Thesis (M.S.)--Florida State University, 2003. / Advisor: Dr. Frances C. James, Florida State University, School of Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Biological Science. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed Sept. 26, 2003). Includes bibliographical references.

Senescence is an intricate, multifaceted process that can vary among populations, individuals, and traits within individuals. However, the relative importance of factors generating observed differences in senescence patterns remains poorly understood. In particular, there is a lack of studies that quantify both age-dependent and state dependent components of senescence, and do so across different environmental conditions. Also, few studies have explicitly tested cumulative reproductive costs, or how early-life conditions like maternal age and state at offspring birth affect offspring adult phenotypes and senescence trajectories. I use individual-based long-term data from wild yellow-bellied marmots, to quantify chronological (age-dependent) and biological (state-dependent) senescence in female reproductive success and season-specific body mass across two different elevational environments. Since previous reproductive history could influence biological age, I also estimate costs of previous short-term and cumulative long-term reproduction on females' current reproductive success. Finally, I test whether maternal age and state at daughter birth affect daughter reproduction and senescence. I demonstrate complex senescence patterns in body mass and reproductive success. First, senescence in body mass has both age-dependent and state-dependent components, and effects are greater at lower elevation than higher elevation and greater in late summer than in spring. Second, at both elevations, females that reproduced frequently and weaned large litters in previous years have reduced current reproductive probability, while there are no short-term effects of previous reproduction. Finally, higher chronological age and closer proximity to death of the mother have positive environment-dependent effects on daughter reproductive trajectories. Overall, my findings reveal the need to investigate senescence patterns across multiple environments and over long time periods to allow capturing certain intra-individual and inter-generational effects. The persistence of maternal effects into daughters' adult lives highlights the complexity of life-history trade-offs, and calls for more studies that consider such long-term transgenerational effects when studying life-history variation and senescence in wild populations.

No description available.

The aim of the diploma thesis was to find out, which of the chosen abiotic and biotic habitat parameters different species and their hybrid groups of European fire-bellied toads prefer. The subject of the thesis was also to revise the already known locations of occurrence and to find new locations in the hybrid zone of Kaplicko and Českobudějovicko. I have monitored four new founded posts and thirteen already known posts in seven locations. I evaluated two posts as ceased, because the pool in such a location has been rebuilt for fish pond management. One location has been degraded by building waste. Another one has ceased to exist because there has been built a new family house at the post. Four posts were regularly without findings because of excessive drought. My monitoring was based on the method of complete capturing and the determination was made on the basis of the pattern of aposematic coloration on the bellies of the caught toads. I also determined the degree of hybridization (hybrid index) according to this pattern. I classified nine posts in five locations in total, of which four of them have been newly found. On the basis of obtained results I decided with the help of the Pearson correlation coefficient some parameters were not confirmative: a perimeter, an area, a depth and vegetation presence. Sun exposure, forest distance and the altitude of the posts showed to be statistically significant.

The black-bellied tree duck (Dendracygna autumnal is) 1 is one of eight tree ducks (whistling ducks) in the genus Dendracygna . This group shares enough characteris tics--reticulated tarsus and symmetrical syrinx structure, among others--with the swans and geese Ia warrant a cam man subfamily, Anserinae of the waterfowl family Anatidae. De Iacour and Mayr ( 1945) make a tribal distinction, however, between the tree ducks (Dendracygnini) and the swans and geese (Anserini) based, in part, an differences in size, vertebrae number, and downy plumage . These same authors remark that the tree ducks are the leas t known of the waterfowl largely because there are no life history studies for any of the species. Of the two species found in the continental United States, the fulvous (_Q . bicolor) and black-bellied tree ducks , the ecology of the last named seemed singularly unknown.

Mionectes oleagineus (Aves, Tyrannidae) is a small, sexually monomorphic, lek breeding bird. The behaviour and mating system of this species were studied on Costa Rica's Osa Peninsula over two years. In this thesis I ask three questions: 1) What kind of social organization does M. oleagineus exhibit? 2) Does habitat influence male display dispersion? and 3) What is the function of song in attracting mates and in male-male interactions? In Chapter 2, I describe M. oleagineus' social organization. There were three categories of males: territory owners, satellites and floaters. The latter 2 categories were non-territorial and represented half of the male population. I describe interactions between displaying males and visitors to their territories, including courtship display and aggressive interactions between males. Male display dispersion was highly variable in the study area, including classical leks, in which territories shared contiguous boundaries, an exploded lek, where the territories did not share boundaries, and solitary display territories. In Chapter 3, I test the hypothesis that the number of males that can settle in an area, and their subsequent display dispersion, is determined by the availability and dispersion of suitable habitat. Discriminant function analysis of measures of vegetation structure from both territories and non-territory sample plots showed that territory habitat could be distinguished from non-territory habitat. Eleven percent of the sample plots were described as suitable habitat in the analysis. Given that half the male population is non-territorial, the existence of unoccupied, suitable habitat makes it unlikely that habitat availability determines the number of males settling, or their display dispersion. The major occupation of males on their display territories is singing. In Chapter 4, I investigate the function of song for M. oleagineus using behavioural observation and an experiment involving temporary muting. Males which sang at higher rates received more visitors of both sexes. The territories of most muted territorial males were rapidly usurped by other males. Two of the muted males regained their territories upon regaining the ability to sing. This study is the first to directly demonstrate a key role for song in male-male interactions on leks. It also provides evidence that females use song in mate assessment. / Science, Faculty of / Zoology, Department of / Graduate

When to reproduce for the first time is a key question in evolutionary ecology. Indeed, age at first reproduction has clear impacts on population dynamics and fitness. Breeding early in life may impair survival due to a resource allocation trade-off between survival, growth, and reproduction. Postponing reproduction, however, reduces reproductive opportunities and increases the chances of dying before reproducing. Here, I investigate the consequences of age at first reproduction on both survival and lifetime reproductive success by using long-term monitoring data of a population of yellow-bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventer) at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (Colorado, USA). Mixed models were employed to analyze the relationships between age at first reproduction in females and their lifetime reproductive success, as well as three survival components: longevity, the number of years after first reproduction, and annual survival probability. The results showed that postponing reproduction until 2 years of age increased longevity, but delaying it beyond 2 years did not yield additional survival benefits. Females reproducing for the first time after 3 years exhibited high rates of actuarial senescence. Furthermore, delaying first reproduction beyond 3 years old did not lead to a compensatory increase in lifetime reproductive success that would offset the reduction in survival associated with postponing first reproduction. These results suggest that the optimal age at first reproduction, in terms of survival and reproductive success, is 2 years. The reproductive strategy might be governed by body condition or environmental factors. These findings shed light on the trade-offs between early reproduction and survival, as well as reproductive success, illustrating the complexity of reproductive strategies in relation to individual fitness.

In this paper I focused on the examination of chosen localities inside the hybrid zone of the fire-bellied toads, where the occurrence of these species and their hybrids was confirmed in previous research. The goal is to follow the development of these habitats, suitable for the presence of a threatened species, and trends in quantities of these toads. Another aim was to calculate the hybrid index of each individual based on the ventral spots and so to classify the populations on each locality according to species.

Primates who disperse from their natal group may shape their adult stable gut microbiome through physical contact and shared environments with their new group members. However, it is possible that individuals retain the dominant microbiome composition that they developed as an infant in their natal group even after joining their new group, due to a combination of genetic inheritance and exposure to their natal group environment. Microbial exposure during early life, before an immune system has been developed, can exert strong selection on a developing individual, in effect creating a selection bottleneck. Therefore, the environmental signals transmitted from mother to infant are critical in developing an infant’s immunocompetence. Determining what adaptations take place in an individual’s gut microbiota during their life could help determine the maternal importance of gut microbe transmissions which may be essential to the evolutionary success of a species. We studied Eulemur rubriventer (red-bellied lemurs) who live in family groups. We tested whether individuals now living in different social groups as adults overlap in microbe composition, and if areas of overlap are distinct compared with unrelated individuals. We also tested whether the gut microbiomes of co-residents (dispersed adult group-mates) would be more similar than that of individuals living in different groups. Using census and genetic data, we determined the social group membership and relatedness of 15 individuals in Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar. Quantitative real-time PCR and Microbial 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing indicated that E. rubriventer kinship accounted for just 2.4% of variability in gut microbiome diversity. Our findings indicate that host adult social group explained 25% of the variation in composition of E. rubriventer microbiomes. Additional research incorporating an increased sample size to include additional kin dyads is necessary to fully understand the influence of genetic kinship and early life colonization on the GI microbiome. If initial microbial colonizing species are retained in adults, this demonstrates that early life colonization can persist through adulthood and perhaps preserve important microbial species across larger evolutionary time scales.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Florida State University, 2004. / Advisor: Dr. Frances C. James, Florida State University, College of Arts and Science, Dept. of Biological Science. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed June 16, 2004). Includes bibliographical references.