Maxwellbennedsen8945

Dianthus carthusianorum produced more seeds in future climate conditions independent of the season, but only when given supplemental pollen. Both species showed an increased reproduction in summer compared with the fall. We did not find evidence for our specific expectation of higher pollen limitation in the future climate and fall season (i.e., no three-way interaction pollination × season × climate), which might be explained by the high-drought tolerance and generalized pollination of our focal plant species. We conclude that plant reproductive success has the potential to change with changing climates and that this change will depend on how pollinator services change in the future. We offer many suggestions for future studies that are necessary to understand the context dependence and underlying mechanisms of plant reproductive responses to climate.Rabies is a neglected zoonotic disease that causes around 59,000 deaths per year globally. In Africa, rabies virus is mostly maintained in populations of free-roaming domestic dogs (FRDD) that are predominantly owned. Characterizing the roaming behavior of FRDD can provide relevant information to understand disease spread and inform prevention and control interventions. DDR1-IN-1 cost To estimate the home range (HR) of FRDD and identify predictors of HR size, we studied 168 dogs in seven different areas of Blantyre city, Malawi, tracking them with GPS collars for 1-4 days. The median core HR (HR50) of FRDD in Blantyre city was 0.2 ha (range 0.08-3.95), while the median extended HR (HR95) was 2.14 ha (range 0.52-23.19). Multivariable linear regression models were built to identify predictors of HR size. Males presented larger HR95 than females. Dogs living in houses with a higher number of adults had smaller HR95, while those living in houses with higher number of children had larger HR95. Animals that received products of animal origin in their diets had larger HR95, and only in the case of females, animals living in low-income areas had larger HR50 and HR95. In contrast, whether male dogs were castrated or not was not found to be associated with HR size. The results of this study may help inform rabies control and prevention interventions in Blantyre city, such as designing risk-based surveillance activities or rabies vaccination campaigns targeting certain FRDD subpopulations. Our findings can also be used in rabies awareness campaigns, particularly to illustrate the close relationship between children and their dogs.The whale shark Rhincodon typus is found throughout the world's tropical and warm-temperate ocean basins. Despite their broad physical distribution, research on the species has been concentrated at a few aggregation sites. Comparing DNA sequences from sharks at different sites can provide a demographically neutral understanding of the whale shark's global ecology. Here, we created genetic profiles for 84 whale sharks from the Saudi Arabian Red Sea and 72 individuals from the coast of Tanzania using a combination of microsatellite and mitochondrial sequences. These two sites, separated by approximately 4500 km (shortest over-water distance), exhibit markedly different population demographics and behavioral ecologies. Eleven microsatellite DNA markers revealed that the two aggregation sites have similar levels of allelic richness and appear to be derived from the same source population. We sequenced the mitochondrial control region to produce multiple global haplotype networks (based on different alignment methodologies) that were broadly similar to each other in terms of population structure but suggested different demographic histories. Data from both microsatellite and mitochondrial markers demonstrated the stability of genetic diversity within the Saudi Arabian aggregation site throughout the sampling period. These results contrast previously measured declines in diversity at Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia. Mapping the geographic distribution of whale shark lineages provides insight into the species' connectivity and can be used to direct management efforts at both local and global scales. Similarly, understanding historical fluctuations in whale shark abundance provides a baseline by which to assess current trends. Continued development of new sequencing methods and the incorporation of genomic data could lead to considerable advances in the scientific understanding of whale shark population ecology and corresponding improvements to conservation policy.Animals with dependent and vulnerable young need to decide where to raise their offspring to minimize ill effects of weather, competition, parasitism, and predation. These decisions have critical fitness consequences through impacting the survival of both adults and progeny. Birds routinely place their nest in specific sites, allowing species to be broadly classified based on nest location (e.g., ground- or tree-nesting). However, from 2018 to 2020, we observed 24 American robin (Turdus migratorius) nests placed not on their species-typical arboreal substrates or human-made structures but on the ground at a predator-rich commercial tree-farm in Illinois, USA. This behavior does not appear to be in response to competition and did not affect nest daily survival rate but was restricted to the early half of the breeding season. We hypothesize that ground nesting may be an adaptive response to avoid exposure and colder temperatures at sites above the ground early in the breeding season or a nonadaptive consequence of latent robin nest-placement flexibility.Species responses to disturbance influence their extinction risks. Greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) are bioindicators of sagebrush ecosystem health and the loss of sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) due to wildfire, can cause long-term declines in sage-grouse populations and other sagebrush obligate species. We examined the demographic response of a greater sage-grouse population following a mega-wildfire using stochastic age-structured female-based matrix models over 6 years (2013-2018). Notably, chick survival (range = 0.18-0.38) and female survival (yearling range 0.20-0.68; adult range 0.27-0.75) were low compared to values reported for greater sage-grouse in other parts of their distribution. Greater sage-grouse displayed variation in demographic tactics after the fire; however, adult female survival explained most of the variation in λ during each year, which reflected a declining population in 3 of 6 years with more uncertainty observed in 2015 when populations may have been increasing, and 2017 and 2018, when populations may have been declining. The continued annual population decline observed since 2016 suggested there were additional strong environmental impacts that may have been compounded by the fire effects, prolonging recovery of greater sage-grouse. Our results support others that reported negative effects to greater sage-grouse demographics from broad-scale fire and provide a baseline for understanding how this species responds to loss of sagebrush cover based on their life history strategy.Invasion of non-native species might alter food web structure and the strength of top-down control within lake ecosystems. As top-down control exerted by fish populations is often dominated by young of the year fish, the impact of new fish species might depend on the feeding rates of the juvenile fish. Here we provide comparative analyses of feeding rates of juvenile whitefish (Coregonus wartmanni) - a native and specialised planktivore and an invasive generalist (sticklebacks, Gasterosteus aculeatus). We studied feedings rates of whitefish and sticklebacks in aquaria experiments using 2 cm to 8 cm fish feeding on seven zooplankton species common to Lake Constance. As whitefish hatch several months earlier than sticklebacks, 0+ whitefish are larger than 0+ sticklebacks throughout the year and hence are predicted to have higher feeding rates on especially large zooplankton species. We show that sticklebacks as small as 2 cm were able to feed on the largest zooplankton species of Lake Constance. Further, stickleback feeding rates were similar to both the same size 0+ whitefish and the larger 0+ whitefish co-occurring with smaller 0+ sticklebacks. Hence, 0+ sticklebacks will compete with 0+ whitefish for the same zooplankton species, therefore the invasion of sticklebacks is unlikely to change the relative feeding pressure by individual 0+ fish on zooplankton species.Introduced species can exert disproportionately negative effects on island ecosystems, but their potential role as food for native consumers is poorly studied. Telfair's skinks are endemic omnivores living on Round Island, Mauritius, a globally significant site of biodiversity conservation. We aimed to determine the dietary diversity and key trophic interactions of Telfair's skinks, whether introduced species are frequently consumed, and if diet composition changes seasonally between male and female skinks. We used DNA metabarcoding of skink fecal samples to identify animals (COI) and plants (ITS2) consumed by skinks. There were 389 dietary presence counts belonging to 77 dietary taxa found across the 73 Telfair's skink fecal samples. Introduced taxa were cumulatively consumed more frequently than other categories, accounting for 49.4% of all detections, compared to cryptogenic (20.6%), native (20.6%), and endemic taxa (9.5%). The most frequently consumed introduced species was the ant, Pheidole megacephala, present in 40% of samples. Blue latan palm, Latania loddigesii, was the most frequently consumed endemic species, present in 33% of samples but was only detected in the dry season, when fruits are produced. We found a strong seasonal difference in diet composition explained by the presence of certain plant species solely or primarily in one season and a marked increase in the consumption of animal prey in the dry season. Male and female skinks consumed several taxa at different frequencies. These results present a valuable perspective on the role of introduced species in the trophic network of their invaded ecosystem. Both native and introduced species provide nutritional resources for skinks, and this may have management implications in the context of species conservation and island restoration.Understanding dispersal patterns is a major focus for conservation biology as it influences local survival and resilience in case of local disturbance, particularly for sessile species. Dispersal can be assessed through parentage analyses by estimating family structure and self-recruitment. This study documents the family structure of a pelagic spawner, Pinna nobilis, which is facing a major crisis that threatens its survival as most of its populations have been decimated by a parasite, Haplosporidium pinnae. In this context, we focused on a single population (Peyrefite, Banyuls-sur-mer, France) where 640 individuals were sampled in 2011, 2015, and 2018 and genotyped for 22 microsatellite markers. Genetic diversity was high and homogeneous among years, with mean allele numbers ranging between 13.6 and 14.8 and observed heterozygosities (H o) between 0.7121 and 0.7331. Low, but significant, genetic differentiations were found between 2011-2015 and 2015-2018. A parentage analysis described 11 clusters, including one prevailing, and revealed that 46.