Lévy walks evolve through interaction between movement and environmental complexity

Ecological theory predicts that animal movement is shaped by its efficiency of resource acquisition. Focusing solely on efficiency, however, ignores the fact that animal activity can affect resource availability and distribution. Here, we show that feedback between individual behavior and environmental complexity can explain movement strategies in mussels. Specifically, experiments show that mussels use a Lévy walk during the formation of spatially patterned beds, and models reveal that this Lévy movement accelerates pattern formation. The emergent patterning in mussel beds, in turn, improves individual fitness. These results suggest that Lévy walks evolved as a result of the selective advantage conferred by autonomously generated, emergent spatial patterns in mussel beds. Our results emphasize that an interaction between individual selection and habitat complexity shapes animal movement in natural systems.     

Apparent digestibility coefficient of duckweed (Lemna minor), fresh and dry for Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus L.)

Dry matter (DMD), protein (PD), ash (AD), fat (FD), gross energy (ED) and phosphorus (PhD) digestibility coefficients were determined for five different iso‐N fish diets fed to Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus). The control diet contained fishmeal (35%), corn (29%), wheat (20%), wheat bran (10%), fish oil (3%), diamol (2%) and premix (1%). Partial replacement of dry matter of fishmeal, corn grain, wheat grain, wheat bran and fish oil by 20% and 40% of dry matter of duckweed, in a dry and fresh form, was performed. Diets of treatments 1 and 2 included 20% and 40% of duckweed, respectively, in a dry form. In treatments 3 and 4, tilapia received formulated diets 4 and 5 in addition to 20% and 40% fresh duckweed providing the same amount of dry matter and protein as in control. The specific growth rates (SGRs) of tilapia were 1.51±0.07, 1.38±0.03, 1.31±0.06, 1.44±0.02 and 1.33±0.05, in control and treatments 1–4. There was no significant difference between SGR for the control diet and the diet with 20% fresh duckweed, while the other treatment groups had significantly lower SGR. All the treatment diets provide good values for feed conversion ratios (FCRs) and protein efficiency ratio (PER). Dry matter of diets ranged from 61.8% in treatment 4 to 85.2% in control. All the diets have high PD (88.4–93.9%) and high‐energy digestibility (78.1–90.7%). Dry matter of duckweed were 66.8, 63.3, 45.8 and 28.3 in treatments 1 to 4 respectively. Protein values were 78.4, 79.9, 77.6 and 75.9, while ED values were 59.8, 60.9, 64.5 and 58.4 in treatments 1 to 4 respectively. Analysis of body composition shows that tilapia fed diets with duckweed contain significantly (P<0.05) higher phosphorus and protein content and significantly (P<0.05) lower lipid content. In contrast, tilapia fed control diet had a significant higher (P<0.05) dry matter content and lower ash content.     

Feasibility of pedigree recording and genetic selection in village sheep flocks of smallholder farmers

Pedigree recording and genetic selection in village flocks of smallholder farmers have been deemed infeasible by researchers and development workers. This is mainly due to the difficulty of sire identification under uncontrolled village breeding practices. A cooperative village sheep-breeding scheme was designed to achieve controlled breeding and implemented for Menz sheep of Ethiopia in 2009. In this paper, we evaluated the reliability of pedigree recording in village flocks by comparing genetic parameters estimated from data sets collected in the cooperative village and in a nucleus flock maintained under controlled breeding. Effectiveness of selection in the cooperative village was evaluated based on trends in breeding values over generations. Heritability estimates for 6-month weight recorded in the village and the nucleus flock were very similar. There was an increasing trend over generations in average estimated breeding values for 6-month weight in the village flocks. These results have a number of implications: the pedigree recorded in the village flocks was reliable; genetic parameters, which have so far been estimated based on nucleus data sets, can be estimated based on village recording; and appreciable genetic improvement could be achieved in village sheep selection programs under low-input smallholder farming systems.     

Natural cortisol production is not linked to the sexual fate of European sea bass

Fish Physiology and Biochemistry - In this study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between cortisol and the determination of sexual fate in the commercially important European sea bass...     

Ungulate-adapted forest management: effects of slash treatment at harvest on forage availability and use

Forest management strongly influences the interactions between ungulates and their food resources. Different ungulate-adapted measures have been proposed in forestry to improve forage availability or to reduce browsing damage. However, the potential and feasibility of such measures are inadequately known. We studied the effects of harvest timing and slash treatment in final felling and commercial thinning on the availability of Scots pine Pinus sylvestris forage and its use by ungulates during winter in the Swedish boreal forests. Pellet group counts showed that moose (Alces alces) was the dominating species using the post-harvest stands. Under conventional slash treatment, final felling stands held on average 226 kg pine forage ha^?1 after harvesting and commercial thinning stands 137 kg ha^?1. Ungulate-adapted slash treatment increased the available forage biomass by 20 %, but had no significant effect on consumption of forage by ungulates. Time since harvest had the strongest effect on forage consumption; for example, under conventional slash treatment, there was a tenfold increase in consumption (3 vs. 33 kg ha^?1) following final felling as exposure time increased from 2–3 to 4–5 months. Consumption was higher in thinned stands than in final felling stands for the first 3 months but not later. To increase ungulate use of the forage made available at harvest, pine-dominated stands should be harvested in the late autumn or early in the winter.     

我们如何提高种子质量

我们需要什么样的技术才能够改进质量?在我们讨论怎样改进质量之前,先谈一下什么是技术?我们想要什么?我想什么是质量回答是很清楚的,最终我们是想让这些农民们能够有好的收成,有好的质量,同时也能够卖出好的价钱.     

Effects of molecular memory and bursting on fluctuations in gene expression

Many cellular components are present in such low numbers per cell that random births and deaths of individual molecules can cause substantial "noise" in concentrations. But biochemical events do not necessarily occur in single steps of individual molecules. Some processes are greatly randomized when synthesis or degradation occurs in large bursts of many molecules during a short time interval. Conversely, each birth or death of a macromolecule could involve several small steps, creating a memory between individual events. We present a generalized theory for stochastic gene expression, formulating the variance in protein abundance in terms of the randomness of the individual gene expression events. We show that common types of molecular mechanisms can produce gestation and senescence periods that reduce noise without requiring higher abundances, shorter lifetimes, or any concentration-dependent control loops. We also show that most single-cell experimental methods cannot distinguish between qualitatively different stochastic principles, although this in turn makes such methods better suited for identifying which components introduce fluctuations. Characterizing the random events that give rise to noise in concentrations instead requires dynamic measurements with single-molecule resolution.     

Self-organized patchiness and catastrophic shifts in ecosystems

Unexpected sudden catastrophic shifts may occur in ecosystems, with concomitant losses or gains of ecological and economic resources. Such shifts have been theoretically attributed to positive feedback and bistability of ecosystem states. However, verifications and predictive power with respect to catastrophic responses to a changing environment are lacking for spatially extensive ecosystems. This situation impedes management and recovery strategies for such ecosystems. Here, we review recent studies on various ecosystems that link self-organized patchiness to catastrophic shifts between ecosystem states.