scholarly journals Characterization of assemblages in neotropical cave dwelling bats based on their diet, wing morphology, and flight performance

Therya ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 435-447
Author(s):  
Fernando Salgado Mejia ◽  
Ricardo López Wilchis ◽  
Luis Manuel Guevara Chumacero ◽  
Pedro Luis Valverde Padilla ◽  
Pablo Corcuera Martínez del Rio ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Stomach Contents ◽  
Spatial Segregation ◽  
Species Assemblages ◽  
Trophic Guilds ◽  
Flight Performance ◽  
Wing Morphology ◽  
Trophic Guild ◽  
Identification Of Species ◽  
Morphological Differences

Bats have a great variety of wing morphologies that determines the bat’s flight performance, and this in turn conditions the forage aerosphere and the food it can obtain.  Several studies have shown differences in wing morphology, flight performance, and forage aerospheres among species from different trophic guilds.  However, for species that share a guild this is not entirely clear. It is possible that these species have differences in their diet and show changes in wing morphology that modify their flight performance and forage areas.  Determining this will allow a better understanding of spatial segregation among species that share a trophic guild.  These studies allow the identification of species assemblages based on wing morphological differences and flight performance that would not be distinguished only by guild membership.  Our goal was to define the species assemblages that make up a community of Neotropical cave dwelling bats based on their trophic guild, flight performance, and forage zone.  A community of Neotropical cave dwelling bats from a cave in Veracruz, Mexico was analyzed. The diet of each species was determined by means of their stomach contents and bibliographic review. In addition, aspect ratio, wing loading and tip index were calculated. Based on the wing characteristics and diet, multivariate groupings and orders were performed, as well as to define the assemblages present.  According to the wing characteristics and the dietary composition, four groups of species were found that represent four different flight characteristics in terms of agility and maneuverability.  There was agreement between diet and wing characteristics, and the four trophic groups were identified through canonical correspondence analysis.  Correlating wing morphology, diet and forage area allows us to adequately define the assemblages of a community of bats.  Regarding the hypothesis, it was found that species that share a food guild show differences in the composition of their food and wing morphology, which generate differences in flight performance and forage areas.  Four assemblages differing in forage aerospheres among three trophic guilds are described: understory and facultative artrhopodivorous, semi-clearing hematophages, and facultative nectarivores.  Finally, spatial segregation between the species of the families Mormoopidae and Natalidae was recognized.

Between- and within-breed morphological variability in Moroccan sheep breeds

2016 ◽  
Vol 58 ◽  
pp. 91-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Boujenane ◽  
D. Petit
Keyword(s):  
Multivariate Analyses ◽  
Morphological Variability ◽  
Tail Length ◽  
Morphological Characterization ◽  
Total Variance ◽  
High Association ◽  
Sheep Breeds ◽  
Selection Strategies ◽  
Morphological Differences

SummaryThe objective of this study was a morphological characterization of five Moroccan sheep breeds (Béni Guil, Boujaâd, D'man, Sardi and Timahdite) to assess between- and within-breed variability using multivariate analyses. Fourteen morphological measurements were collected on 876 adult animals of both sexes in 98 different flocks located in 22 geographic localities of five breeds. The multiple analysis of variance revealed that significant morphological differences existed between breeds. The overall proportion of total variance due to between-breed component was 28.3 percent. The factor analysis revealed three factors accounting for 50.1, 11.8 and 7.54 percent of total variance. The first factor had high loadings for variables relating to body size, whilst the second factor had high association with traits reflecting tail length and ear size. The third factor had high loadings for wool trait. The squared Mahalanobis distance between the five sheep breeds were highly significant (P< 0.001). The largest morphological divergence was shown between Béni Guil and Sardi breeds (23.5) and the smallest one was between Boujaâd and Sardi breeds (3.54). The discriminant functions clearly discriminated and assigned 94.4 percent of Béni Guil, 79.7 of Boujaâd, 88.5 percent of D'man, 86.7 of Sardi and 80.1 percent of Timahdite sheep into their breed of origin. Overall morphological differences observed within-breeds were due for 18.1 percent to geographic locality and for 20.7 percent to flock management. It was concluded that the information reported in this study will be the basis for the establishment of characterization and selection strategies for Moroccan sheep.

scholarly journals Characterization of the genetic architecture underlying eye size variation within Drosophila melanogaster and Drosophila simulans

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pedro Gaspar ◽  
Saad Arif ◽  
Lauren Sumner-Rooney ◽  
Maike Kittelmann ◽  
Andrew J. Bodey ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Natural Variation ◽  
Size Variation ◽  
Eye Size ◽  
Specific Variation ◽  
Gene Regulatory ◽  
Morphological Differences ◽  
Genomic Regions ◽  
Insect Eye

AbstractThe compound eyes of insects exhibit striking variation in size, reflecting adaptation to different lifestyles and habitats. However, the genetic and developmental bases of variation in insect eye size is poorly understood, which limits our understanding of how these important morphological differences evolve. To address this, we further explored natural variation in eye size within and between four species of the Drosophila melanogaster species subgroup. We found extensive variation in eye size among these species, and flies with larger eyes generally had a shorter inter-ocular distance and vice versa. We then carried out quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping of intra-specific variation in eye size and inter-ocular distance in both D. melanogaster and D. simulans. This revealed that different genomic regions underlie variation in eye size and inter-ocular distance in both species, which we corroborated by introgression mapping in D. simulans. This suggests that although there is a trade-off between eye size and inter-ocular distance, variation in these two traits is likely to be caused by different genes and so can be genetically decoupled. Finally, although we detected QTL for intra-specific variation in eye size at similar positions in D. melanogaster and D. simulans, we observed differences in eye fate commitment between strains of these two species. This indicates that different developmental mechanisms and therefore, most likely, different genes contribute to eye size variation in these species. Taken together with the results of previous studies, our findings suggest that the gene regulatory network that specifies eye size has evolved at multiple genetic nodes to give rise to natural variation in this trait within and among species.

Morphological and molecular characterization of two species of Gelidium (Gelidiales, Rhodophyta) from Mexico: G. nayaritense sp. nov. and the new record of G. sanyaense

Phytotaxa ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 527 (3) ◽  
pp. 161-176
Author(s):  
NATALY QUIROZ-GONZÁLEZ ◽  
MA. EDITH PONCE-MÁRQUEZ ◽  
NORMA LÓPEZ-GÓMEZ ◽  
DENÍ RODRÍGUEZ
Keyword(s):  
Gulf Of California ◽  
Phylogenetic Analyses ◽  
Distinct Species ◽  
Tropical Region ◽  
Mexican Pacific ◽  
Molecular Approaches ◽  
Diagnostic Characteristics ◽  
Morphological Differences ◽  
First Time

Gelidium pusillum is a species reported from the northern Gulf of California to the tropical region of the Mexican Pacific, but there is wide morphological variation among populations. The objective of this research was to evaluate of the Mexican species using morphological and molecular approaches, with the markers rbcL and COI-5P. This study examined 12 samples from four sites in the Mexican tropical Pacific. Phylogenetic analyses resolved these specimens within two clades separated from the topotype material of G. pusillum. The main morphological differences with other Mexican and phylogenetic closely related species were size, branching pattern, branching order, distribution of internal rhizoidal filaments, and shape of the tetrasporangial sori. The sequence divergences between these clades and the morphological differences support their representing distinct species so that Gelidium nayaritense sp. nov. is proposed for tropical specimens of the Mexican Pacific, whose diagnostic characteristics are the little or absent branching, its small size, as well as the presence of internal rhizoidal filaments concentrated in the subcortex, further G. sanyaense is register for first time from Mexico and Eastern Pacific.

Morphological characterization of diploid and triploid Acorus calamus (Acoraceae) from southern Western Siberia, parthenocarpy in sterile plants and occurrence of aneuploidy

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dmitry D Sokoloff ◽  
Mikhail V Skaptsov ◽  
Nikolay A Vislobokov ◽  
Sergey V Smirnov ◽  
Alexander I Shmakov ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Western Siberia ◽  
Cell Number ◽  
Morphological Characterization ◽  
Acorus Calamus ◽  
Subsequent Work ◽  
Centre Of Diversity ◽  
Morphological Differences ◽  
Temperate Asia ◽  
Important Medicinal Plant

Abstract Finding morphological differences between cytotypes that are stable throughout their geographical range is important for understanding evolution of polyploid complexes. The ancient monocot lineage Acorus includes two groups, of which A. calamus s.l., an important medicinal plant, is a polyploid complex with a centre of diversity in Asia. European plants are sterile triploids introduced by humans. An early study suggested that plants from temperate Asia are tetraploids, but subsequent work revealed diploids and triploids rather than tetraploids in Asiatic Russia; however, cytotype diversity in Western Siberia is insufficiently known. We document the occurrence of diploids and triploids in Western Siberia. Triploids that do not differ in genome size from European Acorus are abundant in the valley of the river Ob where the ability for extensive vegetative propagation provides ecological advantages. An isolated population of aneuploid triploids with 33 chromosomes is found outside the Ob valley. Flow cytometry provides an efficient tool for identification of aneuploid plants in Acorus. All triploids are sterile, but their flowers develop uniform parthenocarpic fruits. Fruits of diploids usually vary in size within a spadix depending on the number of developing seeds. In contrast to North America, where the native diploid plants differ from the introduced triploids by the absence of a secondary midrib of the ensiform leaf blade, Siberian diploids are similar to triploids in possessing a secondary midrib. We confirm that diploids differ from triploids in the size of air lacunae in leaves, which is determined by cell number rather than cell size in septa of aerenchyma. A combination of spathe width and spadix length measured after the male stage of anthesis shows different (slightly overlapping) patterns of variation between diploids and triploids in our material.

scholarly journals Morphometric Characterization of the Lidia Cattle Breed

Animals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 1180
Author(s):  
Juan Manuel Lomillos ◽  
Marta E. Alonso
Keyword(s):  
Cattle Breed ◽  
Internal Variability ◽  
Morphological Characterization ◽  
Relative Depth ◽  
Sexually Dimorphic ◽  
Muscular Development ◽  
Morphological Differences ◽  
Positive Correlations ◽  
Morphometric Characterization

Morphometric studies in Lidia cattle are scarce due to the challenges of handling and approaching this breed of cattle. For this reason, the first morphological characterization of the Lidia breed was carried out using photogrammetry. In the present work, 264 adult individuals (184 males and 80 females), belonging to 21 different herds, were studied. A total of 20 morphological measurements and five indexes were determined in every individual. There were many positive correlations between the measures, giving the model great morphostructural harmony. Considerable internal variability of the studied parameters was observed. This breed reflected significant sexually dimorphic features and internal morphological differences between the different genetic lines of the breed. Lidia cattle are small and mostly have a sub-concave profile (58.4% males and 69.7% females). The male proportionality indexes and the relative depth of the thorax indicated great muscular development of the anterior third and high thoracic capacity. The phaneroptic information describes a mostly black animal with black mucous and hooves and an outstanding development of the dewlaps and the tail in the males.

Morphological Characterization of Chitosan in the Hydroxyapatite/Chitosan Nanocomposites

2009 ◽  
Vol 79-82 ◽  
pp. 1675-1678
Author(s):  
Xiao Ying Lu ◽  
Xiu Hong Wang ◽  
Jian Xin Wang ◽  
Shu Xin Qu ◽  
Jie Weng
Keyword(s):  
Ph Value ◽  
Biomedical Application ◽  
Morphological Characterization ◽  
Layer By Layer ◽  
Oriented Growth ◽  
Hydrothermal Temperature ◽  
Morphological Differences ◽  
Hydrothermal Precipitation

The morphological differences of chitosan (CS) in the hydroxyapatite (HA)/CS nanocomposites were investigated in detailed, which were prepared via in situ hydrothermal precipitation. The results show that the obtained nanocomposites have excellent crystallinity and the crystal has excellent ordered structure, which is important to the composites performances in the biomedical application. Moreover, the CS arrangement and crystallinity in the composites greatly depend on the hydrothermal temperature and the pH value of precipitating agent. The temperature ranging from 373 to 413K and pH value of precipitating agent ranging from 12 to 14 were favorable to the crystallization and oriented growth of CS molecules in the composites. The CS crystals with better arrangement are assembled in the order of layer-by-layer in these composites.

Diploids v . triploids of Rutilus alburnoides: spatial segregation and morphological differences

1998 ◽  
Vol 52 (4) ◽  
pp. 817-828 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. J. Martins ◽  
M. J. Collares-Pereira ◽  
G. Cowx ◽  
M. M. Coelho
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Segregation ◽  
Morphological Differences

Invasive bullfrogs as predators in a Neotropical assemblage: What frog species do they eat?

2012 ◽  
Vol 62 (4) ◽  
pp. 397-408 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruben A. Boelter ◽  
Igor L. Kaefer ◽  
Camila Both ◽  
Sonia Cechin
Keyword(s):  
South America ◽  
Stomach Contents ◽  
Relative Importance ◽  
Feeding Preferences ◽  
Prey Category ◽  
American Bullfrog ◽  
Important Prey ◽  
Prey Composition ◽  
Frog Species

Anurans are important prey for the American bullfrog Lithobates catesbeianus, but field assessments of its diet in the context of a local prey assemblage are lacking. We aimed to identify the frog species consumed by an invasive bullfrog population in subtropical South America, and to assess their relative importance among other types of prey. Characterization of the frog assemblage in the study area also allowed us to calculate the degree of electivity of the recorded anuran prey, in order to gain insight regarding bullfrog feeding preferences and to test if the bullfrog prey composition differed from a random sample of the assemblage. A total of 32.6% of the bullfrogs had at least one anuran in the stomach contents, and post-metamorphic anurans represented 49.1% of the relative prey importance for adult bullfrogs. Anurans were preyed on by all size classes, and constituted the volumetrically most important prey category in the diet of individuals heavier than 100 g. Cycloramphidae, Hylidae and Leiuperidae were positively selected, and Hypsiboas pulchellus and Physalaemus cuvieri were the species most often taken. We found a low occurrence of cannibalism, despite the high density of bullfrogs at the study site. Our results showed that the degree of electivity differed among bullfrog prey types, suggesting that some frog species may be preyed on in a higher proportion than their relative abundance in the assemblage. Testing the clues provided by this assemblage-level approach may lead to a better assessment of the interactions between bullfrogs and the native frog fauna.

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