“A relatively small number of varieties that were grown in Ontario more than 100 years ago, some of which are no longer grown commercially, are showing up as likely parents of these feral apples,” says Brian Husband, an integrative biology professor who worked on the study with graduate student and primary author Dane Cronin and research associate Paul Kron.

The finding has implications for the hard apple cider industry, which has recently become enamoured of wild apples and their uniquely rich taste. The researchers say good, strong taste may be influenced by ancestral characteristics.

Published in the journal Molecular Ecology, the study involved hours of trekking through fields and forests across Ontario in search of feral trees for DNA samples. The researchers used DNA genotyping to evaluate an array of apple genes acquired from apple DNA banks in Canada, the U.S., and Europe. Apples were first grown commercially in Ontario in the late 1700s.

Using the samples, the researchers examined the genetic similarities between known varieties and feral trees, particularly those near traditional apple-growing regions.

Cronin says the findings suggest, among other things, that heritage cultivars – trees produced many years ago through selective breeding – are still contributing to the gene pool.

He says the characteristics of feral populations may resemble those of apple varieties grown hundreds of years ago by Ontario cider makers.

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A new international study co-authored by University of Guelph biologists found that, over a 10-day period, mammals in areas with high human activity range only half to one-third as far as those living in more natural landscapes.

“We need to come to grips with what limitations on mobility might mean,” says Prof. John Fryxell, chair of U of G’s Department of Integrative Biology.

Fryxell and post-doctoral researcher Tal Avgar partnered with more than 100 global researchers for the new study.

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The resulting “power law” shows there are always fewer top predators than expected in resource-rich ecosystems than in resource-poor ecosystems.

The study, co-authored by Fryxell and McCann, was published in Science.

The researchers looked at biomass and production measurements in grasslands, forests, lakes and oceans. They analyzed results of more than 1,000 previous studies conducted in more than 1,500 locations worldwide.

No matter where they looked, they found the same predator-prey ratios. “We kept being astonished,” says McCann. “This is just an amazing pattern.”

As you add more individuals of prey species to a resource-rich ecosystem such as the savanna, you might expect the biomass of predators to increase at the same rate, says Fryxell.

Instead, the ratio of predators to prey falls dramatically in that productive grassland.

“What is it about a productive system that accounts for reduced predator success?” he said. “When a system is teeming with prey, why are predators leaving so much food on the table?”

Biologists don’t yet have all the answers.

The paper calls for a new look at ecological mechanisms that shape food webs in similar ways around the planet. Fryxell says understanding these processes will likely yield better ways of conserving and managing natural resources.

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