Fluctuating asymmetry (FA) has been used as a measure of developmental stability and may indicate individual phenotypic or genotypic quality. Using water boatmen (Callicorixa vulnerata) from a natural population, we examined the relationship between tarsal FA (tarsal spine number, tarsal length) and indices of body condition in two habitats. We used body weight and residual body weight (control...

In addition to forward undulatory swimming, eels (and some other elongated swimmers) can swim backwards in a similar way. We compared the kinematics (wave speed, cycle frequency, amplitude, local bending and estimated muscle strain) of forward and backward swimming in the European eel Anguilla anguilla. Both swimming modes are characterised by a wave of undulation that travels over the body in ...

Genetic parameters and breeding values for growth traits were estimated in the first and, currently, the only family selective breeding program for rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) in China. Genetic and phenotypic data were collected for growth traits from 75 full-sibling families with a 2-generation pedigree. Genetic parameters and breeding values for growth traits of rainbow trout were est...

Biodiversity losses over the next century are predicted to result in alterations of ecosystem functions that are on par with other major drivers of global change. Given the seriousness of this issue, there is a need to effectively monitor global biodiversity. Because performing biodiversity censuses of all taxonomic groups is prohibitively costly, indicator groups have been studied to estimate ...

The existing methods of assessing limb lengthening during total hip arthroplasty (THA) are prone to error because the measurements are not parallel to the limb lengthening axis. In order to address this, we designed a caliper to estimate limb lengthening during THA and evaluated its accuracy compared with our previous device, the straight caliper. Limb lengths were measured in 100 patients. The...

Movements of six basking sharks (4.0-6.5 m total body length, L(T)) swimming at the surface were tracked and horizontal velocities determined. Sharks were tracked for between 1.8 and 55 min with between 4 and 21 mean speed determinations per shark track. The mean filter-feeding swimming speed was 0.85 m s(-1) (+/-0.05 S.E., n=49 determinations) compared to the non-feeding (cruising) mean speed ...

Traditionally, exercise physiology experiments have borne little resemblance to how animals express physical activity in the wild. In this experiment, 15 adult male rats were divided into three equal-sized groups: exercise contingent (CON), non-exercise contingent (NON) and sedentary (SED). The CON group was placed in a cage with a running wheel, where the acquisition of food was contingent upo...

This article includes data from three prospective longitudinal human cohorts of prenatal marijuana exposure (PME) and offspring outcomes from the fetal period through young adulthood. The table herein contains an overview of the major adverse effects associated with PME from the following human cohorts: (1) The Ottawa Prenatal Prospective Study (OPPS); (2) The Maternal Health Practices and Chil...

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of temperature on growth and aerobic metabolism in clones of Daphnia magna from different thermal regimes. Growth rate (increment in size), somatic juvenile growth rate (increment in mass), and oxygen consumption were measured at 15 and 25 degrees C in 21 clones from one northern and two southern sites. There were no significant differences in bo...

One particularly useful but under-explored area for applying model selection in psychology is in basic data analysis. Many problems of deciding whether data have ‘‘significant differences’’ can profitably be viewed as model selection problems. We consider significance testing, Bayesian and minimum description length (MDL) model selection on a common data analysis problem known as the rate probl...