Male behaviour drives assortative reproduction during the initial stage of secondary contact

Phenotypic divergence in allopatry can facilitate speciation by reducing the likelihood that individuals of different lineages hybridize during secondary contact. However, few studies have established the causes of reproductive isolation in the crucial early stages of secondary contact. Here, we establish behavioural causes of assortative reproduction between two phenotypically divergent lineages of the European wall lizard (Podarcis muralis), which have recently come into secondary contact. Parentage was highly assortative in experimental contact zones. However, despite pronounced divergence in male phenotypes, including chemical and visual sexual signals, there was no evidence that females discriminated between males of the two lineages in staged interactions or under naturalistic free-ranging conditions. Instead, assortative reproduction was driven by male mate preferences and, to a lesser extent, male-male competition. The effects were more pronounced when the habitat structure promoted high lizard densities. These results emphasize that assortative reproduction can occur in the absence of female choice and that male behaviour may play an important role in limiting hybridization during the initial stages of secondary contact.

Population-based surveillance of Hib invasive infections in children in British Columbia Alberta and Ontario - 1995 to 1997

OBJECTIVE

To assess vaccine effectiveness through enhanced disease surveillance following the change in childhood immunization programs in 1995, when all provinces and territories chose to use polyribosyl ribitol phosphate-tetanus protein (PRP-T) Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) conjugate vaccine, generally in combination with diphtheria-pertussis-tetanus inactivated polio vaccine (DPT-IPV) (as PENTA vaccine) because the protective efficacy of this regimen had not been directly measured.

DESIGN

Prospective, active, laboratory-based Hib case surveillance was implemented in British Columbia and Alberta, and enhanced, stimulated laboratory surveillance in Ontario during 1995 to 1997, centred on invasive infections in children. Case details and immunization histories were uniformly collected and centrally collated.

MAIN RESULTS

Thirty-eight Hib cases were detected, but only 12 cases arose among PENTA-eligible children, an attack rate of 0.85 cases/100,000 child-years of observation. Annual case totals declined from 20 in 1995 to seven in 1997, when only one to three cases were encountered in each province and the incidence rate in children under age five years was 0.6/100,000. Only four cases occurred after primary immunization with PENTA, a failure rate of 0.28 cases/100,000 child-years of observation. Three cases among PENTA-eligible children reflected parental refusal of infant vaccinations, accounting for 25% of cases in eligible children.

CONCLUSIONS

PRP-T conjugate vaccine was highly effective when given in combination with DPT-IPV vaccine. Provincial programs that used this regimen resulted in the near elimination of invasive Hib disease in children, but unimmunized children remain at risk.

Protection after two doses of measles vaccine is independent of interval between doses

The protection provided by one or two doses of measles vaccine was compared, as was the effect of the timing of delivery of the doses on the protection provided. A total of 5542 measles cases occurred in Ontario, Canada, between January 1990 and December 1996. Three controls per case were matched for age and residence. Children who received a single dose at age 15 months and older were 5 times more likely to contract measles than were children who received two doses of vaccine after their first birthday. Among children given two doses of vaccines, the risk of measles was 3 times greater in those who had their first vaccination at age 11 months compared with children who first received vaccine after age 1 year, but the protection was independent of the interval between doses. Delaying the second dose >6 months after the first does not increase protection.