Cell size plays a role in evolutionary and phenotypically plastic changes in body size. To examine this role, we measured the sizes of seven cell types of geckos (Paroedura picta) reared at three constant temperatures (24, 27, and 30°C). Our results show that the cell size varies according to the body size, sex and developmental temperature, but the pattern of this variance depends on the cell type. We identified three groups of cell types, and the cell sizes changed in a coordinated manner within each group. Larger geckos had larger erythrocytes, striated muscle cells and hepatocytes (our first cell group), but their renal proximal tubule cells and duodenal enterocytes (our second cell group), as well as tracheal chondrocytes and epithelial skin cells (our third cell group), were largely unrelated to the body size. For six cell types, we also measured the nuclei and found that larger cells had larger nuclei. The relative sizes of the nuclei were not invariant but varied in a complex manner with temperature and sex. In conclusion, we provide evidence suggesting that changes in cell size might be commonly involved in the origin of thermal and sexual differences in adult size. A recent theory predicts that smaller cells speed up metabolism but demand more energy for their maintenance; consequently, the cell size matches the metabolic demand and supply, which in ectotherms, largely depends on the thermal conditions. The complex thermal dependency of cell size in geckos suggests that further advancements in understanding the adaptive value of cell size requires the consideration of tissue-specific demand/supply conditions.

Variation in individual condition is probably one of the most critical factors affecting the high levels of diversity in animal fitness components, commonly observed in natural populations. Differential access to nutritional resources, in turn, is among the most important determinants of condition. However, our understanding of how resource access at different stages of life cycle shapes animal traits is still far from comprehensive. Here, we analyzed how larval and adult diet affects key reproductive components of males (mating activity) and females (fecundity) in red flour beetles Tribolium castaneum. Furthermore, we used path analysis to investigate whether the effects of nutritional conditions are mediated by body mass. In males, we found that juvenile, but not adult diet affected mating performance, with males developing on rich diet as larvae achieving higher mating success. In females, on the other hand, these effects interacted: malnutrition at larval stage led to fecundity decline, which was partially alleviated if dietary conditions were improved at the adult stage. Interestingly, the effects of diet on reproductive traits were mostly independent of body mass. These results suggest that larval nutrition may influence reproduction via effects on composition, rather than size, of the adult body.

The maintenance of males and outcrossing is widespread, despite considerable costs of males. By enabling recombination between distinct genotypes, outcrossing may be advantageous during adaptation to novel environments and if so, it should be selected for under environmental challenge. However, a given environmental change may influence fitness of male, female, and hermaphrodite or asexual individuals differently, and hence the relationship between reproductive system and dynamics of adaptation to novel conditions may not be driven solely by the level of outcrossing and recombination. This has important implications for studies investigating the evolution of reproductive modes in the context of environmental changes, and for the extent to which their findings can be generalized. Here, we use Caenorhabditis elegans—a free-living nematode species in which hermaphrodites (capable of selfing but not cross-fertilizing each other) coexist with males (capable of fertilizing hermaphrodites)—to investigate the response of wild type as well as obligatorily outcrossing and obligatorily selfing lines to stressfully increased ambient temperature. We found that thermal stress affects fitness of outcrossers much more drastically than that of selfers. This shows that apart from the potential for recombination, the selective pressures imposed by the same environmental change can differ between populations expressing different reproductive systems and affect their adaptive potential.

The maintenance of males and outcrossing is widespread, despite considerable costs of males. By enabling recombination between distinct genotypes, outcrossing may be advantageous during adaptation to a novel environments and if so, it should be selected for under environmental challenge. However, a given environmental change may influence fitness of male, female, and hermaphrodite or asexual individuals differently, and hence the relationship between reproductive system and dynamics of adaptation to novel conditions may not be driven solely by the level of outcrossing and recombination. This has important implications for studies investigating the evolution of reproductive modes in the context of environmental changes, and for the extent to which their findings can be generalized. Here, we use Caenorhabditis elegans – a free-living nematode species in which hermaphrodites (capable of selfing but not cross-fertilizing each other) coexist with males (capable of fertilizing hermaphrodites) – to investigate the response of wild type as well as obligatorily outcrossing and obligatorily selfing lines to stressfully increased ambient temperature. We found that thermal stress affects fitness of outcrossers much more drastically than that of selfers. This shows that apart from the potential for recombination, the selective pressures imposed by the same environmental change can differ between populations expressing different reproductive systems and affect their adaptive potential.

Th e aim of the article is to present analyze, as provided for in the provisions of the Hunting Law Act, appeals against the decision of the hunting asssciation regarding the exclusion from among its members as an institution of procedural law, diff erent from classical appeals. Th e article attempts to determine the essence of membership in a hunting assocition in legal terms. Th e issues of the jurisdiction of the court authorized to hear the appeal were presented, taking into account the legislative changes made in this respect. Moreover, the analysis of the conditions for the admissibility of substantive examination of the appeal by a common court was carried out. Th e last part of the article attempts to defi ne the nature of the appeal as a procedural document and to defi ne its formal requirements. Streszczenie Celem artykułu jest analiza przewidzianego w przepisach ustawy-Prawo łowieckie, odwołania od uchwały w sprawie wykluczenia z grona członków koła łowieckiego jako instytucji prawa procesowego, odmiennej od klasycznych środków zaskarżenia.