BACKGROUND Seasonal variability on obstructive sleep apnea has already been studied by polysomnography in children. Winter and spring season emerged as critical periods. No data are currently available for pulse oximetry performed at home. The aim of our study was to evaluate the effect of seasonality and age on the results of at-home pulse oximetry performed in children referred for suspected ...

Seed morph, abiotic conditions and time of germination can affect plant fitness, but few studies have tested their combined effects on plasticity of plant life history traits. Thus, we tested the hypothesis that seed morph, germination season and watering regime influence phenotypic expression of post-germination life history traits in the diaspore-heteromorphic cold desert winter annual/spring...

To establish whether the effects of pinealectomy on circadian locomotor rhythmicity vary with season, we examined, in constant temperature and darkness, the locomotor behaviour of ruin lizards Podarcis sicula collected and subjected to pinealectomy at different times of the year. Changes in the freerunning period in response to pinealectomy were found to be significantly greater in summer than ...

Relatively little experimental evidence is available regarding how ecological resistance and propagule density interact in their effects on the establishment of invasive exotic species. We examined the independent and interactive effects of neighbour cover (biotic resistance), winter vs. spring water addition (abiotic resistance) and seed density on the invasion of the European perennial grass ...

Using outdoor mesocosms we investigated the relative importance of the direct and indirect (here: altered grazing) effects of seawater warming on benthic microalgae in a Baltic Sea Fucus vesiculosus (Phaeophyceae) system during the spring season. Seawater warming had a positive main effect on microalgal total biomass accrual and growth rate and on total mesograzer abundance and biomass. Moreove...

In the Budgerigar Melopsittacus undulatus, the significance of a conspecific alarm call was investigated in two seasons, winter and spring. Two qualitatively different behavioral responses were displayed by the receivers in reply to playbacks: call(s) and/or taking flight(s). The comparative analysis of the number of birds responding to the alarm and to the control signals revealed two major fa...

Upon emerging from your winter cave, you surely noticed that spring is here and the 2001 baseball season has begun. Last season was particularly exciting from the standpoint of individual achievement. Mike Piazza of the New York Mets was in pursuit of the record for most consecutive games (18) with an RBI (runs batted in). Most interesting was the fact that few fans and media were aware of the ...

Global climate models predict an increase in the mean surface air temperature, with a disproportionate increase during winter. Since temperature is a major driver of phenological events in temperate woody perennials, warming is likely to induce changes in a range of these events. We investigated the impact of slightly elevated temperatures (+0.76 °C in the air, +1.35 °C in the soil) during the ...

the experiment was carried out in a factorial arrangement with the base of randomized complete block design in three repetitions. the first factor consisted of 11 bed for eating worm and the second factor is the different seasons (spring and autumn) respectively. traits was including number of capsules (coconut), the number of adult worms, the number of immature worms, live worms masses (mg), m...

The house mouse has adapted well to the cereal crops of south-eastern Australia where populations show aperiodic outbreaks over large areas. A 20-year population study has provided a wealth of information on breeding ecology, demographic changes, spatial behaviour and epidemiology. The breeding season can be as short as 4.5 months and as long as 10 months with litter size changing seasonally fr...