Consistent within-individual plasticity is sufficient to explain temperature responses in red deer reproductive traits.

Warming global temperatures are affecting a range of aspects of wild populations, but the exact mechanisms driving associations between temperature and phenotypic traits may be difficult to identify. Here, we use a 36-year data set on a wild population of red deer to investigate the causes of associations between temperature and two important components of female reproduction: timing of breeding and offspring size. By separating within- versus between-individual associations with temperature for each trait, we show that within-individual phenotypic plasticity (changes within a female's lifetime) was entirely sufficient to generate the observed population-level association with temperature at key times of year.

Inbreeding avoidance, tolerance, or preference in animals?

Animal ecologists commonly assume that the reduced fitness that often afflicts inbred offspring will inevitably cause selection for inbreeding avoidance. Although early empirical studies often reported inbreeding avoidance, recent studies suggest that animals sometimes show no avoidance or even prefer to mate with relatives. However, current theory is insufficient to predict whether animals should avoid, tolerate, or prefer inbreeding and hence to understand overall inbreeding strategy.

Re-mating across years and intralineage polygyny are associated with greater than expected levels of inbreeding in wild red deer.

The interaction between philopatry and nonrandom mating has important consequences for the genetic structure of populations, influencing co-ancestry within social groups but also inbreeding. Here, using genetic paternity data, we describe mating patterns in a wild population of red deer (Cervus elaphus) which are associated with marked consequences for co-ancestry and inbreeding in the population. Around a fifth of females mate with a male with whom they have mated previously, and further, females frequently mate with a male with whom a female relative has also mated (intralineage polygyny).

Shared spatial effects on quantitative genetic parameters: accounting for spatial autocorrelation and home range overlap reduces estimates of heritability in wild red deer.

Social structure, limited dispersal, and spatial heterogeneity in resources are ubiquitous in wild vertebrate populations. As a result, relatives share environments as well as genes, and environmental and genetic sources of similarity between individuals are potentially confounded. Quantitative genetic studies in the wild therefore typically account for easily captured shared environmental effects (e.

Structure, morphology and magnetic properties of Mg((x))Zn((1 - x))Fe2O4 ferrites prepared by polyol and aqueous co-precipitation methods: a low-toxicity alternative to Ni((x))Zn((1 - x))Fe2O4 ferrites.

The synthesis and properties of Mg((x))Zn((1 - x))Fe(2)O(4) spinel ferrites as a low-toxicity alternative to the technologically significant Ni((x))Zn((1 - x))Fe(2)O(4) ferrites are reported. Ferrite nanoparticles have been formed through both the polyol and aqueous co-precipitation methods that can be readily adapted to industrial scale synthesis to satisfy the demand of a variety of commercial applications. The structure, morphology and magnetic properties of Mg((x))Zn((1 - x))Fe(2)O(4) were studied as a function of composition and particle size.