Evolutionary Perspective | SilverScorpio.Com

Study on sheep shows link between personality, survival, and reproductive success

September 17, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, September 16 (ANI): Canadian researchers have established a link between personality, survival, and reproductive success by carrying out a study on male bighorn sheep.

Denis Reale, a professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at UQAM and Canada Research Chair in Behavioural Ecology, says that the new study offers insight into personality differences in animals and humans, from an evolutionary perspective.

Since 1969, several teams of researchers have been studying this population of bighorn sheep in Alberta, Canada. They have collected considerable data over the years.

Working in collaboration with researchers from the University of Sherbrooke and the University of Alberta, Reale identified the rams in terms of boldness and docility.

The researchers then conducted paternity tests to determine which rams were reproducing.

They point out that in a system like that of bighorn sheep where there is strong competition among the males for impregnating females, large size and high dominance status are normally key factors in a male’s success.

Males usually attain these conditions in the prime of life, between 6 and 12 years, the researchers say.

However, the paternity tests showed that some young males manage to fertilize females.

The researchers also concentrated on the risk associated with participation in the rut-males can be injured or fall from a cliff in fighting.

Reale and his colleagues hypothesized that the young males that manage to reproduce would be the boldest and most combative, and analysis of the data confirmed it.

However, in exchange for sexual precocity and risk-taking, these rams often die younger than their more docile peers. The latter, instead, invest in the long term, breed later and reach an older age.

Based on their observations, the researchers came to the conclusion that their findings indicate a variation in the personalities and life histories of the population, with two extreme types: one that could be characterised as “live fast and die” and the other as “slow and steady wins the race”.

Depending on their personality, the males managed to breed and to transmit their genes, but in different ways.

The study demonstrates that personality has a direct influence on the lifestyle of individuals.

A research article describing the study has been published in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology. (ANI)

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A baby picture can guide your lost wallet back to your pocket

July 11, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, July 11 (ANI): Want to make sure that your wallet gets returned, in case you lose it by any chance? Well, then obtain a photograph of the cutest baby you can find, and ensure that it is prominently displayed in your wallet, according to a study.

Psychologists have found that if people find a wallet on the street, they are more likely to post it back if it has a picture of a baby.hey say that the answer behind such a tendency depends rather more on evolution than morality.

For their study, the psychologists had planted hundreds of wallets on the streets of Edinburgh by last year.

But surprisingly, nearly half of the 240 wallets were posted back.

Psychologist Richard Wiseman and his team inserted one of four photographs behind a clear plastic window inside, showing either a smiling baby, a cute puppy, a happy family or a contented elderly couple.

Some wallets had no image, and some had charity papers inside.

It was found that people were far more likely to send the wallet back is they faced with the photograph of the baby.

In fact, only one in ten were hard-hearted enough not to do so.

However, just one in seven of wallets without any picture were sent back.

Wiseman said that the result reflect a compassionate instinct towards vulnerable infants that people have evolved to ensure the survival of future generations.

“The baby kicked off a caring feeling in people, which is not surprising from an evolutionary perspective,” Times Online quoted him as saying.

Overall, 42 per cent of the wallets were posted back – more than the team had anticipated.

“We were amazed by the high percentage of wallets that came back,” said Wiseman.

He added: “If you want to increase the chances of your wallet being returned if lost, obtain a photograph of the cutest baby you can find, and ensure that it is prominently displayed.” (ANI)

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A thirst for blood sparks toxic algal blooms

July 1, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, July 1 (ANI): Scientists at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden have suggested that toxic algal blooms are created when aggressive algae kill and injure their competitors in order to absorb the nutrients they contain.

“The behaviour of the algae can be compared to that of blood-sucking insects,” said Per Jonsson of the Department of Marine Ecology.

The blooming of toxic algae in the oceans and lakes is a familiar health risk and causes problems every summer, leading to increased costs for water cleaning, water consumption and the tourist industry.

Scientists still do not know why algal blooms arise, and what it is that causes certain species of microalgae to multiply and form dense blooms.

Scientists within the research platform MARICE (Marine Chemical Ecology) at the Faculty of Science, the University of Gothenburg, present a new possible explanation of why algal blooms arise in a study.

Current theory postulates that the algae produce toxins not only in order to inhibit the growth of competing species, but also to protect themselves from predators.

The strategy of inhibiting competitors, however, is difficult to explain from an evolutionary perspective.

The turbulent ocean surface means, quite simply, that it is difficult for one algal species to obtain exclusive rights on the effect of a toxin that inhibits competitors.

The production of the toxin must be explained by other factors.

Marine ecologist Per Jonsson and his colleagues suggest that the inhibition of competitors that previous research had found is only a side-effect of a considerably more aggressive behaviour: toxic algae injure or kill competing algae in order to gain access to the nutrients in their cells.

“The way the algae absorb food is similar to that of blood-sucking insects, such as mosquitoes. Our study shows that this theft of nutrients may be an important mechanism in the formation of blooms of toxic plankton,” said Per Jonsson.

“The results will lead to several further experimental studies, and we hope that these will eventually contribute to solving the mystery of how algal blooms arise,” he added. (ANI)

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Blame your asymmetrical ears for being a dud at dancing

April 11, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, Apr 11 (ANI): Got two left feet? Well, then instead of wasting money on dance classes, try to spend a few minutes measuring your ears, suggest researchers.

Researchers in Edinburgh have embarked upon a mass experiment which will be see both good and bad dancers. They have been invited to show off their skills before having their ears also subjected to scrutiny.

The study’s motive is to test the theory that the more symmetrical you are, the more likely you are to be a hit on the dance floor.

“We will be finding the best and worst dancers in the room and finding out how symmetrical their bodies are. Good dancers tend to be quite physically symmetrical – if you measure their ears they tend to be about the same size,” The Scotsman quoted researcher Professor Richard Wiseman, as saying.

The reasons behind the link between symmetry, dancing and attractiveness are complex. Symmetrical features, such as equally sized ears and eyes, are generally thought to be linked to genetic quality.

Previous studies suggest highly symmetrical people are generally rated as more attractive.

According to Wiseman, in evolutionary terms, attractiveness was a sign of a good genetic background, meaning someone was likely to produce the best and healthiest offspring.

“One theory about dance is that it is a kind of display of sexual fitness. It’s a way of saying to people we’re fit, we’ve got a good sense of rhythm.

“You expect good dancers to be displaying their fitness and people who are good bets from an evolutionary perspective are those who are quite symmetrical in terms of facial attraction,” he said.

For the study at the Edinburgh Science Festival event, good dancers will be asked to put themselves forward for a dance-off to find the five best among them. The five worst dancers, Wiseman said, would be easier to spot.

Then the ear measuring will commence. Wiseman said researchers suspected the best dancers would have the most symmetrical ears, while the worst dancers would be less equal – though there may only be a few millimetres difference.

“Pretty much every society dances and a lot of the time those dances are about attracting mates,” he added.(ANI)

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Social support during breast-feeding helps humans reproduce more

February 15, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Feb 15 (ANI): A new study has suggested that the fact that human mothers have support from family while they’re breast-feeding may be a key strategy that enables humans to reproduce more rapidly than other primates.

According to the study, social support helps mothers conserve energy in a way that allows their bodies to prepare for their next pregnancy.

“Humans out-produce other primates. So we are examining to what degree this is related to our cultural flexibility,” said Barbara Piperata, assistant professor of anthropology at Ohio State University and principal investigator of the research.

Breast milk production places huge energy demands on women’s bodies – an estimated 30 percent increase.

But humans have multiple ways to offset those demands that involve more than just eating more or doing less.

Some studies have suggested the human body becomes more metabolically efficient during lactation, requiring less energy or less oxygen to complete physical tasks.

And new human mothers also tend to have other humans around to share the work burden.

However, nonhuman primates that have similar energy demands while breast-feeding single, slow-growing offspring, don’t have that same flexibility.

As a result, their reproductive rates are relatively low, averaging a new birth every four to seven years.

“We know that negative energy balance on the body lowers a female’s ability to get pregnant. If humans mediate that, have social support, and are able to maintain or even achieve a positive energy balance, they can get pregnant faster. From an evolutionary perspective and fitness, that’s important,” Piperata said.

The study was described during the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Chicago. (ANI)

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Scientists chart sequence of 99 cold virus strains

February 13, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Feb 13 (ANI): In a rather massive feat, scientists have reported the sequences for all of the 99 known strains of cold virus.

Unravelling the code of nature’s most ubiquitous human pathogen, the researchers have exposed in precise detail, all of the molecular features of the many variations of the virus responsible for the common cold.

The team-consisting of experts from the University of Maryland School of Medicine, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the J. Craig Venter Institute-conducted the study to unravel the code for the inescapable ailment that makes us all sneeze, cough and sniffle with regularity.

The study to sequence and analyse the cold virus genomes lays a foundation for understanding the virus, its evolution and three-dimensional structure.

And most importantly, the work will expose the vulnerabilities that could lead to the first effective cold remedies.

“We’ve had bits and pieces of these things for a long time. Now, we have the full genome sequences and we can put them into evolutionary perspective,” said Ann Palmenberg, the lead author of the new study.

She added: “We know a lot about the common cold virus. But we didn’t know how their genomes encoded all that information. Now we do, and all kinds of new things are falling out.”

The genetic sequence of pathogens, such as viruses, can be used to help predict the potential virulence of new emerging agents of disease. A sequenced genome can also show an organism’s vulnerabilities.

In the case of the cold virus, the sequenced genomes can show which receptors on cells the viruses bind to, information that can be used to design drugs that could potentially help prevent or mediate infection as viruses require access to host cells to do their dirty work and make new viruses.

“This gives us the molecular basis for drug activity. We can predict which drugs can take them out,” said Palmenberg.

Stephen B. Liggett, the new study’s senior author said that the new sequences may help science understand the etiology of asthma as recent studies suggest rhinovirus infection in children can reprogram the immune system to develop asthma by adolescence.

Palmenberg said that the newly sequenced viruses also show why it is unlikely that they will ever have an effective, all-purpose cold vaccine.

She said that the existing reservoir of viruses worldwide is huge and, according to the new study, they have a tendency to swap genetic sequences when more than one virus infects the cells-a phenomenon that can lead to new virus strains and clinical manifestations.

“Having sequenced the complete genomes of these things we now know you can be infected by more than one virus at a time and that they can recombine (their genes). That’s why we’ll never have a vaccine for the common cold.

Nature is very efficient at putting different kinds of paint on the viruses,” explained Palmenberg.

With cold virus sequences in hand, as well as some idea of how they exchange genetic information, it may be possible to predict the pathogenic potential of a virus and devise antiviral agents to thwart infection.

The study has been published in the journal Science. (ANI)

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