Kinetics of alcoholic fermentation by Saccharomyces cerevisiae wine strains in a synthetic medium with high sugar content were established for different nitrogen initial content and are presented for four strains. The composition of the medium was close to grape must except that the nitrogen source consisted mainly in ammonium and was varied from 120 to 290 mg N/l assimilable nitrogen. The overall nitrogen consumed was also estimated in order to determine nitrogen requirement variability. The effect of assimilable nitrogen was in general greater on sugar consumption rates than on growth and three kinds of effect on sugar consumption rates were observed: (i) existence of an optimal initial nitrogen level for a maximal sugar consumption rate (inhibition if excess), (ii) no effect of nitrogen beyond the intermediary level (saturation), (iii) sugar consumption rate proportional to the initial nitrogen level (activation). In all cases, the amount of consumed nitrogen increased with its initial concentration and so did the fructophilic capacity of the strains. The optimal requirement varied from 0.62 to 0.91 mg N/g of sugars according to different strains. There was no general correlation between the sugar assimilation rates and the nitrogen requirement.

From invertebrates to vertebrates, a wealth of species display transient sociality during their life cycle. Investigating the causes of dispersal in temporary associations is important to better understand population dynamics. It is also essential to identify possible mechanisms involved in the evolutionary transition from transient to stable sociality, which has been documented repeatedly across taxa and typically requires the suppression of dispersal. In many animals, the onset of dispersal during ontogeny coincides with a sharp decline in social tolerance, but the causal relationship still remains poorly understood. Spiders offer relevant models to explore this question, because the adults of the vast majority of species (>48,000) are solitary and aggressive, but juveniles of most (if not all) species are gregarious and display amicable behaviors. We deployed a combination of behavioral, chemical, and modelling approaches in spiderlings of a solitary species to investigate the mechanisms controlling the developmental switch leading to the decline of social cohesion and the loss of tolerance. We show that maturation causes an increase in mobility that is sufficient to elicit dispersal without requiring any change in social behaviors. Our results further demonstrate that social isolation following dispersal triggers aggressiveness in altering the processing of conspecifics’ cues. We thus provide strong evidence that aggression is a consequence, not a cause, of dispersal in spiderlings. Overall, this study highlights the need of extended social interactions to preserve tolerance, which opens new perspectives for understanding the routes to permanent sociality.

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