The Silver Gull is a small gull (265 - 450g), which exhibits sexual dimorphism, with males larger than females. It has a protracted laying period of about 8 months over the winter on Penguin Island in Western Australia. The Silver Gull was studied on Penguin Island from 2000 to 2002. Completed clutches were removed from breeding pairs to induce repeat laying in order to determine the effect of increased reproductive effort on maternal body condition, egg production ability, offspring sex ratio and chick rearing capacity. Increased egg production had no significant effect on maternal body condition as measured by condition index, derived from mass divided by a measure of skeletal size. The seasonal period, divided into thirty-day intervals, had a significant impact on female condition index, with a decline in condition toward the end of the breeding season. While male condition also appeared to decline at the end of the season, this pattern was not significant. The initiation of laying varied between the three years of the study. The earliest occurred in 2000, which also experienced earlier rainfall than the later two years. Egg size and mass decreased throughout the breeding season although the number of eggs in a clutch did not decline. The size and mass of the eggs was significantly affected by the laying history of the parents, although this effect was dependent on the year in which the eggs were produced. The minimum interval required by Silver Gulls to replace a lost clutch is about 14 days. This interval increased from the start of the breeding season, but then declined toward the end, as summer was approaching. Laying interval increased significantly as the number of clutches produced by the parents also increased, up to 4 clutches in total. As more clutches were produced past this point, the laying interval became shorter. The probability of a replacement clutch being produced after clutch removal, declined as the clutch number increased and as the season progressed. Individuals that laid clutches with a larger mean mass were more likely to lay a replacement clutch. Increasing reproductive output caused a decline in the proportion of clutches that were replaced after clutch removal. The proportion of clutches that were replaced also varied between the years with the highest rates of replacement seen in 2000 which was also the year that experienced the earliest start in laying. The size of the original clutch in terms of its mean mass and volume was related to the size of the replacement clutch, but this relationship varied according to the timing of laying. During 2000 and 2001 male offspring predominated in the first two clutches produced by Silver Gulls. Further clutches that were produced demonstrated a sex ratio skewed toward females, the smaller sex in this species. Offspring sex ratio was close to equality in 2002 with very little effect caused by increased egg production. There was no effect of year, season or the laying history of the parents on hatching success. Growth rate in chicks was influenced by the year in which the chick hatched, the period during the season in which the chicks hatched, its sex and the laying history of the parents. The relationship between chick growth and the laying history, however, was complex with no consistent pattern emerging in terms of the performance of chicks from each treatment group. While the chicks from control groups generally grew faster than the chicks from manipulated parents, those individuals that were laid or raised by manipulated parents that had laid at least three clutches in total also performed well. Using the two main measures of reproductive success in the current study, egg production and chick rearing, those birds that were induced to lay multiple replacement clutches, were able to maintain a high level of condition and reproductive success. It is proposed that in the Silver Gull, only those individuals with a high level of condition continue to lay replacement clutches. If the female is unable to produce well provisioned eggs with a high chance of success, the breeding attempt is abandoned. Despite no loss of condition detected in female Silver Gulls with increasing clutch number, there was a significant shift in the offspring sex ratio toward females, indicating that strategies were in place to cope with the increased reproductive effort incurred as a consequence of repeat laying. Protracted laying in this species allows replacement of lost clutches only after maternal condition has been regained after laying.

abstract: Integrating research from life history theory with investigations of construal-level theory, the researcher proposes a novel relationship between life history strategy and construal-level. Slow life history strategies arise in safe, predictable environments where individuals give up current reproductive effort in favor of future reproductive effort. Correspondingly, high-level construals allow individuals to transcend the current context and act according to global concerns, such as the type of future planning necessary to enact slow life history strategies. Meanwhile, fast life history strategies arise in harsh, unpredictable environments where the future is uncertain and individuals need to pay close attention to the current context to survive. Correspondingly, low-level construals immerse individuals in the immediate situation, enabling them the flexibility needed to respond to local concerns. Given the correspondence between aspects of life history and construal-level, it seems possible that individuals adopting slow life history strategies should more frequently use high-level construals to assist in transcending the current situation to plan for the future, while individuals adopting fast life history strategies should more frequently use low-level construals to assist in monitoring the details of their harsh, unpredictable environment. To test the relationship between life history and construal, the researcher investigated whether or not a childhood cue of environmental harshness and unpredictability, childhood SES, and a current cue of environmental harshness and unpredictability, local mortality rate, influenced construal-level. In line with past research, the researcher predicted that childhood SES would interact with current cues of local mortality rate to influence construal-level. For individuals growing up in high SES households, a high local mortality rate will lead to an increase in high-level construals. For individuals growing up in low SES households, a high local mortality rate will lead to an increase in low-level construals. Overall, results did not support the hypotheses. Childhood SES did not interact with prime condition to influence either categorization or trend predictions. Examining how the prime interacted with another measure of life history strategy, the Mini-K, yielded mixed results. However, there are several ways in which the current study could be altered to reexamine the relationship between life history strategy and construal. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Psychology 2011

Objectives: There are three aims for this thesis: the first is to develop a field and laboratory protocol for the storage and analysis of transforming growth factor–beta 2 (TGF-β2) in human breastmilk; second, to validate this protocol and the immunoassay used to assess this new method; and lastly, to explore the ramifications of biosimilar TGF-β2 across multiple milks on human health, growth, and immunity through the review of laboratory findings and previous literature. Rational: Little anthropological research has been done on TGF-β2 in human milk. Anthropology as a discipline is well positioned to provide insight into TGF-β2, combining biocultural, evolutionary, and ecological approaches to holistically illustrate the effects this cytokine has on human immunity. This thesis provides an applied anthropological perspective and methodology on TGF-β2 in human milk. Methods: A protocol was developed for a new method of drying breastmilk on polystyrene microplates. Samples were then reconstituted using reagent diluent with 1% BSA and assayed using a Human TGF-beta 2 DuoSet enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELIZA) assay kit from R&D Systems. Other mammalian milks and infant formula samples were also dried and tested for TGF-β2 concentrations. Validity of the assay and TGF-β2 concentrations were then statistically measured using linear regression analysis and Bland-Altman plots. Results: The results of the first objective in the development of a laboratory and field protocol for drying breastmilk on polystyrene plates for the extraction of TGF-β2 showed this method to hold promise for future application, but lacked statistical power in this study to confirm if this method is viable. The second objective of assay validation was unsuccessful, with the percent coefficient of variation for the intra-assay variation and inter-assay validation 38.28% and 17.70%, respectively indicating that this assay struggled to produce consistent and reliable results from the reconstituted samples. Results from the third objective suggest that biosimilar TGF-β2 in non-human milk can influence human growth and development, the extent of which, however, needs further study. Conclusions: Given these findings, more work with TGF-β2 in milk is required. TGF-β2 is a cytokine which could reveal a great deal about the developmental origins of human immunity and how it is maintained and altered across our life course and therefore an area of biology worth further research.

Este trabalho visa desenvolver uma análise sobre histórias de vidas que nos permitam perceber os caminhos e descaminhos de professoras para buscar seu lugar enquanto educadoras, tendo, para isso, que compreender a realidade onde atuam. Buscamos perceber como a leitura de mundo, de Paulo Freire, e o conceito de intelectual, de Gramsci, podem ser aplicados nas trajetórias de vidas aqui apresentadas. Como estas mulheres foram se constituindo enquanto professoras e quais os limites e possibilidades que elas encontraram para conduzir suas vidas enquanto educadoras desta ou daquela maneira. Para compreender histórias de vidas e resgatar pontos que nos permitam responder aos questionamentos levantados é preciso embasamentos anteriores que deem uma visão do contexto onde estas vidas estão inseridas. Nesse trabalho delimitamos três momentos históricos para um resgate sobre o processo educacional do país, que atingia uma educação para o povo. Percorremos a década de 1930 e a era Vargas, passamos pelos anos de 1960 e chegamos ao processo de redemocratização com a constituição de 1988. Percebemos, nestes três momentos, avanços e retrocessos, na educação, dando destaque à educação rural/campo, uma vez que o foco de análise e pergunta embasadora desta tese envolvem professoras urbanas que atuam no campo. Como estas professoras, com formação e origem urbana, atuam junto às escolas do campo? E para um contraponto, que nos pareceu instigante, visitamos a história de vida de uma professora rural que atua na cidade. Além de conduzirmos uma narrativa, cujo foco são as vidas das três professoras protagonistas, olhamos, também, para uma escola no campo, que traz suas protagonistas também, e que nos permite perceber caminhos de uma escola em Assentamento rural que não foi ocupada pelos assentados. / This work aims to develop an analysis of stories of lives that allow us to realize the paths and detours for teachers to find their place as educators, what has to understand the reality in which they operate. We seek to understand how the world reading of Paulo Freire and Gramsci's concept of intellectual can be applied in the trajectories of lives presented here. As these women were formed while teachers and the limits and possibilities they found to lead their lives as educators this way or that. To understand life histories and redeem points for addressing the questions raised in the previous one must emplacements that give an overview of the context in which these lives are embedded. In this work we delimited three historic for a bailout on education in the country that reached an education for the people moments. Traverse the 1930s and the Vargas era, passed by the 1960's and got to the democratization process in the constitution of 1988. We see these three moments advances and backward in education, with emphasis on rural education / field, since the focus analysis and embasadora question of this thesis involves urban teachers who work in the field. As these teachers with training and urban origin are close to the school field? And for a counterpoint, what seemed exciting, visited the life story of a rural teacher who works in the city. In addition to conduct a narrative whose focus is the lives of the three protagonists teachers also looked at a school in the countryside, bringing their protagonists too, and that allows us to perceive paths of a school in a rural community that was not occupied by settlers.

Scaphirhynchus sturgeons are species of concern throughout their ranges. To revitalize their populations, a thorough understanding of their habitat use during all life stages is critical. However, limited information exists about fine-scale habitat use during early life. To determine the feasibility of using radio telemetry to monitor habitat use in the field, I assessed growth and survival of age-0 sturgeon tagged with 0.2 g, non-functioning telemetry tags during an eight-week period in a controlled setting and then tested field performance in the Middle Mississippi River (MMR). Three treatments were evaluated: 1) control, 2) internally implanted tags, and 3) externally attached tags. Growth and survival varied across treatment groups (all comparisons P<0.05). Sturgeon with internally implanted tags grew slowly and had low survival, while sturgeon within the control group and those with external tags grew faster and had higher survival (~100%). A trial was conducted to determine swimming performance of each of the treatment groups, which resulted in no differences in critical swimming speed among the tag types. Based on these results, a field-based telemetry evaluation was performed to determine if it is feasible to monitor fine-scale habitat use. Four wild, age-0 Scaphirhynchus sturgeon were externally tagged with functioning radio transmitters in the MMR. After less than 24-h, the tagged fish were no longer detectable, likely due to environmental conditions (e.g., extreme depths and high conductivity). Thus, efforts should be directed to creating a small telemetry transmitter that uses technology (e.g., ultrasonic) that transmits well in deep rivers while maintaining a minimum tag weight and maximizing battery life. Fine scale habitat use of age-0 sturgeon may ultimately be able to be quantified in the MMR and other deep rivers in the future, if technologies improve.

Physical factors, such as hydrologic variability, are major structuring forces of prairie stream communities. Macroinvertebrate and algae densities can both decrease sharply in response to floods and drying. Less is known about the influences of biological factors, such as fishes. The influence of fishes on macroinvertebrate communities varies with environmental factors and other biologic interactions, ranging from neutral to strong negative effects on some populations, and the strength of these interactions sometimes appear linked to hydrology. Drying intermittent streams leave permanent water refugia that may be hotspots for interactions between fishes and invertebrates. Effects of fishes on macroinvertebrate communities may vary with invertebrate life cycle stages (e.g., larvae, emerging adults, colonizing adults). I examined macroinvertebrate communities (benthic and emerging) and algal biomass across a range of permanent stream pool sites at Konza Prairie Biological Station with naturally varying densities of fishes. I also manipulated fish densities in a mesocosm experiment to address how fishes may also be effecting colonization during recovery from hydrologic disturbance. Fish biomass had a negative impact on invertebrate abundance, but not biomass or taxa richness, in natural pools. Total fish biomass was not correlated with total insect emergence in natural pools, but orangethroat darter (Etheostoma spectabile) biomass was inversely correlated with emerging Chironomidae biomass (r2 = 0.43, p = 0.047) and individual midge body size (r2 = 0.61, p = 0.014). Predatory fish biomass and a date interaction appeared in top linear models, indicating fish may also delay insect emergence from natural pools. Fish presence reduced abundance of colonizing insects (p < 0.001) and total invertebrate biomass (p = 0.001) in mesocosms. Mesocosm insect communities in pools without fishes were characterized by more Chironomidae, Culicidae, and Corduliidae (p < 0.001 for all). Chlorophyll-a increased between sampling dates in mesocosms, but did not differ between treatments. Not all life stages showed the same response to fishes, illustrating the need for understanding life histories in order to interpret the influence of fishes. Understanding how fishes in prairie streams affect ecosystem structure and function is critical for conservation and management of remaining grassland streams. Results suggest fishes can influence colonization and community structure in prairie stream pools, which serve as important refugia during hydrologic disturbance and source areas for colonists during recovery.

Ecology of Veliidae and Mesoveliidae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Gerromorpha) was studied in selected European species. The research of these non-gerrid semiaquatic bugs was especially focused on voltinism, overwintering with physiological consequences and wing polymorphism with dispersal pattern. Hypotheses based on data from field surveys were tested by laboratory, mesocosm and field experiments. New data on life history traits and their ecophysiological consequences are discussed in seven original research papers (four published journal papers, two submitted papers and one communication in conference proceedings), creating core of this thesis.

Este trabalho visa desenvolver uma análise sobre histórias de vidas que nos permitam perceber os caminhos e descaminhos de professoras para buscar seu lugar enquanto educadoras, tendo, para isso, que compreender a realidade onde atuam. Buscamos perceber como a leitura de mundo, de Paulo Freire, e o conceito de intelectual, de Gramsci, podem ser aplicados nas trajetórias de vidas aqui apresentadas. Como estas mulheres foram se constituindo enquanto professoras e quais os limites e possibilidades que elas encontraram para conduzir suas vidas enquanto educadoras desta ou daquela maneira. Para compreender histórias de vidas e resgatar pontos que nos permitam responder aos questionamentos levantados é preciso embasamentos anteriores que deem uma visão do contexto onde estas vidas estão inseridas. Nesse trabalho delimitamos três momentos históricos para um resgate sobre o processo educacional do país, que atingia uma educação para o povo. Percorremos a década de 1930 e a era Vargas, passamos pelos anos de 1960 e chegamos ao processo de redemocratização com a constituição de 1988. Percebemos, nestes três momentos, avanços e retrocessos, na educação, dando destaque à educação rural/campo, uma vez que o foco de análise e pergunta embasadora desta tese envolvem professoras urbanas que atuam no campo. Como estas professoras, com formação e origem urbana, atuam junto às escolas do campo? E para um contraponto, que nos pareceu instigante, visitamos a história de vida de uma professora rural que atua na cidade. Além de conduzirmos uma narrativa, cujo foco são as vidas das três professoras protagonistas, olhamos, também, para uma escola no campo, que traz suas protagonistas também, e que nos permite perceber caminhos de uma escola em Assentamento rural que não foi ocupada pelos assentados. / This work aims to develop an analysis of stories of lives that allow us to realize the paths and detours for teachers to find their place as educators, what has to understand the reality in which they operate. We seek to understand how the world reading of Paulo Freire and Gramsci's concept of intellectual can be applied in the trajectories of lives presented here. As these women were formed while teachers and the limits and possibilities they found to lead their lives as educators this way or that. To understand life histories and redeem points for addressing the questions raised in the previous one must emplacements that give an overview of the context in which these lives are embedded. In this work we delimited three historic for a bailout on education in the country that reached an education for the people moments. Traverse the 1930s and the Vargas era, passed by the 1960's and got to the democratization process in the constitution of 1988. We see these three moments advances and backward in education, with emphasis on rural education / field, since the focus analysis and embasadora question of this thesis involves urban teachers who work in the field. As these teachers with training and urban origin are close to the school field? And for a counterpoint, what seemed exciting, visited the life story of a rural teacher who works in the city. In addition to conduct a narrative whose focus is the lives of the three protagonists teachers also looked at a school in the countryside, bringing their protagonists too, and that allows us to perceive paths of a school in a rural community that was not occupied by settlers.

Este trabalho visa desenvolver uma análise sobre histórias de vidas que nos permitam perceber os caminhos e descaminhos de professoras para buscar seu lugar enquanto educadoras, tendo, para isso, que compreender a realidade onde atuam. Buscamos perceber como a leitura de mundo, de Paulo Freire, e o conceito de intelectual, de Gramsci, podem ser aplicados nas trajetórias de vidas aqui apresentadas. Como estas mulheres foram se constituindo enquanto professoras e quais os limites e possibilidades que elas encontraram para conduzir suas vidas enquanto educadoras desta ou daquela maneira. Para compreender histórias de vidas e resgatar pontos que nos permitam responder aos questionamentos levantados é preciso embasamentos anteriores que deem uma visão do contexto onde estas vidas estão inseridas. Nesse trabalho delimitamos três momentos históricos para um resgate sobre o processo educacional do país, que atingia uma educação para o povo. Percorremos a década de 1930 e a era Vargas, passamos pelos anos de 1960 e chegamos ao processo de redemocratização com a constituição de 1988. Percebemos, nestes três momentos, avanços e retrocessos, na educação, dando destaque à educação rural/campo, uma vez que o foco de análise e pergunta embasadora desta tese envolvem professoras urbanas que atuam no campo. Como estas professoras, com formação e origem urbana, atuam junto às escolas do campo? E para um contraponto, que nos pareceu instigante, visitamos a história de vida de uma professora rural que atua na cidade. Além de conduzirmos uma narrativa, cujo foco são as vidas das três professoras protagonistas, olhamos, também, para uma escola no campo, que traz suas protagonistas também, e que nos permite perceber caminhos de uma escola em Assentamento rural que não foi ocupada pelos assentados. / This work aims to develop an analysis of stories of lives that allow us to realize the paths and detours for teachers to find their place as educators, what has to understand the reality in which they operate. We seek to understand how the world reading of Paulo Freire and Gramsci's concept of intellectual can be applied in the trajectories of lives presented here. As these women were formed while teachers and the limits and possibilities they found to lead their lives as educators this way or that. To understand life histories and redeem points for addressing the questions raised in the previous one must emplacements that give an overview of the context in which these lives are embedded. In this work we delimited three historic for a bailout on education in the country that reached an education for the people moments. Traverse the 1930s and the Vargas era, passed by the 1960's and got to the democratization process in the constitution of 1988. We see these three moments advances and backward in education, with emphasis on rural education / field, since the focus analysis and embasadora question of this thesis involves urban teachers who work in the field. As these teachers with training and urban origin are close to the school field? And for a counterpoint, what seemed exciting, visited the life story of a rural teacher who works in the city. In addition to conduct a narrative whose focus is the lives of the three protagonists teachers also looked at a school in the countryside, bringing their protagonists too, and that allows us to perceive paths of a school in a rural community that was not occupied by settlers.

Em lagartos, componentes de história de vida apresentam grande plasticidade fenotípica e evoluem de maneira correlacionada. O número de ovos, por exemplo, tende a ser correlacionado positivamente com o tamanho corpóreo das fêmeas grávidas, tanto em linhagens evolutivas quanto entre indivíduos, embora alguns tipos de hábito pareçam restringir ninhadas maiores. Há indícios de que outros fatores, como componentes climáticos, ou latitude, também sejam determinantes das características de história de vida do grupo, tanto por questões de fisiologia termal quanto ecológicas. Componentes climáticos influenciam ainda diferentes aspectos da reprodução em lagartos, como por exemplo a estrutura e morfologia da casca dos ovos de Squamata, conforme indicam diferenças nestas características entre linhagens de lagartos ovíparos. Neste contexto, o presente trabalho investigou aspectos evolutivos da história de vida de lagartos da subfamília Tropidurinae, e sua relação com componentes climáticos e latitude, através de métodos filogenéticos comparativos. Observou-se que o número de ovos da ninhada é positivamente correlacionado com o tamanho corpóreo ao longo da linhagem dos tropiduríneos. Por outro lado, esse padrão não é observado no caso de hábito escansorial e utilização de frestas de rochas, em razão de possíveis compromissos envolvendo peso e forma corpórea com efeitos na sobrevivência das fêmeas. O tamanho corpóreo em tropiduríneros é maior em regiões geográficas com maiores componentes de precipitação, possivelmente relacionado a disponibilidade de alimento. Há diminuição do tamanho corpóreo com incrementos na distância da linha do Equador, até aproximadamente 1500 km. A partir desse limite, o tamanho corpóreo aumenta. Adicionalmente foi estudada a morfologia e estrutura da casca de Tropidurus torquatus, uma das espécies com distribuição mais ampla dentro da subfamília. A morfologia da casca de Tropidurus torquatus segue o padrão geral para Squamata com algumas particularidades, mas estudos comparativos futuros é que elucidarão padrões evolutivos da morfologia da casca. / In lizards, life history components have great phenotypic plasticity and evolve in a correlated way. Clutch size, for example, tends to be positively correlated to body size of gravid females, when comparing different evolutive lineages or different individuals, though some kinds of habit seems to restrict larger clutches. There are indications that other factors, such as climate components or latitude, also determine characteristics of lizard life history, as a matter of thermal physiology or ecology. Climate factors also affect different aspects of lizards reproduction, for example the structure and morphology of Squamata eggshells, as differences observed in these factors between oviparous lizards lineages indicate. In this context, the present work investigated evolutive aspects of Tropidurinae lizards life history and its relation to climate components and latitude, using comparative phylogenetic methods. It has been observed that clutch size is positively correlated to body size in the Tropidurinae lineage. On the other hand, this pattern is not observed in lizards with scansorial habits or those that inhabit rock crests, maybe due to compromises involving the weight and shape of female bodies that can affect female survival. The body size in Tropidurinae is larger in geographical regions presenting higher precipitation, possibly due to increased food availability. Female body size decreases with increased distance from the Equator until approximately 1500 km. Beyond this limit, female body size increases. Additionally, morphology and structure of eggshells were studied on Tropidurus torquatus, one of the species within the Tropidurinae group with higher latitudinal range of distribution. Tropidurus torquatus eggshell morphology follows the general pattern described for Squamata with some particularities, and future comparative studies are needed to elucidate evolutive patterns of eggshell morphology in the group.