http://www.functionalecology.org EarlyView RSS Feed http://www.functionalecology.org/details/journalArticle/765307/From_molecules_to_living_systems_historical_and_contemporary_issues_in_oxidative.html 1. Initial work on oxidative stress and antioxidant defences described basic chemical and biochemical properties and processes and applied this information to issues of animal health and husbandry. Seminal experimental investigations on the damaging effects of oxidative stress and the mitigating effects of antioxidant defences were conducted primarily in domesticated organisms. 2. In recent years, ecologists have taken to studying antioxidants and oxidative stress in free-ranging organisms and... 2010-07-30T00:00:00Z http://www.functionalecology.org/details/journalArticle/765305/How_to_measure_oxidative_stress_in_an_ecological_context_methodological_and_stat.html 1. Reactive oxygen and nitrogen species can damage biomolecules if these lack sufficient antioxidant protection. Maintaining and up-regulating antioxidant defenses and repair of the damaged molecules require resources that could potentially be allocated to other functions, including life-history and signal traits. 2. Identifying the physiological mechanisms causing and counteracting oxidative damage may help to understand evolution of oxidative balance systems from molecular to... 2010-07-30T00:00:00Z http://www.functionalecology.org/details/journalArticle/765303/Oxidative_stress_as_a_lifehistory_constraint_the_role_of_reactive_oxygen_species.html 1. Oxidative stress is usually defined as an imbalance arising when the rate of production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) exceeds the capacity of the antioxidant defence and repair mechanisms, leading to oxidative damage to biomolecules, but the concept can be expanded to include the disruption of reduction : oxidation (redox) reactions involved in cellular signalling. In this review, we consider how the need to circumvent oxidation may shape the phenotypes of organisms throughout their life... 2010-07-30T00:00:00Z http://www.functionalecology.org/details/journalArticle/765301/Ecological_biomedical_and_epidemiological_approaches_to_understanding_oxidative_.html 1. Oxidative stress and antioxidants have been studied in a number of disciplines, but these disciplines have not always been informed by each other's work. 2. Here, we discuss the strengths and weaknesses of oxidative stress and antioxidant research in the areas of (i) ecology, (ii) ageing research, (iii) epidemiology, and (iv) physiology of model organisms, with an emphasis on what ecologists can learn from and bring to other fields. 3. We find that physiologists provide an essential role in... 2010-07-30T00:00:00Z http://www.functionalecology.org/details/journalArticle/765317/Turning_northern_peatlands_upside_down_disentangling_microclimate_and_substrate_.html 1. Although direct contributions of soil invertebrates to carbon turnover are modest, they have a disproportionally large indirect impact through their control over the activity of microbial decomposers. Shifts in soil invertebrate species distribution might have a substantial effect on the decomposition process because their functional role depends on the species' vertical position in soils. Gradients in microclimate and substrate quality and structure largely determine the vertical position... 2010-07-28T00:00:00Z http://www.functionalecology.org/details/journalArticle/765315/Experimental_evidence_for_physiological_costs_underlying_the_tradeoff_between_re.html 1. A central tenet of life-history theory is that investment in reproduction compromises survival. However, the underlying physiological mechanisms that link reproduction to survival are poorly understood, particularly in wild populations. 2. Previous experiments in the brown anole lizard (Anolis sagrei) show that the elimination of reproduction via surgical ovariectomy results in a dramatic increase in the survival of wild females. We hypothesized that this trade-off reflects underlying... 2010-07-28T00:00:00Z http://www.functionalecology.org/details/journalArticle/765313/Islands_of_fear_effects_of_wooded_patches_on_habitat_suitability_of_the_striped_.html 1. As a fundamental unit within a landscape, habitat patches create spatial heterogeneity. On a gradient of habitat patch size, one sees patches of denser vegetation cover occurring in otherwise open habitats (e.g. bushes in the desert, forest fragments in grasslands). 2. The resulting habitat fragmentation and consequent edge effects continue to concern conservation biologists, landscape ecologists, and wildlife managers due to their role in influencing wildlife abundance and distribution on... 2010-07-28T00:00:00Z http://www.functionalecology.org/details/journalArticle/765311/Impact_of_growth_temperature_on_scaling_relationships_linking_photosynthetic_met.html 1. Scaling relationships linking photosynthesis (A) to leaf traits are important for predicting vegetation patterns and plant-atmosphere carbon fluxes. Here, we investigated the impact of growth temperature on such scaling relationships. 2. We assessed whether changes in growth temperature systematically altered the slope and/or intercepts of log–log plots of A vs leaf mass per unit leaf area (LMA), nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations for 19 contrasting plant species grown hydroponically at... 2010-07-28T00:00:00Z http://www.functionalecology.org/details/journalArticle/765309/The_role_of_constraints_and_limitation_in_driving_individual_variation_in_immune.html 1. Life history theory predicts that immunity should be plastic and reflect environmental contexts. However, individual variation in immune investment may arise not just because of individual adjustment, but because of developmental, physiological, genetic or immunological constraints which lead to non-adaptive responses by limiting or eliminating flexibility in immune investment. Constraints can arise because organisms are single integrated units with interconnected and interacting... 2010-07-28T00:00:00Z http://www.functionalecology.org/details/journalArticle/761571/Disease_ecology_meets_ecological_immunology_understanding_the_links_between_orga.html 1. Ecological immunology and disease ecology are two relatively young disciplines that apply ecological approaches and principles to traditionally non-ecological fields. In both cases, an ecological perspective has allowed new insights to emerge by focusing attention on variation over space and time, and by emphasizing the role of the environment in shaping individual responses and the outcome of host-pathogen interactions. Here we review the growing conceptual interface between these two... 2010-07-22T00:00:00Z http://www.functionalecology.org/details/journalArticle/760437/Antibody_injection_in_the_egg_yolk_maternal_antibodies_affect_humoral_immune_res.html 1. In vertebrate species, maternal antibodies specific for the pathogens to which mothers have been exposed can be transmitted to offspring before birth. This is assumed to be adaptive as these antibodies can be essential in protecting offspring early in life before their own immune system is fully developed. However, fitness consequences in natural conditions and the long-term effects of these mechanisms have yet to be fully examined. 2. Exploring the ecological and evolutionary implications... 2010-07-16T00:00:00Z http://www.functionalecology.org/details/journalArticle/760441/The_paradigm_of_body_condition_a_critical_reappraisal_of_current_methods_based_o.html 1. Body condition is a major concept in ecology addressed in countless studies, and a variety of non-destructive methods are used to estimate the condition of individuals based on the relationship between body mass M and measures of length L. There is currently no consensus about the most appropriate condition index (CI) method, and various traditions have been established within subdisciplines in which ecologists tend to apply that method used previously by their peers. 2. Here, we present a... 2010-07-15T00:00:00Z http://www.functionalecology.org/details/journalArticle/760439/Survival_selection_imposed_by_predation_on_a_physiological_trait_underlying_esca.html 1. In contrast to other phenotypic traits, selection on physiological traits remains largely undocumented. We have evaluated survival selection imposed by predation by dragonflies on the activity of arginine kinase (Ak), a key enzyme delivering energy for escape performance in invertebrates. 2. To accomplish this, we conducted a semi-natural field enclosure experiment in which we manipulated predation by large dragonfly predators, and quantified escape swimming speed and Ak in the prey, the... 2010-07-15T00:00:00Z http://www.functionalecology.org/details/journalArticle/759289/Towards_better_prediction_of_seed_dispersal_by_animals.html 1. Animals are the most important dispersal vector for a vast number of terrestrial plants. 2. Whereas our understanding of dispersal by wind has taken enormous conceptual strides in recent years, our ability to predict dispersal patterns by animals remains crude by comparison despite the large volume of research on this topic. 3. We review published models of dispersal by animals, discuss component processes that have been modelled in other contexts and indicate approaches that could usefully... 2010-07-13T00:00:00Z http://www.functionalecology.org/details/journalArticle/758965/Hostplant_finding_and_recognition_by_visual_and_olfactory_floral_cues_in_an_olig.html 1. Bees use floral cues, such as odour, colour, size and shape, to discriminate and recognize flowers. The interplay between visual and olfactory cues in social as well as in solitary bee species is poorly understood. 2. In this study we tested the host finding and recognition behaviour in a specialized (oligolectic) bee species, Hoplitis adunca (Megachilidae), which collects pollen exclusively on flowers of Echium (Boraginaceae) species. We determined the importance of visual (especially... 2010-07-12T00:00:00Z