Performance records on 41,184 Red Angus cattle were analyzed and estimates of parameters calculated for absolute growth rate, relative growth rate and restricted selection indices. Heritability estimates for birth weight, 205-d weight, 365-d weight and postweaning gain were .46 +/- .02, .39 +/- .02, .40 +/- .02 and .36 +/- .02, respectively. Heritability estimates for preweaning, postweaning an...

A population of 146 RILs (Recombinant Inbred Line) was derived from the cross between a cold-sensitive cultivated Solanum lycopersicum L. XF98-7 and a cold-tolerant wild Solanum pimpinellifolium LA2184. Relative germination ratio (RGR) and chilling index (CI) were used to evaluate the cold tolerance of the parental lines and RILs. It was found that the RGR and CI were significantly different be...

The duckweed family (Lemnaceae) is a group of free-floating aquatic plants with bodies consisting single floating fronds that multiply clonally. Although they are known to have the fastest relative growth rate (RGR) among higher plants, their functional trait coordination in relation within-family variation RGR poorly understood. We tested how species fit within covariation patterns as world-wi...

Local search (LS) and multi-agent-based search (ERA [1]) are stochastic and incomplete procedures for solving a Constraint Satisfaction Problem (CSP). Their performance is seriously undermined by local optima and deadlocks, respectively. Although complete, backtrack (BT) search suffers from thrashing and a high degree of unpredictability in its run-time even within the same problem domain. Furt...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Studies on the effects of sub- and/or supraoptimal temperatures on growth and phosphorus (P) nutrition of perennial herbaceous species at growth-limiting P availability are few, and the impacts of temperature on rhizosphere carboxylate dynamics are not known for any species. METHODS The effect of three day/night temperature regimes (low, 20/13 °C; medium, 27/20 °C; and hig...

Salinity is a leading threat to crop growth throughout the world. Salt stress induces altered physiological processes and several inhibitory effects on of cereals, including wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). In this study, we determined salinity five spring winter genotypes seedlings. We evaluated salt root shoot attributes, i.e., length (RL), (SL), relative rate (RGR-RL), (RGR-SL). The ionic conte...

Theoretical models predict that selection on reaction norms should depend on the relative frequency of environmental states experienced by a population. We report a laboratory experimental test of this prediction for thermal performance curves of larval growth rate in Pieris rapae in relation to their thermal environment. We measured short-term relative growth rate (RGR) for each individual at ...

How species respond to environmental variation can have important consequences for population and community dynamics. Temperature, in particular, is one source of variation expected to strongly influence plant performance. Here, we compared photosynthetic responses to temperature across a guild of winter annual plants. Previous work in this system identified a trade-off between relative growth ...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Success of invasive plant species is thought to be linked with their higher leaf carbon fixation strategy, enabling them to capture and utilize resources better than native species, and thus pre-empt and maintain space. However, these traits are not well-defined for invasive woody vines. METHODS In a glass house setting, experiments were conducted to examine how leaf carbo...