The effects of eutrophication on alternative reproductive tactics in threespine sticklebacks

When organisms compete for mates and fertilisations, the process of sexual selection drives the evolution of traits that increase reproductive success. The traits targeted by selection, and the extent to which they change, are constrained by the local environment. Sexual selection due to female mate choice can be undermined by alternative reproductive tactics (ARTs), which refers to discontinuous variation in traits or behaviours used in reproduction. As human activities are rapidly changing our planet, this raises the question how ARTs will be affected. Fish show a bewildering diversity of ARTs, which make them good model organisms to answer these questions. One example of human-induced environmental change, which is affecting aquatic ecosystems around the world, is eutrophication, the over-enrichment of water bodies with nutrients. One of its effects is decreased underwater visibility due to increases in both turbidity and vegetation density. The aims of this thesis were to investigate the effects increased turbidity and vegetation density have on an ART in sticklebacks, a fish common to marine and fresh water bodies of the Northern hemisphere. I furthermore investigated how this affected sexual selection for male size, a trait commonly under selection. I used a combination of behavioural observations in microcosms, where I manipulated underwater visibility, with collection of genetic material to reconstruct parentage of broods, and thus identify sneak fertilisations. The results show that turbidity might have weak negative effects on the frequency of sneaking behaviour, although this behaviour was rather infrequent in these experiments, which complicates firm conclusions. In dense vegetation the number of sneak fertilisations decreased slightly, as fewer nesting males sneaked, while the number of non-nesting males sneaking remained constant. The paternity analyses revealed that a significantly smaller fraction of eggs was sneak fertilised under dense vegetation. Furthermore, amongst the nesting males that sneaked, the amount of eggs sneak fertilised correlated positively with courtship success. A reduction in sneaking by these males under dense vegetation equalised the distribution of fertilisation success, in turn contributing to a decrease in the opportunity for selection. Under dense vegetation significantly more males built nests, which has also been observed in previous field studies. In a separate experiment we addressed if such changes in the proportion of nesters and non-nesters, without changes in visibility, affected the incidence of sneak fertilisation. My results show this was not the case, likely because sneaking is an opportunistic tactic shown by both nesters and non-nesters. Non-nesters did sneak proportionately more when there were many of them, which could be due to changes in the cost-benefit ratio of sneaking. As nesters can only attack one intruder at a time, the costs and risks per sneaker will decrease as the number of sneakers increases. The defensive behaviours shown by the nesters before spawning shifted to a more aggressive form of nest defence. This could be because less aggressive behaviours lose their effectiveness when the number of intruders increases. It could also indicate that the risks associated with aggressive behaviours decrease when there are fewer fellow nesters, as other studies indicate nesters are competitive and aggressive individuals. Under turbid conditions I did not detect changes in the opportunity for selection, based on fertilisation success, nor was male size under significant selection under clear or turbid conditions. More thorough analyses under densely vegetated conditions across the nesting, courtship and fertilisation stages revealed a decrease in the opportunity for selection across all stages. A reduction in sneaking by nesters contributed to this. During the nesting stage, but not during later stages, body size was under significant directional selection under sparse, but not dense vegetation. This illustrates the importance of considering all selection stages to get a complete picture of how environmental changes affect sexual selection. Leaving out certain stages or subgroups can result in incomplete or misleading results.

Dynamics of capacitively coupled double quantum dots

We consider a double dot system of equivalent, capacitively coupled semiconducting quantum dots, each coupled to its own lead, in a regime where there are two electrons on the double dot. Employing the numerical renormalization group, we focus here on single-particle dynamics and the zero-bias conductance, considering in particular the rich range of behaviour arising as the interdot coupling is progressively increased through the strong-coupling (SC) phase, from the spin-Kondo regime, across the SU(4) point to the charge-Kondo regime, and then towards and through the quantum phase transition to a charge-ordered ( CO) phase. We first consider the two-self-energy description required to describe the broken symmetry CO phase, and implications thereof for the non-Fermi liquid nature of this phase. Numerical results for single-particle dynamics on all frequency scales are then considered, with particular emphasis on universality and scaling of low-energy dynamics throughout the SC phase. The role of symmetry breaking perturbations is also briefly discussed.

Guanidine catalyzed aerobic reduction: a selective aerobic hydrogenation of olefins using aqueous hydrazine

An efficient aerobic reduction of olefins, internal as well as terminal, is developed using guanidine as an organocatalyst. A remarkable chemoselectivity in reduction has been demonstrated in the presence of a variety of functional groups and protective groups and a selective reduction of a terminal olefin in the presence of an internal olefin is revealed.

Theory of local mode excitation in polyatomics by frequency-modulated lasers

that the Stokes-interaction relation is reasonable qualitatively but not correct

Mecánica de la partícula

Duración (en horas): De 41 a 50 horas. Nivel educativo: Grado

Política Nacional de Saúde Bucal:uma análise da reorganização da atenção à saúde bucal no Estado do Rio de Janeiro frente aos incentivos federais

Esta dissertação foca o processo de reorganização das ações e serviços de saúde bucal no estado do Rio de Janeiro. Este processo, em tese, deve ser orientado pelas diretrizes da Política Nacional de Saúde Bucal (PNSB) que priorizam a atenção básica em saúde bucal através da Estratégia Saúde da Família e ampliam a atenção em saúde bucal na média e alta complexidades. O Ministério da Saúde lança mão de incentivos financeiros para induzir, sob condições específicas, a adesão às diretrizes formuladas pela Política Nacional de Saúde Bucal (PNSB) e assim promover um processo de reorganização da atenção à saúde bucal nas esferas subnacionais. O núcleo deste trabalho tem por base uma pesquisa que analisa um amplo espectro de dados sobre os serviços e as ações de saúde bucal realizadas pelo conjunto dos municípios do estado do Rio de Janeiro no período de janeiro de 1998 a dezembro de 2007. As principais conclusões da pesquisa apontam para o caráter inconcluso do processo de reorganização da atenção em saúde bucal na grande maioria dos municípios estudados e para a necessidade de uma ação conjunta entre as autoridades sanitárias das esferas federal, estadual e municipal orientada para promover uma efetiva melhoria das condições de saúde da população tal como é a proposta da PNSB.

岷江上游景观边界网络格局研究及生态效应分析

景观边界是特定时空尺度下相对均质的景观之间所存在的异质性过渡带，作为景观的一个四维组分，边界动态直接反映景观变化，与基于斑块的研究相比，明确景观边界的生态意义是理解景观过程的一个新的切入点。边界效应是景观边界最显著特征之一，也是当前生态学领域的研究热点，但大部分研究集中在生态系统及其以下尺度，对大尺度上的研究涉及内容尚少。 本文以岷江上游地区为例，利用TM影像数据、林相图、土地利用图和野外实测数据，应用RS、GIS、SPSS、Fragstats等软件的数据处理、分析、运算功能，研究了景观边界网络格局的变化，并分析了与之相关的生态过程；研究了类型水平上森林景观的边界效应以及景观尺度上林农复合景观的边界网络效应。旨在揭示岷江上游景观格局的变化趋势及其驱动因子，以及林农复合景观格局的生态效应，从而为研究区土地利用提供科学参考。研究结果如下： （一）在岷江上游地区的13种景观边界类型中，建筑用地边界和农田边界是人工边界，同时也都是清晰边界；但林地、灌木林地、草地等自然景观之间的边界并不都是模糊边界。冰雪边界是典型的随季节变化的变动型边界，其它边界在年内的变化则相对稳定。 （二）在1974-2000年期间，由于人为干扰强度的加剧，岷江上游景观边界网络结构变得更加复杂，在早期以边界长度增加为主，网络连接度变大，在后期以边界数量和结点数量增加为主，网络连接度变小；森林景观与低坡位景观类型间的边界减少，森林下线上移；农田与林地的边界在早期增加，1986年后减少，而与灌木林地的边界持续增加；基于边界特征的格局分析表明，森林景观结构变得简单化，而农田、灌木林地、草地等景观类型的结构变得更加复杂。 在景观水平上，基于边界和结点特征的格局指数与对应的基于斑块特征的格局指数具有基本一致的变化趋势，但基于边界和结点特征的指数对格局的变化更灵敏，在类型水平上，基于结点的格局指数比基于边界的格局指数具有更大的灵敏性，而且前者能够反映出后者反映不出的格局信息。 （三）研究区的农田边界共有5种类型，分别是农田与林地、灌木林地、草地、水体、建筑用地之间的边界，总长6583.4km；其中林农边界长2473.7km，占37.6%，是除灌农边界（占农田边界总长度的44.9%）之外比例最大的农田边界类型，广泛分布在岷江干流及其支流的河谷中，海拔多在1000-3500m之间。 （1）多元线性回归分析结果表明，农田生物量的边界效应深度与海拔和坡度显著相关，与其它因子相关性不大；林地生物量的边界效应深度与海拔和坡向相关性较大，与其它因子相关性不大；林农边界对农田生物量产生正面效应，对林地生物量产生负面效应，且对农田的影响面积大于对林地的影响面积；根据回归方程计算边界效应的影响面积，2000年有14532hm2林地生物量受到林农边界网络的影响，占研究区林地面积的1.2%，有16659 hm2农田生物量受到林农边界网络的影响，占研究区农田面积的22.6%，由于边界位置、长度的变化，不同年间林农边界网络的生态效应也存在差异。 除了生物量，本文还研究了林农边界网络对林地和农田土壤水分和生物多样性的影响： （2）林农边界减少林地和农田边缘的土壤水分，岷江上游有2103 hm2农田和371 hm2林地其土壤水分受到林农边界效应的影响，分别占研究区农田面积的2.3%和林地面积的0.03%。生物多样性受林农边界网络影响的农田面积为4855 hm2，占研究区农田面积的5.37%；生物多样性受林农边界网络影响的林地面积为3401 hm2，占研究区林地面积的0.29%。 上述研究从景观边界网络的角度揭示了岷江上游近三十年的景观变化特征，在印证斑块类型所反映的景观变化特征的同时，还反映出传统格局研究方法反映不出的格局信息，为景观生态学中格局与过程研究提供了新思路，也丰富了边界效应的理论和案例研究，有关结论还可为高山峡谷区土地利用格局优化和实施退耕还林还草工程提供参考依据。