Kin composition effects on reproductive competition among queenless honeybee workers

Kin selection and inclusive fitness theories predict that, in hopeless queenless (QL) groups, competition or cooperation will occur over male production among workers of different patrilines. Competition is expected to involve mutual inhibition of reproduction and to affect fertility advertisement. To examine kin effect on these phenomena, we studied QL groups of honeybee workers comprising three types of kin structure: groups composed of pure single patrilines, groups composed of three mixed patrilines (all originating from colonies headed by single-drone-inseminated queens), and control groups composed of bees originating from naturally mated queens. Global assessment of ovarian development, irrespective of patriline composition, revealed no differences among group types. In contrast, the performance of specific patrilines revealed that, in the three-mixed-patriline groups, some patrilines were reproductively suppressed compared to their performance when reared as a pure single patriline, resulting in an uneven share of reproduction. Analysis of the fertility signal produced by Dufour's gland revealed kin composition effects, which may reflect the bees' competitive efforts. Although patriline effects on worker reproductive superiority have been shown in QL colonies, we were able to investigate specific patriline performance both in competitive and noncompetitive situations here for the first time. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that reproductive and pheromonal competitions in QL groups are affected by the number of subfamilies populating a colony and that these act as coalitions. The results also emphasize that within-colony heterogeneity, in the form of multiple patrilines, has far-reaching consequences on social evolution.     

No evidence for sperm priming responses under varying sperm competition risk or intensity in guppies

Sperm competition theory predicts that males should tailor their investment in ejaculates according to the number of rival males competing to fertilize a female’s eggs. Research spanning several taxa supports this prediction by showing that males are often sensitive to the level of sperm competition and adjust their investment in sperm numbers accordingly. More recent work has revealed that males may also tailor the quality of sperm according to the number of males competing for fertilization. Here I test for both effects in guppies (Poecilia reticulata) in an experiment that simultaneously evaluates the risk and intensity models of sperm competition. The experiment determined whether male guppies adjust the number (stripped ejaculate size) and quality (sperm velocity and viability) of sperm that are primed over a 3-day period according to experimental changes in the perceived level of sperm competition. A total of 136 focal males were initially stripped of all retrievable sperm and assayed for these sperm traits before being allocated at random to one of four treatments simulating different levels of sperm competition risk and intensity. During the 3-day treatment phase, focal males had visual and olfactory access to a sexually receptive (initially virgin) female maintained with different numbers of stimulus males to simulate variation in the risk and intensity of sperm competition. Following this, males were assayed again for the sperm traits. Contrary to predictions, there was no significant change in any of the measured variables among treatments, although qualitatively the patterns for sperm velocity and viability did conform to expectation. The lack of any trend for the number of sperm primed was unequivocal and future work examining the effects of sperm competition on sperm production should focus on whether males differentially allocate sperm numbers among matings that differ in the level of sperm competition.     

MBBR泥膜复合系统泥膜竞争关系的影响因素

为探究MBBR泥膜复合硝化系统内泥膜竞争关系，通过小试试验研究了水处理过程中常规因素（污泥浓度、DO、温度、C/N）对MBBR泥膜复合系统硝化效果的影响，分析了系统内污泥容积负荷和移动床生物膜反应器（MBBR，Moving-Bed Biofilm Reactor）生物膜容积负荷变化趋势，进而得出泥膜竞争规律.结果表明，MBBR泥膜复合系统容积负荷均大于单一污泥或MBBR生物膜系统的容积负荷.在一定范围内，污泥浓度、DO、温度与MBBR泥膜复合系统容积负荷呈现正相关，且系统内活性污泥在与MBBR生物膜在竞争DO和基质时优势明显，而MBBR生物膜则具有更强的耐低温能力.进水C/N与MBBR泥膜复合系统硝化负荷呈负相关，且活性污泥在应对进水C/N过高时较MBBR生物膜更具优势，MBBR的“镶嵌”则强化了系统SND效果.微生物群落变化显示MBBR泥膜复合系统内的硝化细菌优势菌属为Nitrospira，且悬浮载体生物膜对其富集能力明显高于活性污泥.     

Sex-specific maternal effect on egg mass,laying order,and sibling competition in the Bengalese finch (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Lonchura striata</Emphasis> var. <Emphasis Type="Italic">domestica</Emphasis>)

Maternal effects, such as investment in eggs, have profound effects on offspring fitness. Mothers are expected to skew their investment depending on the laying order and sex when unequal sibling competition occurs within a brood because of sex-specific vulnerability and age hierarchy caused by asynchronous hatching. The Bengalese finch hatches asynchronously and shows a moderate reversed sexual size dimorphism. However, contrary to commonly accepted assumptions of size-dependent vulnerability, the smaller sex (male) is more vulnerable to developmental stress caused by sibling competition. We investigated whether maternal investment would be biased by the position in laying order and the sex of eggs, and also explored the possible differences in growth patterns depending on sex, laying order, and age hierarchy by observing chicks fostered to experimentally manipulated broods where brood composition was controlled and age hierarchy was more enhanced than in natural breeding conditions. We found that overall patterns of maternal investment favored the disadvantageous sectors of sibling competition, i.e., eggs of later laying order and sons over those of early laying order and daughters. We also examined the effect of laying order on adult body size and sex differences in growth patterns. When reared in the subordinate age hierarchy, females could compensate for the deficit of decreased growth rate by taking longer to mature, whereas males could not. We suggest that this sex-specific growth pattern could be the cause of sex differences in vulnerability to early developmental stress.     

The cost of success: reproductive effort in male southern elephant seals (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Mirounga leonina</Emphasis>)

Reproductive effort is a key parameter of life history because it measures the resources allocated to reproduction at the expense of growth and maintenance. Male reproductive effort always had a minor role with respect to female effort both in the development of theories and in field research. Elephant seals are an ideal subject for reproductive effort studies because they fast during the breeding season, splitting the phase of energy acquisition from the phase of energy use for breeding. In this paper, we present results on male reproductive effort (weight loss estimated by photogrammetry) in southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina), the most dimorphic and polygynous of all mammal species. We show that total reproductive effort increases with age, with no sign of late decrease or senescence. Male reproductive effort in this species depends mostly on behavioral factors, i.e., the success in competition with other males, and the intensity of interaction with females. A large effort results in large gains in both mating success and fertilizations. The large reproductive success that a few males are able to achieve come at a big cost in terms of energy expenditure, but this cost does not seem to affect the likelihood of survival to the following breeding season.     

Model-based analysis of the influence of ecological processes on forest point pattern formation—A case study

Many different spatio-temporal individual-based models (IBM) for forests have been developed for studying the development of trees in space and time. Such models typically depend on various numerical parameters that represent the ecological processes of growth (G), inter-plant competition (C) and birth-and-death (B&D; also called regeneration and mortality). Until now little work has been done to systematically trace the influence of these processes and their model parameters on the spatial structure of forest ecosystems.This paper attempts to fill this gap by addressing an important aspect of forest structure, spatial variability, characterised by the mark variogram as a summary characteristic. The model used was inspired by components of various well-established IBMs including a shot-noise competition field. Time series data from monospecies forests in three different countries of the northern hemisphere provided ecological reference scenarios. Though a case study, the paper's methodology is rather general and can be applied to any model and forest ecosystem.Methods of sensitivity analysis revealed that only a small number of model parameters is crucial for forming spatial variability. Particularly important is the range of competition between trees; with increasing range the variability increases. Growth processes have considerable importance particularly with short observation periods and in young forests, whereas mortality processes become more influential in the long-term. Naturally, these statements depend upon the initial structure and on the length of the observation period.     

再生水补充景观水体中藻类的生长比较

以太原市污水净化二厂二级出水作为景观水体补水水源,比较了以再生水为培养基的小球藻、斜生栅藻、鱼腥藻和针杆藻的生长情况,利用Logistic对数形式模型拟合了藻类在纯培养和共培养条件下的生长曲线.结果表明,在纯培养和共培养条件下,4种藻类的生长情况均为小球藻>斜生栅藻>鱼腥藻>针杆藻.其中,针杆藻的竞争能力较差;鱼腥藻虽然有较强的增殖能力,但并不处于优势地位;斜生栅藻能与小球藻形成竞争,较适宜在该水质条件下生长;小球藻具有较强的竞争优势,为该水质条件下的优势藻种.以污水二厂二级出水为景观水体补水时,应重点防止绿藻尤其小球藻的过度生长.      

Does the introduced brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) affect growth of the native brown trout (Salmo trutta)?

Non-native brook trout have become widely established in North European streams. We combined evidence from an artificial-stream experiment and drainage-scale field surveys to examine whether brook trout suppressed the growth of the native brown trout (age 0 to age 2). Our experimental results demonstrated that brown trout were unaffected by the presence of brook trout but that brook trout showed reduced growth in the presence of brown trout. However, the growth reduction only appeared in the experimental setting, indicating that the reduced spatial constraint of the experimental system may have forced the fish to unnaturally intense interactions. Indeed, in the field, no effect of either species on the growth of the putative competitor was detected. These results caution against uncritical acceptance of findings from small-scale experiments because they rarely scale up to more complex field situations. This and earlier work suggest that the establishment of brook trout in North European streams has taken place mainly because of the availability of unoccupied (or underutilized) niche space, rather than as a result of species trait combinations or interspecific competition per se. Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

溶藻放线菌对铜绿微囊藻和小球藻竞争生长的影响

从土壤中分离获得l株对铜绿微囊藻有明显抑制作用的橄榄网状链霉菌SG-001（Streptomyces olivoreticuli SG-001）,研究其对铜绿微囊藻（Microcystis aeruginosa）和小球藻（Chlorefla pyrenoidosa）竞争生长的影响。结果表明：SG-001菌株的活性物质主要存在于无菌滤液中,能够强烈抑制铜绿微囊藻的生长,但对小球藻的生长具有明显的促进作用。当混藻中两种藻细胞初始接种浓度均为4.0×106 mL-1时,在BG11纯培养条件下,添加SG-001无菌滤液有利于小球藻生长,但对铜绿微囊藻抑制作用不明显;而SG-001无菌滤液对天然加富水样中的铜绿微囊藻具有明显抑制作用,在同时接种有铜绿微囊藻和小球藻的混合藻液中,添加SG-001无菌滤液能够明显提高小球藻的生长竞争能力,且水体中氨氮和可溶性总磷的去除率可分别达到85%和93.33%,而铜绿微囊藻在第8天时生长基本被小球藻抑制。     

Losers in the ‘Rock-Paper-Scissors’ game: The role of non-hierarchical competition and chaos as biodiversity sustaining agents in aquatic systems

Processes occurring within small areas (patch-scale) that influence species richness and spatial heterogeneity of larger areas (landscape-scale) have long been an interest of ecologists. This research focused on the role of patch-scale deterministic chaos arising in phytoplankton assemblages characteristic of “Rock-Paper-Scissors” population dynamics (i.e., competitively non-hierarchical). We employed a simple 2-patch model configuration with lateral mixing and through-flow, and tested the robustness of species richness at the scale of the landscape and spatial heterogeneity. Three different assemblages were used that in a dimensionless box model configuration exhibited chaotic behavior. Our results showed that when a spatial dimension was added to the model configuration, and when all species were shared between patches (i.e., no invading populations), chaos-induced species richness and spatial heterogeneity were quickly reduced with the onset of mixing. While assemblages in each patch were comprised of exactly the same species, they differed in their proportional population densities due to differing stages of succession and the incidence of alternative assemblage structures. Even at very low mixing rates (0.001 d⁻¹), which produced low passive migration rates (0.1% of the total biomass per day), the incidence of high richness and heterogeneity decreased by ∼80%. Interestingly, this sensitivity was not the same for the three assemblages tested. Declines in species richness and spatial heterogeneity associated with mixing were greater in assemblages comprised of competitively dissimilar species (based on the area occupied in the resource-tradeoff space defined by the R* model). The underlying mechanisms may involve the degree to which nutrient dynamics are altered with the arrival of immigrants. Our findings suggest that in partially to well-mixed aquatic systems, the roles of patch-scale non-hierarchical competition and chaos as factors maintaining species richness and spatial heterogeneity may be limited. However, in aquatic systems that experience periods of very low mixing, or even disconnection, non-hierarchical competition and chaos might indeed contribute significantly to biodiversity.