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1,604 results for “Wintering”
Variation in butterfly diapause duration in relation to voltinism suggests adaptation to autumn warmth, not winter cold
<p>1. The life cycles of animals vary in relation to local climate, as a result of both direct environmental effects and population-level variation in plastic responses. Insects often respond to the approach of winter by entering diapause, a hormonally programmed resting state where development is suspended and metabolism suppressed. Populations often differ in the duration of diapause, but the adaptive reasons for this are unclear.</p> <p>2. We performed a common-garden overwintering experiment with respirometric measurements in order to investigate the progression of diapause in the butterfly Pararge aegeria. Both the duration of diapause and the depth of metabolic suppression were shown to vary between populations.</p> <p>3. In contrast to previous results from various insects, diapause duration did not correspond to the local length of winter. Instead, the observed pattern was consistent with a scenario in which diapause duration is primarily a product of selection for suppressed metabolism during warm autumn conditions. The relationship between optimal diapause duration and the length of the warm season is complicated by variation in the number of yearly generations (voltinism).</p> <p>4. These results shed new light on variation in diapause ecophysiology, and highlight voltinism as an integrated product of selection at multiple points in the seasonal cycle.</p>
Data from: What is a mild winter? Regional differences in within-species responses to climate change
Climate change is known to affect ecosystems globally, but our knowledge of its impact on large and widespread mammals, and possibly population-specific responses is still sparse. We investigated large-scale and long-term effects of climate change on local population dynamics using the wild boar (Sus scrofa L.) as a model species. Our results show that population increases across Europe are strongly associated with increasingly mild winters, yet with region-specific threshold temperatures for the onset of exponential growth. Additionally, we found that abundant availability of critical food resources, e.g. beech nuts, can outweigh the negative effects of cold winters on population growth of wild boar. Availability of beech nuts is highly variable and highest in years of beech mast which increased in frequency since 1980, according to our data. We conclude that climate change drives population growth of wild boar directly by relaxing the negative effect of cold winters on survival and reproduction, and indirectly by increasing food availability. However, region-specific responses need to be considered in order to fully understand a species' demographic response to climate change.
Data from: Impact of winter enclosures on the gut bacterial microbiota of red deer in the Bavarian Forest National Park
High numbers of red deer (Cervus elaphus) pose a challenge for natural forests because of their high browsing intensities, especially during winter months. To mitigate this human–wildlife conflict, conservation management in Central Europe involves luring red deer into fenced winter-feeding sites. The supplementary diet provided in these so-called winter enclosures strongly differs from the natural diet of red deer. Dietary shifts, however, can lead to an imbalance of the gut microbiota, which could promote bacterial pathogens. Moreover, increased inter-individual contact in winter enclosures enhances the exchange of symbiotic but also pathogenic bacteria. In this study, we used high-throughput sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene in fecal samples of red deer inhabiting the Bavarian Forest National Park to investigate differences in the gut bacterial microbiota between individuals in winter enclosures and individuals that ranged freely in the forests in winter. We also investigated the occurrence of potential zoonotic bacterial pathogens in both study groups. Our results revealed that proportions of bacterial taxa, alpha- and beta-diversities, and relative abundances of amplicon sequence variants in the gut bacterial microbiota of the two groups differed. These differences were attributed to the enrichment of bacterial taxa involved in the digestion of the supplementary food and to different natural diets consumed before entering the winter enclosures. We detected sequences with high similarities to known red deer pathogens in both study groups, but their relative abundances were low, which suggests that the population of red deer of the National Park Bavarian Forest is healthy.
Data from: Latitudinal variation in thermal reaction norms of post-winter pupal development in two butterflies differing in phenological specialization
Latitudinal clines in thermal reaction norms of development are a common phenomenon in temperate insects. Populations from higher latitudes often develop faster throughout the range of relevant temperatures (i.e countergradient variation) because they must be able to complete their life cycle within a shorter seasonal time window compared to populations at lower latitudes. In the present study, we experimentally demonstrate that two species of butterflies Anthocharis cardamines (L.) and Pieris napi (L.) instead show a cogradient variation in thermal reaction norms of post-winter pupal development so that lower latitude populations develop faster than higher latitude populations. The two species share host plants but differ in the degree of phenological specialization, as well as in the patterns of voltinism. We suggest that the pattern in A. cardamines, a univoltine phenological specialist feeding exclusively on flowers and seedpods, is the result of selection for matching to the phenological pattern of its local host plants. The other species, P. napi, is a phenological generalist feeding on the leaves of the hosts and it shows a latitudinal cline in voltinism. Because the latitudinal pattern in P. napi was an effect of slow development in a fraction of the pupae from the most northern population, we hypothesize that this population may include both bivoltine and univoltine genotypes. Consequently, although the two species both showed cogradient patterns in thermal reaction norms, it appears likely that this was for different reasons.
Data from: Responses to simulated winter conditions differ between threespine stickleback ecotypes
Abiotic factors can act as barriers to colonization and drive local adaptation. During colonization, organisms may cope with changes in abiotic factors using existing phenotypic plasticity, but the role of phenotypic plasticity in assisting or hindering the process of local adaptation remains unclear. To address these questions, we explore the role of winter conditions in driving divergence during freshwater colonization and the effects of plasticity on local adaptation in ancestral marine and derived freshwater ecotypes of threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus). We found that freshwater-resident stickleback had greater tolerance of acute exposure to low temperatures than marine stickleback, but these differences were abolished after acclimation to simulated winter conditions (9L:15D photoperiod at 4°C). Plasma chloride levels differed between the ecotypes, but showed a similar degree of plasticity between ecotypes. Gene expression of the epithelial calcium channel (ECaC) differed between ecotypes, with the freshwater ecotype demonstrating substantially greater expression than the marine ecotype, but there was no plasticity in this trait under these conditions in either ecotype. In contrast, growth (assessed as final mass) and the expression of an isoform of the electroneutral Na+/H+ exchanger (NHE3) exhibited substantial change with temperature in the marine ecotype that was not observed in the freshwater ecotype under the conditions tested here, which is consistent with evolution of these traits by a process such as genetic assimilation. These data demonstrate substantial divergence in many of these traits between freshwater and marine stickleback, but also illustrate the complexity of possible relationships between plasticity and local adaptation.
Data from: Asymmetric winter warming advanced plant phenology to a greater extent than symmetric warming in an alpine meadow
The warming of terrestrial high-latitude ecosystems, while increasing, will likely be asymmetric across seasons – where winter non-growing seasons will warm more than summer growing seasons. Asymmetric winter warming in temperature-sensitive ecosystems may delay spring phenological events by reducing the opportunity that a plants' chilling requirement is met. Similarly, symmetric warming can advance spring phenology. To explore the impact of asymmetric warming on plant phenology, we applied a year-round warming and a winter warming treatment to our experimental plots. Over a two-year period, we monitored leaf-out and flowering phenology for 11 plant species. There was variation among species, however, both winter and year-round warming, advanced the leaf-out day and the first flowering day relative to the control treatment. Winter warming advanced leaf-out and flowering phenology by 11.1 (± 2.4) and 12.6 (± 2.9) days, respectively. However, year-round warming had less of an impact advancing leaf-out and flowering phenology by 5.1 (± 2.1) and 10.0 (± 3.0) days, respectively. Our study provides direct evidence that asymmetric winter warming has a larger impact on plant phenology than symmetric year-round warming. Increasing soil temperature in the winter from below to above freezing temperatures advanced the spring phenology of alpine plants. Winter warming increased soil temperature more than year-round warming, which explains why phenology advanced under winter warming more than under year-round warming. In addition, early or mid-season flowering plant species displayed different phenology strategies in warmer winters. Synthesis: Relative to other ecosystems, alpine ecosystems such as the Tibetan Plateau will likely respond to asymmetric warming given the higher amplitude of winter temperature increases due to climatic warming thus seasonal variation in warming should be considered when predicting and modelling the response of alpine ecosystems to climatic change.
Data from: How individual Montagu's Harriers cope with Moreau's Paradox during the Sahelian winter
Hundreds of millions of Afro-Palaearctic migrants winter in the Sahel, a semi-arid belt south of the Sahara desert, where they experience deteriorating ecological conditions during their overwintering stay and have to prepare for spring migration when conditions are worst. This well-known phenomenon was first described by R.E. Moreau and is known ever since as Moreau's Paradox. However, empirical evidence of the deteriorating seasonal ecological conditions is limited and little is known on how birds respond. Montagu's Harriers Circus pygargus spend 6 months of the year in their wintering areas in the Sahel. Within the wintering season, birds move gradually to the south, visiting several distinct sites to which they are site-faithful in consecutive years. At the last wintering site, birds find themselves at the southern edge of the Sahelian zone and have no other options than facing deteriorating conditions. We tracked 36 Montagu's Harriers with GPS trackers to study their habitat use and behaviour during winter and collected data on the abundance of their main prey, grasshoppers, in Senegal. Since grasshopper abundance was positively related to vegetation greenness (measured as normalized difference vegetation index, NDVI), we used NDVI values as a proxy for prey abundance in areas where no field data were collected. Prey abundance (grasshopper counts and vegetation greenness) at wintering sites of Montagu's Harriers decreased during the wintering period. Montagu's Harriers responded to decreasing food availability by increasing their flight time during the second half of the winter. Individuals increased flight time more in areas with stronger declines in NDVI values, suggesting that lower food abundance required more intense foraging to achieve energy requirements. The apparent consequence was that Montagu's Harriers departed later in spring when their final wintering site had lower NDVI values and presumably lower food abundance and consequently arrived later at their breeding site. Our results confirmed the suggestions Moreau made 40 years ago: the late wintering period might be a bottleneck during the annual cycle with possible carry-over effects to the breeding season. Ongoing climate change with less rainfall in the Sahel region paired with increased human pressure on natural and agricultural habitats resulting in degradation and desertification is likely to make this period more demanding, which may negatively impact populations of migratory birds using the Sahel.
Data from: The fluctuating world of a tundra predator guild: bottom-up constraints overrule top-down species interactions in winter
Global warming is predicted to change ecosystem functioning and structure in Arctic ecosystems by strengthening top-down species interactions, i.e. predation pressure on small herbivores and interference between predators. Yet, previous research is biased towards the summer season. Due to greater abiotic constraints, Arctic ecosystem characteristics might be more pronounced in winter. Here we test the hypothesis that top-down species interactions prevail over bottom-up effects in Scandinavian mountain tundra (Northern Sweden) where effects of climate warming have been observed and top-down interactions are expected to strengthen. But we test this a-priori hypothesis in winter and throughout the 3-4 year rodent cycle, which imposes additional pulsed resource constraints. We used snowtracking data recorded in 12 winters (2004-2015) to analyse the spatial patterns of a tundra predator guild (arctic fox Vulpes lagopus, red fox Vulpes vulpes, wolverine Gulo gulo) and small prey (ptarmigan, Lagopus spp). The a-priori top-down hypothesis was then tested through structural equation modelling, for each phase of the rodent cycle. There was weak support for this hypothesis, with top-down effects only discerned on arctic fox (weakly, by wolverine) and ptarmigan (by arctic fox) at intermediate and high rodent availability respectively. Overall, bottom-up constraints appeared more influential on the winter community structure. Cold specialist predators (arctic fox and wolverine) showed variable landscape associations, while the boreal predator (red fox) appeared strongly dependent on productive habitats and ptarmigan abundance. Thus, we suggest that the unpredictability of food resources determines the winter ecology of the cold specialist predators, while the boreal predator relies on resource rich habitats. The constraints imposed by winters and temporary resource lows should therefore counteract productivity-driven ecosystem change and have a stabilizing effect on community structure. Hence, the interplay between summer and winter conditions should determine the rate of Arctic ecosystem change in the context of global warming.
Data from: Individual variation in winter supplementary food consumption and its consequences for reproduction in wild birds.
The provision of wild birds with supplementary food has increased substantially over recent decades. While it is assumed that provisioning birds is beneficial, supplementary feeding can have detrimental 'carry-over' effects on reproductive traits. Due to difficulties in monitoring individual feeding behaviour, assessing how individuals within a population vary in their exploitation of supplementary food resources has been limited. Quantifying individual consumption of supplementary food is necessary to understand the operation of carry-over effects at the individual level. We used Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology and automated feeders to estimate individual consumption of supplementary winter food in a large wild population of great tits Parus major and blue tits Cyanistes caeruleus. Using these data, we identified demographic factors that explained individual variation in levels of supplementary food consumption. We also tested for carry-over effects of supplementary food consumption on recruitment, reproductive success and a measure of survival. Individual variation in consumption of supplementary food was explained by differences between species, ages, sexes and years. Individuals were consistent across time in their usage of supplementary resources. We found no strong evidence that the extent of supplementary food consumption directly influenced subsequent fitness parameters. Such effects may instead result from supplementary food influencing population demographics by enhancing the survival and subsequent breeding of less competitive individuals, which reduce average breeding parameters and increase density-dependent competition. Carry-over effects of supplementary feeding are not universal and may depend upon the temporal availability of the food provided. Our study demonstrates how RFID systems can be used to examine individual-level behaviour with minimal effects on fitness.
Data from: Genetic variation in blue whales in the eastern Pacific: implication for taxonomy and use of common wintering grounds
Many aspects of blue whale biology are poorly understood. Some of the gaps in our knowledge, such as those regarding their basic taxonomy and seasonal movements, directly affect our ability to monitor and manage blue whale populations. As a step towards filling in some of these gaps, microsatellite and mtDNA sequence analyses were conducted on blue whale samples from the Southern Hemisphere, the eastern tropical Pacific (ETP), and the northeast Pacific. The results indicate that the ETP is differentially used by blue whales from the northern and southern eastern Pacific, with the former showing stronger affinity to the region off Central America known as the Costa Rican Dome, and the latter favoring the waters of Peru and Ecuador. Although the pattern of genetic variation throughout the Southern Hemisphere is compatible with the recently proposed subspecies status of Chilean blue whales, some discrepancies remain between catch lengths and lengths from aerial photography, and not all blue whales in Chilean waters can be assumed to be of this type. Also, the range of the proposed Chilean subspecies, which extends to the Galapagos region of the ETP, at least seasonally, perhaps should include the Costa Rican Dome and the eastern North Pacific as well.
FIGURES 17–18 in A new genus and species of winter stoneflies (Plecoptera: Capniidae) from Southwest China, with a commented checklist of the family in the Oriental Realm
FIGURES 17–18. Known distribution of the Capniidae in the Oriental Realm.—17: Occurrences of the Oriental species, with the exception of the Himalayan, Karakoram and Hindukush records of the Capnia s.l. cordata and C. s.l. pedestris species groups (general distribution of the C. s.l. cordata group delimited by dotted, of the C. s.l. pedestris group by continuous black line); 18: Occurrences of the Capnia s.l. cordata and C. s.l. pedestris species groups in the Himalayas, Karakoram and Hindukush—grey areas are above 1000 meters (Fig. 18) or 2000 meters (Fig. 17).
FIGURES 14–16 in A new genus and species of winter stoneflies (Plecoptera: Capniidae) from Southwest China, with a commented checklist of the family in the Oriental Realm
FIGURES 14–16. Female terminalia of Sinocapnia kuankuoshui gen. n., sp. n.—14: terminalia, ventral view; 15: terminalia, lateral view; 16: inner genital organs, dorsal view—scale 1 mm.
FIGURES 3–8 in A new genus and species of winter stoneflies (Plecoptera: Capniidae) from Southwest China, with a commented checklist of the family in the Oriental Realm
FIGURES 3–8. Male terminalia of Sinocapnia kuankuoshui gen. n., sp. n.—3: terminalia, ventral view; 4: terminalia, dorsal view; 5: terminalia, lateral view; 6: terminalia, dorso-lateral view; 7: terminalia, caudal view; 8: paraprocts, fusion plate and retractoral plate, inner oblique view—scales 1 mm; scale 1 to Figs. 3–7, scale 2 to Fig. 8.
FIGURES 9–13 in A new genus and species of winter stoneflies (Plecoptera: Capniidae) from Southwest China, with a commented checklist of the family in the Oriental Realm
FIGURES 9–13. Male epiproct of Sinocapnia kuankuoshui gen. n., sp. n.—9: main epiproct sclerite, lateral view; 10: main epiproct sclerite, dorsal view; 11: main epiproct sclerite, ventral view; 12: epiproct, dorso-caudal view; 13: epiproct, dorsoproximal view (B-scl: basal sclerite; Ec: eversible crest; Ep-scl: main epiproct sclerite (shaded in grey); Lb-scl: laterobasal sclerite; Tg 10: tergite 10)—scale 1 mm.
FIGURES 1–2 in A new genus and species of winter stoneflies (Plecoptera: Capniidae) from Southwest China, with a commented checklist of the family in the Oriental Realm
FIGURES 1–2. Thoracic sclerites and wings of female Sinocapnia kuankuoshui gen. n., sp. n.—1: right wings (A: anal vein; a: anal crossvein; arc: arculus; C: costa; Cu: cubital vein; cu-a: cubitoanal crossvein; h: humeral crossvein; M: medial vein; mcu: mediocubital crossvein; R: radial vein; r-s: radiosubcostal crossvein; r-m: radiomedial crossvein; Sc: subcosta); 2: thorax, ventral view (P: prothoracic; Me: mesothoracic; M: metathoracic; Bs: basisternum; Cx: coxa; Etn: eutrochantin; Fs: furcasternum; Fsa: furcasternal arm; Fsp: furcasternal pit; Kes: katepisternum; Lcs: lateral cervical sclerite; Pfs: postfurcasternum; Po: postcoxal bridge; Pr: precoxal bridge; Prs: presternum; Ss: spinasternum; St1: Sternite 1; Tn: trochantin; Tr: trochanter)—scales 1 mm.
FIGURES 27–33 in A new tropical montane firefly genus and species, active during winter and endemic to the southeastern Atlantic Rainforest (Coleoptera: Lampyridae)
FIGURES 27–33 Araucariocladus hiems sp. nov., male abdomen: 27, terga I–VI dorsal; 28, syntergite, dorsal; 29, sternum IX, ventral; 30, sternum VIII and pygidium, ventral; 31–33 aedeagus, 31, dorsal, 32, lateral, 33, ventral. Scale bar: 1.0 mm (27), 0.5 mm (28–30), 0.2 mm (31–33).
FIGURES 3–13 in A new tropical montane firefly genus and species, active during winter and endemic to the southeastern Atlantic Rainforest (Coleoptera: Lampyridae)
FIGURES 3–13 Araucariocladus hiems sp. nov.: 4–7, male head overview, 3, dorsal; 4, ventral; 5, lateral; 6, frontal; 7, posterior; 8–9, mandible; 10, antenna; 11–13, frontal tentoria, detail, 11, frontal; 12, lateral; 13, dorsal. Scale bar: 0.5 mm (3–9), 2.0 mm (10), 0.5 mm (11–13).
FIGURES 21–26 in A new tropical montane firefly genus and species, active during winter and endemic to the southeastern Atlantic Rainforest (Coleoptera: Lampyridae)
FIGURES 21–26 Araucariocladus hiems sp. nov., pterothorax and associated structures: 21, dorsal; 22, ventral; 23, lateral; 24, elytron ventral; 25, left wing; 26 pro, meso and metalegs (top-down). Scale bar: 1.0 mm (21–23), 2.0 mm (24–26).
FIGURES 1–2 in A new tropical montane firefly genus and species, active during winter and endemic to the southeastern Atlantic Rainforest (Coleoptera: Lampyridae)
FIGURES 1–2. Araucariocladus hiems sp. nov.: 1, male dorsal habitus; 2, ventral. Scale bar: 2.0 mm (1–2).
FIGURES 14–20 in A new tropical montane firefly genus and species, active during winter and endemic to the southeastern Atlantic Rainforest (Coleoptera: Lampyridae)
FIGURES 14–20 Araucariocladus hiems sp. nov., prothorax: 14, pronotum dorsal; 15, ventral; 16, frontal; 17, posterior; 18, lateral; 19, prosternum dorsal, 20, ventral. Scale bar: 0.5 mm (14–20).
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