Population-specific association of Clock gene polymorphism with annual cycle timing in stonechats

Timing is essential for survival and reproduction of organisms across the tree of life. The core circadian clock gene Clk has been implicated in annual timing and shows highly conserved sequence homology across vertebrates except for one variable region of poly Glutamine repeats. Clk genotype varies in some species with latitude, seasonal timing and migration. However, findings are inconsistent, difficult to disentangle from environmental responses, and biased towards high latitudes. Here we combine field data with a common-garden set up to study associations of Clk with latitude, migration and annual-cycle timing within the stonechat species complex with trans-equatorial distribution range. Including 950 individuals from nine populations with diverse migratory strategies. Gene diversity was lowest in resident African and Canary Island populations and increased with latitude, independently of migration distance. Repeat length and annual-cycle timing was linked in a population-specific way. Specifically, equatorial African stonechats showed delayed timing with longer repeat length for all annual-cycle stages. Our data suggest that at low latitudes with constant photoperiod, Clk genotype might orchestrate a range of consistent, individual chronotypes. In contrast, the influence of Clk on annual-cycle timing at higher latitudes might be mediated by its interactions with genes involved in (circadian) photoperiodic pathways

Multi-Objective and Multidisciplinary Design Optimisation of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Systems using Hierarchical Asynchronous Parallel Multi-Objective Evolutionary Algorithms

The overall objective of this research was to realise the practical application of Hierarchical Asynchronous Parallel Evolutionary Algorithms for Multi-objective and Multidisciplinary Design Optimisation (MDO) of UAV Systems using high fidelity analysis tools. The research looked at the assumed aerodynamics and structures of two production UAV wings and attempted to optimise these wings in isolation to the rest of the vehicle. The project was sponsored by the Asian Office of the Air Force Office of Scientific Research under contract number AOARD-044078. The two vehicles wings which were optimised were based upon assumptions made on the Northrop Grumman Global Hawk (GH), a High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) vehicle, and the General Atomics Altair (Altair), Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) vehicle. The optimisations for both vehicles were performed at cruise altitude with MTOW minus 5% fuel and a 2.5g load case. The GH was assumed to use NASA LRN 1015 aerofoil at the root, crank and tip locations with five spars and ten ribs. The Altair was assumed to use the NACA4415 aerofoil at all three locations with two internal spars and ten ribs. Both models used a parabolic variation of spar, rib and wing skin thickness as a function of span, and in the case of the wing skin thickness, also chord. The work was carried out by integrating the current University of Sydney designed Evolutionary Optimiser (HAPMOEA) with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and Finite Element Analysis (FEA) tools. The variable values computed by HAPMOEA were subjected to structural and aerodynamic analysis. The aerodynamic analysis computed the pressure loads using a Boeing developed Morino class panel method code named PANAIR. These aerodynamic results were coupled to a FEA code, MSC.Nastran® and the strain and displacement of the wings computed. The fitness of each wing was computed from the outputs of each program. In total, 48 design variables were defined to describe both the structural and aerodynamic properties of the wings subject to several constraints. These variables allowed for the alteration of the three aerofoil sections describing the root, crank and tip sections. They also described the internal structure of the wings allowing for variable flexibility within the wing box structure. These design variables were manipulated by the optimiser such that two fitness functions were minimised. The fitness functions were the overall mass of the simulated wing box structure and the inverse of the lift to drag ratio. Furthermore, six penalty functions were added to further penalise genetically inferior wings and force the optimiser to not pass on their genetic material. The results indicate that given the initial assumptions made on all the aerodynamic and structural properties of the HALE and MALE wings, a reduction in mass and drag is possible through the use of the HAPMOEA code. The code was terminated after 300 evaluations of each hierarchical level due to plateau effects. These evolutionary optimisation results could be further refined through a gradient based optimiser if required. Even though a reduced number of evaluations were performed, weight and drag reductions of between 10 and 20 percent were easy to achieve and indicate that the wings of both vehicles can be optimised

Territorial aggression does not feed back on testosterone in a multiple-brooded songbird species with breeding and non-breeding season territoriality, the European stonechat

Testosterone mediates reproductive behaviours in male vertebrates. For example, breeding season territoriality depends on testosterone in many species of birds and in some, territorial interactions feed back on testosterone concentrations. However, the degree to which territorial behaviour and testosterone are associated differs even between species with seemingly similar life histories, especially between species that also defend territories outside the breeding season. Here, we investigate the link between territorial behaviour and testosterone in European stonechats. Previous studies found that territorial aggression in stonechats depends on testosterone in a breeding, but not in a non-breeding context. We investigated whether stonechats show a rise in testosterone during simulated territorial intrusions (STI) during the breeding season. Post-capture testosterone concentrations of males caught after an STI were not higher than those of males caught in a control situation regardless of breeding stage. However, most of the males would have been able to mount a testosterone response because the same individuals that did not increase testosterone during the STI showed a substantial increase in testosterone after injections of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH). GnRH-induced and post-capture testosterone concentrations were positively correlated and both decreased with successive breeding stages. Further, territory owners with a short latency to attack the decoy expressed higher post-capture testosterone concentrations than males with a longer latency to attack the decoy. Thus, there is no evidence for behavioural feedback on testosterone concentrations during male-male interactions in stonechats. In combination with previous studies our data suggest that testosterone functions as an on/off switch of high intensity territorial aggression during the breeding season in stonechats. The among-species variation in the androgen control of territorial behaviour may be only partly a result of environmental differences. Instead, potential differences in how territoriality evolved in different species may have influenced whether and how a reproductive hormone such as testosterone was co-opted into the mechanistic control of territorial behaviour