Search

Decades after the publication of the first population studies on Neotropical butterflies, knowledge of their population biology remains scarce in the literature. Inconspicuous groups like the nymphalid subfamily Satyrinae are often overlooked, and studies that examine the demographics of these neglected groups are paramount for a more comprehensive understanding of insect population dynamics. The present paper addresses this dearth of information by describing the population biology of three common species of Euptychiina (Nymphalidae: Satyrinae) butterflies, Hermeuptychia atalanta, Cissia eous and Malaveria affinis, in a suburban area. A 13-month mark-release-recapture study was carried out in the grass lawns of the University of Campinas, São Paulo State Southeastern Brazil. The results showed that population parameters differ among the three studied species. For example, the population of H. atalanta is about five times that of C. eous, which is four times larger than that of M. affinis. Sex ratios were male-biased in H. atalanta and C. eous, but not in M. affinis (whose sex ratio was 1:1). Hermeuptychia atalanta and C. eous had mean adult lifespans of approximately one week, with no variation between sexes. Malaveria affinis, however, had a lifespan of approximately 11 days for males and just five days for females. Age structures were similar in all three species, with no recruitment peaks detected throughout the year. Sexual dimorphism, based on wing size, was not observed in H. atalanta, but a clear pattern of dimorphism with larger females was observed for the other two species. The present study is the first to describe population parameters for Euptychiina in detail, and one of the few focusing on population biology of butterflies in suburban areas. Indeed, the present results could help to define strategies of lawn management for the campus, aiming to increase local biodiversity and consequently improve ecosystem services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The historical challenges to bridge the gaps between developmental biology and population or statistical genetics under the explanatory dominance of the Modern Evolutionary Synthesis during the 20th century have been thoroughly documented. However, although several attempts to integrate these fields have been made, most have been deemed unsuccessful. As an example of those efforts, in this paper I discuss the work of James Meadows Rendel, a student of J. B. S. Haldane and disciple of Conrad Hal Waddington. I present his largely forgotten or unrecognized, but innovative, ideas about canalization and the role of development in phylogeny as a valuable piece to connect these fields that could still have important ramifications for today's evolutionary biology. In fact, it is expected that the legacy of J. M. Rendel will be rediscovered, and more importantly, incorporated and extended by future researchers, in light of the growth of evolutionary developmental biology in the last decades. What is more, this case offers a chance to critically revisit standard historiographies about the dichotomy between developmental and population genetics research frameworks in 20th century biology. • Rendel's theory integrated various developmental and evolutionary processes. • Rendel's theoretical work is generally omitted or unrecognized in the literature. • J. M. Rendel can be seen as a forerunner for contemporary Evo-Devo approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The landscape of scientific publishing is experiencing a transformative shift toward open access, a paradigm that mandates the availability of research outputs such as data, code, materials, and publications. Open access provides increased reproducibility and allows for reuse of these resources. This article provides guidance for best publishing practices of scientific research, data, and associated resources, including code, in The American Phytopathological Society journals. Key areas such as diagnostic assays, experimental design, data sharing, and code deposition are explored in detail. This guidance aligns with that observed by other leading journals. We hope the information assembled in this paper will raise awareness of best practices and enable greater appraisal of the true effects of biological phenomena in plant pathology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The seemingly paradoxical increase of a species' means density in response to greater mortality is an interesting research topic in recent times, and such a type of counterintuitive response is known as the hydra effect. Identifying and predicting the consequences of increased mortality is crucial for conservation biology and population management. The existence of the hydra effect in Gause-type models is a known feature in mathematical ecology. However, the hydra effect is still not investigated in mathematical models of predator-dependent functional responses. The present paper addresses the presence of a hydra effect in either the prey and predator species of two-species unstructured predator-dependent functional response models with logistic prey growth and density-independent predator death rate. Our results show that the positive density-dependence of predators (grouping behavior or cooperation) in trophic functions shows a hydra effect in the prey species, whereas the negative density-dependence of predators (interference) shows a hydra effect in the predator species. Moreover, in the former case, prey always exhibits the hydra effect at a stable state, whether in the latter case, predator exhibits the hydra effect at a stable state when the prey has positive self-effects at the equilibrium. In our considered models, the prey's positive self-effects suggest that the intraspecific competition rate coefficient would be sufficiently small so that the species density would be positively related to its per capita growth rate. In the case of cyclic dynamics, the hydra effect is a typical feature of predator species for unstable systems with saturating functional responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past few decades, the discrete dynamics of difference maps have attained the remarkable attention of researchers owing to their incredible applications in different domains, like cryptography, secure communications, weather forecasting, traffic flow models, neural network models, and population biology. In this article, a generalized chaotic system is proposed, and superior dynamics is disclosed through fixed point analysis, time-series evolution, cobweb representation, period-doubling, period-3 window, and Lyapunov exponent properties. The comparative bifurcation and Lyapunov plots report the superior stability and chaos performance of the generalized system. It is interesting to notice that the generalized system exhibits superior dynamics due to an additional control parameter β . Analytical and numerical simulations are used to explore the superior dynamical characteristics of the generalized system for some specific values of parameter β . Further, it is inferred that the superiority in dynamics of the generalized system may be efficiently used for better future applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A leading crisis in the United States is the opioid use disorder (OUD) epidemic. Opioid overdose deaths have been increasing, with over 100,000 deaths due to overdose from April 2020 to April 2021. This paper presents a mathematical model to address illicit OUD (IOUD), initiation, casual use, treatment, relapse, recovery, and opioid overdose deaths within an epidemiological framework. Within this model, individuals remain in the recovery class unless they relapse back to use and due to the limited availability of specialty treatment facilities for individuals with OUD, a saturation treatment function was incorporated. Additionally, a casual user class and its corresponding specialty treatment class were incorporated. We use both heroin and all-illicit opioids datasets to find parameter estimates for our models. Bistability of equilibrium solutions was found for realistic parameter values for the heroin-only dataset. This result implies that it would be beneficial to increase the availability of treatment. An alarming effect was discovered about the high overdose death rate: by 2046, the disorder-free equilibrium would be the only stable equilibrium. This consequence is concerning because it means the epidemic would end due to high overdose death rates. The IOUD model with a casual user class, its sensitivity results, and the comparison of parameters for both datasets, showed the importance of not overlooking the influence that casual users have in driving the all-illicit opioid epidemic. Casual users stay in the casual user class longer and are not going to treatment as quickly as the users of the heroin epidemic. Another result was that the users of the all-illicit opioids were going to the recovered class by means other than specialty treatment. However, the change in the relapse rate has more of an influence for those individuals than in the heroin-only epidemic. The results above from analyzing this model may inform health and policy officials, leading to more effective treatment options and prevention efforts.

Colletotrichum coccodes (Wallr.) Hughes is an asexual fungus with five vegetative compatibility groups. It was postulated that C. coccodes was isolated at the center of origin of potato at one time, and due to the movement of potato around the globe, the fungus was established on each continent but became bottlenecked and genetically unable to form stable heterokaryons via vegetative compatibility grouping (VCG) studies. The objectives of this study were (i) to determine if the VCGs around the world are related to the VCGs in Chile, (ii) to determine the diversity of C. coccodes populations in Chile, and (iii) to find any evidence for a cryptic sexual life cycle for this fungus. Worldwide C. coccodes populations have been found to be genetically correlated and belong to one or more C. coccodes-identified VCGs. The most distributed VCG in Chile was VCG2, which is the most common VCG in North America. We hypothesize that one or more VCGs had spread from Chile to the rest of the world. Precautions and further studies should be investigated by using other molecular markers and gene sequencing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context. Efficient monitoring of herpetofauna can prove challenging to agencies and NGOs responsible for their management. Wildlife cameras have been proposed as a method to monitor herpetofauna; however, estimates of detection rates and factors affecting detection by cameras are generally lacking and therefore limiting their application. Aims. We determined the effect of body size and temperature differential on the detection of snakes and frogs by passive infrared (PIR) wildlife cameras. We hypothesised that detection would differ among models and be positively correlated with body size and surface-temperature differential between the animal and substrate. We then conducted a field study to compare the detection of herpetofauna by a traditional method with PIR cameras. Methods. We tested 10 cameras of seven models on five snakes and one camera on six frogs. Photographs were downloaded to determine the detection rate of each species by each camera. We then chose a camera model to compare two herpetofauna survey methods, namely, drift fences equipped with cameras and visualencounter surveys. Surveys were conducted monthly over 12 months in Irwin County, GA, USA. Key results. The highest mean detection rates of snakes were 0.65 (s.e. = 0.33), 0.50 (s.e. = 0.34), and 0.49 (s.e. = 0.34) for the Browning Dark Ops, Reconyx Hyperfire 2, and Mossy Oak Covert Scouting Camera respectively. The detectability of larger snakes was greater than that of smaller snakes and increased as the absolute temperature differences between the snake and the substrate increased. The detectability of frogs was influenced by absolute temperature differential alone. PIR cameras generated five times more observations, documented more herpetofauna species, and were seven times more efficient than traditional surveys. Conclusions. The effectiveness of PIR cameras to detect herpetofauna varies among models and depends on the likelihood that the animal will have a body temperature significantly different from the temperature of the substrate. PIR cameras generated observations far more efficiently than traditional sampling methods. Implications. PIR wildlife cameras may be most effective at detecting larger, diurnal herpetofauna and least effective at detecting smaller, nocturnal species. Wildlife cameras have the potential to efficiently monitor some herpetofauna, providing a means to better evaluate management objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]