Thesis (MAppSc) -- Auckland University of Technology, 2004. / Also held in print (95 leaves, 30 cm.) in Wellesley Theses Collection. (T 599.940993 PUN)

A major goal in conservation biology is to understand the effects of short and long term environmental change on organisms. Fishes are the most valuable marine resource, however very little is known about the synergistic effect of current ocean warming and acidification, and the role of body size and local adaptation on their resilience. There is growing evidence that increased environmental temperature correlates with a reduction in ectotherm body size, suggesting a universal response to warming. To investigate the potential advantage of small body size in fish resilience, I made intra- and inter-specific comparisons of dwarf- and normal-size cleaner gobies of the genus Elacatinus. I first tested the hypothesis that smaller body size would correlate with a wider thermal tolerance by using same-age but different-size gobies reared at 'common garden' conditions. By employing critical thermal methodology, I provided empirical evidence supporting thermal biology theories that predict wider thermal tolerance windows as body size shrinks. These results provided the motivation to examine the effect of body mass on digestive performance, an indicator of fitness. Only smaller fish increased digestive metabolic scope at higher temperatures, thus suggesting that temperature increase caused by global warming will favor smaller individuals. To investigate the role of local adaptation on resilience in climate change, I compared the responses to warming and acidification between latitudinally- and morphologically-distinct populations of the little skate Leucoraja erinacea, by focusing on the most vulnerable life stages, embryos and juveniles. Embryos maintained at common garden conditions showed countergradient variation in performance curves. In juvenile skates, post-exercise metabolic curves shifted performance optima, exhibiting thermal adaptation in the two populations examined. This suggests that as skates hatch and are able to thermoregulate, they can change their temperature optima to exploit local thermal environments. Lastly, temperature and acidification levels predicted by the end of the century may reduce fitness of the northern population of skates, thus increasing vulnerability to local extinction.

The diploma thesis deals with the evaluation of the growth of cold-blooded stallions in pig breeding test rearing houses. The Czech Republic has set up three pig breeding test rearing houses. A total of 96 stallions were measured with 14 body measurements and they were also weighed whilst alive. Statistically significant differences were detected between breeds as well as between age groups when evaluating the intensity of growth of all measured body size and body weight. In most body sizes there were the biggest Silesian Norics horses (SN). At the age of two and a half years they stagnated growth in chest circumference, the circumference of the tibia and sternum height, even though it is stated in the Rules and Regulation of breeding book that SN mature between 5-6 years of age. During the evaluation there were no statistically significant differences between rearing houses. Stallions from the rearing house of Proseč prevailed in growth usually at the beginning of rearing, and later stallions from the rearing house of Dvorka at the age of one and a half year grew most. Stallions in the rearing house of Humňany had the lowest WHS, WHT and CC. The smallest variances of individual body size from the three studied cold-blooded breeds were detected by the CzechMoravian Belgian horse (CMB). This breed can therefore be regarded as the most well bred. The greatest value of the index body frame, the index heights in the crisis as well as index of severity were found in the breed SN. On the other hand CMB reached the lowest values in the above-mentioned indices and also in the index of boniness. Norick horses (N) have the most massive skeleton. In the scope of the height index of the sternum there was prevailed CMB at the beginning of rearing, but at the age of year and a half they began reaching a higher value N. This work was supported by the Project NAZV, project number QJ1510141 and project GAJU 019/2016/Z.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / According to the theory of island biogeography, large islands next the mainland tend to have greater richness than the smaller or more remote islands. Moreover, because of the isolation that insular environments suffering, the animals that living there are exposed to various changes, which vary according to the degree of isolation and size of the island. The order Chiroptera is the second largest in number of mammal species, and mobility have critical importance for the survival of some species of this taxon, once it is related to search for habitat and resources such as food and shelter, which can be restricted in the insular environment. This study aimed to compare the structure of existing communities of bats on the Maracá-Jipioca island and in the adjacent mainland. Sampling occurred between February-March (wet season) and September-November (dry season) of 2010. Were sampled 24 points divided into four environments (three points per environment per site - island and mainland). At each point were armed four mist-nets distributed along narrow trails and natural glades, at understory level, which remained open for six hours from sunset. A total of 381 individuals belonging to 26 species from five families were captured. The observed species richness to the island and the mainland did not differ significantly, probably due to the large size of the island and proximity of this with the mainland. But it was possible to verify the existence of a segregation of the communities studied, between island and mainland. However, how bats use different environments as passage, the habitats were not responsible for this differentiation. Thus, a study covering a larger area of the continent, the interior of the Maracá-Jipioca island and different strata of the forest can help clarify the patterns found. / Segundo a teoria da biogeografia de ilhas, ilhas grandes ou próximas ao continente tenderiam a ter maior riqueza que ilhas pequenas ou mais afastadas. Além disso, em função do isolamento que ambientes insulares sofrem, os animais que ali vivem estão expostos a várias mudanças, que variam conforme o grau de isolamento e tamanho da ilha. A ordem Chiroptera é o segundo maior grupo de mamíferos em número de espécies, e a mobilidade tem importância essencial para a sobrevivência de algumas espécies deste táxon, uma vez que está relacionada com a busca por hábitat e recursos como alimento e abrigo, que podem ser restritos em meio insular. Este estudo tem como objetivo comparar a estrutura de comunidades de morcegos existentes na Ilha de Maracá-Jipioca e na área continental adjacente. A amostragem ocorreu entre os meses de fevereiro-março (estação úmida) e setembro-novembro (estação seca) de 2010. Foram amostrados 24 pontos, distribuídos em quatro ambientes (três pontos por ambiente para cada sítio ilha e continente). Em cada ponto foram armadas quatro redes-de-neblina, distribuídas em trilhas estreitas e clareiras naturais, ao nível do sub-bosque, as quais permaneceram abertas por seis horas a partir do pôr-do-sol. Um total de 381 indivíduos pertencentes a 26 espécies de cinco famílias foram capturados. A riqueza de espécies observada para ilha e continente não diferiu significativamente, provavelmente em função do grande tamanho da ilha e da proximidade desta com o continente. Porém, foi possível verificar a existência de uma segregação das comunidades estudadas, entre ilha e continente. Entretanto, como os morcegos utilizam diferentes ambientes como corredores de passagem, estes não foram responsáveis por esta diferenciação. Assim, a realização de um estudo abrangendo uma área maior do continente, o interior da Ilha de Maracá-Jipioca e diferentes estratos da floresta podem ajudar a esclarecer os padrões encontrados.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The main goal of this research is to test the Bergmann Rule in its levels - order, suborder and parvordem - in contrast with the leading families (Furnariidae, Thamnophilidae, Tyrannidae e Thraupidae) passerines of the Atlantic Forest. I intended to identify whether the pattern of body size distribution in these groups follow this rule. To reach the goal, the Atlantic Forest was divided into 123 squares (110km x110km). So, I calculated the average body size and the passerines richness in each square. Environmental variables employed as predictors were temperature, precipitation and space. The analysis of Linear Regression and, MantelCorrelationwere used. I observed that passerines are positively correlated to temperature and precipitation. On the other hand, latitude is not correlated to Passeri nor to Tyrannidae. I concluded that, in general, all Atlantic Forest passerines follow the Bergmann Rule are in consonance with the Bergmann Rule. In general, researches test/employ the Bergman Rule in more global patterns for passerines. So, we found no previous researches focusing specifically on the Atlantic Forest. In this light, this research is meaningful to this geographic scale, especially because of the uniqueness of this South America ancient ecosystem, the Atlantic Forest. / O objetivo deste estudo foi testar a Regra de Bergmann a nível de ordem, subordem, e principais famílias (Furnariidae, Thamnophilidae, Tyrannidae e Thraupidae) de Passeriformes florestais da Mata Atlântica a fim de identificar se os padrões de distribuição do tamanho corporal nesses grupos seguem essa regra. A Mata Atlântica foi dividida em 123 quadrículas (110km x 110km) e foi calculado o tamanho corporal médio e a riqueza dos Passeriformes em cada quadrícula. As variáveis ambientais utilizadas como preditoras foram a temperatura, a precipitação e o espaço geográfico. Utilizamos as análises de Regressão linear e correlação de Mantel. Desta forma encontramos que os Passeriformes são correlacionados positivamente com a temperatura e a precipitação. A latitude não se correlacionou com Passeri e Tyrannidae.Ao final concluímos que em geral todos os Passeriformes florestais da Mata Atlântica seguem a Regra de Bergmann. Em geral as pesquisas voltadas para a Regra de Bergmann tratam de padrões mais globais para aves. E, maisregionalmente, como na Mata Atlântica, nada foi testado quanto a isto e, assim, este estudo se torna relevante para essa escala geográfica. Ainda mais devido a singularidade da Mata Atlântica, que é um ecossistema antigo na América do Sul.

This thesis examines the effects of anti-obesity discourses on parenting practices. While academics have paid attention to the political dimensions of anti-obesity policy and related discourses (for example Colls and Evans, 2009, Evans, 2006, 2010, McPhail, 2009, Rawlins, 2009), and others have considered the experiences of feeding and caring for families (for example Curtis and Fisher, 2007, DeVault, 1991 Warin et al, 2008, Valentine, 1999), the way in which anti-obesity policies become enrolled in, and possibly contested through, parenting practices remains largely uncovered. In response to this, the thesis explores the ways in which these anti-obesity policies and discourses are brought into family life, lived, experienced, and made meaningful, contributing to critical obesity geographies and broader literature on bodies, parenting, care, and consumption. The thesis draws on research interviews and focus groups with parents, in which accounts of parenting practices and understandings around body size were explored in light of contemporary UK anti-obesity discourse. Using this research to explore the everyday enaction of parenting knowledges around body size, these parenting enactions are investigated alongside the governance of body size and parenting, developing an account of the ways in which we can see the aims of the state enacted in everyday practices of care (Dyck et al, 2007). By paying attention to everyday practices, this thesis argues that anti-obesity discourse emerges not only through top-down practices of governance, but through mundane and personal relationships of care and engagement with bodies, food, and fat. However, caring practices are demonstrated as existing in multiplicity and the excesses of everyday life in relation to parenting and body size are given space in the thesis to challenge narrow accounts of what it means to be a ‘good’ parent or have a ‘good’ body size; it is argued that we need to take seriously the situated lay knowledges that are developed through everyday practices of care. The thesis contends that such notions of ‘good’ parenting, bodies, and size are enacted through anti-obesity discourse as a particular classed discourse of parenting knowledge and body size, which furthermore, reinforce gendered versions of bodies, parenting, and everyday life.

Animal migrations are often associated with high mortality due to increased energy expenditure, reduced foraging opportunities, and increased predation risk. Migratory traits such as body size, phenology, or use of stopover habitats may moderate individual risk to mortality mechanisms and influence patterns of survival. However, variability in migratory traits is rarely quantified in detail because tracking many individuals over large areas is logistically challenging. In this dissertation, I used otoliths to examine migratory variability among and within sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) populations, a species that has recently experienced declines associated with poor survival during juvenile marine migrations. Broadly, I examined the individual and environmental drivers of migratory patterns, as well as how variation across ecological scales (individuals, populations, and years) contributed to migratory diversity. First, I conducted a laboratory study to validate the use of otolith microstructure techniques in sockeye salmon post-smolts. Next, I assessed how a suite of ecological processes could interact to create a latitudinal gradient in sockeye salmon body size. By reconstructing individual growth and migration histories I determined that variation in size was correlated with ocean entry size and phenology, rather than differential marine growth or size-selective mortality. I then used estimates of migratory rate from otoliths to demonstrate that juvenile sockeye salmon exhibited distinct migratory phenotypes associated with ocean entry traits. Larger individuals migrated rapidly offshore, while smaller fish reared for several weeks in nearshore regions. Furthermore, a subset of the smallest individuals entered the ocean late in the year, migrated particularly slowly, and may have overwintered on the continental shelf. These linkages between ocean entry and migratory traits suggest juvenile sockeye salmon exhibit substantial migratory plasticity associated with carry-over effects from freshwater residence; however juvenile salmon may also respond strongly to variable conditions in marine habitats. In my fifth chapter, I compared marine growth and migration phenology in years with low and high competitor densities. After accounting for freshwater density-dependent effects, growth rates were similar in both years, but mean migration rates were nearly 50% faster in the high-density year. Migratory behavior may be used to buffer individuals from the effect of competitive interactions. In my final chapter, I sampled 16 Fraser River sockeye salmon populations to explore variation in the timing and duration of early marine migrations. Although populations differed in downstream migration timing, as well as their duration of residence within nearshore habitats, there was substantial variation within each population and between sampling years. These findings suggest individual characteristics and stochastic processes interact with population-specific strategies to shape migratory phenologies in this metapopulation. Management actions should account for and preserve migratory diversity at multiple ecological scales to maintain resilient salmon populations into the future. / Graduate / 2018-10-17

Abstract There are more small-bodied species of birds than those having large bodies. Generally, and relative to occurrance in any one place, small-bodied species also contain more individuals than large-bodied species. The same patterns have been documented for several groups of higher organisms for example, snakes, flowering plants and mammals, which suggests that there exists a general reason "why", which applies to other groups of species as well as to birds. This thesis attempts to identify this reason. In the first place, it is possible that most species happened to become small-bodied by chance. Simulations of neutral body-size evolution indicate however that the observed bias towards small size is stronger than that accounted for by neutral evolution. Then, the most plausible explanation for why most species are small is that small-bodied species speciate faster. However, statistical analyses accounting for historical relatedness of present-day species indicate no relation between body size and the rate of speciation. Finally, instead of little by little, the dominance of small species may have arisen suddenly, when approximately 65 million years ago (presumably) a large meteorite hit the earth, causing mass extinctions. However, analysis of body sizes and genetic differences of extant species reveals that while avian species numbers were approximately halved, the catastrophe affected small and large species equally. Thus, the reason why most species are small does not seem to be due to differential rates of speciation or extinction. Instead, the cause appears to be in the tempo and mode of evolution. It was found by analysis of extant species' body size that probably most differences in body size between species arise at the moment of speciation. Differences between small-bodied species are smaller than between large-bodied species and probably this difference also has its origin at the moment of speciation. Consequently, groups of small species stay small whereas groups of large species are more variable in body size, so that in the end most species are small. / Tiivistelmä Maailman noin 10 000 lintulajin joukossa pienikokoisia lajeja on enemmän kuin suurikokoisia. Yleensä pienkokoiset lajit ovat myös yksilömääriltään suurempia kuin samalla paikalla esiintyvät suurikokoiset lajit. Koska sama ilmiö on havaittu monissa muissa suurissa eliöryhmissä (esim. nisäkkäät, käärmeet ja kukkakasvit), on ilmeistä, että on olemassa yhteinen syy, joka pätee niin linnuissa kuin muissakin eliöryhmissä. Tämän väitöskirjan tavoite on selvittää, mikä tämä yhteinen syy voisi olla. Ensinnäkin on mahdollista, että suurin osa lajeista on kehittynyt pienikokoisiksi aivan sattumalta. Ruumiin koon evoluution simulaatiot kuitenkin osoittavat, että on hyvin epätodennäköistä, että neutraali evoluutio olisi johtanut pienikokoisten lajien suuriin määrään havaitussa määrin. Toinen mahdollinen selitys ilmiölle on, että pienikokoiset lajit lajiutuvat nopeammin. Tilastolliset analyysit, jotka ottavat huomioon nykyisin elävien lajien sukulaisuussuhteet, osoittavat ettei ruumin koon ja lajiutumisen vauhdin välillä ole yhteyttä. Kolmas mahdollinen selitys pienikokoisten lajien suurelle määrällä on historiallinen. On mahdollista, että pienikokoisten lajien suhteellisen suuri määrä syntyi nopeasti noin 65 miljoonaa vuotta sitten tapahtuneen massasukupuuton seurauksena, joka fossiiliaineiston perusteella kohdistui erityisesti suurikokoisiin maaeläimiin (esimerkiksi dinosauruksiin). Vertaileva analyysi nykyään elävien lintulajien ruumiin koosta ja geneettisistä eroista osoittaa, että vaikka suuri osa lintulajeista hävisi massasukupuutossa, tämä katastrofi karsi lajeja riippumatta niiden ruumiin koosta. Näyttää siis siltä, etteivät erot lajiutumisen tai sukupuuttojen esiintymisessä selitä sitä, että suurin osa lajeista on pienikokoisia. Tämän tutkimuksen tulosten perusteella syy näyttäisi sen sijaan olevan ruumiin koon kehityksen vauhdissa ja siinä tavassa, jolla kehitys yleensä etenee. Analyysi nykyisten lajien ruumiin koosta paljasti, että suurin osa eroista lajien välillä syntyy (evolutiiviessa aikataulussa) suhteellisen nopeasti lajiutumistapahtuman yhteydessä (punktualismi) eikä vähitellen pitkien aikojen kuluessa (gradualismi), kuten yleensä oletetaan. Kehityslinjojen sisällä pienikokoisten lajien väliset erot ruumiin koossa olivat pienempiä kuin isokokoisten lajien väliset erot - ja todennäköisesti myöskin tämä ero syntyy lajiutumisen yhteydessä. Tämä johtaa evoluution kuluessa tilanteeseen, että alunperin pienikokoisista lajeista kehittyneet lajit ovat myös pienikokoisia, kun taas isokokoisten lajien kehityslinjoissa on nähtävissä huomattavasti paljon enemmän vaihtelua ruumiin koossa. Näiden seurauksena eliöstöissä suurin osa lajeista lopulta on pienikokoisia.

Objectives: This diploma thesis briefly summarizes the current knowledge about the neurophysiological and functional somatosensory influence of sedentary and non-sedentary occupations on the individual. The experimental part compares the quality of somatognostic functions in cohorts with sedentary occupations (SO) versus non-sedentary occupations (NSO). The NSO group positions and movements often alternate and static positions are not held for long periods. Methods: Both groups had the same number of probands. Ore-emptive questionnaires provided anamnestic data for each individual. Afterwards, somatosensory functions were assessed using six selected tests; 2 tests for upper extremity proprioception (UEP), 2 tests for lower extremity proprioception (LEP) and 2 tests for body size perception. Results: There was a significant difference in the results of the four tests measuring quality of proprioception of the upper and lower extremities. The NSO group showed more accurate results. In the UEP test measured in sitting posture, there was an average deviation 4,4ř in the SO group, and 3,1ř in the NSO group (p = 0,021). In the UEP test measured in standing posture, there was an average deviation 4.0 cm in the SO group, and 3,0 cm in the NSO group (p = 0.025). In the LEP test measured in standing posture,...

Body size varies according to nutritional availability, which is of ecological and evolutionary relevance. The purpose of this study is to test the hypothesis that differences in adult body size are realized by increasing juvenile growth rate for white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus). Harvest records are used to construct growth rate estimates by empirical nonlinear curve fitting. Results are compared to those of previous models that include additional parameters. The rate of growth increases during the study period. Models that estimate multiple parameters may not work with harvest data in which estimates of these parameters are prone to error, which renders estimates from complex models too variable to detect inter-annual changes in growth rate that this simpler model captures