1. Evidence for senescence in survival but not in reproduction in a short-lived passerineRémi Fay, Michael Schaub, Jennifer A. Border, Ian G. Henderson, Georg Fahl, Jürgen Feulner, Petra Horch, Mathis Müller, Helmut Rebstock, Dmitry Shitikov, Davorin Tome, Matthias Vögeli, Martin U. Grüebler, 2020, original scientific article Abstract: Senescence has been studied since a long time by theoreticians in ecology and evolution, but empirical support in natural population has only recently been accumulating. One of the current challenges is the investigation of senescence of multiple fitness components and the study of differences between sexes. Until now, studies have been more frequently conducted on females than on males and rather in long-lived than in short-lived species. To reach a more fundamental understanding of the evolution of senescence, it is critical to investigate age-specific survival and reproduction performance in both sexes and in a large range of species with contrasting life histories. In this study, we present results on patterns of age-specific and sex-specific variation in survival and reproduction in the whinchat Saxicola rubetra, a short-lived passerine. We compiled individual-based long-term datasets from seven populations that were jointly analyzed within a Bayesian modeling framework. We found evidence for senescence in survival with a continuous decline after the age of 1 year, but no evidence of reproductive senescence. Furthermore, we found no clear evidence for sex effects on these patterns. We discuss these results in light of previous studies documenting senescence in short-lived birds. We note that most of them have been conducted in populations breeding in nest boxes, and we question the potential effect of the nest boxes on the shape of age-reproductive trajectories.
Keywords: actuarial senescence, age-specific demographic rate, aging, Saxicola rubetra, whinchat
Published in DiRROS: 22.07.2024; Views: 124; Downloads: 80
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2. Dreaming in the digital age : thoughts on the tecnological pharmaconVictor J. Krebs, 2023, original scientific article Abstract: This article explores one way of understanding how digital media are affecting our ability to distinguish reality from fantasy, by reading Bernard Stiegler’s diagno-sis of our current cultural crisis, alongside Wilfred Bion’s dream theory. The cen-tral claim of the paper is that we can understand the technological pharmakon, its both poisonous and therapeutic nature, in terms of Bion’s definition of dreaming, as the commerce between consciousness and the unconscious negotiated by the “alpha function”. Understanding how the digital impacts our capacity to dream provides us with a tool to counteract its toxicity and to combat the thanatic im-pulse triggered by technological power. from a binocular point of view – both from Stiegler’s perspective of our tech-nical or “organological” evolution and from Bion’s perspective on the constitution of reality in dreaming – we can begin to see more clearly how to modulate our technological drive, in order to prevent the pharmakon from short-circuiting the very psychic function necessary to distinguish between reality and illusion. The paper ends with a discussion of the algorithmic effects on the living imagination in support of this contention.
Keywords: digital age, dreaming, Bion, Stiegler, pharmakon, philosophy, psychoanalysis
Published in DiRROS: 13.05.2024; Views: 169; Downloads: 158
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3. Does age matter? : The well-being of migrant children in comparative perspectiveZorana Medarić, Barbara Gornik, 2024, original scientific article Abstract: This article explores the subjective perceptions of well-being of migrant children attending primary school (9-14 years) and secondary school (15-18 years) in Slovenia. It focuses on how they conceptualise their fears, worries and concerns, what is important for them to feel accepted and safe, and how they think about their past and the future. Using a comparative perspective, similarities and differences in the experience of well-being of these two age groups of migrants are explored. The analysis is based on open-ended narrative interviews with migrant children and revolves around the question of whether and how age influences their subjective perception of well-being. The article sheds light on age-specific meanings and understandings of migration processes based on the views and experiences of migrant children and youth regarding their well-being, bringing to the fore the perspectives of children that are often missing or underrepresented in integration policy.
Keywords: acceptance, agency, well-being, age differences, migrant children
Published in DiRROS: 09.04.2024; Views: 377; Downloads: 128
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4. Atmosphere–cryosphere interactions during the last phase of the Last Glacial Maximum (21 ka) in the European AlpsCostanza Del Gobbo, Renato R. Colucci, Giovanni Monegato, Manja Žebre, Filippo Giorgi, 2023, original scientific article Abstract: Evidence that during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) glaciers extended well into the piedmont plains is still identifiable in the alpine foreland as a system of well-preserved moraines. Glaciers are strongly controlled by temperature and precipitation, and therefore, they are excellent indicators of climate change. Here, we use a regional climate model (RCM) to investigate some of the physical processes sustaining Alpine glaciers during the last phase of the LGM during Greenland Stadial 2 at 21 ka. We find a predominance of convection during summer and increased southwesterly stratiform precipitation over the southern Alps when compared to pre-industrial (PI) conditions. This precipitation pattern, along with lower temperatures, determined summer snowfall extending to low elevations, with a consequent substantial drop of the equilibrium line altitude (ELA), which is consistent with the estimated LGM glacier extent. Our RCM-based estimates of 21 ka ELA at the LGM yield excellent consistency with Alpine ELA reconstructions, further demonstrating the great potential of this technique for use in palaeoclimate studies.
Keywords: Quaternary, ice age, atmosphere, glaciers, climate change, the Alps
Published in DiRROS: 19.09.2023; Views: 608; Downloads: 201
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5. Root-associated fungal communities from two phenologically contrasting Silver Fir (Abies alba Mill.) groups of treesTina Unuk Nahberger, Tijana Martinović, Domen Finžgar, Nataša Šibanc, Tine Grebenc, Hojka Kraigher, 2019, original scientific article Abstract: Root-associated fungal communities are important components in ecosystem processes, impacting plant growth and vigor by influencing the quality, direction, and flow of nutrients and water between plants and fungi. Linkages of plant phenological characteristics with belowground root-associated fungal communities have rarely been investigated, and thus our aim was to search for an interplay between contrasting phenology of host ectomycorrhizal trees from the same location and root-associated fungal communities (ectomycorrhizal, endophytic, saprotrophic and pathogenic rootassociated fungi) in young and in adult silver fir trees. The study was performed in a managed silver fir forest site. Twenty-four soil samples collected under two phenologically contrasting silver fir groups were analyzed for differences in rootassociated fungal communities using Illumina sequencing of a total root-associated fungal community. Significant differences in beta diversity and in mean alpha diversity were confirmed for overall community of ectomycorrhizal root-associated fungi, whereas for ecologically different non-ectomycorrhizal root-associated fungal communities the differences were significant only for beta diversity and not for mean alpha diversity. At genus level root-associated fungal communities differed significantly between early and late flushing young and adult silver fir trees. We discuss the interactions through which the phenology of host plants either drives or is driven by the root-associated fungal communities in conditions of a sustainably co-naturally managed silver fir forest.
Keywords: host phenology, stand age, root-associated fungi, silver fir, fungal community
Published in DiRROS: 20.02.2020; Views: 2230; Downloads: 1492
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