Based on their finding that evolutionary trends to earlier maturity resulting from fisheries that target late-maturing individuals can be associated with step-wise, 1-year shifts in age at first reproduction, De Roos et al. (2006) hypothesized that early maturation at small sizes and late maturation at large sizes may represent alternative evolutionarily and ecologically stable states.
Mechanical processing of barley silage harvested at a mid-dough stage of maturity resulted in small improvements in its nutritive value for lactating dairy cows and had minor impact on digestibility and milk production.
Most mantled howlers of both sexes are evicted from the group they were born in upon reaching sexual maturity, resulting in most adult group members being unrelated.
For example, with howler monkeys both the males and females typically transfer from their natal group on reaching sexual maturity, resulting in groups in which neither the males nor females are typically related.
Histological studies demonstrate that gradual pollen death occurs with maturity, resulting in decreased viability at the time of anthesis.
Oilseed plants with lush branches and leaves, in contrast, produce many empty pods and shrunken seeds at maturity, resulting from insufficient import to the developing seeds [ 47].
Previous reports showed that the activity and abundance of β-oxidation enzymes were increased during seed dehydration and maturity, resulting in the degradation of storage oil and a loss of lipids [ 31, 32].
However, long-lived tree species present somewhat of an adaptive paradox in that they have a delay until reproductive maturity resulting in a generation time on the order of 20 to 50 years or longer, depending on ecological disturbance or harvesting rotations (Petit and Hampe 2006).
The differences in stage of maturity resulted in different adjustments for body weight, namely a linear effect for cohort 1 and a curvilinear effect for cohort 2, suggesting a plateau of growth had been reached and animals were in the mature fattening phase of development.
The exclusion of these women introduces a bias called verification bias, since women with low fetal lung maturity test results were more likely to be excluded than women with normal or high fetal lung maturity test results [ 8].
