Estrategias reproductivas alternativas en la carraca europea (Coracias garrulus): cuando la genética se convierte en herramienta indispensable

Premio extraordinario de Trabajo Fin de Máster curso 2012-1013.Etología.No hace mucho tiempo que la mayoría de paseriformes eran considerados monógamos. Sin embargo, el uso de herramientas moleculares ha revolucionado nuestra visión de la biología reproductiva de las aves hasta el punto de que la paternidad fuera de la pareja (EPP) y el parasitismo intraespecífico (CBP) son ahora considerados como estrategias reproductivas alternativas comunes. La carraca europea es una ave casi amenazada que anida de manera secundaria en oquedades y que se considera socialmente monógama. Sin embargo, hasta ahora, su biología reproductiva nunca ha sido explorada mediante el uso de herramientas moleculares. En el presente trabajo hemos usado 10 marcadores microsatélites divididos en 4 reacciones de PCR multiplex diferentes para analizar muestras correspondientes a 5 años de estudio. En total, 325 descendientes y 113 adultos fueron incluidos. La ocurrencia de EPP así como de CBP varía a lo largo de los 5 años estudiados, estando la media entre el 3.1 y el 4.9 % de los nidos para el caso de EPP y entre el 12.4 y el 14.9 % para el caso de CBP. Se discuten varias posibles explicaciones para la existencia/prevalencia de esas estrategias reproductivas alternativas. Concretamente, se discuten las posibles relaciones entre esas estrategias y variables tales como la fecha de puesta, la densidad de nidos y la asincronía de puesta. A pesar de nuestro limitado tamaño muestral, esas discusiones abren nuevas y excitantes cuestiones en el estudio de la biología reproductiva de la carraca.It was not long ago when the majority of passerine species were considered monogamous. However, the use of molecular tools has revolutionized our view of the avian breeding biology to the point that extra-pair paternity (EPP) and conspecific brood parasitism (CBP) are considered widespread alternative reproductive strategies. The European roller is a near-threatened secondary hole-nesting bird that is considered to be socially monogamous. However, so far, its breeding biology has never been explored by means of genetic tools. Here, we used 10 microsatellite markers divided into 4 different multiplex PCR reactions for that purpose using samples from a 5-years study. In all, 325 offspring and 113 adults were analyzed. The occurrence of EPP as well as CBP varies throughout the 5 years studied, being the average 3.1 – 4.9 % of the nests in the case of EPP and 12.4 – 14.9 % in the case of CBP. Several possible explanations for the existence/prevalence of those alternative reproductive strategies are discussed. Specifically, the relation between those alternative reproductive strategies and variables such as laying date, nest density and hatching asynchrony are addressed. Despite our limited sample size, those discussions open new and exciting avenues in the study of the breeding biology of the roller

Reggio Emilia: una mirada hacia el futuro educativo

Programa de intervención educativaCuando se trata un tema tan importante como es la educación, es imprescindible mencionar la relevancia y significado del planteamiento educativo de Reggio Emilia. En este programa de acción educativa se alude a esta ciudad italiana que es conocida por el método aplicado a la educación infantil en sus centros educativos. La aplicación de esta metodología activa y participativa al sistema educativo español es un gran avance para centrar la atención en las necesidades de la infancia, partiendo de sus inquietudes, sueños y motivaciones, desarrollando así una atención globalizada de los niños/as. Considerando las características de este programa de acción educativa, pretendo aplicar una metodología innovadora a un colegio público de Granada llamado García Lorca para desarrollar la individualidad, la libertad y la responsabilidad de los niños/as.Universidad de Granada. Facultad de Ciencias de la Educación. Grado en Educación Infanti

Evidence of paternal effects on telomere length increases in early life

Offspring of older parents in many species have decreased longevity, a faster ageing rate and lower fecundity than offspring born to younger parents. Biomarkers of ageing, such as telomeres, that tend to shorten as individuals age, may provide insight into the mechanisms of such parental age effects. Parental age may be associated with offspring telomere length either directly through inheritance of shortened telomeres or indirectly, for example, through changes in parental care in older parents affecting offspring telomere length. Across the literature there is considerable variation in estimates of the heritability of telomere length, and in the direction and extent of parental age effects on telomere length. To address this, we experimentally tested how parental age is associated with the early-life telomere dynamics of chicks at two time points in a captive population of house sparrows Passer domesticus. We experimentally separated parental age from sex effects, and removed effects of age-assortative mating, by allowing the parent birds to only mate with young, or old partners. The effect of parental age was dependent on the sex of the parent and the chicks, and was found in the father-daughter relationship only; older fathers produced daughters with longer telomere lengths post-fledging. Overall we found that chick telomere length increased between the age of 0.5 and 3 months at the population and individual level. This finding is unusual in birds with such increases more commonly associated with non-avian taxa. Our results suggest parental age effects on telomere length are sex-specific either through indirect or direct inheritance. The study of similar patterns in different species and taxa will help us further understand variation in telomere length and its evolution

Heritability and social brood effects on personality in juvenile and adult life-history stages in a wild passerine

How has evolution led to the variation in behavioural phenotypes (personalities) in a population? Knowledge of whether personality is heritable, and to what degree it is influenced by the social environment, is crucial to understanding its evolutionary significance, yet few estimates are available from natural populations. We tracked three behavioural traits during different life-history stages in a pedigreed population of wild house sparrows. Using a quantitative genetic approach, we demonstrated heritability in adult exploration, and in nestling activity after accounting for fixed effects, but not in adult boldness. We did not detect maternal effects on any traits, but we did detect a social brood effect on nestling activity. Boldness, exploration and nestling activity in this population did not form a behavioural syndrome, suggesting that selection could act independently on these behavioural traits in this species, although we found no consistent support for phenotypic selection on these traits. Our work shows that repeatable behaviours can vary in their heritability, and that social context influences personality traits. Future efforts could separate whether personality traits differ in heritability because they have served specific functional roles in the evolution of the phenotype, or because our concept of personality and the stability of behaviour needs to be revised

Meta-analysis challenges a textbook example of status signalling and demonstrates publication bias.

The status signalling hypothesis aims to explain within-species variation in ornamentation by suggesting that some ornaments signal dominance status. Here, we use multilevel meta-analytic models to challenge the textbook example of this hypothesis, the black bib of male house sparrows (Passer domesticus). We conducted a systematic review, and obtained primary data from published and unpublished studies to test whether dominance rank is positively associated with bib size across studies. Contrary to previous studies, the overall effect size (i.e. meta-analytic mean) was small and uncertain. Furthermore, we found several biases in the literature that further question the support available for the status signalling hypothesis. We discuss several explanations including pleiotropic, population- and context-dependent effects. Our findings call for reconsidering this established textbook example in evolutionary and behavioural ecology, and should stimulate renewed interest in understanding within-species variation in ornamental traits

A global meta-analysis reveals higher variation in breeding phenology in urban birds than in their non-urban neighbours

Cities pose a major ecological challenge for wildlife worldwide. Phenotypic variation, which can result from underlying genetic variation or plasticity, is an important metric to understand eco-evolutionary responses to environmental change. Recent work suggests that urban populations might have higher levels of phenotypic variation than non-urban counterparts. This prediction, however, has never been tested across species nor over a broad geographical range. Here, we conducted a meta-analysis of the avian literature to compare urban versus non-urban means and variation in phenology (i.e. lay date) and reproductive effort (i.e. clutch size, number of fledglings). First, we show that urban populations reproduce earlier and have smaller broods than non-urban conspecifics. Second, we show that urban populations have higher phenotypic variation in laying date than non-urban populations. This result arises from differences between populations within breeding seasons, conceivably due to higher landscape heterogeneity in urban habitats. These findings reveal a novel effect of urbanisation on animal life histories with potential implications for species adaptation to urban environments (which will require further investigation). The higher variation in phenology in birds subjected to urban disturbance could result from plastic responses to a heterogeneous environment, or from higher genetic variation in phenology, possibly linked to higher evolutionary potential

Winter territory prospecting is associated with life-history stage but not activity in a passerine

Finding a high quality territory is essential for many animals to reproduce successfully. Despite its importance for fitness, we know little about the process of territory prospecting in wild birds, and whether individual traits and behaviours, such as personality, co-vary with territory prospecting. Here, we use long-term data from a wild, insular house sparrow Passer domesticus population to test three hypotheses about territory fidelity and prospecting: (1) House sparrows show high territory fidelity between years and also during winter. (2) Individuals will prospect for a breeding territory during their first winter whereas older, more experienced individuals will keep a territory from previous years and will, therefore, show no or reduced winter territory prospecting. (3) More active behavioural types will prospect more than less active behavioural types. We use data from four winters from automatically, daily recorded nest-box visits of 188 birds of known age. The number of nest-boxes that each individual visited within each winter was used as a proxy of winter territory prospecting. We show that house sparrows visit multiple nest-boxes during their first winter, whereas older individuals keep territories year-round and, potentially because of this, indeed show reduced winter territory prospecting. Activity was not associated with the number of nest-boxes visited. Further research is needed to investigate whether time of territory and mate acquisition differs among individuals and the possible effect on lifetime fitness

Dominance relationships and coalitionary aggression against conspecifics in female carrion crows

Funding: European Research Council (ERCStG-336536 FuncSpecGen to J.W.), the Swedish Research Council Vetenskapsrådet (621-2013-4510 to J.W.), Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation (to J.W.) and Tovetorp fieldstation through Stockholm University.Cooperation is a prevailing feature of many animal systems. Coalitionary aggression, where a group of individuals engages in coordinated behaviour to the detriment of conspecific targets, is a form of cooperation involving complex social interactions. To date, evidence has been dominated by studies in humans and other primates with a clear bias towards studies of male-male coalitions. We here characterize coalitionary aggression behaviour in a group of female carrion crows consisting of recruitment, coordinated chase, and attack. The individual of highest social rank liaised with the second most dominant individual to engage in coordinated chase and attack of a lower ranked crow on several occasions. Despite active intervention by the third most highly ranked individual opposing the offenders, the attack finally resulted in the death of the victim. All individuals were unrelated, of the same sex, and naive to the behaviour excluding kinship, reproduction, and social learning as possible drivers. Instead, the coalition may reflect a strategy of the dominant individual to secure long-term social benefits. Overall, the study provides evidence that members of the crow family engage in coordinated alliances directed against conspecifics as a possible means to manipulate their social environment.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Eleven strategies for making reproducible research and open science training the norm at research institutions

Across disciplines, researchers increasingly recognize that open science and reproducible research practices may accelerate scientific progress by allowing others to reuse research outputs and by promoting rigorous research that is more likely to yield trustworthy results. While initiatives, training programs, and funder policies encourage researchers to adopt reproducible research and open science practices, these practices are uncommon inmanyfields. Researchers need training to integrate these practicesinto their daily work. We organized a virtual brainstorming event, in collaboration with the German Reproducibility Network, to discuss strategies for making reproducible research and open science training the norm at research institutions. Here, weoutline eleven strategies, concentrated in three areas:(1)offering training, (2)adapting research assessment criteria and program requirements, and (3) building communities. We provide a brief overview of each strategy, offer tips for implementation,and provide links to resources. Our goal is toencourage members of the research community to think creatively about the many ways they can contribute and collaborate to build communities,and make reproducible research and open sciencetraining the norm. Researchers may act in their roles as scientists, supervisors, mentors, instructors, and members of curriculum, hiring or evaluation committees. Institutionalleadership and research administration andsupport staff can accelerate progress by implementing change across their institution

Eleven strategies for making reproducible research and open science training the norm at research institutions

Across disciplines, researchers increasingly recognize that open science and reproducible research practices may accelerate scientific progress by allowing others to reuse research outputs and by promoting rigorous research that is more likely to yield trustworthy results. While initiatives, training programs, and funder policies encourage researchers to adopt reproducible research and open science practices, these practices are uncommon inmanyfields. Researchers need training to integrate these practicesinto their daily work. We organized a virtual brainstorming event, in collaboration with the German Reproducibility Network, to discuss strategies for making reproducible research and open science training the norm at research institutions. Here, weoutline eleven strategies, concentrated in three areas:(1)offering training, (2)adapting research assessment criteria and program requirements, and (3) building communities. We provide a brief overview of each strategy, offer tips for implementation,and provide links to resources. Our goal is toencourage members of the research community to think creatively about the many ways they can contribute and collaborate to build communities,and make reproducible research and open sciencetraining the norm. Researchers may act in their roles as scientists, supervisors, mentors, instructors, and members of curriculum, hiring or evaluation committees. Institutionalleadership and research administration andsupport staff can accelerate progress by implementing change across their institution