Individual variation in the ability of Columbian ground squirrels to select an optimal diet

Columbian ground squirrels ( Spermophilus columbianus ) were examined for ability to select a diet that maximizes daily energy intake (optimal diet) under free-living field conditions. The optimal diet for each squirrel was determined given constraints (e.g. body size, feeding time) on individual foraging behavior. Most squirrels (63%) consumed a diet not significantly different from one that would maximize their daily energy intake. The remainder (37%) approached an energy maximized diet but appeared to make some incorrect foraging decisions. Both males and females appeared to approach energy maximized diets. An individual's deviation from its optimal diet is relatively constant within a season and not significantly affected by immediate environmental influences such as food abundance, thermal conditions and social environment. The energy cost of deviating from an optimal diet may be large enough to affect fitness. These results suggest that the ability to select an optimal diet can be viewed as a behavioral trait that might be subject to natural selection.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/42742/1/10682_2005_Article_BF02214285.pd

Plant compensation to grazing and soil carbon dynamics in a tropical grassland

The effects of grazing on soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics, particularly in the tropics, are still poorly understood. Plant compensation to grazing, whereby plants maintain leaf area (C input capacity) despite consumption (C removal) by grazers, has been demonstrated in tropical grasslands but its influence on SOC is largely unexplored. Here, the effect of grazing on plant leaf area index (LAI) was measured in a field experiment in Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. LAI changed little for grazing intensities up to 70%. The response curve of LAI versus grazing intensity was used in a mass balance model, called SNAP, of SOC dynamics based on previous data from the Serengeti. The model predicted SOC to increase at intermediate grazing intensity, but then to decline rapidly at the highest grazing intensities. The SNAP model predictions were compared with observed SOC stocks in the 24 grazed plots of a 10-year grazing exclosure experiment at eight sites across the park that varied in mean annual rainfall, soil texture, grazing intensity and plant lignin and cellulose. The model predicted current SOC stocks very well (R2 > 0.75), and suggests that compensatory plant responses to grazing are an important means of how herbivores might maintain or increase SOC in tropical grasslands

Optimal diet selection with variable nutrient intake: Balancing reproduction with risk of starvation

We develop a model to predict optimal diet selection when energy intake varies over consecutive foraging periods. The model assumes that fitness is maximized when the forager maximizes its net reproduction (survivorship x reproduction) over some specified time period. This goal differs from earlier risk-sensitive foraging models which assume that the forager minimizes the risk of failing to satisfy minimum requirements for survivorship or reproduction. In our model, the net number of offspring produced per reproductive bout is expressed as an explicit function of fitness gained from reproduction and fitness lost due to starvation risk for different potential diets. Potential model solutions are explored graphically and are compared with solutions for previous foraging models. In general, the model predicts that foragers with a goal of maximizing net reproduction should accept greater risks of starvation than foragers with a goal of minimizing the risk of failing to satisfy minimum energy requirements.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/29465/1/0000551.pd

Foraging in complex environments: When prey availability varies over time and space

An optimal foraging model is presented which combines simultaneous and nonsimultaneous modes of search for food. This model is more complex than those in the literature which are constructed using one search mode exclusively. Solutions to this foraging model lead to diets which are seldom composed of a single food or of foods in proportion to their abundance in the environment. Therefore, the most commonly cited qualitative conclusions of optimal foraging theory are not adequate to explain foraging choices under the range of probable search modes.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/27728/1/0000120.pd

The Adaptation Challenges and Strategies of Adolescent Aboriginal Athletes Competing Off Reserve

Within the motivation literature, it has been indicated that athletes respond more effectively to sport’s contextual challenges through effective adaptation skills. Fiske identified five core motives as facilitators of the adaptation process across cultures: belonging, understanding, controlling, self-enhancement, and trusting. Through a cultural sport psychology approach, the adaptation challenges and strategies of Canadian Aboriginal adolescent athletes from one community (Wikwemikong) are described as they traveled off reserve to compete in mainstream sporting events. Concurrently, Fiske’s core motives are considered in relation to youth sport participants from the aforementioned Aboriginal community. Culture sensitive research methods among the Wikwemikong, including community meetings, talking circles (TCs), indigenous coding, and coauthoring, were employed in this article. Data are reflected in three themes: (a) challenges pursuing sport outside of the Aboriginal community in advance of bicultural encounters, (b) challenging bicultural encounters in Canadian mainstream sport contexts, and (c) specific responses to racism and discrimination

Spike-in validation of an Illumina-specific variance-stabilizing transformation

BACKGROUND: Variance-stabilizing techniques have been used for some time in the analysis of gene expression microarray data. A new adaptation, the variance-stabilizing transformation (VST), has recently been developed to take advantage of the unique features of Illumina BeadArrays. VST has been shown to perform well in comparison with the widely-used approach of taking a log2 transformation, but has not been validated on a spike-in experiment. We apply VST to the data from a recently published spike-in experiment and compare it both to a regular log2 analysis and a recently recommended analysis that can be applied if all raw data are available. FINDINGS: VST provides more power to detect differentially expressed genes than a log2 transformation. However, the gain in power is roughly the same as utilizing the raw data from an experiment and weighting observations accordingly. VST is still advantageous when large changes in expression are anticipated, while a weighted log2 approach performs better for smaller changes. CONCLUSION: VST can be recommended for summarized Illumina data regardless of which Illumina pre-processing options have been used. However, using the raw data is still encouraged whenever possible

A study of National Health Service management of chronic osteoarthritis and low back pain

AIM: To describe treatment and referral patterns and National Health Service resource use in patients with chronic pain associated with low back pain or osteoarthritis, from a Primary Care perspective. BACKGROUND: Osteoarthritis and low back pain are the two commonest debilitating causes of chronic pain, with high health and social costs, and particularly important in primary care. Understanding current practice and resource use in their management will inform health service and educational requirements and the design and optimisation of future care. METHOD: Multi-centre, retrospective, descriptive study of adults (⩾18 years) with chronic pain arising from low back pain or osteoarthritis, identified through primary care records. Five general practices in Scotland, England (two), Northern Ireland and Wales. All patients with a diagnosis of low back pain or osteoarthritis made on or before 01/09/2006 who had received three or more prescriptions for pain medication were identified and a sub-sample randomly selected then consented to an in-depth review of their medical records (n=264). Data on management of chronic pain were collected retrospectively from patients’ records for three years from diagnosis (‘newly diagnosed’ patients) or for the most recent three years (‘established’ patients). FINDINGS: Patients received a wide variety of pain medications with no overall common prescribing pattern. GP visits represented the majority of the resource use and ‘newly diagnosed’ patients were significantly more likely to visit their GP for pain management than ‘established’ patients. Although ‘newly diagnosed’ patients had more referrals outside the GP practice, the number of visits to secondary care for pain management was similar for both groups. CONCLUSION: This retrospective study confirmed the complexity of managing these causes of chronic pain and the associated high resource use. It provides an in-depth picture of prescribing and referral patterns and of resource use

Integrating defense and leaf economic spectrum traits in a tropical savanna plant

IntroductionAllocation to plant defense traits likely depends on resource supply, herbivory, and other plant functional traits such as the leaf economic spectrum (LES) traits. Yet, attempts to integrate defense and resource acquisitive traits remain elusive.MethodsWe assessed intraspecific covariation between different defense and LES traits in a widely distributed tropical savanna herb, Solanum incanum, a unique model species for studying allocations to physical, chemical, and structural defenses to mammalian herbivory.ResultsWe found that in a multivariate trait space, the structural defenses - lignin and cellulose - were positively related to the resource conservative traits - low SLA and low leaf N. Phenolic content, a chemical defense, was positively associated with resource acquisitive traits - high SLA and high leaf N - while also being associated with an independent third component axis. Both principal components 1 and 3 were not associated with resource supply and herbivory intensity. In contrast, spine density - a physical defense - was orthogonal to the LES axis and positively associated with soil P and herbivory intensity.DiscussionThese results suggest a hypothesized “pyramid” of trade-offs in allocation to defense along the LES and herbivory intensity axes. Therefore, future attempts to integrate defense traits with the broader plant functional trait framework, such as the LES, needs a multifaceted approach that accounts for unique influences of resource acquisitive traits and herbivory risk

Body Size Mediated Coexistence in Swans

Differences in body sizes may create a trade-off between foraging efficiency (foraging gains/costs) and access to resources. Such a trade-off provides a potential mechanism for ecologically similar species to coexist on one resource. We explored this hypothesis for tundra (Cygnus columbianus) and trumpeter swans (Cygnus buccinator), a federally protected species, feeding solely on sago pondweed (Stuckenia pectinata) tubers during fall staging and wintering in northern Utah. Foraging efficiency was higher for tundra swans because this species experienced lower foraging and metabolic costs relative to foraging gains; however, trumpeter swans (a) had longer necks and therefore had access to exclusive resources buried deep in wetland sediments and (b) were more aggressive and could therefore displace tundra swans from lucrative foraging locations. We conclude that body size differentiation is an important feature of coexistence among ecologically similar species feeding on one resource. In situations where resources are limiting and competition for resources is strong, conservation managers will need to consider the trade-off between foraging efficiency and access to resources to ensure ecologically similar species can coexist on a shared resource

A re-annotation pipeline for Illumina BeadArrays: improving the interpretation of gene expression data.

Illumina BeadArrays are among the most popular and reliable platforms for gene expression profiling. However, little external scrutiny has been given to the design, selection and annotation of BeadArray probes, which is a fundamental issue in data quality and interpretation. Here we present a pipeline for the complete genomic and transcriptomic re-annotation of Illumina probe sequences, also applicable to other platforms, with its output available through a Web interface and incorporated into Bioconductor packages. We have identified several problems with the design of individual probes and we show the benefits of probe re-annotation on the analysis of BeadArray gene expression data sets. We discuss the importance of aspects such as probe coverage of individual transcripts, alternative messenger RNA splicing, single-nucleotide polymorphisms, repeat sequences, RNA degradation biases and probes targeting genomic regions with no known transcription. We conclude that many of the Illumina probes have unreliable original annotation and that our re-annotation allows analyses to focus on the good quality probes, which form the majority, and also to expand the scope of biological information that can be extracted