排序方式: 共有24条查询结果,搜索用时 15 毫秒
1.
Judith Morales Alberto Velando Roxana Torres 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2011,65(2):197-203
Avian eggshell color is remarkably variable among and within species and its possible function has long been controversial.
Female birds use biliverdin pigment to color their eggs blue and green. Although evidence is accumulating that blue-green
eggshell coloration is costly to produce, the exact mechanisms underlying its expression are little studied. Biliverdin pigment
is involved in important maintenance functions such as immune and antioxidant defenses and shows similar properties to carotenoid
pigments. Carotenoids play a role as immunoenhancers and have the potential to ameliorate the impact of oxidative processes,
although their antioxidant function could be minor for some bird species. Important life-history components can be limited
by carotenoid availability, including sexual displays and fecundity. Here we explored if biliverdin-based eggshell pigmentation
was affected by carotenoid availability in a seabird, by performing a carotenoid supplementation experiment in female blue-footed
boobies (Sula nebouxii) after laying their first egg. In this species, blue eggshell color is associated with incubation patterns, and carotenoid
availability affects the crucial trade-off between female foot ornamentation and fecundity. We found that under natural conditions,
there was a decline in eggshell color with laying order, suggesting pigment limitation for females. However, carotenoid-supplemented
females had enhanced second egg coloration compared to controls, and the color increase was independent of their previous
pigment allocation to the first egg. Our results suggest that biliverdin-based eggshell coloration is costly to produce and
can be alleviated by current carotenoid availability. 相似文献
2.
3.
Calendula alata plants were tested for their potential to remove stable cesium and lead from solutions in a 15-day period. The plants were grown hydroponically and placed in solutions containing CsCl and Pb(C?H?O?)? at different concentrations (0.6, 2 and 5 mg l?1). When plants were incubated in CsCl solutions 46.84 ± 2.12%, 41.35 ± 1.59%, and 52.06 ± 1.02% cesium was found to be remediated after 15 days. Moreover, more than 99% lead was removed from the Pb(C?H?O?)? solution in all three concentrations after 15 days during the same period. When both CsCl and Pb(C?H?O?)? were supplemented together in the solution, 9.92 ± 1.22%, 45.56 ± 3.52%, and 46.16 ± 1.48% cesium and 95.30 ± 0.72%, 96.64 ± 0.30%, and 99.02 ± 0.04% lead were removed after 15 days. The present study suggests that hydroponically grown C. alata could be used as a potential candidate plant for phytoremediation of cesium and lead from solutions; however, plants were found to be more efficient for the remediation of lead than cesium. 相似文献
4.
Eric D. Stein Matthew R. Cover A. Elizabeth Fetscher Clare O'Reilly Roxana Guardado Christopher W. Solek 《Journal of the American Water Resources Association》2013,49(4):780-792
Armoring of streambanks is a common management response to perceived threats to adjacent infrastructure from flooding or erosion. Despite their pervasiveness, effects of reach‐scale bank armoring have received less attention than those of channelization or watershed‐scale hydromodification. In this study, we explored mechanistic ecosystem responses to armoring by comparing conditions upstream, within, and downstream of six stream reaches with bank armoring in Southern California. Assessments were based on four common stream‐channel assessment methods: (1) traditional geomorphic measures, (2) the California Rapid Assessment Method for wetlands, (3) bioassessment with benthic macroinvertebrates, and (4) bioassessment with stream algae. Although physical responses varied among stream types (mountain, transitional, and lowland), armored segments generally had lower slopes, more and deeper pools and fewer riffles, and increased sediment deposition. Several armored segments exhibited channel incision and bank toe failure. All classes of biological indicators showed subtle, mechanistic responses to physical changes. However, extreme heterogeneity among sites, the presence of catchment‐scale disturbances, and low sample size made it difficult to ascribe observed patterns solely to channel armoring. The data suggest that species‐level or functional group‐level metrics may be more sensitive tools than integrative indices of biotic integrity to local‐scale effects. 相似文献
5.
Yellow starthistle (Centaurea solsitialis L.) is an invasive weed that creates problems for the management of Idaho's rangelands. A bioeconomic approach combined with an input-output economic model is used to estimate direct and secondary economic costs of the weed in relation to its interference with agricultural and non-agricultural benefits that rangelands provide. Direct economic costs of the infestations were estimated to be of 8.2 million '05 dollars per year, and secondary costs of 4.5 million '05 dollars per year, for a total of 12.7 million '05 dollars; agricultural related economic impacts accounted for 79% of this total cost, and non-agricultural for 21%. 相似文献
6.
7.
René Beamonte-Barrientos Alberto Velando Roxana Torres 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2014,68(1):115-126
Understanding the mechanisms mediating age-dependent reproductive effort in wild animals is a major challenge in evolutionary ecology. The acquisition of molecules able to deter somatic damage could potentially improve reproductive performance, especially in physiologically compromised individuals. Carotenoids are antioxidants and immunoenhancers that animals can only obtain through diet. We tested in male blue-footed boobies whether carotenoid supplementation during incubation improves condition and reproductive performance, particularly of older males. Old birds showed lower levels of peroxidative damage than middle-aged males; however, changes of males' antioxidant capacity and peroxidative damage were not affected by carotenoid supplementation irrespective of age. Experimental old males displayed more colourful feet than control old males after 13 days of first carotenoid supplementation. The effect of carotenoids on male reproductive performance was dependent upon age: young males receiving extra-carotenoids produced chicks with smaller growth rates than control young males, whereas old males receiving extra-carotenoids produced chicks with higher growth rates than control old males. Our results highlight that carotenoids influence the relationship between age and reproductive performance and suggest a positive effect of carotenoids on reproduction of old males. 相似文献
8.
Judith?MoralesEmail author Roxana?Torres Alberto?Velando 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2012,66(1):135-143
In evolutionary biology, whether parents should enhance or reduce parental care according to mate ornamentation is a subject
of great debate. However, the evolution of female ornaments can shed light on this question. In theory, female ornamentation
should be traded off against fecundity and thus cannot be wholly informative to males without a direct indication of fecundity.
Hence, direct cues of offspring quality should affect the relationship between male investment and female ornamentation. Under
this hypothesis, we manipulated two direct cues of offspring quality (egg size and color) after first egg laying in the blue-footed
booby and registered male incubation patterns. In this species, foot color is a dynamic signal of current condition and in
females is traded off with egg size. We found that males spent more time incubating when paired with dull females but only
in nests with large eggs. Males also spent less time incubating small dull eggs. Results indicate that egg size, a direct
cue of reproductive value, affected the relationship between male effort and female ornamentation. Males may be willing to
help females that have invested in offspring at the expense of ornamentation, which suggests compensation when females are
in low condition. Another possibility is that males relax their effort when paired with highly ornamented and fecund females
because they have high parenting abilities. Our findings suggest that the information conveyed by female ornaments may depend
on direct cues of fecundity. Results also highlight that parental decisions are complex, modulated by a combination of information
sources. 相似文献
9.
Moslehi Mohsen Mahdavi Hossein Ghaffari Aliakbar 《Journal of Polymers and the Environment》2021,29(8):2463-2477
Journal of Polymers and the Environment - Polyurethane nanofibers recognized to perform as a sub-layer were employed herein as a medial-layer of high porosity in the fabrication of a novel class of... 相似文献
10.
Fabrice Dentressangle Lourdes Boeck Roxana Torres 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2008,62(12):1899-1908
Females are expected to vary investment in offspring according to variables that may influence the offspring fitness in a way that optimises her inclusive fitness for a particular context. Thus, when sexual ornaments signal the quality of the male, females might invest in reproduction as a function of the attractiveness of their mate. We tested whether breeding conditions and male feet colour influence reproductive decisions of blue-footed booby females. In the blue-footed booby, male feet colour is a dynamic condition-dependent sexually selected trait that is related to paternal effort. During two consecutive years, an El Niño year (poor breeding conditions) and a year with good breeding conditions, we experimentally reduced male attractiveness by modifying their feet colour after the first egg was laid and recorded female investment in the second egg. We found that, relative to the first egg in the clutch, females laid heavier second eggs during the poor year than during the good year. Females paired with males with duller feet colour reduced second-egg mass and volume and delayed the laying of the second egg, independently of the year. Absolute yolk androstenedione (A4) concentration (but not testosterone, T) in second eggs was higher during a poor year than during a good year. Only during a year with poor breeding conditions, females paired with experimental males decreased the relative A4 concentration (but not T) in the second egg compared to control females. Thus, blue-footed booby females probably favour brood reduction by decreasing egg quality and increasing size asymmetry between chicks when the breeding and the mate conditions are poor. 相似文献