Use of noninvasive ‘bug-eggs’ to enable comparative inferences on genetic mating system with and without parental information: A study in a cattle egret colony

Colonial waterbirds such as herons, egrets and spoonbills exhibit ecological characteristics that could have promoted the evolution of conspecific brood parasitism and extra-pair copulation. However, an adequate characterization of the genetic mating systems of this avian group has been hindered by the lack of samples of elusive candidate parents which precluded conducting conventional parentage allocation tests. Here, we investigate the genetic mating system of the invasive cattle egret using hematophagous insects contained in fake eggs to collect blood from incubating adults in a wild breeding colony. We tested a protocol with a previously unused Neotropical Triatominae, Panstrongylus megistus, obtained blood samples from males and females in 31 nests built on trees, drew blood from 89 nestlings at those nests, and genotyped all samples at 14 microsatellite loci, including six new species-specific loci. We comparatively addressed the performance of parentage allocation versus kinship classification of nestlings to infer the genetic mating system of cattle egrets. In line with previous behavioral observations, we found evidence in support of a non-monogamous genetic mating system, including extra-pair paternity (EPP) and conspecific brood parasitism (CBP). Parentage allocation tests detected a higher percentage of nests with alternative reproductive tactics (EPP: 61.7%; CBP: 64.5%) than the kinship classification method (EPP: 50.0%; CBP: 43.3%). Overall, these results indicate that rates of alternative reproductive tactics inferred in the absence of parental genetic information could be underestimated and should be interpreted with caution. This study highlights the importance of incorporating samples from candidate parents to adequately determine the genetic mating system of a species. We expand knowledge on the reproductive tactics of colonial waterbirds, contributing novel data on the genetic mating system of the cattle egret, valuable for the design of management strategies for this invasive bird.Fil: Miño, Carolina Isabel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Nordeste. Instituto de Biología Subtropical. Instituto de Biología Subtropical - Nodo Puerto Iguazú | Universidad Nacional de Misiones. Instituto de Biología Subtropical. Instituto de Biología Subtropical - Nodo Puerto Iguazú; ArgentinaFil: Dantas de Souza, Elaine. Universidade Federal do São Carlos; BrasilFil: Moralez-Silva, Emmanuel. Universidade Federal do São Carlos; BrasilFil: Valdes, Talita Alvarenga. Universidade Federal do São Carlos; BrasilFil: Cortiço Corrêa Rodrigues, Vera Lúcia. Superintendencia de Controle de Endemias; BrasilFil: Del Lama, Sílvia Nassif. Universidade Federal do São Carlos; Brasi

The Co-Evolution of Test Maintenance and Code Maintenance through the lens of Fine-Grained Semantic Changes

Automatic testing is a widely adopted technique for improving software quality. Software developers add, remove and update test methods and test classes as part of the software development process as well as during the evolution phase, following the initial release. In this work we conduct a large scale study of 61 popular open source projects and report the relationships we have established between test maintenance, production code maintenance, and semantic changes (e.g, statement added, method removed, etc.). performed in developers' commits. We build predictive models, and show that the number of tests in a software project can be well predicted by employing code maintenance profiles (i.e., how many commits were performed in each of the maintenance activities: corrective, perfective, adaptive). Our findings also reveal that more often than not, developers perform code fixes without performing complementary test maintenance in the same commit (e.g., update an existing test or add a new one). When developers do perform test maintenance, it is likely to be affected by the semantic changes they perform as part of their commit. Our work is based on studying 61 popular open source projects, comprised of over 240,000 commits consisting of over 16,000,000 semantic change type instances, performed by over 4,000 software engineers.Comment: postprint, ICSME 201

Usability and open source software.

Open source communities have successfully developed many pieces of software although most computer users only use proprietary applications. The usability of open source software is often regarded as one reason for this limited distribution. In this paper we review the existing evidence of the usability of open source software and discuss how the characteristics of open-source development influence usability. We describe how existing human-computer interaction techniques can be used to leverage distributed networked communities, of developers and users, to address issues of usability

Biological Control of the Chagas Disease Vector Triatoma infestans with the Entomopathogenic Fungus Beauveria bassiana Combined with an Aggregation Cue: Field, Laboratory and Mathematical Modeling Assessment

Background: Current Chagas disease vector control strategies, based on chemical insecticide spraying, are growingly threatened by the emergence of pyrethroid-resistant Triatoma infestans populations in the Gran Chaco region of South America. Methodology and findings: We have already shown that the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana has the ability to breach the insect cuticle and is effective both against pyrethroid-susceptible and pyrethroid-resistant T. infestans, in laboratory as well as field assays. It is also known that T. infestans cuticle lipids play a major role as contact aggregation pheromones. We estimated the effectiveness of pheromonebased infection boxes containing B. bassiana spores to kill indoor bugs, and its effect on the vector population dynamics. Laboratory assays were performed to estimate the effect of fungal infection on female reproductive parameters. The effect of insect exuviae as an aggregation signal in the performance of the infection boxes was estimated both in the laboratory and in the field. We developed a stage-specific matrix model of T. infestans to describe the fungal infection effects on insect population dynamics, and to analyze the performance of the biopesticide device in vector biological control. Conclusions: The pheromone-containing infective box is a promising new tool against indoor populations of this Chagas disease vector, with the number of boxes per house being the main driver of the reduction of the total domestic bug population. This ecologically safe approach is the first proven alternative to chemical insecticides in the control of T. infestans. The advantageous reduction in vector population by delayedaction fungal biopesticides in a contained environment is here shown supported by mathematical modeling.Fil: Forlani, Lucas. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de La Plata ; ArgentinaFil: Pedrini, Nicolás. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de La Plata ; ArgentinaFil: Girotti, Juan Roberto. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de La Plata ; ArgentinaFil: Mijailovsky, Sergio Javier. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de La Plata ; ArgentinaFil: Cardozo, Rubén Marino. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Salta. Instituto de Patología Experimental. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud. Instituto de Patología Experimental; Argentina. Provincia de Salta. Ministerio de Salud Pública. Coordinación de Gestión Epidemiológica; ArgentinaFil: Gentile, Alberto G.. Provincia de Salta. Ministerio de Salud Pública. Coordinación de Gestión Epidemiológica; ArgentinaFil: Hernández Suárez, Carlos. Universidad de Colima. Facultad de Ciencias; MéxicoFil: Rabinovich, Jorge Eduardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Estudios Parasitológicos y de Vectores. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Centro de Estudios Parasitológicos y de Vectores; ArgentinaFil: Juarez, Marta Patricia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de La Plata ; Argentin