BMC Zoology最新文献

{"title":"Coexisting good neighbours: acoustic and calling microhabitat niche partitioning in two elusive syntopic species of balloon frogs, Uperodon systoma and U. globulosus (Anura: Microhylidae) and potential of individual vocal signatures.","authors":"Vishal Kumar Prasad,&nbsp;Ming-Feng Chuang,&nbsp;Abhijit Das,&nbsp;K Ramesh,&nbsp;Yoonjung Yi,&nbsp;K P Dinesh,&nbsp;Amaël Borzée","doi":"10.1186/s40850-022-00132-x","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s40850-022-00132-x","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Most amphibians use a repertoire of acoustic signals to propagate signals in social contexts. The description of these repertoires provides a key towards the understanding of the behaviour of individuals and the evolutionary functions of calls. Here, we assessed the variations in advertisement calls within and between two fossorial sympatric species, Uperodon systoma and Uperodon globulosus, that share their breeding season and breeding sites. For each species, we applied Beecher's index of total information capacity (H_S) for the individual vocal signature, determined the difference in call properties and demonstrated the segregation in the calling microhabitat niche between the two species.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Our results demonstrated that the advertisement calls of U. systoma are pulsatile with a call rate of 3.00 ± 0.97 calls per second while those of U. globulosus are not pulsatile with a lower call rate of 0.53 ± 0.22 calls per second. For both species, the variations in call properties among individuals was higher than that within individual, a pattern consistent with that of other fossorial anurans. The body condition and air temperature did not significantly impact the call properties of either species. The outcome of the Beecher's index (H_S) showed that the calls of U. systoma can be used to identify 14 different individuals and the calls of U. globulosus can be used to identify 26 different individuals. The statistical analyses on the advertisement call of the two species showed a significant difference in the temporal properties as the call duration, and fall time and rise time were significantly different between the two species. Lastly, we successfully demonstrated that there is a clear segregation in calling site microhabitat between the two species, where U. globulosus calls floating close to the bank of the waterbody while U. systoma calls floating further away from the bank.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>This study highlights the potential for pre-mating isolation, character displacement and assortative mating in two syntopic fossorial anurans, leading to association between acoustic, calling microhabitat niche and body index divergence as important behavioural and ecological traits.</p>","PeriodicalId":48590,"journal":{"name":"BMC Zoology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2022-05-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10127398/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9446625","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Integrative taxonomy on the rare sky-island Ligidium species from southwest China (Isopoda, Oniscidea, Ligiidae).","authors":"Jin Wang,&nbsp;Jingbo Yang,&nbsp;Xuegang Zeng,&nbsp;Weichun Li","doi":"10.1186/s40850-022-00120-1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s40850-022-00120-1","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>The sky-island Ligidium species fauna in southwest China is poorly known. Before this study, six of the seven sky-island species of the genus were known to be endemic to southwest China. In morphology, Ligidium species are often difficult to identify, and an appraisal of integrative taxonomy is needed.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>We integrated morphology and molecular analyses to delimit Ligidium species. Molecular species delimitation based on distance- and evolutionary models recovered seven-candidate lineages from five gene markers (COI, 12S rRNA, 18S rRNA, 28S rRNA and NAK). We also estimated that the species divergences of sky-island Ligidium in southwest China started in late Eocene (40.97 Mya) to middle Miocene (15.19 Mya). Four new species (L. duospinatum Li, sp. nov., L. acuminatum Li, sp. nov., L. rotundum Li, sp. nov. and L. tridentatum Li, sp. nov.) are described. Morphological confusion among L. denticulatum Shen, 1949, L. inerme Nunomura & Xie, 2000 and L. sichuanense Nunomura, 2002 is clarified by integrative taxonomy.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>This work confirms that an integrative approach to Ligidium taxonomy is fundamental for objective classification, and deduced the uplift of Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau in the late Eocene and middle Miocene as one of the principal reasons for the species divergences of sky-island Ligidium in southwest China. We also inferred that sky-island mountains have a huge reserve of higher Ligidium species diversity.</p>","PeriodicalId":48590,"journal":{"name":"BMC Zoology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2022-05-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10127345/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9447070","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Two new species of Dugesia (Platyhelminthes, Tricladida, Dugesiidae) from the subtropical monsoon region in Southern China, with a discussion on reproductive modalities.","authors":"Guang-Wen Chen,&nbsp;Lei Wang,&nbsp;Fan Wu,&nbsp;Xiao-Juan Sun,&nbsp;Zi-Mei Dong,&nbsp;Ronald Sluys,&nbsp;Fei Yu,&nbsp;Yan-Qing Yu-Wen,&nbsp;De-Zeng Liu","doi":"10.1186/s40850-022-00127-8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s40850-022-00127-8","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Freshwater planarians of the genus Dugesia (Platyhelminthes, Tricladida, Dugesiidae) are distributed in a major part of the Old World and Australia, although until recently only very few species were known from China.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Two new species of Dugesia from Southern China are described on the basis of an integrative taxonomic approach. BI and ML phylogenetic trees based on the independent genes and on the concatenated dataset had similar topologies, only differing in some nodes that were weakly supported. Phylogenetic trees based on the concatenated dataset revealed that D. adunca Chen & Sluys, sp. nov. and D. tumida Chen & Sluys, sp. nov. are not closely related and belong to different clades. The two new species occupy separate long branches with high support values and, thus, are well-differentiated from their congeners. Separate species status of D. adunca and D. tumida is supported also by the genetic distances between the species included in our analysis, albeit that COI distances varied greatly among species. Dugesia adunca from Guangxi Province is characterized by the following features: living mature animals rather small; asymmetrical openings of the oviducts into the bursal canal; penis papilla with shape of an aquiline bill, albeit with a blunt tip; asymmetrical penis papilla, with a large antero-dorsal lip and a much smaller ventro-posterior lip; very large seminal vesicle, provided with trabeculae; small diaphragm; mixoploid karyotype with diploid complements of 2n = 2x = 16 and triploid complements of 2n = 3x = 24, with all chromosomes being metacentric. Dugesia tumida from Guangdong Province is characterized by a penis papilla provided with a large, symmetrical penial valve from the middle of which arises the small, distal section of the papilla; a duct intercalated between the seminal vesicle and the small diaphragm; ventrally displaced ejaculatory duct curving upwards before opening to the exterior; penis papilla highly asymmetrical, having a slim and long ventral portion and a short and stubby dorsal part; vasa deferentia separately opening into antero-dorsal portion of seminal vesicle; oviducts openings symmetrically into ventral portion of the bursal canal, near its opening into the atrium; mixoploid karyotype, with diploid chromosome portraits of 2n = 2x = 16, and triploid complements of 2n = 3x = 24, with all chromosomes being metacentric. In the context of the various kinds of mixoploidy and the sexualization of specimens, reproductive modalities within the genus Dugesia are shortly discussed.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Molecular, morphological, and karyological markers show that the two populations examined represent members of the genus Dugesia and constitute two new, distinct species.</p>","PeriodicalId":48590,"journal":{"name":"BMC Zoology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2022-05-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10126995/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9453869","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Mitochondrial gene expression in different organs of Hoplobatrachus rugulosus from China and Thailand under low-temperature stress.","authors":"Wan-Ting Jin,&nbsp;Jia-Yin Guan,&nbsp;Xin-Yi Dai,&nbsp;Gong-Ji Wu,&nbsp;Le-Ping Zhang,&nbsp;Kenneth B Storey,&nbsp;Jia-Yong Zhang,&nbsp;Rong-Quan Zheng,&nbsp;Dan-Na Yu","doi":"10.1186/s40850-022-00128-7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s40850-022-00128-7","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Hoplobatrachus rugulosus (Anura: Dicroglossidae) is distributed in China and Thailand and the former can survive substantially lower temperatures than the latter. The mitochondrial genomes of the two subspecies also differ: Chinese tiger frogs (CT frogs) display two identical ND5 genes whereas Thai tiger frogs (TT frogs) have two different ND5 genes. Metabolism of ectotherms is very sensitive to temperature change and different organs have different demands on energy metabolism at low temperatures. Therefore, we conducted studies to understand: (1) the differences in mitochondrial gene expression of tiger frogs from China (CT frogs) versus Thailand (TT frogs); (2) the differences in mitochondrial gene expression of tiger frogs (CT and TT frogs) under short term 24 h hypothermia exposure at 25 °C and 8 °C; (3) the differences in mitochondrial gene expression in three organs (brain, liver and kidney) of CT and TT frogs.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Utilizing RT-qPCR and comparing control groups at 25 °C with low temperature groups at 8 °C, we came to the following results. (1) At the same temperature, mitochondrial gene expression was significantly different in two subspecies. The transcript levels of two identical ND5 of CT frogs were observed to decrease significantly at low temperatures (P < 0.05) whereas the two different copies of ND5 in TT frogs were not. (2) Under low temperature stress, most of the genes in the brain, liver and kidney were down-regulated (except for COI and ATP6 measured in brain and COI measured in liver of CT frogs). (3) For both CT and TT frogs, the changes in overall pattern of mitochondrial gene expression in different organs under low temperature and normal temperature was brain > liver > kidney.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>We mainly drew the following conclusions: (1) The differences in the structure and expression of the ND5 gene between CT and TT frogs could result in the different tolerances to low temperature stress. (2) At low temperatures, the transcript levels of most of mitochondrial protein-encoding genes were down-regulated, which could have a significant effect in reducing metabolic rate and supporting long term survival at low temperatures. (3) The expression pattern of mitochondrial genes in different organs was related to mitochondrial activity and mtDNA replication in different organs.</p>","PeriodicalId":48590,"journal":{"name":"BMC Zoology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2022-05-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10127437/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9447069","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Chemical and behavioural strategies along the spectrum of host specificity in ant-associated silverfish.","authors":"T Parmentier,&nbsp;M Gaju-Ricart,&nbsp;T Wenseleers,&nbsp;R Molero-Baltanás","doi":"10.1186/s40850-022-00118-9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s40850-022-00118-9","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Host range is a fundamental trait to understand the ecological and evolutionary dynamics of symbionts. Increasing host specificity is expected to be accompanied with specialization in different symbiont traits. We tested this specificity-specialization association in a large group of 16 ant-associated silverfish species by linking their level of host specificity to their degree of behavioural integration into the colony and to their accuracy of chemically imitating the host's recognition system, i.e. the cuticular hydrocarbon (CHC) profile.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>As expected, facultative associates and host generalists (targeting multiple unrelated ants) tend to avoid the host, whereas host-specialists (typically restricted to Messor ants) were bolder, approached the host and allowed inspection. Generalists and host specialists regularly followed a host worker, unlike the other silverfish. Host aggression was extremely high toward non-ant-associated silverfish and modest to low in ant-associated groups. Surprisingly, the degree of chemical deception was not linked to host specificity as most silverfish, including facultative ant associates, imitated the host's CHC profile. Messor specialists retained the same CHC profile as the host after moulting, in contrast to a host generalist, suggesting an active production of the cues (chemical mimicry). Host generalist and facultative associates flexibly copied the highly different CHC profiles of alternative host species, pointing at passive acquisition (chemical camouflage) of the host's odour.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Overall, we found that behaviour that seems to facilitate the integration in the host colony was more pronounced in host specialist silverfish. Chemical deception, however, was employed by all ant-associated species, irrespective of their degree of host specificity.</p>","PeriodicalId":48590,"journal":{"name":"BMC Zoology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2022-05-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10127367/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9453387","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Scat piling and strong frugivory of the Balearic lizard, Podarcis lilfordi (Günther, 1874).","authors":"Ana Pérez-Cembranos,&nbsp;Valentín Pérez-Mellado","doi":"10.1186/s40850-022-00125-w","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s40850-022-00125-w","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>In lacertid lizards from Mediterranean islands, frugivory is common, particularly under prey scarcity, a characteristic of small islands. In several populations, the diet of the Balearic lizard, Podarcis lilfordi, is extremely variable and includes fleshy fruits. However, frugivory is sporadic and there are very few examples of dominant fruit consumption.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>We describe the existence of an extraordinary fruit consumption of a single plant species, the juniper, Juniperus phoenicea, by the Balearic lizard, P. lilfordi. In addition, for the first time in Lacertidae, we describe the existence of scat piling in the population of these lizards inhabiting Cabrera Island (Balearic Islands, Spain). Scat piling was detected in an isolated location with hundreds of scats deposited by several individuals at a particular place.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The high population density of lizards at the island of Cabrera and the great versatility of foraging behavior of this species allows us to hypothesize that scat piles could act as an attractor for numerous individuals, that is, as inadvertent social information. If that hypothesis is correct, it would result in the concentration of several individuals foraging on a single or a few ripening plants. We cannot, however, rule out that individuals concentrated due to the scarcity of ripening plants in other areas, without any influence of the presence of several lizards, as attractors to the site. Our findings modify previous descriptions of the diet of the Balearic lizard in Cabrera made with smaller samples. In some places and periods of the year, frugivory on a single plant species can be extremely intense and only large sample sizes of scats allow to find these particular trends in the foraging ecology of insular lizards.</p>","PeriodicalId":48590,"journal":{"name":"BMC Zoology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2022-05-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10127053/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9452985","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Confirmed presence of aedes (rusticoidus) refiki Medschid, 1928 in a continental dry Mediterranean peri-urban environment in south-central Spain.","authors":"Laia Casades-Martí,&nbsp;Mario Frías,&nbsp;Sarah Delacour,&nbsp;Francisco Ruiz-Fons","doi":"10.1186/s40850-022-00124-x","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s40850-022-00124-x","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>The 'snow-melt mosquito' aedes (rusticoidus) refiki is a rare species with a wide distribution in Europe that is usually defined as an aggressive mosquito for mammals, including humans. During a mosquito survey in a peri-urban area in south-central mainland Spain, adult Ae. refiki females were captured and identified by morphological traits. The presence of this species of mosquito has never been molecularly confirmed under continental dry Mediterranean climatic influence with scarce number of days with snow on soil. The aim of this study was to confirm by amplification and sequencing of mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) and internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) region.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>We also successfully amplified and typed the species molecularly by COI and ITS2 regions. The peri-urban area where Ae. refiki was found contrasts with the reported cold, humid and snowy environments required by the species to breed.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>This finding suggests that the species is already adapted to continental dry Mediterranean environments, questioning whether it is a truly stenotopic species of cold snowy environments.</p>","PeriodicalId":48590,"journal":{"name":"BMC Zoology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2022-04-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10126999/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9453390","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Terrestrial medium and large-sized mammalian species diversity in Michole Community Protected Forest, southern Ethiopia.","authors":"Amanuel Agebo,&nbsp;Wondimagegnehu Tekalign","doi":"10.1186/s40850-022-00121-0","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s40850-022-00121-0","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The study on medium and large-sized mammalian species' diversity and distribution is important for conservation efforts in the different protected areas of Ethiopia. The present study was intended to investigate the species diversity of medium and large-sized mammalian fauna between October 2019 and July 2020 in Michole Community Protected Forest, southern Ethiopia. The study was conducted by stratification of the study area into three habitat types: riverine forest (3.37 km²), woodland (4.14 km²), and grassland with scattered trees (2.33 km²) based on the vegetation cover. A diurnal transect survey method was implemented to record the mammalian species diversity. A total of 18 representative sample transect lines (six in riverine forest, four in grassland with scattered trees, and eight in woodland habitats) that varied in length and width were used. A total of 17 species of medium and large-sized mammalian species were identified and recorded in the study area. As a result, the orders Carnivora and Primates have the greatest abundance, while the order Lagomorpha has the least. Anubis baboon (Papio anubis) was the most abundant species (15.14%), followed by Spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta) (12.98%), Crested porcupine (Hystrix cristata) (12.51%), Vervet monkey (Chlorocebus aethiops) (10.35%), Common duiker (Sylvicapra grimmia) (8.80%), and Giant root-rat (Tachyoryctes macrocephalus) (8.65%). The distributions of mammals among the three habitat types were comparable. The riverine forest harbored the highest mammalian diversity index (H' = 2.35) followed by the woodland (H' = 2.32), and the grassland with scattered trees (H' = 2.30), respectively. The greatest species similarity was recorded in woodland (0.902). The study area harbors considerable mammalian species that are threatened by interacting anthropogenic factors. So, urgent conservation measures by concerned sectors are needed to safeguard these animals and their habitat.</p>","PeriodicalId":48590,"journal":{"name":"BMC Zoology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2022-04-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10127012/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9447074","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Cold exposure prevents fat accumulation in striped hamsters refed a high-fat diet following food restriction.","authors":"Da-Liang Huo,&nbsp;Meng-Huan Bao,&nbsp;Jing Cao,&nbsp;Zhi-Jun Zhao","doi":"10.1186/s40850-022-00122-z","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s40850-022-00122-z","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>In mammals, body mass lost during food restriction is often rapidly regained, and fat is accumulated when ad libitum feeding is resumed. Studies in small cold-acclimated mammals have demonstrated significant mobilization of fat deposits during cold exposure to meet the energy requirements of metabolic thermogenesis. However, no studies to our knowledge have examined the effect of cold exposure on fat accumulation during body mass recovery when refed ad libitum. In this study, striped hamsters restricted to 80% of their regular food intake were then refed ad libitum and exposed to one of three conditions: Intermittent cold temperature (5 °C) for 2 h per day (ICE-2 h/d), intermittent cold temperature (5 °C) for 12 h per day (ICE-12 h/d), or persistent cold exposure (PCE) for four weeks. We measured energy intake, fat deposit mass, serum thyroid hormone levels, and uncoupling protein 1 expression in brown adipose tissue.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>There was no significant effect of intermittent or persistent cold exposure on body mass regain, whereas energy intake increased significantly and total fat deposit decreased in the ICE-12 h/d and PCE groups compared to the ICE-2 h/d group and control group maintained at 23 °C (CON). In the ICE-12 h/d and PCE groups, hamsters had 39.6 and 38.3% higher serum 3,3',5-triiodothyronine levels, respectively, and 81.6 and 71.3% up-regulated expression of uncoupling protein 1, respectively, in brown adipose tissue compared to their counterparts in the CON group. The rate of mitochondrial state III and state IV respiration O₂ consumption and the activity of cytochrome c oxidase in BAT and liver were significantly higher in the ICE-12 h/d and PCE groups than in the ICE-2 h/d and CON groups.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Our findings suggest thyroid hormone-mediated heat production in brown adipose tissue and liver may be involved in preventing fat accumulation during refeeding in animals frequently or persistently exposed to cold conditions.</p>","PeriodicalId":48590,"journal":{"name":"BMC Zoology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2022-04-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10127302/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9508181","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"One or two pups - optimal reproduction strategies of common noctule females.","authors":"Katerina Zukalova,&nbsp;Veronika Seidlova,&nbsp;Vladimir Piacek,&nbsp;Monika Nemcova,&nbsp;Michal Pribyl,&nbsp;Jiri Pikula,&nbsp;Jan Zukal","doi":"10.1186/s40850-022-00119-8","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s40850-022-00119-8","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>The success of animal reproduction is impacted by a trade-off between energetic costs and mortality associated with immediate vs. future reproductive attempts. The reproductive strategies of European insectivorous bats differ from common mammalian standards due to the use of delayed fertilisation. Phenology of bat reproduction, including length of pregnancy, which may vary in the same species at different latitudes, between years at the same site or between individuals within a colony, is influenced by ecological conditions. To assess factors influencing the course of pregnancy, we evaluated levels of blood progesterone in 20 female common noctule bats Nyctalus noctula. The bats were individually tagged and randomly divided into two groups with different hibernation ending points (i.e. a control group vs. a treatment group with one-week longer hibernation). Following emergence from hibernation, the bats were kept in a wooden box at a stable temperature of 22 °C.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The majority of females gave birth to a single neonate (65%), but one female aborted her pups 2 days before the first successful births of other females. Based on development of progesterone concentration, we were able to define a number of different reproduction strategies, i.e. females with single offspring or twins, and females with supposed resorption of one embryo (embryonic mortality after implantation of the developing fertilised egg). Progesterone levels were much higher in females with two embryos during the first part of gestation and after birth. Progesterone levels were at their highest mid-gestation, with no difference between females carrying one or two foetuses. Length of gestation differed significantly between the two groups, with the longer hibernation (treatment) group having a roughly two-day shorter gestation period.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Female N. noctula are able to manipulate their litter size to balance immediate and future reproduction success. The estimated gestation length of approx. 49-days appears to be standard for N. noctula, with females optimising their thermoregulatory behaviour to keep the length of gestation as close to the standard as possible.</p>","PeriodicalId":48590,"journal":{"name":"BMC Zoology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2022-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10127298/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10296927","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}