Dynamic occupancy models (MacKenzie et al. 2003) allow inference about the occurrence of “things” at collections of “sites” and about how changes in occurrence are driven by colonization and local extinction. These models also account for imperfect detection probability. Depending on how “thing” and “site” are defined, occupancy may have vastly different biological meanings, including the prese...

Four Saudi Arabian indigenous sheep populations including Najdi, Hbsi, Arb, and Naemi were genotyped for 16 microsatellite markers recommended by the food and agriculture organization (FAO). This study aims to provide information on the genetic structure of the breeds analyzed and give indications and proposals for the cross breeding program. All loci were polymorphic in all populations and loc...

Longline fisheries, oil spills, and offshore wind farms are some of the major threats increasing seabird mortality at sea, but the impact of these threats on specific populations has been difficult to determine so far. We tested the use of molecular markers, morphometric measures, and stable isotope (delta15N and delta13C) and trace element concentrations in the first primary feather (grown at ...

The bay scallop ( Argopecten irradians ) is one of the most important shellfish species in China. Since their introduction into China, only mass selection has been used breeding. With its gradual expansion and shortage mate selection, population homozygosity increased, fitness decreased. To investigate effects inbreeding provide reference for improving breeding strategies mating management, var...

The identification of molecular markers linked to leaf curl virus (CLCuV) disease resistance in cotton has the potential to improve both the efficiency and the efficacy of selection in cotton breeding programs. Genetic analysis suggested that CLCuV resistance is controlled by a single dominant gene. In this study, an interspecific F2 population derived from a cross of Gossypium barbadense and G...

Phenolic esters have attracted considerable interest due to the potential they offer for peroxidase catalysed cross-linking of cell wall polysaccharides. Particularly, feruloyl residues undergo radical coupling reactions that result in cross-linking (intra-/intermolecular) between polysaccharides, between polysaccharides and lignin and, between polysaccharides and proteins. This review addresse...

Breeding values of sires resulting from selection either for reduced birth weight and increased yearling weight (YB, n = 8) or for increased yearling weight alone (YW, n = 9) were compared with each other and with sires representative of the population before selection began (BS, n = 12) using progeny testing. Reference sires (n = 6) connected these Line 1 sires with the Hereford international ...

Data from 113 Dutch organic farms were analysed to determine the effect of cross-breeding on production and functional traits. In total, data on 33 788 lactations between January 2003 and February 2009 from 15 015 cows were available. Holstein-Friesian pure-bred cows produced most kg of milk in 305 days, but with the lowest percentages of fat and protein of all pure-bred cows in the data set. C...

Performance of Dorper sheep was compared to other breeds in pure and cross-breeding evaluations under different production systems. The number of ewes lambed per ewe joint (E(L)/E(J)) varied for the Dorper from 0.68 to 0.91 (average 0.81) and for other breeds and crosses from 0.65 to 0.91 (average 0.82). Average litter size (L(B)/lambing) varied from 1.02 to 1.52 (average 1.28) and from 1.02 to...