pinecone/core-2020-05-10-deduplication huggingface dataset:
Evidence for inbreeding depression in a species with limited opportunity for maternal effects

It is often assumed that mating with close relatives reduces offspring fitness. In such cases, reduced offspring fitness may arise from inbreeding depression (i.e., genetic effects of elevated homozygosity) or from post-mating maternal investment. This can be due to a reduction in female investment after mating with genetically incompatible males ("differential allocation") or compensation for incompatibility ("reproductive compensation"). Here, we looked at the effects of mating with relatives on offspring fitness in mosquitofish, Gambusia holbrooki. In this species, females are assumed to be nonplacental and to allocate resources to eggs before fertilization, limiting differential allocation. We looked at the effects of mating with a brother or with an unrelated male on brood size, offspring size, gestation period, and early offspring growth. Mating with a relative reduced the number of offspring at birth, but there was no difference in the likelihood of breeding, gestation time, nor in the size or growth of these offspring. We suggest that due to limited potential for maternal effects to influence these traits that any reduction in offspring fitness, or lack thereof, can be explained by inbreeding depression rather than by maternal effects. We highlight the importance of considering the potential role of maternal effects when studying inbreeding depression and encourage further studies in other Poeciliid species with different degrees of placentation to test whether maternal effects mask or amplify any genetic effects of mating with relatives.This work was supported bythe Australian Research Council (DP120100339). R.V.-T. is supported by fellowships from Consejo Nacion-al de Ciencia y Tecnologıa-Mexico and the ResearchSchool of Biology
Investment in sensory structures, testis size, and wing coloration in males of a diurnal moth species: trade-offs or correlated growth?

For dioecious animals, reproductive success typically involves an exchange between the sexes of signals that provide information about mate location and quality. Typically, the elaborate, secondary sexual ornaments of males signal their quality, while females may signal their location and receptivity. In theory, the receptor structures that receive the latter signals may also become elaborate or enlarged in a way that ultimately functions to enhance mating success through improved mate location. The large, elaborate antennae of many male moths are one such sensory structure, and eye size may also be important in diurnal moths. Investment in these traits may be costly, resulting in trade-offs among different traits associated with mate location. For polyandrous species, such trade-offs may also include traits associated with paternity success, such as larger testes. Conversely, we would not expect this to be the case for monandrous species, where sperm competition is unlikely. We investigated these ideas by evaluating the relationship between investment in sensory structures (antennae, eye), testis, and a putative warning signal (orange hindwing patch) in field-caught males of the monandrous diurnal painted apple moth Teia anartoides (Lepidoptera: Lymantriidae) in southeastern Australia. As predicted for a monandrous species, we found no evidence that male moths with larger sensory structures had reduced investment in testis size. However, contrary to expectation, investment in sensory structures was correlated: males with relatively larger antennae also had relatively larger eyes. Intriguingly, also, the size of male orange hindwing patches was positively correlated with testis size
Association with pathogenic bacteria affects life-history traits and population growth in Caenorhabditis elegans.

Determining the relationship between individual life-history traits and population dynamics is an essential step to understand and predict natural selection. Model organisms that can be conveniently studied experimentally at both levels are invaluable to test the rich body of theoretical literature in this area. The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, despite being a well-established workhorse in genetics, has only recently received attention from ecologists and evolutionary biologists, especially with respect to its association with pathogenic bacteria. In order to start filling the gap between the two areas, we conducted a series of experiments aiming at measuring life-history traits as well as population growth of C. elegans in response to three different bacterial strains: Escherichia coli OP50, Salmonella enterica Typhimurium, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1. Whereas previous studies had established that the latter two reduced the survival of nematodes feeding on them compared to E. coli OP50, we report for the first time an enhancement in reproductive success and population growth for worms feeding on S. enterica Typhimurium. Furthermore, we used an age-specific population dynamic model, parameterized using individual life-history assays, to successfully predict the growth of populations over three generations. This study paves the way for more detailed and quantitative experimental investigation of the ecology and evolution of C. elegans and the bacteria it interacts with, which could improve our understanding of the fate of opportunistic pathogens in the environment.We thank Andrew Grant and Craig Winstanley for providing
strains and reagents. Some C. elegans and bacterial
strains were provided by the Caenorhabditis Genetics Centre,
which is funded by NIH’s Office of Research Infrastructure
Programs (P40 OD010440). This research was
funded by a grant from the Biotechnology and Biological
Sciences Research Council (grant number BB/I012222/1)
to O.R. O.R. also acknowledges funding from the Royal
Society (University Research Fellowship). EQM was supported
by a scholarship from the Winston Churchill
Foundation of the United States, and EGR by an EUfunded
Erasmus bursary (Lifelong Learning Programme).
We also thank two anonymous referees for their valuable
comments.This is the final published version. It first appeared at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.1461/abstract
Retaining biodiversity in intensive farmland: epiphyte removal in oil palm plantations does not affect yield

The expansion of agriculture into tropical forest frontiers is one of the primary drivers of the global extinction crisis, resulting in calls to intensify tropical agriculture to reduce demand for more forest land and thus spare land for nature. Intensification is likely to reduce habitat complexity, with profound consequences for biodiversity within agricultural landscapes. Understanding which features of habitat complexity are essential for maintaining biodiversity and associated ecosystem services within agricultural landscapes without compromising productivity is therefore key to limiting the environmental damage associated with producing food intensively. Here, we focus on oil palm, a rapidly expanding crop in the tropics and subject to frequent calls for increased intensification. One promoted strategy is to remove epiphytes that cover the trunks of oil palms, and we ask whether this treatment affects either biodiversity or yield. We experimentally tested this by removing epiphytes from four-hectare plots and seeing if the biodiversity and production of fruit bunches 2 months and 16 months later differed from equivalent control plots where epiphytes were left uncut. We found a species-rich and taxonomically diverse epiphyte community of 58 species from 31 families. Epiphyte removal did not affect the production of fresh fruit bunches, or the species richness and community composition of birds and ants, although the impact on other components of biodiversity remains unknown. We conclude that as they do not adversely affect palm oil production, the diverse epiphyte flora should be left uncut. Our results underscore the importance of experimentally determining the effects of habitat complexity on yield before introducing intensive methods with no discernible benefits.We would like to thank our local collaborator Chey Vun Khen for support and advice; Mike Bernadus and Markus Gubilil for help identifying angiosperms and ferns respectively; Anthony Karolus, Imogen Ogilvie, Ahmad Amat, Deddier Deddy, Sam Fabian, Sophus Zu Ermgassen, Gabriella Prescott, and several oil palm harvesters for research assistance; Hereward Corley, Bernard Tinker, Tom Fayle, Rhys Green, Andrea Manica, Andreas Knoell, Christopher Stewart, for advice; Claudia Gray, Michael Senior, Tara Thean, David Williams, Edgar Turner, and two anonymous reviewers for comments on the manuscript; the managers of the oil palm estates we worked at, Danumpalm Sdn. Bhd., Wilmar Int. Ltd., Sabah Softwoods Bhd., Economic Planning Unit of Malaysia, Sabah Biodiversity Centre, Yayasan Sabah, SEARRP, DVMC, and Glen Reynolds for permissions and logistical help. This work was done as part of SEARRP project RS309, with permission from the Sabah Biodiversity Centre (reference HJM/MBS.1000-2/2(60)). GWP was supported by a NERC studentship and by a CASE partner (ProForest).This is the final published version. It first appeared from Wiley via http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.1462/full
Relationships between climate and growth of gymnocypris selincuoensis in the tibetan plateau

The consequences of climate change are becoming increasingly evident in the Tibetan Plateau, represented by glaciers retreating and lakes expanding, but the biological response to climate change by plateau–lake ecosystems is poorly known. In this study, we applied dendrochronology methods to develop a growth index chronology with otolith increment widths of Selincuo naked carp (Gymnocypris selincuoensis), which is an endemic species in Lake Selincuo (4530 m), and investigated the relationships between fish growth and climate variables (regional and global) in the last three decades. A correlation analysis and principle component regression analysis between regional climate factors and the growth index chronology indicated that the growth of G. selincuoensis was significantly and positively correlated with length of the growing season and temperature-related variables, particularly during the growing season. Most of global climate variables, which are relevant to the Asian monsoon and the midlatitude westerlies, such as El Nino Southern Oscillation Index, the Arctic Oscillation, North Atlantic Oscillation, and North America Pattern, showed negative but not significant correlations with the annual growth of Selincuo naked carp. This may have resulted from the high elevation of the Tibetan Plateau and the high mountains surrounding this area. In comparison, the Pacific Decade Oscillation (PDO) negatively affected the growth of G. selincuoensis. The reason maybe that enhancement of the PDO can lead to cold conditions in this area. Taken together, the results indicate that the Tibetan Plateau fish has been affected by global climate change, particularly during the growing season, and global climate change likely has important effects on productivity of aquatic ecosystems in this area.Griffith Sciences, Griffith School of EnvironmentFull Tex
Lake size and fish diversity determine resource use and trophic position of a top predator in high-latitude lakes

Prey preference of top predators and energy flow across habitat boundaries are  of fundamental importance for structure and function of aquatic and terrestrial  ecosystems, as they may have strong effects on production, species diversity,  and food-web stability. In lakes, littoral and pelagic food-web compartments  are typically coupled and controlled by generalist fish top predators. However,  the extent and determinants of such coupling remains a topical area of ecological  research and is largely unknown in oligotrophic high-latitude lakes. We analyzed  food-web structure and resource use by a generalist top predator, the  Arctic charr Salvelinus alpinus (L.), in 17 oligotrophic subarctic lakes covering a  marked gradient in size (0.5–1084 km2) and fish species richness (2–13 species).  We expected top predators to shift from littoral to pelagic energy sources with  increasing lake size, as the availability of pelagic prey resources and the competition  for littoral prey are both likely to be higher in large lakes with multispecies  fish communities. We also expected top predators to occupy a higher  trophic position in lakes with greater fish species richness due to potential substitution  of intermediate consumers (prey fish) and increased piscivory by top  predators. Based on stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses, the mean reliance  of Arctic charr on littoral energy sources showed a significant negative  relationship with lake surface area, whereas the mean trophic position of Arctic  charr, reflecting the lake food-chain length, increased with fish species richness.  These results were supported by stomach contents data demonstrating a shift of  Arctic charr from an invertebrate-dominated diet to piscivory on pelagic fish.  Our study highlights that, because they determine the main energy source (littoral  vs. pelagic) and the trophic position of generalist top predators, ecosystem  size and fish diversity are particularly important factors influencing function  and structure of food webs in high-latitude lakes.  Benthic, energy mobilization, food-chain  length, habitat coupling, lake morphometry,  predation, resource competition, stable  isotope analysis, trophic nich
Condition, not eyespan, predicts contest outcome in female stalk-eyed flies, Teleopsis dalmanni

In contests among males, body condition is often the key determinant of a successful outcome, with fighting ability signaled by so-called armaments, that is, exaggerated, condition-dependent traits. However, it is not known whether condition and exaggerated traits function in the same way in females. Here, we manipulated adult condition by varying larval nutrition in the stalk-eyed fly, Teleopsis dalmanni, a species in which eyespan is exaggerated in both sexes, and we measured the outcome of contests between females of similar or different body condition and relative eyespan. We found that females in higher condition, with both larger bodies and eyespan, won a higher proportion of encounters when competing against rivals of lower condition. However, when females were of equal condition, neither eyespan nor body length had an effect on the outcome of a contest. An analysis of previously published data revealed a similar pattern in males: individuals with large relative eyespan did not win significantly more encounters when competing with individuals of a similar body size. Contrary to expectations, and to previous findings in males, there was no clear effect of differences in body size or eyespan affecting contest duration in females. Taken together, our findings suggest that although eyespan can provide an honest indicator of condition, large eyespans provide no additional benefit to either sex in intrasexual aggressive encounters; body size is instead the most important factor
Seaweed fails to prevent ocean acidification impact on foraminifera along a shallow-water CO2 gradient.

Ocean acidification causes biodiversity loss, alters ecosystems, and may impact food security, as shells of small organisms dissolve easily in corrosive waters. There is a suggestion that photosynthetic organisms could mitigate ocean acidification on a local scale, through seagrass protection or seaweed cultivation, as net ecosystem organic production raises the saturation state of calcium carbonate making seawater less corrosive. Here, we used a natural gradient in calcium carbonate saturation, caused by shallow-water CO2 seeps in the Mediterranean Sea, to assess whether seaweed that is resistant to acidification (Padina pavonica) could prevent adverse effects of acidification on epiphytic foraminifera. We found a reduction in the number of species of foraminifera as calcium carbonate saturation state fell and that the assemblage shifted from one dominated by calcareous species at reference sites (pH ∼8.19) to one dominated by agglutinated foraminifera at elevated levels of CO2 (pH ∼7.71). It is expected that ocean acidification will result in changes in foraminiferal assemblage composition and agglutinated forms may become more prevalent. Although Padina did not prevent adverse effects of ocean acidification, high biomass stands of seagrass or seaweed farms might be more successful in protecting epiphytic foraminifera
The Effects of Ocean Acidification on Modern Benthic Foraminifera

Some chapters of this thesis were prepared as papers and have now been published: Pettit, L. R., Smart, C. W, Hart, M. B., Milazzo, M. and Hall-Spencer, J. M. (2015). Seaweed fails to prevent ocean acidification impact on foraminifera. Ecology and Evolution. DOI: 10.1002/ece3.1475. Pettit, L. R., Hart, M. B., Medina-Sánchez, A., Smart, C. W., Rodolfo-Metalpa, R., Hall-Spencer, J. M. and Prol-Ledesma, R. M. (2013). Benthic foraminifera show some resilience to ocean acidification in the northern Gulf of California, Mexico. Marine Pollution Bulletin. 73: 452-462.Ocean acidification may cause biodiversity loss, alter ecosystems and impact food security, yet uncertainty over ecological responses to ocean acidification remains considerable. Most work on the impact of ocean acidification on foraminifera has been short-term laboratory experiments on single species. To expand this, benthic foraminiferal assemblages were examined across shallow water CO2 gradients in the Gulf of California, off the islands of Ischia and Vulcano in Italy and off Papua New Guinea. Living assemblages from the Gulf of California did not appear to show a response across a pH range of 7.55 – 7.88, although the species assemblage was impoverished in all locations and the dead assemblage was less diverse at the lowest pH sites where there was evidence of post mortem dissolution. At Vulcano, the small macroalga, Padina pavonica, did not protect calcareous foraminifera from the adverse effects of ocean acidification. Calcareous taxa disappeared from the assemblage and were replaced by agglutinated foraminifera as mean pH reduced from 8.19 to 7.71. Settlement of benthic foraminifera onto artificial collectors off Vulcano was adversely affected in the acidified water, with few species as pCO2 increased and evidence of post-mortem dissolution. The foraminiferal tests, collected off Papua New Guinea, had lower δ11B as mean pH decreased from 7.99 – 7.82 for small (250 – 500 µm) Amphistegina lessonii, but not for A. lessonii or Calcarina spengleri >500 µm. In the larger foraminifera, photosynthetic activity by symbionts may begin to dominate the boron isotopic signature. Overall, the responses of foraminiferal assemblages to ocean acidification are complex, but there was an overall reduction in species diversity in infaunal, epifaunal and epiphytic assemblages as pCO2 increased. This raises serious concerns for the survival of shallow water calcareous benthic foraminifera as the oceans continue to acidify, with implications for benthic ecosystems and inorganic carbon cycling.Natural Environment Research Council UKOA Research Programm
Temporal patterns in Saturnidae (silk moth) and Sphingidae (hawk moth) assemblages in protected forests of central Uganda

Forest-dependent biodiversity is threatened throughout the tropics by habitat loss and land-use intensification of the matrix habitats. We resampled historic data on two moth families, known to play central roles in many ecosystem processes, to evaluate temporal changes in species richness and community structure in three protected forests in central Uganda in a rapidly changing matrix. Our results show some significant declines in the moth species richness and the relative abundance and richness of forest-dependent species over the last 20–40 years. The observed changes in species richness and composition among different forests, ecological types, and moth groups highlight the need to repeatedly monitor biodiversity even within protected and relatively intact forests
The evolution of pattern camouflage strategies in waterfowl and game birds

This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Wiley via http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.1482Visual patterns are common in animals. A broad survey of the literature has revealed that different patterns have distinct functions. Irregular patterns (e.g., stipples) typically function in static camouflage, whereas regular patterns (e.g., stripes) have a dual function in both motion camouflage and communication. Moreover, irregular and regular patterns located on different body regions (“bimodal” patterning) can provide an effective compromise between camouflage and communication and/or enhanced concealment via both static and motion camouflage. Here, we compared the frequency of these three pattern types and traced their evolutionary history using Bayesian comparative modeling in aquatic waterfowl (Anseriformes: 118 spp.), which typically escape predators by flight, and terrestrial game birds (Galliformes: 170 spp.), which mainly use a “sit and hide” strategy to avoid predation. Given these life histories, we predicted that selection would favor regular patterning in Anseriformes and irregular or bimodal patterning in Galliformes and that pattern function complexity should increase over the course of evolution. Regular patterns were predominant in Anseriformes whereas regular and bimodal patterns were most frequent in Galliformes, suggesting that patterns with multiple functions are broadly favored by selection over patterns with a single function in static camouflage. We found that the first patterns to evolve were either regular or bimodal in Anseriformes and either irregular or regular in Galliformes. In both orders, irregular patterns could evolve into regular patterns but not the reverse. Our hypothesis of increasing complexity in pattern camouflage function was supported in Galliformes but not in Anseriformes. These results reveal a trajectory of pattern evolution linked to increasing function complexity in Galliformes although not in Anseriformes, suggesting that both ecology and function complexity can have a profound influence on pattern evolution.This work was funded by a Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council studentship to K.L.A.M. and an Australian Postgraduate Award and the Cambridge Overseas Trust to T-LG