Trait-specific sensitive developmental windows: Wing growth best integrates weather conditions encountered throughout the development of nestling Alpine swifts.

The size and growth patterns of nestling birds are key determinants of their survival up to fledging and long-term fitness. However, because traits such as feathers, skeleton and body mass can follow different developmental trajectories, our understanding of the impact of adverse weather on development requires insights into trait-specific sensitive developmental windows. We analysed data from nestling Alpine swifts in Switzerland measured throughout growth up to the age of 50 days (i.

Population density effects on gamete traits and fertilisation dynamics under varying sperm environments in mussels.

Gamete traits can vary widely among species, populations and individuals, influencing fertilisation dynamics and overall reproductive fitness. Sexual selection can play an important role in determining the evolution of gamete traits with local environmental conditions determining the strength and direction of sexual selection. Here, we test for signatures of post-mating selection on gamete traits in relation to population density, and possible interactive effects of population density and sperm concentration on sperm motility and fertilisation rates among natural populations of mussels.

High-resolution environmental and host-related factors impacting questing at their northern range edge.

The geographic range of tick populations has expanded in Canada due to climate warming and the associated poleward range shifts of their vertebrate hosts. Abiotic factors, such as temperature, precipitation, and snow, are known to directly affect tick abundance. Yet, biotic factors, such as the abundance and diversity of mammal hosts, may also alter tick abundance and consequent tick-borne disease risk.

Assessing long-term diatom changes in sub-Arctic ponds receiving high fluxes of seabird nutrients.

Algal bioindicators, such as diatoms, often show subdued responses to eutrophication in Arctic lakes because climate-related changes (e.g., ice cover) tend to be the overriding factors influencing assemblage composition.

Seasonal dynamics in the mammalian microbiome between disparate environments.

Host-associated bacterial microbiomes can facilitate host acclimation to seasonal environmental change and are hypothesized to help hosts cope with recent anthropogenic environmental perturbations (e.g., landscape modification).

The timing of reproduction is responding plastically, not genetically, to climate change in yellow-bellied marmots ().

With global climates changing rapidly, animals must adapt to new environmental conditions with altered weather and phenology. The key to adapting to these new conditions is adjusting the timing of reproduction to maximize fitness. Using a long-term dataset on a wild population of yellow-bellied marmots () at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (RMBL), we investigated how the timing of reproduction changed with changing spring conditions over the past 50 years.

Eastern monarch larval performance may not be affected by shifts in phenological synchrony with milkweed.

Interacting species are experiencing disruptions in the relative timing of their key life-history events due to climate change. These shifts can sometimes be detrimental to the fitness of the consumer in trophic interactions but not always.The potential consequences of phenological asynchrony for the monarch butterfly () and its host plant ( spp.

Divergent natural selection alters male sperm competition success in .

Sexually selected traits may also be subject to non-sexual selection. If optimal trait values depend on environmental conditions, then "narrow sense" (i.e.

Identifying the drivers of computationally detected correlated evolution among sites under antibiotic selection.

The ultimate causes of correlated evolution among sites in a genome remain difficult to tease apart. To address this problem directly, we performed a high-throughput search for correlated evolution among sites associated with resistance to a fluoroquinolone antibiotic using whole-genome data from clinical strains of , before validating our computational predictions experimentally. We show that for at least two sites, this correlation is underlain by epistasis.

Circulating Selenium Concentration Is Inversely Associated With the Prevalence of Stroke: Results From the Canadian Health Measures Survey and the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

Background Observational studies have suggested that selenium (Se) may have beneficial effects against certain cardiovascular outcomes, with a possible U-shaped association. We assessed the hypothesis that blood Se concentration might be inversely associated with the prevalence of stroke and the relationship would be nonlinear. Methods and Results Data collected from adult participants (aged ≥20 years) in the Canadian Health Measures Survey ( CHMS 2007-2011, n=7065) and the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey ( NHANES 2011-2012, n=5030) were analyzed.

Urbanization and the temporal patterns of social networks and group foraging behaviors.

Urbanization causes dramatic and rapid changes to natural environments, which can lead the animals inhabiting these habitats to adjust their behavioral responses. For social animals, urbanized environments may alter group social dynamics through modification of the external environment (e.g.

Patterns and biases in an Arctic herbarium specimen collection: Implications for phenological research.

Premise Of The Study: Herbarium specimens are increasingly used in phenological studies. However, natural history collections can have biases that influence the analysis of phenological events. Arctic environments, where remoteness and cold climate govern collection logistics, may give rise to unique or pronounced biases.