| 1. |
- Jönsson, K. Ingemar, 1959-, et al.
(författare)
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Sexual patterns of prebreeding energy reserves in the common frog Rana temporaria along a latitudinal gradient
- 2009
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Ingår i: Ecography. - : Wiley-Blackwell. - 0906-7590 .- 1600-0587. ; 32:5, s. 831-839
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The ability to store energy is an important life history trait for organisms facing long periods without energy income, and in particular for capital breeders such as temperate zone amphibians, which rely on stored energy during reproduction. However, large scale comparative studies of energy stores in populations with different environmental constraints on energy allocation are scarce. We investigated energy storage patterns in spring (after hibernation and before reproduction) in eight common frog (Rana temporaria) populations exposed to different environmental conditions along a 1600 km latitudinal gradient across Scandinavia (range of annual activity period 3-7 months). Analyses of lean body weight (eviscerated body mass), weight of fat bodies, liver weight, and liver fat content, showed that (i) post-hibernation/pre-breeding energy stores increased with increasing latitude in both sexes, (ii) males generally had larger energy reserves than females and (iii) the difference in energy stores between sexes decreased towards the north. Larger energy reserves towards the north can serve as a buffer against less predictable and/or less benign weather conditions during the short activity period, and may also represent a risk-averse tactic connected with a more pronounced iteroparous life history. In females, the continuous and overlapping vitellogenic activity in the north may also demand more reserves in early spring. The general sexual difference could be a consequence of the fact that, at the time of our sampling, females had already invested their energy into reproduction in the given year (i.e. their eggs were already ovulated), while the males' main reproductive activities (e.g. calling, mate searching, sexual competition) occurred later in the season.
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| 2. |
- Ekelund, Nils, et al.
(författare)
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Implementing the Ecosystem Services Approach at the municipal level : a transdisciplinary project with coastal communities in south Sweden
- 2014
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In Sweden a unique project supported by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency will be developed in close collaboration with coastal municipalities in Skåne, and with a coordinating role by Skåne´s Association of Local Authorities. These municipalities face a range of different environmental challenges, from areas along the eastern coast line facing problems related to the Baltic Sea, to municipalities in the Öresund region. In this study a range of different environmental conditions and related ecosystem services, from vulnerability to floods, erosion and sea level rise to strong pressure on coastal systems from urbanization will be investigated. Research questions and directions are built on cases and scenarios which are a part of the local municipality planning process. The approach will be to study the premises of implementing the Ecosystem Services (ES) in municipal planning and decision making of five coastal municipalities. The present study will analyse past decisions, present planning and future challenges for municipality development and management from the perspective of ES, with the aim of increasing our understanding of the ES concept as a tool for sustainable development. A second aim of the project is to evaluate the potential value of connecting the ES approach to ongoing climate change adaptation in the municipalities. The project will use the six-step approach developed by the Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity framework (TEEB) as the main conceptual frame. This approach includes the following steps: 1) Identifying and agreeing on the problem with stakeholders, 2) Identify the ES which are most relevant and pressing in municipality planning, 3) Collect and identify the information needs and the method to collect the data, 4) Assess expected changes in ES due to decision and input from society, 5) Identify policy options based on changes in ES and 6) Assess social and environmental impacts of 1-5.
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| 3. |
- Jönsson, K. Ingemar, 1959-, et al.
(författare)
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Ekologisk kompensation som styrmedel i kommunal planering
- 2021
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Projektet har undersökt erfarenheter av och förutsättningar för att tillämpa ekologisk kompensation inom ramen för den kommunala planeringen. Inom olika delstudier har projektet undersökt ekologisk kompensation som styrmedel, tillämpningen av skadelindringshierarkin, utformningen av kompensationsmodeller och rutiner, användningen av olika modeller för beräkning av förluster och vinster inom kompensationsprojekt, samt allmänhetens preferenser för olika kompensationsalternativ. Projektet har genomförts i nära samarbete med Helsingborgs och Lomma kommun, och Kommunförbundet Skåne har varit projektets kommunikationspartner och arrangör av flera större möten och workshopar med tjänstemän från många kommuner i Skåne. ...
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| 4. |
- Jönsson, K. Ingemar, 1959-, et al.
(författare)
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Experimentally induced anhydrobiosis in the tardigrade Richtersius coronifer : phenotypic factors affecting survival
- 2002
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Ingår i: Journal of Experimental Zoology. - : John Wiley & Sons Inc.. - 0022-104X .- 1097-010X. ; 293:6, s. 578-584
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The ability of some animal taxa (e.g., nematodes, rotifers, and tardigrades) to enter an ametabolic (cryptobiotic) state is well known. Nevertheless, the phenotypic factors affecting successful anhydrobiosis have rarely been investigated. We report a laboratory study on the effects of body size, reproductive condition, and energetic condition on anhydrobiotic survival in a population of the eutardigrade Richtersius coronifer. Body size and energetic condition interacted in affecting the probability of survival, while reproductive condition had no effect. Large tardigrades had a lower probability of survival than medium-sized tardigrades and showed a positive response in survival to energetic condition. This suggests that energy constrained the possibility for large tardigrades toenter and to leave anhydrobiosis. As a possible alternative explanation for low survival in the largest specimens we discuss the expression of senescence. In line with the view that processes related to anhydrobiosis are connected with energetic costs we documented a decrease in the size of storage cells over a period of anhydrobiosis, showing for the first time that energy is consumed in the process of anhydrobiosis in tardigrades.
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| 5. |
- Jönsson, K. Ingemar, 1959-, et al.
(författare)
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On the disparate terminological use of the concept cryptobiosis
- 2004
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Ingår i: Journal of Fish Diseases. - : Wiley-Blackwell. - 0140-7775 .- 1365-2761. ; 27:3, s. 175-176
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Conceptual and terminological consistency is an important component of science, promoting clarity and preventing confusion. Scientists should therefore always try to avoid giving different meanings to the same term. Apart from this general aspect, multiple definitions of a single term also give rise to practical problems, particularly in connection with literature search. In this note, I will bring attention to a term, cryptobiosis, that has relatively recently appeared in the field of fish disease research, but which has a much longer history and use in a completely different area.The concept of cryptobiosis was introduced by Keilin (1959) and defined as ‘the state of an organism when it shows no visible signs of life and when its metabolic activity becomes hardly measurable, or comes reversibly to a standstill’ (Keilin 1959, p. 166). Cryptobiosis replaced the earlier term anabiosis, and is today generally accepted as the common term for different ametabolic life forms (e.g. Clegg 2001; Wright 2001). Cryptobiosis means ‘hidden life’, an appropriate name for a state in which all traditional attributes of life (metabolism, reproduction, DNA replication) are absent. Cryptobiotic life forms have been documented in a variety of organisms, including both plants and animals, but in the latter category mainly among invertebrates (Wright, Westh & Ramløv 1992). Cryptobiosis is commonly induced by desiccation (so-called anhydrobiosis; e.g. Keilin 1959; Jönsson 2001), and aquatic invertebrates such as rotifers, nematodes and tardigrades living in microhabitats exposed to rapid desiccation frequently enter a cryptobiotic state. The research field dealing with cryptobiotic, sensu ametabolic, life forms has expanded considerably during the last 30 years, to a large extent fuelled by the detection of the ability of the disaccharide trehalose to protect dry and frozen biological cells (Crowe 2002).More recently, a completely different use of the term cryptobiosis has appeared in the literature on fish disease. In this literature, the term refers to infections of fish by biflagellated protozoa of the genus Cryptobia. Because of the economic importance of salmonid fish, much of the Cryptobia research has focused on Cryptobia salmositica (Katz) that infects salmonids (Woo 2001). The origin of the term cryptobiosis within fish pathology and studies of Cryptobia is unclear, but the earliest record of the term that I have found is Obradovic & Fijan (1979) who used it in a paper on chemotherapeutic treatment against Cryptobia in carp. From 1987 onwards, Woo et al. have used the term frequently (e.g. Woo, Leatherland & Lee 1987; Woo 1987, 1998, 2001), but apparently without any comments on the original proposal of the term. Curiously, few other researchers on Cryptobia seem to have adopted the cryptobiosis terminology, at least as judged from an examination of published titles. Other authors have instead used the expression ‘infections by Cryptobia’. Although using cryptobiosis as a term for infections by Cryptobia is consistent with the rule of creating names for infectious diseases by putting -osis as a post-fix to the name of the infecting organism, in the current case it creates terminological confusion.The problems of using the term cryptobiosis in several unrelated fields are obvious. A title such as ‘The biology of cryptobiosis’ would attract the attention of many students interested in ametabolic life forms. They would be disappointed, however, if the paper turned out to be about Cryptobia infection biology. Similarly, fish biologists would find the publication irrelevant to their research if it were properly confined to ametabolic life forms.Because ‘cryptobiosis’ as a term for ametabolic life forms is well established and has been used for more than 40 years, it should have priority over the more recent and limited use within fish pathology. I therefore hope that fish pathologists will avoid using the term cryptobiosis and instead use ‘infections by Cryptobia’, ‘cryptobiasis’ or some other term that does not interfere with already established terminology.
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| 6. |
- Jönsson, K. Ingemar, 1959-, et al.
(författare)
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Radiation tolerance in the eutardigrade Richtersius coronifer
- 2005
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Ingår i: International Journal of Radiation Biology. - : Taylor & Francis. - 0955-3002 .- 1362-3095. ; 81:9, s. 649-656
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- PURPOSE: Tardigrades have a reputation of being extremely tolerant to extreme environmental conditions including tolerance to ionizing radiation while in a desiccated, anhydrobiotic state. However, the evidence for radio-tolerance in tardigrades is based on only one previous report, and there is an obvious need for complementary studies. In this paper we report an investigation on radio-tolerance in desiccated and hydrated specimens of the eutardigrade Richtersius coronifer.MATERIALS AND METHODS: Groups of 30 - 50 tardigrades were exposed to gamma-radiation at doses between 1.0 - 9.0 (anhydrobiotic animals) or 0.5 - 5.0 (hydrated animals) kGy and the animals were followed until all were dead. Radiation tolerance of both desiccated and hydrated tardigrades was studied.RESULTS: Both desiccated and hydrated animals irradiated with 0.5 and 1 kGy did not deviate in survival from the control groups. Animals from all exposed groups underwent their moulting and egg production cycle, but at decreasing frequency for doses above 1 kGy. No eggs laid by irradiated animals hatched, while eggs laid by controls did so.CONCLUSION: Our study suggests that radiation tolerance in tardigrades is not due to biochemical protectants connected with the desiccated state. Rather, cryptobiotic tardigrades may rely on efficient mechanisms of DNA repair, the nature of which is currently unknown.
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| 7. |
- Alho, Jussi S., et al.
(författare)
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Increasing melanism along a latitudinal gradient in a widespread amphibian : local adaptation, ontogenic or environmental plasticity?
- 2010
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Ingår i: BMC Evolutionary Biology. - 1471-2148 .- 1471-2148. ; 10, s. 317-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BackgroundThe thermal benefits of melanism in ectothermic animals are widely recognized, but relatively little is known about population differentiation in the degree of melanism along thermal gradients, and the relative contributions of genetic vs. environmental components into the level of melanism expressed. We investigated variation in the degree of melanism in the common frog (Rana temporaria; an active heliotherm thermoregulator) by comparing the degree of melanism (i) among twelve populations spanning over 1500 km long latitudinal gradient across the Scandinavian Peninsula and (ii) between two populations from latitudinal extremes subjected to larval temperature treatments in a common garden experiment.ResultsWe found that the degree of melanism increased steeply in the wild as a function of latitude. Comparison of the degree of population differentiation in melanism (PST) and neutral marker loci (FST) revealed that the PST > FST, indicating that the differences cannot be explained by random genetic drift alone. However, the latitudinal trend observed in the wild was not present in the common garden data, suggesting that the cline in nature is not attributable to direct genetic differences.ConclusionsAs straightforward local adaptation can be ruled out, the observed trend is likely to result from environment-driven phenotypic plasticity or ontogenetic plasticity coupled with population differences in age structure. In general, our results provide an example how phenotypic plasticity or even plain ontogeny can drive latitudinal clines and result in patterns perfectly matching the genetic differences expected under adaptive hypotheses.
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| 8. |
- Beltrán-Pardo, Eliana, et al.
(författare)
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Effects of ionizing radiation on embryos of the tardigrade Milnesium cf. tardigradum at different stages of development
- 2013
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Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - 1932-6203. ; 8:9, s. e72098-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Tardigrades represent one of the most desiccation and radiation tolerant animals on Earth, and several studies havedocumented their tolerance in the adult stage. Studies on tolerance during embryological stages are rare, but differentialeffects of desiccation and freezing on different developmental stages have been reported, as well as dose-dependent effectof gamma irradiation on tardigrade embryos. Here, we report a study evaluating the tolerance of eggs from theeutardigrade Milnesium cf. tardigradum to three doses of gamma radiation (50, 200 and 500 Gy) at the early, middle, andlate stage of development. We found that embryos of the middle and late developmental stages were tolerant to all doses,while eggs in the early developmental stage were tolerant only to a dose of 50 Gy, and showed a declining survival withhigher dose. We also observed a delay in development of irradiated eggs, suggesting that periods of DNA repair might havetaken place after irradiation induced damage. The delay was independent of dose for eggs irradiated in the middle and latestage, possibly indicating a fixed developmental schedule for repair after induced damage. These results show that thetolerance to radiation in tardigrade eggs changes in the course of their development. The mechanisms behind this patternare unknown, but may relate to changes in mitotic activities over the embryogenesis and/or to activation of responsemechanisms to damaged DNA in the course of development.
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| 9. |
- Hjernquist, Mårten B., et al.
(författare)
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Seasonality determines patterns of growth and age structure over a geographic gradient in an ectothermic vertebrate
- 2012
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Ingår i: Oecologia. - 0029-8549 .- 1432-1939. ; 170:3, s. 641-649
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Environmental variation connected with seasonality is likely to affect the evolution of life-history strategies in ectotherms, but there is no consensus as to how important life-history traits like body size are influenced by environmental variation along seasonal gradients. We compared adult body size, skeletal growth, mean age, age at first reproduction and longevity among 11 common frog ( Rana temporaria ) populations sampled along a 1,600-km-long latitudinal gradient across Scandinavia. Mean age, age at first reproduction and longevity increased linearly with decreasing growth season length. Lifetime activity (i.e. the estimated number of active days during life-time) was highest at mid-latitudes and females had on average more active days throughout their lives than males. Variation in body size was due to differences in lifetime activity among populations—individuals (especially females) were largest where they had the longest cumulative activity period—as well as to differences between populations in skeletal growth rate as determined by skeletochronological analyses. Especially, males grew faster at intermediate latitudes. While life-history trait variation was strongly associated with latitude, the direction and shape of these relationships were sex- and trait-specific. These context-dependent relationships may be the result of life-history trade-offs enforced by differences in future reproductive opportunities and time constraints among the populations. Thus, seasonality appears to be an important environmental factor shaping life-history trait variation in common frogs.
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| 10. |
- Nilsson, Charlotta, et al.
(författare)
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Element analysis of the eutardigrades Richtersius coronifer and Milnesium cf. asiaticum using Particle Induced X-ray Emission (PIXE)
- 2013
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Ingår i: Journal of limnology. - : Page Press. - 1129-5767 .- 1723-8633. ; 72:s1, s. 92-101
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Semi-terrestrial tardigrades are well-known for their tolerance to a variety of environmental extremes, including desiccation, freezing and radiation. Despite several attempts to reveal the genetic and molecular mechanisms behind the resilience of tardigrades, it is still unknown how these animals are able to maintain the integrity of their cellular components under severe stress. Quantitative or qualitative changes in molecular compounds (e.g., carbohydrates, proteins) are expected, and have been the main line of research towards understanding the tolerance of tardigrades. In radiation tolerant bacteria, a tolerance mechanism based on manganese has been proposed. We evaluate this hypothesis in tardigrades and provide the first data on element composition in desiccated and non-desiccated specimens of two eutardigrade species, Richtersius coronifer and Milnesium cf. asiaticum. A focused 2 MeV proton microbeam was utilised to determine the elemental content, distributions and concentrations, using the ion beam analytical technique particle induced X-ray emission(PIXE). The presence of six elements – phosphorus, sulphur, chlorine, potassium, calcium and iron – were confirmed in all tardigrade specimens, at levels up to a few mg g–1. However, manganese was found in less than 10% of the analysed specimens, and in low amounts, thus our study provides no evidence for the manganese hypothesis. We also show that the distributions and/or concentrations of some elements differ between the two species as well as between the dehydrated and hydrated state. In particular, very low levels of iron were found in dehydrated M. cf. asiaticum. Our analysis shows that the PIXE technique is a useful tool for investigating questions on the distribution of elements both in dehydrated and hydrated tardigrades.
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