480 research outputs found
You Can Simplify Oat-Legume-Grass Seeding
An oat-legume-grass mixture can be seeded successfully in one trip over the field with a single-hopper machine. Seed separation isn\u27t a problem, and you can achieve uniform seed distribution and a satisfactory planting depth
Defining behavioral and molecular differences between summer and migratory monarch butterflies
BACKGROUND: In the fall, Eastern North American monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) undergo a magnificent long-range migration. In contrast to spring and summer butterflies, fall migrants are juvenile hormone deficient, which leads to reproductive arrest and increased longevity. Migrants also use a time-compensated sun compass to help them navigate in the south/southwesterly direction en route for Mexico. Central issues in this area are defining the relationship between juvenile hormone status and oriented flight, critical features that differentiate summer monarchs from fall migrants, and identifying molecular correlates of behavioral state.
RESULTS: Here we show that increasing juvenile hormone activity to induce summer-like reproductive development in fall migrants does not alter directional flight behavior or its time-compensated orientation, as monitored in a flight simulator. Reproductive summer butterflies, in contrast, uniformly fail to exhibit directional, oriented flight. To define molecular correlates of behavioral state, we used microarray analysis of 9417 unique cDNA sequences. Gene expression profiles reveal a suite of 40 genes whose differential expression in brain correlates with oriented flight behavior in individual migrants, independent of juvenile hormone activity, thereby molecularly separating fall migrants from summer butterflies. Intriguing genes that are differentially regulated include the clock gene vrille and the locomotion-relevant tyramine beta hydroxylase gene. In addition, several differentially regulated genes (37.5% of total) are not annotated. We also identified 23 juvenile hormone-dependent genes in brain, which separate reproductive from non-reproductive monarchs; genes involved in longevity, fatty acid metabolism, and innate immunity are upregulated in non-reproductive (juvenile-hormone deficient) migrants.
CONCLUSION: The results link key behavioral traits with gene expression profiles in brain that differentiate migratory from summer butterflies and thus show that seasonal changes in genomic function help define the migratory state
Effects of hatchery broodstock collection on adult Muskellunge populations
Muskellunge Esox masquinongy stocking programs throughout North America rely on the collection of wild adult Muskellunge to acquire gametes for hatchery propagation. The process of collecting, transporting, confining, handling, and spawning broodstock Muskellunge may cause mortality that could alter Muskellunge density, size structure, and population survival rates. We used longâterm Muskellunge captureârecapture data collected from the Iowa Great Lakes and Clear Lake in northern Iowa, USA to estimate the number and proportion of Muskellunge captured annually and initial mortality rates resulting from broodstock collection. We also evaluated whether Muskellunge apparent survival rates differed between individuals used as broodstock and those that were not captured annually. Finally, we evaluated whether the number of initial mortalities or the number of individuals captured were related to annual population survival estimates. Collectively, 7,010 adult Muskellunge (3,896 males and 3,114 females) captures occurred between 2001â2017 and population densities within a system ranged from 0.11 to 0.39 fish/ha. An average of 33% (range: 13% â76%) of the population was captured during broodstock operations annually. Between 0 and 28 (0.0000 to 0.0191 fish/ha) Muskellunge died at each hatchery annually and more males died than females (total of 150 males and 68 females; 3.9% and 2.2% of captured fish, respectively). However, annual mortalities were generally a low proportion of Muskellunge in the lake (\u3c2%; \u3c0.001 fish/ha). There was some evidence of size selective mortality, particularly for males, where larger individuals (875â975 mm) were more likely to die, but we found no evidence to suggest that broodstock collection affected annual population survival estimates. Muskellunge broodstock mortality appears to act in a compensatory manner with natural mortality, and other sources of population mortality are more likely to have a greater effect on the population
Denominators of Eisenstein cohomology classes for GL_2 over imaginary quadratic fields
We study the arithmetic of Eisenstein cohomology classes (in the sense of G.
Harder) for symmetric spaces associated to GL_2 over imaginary quadratic
fields. We prove in many cases a lower bound on their denominator in terms of a
special L-value of a Hecke character providing evidence for a conjecture of
Harder that the denominator is given by this L-value. We also prove under some
additional assumptions that the restriction of the classes to the boundary of
the Borel-Serre compactification of the spaces is integral. Such classes are
interesting for their use in congruences with cuspidal classes to prove
connections between the special L-value and the size of the Selmer group of the
Hecke character.Comment: 37 pages; strengthened integrality result (Proposition 16), corrected
statement of Theorem 3, and revised introductio
Crystal constructions in Number Theory
Weyl group multiple Dirichlet series and metaplectic Whittaker functions can
be described in terms of crystal graphs. We present crystals as parameterized
by Littelmann patterns and we give a survey of purely combinatorial
constructions of prime power coefficients of Weyl group multiple Dirichlet
series and metaplectic Whittaker functions using the language of crystal
graphs. We explore how the branching structure of crystals manifests in these
constructions, and how it allows access to some intricate objects in number
theory and related open questions using tools of algebraic combinatorics
Depths and Thermal Habitat Used by Large versus Small Northern Pike in Three Minnesota Lakes
We monitored depths and temperatures used by large (>71âcm) versus small Northern Pike Esox lucius in three northâcentral Minnesota lakes with either acoustic telemetry or archival tags. Individual Northern Pike demonstrated flexibility in depths used within a season and between years. The fish had some tolerance for low levels of dissolved oxygen (<3 mg/L), but depth selection was generally constrained by low dissolved oxygen in summer and winter. The fish more fully exploited all available depths during winter and thermal turnover periods. During July and August, large Northern Pike tended to follow the thermocline into cooler water as upper water layers warmed. Selection ratios indicated that large Northern Pike preferred water temperatures of 16â21°C during August when temperatures up to 28°C were available. In two lakes providing dense overhead cover from water lilies in shallow water, small Northern Pike used warmer, shallower water compared with large fish during summer. In a third lake providing no such cover, small fish were more often in deeper, cooler water. For small Northern Pike, temperature seemed to be a secondary habitat consideration behind the presence of shallow vegetated cover. This study provided detailed temperature selection information that will be useful when considering temperature as an ecological resource for different sizes of Northern Pike.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/141595/1/tafs1629.pd
Behavioural syndrome in a solitary predator is independent of body size and growth rate.
Models explaining behavioural syndromes often focus on state-dependency, linking behavioural variation to individual differences in other phenotypic features. Empirical studies are, however, rare. Here, we tested for a size and growth-dependent stable behavioural syndrome in the juvenile-stages of a solitary apex predator (pike, Esox lucius), shown as repeatable foraging behaviour across risk. Pike swimming activity, latency to prey attack, number of successful and unsuccessful prey attacks was measured during the presence/absence of visual contact with a competitor or predator. Foraging behaviour across risks was considered an appropriate indicator of boldness in this solitary predator where a trade-off between foraging behaviour and threat avoidance has been reported. Support was found for a behavioural syndrome, where the rank order differences in the foraging behaviour between individuals were maintained across time and risk situation. However, individual behaviour was independent of body size and growth in conditions of high food availability, showing no evidence to support the state-dependent personality hypothesis. The importance of a combination of spatial and temporal environmental variation for generating growth differences is highlighted
The strong thirteen spheres problem
The thirteen spheres problem is asking if 13 equal size nonoverlapping
spheres in three dimensions can touch another sphere of the same size. This
problem was the subject of the famous discussion between Isaac Newton and David
Gregory in 1694. The problem was solved by Schutte and van der Waerden only in
1953.
A natural extension of this problem is the strong thirteen spheres problem
(or the Tammes problem for 13 points) which asks to find an arrangement and the
maximum radius of 13 equal size nonoverlapping spheres touching the unit
sphere. In the paper we give a solution of this long-standing open problem in
geometry. Our computer-assisted proof is based on a enumeration of the
so-called irreducible graphs.Comment: Modified lemma 2, 16 pages, 12 figures. Uploaded program packag
Développement d'un outil informatique opérationnel d'aide à la décision et de modélisation des pollutions en Méditerranée
National audienc
Derivatives for smooth representations of GL(n,R) and GL(n,C)
The notion of derivatives for smooth representations of GL(n) in the p-adic
case was defined by J. Bernstein and A. Zelevinsky. In the archimedean case, an
analog of the highest derivative was defined for irreducible unitary
representations by S. Sahi and called the "adduced" representation. In this
paper we define derivatives of all order for smooth admissible Frechet
representations (of moderate growth). The archimedean case is more problematic
than the p-adic case; for example arbitrary derivatives need not be admissible.
However, the highest derivative continues being admissible, and for irreducible
unitarizable representations coincides with the space of smooth vectors of the
adduced representation. In [AGS] we prove exactness of the highest derivative
functor, and compute highest derivatives of all monomial representations.
We prove exactness of the highest derivative functor, and compute highest
derivatives of all monomial representations. We apply those results to finish
the computation of adduced representations for all irreducible unitary
representations and to prove uniqueness of degenerate Whittaker models for
unitary representations, thus completing the results of [Sah89, Sah90, SaSt90,
GS12].Comment: First version of this preprint was split into 2. The proofs of two
theorems which are technically involved in analytic difficulties were
separated into "Twisted homology for the mirabolic nilradical" preprint. All
the rest stayed in v2 of this preprint. v3: version to appear in the Israel
Journal of Mathematic
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