8 research outputs found
Genotypic temperature adaptations of cellular functions and proteins in two Zostera species
Rough-legged buzzards, arctic foxes and red foxes in a tundra ecosystem without rodents
Small rodents with multi-annual population cycles strongly influence the dynamics of food
webs, and in particular predator-prey interactions, across most of the tundra biome. Rodents
are however absent from some arctic islands, and studies on performance of arctic predators
under such circumstances may be very instructive since rodent cycles have been predicted
to collapse in a warming Arctic. Here we document for the first time how three normally rodent-dependent
predator species—rough-legged buzzard, arctic fox and red fox – perform in
a low-arctic ecosystem with no rodents. During six years (in 2006-2008 and 2011-2013) we
studied diet and breeding performance of these predators in the rodent-free Kolguev Island
in Arctic Russia. The rough-legged buzzards, previously known to be a small rodent specialist,
have only during the last two decades become established on Kolguev Island. The buzzards
successfully breed on the island at stable low density, but with high productivity based
on goslings and willow ptarmigan as their main prey – altogether representing a novel ecological
situation for this species. Breeding density of arctic fox varied from year to year, but
with stable productivity based on mainly geese as prey. The density dynamic of the arctic fox
appeared to be correlated with the date of spring arrival of the geese. Red foxes breed regularly
on the island but in very low numbers that appear to have been unchanged over a long
period – a situation that resemble what has been recently documented from Arctic America.
Our study suggests that the three predators found breeding on Kolguev Island possess capacities
for shifting to changing circumstances in low-arctic ecosystem as long as other
small - medium sized terrestrial herbivores are present in good numbers
Understanding the molecular machinery of genetics through 3D structures
Detailed knowledge of the three-dimensional structures of biological molecules has had an enormous impact on all areas of biological science, including genetics, as structure can reveal the fine details of how molecules perform their biological functions. Here we consider how changes in protein sequence affect the corresponding 3D structure, and describe how structural information about proteins, DNA and chromatin has shed light on gene regulatory mechanisms and the storage and transmission of epigenetic information. Finally, we describe how structure determination is benefiting from the high-throughput technologies of the worldwide structural genomics projects