.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document