pinecone/core-2020-05-10-deduplication huggingface dataset:
Leaf trait variations associated with habitat affinity of tropical karst tree species

Karst hills, that is, jagged topography created by dissolution of limestone and other soluble rocks, are distributed extensively in tropical forest regions, including southern parts of China. They are characterized by a sharp mosaic of water and nutrient availability, from exposed hilltops with poor soil development to valleys with occasional flooding, to which trees show species‐specific distributions. Here we report the relationship of leaf functional traits to habitat preference of tropical karst trees. We described leaf traits of 19 tropical tree species in a seasonal karst rainforest in Guangxi Province, China, 12 species in situ and 13 ex situ in a non‐karst arboretum, which served as a common garden, with six species sampled in both. We examined how the measured leaf traits differed in relation to species’ habitat affinity and evaluated trait consistency between natural habitats vs. the arboretum. Leaf mass per area (LMA) and optical traits (light absorption and reflectance characteristics between 400 and 1, 050 nm) showed significant associations with each other and habitats, with hilltop species showing high values of LMA and low values of photochemical reflectance index (PRI). For the six species sampled in both the karst forest and the arboretum, LMA, leaf dry matter content, stomatal density, and vein length per area showed inconsistent within‐species variations, whereas some traits (stomatal pore index and lamina thickness) were similar between the two sites. In conclusion, trees specialized in exposed karst hilltops with little soils are characterized by thick leaves with high tissue density indicative of conservative resources use, and this trait syndrome could potentially be sensed remotely with PRI
Stressful environments induce novel phenotypic variation: hierarchical reaction norms for sperm performance of a pervasive invader

Genetic variation for phenotypic plasticity is ubiquitous and important. However, the scale of such variation including the relative variability present in reaction norms among different hierarchies of biological organization (e.g., individuals, populations, and closely related species) is unknown. Complicating interpretation is a trade-off in environmental scale. As plasticity can only be inferred over the range of environments tested, experiments focusing on fine tuned responses to normal or benign conditions may miss cryptic phenotypic variation expressed under novel or stressful environments. Here, we sought to discern the presence and shape of plasticity in the performance of brown trout sperm as a function of optimal to extremely stressful river pH, and demarcate if the reaction norm varies among genotypes. Our overarching goal was to determine if deteriorating environmental quality increases expressed variation among individuals. A more applied aim was to ascertain whether maintaining sperm performance over a wide pH range could help explain how brown trout are able to invade diverse river systems when transplanted outside of their native range. Individuals differed in their reaction norms of phenotypic expression of an important trait in response to environmental change. Cryptic variation was revealed under stressful conditions, evidenced through increasing among-individual variability. Importantly, data on population averages masked this variability in plasticity. In addition, canalized reaction norms in sperm swimming velocities of many individuals over a very large range in water chemistry may help explain why brown trout are able to colonize a wide variety of habitats
Phylogenetic relationships and phylogeography of relevant lineages within the complex Campanulaceae family in Macaronesia

Original ResearchMacaronesia has long been recognized as a natural model for studying evolutionary
processes in plant diversification. Several studies have attempted to focus on single
lineages, and few have covered the diversification of a family across all the archipelagos.
We used a comprehensive sample to clarify the phylogenetic relationships and
the biogeographic history of the Macaronesian Campanulaceae. Hypotheses related
to the colonization of these archipelagos will be used to examine the diversification
patterns of different lineages. We sequenced the ITS region and six cpDNA markers
(atpB, matK, petD, rbcL, trnL-F, and psbA-trnH) from 10 Campanulaceae species, including
seven endemic species in Macaronesia. The phylogeny of these taxa was reconstructed
using maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood, and Bayesian inference. To
study the relationships within each lineage, haplotype networks were calculated using
NeighborNet and TCS algorithms. Moreover, data were combined with fossil information
to construct time-calibrated
trees for the Macaronesian Campanulaceae species.
The phylogenetic analyses are largely congruent with current taxon circumscriptions,
and all the endemic genera formed monophyletic clades, namely Azorina in Azores;
Musschia in Madeira; and Campanula in Cape Verde. The Azorina clade and the Cape
Verde endemic Campanula may share a common ancestor in North Africa, and the divergence
was dated ca. 12.3 million years ago (Mya). The divergence of the Musschia
clade began in the Pliocene ca. 3.4 Mya. Moreover, several examples of intraspecific
variation were revealed among the native species with a clear geographic structured
patterns, suggesting that cryptic diversity might exist within the native Macaronesian
Campanulaceae when compared to the close mainland taxa (e.g., Campanula erinus,
Trachelium caeruleum), but additional studies are needed to support the molecular
data. This study highlights the power of combining data (e.g., phylogeny and divergence
times, with species distribution data) for testing diversification hypotheses
within the unique Macaronesian flora, providing useful information for future conservation
efforts.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Hunting-mediated predator facilitation and superadditive mortality in a European ungulate

Predator-prey theory predicts that in the presence of multiple types of predators using a common prey, predator facilitation may result as a consequence of contrasting prey defense mechanisms, where reducing the risk from one predator increases the risk from the other. While predator facilitation is well established in natural predator-prey systems, little attention has been paid to situations where human hunters compete with natural predators for the same prey. Here, we investigate hunting-mediated predator facilitation in a hunter-predator-prey system. We found that hunter avoidance by roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) exposed them to increase predation risk by Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx). Lynx responded by increasing their activity and predation on deer, providing evidence that superadditive hunting mortality may be occurring through predator facilitation. Our results reveal a new pathway through which human hunters, in their role as top predators, may affect species interactions at lower trophic levels and thus drive ecosystem processes
A spatiotemporal analysis of acoustic interactions between great reed warblers (Acrocephalus arundinaceus
) using microphone arrays and robot audition software HARK

Acoustic interactions are important for understanding intra‐ and interspecific communication in songbird communities from the viewpoint of soundscape ecology. It has been suggested that birds may divide up sound space to increase communication efficiency in such a manner that they tend to avoid overlap with other birds when they sing. We are interested in clarifying the dynamics underlying the process as an example of complex systems based on short‐term behavioral plasticity. However, it is very problematic to manually collect spatiotemporal patterns of acoustic events in natural habitats using data derived from a standard single‐channel recording of several species singing simultaneously. Our purpose here was to investigate fine‐scale spatiotemporal acoustic interactions of the great reed warbler. We surveyed spatial and temporal patterns of several vocalizing color‐banded great reed warblers (Acrocephalus arundinaceus) using an open‐source software for robot audition HARK (Honda Research Institute Japan Audition for Robots with Kyoto University) and three new 16‐channel, stand‐alone, and water‐resistant microphone arrays, named DACHO spread out in the bird's habitat. We first show that our system estimated the location of two color‐banded individuals’ song posts with mean error distance of 5.5 ± 4.5 m from the location of observed song posts. We then evaluated the temporal localization accuracy of the songs by comparing the duration of localized songs around the song posts with those annotated by human observers, with an accuracy score of average 0.89 for one bird that stayed at one song post. We further found significant temporal overlap avoidance and an asymmetric relationship between songs of the two singing individuals, using transfer entropy. We believe that our system and analytical approach contribute to a better understanding of fine‐scale acoustic interactions in time and space in bird communities
Little effect of seasonal constraints on population genetic structure in eusocial paper wasps.

Climate has long been suggested to affect population genetic structures of eusocial insect societies. For instance, Hamilton [Journal of Theoretical Biology7 (1964) 17] discusses whether temperate and tropical eusocial insects may show differences in population-level genetic structure and viscosity, and how this might relate to differences in the degree of synchrony in their life cycles or modes of nest founding. Despite the importance of Hamilton's 1964 papers, this specific idea has not been tested in actual populations of wasps, probably due to the paucity of studies on tropical species. Here, we compare colony and population genetic structures in two species of primitively eusocial paper wasps with contrasting ecologies: the tropical species Polistes canadensis and the temperate species P. dominulus. Our results provide important clarifications of Hamilton's discussion. Specifically, we show that the genetic structures of the temperate and tropical species were very similar, indicating that seasonality does not greatly affect population viscosity or inbreeding. For both species, the high genetic differentiation between nests suggests strong selection at the nest level to live with relatives, whereas low population viscosity and low genetic differentiation between nest aggregations might reflect balancing selection to disperse, avoiding competition with relatives. Overall, our study suggests no prevalence of seasonal constraints of the life cycle in affecting the population genetic structure of eusocial paper wasps. These conclusions are likely to apply also to other primitively eusocial insects, such as halictine bees. They also highlight how selection for a kin structure that promotes altruism can override potential effects of ecology in eusocial insects
Phenotypic plasticity alone cannot explain climate-induced change in avian migration timing

Recent climate change has been linked to shifts in the timing of life cycle events in many organisms, but there is debate over the degree to which phenological changes are caused by evolved genetic responses of populations or by phenotypic plasticity of individuals. We estimated plasticity of spring arrival date in 27 species of bird that breed in the vicinity of an observatory in eastern North America. For 2441 individuals detected in multiple years, arrival occurred earlier during warm years, especially in species that migrate short distances. Phenotypic plasticity averaged -0.93 days∙°C-1 ± 0.70 (95% CI). However, plasticity accounted for only 13-25% of the climate-induced trend in phenology observed over 46 years. Although our approach probably underestimates the full scope of plasticity, the data suggest that part of the response to environmental change has been caused by microevolution. The estimated evolutionary rates are plausible (0.016 haldanes)
How much of the invader’s genetic variability can slip between\ud
our fingers? A case study of secondary dispersal of Poa annua\ud
on King George Island (Antarctica)

We studied an invasion of Poa annua on King George Island (Maritime Antarctic). The\ud
remoteness of this location, its geographic isolation, and its limited human traffic provided\ud
an opportunity to trace the history of an invasion of the species. Poa annua was\ud
recorded for the first time at H. Arctowski Polish Antarctic Station in the austral summer\ud
of 1985/6. In 2008/9, the species was observed in a new locality at the Ecology\ud
Glacier Forefield (1.5 km from “Arctowski”). We used AFLP to analyze the genetic\ud
differences among three populations of P. annua: the two mentioned above (Station\ud
and Forefield) and the putative origin of the introduction, Warsaw (Poland). There was\ud
38% genetic variance among the populations. Pairwise ФPT was 0.498 between the\ud
Forefield and Warsaw populations and 0.283 between Warsaw and Station. There were\ud
15 unique bands in the Warsaw population (frequency from 6% to 100%) and one in\ud
the Station/Forefield populations (which appears in all analyzed individuals from both\ud
populations). The Δ(K) parameter indicated two groups of samples: Warsaw/Station\ud
and Forefield. As indicated by Fu’s Fs statistics and an analysis of mismatch distribution,\ud
the Forefield population underwent a bottleneck and/or founder effect. The\ud
Forefield population was likely introduced by secondary dispersal from the Station\ud
population
Proximate causes of altitudinal differences in body size in an agamid lizard

Body size is directly linked to key life history traits such as growth, fecundity, and survivorship. Identifying the causes of body size variation is a critical task in ecological and evolutionary research. Body size variation along altitudinal gradients has received considerable attention; however, the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. Here, we compared the growth rate and age structure of toad‐headed lizards (Phrynocephalus vlangalii) from two populations found at different elevations in the Qinghai‐Tibetan Plateau. We used mark‐recapture and skeletochronological analysis to identify the potential proximate causes of altitudinal variation in body size. Lizards from the high‐elevation site had higher growth rates and attained slightly larger adult body sizes than lizards from the low‐elevation site. However, newborns produced by high‐elevation females were smaller than those by low‐elevation females. Von Bertalanffy growth estimates predicted high‐elevation individuals would reach sexual maturity at an earlier age and have a lower mean age than low‐elevation individuals. Relatively lower mean age for the high‐elevation population was confirmed using the skeletochronological analysis. These results support the prediction that a larger adult body size of high‐elevation P. vlangalii results from higher growth rates, associated with higher resource availability.Full Tex
Ecobat: An online resource to facilitate transparent, evidence-based interpretation of bat activity data

This is the final version of the article. Available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.Acoustic surveys of bats are one of the techniques most commonly used by ecological practitioners. The results are used in Ecological Impact Assessments to assess the likely impacts of future developments on species that are widely protected in law, and to monitor developments' postconstruction. However, there is no standardized methodology for analyzing or interpreting these data, which can make the assessment of the ecological value of a site very subjective. Comparisons of sites and projects are therefore difficult for ecologists and decision-makers, for example, when trying to identify the best location for a new road based on relative bat activity levels along alternative routes. Here, we present a new web-based, data-driven tool, Ecobat, which addresses the need for a more robust way of interpreting ecological data. Ecobat offers users an easy, standardized, and objective method for analyzing bat activity data. It allows ecological practitioners to compare bat activity data at regional and national scales and to generate a numerical indicator of the relative importance of a night's worth of bat activity. The tool is free and open-source; because the underlying algorithms are already developed, it could easily be expanded to new geographical regions and species. Data donation is required to ensure the robustness of the analyses; we use a positive feedback mechanism to encourage ecological practitioners to share data by providing in return high quality, contextualized data analysis, and graphical visualizations for direct use in ecological reports.We would like to acknowledge the significant contributions of Natural
England, Scottish Natural Heritage, Natural Resources Wales, the
National Biodiversity Network, and the Bat Conservation Trust in initiating
the project. Ecobat was created with funding from NERC (NE/
M021882/1) and is now maintained by the Mammal Society www.
mammal.org.uk/ecostat
Spatial and temporal genetic dynamics of the grasshopper : javax.xml.bind.JAXBElement@2776f9ac : revealed by museum genomics.

Analyzing genetic variation through time and space is important to identify key evolutionary and ecological processes in populations. However, using contemporary genetic data to infer the dynamics of genetic diversity may be at risk of a bias, as inferences are performed from a set of extant populations, setting aside unavailable, rare, or now extinct lineages. Here, we took advantage of new developments in next-generation sequencing to analyze the spatial and temporal genetic dynamics of the grasshopper javax.xml.bind.JAXBElement@5baf6d73 , a steppic Southwestern-Palearctic species. We applied a recently developed hybridization capture (hyRAD) protocol that allows retrieving orthologous sequences even from degraded DNA characteristic of museum specimens. We identified single nucleotide polymorphisms in 68 historical and 51 modern samples in order to (i) unravel the spatial genetic structure across part of the species distribution and (ii) assess the loss of genetic diversity over the past century in Swiss populations. Our results revealed (i) the presence of three potential glacial refugia spread across the European continent and converging spatially in the Alpine area. In addition, and despite a limited population sample size, our results indicate (ii) a loss of allelic richness in contemporary Swiss populations compared to historical populations, whereas levels of expected heterozygosities were not significantly different. This observation is compatible with an increase in the bottleneck magnitude experienced by central European populations of javax.xml.bind.JAXBElement@1ba3a0b1 following human-mediated land-use change impacting steppic habitats. Our results confirm that application of hyRAD to museum samples produces valuable information to study genetic processes across time and space
Infrastructure features outperform environmental variables explaining rabbit abundance around motorways

Human disturbance is widespread across landscapes in the form of roads that alter wildlife populations. Knowing which road features are responsible for the species response and their relevance in comparison with environmental variables will provide useful information for effective conservation measures. We sampled relative abundance of European rabbits, a very widespread species, in motorway verges at regional scale, in an area with large variability in environmental and infrastructure conditions. Environmental variables included vegetation structure, plant productivity, distance to water sources, and altitude. Infrastructure characteristics were the type of vegetation in verges, verge width, traffic volume, and the presence of embankments. We performed a variance partitioning analysis to determine the relative importance of two sets of variables on rabbit abundance. Additionally, we identified the most important variables and their effects model averaging after model selection by AICc on hypothesis-based models. As a group, infrastructure features explained four times more variability in rabbit abundance than environmental variables, being the effects of the former critical in motorway stretches located in altered landscapes with no available habitat for rabbits, such as agricultural fields. Model selection and Akaike weights showed that verge width and traffic volume are the most important variables explaining rabbit abundance index, with positive and negative effects, respectively. In the light of these results, the response of species to the infrastructure can be modulated through the modification of motorway features, being some of them manageable in the design phase. The identification of such features leads to suggestions for improvement through low-cost corrective measures and conservation plans. As a general indication, keeping motorway verges less than 10 m wide will prevent high densities of rabbits and avoid the unwanted effects that rabbit populations can generate in some areasA.P. was supported by a PhD grant of the Basque Government. This
study forms part of the CENIT-OASIS Project funded by a consortium
of companies supported by the Centro para el Desarrollo Tecnológico
e Industrial of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation
(CENIT-2008 1016). The Comunidad de Madrid, together with the
European Social Fund, supports the TEG research group through the
REMEDINAL-3 Research Network (S2013/MAE-2719
Partitioning of herbivore hosts across time and food plants promotes diversification in the Megastigmus dorsalis oak gall parasitoid complex

Communities of  insect herbivores and their natural enemies are rich and ecologically crucial components of terrestrial biodiversity. Understanding the processes that promote   their origin and maintenance is thus of considerable interest. One major proposed mechanism is ecological speciation through host-associated differentiation (HAD), the   divergence of a polyphagous species first into ecological host races and eventually into   more specialized daughter species. The rich chalcid parasitoid communities attacking cynipid oak gall wasp hosts are structured by multiple host    traits, including food plant taxon, host gall phenology, and   gall structure. Here, we ask whether the same traits structure genetic diversity within supposedly generalist parasitoid morphospecies. We use mitochondrial DNA sequences and microsatellite genotypes to quantify HAD for Megastigmus (Bootanomyia) dorsalis, a complex of two apparently generalist cryptic parasitoid species attacking oak galls.    Ancient Balkan refugial populations showed phenological separation between the cryptic species, one primarily attacking spring galls, and the other mainly attacking autumn galls. The spring species also contained host races  specializing on galls developing on different host- plant    lineages (sections Cerris vs. Quercus)  within the oak genus Quercus. These results indicate more significant host-associated structuring within oak gall parasitoid communities than previously thought and support ecological theory predicting the evolution of specialist lineages within    generalist parasitoids. In contrast, UK populations of the   autumn cryptic species associated with both native and recently invading oak gall wasps showed no evidence of population differentiation, implying rapid recruitment of  native parasitoid populations onto invading hosts, and   hence potential for natural biological control. This is of  significance given recent rapid range expansion of the economically damaging chestnut gall wasp, Dryocosmus kuriphilus, in Europe