Parasitized mates increase infection risk for partners

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

A transcriptomic investigation of handicap models in sexual selection

We are grateful to D. Calder and T. Helps for access to study sites, and G. Murray-Dickson and M. Oliver for help with fieldwork and comments on manuscript drafts. This work was funded by NERC grant NE/D000602/1 (SBP), a NERC advanced fellowship (FM) and a BBSRC studentship (MAW)Peer reviewedPostprin

Physiological Stress Mediates the Honesty of Social Signals

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Urban agriculture: a global analysis of the space constraint to meet urban vegetable demand

Urban agriculture (UA) has been drawing a lot of attention recently for several reasons: the majority of the world population has shifted from living in rural to urban areas; the environmental impact of agriculture is a matter of rising concern; and food insecurity, especially the accessibility of food, remains a major challenge. UA has often been proposed as a solution to some of these issues, for example by producing food in places where population density is highest, reducing transportation costs, connecting people directly to food systems and using urban areas efficiently. However, to date no study has examined how much food could actually be produced in urban areas at the global scale. Here we use a simple approach, based on different global-scale datasets, to assess to what extent UA is constrained by the existing amount of urban space. Our results suggest that UA would require roughly one third of the total global urban area to meet the global vegetable consumption of urban dwellers. This estimate does not consider how much urban area may actually be suitable and available for UA, which likely varies substantially around the world and according to the type of UA performed. Further, this global average value masks variations of more than two orders of magnitude among individual countries. The variations in the space required across countries derive mostly from variations in urban population density, and much less from variations in yields or per capita consumption. Overall, the space required is regrettably the highest where UA is most needed, i.e., in more food insecure countries. We also show that smaller urban clusters (i.e., <100 km2 each) together represent about two thirds of the global urban extent; thus UA discourse and policies should not focus on large cities exclusively, but should also target smaller urban areas that offer the greatest potential in terms of physical space

Introduction : food security is a global concern

In IDL-2279

Penning-trap mass measurement of 173^{173}Hf

We report on the precise mass measurement of the $^{173}$Hf isotope performed at the Ion Guide Isotope Separator On-Line facility using the JYFLTRAP double Penning trap mass spectrometer. The new mass-excess value, ${\mathrm{ME} = -55390.8(30)}$~keV, is in agreement with the literature while being nine times more precise. The newly determined $^{173}$Hf electron-capture $Q$ value, $Q_{EC} = 1490.2(34)$~keV, allows us to firmly reject the population of an excited state at 1578 keV in $^{173}$Lu and 11 transitions tentatively assigned to the decay of $^{173}$Hf. Our refined mass value of $^{173}$Hf reduces mass-related uncertainties in the reaction rate of $^{174}$Hf$(\gamma,n)^{173}$Hf. Thus, the rate for the main photodisintegration destruction channel of the $p$ nuclide $^{174}$Hf in the relevant temperature region for the $\gamma$ process is better constrained.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Effects of human activity on physiological and behavioral responses of an endangered steppe bird

This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in Behavioral Ecology following peer review. The version of recordBehavioral Ecology 26.3 (2015): 828-838 is available online at: http://beheco.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2015/04/02/beheco.arv016Animals may perceive humans as a form of predatory threat, a disturbance, triggering behavioral changes together with the activation of physiological stress responses. These adaptive responses may allow individuals to cope with stressful stimuli, but a repeated or long-term exposure to disturbances may have detrimental individual- and population-level effects. We studied the effects of human activities, particularly hunting, on the behavior and physiological status of a near-threatened nongame steppe bird, the little bustard. Using a semiexperimental approach, we compared before, during, and after weekends: 1) the type and intensity of human activities and 2) the behavior and 3) physiological stress (fecal corticosterone metabolites) of wintering birds. Higher rates of human activity, in particular those related to hunting, occurred during weekends and caused indirect disturbance effects on birds. Little bustards spent more time vigilant and flying during weekends, and more time foraging in the mornings after weekend, possibly to compensate for increased energy expenditure during weekends. We also found increased physiological stress levels during weekends, as shown by higher fecal glucocorticoid metabolite concentrations. Increased corticosterone metabolite levels were associated with the highest levels of hunting-related disturbances. Little bustard showed marked behavioral and physiological (stress hormones) responses to human activities that peaked during weekends, in particular hunting. The long-term effect of this particular activity carried out during weekends from autumn throughout winter might adversely impact wintering populations of this nongame endangered species, potentially counteracting conservation efforts conducted on local as well as foreign breeding populationsFunding was provided by the Comunidad de Madrid and Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (CCG10-UAM/AMB-5325), Spanish Ministry of Science (CGL2009-13029/BOS), and REMEDINAL2 network of the CAM (S-2009/AMB/1783) and PhD grant from the Spanish Minister of Education (FPU to R.T.) and JAE-Doc contract funded from CSIC and the European Social Fund (ESF to F.C

On the origin of the reactor antineutrino anomalies in light of a new summation model with parameterized β−\beta^{-} transitions

We investigate the possible origins of the norm and shape reactor antineutrino anomalies in the framework of a summation model (SM) where $\beta^{-}$ transitions are simulated by a phenomenological Gamow-Teller $\beta$-decay strength model. The general trends of the discrepancies to the Huber-Mueller model on the antineutrino side can be reproduced both in norm and shape. From the exact electron-antineutrino correspondence of the SM model, we predict similar distortions in the electron spectra, suggesting that biases on the reference fission-electron spectra could be at the origin of the anomalies

Insights into population ecology from long-term studies of red grouse Lagopus lagopus scoticus

Summary 1. Long-term studies have been the backbone of population ecology. The red grouse Lagopus lagopus scoticus is one species that has contributed widely to this field since the 1950s. This paper reviews the trajectory and profound impact that these studies have had. 2. Red grouse research has combined long-term studies of marked individuals with demographic studies over wide geographical areas and replicated individual-and population-level manipulations. 3. A main focus has been on understanding the causes of population cycles in red grouse, and in particular the relative importance of intrinsic (behaviour) and extrinsic (climate, food limitation and parasite) mechanisms. 4. Separate studies conducted in different regions initially proposed either the nematode parasite Trichostrongylus tenuis or changes in male aggressiveness in autumn as drivers of population cycles. 5. More recent experiments suggest that parasites are not a necessary cause for cycles and have highlighted that behavioural and parasite-mediated mechanisms are interrelated. Longterm experiments show that parasites and aggressiveness interact. 6. Two outstanding questions remain to be tested experimentally. First, what intrinsic mechanism causes temporal variation in patterns of male aggressiveness? The current favoured mechanism is related to patterns of kin structuring although there are alternative hypotheses. Second, how do the dual, interacting mechanisms, affect population dynamics? 7. Red grouse studies have had an important impact on the field of population ecology, in particular through highlighting: (1) the impact of parasites on populations; (2) the role of intrinsic mechanisms in cyclic dynamics and (3) the need to consider multiple, interacting mechanisms