Understanding how thermal selection affects phenotypic distributions across different time scales will allow us to predict the effect of climate change on the fitness of ectotherms. We tested how seasonal temperature variation affects basal levels of cold tolerance and two types of phenotypic plasticity in Drosophila melanogaster. Developmental acclimation occurs as developmental stages of an o...

BACKGROUND Diurnal temperature range (DTR) is an important index of climate change and variability. It is also a risk factor affecting human health. However, limited evidence is available to illustrate the effect of DTR modification on cause-specific cardiovascular disease among the elderly. METHODS A semi-parametric generalized additive model (GAM) was used to analyze the exposure-effect rel...

WRF-Chem simulations of aerosol seasonal variability in the San Joaquin Valley (SJV), California, are evaluated by satellite and in situ observations. Results show that the WRF-Chem model successfully captures the distribution and magnitude of and variation in SJV aerosols during the cold season. However, aerosols are not well represented in the warm season. Aerosol simulations in urban areas d...

Previous studies have established that sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTAs) in the tropical Pacific and Atlantic are the main forcing of the interannual variation of the wet season onsets in the Amazon. However, this variation appears to be complex and not uniquely determined by SSTAs. What causes such a complexity and to what extent the interannual variation of the wet season onsets is pr...

Death rates become progressively higher when outdoor air temperature rises above or falls below 20-25 degrees C. This study addresses the question of whether this relation is largely attributable to the direct effects of exposure to heat and cold on the human body in general, and on the circulatory system in particular. The association between daily mortality and daily temperatures in the Nethe...

800x600 normal 0 false false false en-us x-none ar-sa microsoftinternetexplorer4 background: this study’s aim was to design and validate a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (ffq) for assessment of fruits and vegetables (fv) consumption in adults of isfahan by comparing the ffq with dietary reference method and blood plasma levels of beta-carotene, vitamin c, and retinol. methods: t...

Cold-induced mortality is a key factor driving mountain pine beetle, Dendroctonus ponderosae, population dynamics. In this species, the supercooling point (SCP) is representative of mortality induced by acute cold exposure. Mountain pine beetle SCP and associated cold-induced mortality fluctuate throughout a generation, with the highest SCPs prior to and following winter. Using observed SCPs of...

This paper presents an analysis of the frequency and spatial distribution of droughts in Argentina during the 20th century. Special attention is given to the mean monthly atmospheric circulation associated with dry conditions in the Pampas during the second half of the century. A reduction in the number of dry cases is found throughout the century, especially during the warm season (October to ...

As a more detailed continuation of a previous study, faecal samples for worm egg counts were collected per rectum from ten marked adult animals in selected flocks of goats, in each of six villages evenly spread out in the communal farming district of Okakarara in eastern Namibia. The study was conducted on a monthly basis from August 1999 to July 2000. Average faecal worm egg counts (FECs) were...