Publications
| Title | Abstract | Year Filter | PMID(sorted descending) Filter |
|---|
| atypical creutzfeldt-jakob disease with prp-amyloid plaques in white matter: molecular characterization and transmission to bank voles show the m1 strain signature. | amyloid plaques formed by abnormal prion protein (prpsc) aggregates occur with low frequency in creutzfeldt-jakob disease, but represent a pathological hallmark of three relatively rare disease histotypes, namely variant cjd, sporadic cjdmv2k (methionine/valine at prnp codon 129, prpsc type 2 and kuru-type amyloid plaques) and iatrogenic cjdmmik (mm at codon 129, prpsc of intermediate type and kuru plaques). according to recent studies, however, prp-amyloid plaques involving the subcortical and ... | 2017 | 29169405 |
| elevated mitochondrial genome variation after 50 generations of radiation exposure in a wild rodent. | currently, the effects of chronic, continuous low dose environmental irradiation on the mitochondrial genome of resident small mammals are unknown. using the bank vole (myodes glareolus) as a model system, we tested the hypothesis that approximately 50 generations of exposure to the chernobyl environment has significantly altered genetic diversity of the mitochondrial genome. using deep sequencing, we compared mitochondrial genomes from 131 individuals from reference sites with radioactive conta ... | 2017 | 29151870 |
| genetic characterization of bank vole virus (bavv), a new paramyxovirus isolated from kidneys of bank voles in russia. | a genome of bank vole virus (bavv), isolated from kidney tissues of bank voles (myodes glareolus) in russia in 1973, was sequenced. the genomic organization of bavv (3'-n-p/v/c-m-f-g-l-5', 16,992 nt in length; genbank accession number mf943130) is most similar to that of mossman virus (mov) and nariva virus (narpv), two ungrouped paramyxoviruses isolated from rodents in australia and trinidad, respectively. the proteins of bavv have the highest level of sequence identity (ranging from 23-28% for ... | 2017 | 29129019 |
| seasonal shift of diet in bank voles explains trophic fate of anthropogenic osmium? | diet shifts are common in mammals and birds, but little is known about how such shifts along the food web affect contaminant exposure. voles are staple food for many mammalian and avian predators. there is therefore a risk of transfer of contaminants accumulated in voles within the food chain. osmium is one of the rarest earth elements with osmium tetroxide (oso4) as the most toxic vapor-phase airborne contaminant. anthropogenic oso4 accumulates in fruticose lichens that are important winter foo ... | 2017 | 29079088 |
| the molecular identification of calodium hepaticum in the wild brown rat (rattus norvegicus) in poland. | calodium hepaticum is a parasitic nematode found primarily in rodents but known to infect numerous other mammal species, and causing in humans the hepatic calodiasis. herein, we present the first finding of c. hepaticum in rattus norvegicus in poland. in this study, we have used the combined pepsin-hcl digestion and molecular techniques to detect c. hepaticum infection in the liver. the results confirm the usefulness of molecular approaches for investigating the biology and epidemiology of c. he ... | 2017 | 29035861 |
| acute hantavirus infection presenting as haemolytic-uraemic syndrome (hus): the importance of early clinical diagnosis. | the european prototype of hantavirus, puumala virus (puuv), isolated from a common wild rodent, the bank vole (myodes glareolus), causes nephropathia epidemica (ne). ne can perfectly mimic haemolytic-uraemic syndrome (hus), progressing from an aspecific flu-like syndrome to acute kidney injury with thrombocytopaenia, and presenting with some signs of haemolytic anaemia and/or coagulopathy. moreover, both ne and hus can occur in local outbreaks. we report an isolated case of ne, initially referre ... | 2018 | 28986730 |
| soluble polymorphic bank vole prion proteins induced by co-expression of quiescin sulfhydryl oxidase in e. coli and their aggregation behaviors. | the infectious prion protein (prpsc or prion) is derived from its cellular form (prpc) through a conformational transition in animal and human prion diseases. studies have shown that the interspecies conversion of prpc to prpsc is largely swayed by species barriers, which is mainly deciphered by the sequence and conformation of the proteins among species. however, the bank vole prpc (bvprp) is highly susceptible to prpsc from different species. transgenic mice expressing bvprp with the polymorph ... | 2017 | 28978309 |
| diversity and prevalence of bartonella species in small mammals from slovakia, central europe. | wild-living rodents are important hosts for zoonotic pathogens. bartonella infections are widespread in rodents; however, in slovakia, knowledge on the prevalence of these bacteria in small mammals is limited. we investigated the prevalence and diversity of bartonella species in the spleens of 640 rodents of six species (apodemus flavicollis, apodemus sylvaticus, myodes glareolus, microtus arvalis, microtus subterraneus, and micromys minutus) and in the european mole (talpa europaea) from three ... | 2017 | 28975409 |
| asparagine and glutamine ladders promote cross-species prion conversion. | prion transmission between species is governed in part by primary sequence similarity between the infectious prion aggregate, prpsc, and the cellular prion protein of the host, prpc a puzzling feature of prion formation is that certain prpc sequences, such as that of bank vole, can be converted by a remarkably broad array of different mammalian prions, whereas others, such as rabbit, show robust resistance to cross-species prion conversion. to examine the structural determinants that confer susc ... | 2017 | 28931606 |
| bank vole immunoheterogeneity may limit nephropatia epidemica emergence in a french non-endemic region. | ecoevolutionary processes affecting hosts, vectors and pathogens are important drivers of zoonotic disease emergence. in this study, we focused on nephropathia epidemica (ne), which is caused by puumala hantavirus (puuv) whose natural reservoir is the bank vole, myodes glareolus. we questioned the possibility of ne emergence in a french region that is considered to be ne-free but that is adjacent to a ne-endemic region. we first confirmed the epidemiology of these two regions and we demonstrated ... | 2017 | 28931451 |
| glareosin: a novel sexually dimorphic urinary lipocalin in the bank vole, myodes glareolus. | the urine of bank voles (myodes glareolus) contains substantial quantities of a small protein that is expressed at much higher levels in males than females, and at higher levels in males in the breeding season. this protein was purified and completely sequenced at the protein level by mass spectrometry. leucine/isoleucine ambiguity was completely resolved by metabolic labelling, monitoring the incorporation of dietary deuterated leucine into specific sites in the protein. the predicted mass of t ... | 2017 | 28878040 |
| spotted fever rickettsiae in wild-living rodents from south-western poland. | rickettsiae are obligate intracellular alpha-proteobacteria. they are transmitted via arthropod vectors, which transmit the bacteria between animals and occasionally to humans. so far, much research has been conducted to indicate reservoir hosts for these microorganisms, but our knowledge is still non-exhaustive. therefore, this survey was undertaken to investigate the presence of rickettsia spp. in wild-living small rodents from south-western poland. | 2017 | 28874204 |
| cryptosporidium infecting wild cricetid rodents from the subfamilies arvicolinae and neotominae. | we undertook a study on cryptosporidium spp. in wild cricetid rodents. fecal samples were collected from meadow voles (microtus pennsylvanicus), southern red-backed voles (myodes gapperi), woodland voles (microtus pinetorum), muskrats (ondatra zibethicus) and peromyscus spp. mice in north america, and from bank voles (myodes glareolus) and common voles (microtus arvalis) in europe. isolates were characterized by sequence and phylogenetic analyses of the small subunit ribosomal rna (ssu) and acti ... | 2017 | 28870264 |
| comparative stylostome ultrastructure of hirsutiella zachvatkini (trombiculidae) and trombidium holosericeum (trombidiidae) larvae. | stylostomes (feeding tubes) of hirsutiella zachvatkini (schluger) (trombiculidae), feeding on bank voles [myodes glareolus (schreber)], and of trombidium holosericeum (l.) (trombidiidae), feeding on larvae of stenodemini sp. (heteroptera, miridae), were studied by tem methods and on semi-thin sections. the stylostome of h. zachvatkini is a homogeneous structure of low electron density and without strict margins. it extends within the concave host epidermis, undergoing hyperplasia and hyperkerato ... | 2017 | 28852943 |
| does signaling of estrogen-related receptors affect structure and function of bank vole leydig cells? | to get a deeper insight into the function of estrogen-related receptors (errs) and dissect underlying mechanism in leydig cells, errs (type α, β and γ) were blocked or activated in testes of adult bank voles (myodes glareolus) which show seasonal changes in the intratesticular sex hormones level. both actively reproducing animals (long day conditions; ld) and those with regression of the reproductive system (short day conditions; sd) received intraperitoneal injections of selective errα antagoni ... | 2017 | 28820402 |
| mechanical constraint from growing jaw facilitates mammalian dental diversity. | much of the basic information about individual organ development comes from studies using model species. whereas conservation of gene regulatory networks across higher taxa supports generalizations made from a limited number of species, generality of mechanistic inferences remains to be tested in tissue culture systems. here, using mammalian tooth explants cultured in isolation, we investigate self-regulation of patterning by comparing developing molars of the mouse, the model species of mammali ... | 2017 | 28808032 |
| age-related changes of physiological performance and survivorship of bank voles selected for high aerobic capacity. | variation in lifespans is an intriguing phenomenon, but how metabolic rate influence this variation remains unclear. high aerobic capacity can result in health benefits, but also in increased oxidative damage and accelerated ageing. we tested these contradictory predictions using bank voles (myodes=clethrionomys glareolus) from lines selected for high swim-induced aerobic metabolism (a), which had about 50% higher maximum metabolic rate and a higher basal and routine metabolic rates, than those ... | 2017 | 28803134 |
| ecological factors influencing small mammal infection by anaplasma phagocytophilum and borrelia burgdorferi s.l. in agricultural and forest landscapes. | small mammals are key components of numerous tick-borne disease systems, as hosts for immature ticks and pathogen reservoirs. to study the factors influencing tick-borne infection in small mammals, we trapped small mammals and collected questing ticks in spring and autumn in 2012 and 2013 at 24 sites in a 10x15 km rural landscapes (brittany, france). tissue samples were screened by real-time pcr for anaplasma phagocytophilum and borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato. of the two dominant small mammal s ... | 2017 | 28799685 |
| the bruce effect revisited: is pregnancy termination in female rodents an adaptation to ensure breeding success after male turnover in low densities? | pregnancy termination after encountering a strange male, the bruce effect, is regarded as a counterstrategy of female mammals towards anticipated infanticide. while confirmed in caged rodent pairs, no verification for the bruce effect existed from experimental field populations of small rodents. we suggest that the effect may be adaptive for breeding rodent females only under specific conditions related to populations with cyclically fluctuating densities. we investigated the occurrence of delay ... | 2017 | 28791488 |
| dampening of population cycles in voles affects small mammal community structure, decreases diversity, and increases prevalence of a zoonotic disease. | long-term decline and depression of density in cyclic small rodents is a recent widespread phenomenon. these observed changes at the population level might have cascading effects at the ecosystem level. here, we assessed relationships between changing boreal landscapes and biodiversity changes of small mammal communities. we also inferred potential effects of observed community changes for increased transmission risk of puumala virus (puuv) spread, causing the zoonotic disease nephropatica epide ... | 2017 | 28770071 |
| spatial prediction and validation of zoonotic hazard through micro-habitat properties: where does puumala hantavirus hole - up? | to predict the risk of infectious diseases originating in wildlife, it is important to identify habitats that allow the co-occurrence of pathogens and their hosts. puumala hantavirus (puuv) is a directly-transmitted rna virus that causes hemorrhagic fever in humans, and is carried and transmitted by the bank vole (myodes glareolus). in northern sweden, bank voles undergo 3-4 year population cycles, during which their spatial distribution varies greatly. | 2017 | 28747170 |
| phylogenetic analysis of puumala virus strains from central europe highlights the need for a full-genome perspective on hantavirus evolution. | puumala virus (puuv), carried by bank voles (myodes glareolus), is the medically most important hantavirus in central and western europe. in this study, a total of 523 bank voles (408 from germany, 72 from slovakia, and 43 from czech republic) collected between the years 2007-2012 were analyzed for the presence of hantavirus rna. partial puuv genome segment sequences were obtained from 51 voles. phylogenetic analyses of all three genome segments showed that the newfound strains cluster with othe ... | 2017 | 28664467 |
| parasite dynamics in an invaded ecosystem: helminth communities of native wood mice are impacted by the invasive bank vole. | it is becoming increasingly evident that biological invasions result in altered disease dynamics in invaded ecosystems, with knock-on effects for native host communities. we investigated disease dynamics in an invaded ecosystem, using the helminth communities of the native wood mouse (apodemus sylvaticus) in the presence and absence of the invasive bank vole (myodes glareolus) in ireland. native wood mice were collected over 2 years from four sites to assess the impact of the presence of the ban ... | 2017 | 28653589 |
| prevalence and genetic variability of anaplasma phagocytophilum in wild rodents from the italian alps. | human granulocytic anaplasmosis is a zoonotic bacterial disease with increasing relevance for public health in europe. the understanding of its sylvatic cycle and identification of competent reservoir hosts are essential for improving disease risk models and planning preventative measures. | 2017 | 28615038 |
| difference in susceptibility of small rodent host species to infestation by ixodes ricinus larvae. | in a laboratory experiment (repeated eight times) individuals of six small rodent species were mixed with 500 ixodes ricinus larvae for 24 h, than over a 3-day-long observation period engorged ticks fallen from individually kept rodents were counted. forty engorged larvae fell from the hosts, 25% from striped field mice, 32.5% from house mice, 22.5% from common voles, 10% from bank voles, while wood mouse and steppe mouse proved to be almost free of successfully infesting ticks (both 5%). statis ... | 2017 | 28593480 |
| circulation and diagnostics of puumala virus in norway: nephropatia epidemica incidence and rodent population dynamics. | hantaviruses pose a public health concern worldwide causing haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (hfrs) and hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (hps). puumala virus (puuv) is the most prevalent hantavirus in central and northern europe, and causes a mild form of hfrs, also known as nephropathia epidemica (ne). in nature, the main host of puuv is the bank vole (myodes glareolus), and transmission to humans occurs through inhalation of aerosols from rodent excreta. nephropathia epidemica is particular ... | 2017 | 28585306 |
| modelling human puumala hantavirus infection in relation to bank vole abundance and masting intensity in the netherlands. | this paper deals with modelling the relationship between human puumala hantavirus (puuv) infection, the abundance and prevalence of infection of the host (the bank vole), mast, and temperature. these data were used to build and parametrise generalised regression models, and parametrise them using datasets on these factors pertaining to the netherlands. the performance of the models was assessed by considering their predictive power. models including mast and monthly temperature performed well, a ... | 2017 | 28567209 |
| heritabilities of dominance-related traits in male bank voles (clethrionomys glareolus). | a number of studies have shown that in several animal species females prefer dominant males as mating partners, but fewer attempts have been made to measure possible indirect benefits of this choice. one reason for this may be that, even though dominance is a widely used concept, the definition of dominance still remains controversial furthermore, defining and measuring the heritability of social behaviors is problematic because they are not individual traits but, by definition, involve interact ... | 1998 | 28565250 |
| dynamics and trophic interactions of small rodents: landscape or regional effects on spatial variation? | geographically varying rodent dynamics may be due to specific landscape effects or to regional variation. two common vole species (clethrionomys glareolus and microtus agrestis), their main predators and their impact on some important food items were monitored in sweden on forest clearcuts in two different landscape types, situated in two different regions with different climatic conditions. censuses, with 10-16 clearcuts in each landscape and both landscapes in the two regions, were designed to ... | 2002 | 28547149 |
| changes in individual quality during a 3-year population cycle of voles. | in small mammal populations with multiannual oscillations in density, the occurrence of large individuals in the peak phase (the "chitty effect") is a typical feature, but mechanisms behind this phenomenon have remained unclear. we analysed long-term data sets collected in western finland between 1984 and 1992 to: (1) find out how the body size and body condition of voles (microtus agrestis, m. rossiaemeridionalis, clethrionomys glareolus) and shrews (sorex araneus) was associated with the 3-yea ... | 2002 | 28547147 |
| tick infestation of small mammals in an english woodland. | tick infestations on small mammals were studied from april to november, 2010, in deciduous woodland in southern england in order to determine whether co-infestations with tick stages occurred on small mammals, a key requirement for endemic transmission of tick-borne encephalitis virus (tbev). a total of 217 small mammals was trapped over 1,760 trap nights. yellow-necked mice (apodemus flavicollis) made up the majority (52.5%) of animals, followed by wood mice (a. sylvaticus) 35.5% and bank voles ... | 2017 | 28504447 |
| rodents as a reservoir of infection caused by multiple zoonotic species/genotypes of c. parvum, c. hominis, c. suis, c. scrofarum, and the first evidence of c. muskrat genotypes i and ii of rodents in europe. | cryptosporidium spp. is an important causative agent of intestinal parasitoses-induced diarrhoea in humans and animals worldwide. rodents (small mammals), the main reservoir of infections, are globally expanded and overpopulated, which increases the risk of transfer of human and zoonotic pathogens from the genus cryptosporidium. in this study, cryptosporidium was detected in wild immunocompetent asymptomatic small mammals. altogether 262 fecal samples were collected from five areas in eastern sl ... | 2017 | 28433573 |
| experimental infections of wild bank voles (myodes glareolus) from nephropatia epidemica endemic and non-endemic regions revealed slight differences in puumala virological course and immunological responses. | in europe, the occurrence of nephropathia epidemica (ne), a human disease caused by puumala virus (puuv), exhibits considerable geographical heterogeneity despite the continuous distribution of its reservoir, the bank vole myodes glareolus. to better understand the causes of this heterogeneity, wild voles sampled in two adjacent ne endemic and non-endemic regions of france were infected experimentally with puuv. the responses of bank voles to puuv infection, based on the levels of anti-puuv igg ... | 2017 | 28396283 |
| low prevalence of zoonotic babesia in small mammals and ixodes ricinus in brittany, france. | in order to evaluate the zoonotic risk due to babesia spp., especially b. microti, we investigated their presence in 597 individuals of five small mammal species and in 2620 questing nymphs of ixodes ricinus in rural landscapes of western france (brittany). small mammals (rodents and shrews) are indeed suspected to be reservoir hosts for b. microti, and the tick i. ricinus is the vector of the three main zoonotic species in europe, i.e. b. divergens, b. venatorum and b. microti. only one bank vo ... | 2017 | 28392045 |
| temporal dynamics of the tick ixodes ricinus in northern europe: epidemiological implications. | tick-borne pathogens pose an increasing threat to human and veterinary health across the northern hemisphere. while the seasonal activity of ticks is largely determined by climatic conditions, host-population dynamics are also likely to affect tick abundance. consequently, abundance fluctuations of rodents in northern europe are expected to be translated into tick dynamics, and can hence potentially affect the circulation of tick-borne pathogens. we quantified and explained the temporal dynamics ... | 2017 | 28359294 |
| molecular evidence of rickettsia spp. in ixodid ticks and rodents in suburban, natural and rural habitats in slovakia. | natural foci of tick-borne spotted fever group (sfg) rickettsiae of public health concern have been found in slovakia, but the role of rodents in their circulation is unclear. ticks (ixodes ricinus, ixodes trianguliceps, dermacentor marginatus, dermacentor reticulatus, haemaphysalis concinna and haemaphysalis inermis) and tissues of rodents (apodemus flavicollis, apodemus sylvaticus, myodes glareolus, microtus arvalis, microtus subterraneus and micromys minutus) were examined for the presence of ... | 2017 | 28340608 |
| leptospira spp. in small mammals from areas with low and high human hantavirus incidences in south-west germany. | leptospirosis is caused by leptospira spp. and is considered the most widespread zoonotic disease worldwide. it mimics nephropathia epidemica in humans, a disease mainly caused by puumala hantavirus (puuv). small mammals are reservoirs for leptospira spp. and puuv. seewis virus (swsv) is a shrew-borne hantavirus with unknown pathogenicity. the objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence for leptospira spp. and the frequency of leptospira-hantavirus co-infections in small mammals colle ... | 2017 | 28332927 |
| strong "bottom-up" influences on small mammal populations: state-space model analyses from long-term studies. | "bottom-up" influences, that is, masting, plus population density and climate, commonly influence woodland rodent demography. however, "top-down" influences (predation) also intervene. here, we assess the impacts of masting, climate, and density on rodent populations placed in the context of what is known about "top-down" influences. to explain between-year variations in bank vole myodes glareolus and wood mouse apodemus sylvaticus population demography, we applied a state-space model to 33 year ... | 2017 | 28331581 |
| balancing selection maintains polymorphisms at neurogenetic loci in field experiments. | most variation in behavior has a genetic basis, but the processes determining the level of diversity at behavioral loci are largely unknown for natural populations. expression of arginine vasopressin receptor 1a (avpr1a) and oxytocin receptor (oxtr) in specific regions of the brain regulates diverse social and reproductive behaviors in mammals, including humans. that these genes have important fitness consequences and that natural populations contain extensive diversity at these loci implies the ... | 2017 | 28325880 |
| densities of microtime rodents along a pollution gradient from a copper-nickel smelter. | population densities of microtine rodents were studied along an air pollution gradient in the kola peninsula, russia, by long-term and short-term trapping. the study area is affected by high sulphur dioxide and heavy metal emissions from the severonikel copper-nickel smelter in monchegorsk. the density of clethrionomys rufocanus, the most abundant vole species in the area, was lowest close to the smelter and increased with distance up to the farthest, less polluted trapping sites. clethrionomys ... | 1994 | 28313738 |
| behaviour of cyclic bank voles under risk of mustelid predation: do females avoid copulations? | mustelid odours have been shown to suppress breeding in captive bank voles (clethrionomys glareolus) from cyclic populations (ylönen 1989; ylönen and ronkainen 1994). the mechanism behind the suppression is unknown. based on a series of behavioural trials and breeding experiments with pairs of bank voles in breeding condition, we suggest that the primary cause for breeding suppression is a change in female mating behaviour. experimental female-male pairs (n=34) exposed to mustelid odour decrease ... | 1994 | 28313633 |
| different demography of friends and strangers: an experiment on the impact of kinship and familiarity in clethrionomys glareolus. | we examined demographic effects of familiarity and relatedness in the bank vole clethrionomys glareolus (schreber) in four 0.5-ha enclosures in central finland. in two enclosures were mature voles which had overwintered together and some of their mature off-spring (hereafter referred to as "friends"), and in the other two individuals of the same species captured from different localities near the study area ("strangers"). the experiment lasted from june to september. the populations of friends r ... | 1990 | 28313003 |
| parental investment related to social systems in microtines. | laboratory offspring of wild-caught voles clethrionomys glareolus and microtus agrestis, bred for 1 year under constant conditions, were examined with regard to sex ratios and weights at weaning and at 2 months of age. c. glareolus exhibits female territoriality and m. agrestis male territoriality in summer. the adults die away in late summer-autumn. early-summer young mature in the year of birth but late-summer young do not reach maturity until the following year. c. glareolus young showed a ma ... | 1992 | 28312884 |
| the effect of habitat geology on calcium intake and calcium status of wild rodents. | calcium is essential for normal physiological function, reproduction and growth in mammals but its distribution in the natural environment is heterogeneous. spatial variation in calcium soil content is especially marked in the peak district, united kingdom, where both calcium-rich limestone and calcium-poor gritstone rock types occur. wood mice apodemus sylvaticus (l) and bank voles clethrionomys glareolus (schreber 1780) from limestone areas had significantly higher calcium concentrations in st ... | 1991 | 28312624 |
| spatial dynamics in fluctuating vole populations. | patterns and consistency of distribution, spatial and temporal components, and the extent of spatial density-dependence were compared between semi-cyclic and cyclic populations of the vole species clethrionomys glareolus and microtus agrestis in south-central and north sweden. cyclic populations were less clumped and only c. glareolus showed a consistency in distribution between years. spatial variation contributed little to the distributions in cyclic populations while the spatial and temporal ... | 1990 | 28312557 |
| the effect of variation in calcium intake on the growth of wood mice and bank voles. | calcium intake by wild rodents varies with season and habitat. this may have important ecological consequences; several studies have suggested that calcium availability may limit growth and reproduction. we studied the effect on growth of varying the calcium intake of captive wood mice apodemus sylvaticus (l.) and bank voles clethrionomys glareolus (schreber 1780). to determine whether effects observed in the laboratory could be detected in free-living animals, we also compared the body weights ... | 1992 | 28311823 |
| changes in home range size during growth and maturation of the wood mouse (apodemus sylvaticus) and the bank vole (clethrionomys glareolus). | a field study was carried out during winter and spring of 1982/83 to determine changes in home range size with increasing body weight and maturation in the wood mouse (apodemus sylvaticus) and the bank vole (clethrionomys glareolus). individual home range sizes in males increased and in females decreased with increasing body weight. relating these changes to changed energetic requirements failed. in these species behavioral aspects seem to be a more important determinant of home range size than ... | 1986 | 28311723 |
| gradients in density variations of small rodents: the importance of latitude and snow cover. | microtine rodents are known to show extreme population variations (cycles) but non-cyclic populations have also been recognized during recent years. the cyclic populations have been widely thought to be regulated by intrinsic mechanisms. however, such predictions for cyclic populations are usually not applicable to non-cyclic ones and extrinsic factors may have to be included in any explanation.a hypothesis that the degree of fluctuations in small rodent numbers is related to the sustainable num ... | 1985 | 28311574 |
| selective damage to tree-seedlings by bank voles (clethrionomys glareolus). | (1) small saplings of tilia cordata, when planted in deciduous woodlands, are damaged or destroyed by rodents. (2) experiments with captive animals show that the damage is identical with that caused by bank voles. (3) bank voles are present at all sites where damage occurs. (4) small saplings of betula spp. established naturally in the sites are very rarely damaged. (5) seedlings of quercus spp. and fagus silvatica are damaged or destroyed but small saplings suffer little or no damage attributab ... | 1985 | 28311570 |
| seed production and outbreaks of non-cyclic rodent populations in deciduous forests. | in a 10-year study period, outbreaks of the bank vole, clethrionomys glareolus, schreber only occurred in years following huge seed production of european beech, fagus sylvatica. intensive winter reprodution preceded the outbreaks, in contrast to a normal breeding season from april through september. no winter reproduction occurred in nearby populations from habitats without mast production. during the winter, the average weight of c. glareolus remained high in the mast forests and the age struc ... | 1982 | 28311427 |
| composition of cyclic and non-cyclic vole populations: on the causes of variation in individual quality among clethrionomys glareolus in sweden. | a cyclic clethrionomys glareolus population from north sweden was compared with a non-cyclic population from south sweden regarding age structure, body weight, reproductive development and suppression, and sex ratios.the non-cyclic population, after years with winter breeding, was characterized by especially early and intense breeding in spring and many post-reproductive animals in autumn. non-cyclic populations with no winter reproduction were similar to increase years in cyclic populations. in ... | 1984 | 28311014 |
| experiments on habitat selection in voles: implications for the inverse distribution of two common european species. | several pairs of species of microtine rodents show inverse distributions or abundance. here i determine if the inverse abundance relationship of the bank vole clethrionomys glareolus (a forest species) and the field vole microtus agrestis (an open field species) could be explained by habitat selection. habitat selection was examined by choice experiments with combinations of soil and vegetation types, and with separate habitat factors. the effects of early experience and social behaviour were al ... | 1982 | 28310515 |
| reproduction and population density affect humoral immunity in bank voles under field experimental conditions. | density dependence is a common feature in the dynamics of animal populations. availability of food resources critical to immunity is likely to be one of the mechanisms mediating the effect of population density on individual fitness. the ability to mount an immune response to an antigen is also affected by levels of immunosuppressive hormones associated with reproduction or mediating the response to ecological and social stress. we assessed variation in condition and intensity of humoral immune ... | 2000 | 28308773 |
| does avian predation risk depress reproduction of voles? | reproductive output and the growth of captive voles were quantified under high and low avian predation risk in a semi-natural experiment. voles were exposed to eurasian kestrels (falco tinnunculus), the main avian predator of vole species studied (clethrionomys glareolus, microtus agrestis and m. rossiaemeridionalis). vole pairs were housed in cages settled under nest-boxes occupied by breeding kestrels or in control cages settled under empty nest-boxes for 2 weeks. the experiment was conducted ... | 1998 | 28308445 |
| offspring growth, survival and reproductive success in the bank vole: a litter size manipulation experiment. | to estimate the optimality of brood size, it is essential to study the effects of brood size manipulation on offspring survival and reproductive success. moreover, testing the generality of the hypothesis of reproductive costs requires experimental data from a diversity of organisms. here i present data on the growth, survival and reproductive success of bank vole clethrionomys glareolus individuals from manipulated litters. furthermore, the survival of mothers whose litter size was manipulated ... | 1998 | 28308430 |
| does risk of predation by mammalian predators affect the spacing behaviour of rodents? two large-scale experiments. | predator-prey interactions between small mammals and their avian and mammalian predators have attracted much attention. however, large-scale field experiments examining small-mammal antipredatory responses under the risk of predation by mammals are rare. as recently pointed out, the scale of experiments may cause misleading results in studies of decision-making under predation risk. we studied the effect of small mustelid predators on the spacing behaviour of the gray-tailed vole (microtus canic ... | 2000 | 28308340 |
| population growth and habitat distribution in cyclic small rodents: to expand or to change? | habitat selection determined by intraspecific interactions (social behaviour), being either free or despotic, should result in the largest densities in the most favourable habitat at least in late increase and decline phases of cyclic populations. habitat distribution determined by interspecific effects such as herbivore-plant or predator-prey interactions may result in higher densities in inferior habitats at late peaks and/or declines due to overgrazing of preferred habitats, or invasion of su ... | 1997 | 28307483 |
| [studies on population of the bank vole (clethrionomys glareolus schreber, 1780) by mark and release trapping in lower austria]. | 1. bionomical and ecological investigations on bank voles were carried out by mark and release trapping in two phytosociologically different areas in lower austria from 1963 until 1966. 2. the number of trappings and retrappings depends on the intensity of captures: 3 consecutive trapping nights in fourtnightly intervals appeared to be most favourable. 3. the life time of bank voles was determined as 3.1 and respectively 3.6 months in the two localities investigated. only very few specimens reac ... | 1968 | 28306854 |
| effects of predator removal on vertebrate prey populations: birds of prey and small mammals. | we studied the effects of removal of breeding nomadic avian predators (the kestrel, falco tinnunculus and tengmalm's owl, aegolius funereus) on small mammals (voles of the genera microtus and clethrionomys and the common shrew, sorex araneus) during 1989-1992 in western finland to find out if these predators have a regulating or limiting impact on their prey populations. we removed potential breeding sites of raptors from five manipulation areas (c. 3 km(2) each), whereas control areas had nest- ... | 1995 | 28306779 |
| prion strain characterization of a novel subtype of creutzfeldt-jakob disease. | in 2007, we reported a patient with an atypical form of creutzfeldt-jakob disease (cjd), heterozygous for methionine-valine (mv) at codon 129, who showed a novel pathological prion protein (prp(tse)) conformation with an atypical glycoform (ag) profile and an intraneuronal prp deposition. in the present study, we further characterized the conformational properties of this pathological prion protein (prp(tse) mv(ag)) showing that prp(tse) mv(ag) is composed by multiple conformers with biochemical ... | 2017 | 28298604 |
| the enzootic life-cycle of borrelia burgdorferi (sensu lato) and tick-borne rickettsiae: an epidemiological study on wild-living small mammals and their ticks from saxony, germany. | borrelia burgdorferi (sensu lato) and rickettsiae of the spotted fever group are zoonotic tick-borne pathogens. while small mammals are confirmed reservoirs for certain borrelia spp., little is known about the reservoirs for tick-borne rickettsiae. between 2012 and 2014, ticks were collected from the vegetation and small mammals which were trapped in saxony, germany. dna extracted from ticks and the small mammals' skin was analyzed for the presence of rickettsia spp. and b. burgdorferi (s.l.) by ... | 2017 | 28285593 |
| small rodents as paratenic or intermediate hosts of carnivore parasites in berlin, germany. | rodents are important intermediate and paratenic hosts for carnivore parasites, including the important zoonotic agents toxoplasma, echinococcus and toxocara. monitoring of such parasites in rodents can be used to detect increasing risks for human and veterinary public health. rodents were trapped at four sites in berlin, two near the city center, two at the periphery. pcrs were conducted to detect coccidia (target its-1) and specifically toxoplasma gondii (repetitive element) in brain and ascar ... | 2017 | 28278269 |
| transmission ecology of taeniid larval cestodes in rodents in sweden, a low endemic area for echinococcus multilocularis. | although local prevalence of echinococcus multilocularis may be high, this zoonotic parasite has an overall low prevalence in foxes and rodents in sweden. to better understand opportunities for e. multilocularis transmission in the swedish environment, the aim of this study was to investigate other taeniid cestodes and to relate observed patterns to e. multilocularis. cestode parasites were examined in fox feces and rodents caught in different habitats from four regions of sweden. arvicola amphi ... | 2017 | 28274289 |
| expansion of spatial and host range of puumala virus in sweden: an increasing threat for humans? | hantaviruses are globally distributed and cause severe human disease. puumala hantavirus (puuv) is the most common species in northern europe, and the only hantavirus confirmed to circulate in sweden, restricted to the northern regions of the country. in this study, we aimed to further add to the natural ecology of puuv in sweden by investigating prevalence, and spatial and host species infection patterns. specifically, we wanted to ascertain whether puuv was present in the natural reservoir, th ... | 2017 | 28249631 |
| puumala hantavirus infections in bank vole populations: host and virus dynamics in central europe. | in europe, bank voles (myodes glareolus) are widely distributed and can transmit puumala virus (puuv) to humans, which causes a mild to moderate form of haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome, called nephropathia epidemica. uncovering the link between host and virus dynamics can help to prevent human puuv infections in the future. bank voles were live trapped three times a year in 2010-2013 in three woodland plots in each of four regions in germany. bank vole population density was estimated and ... | 2017 | 28245831 |
| use of bovine recombinant prion protein and real-time quaking-induced conversion to detect cattle transmissible mink encephalopathy prions and discriminate classical and atypical l- and h-type bovine spongiform encephalopathy. | prions are amyloid-forming proteins that cause transmissible spongiform encephalopathies through a process involving conversion from the normal cellular prion protein to the pathogenic misfolded conformation (prpsc). this conversion has been used for in vitro assays including serial protein misfolding amplification and real-time quaking induced conversion (rt-quic). rt-quic can be used for the detection of prions in a variety of biological tissues from humans and animals. extensive work has been ... | 2017 | 28225797 |
| mercury in soil, earthworms and organs of voles myodes glareolus and shrew sorex araneus in the vicinity of an industrial complex in northwest russia (cherepovets). | the characteristic properties of uptake and distribution of mercury in terrestrial ecosystems have received much lesser attention compared to aquatic particularly in russia. terrestrial ecosystems adjacent to large industrial manufactures-potential sources of mercury inflow into the environment frequently remain unstudied. this is the first report on mercury (hg) levels in the basic elements of terrestrial ecosystems situated close to a large metallurgical complex.mean values of mercury concentr ... | 2017 | 28197948 |
| distribution and seasonal variation of ljungan virus in bank voles (myodes glareolus) in fennoscandia. | ljungan virus (lv) is a picornavirus originally isolated from swedish bank voles ( myodes glareolus ) in 1998. the association of lv with human disease has been debated ever since, but fundamental data on the ecology of the virus are still lacking. here we present results of the first intensive study on the prevalence of lv in bank voles trapped in fennoscandia (sweden and finland) from 2009-2012 as determined by pcr. using an lv-specific rt-pcr, lv was detected in the liver of 73 out of 452 (16 ... | 2017 | 28192046 |
| a highly divergent puumala virus lineage in southern poland. | puumala virus (puuv) represents one of the most important hantaviruses in central europe. phylogenetic analyses of puuv strains indicate a strong genetic structuring of this hantavirus. recently, puuv sequences were identified in the natural reservoir, the bank vole (myodes glareolus), collected in the northern part of poland. the objective of this study was to evaluate the presence of puuv in bank voles from southern poland. a total of 72 bank voles were trapped in 2009 at six sites in this par ... | 2017 | 28093611 |
| surviving winter: food, but not habitat structure, prevents crashes in cyclic vole populations. | vole population cycles are a major force driving boreal ecosystem dynamics in northwestern eurasia. however, our understanding of the impact of winter on these cycles is increasingly uncertain, especially because climate change is affecting snow predictability, quality, and abundance. we examined the role of winter weather and snow conditions, the lack of suitable habitat structure during freeze-thaw periods, and the lack of sufficient food as potential causes for winter population crashes. we l ... | 2017 | 28070280 |
| borrelia miyamotoi and co-infection with borrelia afzelii in ixodes ricinus ticks and rodents from slovakia. | borrelia miyamotoi causes relapsing fever in humans. the occurrence of this spirochete has been reported in ixodes ricinus and wildlife, but there are still gaps in the knowledge of its eco-epidemiology and public health impact. in the current study, questing i. ricinus (nymphs and adults) and skin biopsies from rodents captured in slovakia were screened for the presence of b. miyamotoi and borrelia burgdorferi s.l. dna. the prevalence of b. miyamotoi and b. burgdorferi s.l. in questing ticks wa ... | 2017 | 27995301 |
| puumala virus in bank voles, lithuania. | little is known about the presence of human pathogenic puumala virus (puuv) in lithuania. we detected this virus in bank voles (myodes glareolus) in a region of this country in which previously puuv-seropositive humans were identified. our results are consistent with heterogeneous distributions of puuv in other countries in europe. | 2017 | 27983939 |
| host-associated absence of human puumala virus infections in northern and eastern germany. | human hantavirus disease cases, caused by puumala virus (puuv), are mainly recorded in western and southern areas of germany. this bank vole reservoir survey confirmed puuv presence in these regions but its absence in northern and eastern regions. puuv occurrence is associated with the presence of the western bank vole phylogroup. | 2017 | 27983499 |
| behavioural responses of ixodes ricinus nymphs to carbon dioxide and rodent odour. | many haematophagous ectoparasites use carbon dioxide (co2 ) and host odour to detect and locate their hosts. the tick ixodes ricinus (linnaeus) (ixodida: ixodidae) walks only small distances and quests in vegetation until it encounters a host. the differential effects of co2 and host odour on the host-finding behaviour of i. ricinus have, however, never been clarified and hence represent the subject of this study. the effects of co2 and odour from bank voles on the activation and attraction of i ... | 2017 | 27966215 |
| microevolution of bank voles (myodes glareolus) at neutral and immune-related genes during multiannual dynamic cycles: consequences for puumala hantavirus epidemiology. | understanding how host dynamics, including variations of population size and dispersal, may affect the epidemiology of infectious diseases through ecological and evolutionary processes is an active research area. here we focus on a bank vole (myodes glareolus) metapopulation surveyed in finland between 2005 and 2009. bank vole is the reservoir of puumala hantavirus (puuv), the agent of nephropathia epidemica (ne, a mild form of hemorrhagic fever with renal symptom) in humans. m. glareolus popula ... | 2017 | 27956196 |
| reservoir-driven heterogeneous distribution of recorded human puumala virus cases in south-west germany. | endemic regions for puumala virus (puuv) are located in the most affected federal state baden-wuerttemberg, south-west germany, where high numbers of notified human hantavirus disease cases have been occurring for a long time. the distribution of human cases in baden-wuerttemberg is, however, heterogeneous, with a high number of cases recorded during 2012 in four districts (h districts) but a low number or even no cases recorded in four other districts (l districts). bank vole monitoring during ... | 2016 | 27918151 |
| transmissibility of gerstmann-sträussler-scheinker syndrome in rodent models: new insights into the molecular underpinnings of prion infectivity. | prion diseases, or transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, have revealed the bewildering phenomenon of transmissibility in neurodegenerative diseases. hence, the experimental transmissibility of prion-like neurodegenerative diseases via template directed misfolding has become the focus of intense research. gerstmann-sträussler-scheinker disease (gss) is an inherited prion disease associated with mutations in the prion protein gene. however, with the exception of a few gss cases with p102l mut ... | 2016 | 27892798 |
| isolation of a defective prion mutant from natural scrapie. | it is widely known that prion strains can mutate in response to modification of the replication environment and we have recently reported that prion mutations can occur in vitro during amplification of vole-adapted prions by protein misfolding cyclic amplification on bank vole substrate (bvpmca). here we exploited the high efficiency of prion replication by bvpmca to study the in vitro propagation of natural scrapie isolates. although in vitro vole-adapted prpsc conformers were usually similar t ... | 2016 | 27880822 |
| isolation and complete genome characterization of novel reassortant orthoreovirus from common vole (microtus arvalis). | a novel mammalian orthoreovirus (mrv) strain was isolated from the lung tissue of a common vole (microtus arvalis) with tula hantavirus infection. seven segments (l1-l3, m2-m3, s2, and s4) of the hungarian mrv isolate morv/47ma/06 revealed a high similarity with an mrv strain detected in bank vole (myodes glareolus) in germany. the m1 and s3 segment of the hungarian isolate showed the closest relationship with the sequence of a slovenian human and a french murine isolate, respectively. the highe ... | 2017 | 27858312 |
| metagenomic evaluation of bacteria from voles. | voles (arvicolinae, rodentia) are known carriers of zoonotic bacteria such as bartonella spp. and francisella tularensis. however, apart from f. tularensis, the bacterial microbiome of voles has not previously been determined in finland and rarely elsewhere. therefore, we studied liver samples from 61 voles using 16s ribosomal rna gene pcr analysis, followed by sanger sequencing. twenty-three of these samples were also studied with tag-encoded pyrosequencing. the samples originated from 21 field ... | 2017 | 27854567 |
| excretion and measurement of corticosterone and testosterone metabolites in bank voles (myodes glareolus). | the bank vole is a commonly used model species in behavioral and ecophysiological studies. thus, presenting a validated method for noninvasive monitoring of corticosterone and testosterone secretion is of high relevance. here, we evaluated the effect of time of day and an acth challenge test on measured fecal corticosterone (fcm) and testosterone (ftm) metabolites in both sexes. furthermore, we performed radiometabolism experiments for both steroids and sexes to study metabolism and excretion of ... | 2017 | 27815157 |
| validation of the puumala virus rapid field test for bank voles in germany. | puumala virus (puuv) causes many human infections in large parts of europe and can lead to mild to moderate disease. the bank vole (myodes glareolus) is the only reservoir of puuv in central europe. a commercial puuv rapid field test for rodents was validated for bank-vole blood samples collected in two puuv-endemic regions in germany (north rhine-westphalia and baden-württemberg). a comparison of the results of the rapid field test and standard elisas indicated a test efficacy of 93-95%, largel ... | 2017 | 27806736 |
| de novo transcriptome assembly facilitates characterisation of fast-evolving gene families, mhc class i in the bank vole (myodes glareolus). | the major histocompatibility complex (mhc) plays a central role in the adaptive immune response and is the most polymorphic gene family in vertebrates. although high-throughput sequencing has increasingly been used for genotyping families of co-amplifying mhc genes, its potential to facilitate early steps in the characterisation of mhc variation in nonmodel organism has not been fully explored. in this study we evaluated the usefulness of de novo transcriptome assembly in characterisation of mhc ... | 2017 | 27782121 |
| a borrelia afzelii infection increases larval tick burden on myodes glareolus (rodentia: cricetidae) and nymphal body weight of ixodes ricinus (acari: ixodidae). | several microorganisms have been shown to manipulate their host or vector to enhance their own transmission. here we examined whether an infection with borrelia afzelii affects its transmission between its bank vole (myodes glareolus, schreber, 1780) host and tick vector. captive-bred bank voles were inoculated with b. afzelii or control medium, after which host preference of ixodes ricinus l. nymphs was determined in a y-tube olfactometer. thereafter, infected and uninfected bank voles were pla ... | 2016 | 27694145 |
| the effect of aluminum exposure on reproductive ability in the bank vole (myodes glareolus). | human impact on the environment is steadily increasing the amounts of aluminum in the ecosystems. this element accumulates in plants and water, potentially exposing herbivores to its harmful effect. in heavily polluted sites, a decrease in the density of small rodent populations has been observed. this decline may be caused by many factors, including decreased fertility. the aim of the presented research was to determine how aluminum, administered at concentrations similar to those recorded in i ... | 2017 | 27687699 |
| generalist predator, cyclic voles and cavity nests: testing the alternative prey hypothesis. | the alternative prey hypothesis (aph) states that when the density of the main prey declines, generalist predators switch to alternative prey and vice versa, meaning that predation pressure on the alternative prey should be negatively correlated with the density of the main prey. we tested the aph in a system comprising one generalist predator (pine marten, martes martes), cyclic main prey (microtine voles, microtus agrestis and myodes glareolus) and alternative prey (cavity nests of common gold ... | 2016 | 27665542 |
| prpc governs susceptibility to prion strains in bank vole, while other host factors modulate strain features. | bank vole is a rodent species that shows differential susceptibility to the experimental transmission of different prion strains. in this work, the transmission features of a panel of diverse prions with distinct origins were assayed both in bank vole expressing methionine at codon 109 (bv109m) and in transgenic mice expressing physiological levels of bank vole prpc (the bvprp-tg407 mouse line). this work is the first systematic comparison of the transmission features of a collection of prion is ... | 2016 | 27654300 |
| assessment of the prpc amino-terminal domain in prion species barriers. | chronic wasting disease (cwd) in cervids and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (bse) in cattle are prion diseases that are caused by the same protein-misfolding mechanism, but they appear to pose different risks to humans. we are interested in understanding the differences between the species barriers of cwd and bse. we used real-time, quaking-induced conversion (rt-quic) to model the central molecular event in prion disease, the templated misfolding of the normal prion protein, prp(c), to a path ... | 2016 | 27654299 |
| modification of nickel accumulation in the tissues of the bank vole myodes glareolus by chemical and environmental factors. | in a full factorial laboratory experiment, the effects of temperature and two chemical stressors (nickel and chlorpyrifos) on the accumulation of nickel in the liver and kidney of bank voles were studied. the nine-week experiment consisted of three periods: acclimatisation (3 days), intoxication (6 weeks) and elimination (3 weeks). during the main intoxication phase the animals were orally exposed for 42 days to different doses of nickel (ni) (0, 300 and 800mg/kg food) or chlorpyrifos (cpf) (0, ... | 2016 | 27632790 |
| n-terminal prion protein peptides (prp(120-144)) form parallel in-register β-sheets via multiple nucleation-dependent pathways. | the prion diseases are a family of fatal neurodegenerative diseases associated with the misfolding and accumulation of normal prion protein (prpc) into its pathogenic scrapie form (prpsc). understanding the fundamentals of prion protein aggregation and the molecular architecture of prpsc is key to unraveling the pathology of prion diseases. our work investigates the early-stage aggregation of three prion protein peptides, corresponding to residues 120-144 of human (hu), bank vole (bv), and syria ... | 2016 | 27576687 |
| seed preferences by rodents in the agri-environment and implications for biological weed control. | post-dispersal seed predation and endozoochorous seed dispersal are two antagonistic processes in relation to plant recruitment, but rely on similar preconditions such as feeding behavior of seed consumers and seed traits. in agricultural landscapes, rodents are considered important seed predators, thereby potentially providing regulating ecosystem services in terms of biological weed control. however, their potential to disperse seeds endozoochorously is largely unknown. we exposed seeds of ara ... | 2016 | 27547355 |
| declining ecosystem health and the dilution effect. | the "dilution effect" implies that where species vary in susceptibility to infection by a pathogen, higher diversity often leads to lower infection prevalence in hosts. for directly transmitted pathogens, non-host species may "dilute" infection directly (1) and indirectly (2). competitors and predators may (1) alter host behavior to reduce pathogen transmission or (2) reduce host density. in a well-studied system, we tested the dilution of the zoonotic puumala hantavirus (puuv) in bank voles (my ... | 2016 | 27499001 |
| multiple independent transmission cycles of a tick-borne pathogen within a local host community. | many pathogens are maintained by multiple host species and involve multiple strains with potentially different phenotypic characteristics. disentangling transmission patterns in such systems is often challenging, yet investigating how different host species contribute to transmission is crucial to properly assess and manage disease risk. we aim to reveal transmission cycles of bacteria within the borrelia burgdorferi species complex, which include lyme disease agents. we characterized borrelia g ... | 2016 | 27498685 |
| bank voles accrue scientific interest. | 2016 | 27439091 | |
| reduced helminth parasitism in the introduced bank vole (myodes glareolus): more parasites lost than gained. | introduced species are often less parasitised compared to their native counterparts and to ecologically similar hosts in the new environment. reduced parasitism may come about due to both the loss of original parasites and low acquisition of novel parasites. in this study we investigated the intestinal helminth parasites of the introduced bank vole (myodes glareolus) in ireland. results were compared to data from other european studies and to the intestinal helminth fauna of an ecologically simi ... | 2016 | 27408800 |
| genomic response to selection for predatory behavior in a mammalian model of adaptive radiation. | if genetic architectures of various quantitative traits are similar, as studies on model organisms suggest, comparable selection pressures should produce similar molecular patterns for various traits. to test this prediction, we used a laboratory model of vertebrate adaptive radiation to investigate the genetic basis of the response to selection for predatory behavior and compare it with evolution of aerobic capacity reported in an earlier work. after 13 generations of selection, the proportion ... | 2016 | 27401229 |
| evolutionary conflict between maternal and paternal interests: integration with evolutionary endocrinology. | conflict between mates, as well as conflict between parents and offspring are due to divergent evolutionary interests of the interacting individuals. hormone systems provide genetically based proximate mechanisms for mediating phenotypic adaptation and maladaptation characteristic of evolutionary conflict between individuals. testosterone (t) is among the most commonly studied hormones in evolutionary biology, and as such, its role in shaping sexually dimorphic behaviors and physiology is relati ... | 2016 | 27400975 |
| multihost bartonella parasites display covert host specificity even when transmitted by generalist vectors. | many parasites infect multiple sympatric host species, and there is a general assumption that parasite transmission between co-occurring host species is commonplace. such between-species transmission could be key to parasite persistence within a disease reservoir and is consequently an emerging focus for disease control. however, while a growing body of theory indicates the potential importance of between-species transmission for parasite persistence, conclusive empirical evidence from natural c ... | 2016 | 27380876 |
| increased autumn rainfall disrupts predator-prey interactions in fragmented boreal forests. | there is a pressing need to understand how changing climate interacts with land-use change to affect predator-prey interactions in fragmented landscapes. this is particularly true in boreal ecosystems facing fast climate change and intensification in forestry practices. here, we investigated the relative influence of autumn climate and habitat quality on the food-storing behaviour of a generalist predator, the pygmy owl, using a unique data set of 15 850 prey items recorded in western finland ov ... | 2017 | 27371812 |
| towards authentic transgenic mouse models of heritable prp prion diseases. | attempts to model inherited human prion disorders such as familial creutzfeldt-jakob disease (cjd), gerstmann-sträussler-scheinker (gss) disease, and fatal familial insomnia (ffi) using genetically modified mice have produced disappointing results. we recently demonstrated that transgenic (tg) mice expressing wild-type bank vole prion protein (bvprp) containing isoleucine at polymorphic codon 109 develop a spontaneous neurodegenerative disorder that exhibits many of the hallmarks of prion diseas ... | 2016 | 27350609 |