Función y evolución de señales múltiples en procesos de selección natural del lagarto Verdinegro (Lacerta Schreiberi)

Tesis inédita de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, leída el 29 de Mayo de 2017The main goal of this thesis is to study the function, evolution and maintenance of the multiple sexual signals that Lacerta schreiberi lizards use in sexual selection processes, and how the natural selection pressure on these signals affects antipredator strategies of lizards. Conspicuous sexual signals, mate searching and mate guarding can greatly enhance the predation risk on males of sexually dichromatic species. Therefore, we investigated how sex, reproductive condition/mating season and the environment affect preventive risk-taking behavior (distance from the refuge), and active escape decisions in an emergency situation (flight initiation distance) of lizards (Chapter I). We found that males do not apply behavioral compensation for higher risk of mate searching and conspicuous sexual signals. In contrast, antipredator strategies of L. schreiberi only depend on the physical environment and the relative location of the predator and the refuge. The elaboration of conspicuous sexual signals may have trade-offs with essential metabolic processes. We investigated the relationships among antioxidants, the immune system and multiple sexual signals of males (Chapter II-IV). We found that a carotenoid dietary supplementation is able to increase both carotenoid-based and structural visual signals. However, carotenoid supplementation does not increase the PHA-induced immune response, and, furthermore, an LPS-induced immune challenge neither has effects on carotenoid-based coloration. So, it seems that carotenoids do not boost immune system in this species. However, LPS and PHA-induced immune response do not cover the whole immune system. Nevertheless, carotenoids may have relation with health by increasing body condition (as fat stores). Carotenoid supplementation increases body condition, while a negative effect on body condition decreases carotenoid chroma in chest and back, suggesting that carotenoid signals indicate different types of quality than other types of visual signals. Surprisingly, immune challenged males increase intensity of some visual signal components, especially when combined with supplementary dietary vitamin E, which can boost sexual signals, increasing vitamin E content of femoral secretion and acting as an effective antioxidant to substitute glutathione in melanin-based signals. Males with an immune activation suffer a relevant challenge for the body and might be trying to maximize future fitness by increasing current signal intensity in a situation where long term expectative of survival and future reproduction are low. In contrast, the price of the higher throat color intensity seems to be the carotenoid decreasing in other body parts that, nevertheless, seems to be less important as sexual signals in these lizards. Furthermore, we found that vitamin E supplementation enhances PHA-induced immune response, shows a consistent increase in vitamin E content in femoral secretion in all treatments. However, we found conspicuous differences when comparing vitamin E supplementation effects on visual signals in two different experiments on the same population made in different years. Differences might be caused by different weather conditions with different challenges of males when developing sexual signals, which might be, however, the base of flexible female choice. Therefore, multimodal signals of L. schreiberi can be part of a special back-up signal system. Vitamin E content of femoral secretion may be a stable signal about the antioxidant status, while simultaneously health status might be related to one or more environmentally influenced visual signals. Which signal indicates male quality would depend on which visual trait is more reliable showing quality under each given environmental conditions. This alteration in male sexual signals would suppose the existence of flexible female mate choice that can also be the base of evolution and maintenance of multiple signals of L. schreiberi...El objetivo principal de la tesis es estudiar la función, evolución y mantenimiento de las señales sexuales múltiples que utilizan el lagarto verdinegro (Lacerta schreiberi) en procesos de selección sexual, y cómo la presión de la selección natural sobre estas señales afecta a las estrategias antipredatorias. Capítulo I. Se investigó si el sexo, condición reproductora y el ambiente afectan al comportamiento de escape. Encontramos que los machos no compensan un mayor riesgo debido a la búsqueda de pareja y señales sexuales conspicuas. Por el contrario, las estrategias antipredatorias sólo dependen del entorno físico y la ubicación relativa del depredador y el refugio. Capítulos II-IV. Se investigó las relaciones entre los antioxidantes, el sistema inmunológico y múltiples señales sexuales de los machos. Encontramos que: • La suplementación en la dieta de carotenoides aumenta las señales visuales, pero no estimulan el sistema inmune (respuesta inmune inducida por LPS y PHA). Aunque estos dos métodos no cubren todo el sistema inmune. Sin embargo, los carotenoides pueden tener relación con la salud aumentando la condición corporal. • Los machos que sufren una activación inmune aumentan la intensidad de algunas señales visuales, especialmente cuando tienen suplementos en la dieta de vitamina E. Estos machos sufren un desafío relevante y podrían estar tratando de maximizar el fitness aumentando la intensidad de la señal actual puesto que las expectativas a largo plazo de supervivencia y reproducción futura son bajas. • La suplementación con vitamina E aumenta la respuesta inmune inducida por PHA, y, además, resulta en un aumento del contenido de vitamina E en las señales químicas. • Existen diferencias al comparar los efectos de la suplementación de vitamina E en las señales visuales en dos experimentos en la misma población realizada en diferentes años. Esto puede ser causado por diferentes condiciones climáticas que suponen diferentes desafíos para los machos cuando desarrollan las señales. El contenido de vitamina E en las secreciones femorales puede ser una señal estable del estado antioxidante, mientras que el estado de salud puede estar relacionado con una o más señales visuales influenciadas ambientalmente. Qué señal indica la calidad del macho dependerá de qué señal sea más fiable indicando calidad bajo cada condición ambiental. Esto supondría la existencia de una elección de pareja flexible por las hembras que también puede ser la base de la evolución y mantenimiento de señales múltiples de L. schreiberi...Fac. de Ciencias BiológicasTRUEunpu

Triparental care in the collared flycatcher ( Ficedula albicollis ): Cooperation of two females with a cuckolded male in rearing a brood

Certain predominant forms of mating and parental care systems are assumed in several model species among birds, but the opportunistic and apparently infrequent variations of “family structures” may often remain hidden due to methodological limitations with regard to genetic or behavioral observations. One of the intensively studied model species, the collared flycatcher (Ficedula albicollis), is usually characterized by social monogamy with polyterritorial, facultative social polygyny, and frequent extrapair mating and extrapair paternity. During a brood-size manipulation experiment, we observed two females and a male delivering food at an enlarged brood. A combination of breeding phenology data (egg laying and hatching date), behavioral data (feeding rates) from video recordings at 10 days of nestling age, and microsatellite genotyping for maternity and paternity suggests a situation of an unrelated female helping a pair in chick rearing. Such observations highlight the relevance of using traditional techniques and genetic analyses together to assess the parental roles within a population, which becomes more important where individuals may dynamically switch from their main and presupposed roles according to the actual environmental conditions

Random sampling of squamate reptiles in Spanish natural reserves reveals the presence of novel adenoviruses in lacertids (Family Lacertidae) and worm lizards (Amphisbaenia)

Here, we report the results of a large-scale PCR survey on the prevalence and diversity of adenoviruses (AdVs) in samples collected randomly from free-living reptiles. On the territories of the Guadarrama Mountains National Park in Central Spain and of the Chafarinas Islands in North Africa, cloacal swabs were taken from 318 specimens of eight native species representing five squamate reptilian families. The healthy-looking animals had been captured temporarily for physiological and ethological examinations, after which they were released. We found 22 AdV-positive samples in representatives of three species, all from Central Spain. Sequence analysis of the PCR products revealed the existence of three hitherto unknown AdVs in 11 Carpetane rock lizards (Iberolacerta cyreni), nine Iberian worm lizards (Blanus cinereus), and two Iberian green lizards (Lacerta schreiberi), respectively. Phylogeny inference showed every novel putative virus to be a member of the genus Atadenovirus. This is the very first description of the occurrence of AdVs in amphisbaenian and lacertid hosts. Unlike all squamate atadenoviruses examined previously, two of the novel putative AdVs had A+T rich DNA, a feature generally deemed to mirror previous host switch events. Our results shed new light on the diversity and evolution of atadenoviruses.The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided by the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund (OTKA grant K100163) and by the projects MICIIN-CGL2011-24150/BOS and MINECO CGL2014-53523-P.Peer Reviewe

Vitamin E Supplementation Increases the Attractiveness of Males’ Scent for Female European Green Lizards

Peer reviewe

Interpopulational and seasonal variation in the chemical signals of the lizard Gallotia galloti

Communicative traits are strikingly diverse and may vary among populations of the same species. Within a population, these traits may also display seasonal variation. Chemical signals play a key role in the communication of many taxa. However, we still know far too little about chemical communication in some vertebrate groups. In lizards, only a few studies have examined interpopulational variation in the composition of chemical cues and signals and only one study has explored the seasonal effects. Here we sampled three subspecies of the Tenerife lizards (Gallotia galloti) and analyze the lipophilic fraction of their femoral gland secretions to characterize the potential interpopulational variation in the chemical signals. In addition, we assessed whether composition of these secretions differed between the reproductive and the non-reproductive season. We analyzed variations in both the overall chemical profile and the abundance of the two main compounds (cholesterol and vitamin E). Our results show interpopulational and seasonal differences in G. gallotia chemical profiles. These findings are in accordance with the high interpopulational variability of compounds observed in lizard chemical signals and show that their composition is not only shaped by selective factors linked to reproductive season

TOWARDS A FORMAT REGISTRY FOR ENGINEERING DATA

ABSTRACT There has been a great deal of interest recently in the problem of long term archiving of digital data. This is especially so in engineering design, where the CAD software tools evolve rapidly but the manufactured products themselves have much longer lifetimes whose support requires archived design data in a usable form. The ISO Open Archival Information Systems (OAIS) Reference Model is a widely used standard for digital archiving, with an essential piece of this model being a file format registry. A file format registry is a system for housing information about file formats that allows for correct interpretation, rendering, storage, and translation of digital files. Currently there exists no file format registry specifically for CAD file formats. This paper explains the purpose of a file format registry for CAD in the greater context of digital archiving, and then presents our approach to creating a CAD file format registry using the Resource Description Framework (RDF) language of the Semantic Web. By creating our file format registry in RDF, we allow archival systems to perform automated reasoning on the stored files. We hope that this paper will increase awareness of this element of engineering design repositories in the research community of this conference