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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Quantifying Species Traits Related To Oviposition Behavior And Offspring Survival In Two Important Disease Vectors, Donald A. Yee, William C. Glasgow, Nnaemeka F. Ezeakacha Sep 2020

Quantifying Species Traits Related To Oviposition Behavior And Offspring Survival In Two Important Disease Vectors, Donald A. Yee, William C. Glasgow, Nnaemeka F. Ezeakacha

Faculty Publications

Animals with complex life cycles have traits related to oviposition and juvenile survival that can respond to environmental factors in similar or dissimilar ways. We examined the preference-performance hypothesis (PPH), which states that females lacking parental care select juvenile habitats that maximize fitness, for two ubiquitous mosquito species, Aedes albopictus and Culex quinquefasciatus. Specifically, we examined if environmental factors known to affect larval abundance patterns in the field played a role in the PPH for these species. We first identified important environmental factors from a field survey that predicted larvae across different spatial scales. We then performed two experiments, …


Why Does It Take Two To Tango? Lifetime Fitness Consequences Of Parental Care In A Burying Beetle, Ashlee N. Smith, J. Curtis Creighton, Mark C. Belk Oct 2017

Why Does It Take Two To Tango? Lifetime Fitness Consequences Of Parental Care In A Burying Beetle, Ashlee N. Smith, J. Curtis Creighton, Mark C. Belk

Faculty Publications

In species that require parental care, each parent can either care for their offspring or leave them in the care of the other parent. For each parent this creates three possible parental care strategies: biparental care, uniparental (male or female) care, and uniparental desertion by either the male or female. The burying beetle, Nicrophorus orbicollis, typically exhibits biparental care of offspring, and thus provides a unique system that allows us to compare the fitness benefits of these parental care strategies in an unconfounded way. In this study, we assess the lifetime fitness of biparental care, uniparental care, and uniparental …


Viability Costs Of Reproduction And Behavioral Compensation In Western Mosquitofish (Gambusia Affinis), Clinton T. Laidlaw, Jacob M. Condon, Mark C. Belk Nov 2014

Viability Costs Of Reproduction And Behavioral Compensation In Western Mosquitofish (Gambusia Affinis), Clinton T. Laidlaw, Jacob M. Condon, Mark C. Belk

Faculty Publications

The cost of reproduction hypothesis suggests that current reproduction has inherent tradeoffs with future reproduction. These tradeoffs can be both in the form of energy allocated to current offspring as opposed to somatic maintenance and future reproduction (allocation costs), or as an increase in mortality as a result of morphological or physiological changes related to reproduction (viability costs). Individuals may be able to decrease viability costs by altering behavior. Female western mosquitofish, Gambusia affinis experience a reduction in swimming ability as a consequence of pregnancy. We test for a viability cost of reproduction, and for behavioral compensation in pregnant female …


Inter-And Intraspecific Interaction Rates Of Three Species Of Lemurs (Subfamily Lemurinae) In An Enclosure At The Memphis Zoo And Aquarium, Stephen J. Mullin Jan 1998

Inter-And Intraspecific Interaction Rates Of Three Species Of Lemurs (Subfamily Lemurinae) In An Enclosure At The Memphis Zoo And Aquarium, Stephen J. Mullin

Faculty Publications

The use of mixed-species exhibits in zoological parks may influence the types and rates of interactions between individuals housed in such enclosures. Inter-and intraspecific behavioral interactions were observed for three species of lemurs (ring-tailed lemur, Lemur catta; black lemur, Eulemur macaco macaco; and black-and-white ruffed leumur, Varecia variegata variegata; in an enclosure designed to simulate characteristics of their natural habitat. Intraspecific interactions occurred more frequently than interspecific interactions, and little aggression was observed, either between or within species. Intraspecific interactions among black lemurs increased with decreasing ambient temperature. Black lemurs performed more intraspecific mutual contacts than either agonistic behaviors or …