Life Sciences Commons^™

Extreme Environments Select For Reproductive Assurance: Evidence From Evening Primroses (Oenothera), Margaret Evans, David Hearn, Kathryn Theiss, Karen Cranston, Kent Holsinger, Michael Donoghue

Kent E Holsinger

• Competing evolutionary forces shape plant breeding systems (e.g. inbreeding depression, reproductive assurance). Which of these forces prevails in a given population or species is predicted to depend upon such factors as life history, eco- logical conditions, and geographical context. Here, we examined two such predictions: that self-compatibility should be associated with the annual life history or extreme climatic conditions.

• We analyzed data from a clade of plants remarkable for variation in breeding system, life history and climatic conditions (Oenothera, sections Anogra and Kleinia, Onagraceae). We used a phylogenetic comparative approach and Bayesian or hybrid Bayesian tests to account …

Nonylphenol Stimulates Fecundity But Not Population Growth Rate (Λ) Of Folsomia Candida, T. Widarto, P. Krogh, Valery Forbes

Valery E Forbes

The toxicity of nonylphenol (NP) to springtails was pronounced at 40 mg/kg dry weight soil, at which no animals survived. Body length and fecundity were the individual life-history traits significantly stimulated by sublethal concentrations of NP during a 64-day experiment. However, the effects of NP on these traits did not result in a statistically significant increase in population growth rate (λ). Decomposition analysis indicated that fecundity was the main contributor to the (non-significant) changes observed in λ. However, since the elasticity of fecundity was very low, large changes in fecundity resulted in a minimal effect on λ. Juvenile survival had …