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Figure 6 in The effects of forest fragmentation on the population ecology and natural history of a funnel-web spider

Figure 6. Cluster analysis of genetic similarity between Aglaoctenus lagotis individuals from two vegetation fragments in Araguari, Minas Gerais, Brazil. For each individual, the uppercase letter indicates its location (B: John Kennedy Woodland; P: Pica-Pau Country Club), the first numeral indicates the collection year (8: 2008; 9: 2009), and the subsequent digits indicate the collection number of the spider within the sampling quadrat.

Figure 5 in The effects of forest fragmentation on the population ecology and natural history of a funnel-web spider

Figure 5. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) fragments for 23 Aglaoctenus lagotis individuals separated on a 2.5% agarose gel, stained with ethidium bromide, visualized on a UV transilluminator, and photographed using Image Master VDS. The primer sequence was 5′- TGCCGAGCTG-3′. For each individual, the uppercase letter indicates its location (W: John Kennedy Woodland; P: Pica-Pau Country Club), the first numeral indicates the collection year (8: 2008; 9: 2009), and the subsequent digits indicate the collection number of the spider. X indicates the negative control.

Figure 4 in The effects of forest fragmentation on the population ecology and natural history of a funnel-web spider

Figure 4. Pearson's correlation analysis between the volume of the horizontal capture web (cm3) and the number of inquiline spiders associated with the web for the spider Aglaoctenus lagotis in two vegetation fragments (JKW: John Kennedy Woodland; PCC: Pica-Pau Country Club) in Araguari, Minas Gerais, Brazil.

Figure 3 in The effects of forest fragmentation on the population ecology and natural history of a funnel-web spider

Figure 3. Simple linear regressions between the sheet area of the web and the cephalothorax length of Aglaoctenus lagotis individuals in two vegetation fragments (JKW: John Kennedy Woodland; PCC: Pica-Pau Country Club) in Araguari, Minas Gerais, Brazil. The correlation is positive for both sites (p <0.0001).

Figure 1 in The effects of forest fragmentation on the population ecology and natural history of a funnel-web spider

Figure 1. Map of the municipality of Araguari, Minas Gerais, Brazil. 1. The John Kennedy Woodland (JKW; 18°38′35″ S, 48°11′19″ W). 2. The Permanent Preservation Area of the Pica- Pau Country Club (PCC; 18°36′38″ S, 48°11′17″ W).

Figure 2 in The effects of forest fragmentation on the population ecology and natural history of a funnel-web spider

Figure 2. Schematic diagram of the methodology used to measure the volume of the capture web of Aglaoctenus lagotis. See the text for details of the calculation.

opencc-zeroOct 2020View details →

Do heterogeneous seascapes of carbonate conditions across biogeographic breaks influence divergent phenotypic plasticity in natural populations?

Aim: Understanding how environmental variability influences stress tolerance, local adaptation, and phenotypic variation among populations is a key challenge for evolutionary ecology and climate change biology. Coastal biogeographic breaks are natural laboratories to explore this fundamental research question due to the contrasting environmental conditions experienced by natural populations across these regions. Location: In the South East Pacific (SEP) coast a major break (30º-32ºS) is characterized by extreme natural variability in seawater carbonate chemistry parameters related to temporal and spatial dynamics in upwelling events. Mollusk species that reach their range limit at this zone are exposed to naturally acidified waters that can be corrosive and impact their calcification, physiology, and fitness, making them particularly prone to the effects of ocean acidification (OA). We investigated to what extent the interplay between biogeographic breaks and local variability of seawater carbonate conditions influences the tolerances and sensitivity of populations of the limpet Scurria araucana to OA. Methods: During two years, we conducted field surveys of limpet populations at sites across the SEP break (27ºS, 30ºS and 32ºS). We collected individuals from each population to test for geographic differences in morphometric (e.g., total buoyancy weight, shell length) and physiological (e.g., oxygen consumption rate, cardiac activity, and thermal performance curves; TPC) responses to local conditions and to simulated OA scenarios. Results: Analysis of the cardiac activity indicates that limpets from the central part of the break (30ºS) exhibit higher thermal performance compared to limpets from populations at both sides of the break. Thus, heterogeneous seascape of carbonate conditions and sea surface temperature across a biogeographic break in the SEP coast influence phenotypic differences among populations of this ecosystem engineer. Main Conclusions: Natural environmental variation might be the underpinning driver of the high tolerance to OA evidenced by populations of the limpet Scurria araucana along the SEP.

opencc-zeroJan 2021View details →

Genotype, spatial and morphological data of adults and progeny in a natural population of Leucadendron rubrum

We provide a dataset containing data on both female and male plants measured in a natural population of Leucadendron rubrum about plant architecture, and leaf morphology, thus informing about sexual dimorphism in this species. Genotypes of these males and females on eight microsatellites combined with corresponding genotype data in their progeny permits to undertake parentage analyses. Finally, the spatial distribution of both parents and juveniles allows to account for potential spatial biases in sampling juveniles in parentage analyses.

opencc-zeroDec 2018View details →

Data from: Maintenance of deceptive gifts in a natural spider population: ecological and demographic factors

Alternative mating tactics are expected to occur predominantly when mate competition is intense, resources are in short supply, or as a result of asymmetric power relationships between individuals. Males of the nuptial gift-giving spider Pisaura mirabilis use a prevailing tactic of offering a nutritive gift (insect prey) and a deceptive tactic of offering a worthless gift (consumed prey) to prospective mates. If the male's tactic depends on pre-copulatory male-male competition, worthless gifts should occur primarily late in the season, when the operational sex ratio (OSR) becomes male-biased. If it depends on resource availability and/or post-copulatory sexual selection (sperm competition), worthless gifts should occur mostly early in the mating season, when prey availability is low and most females are unmated (i.e. post-copulatory sexual selection is weak). Nuptial gift construction correlated positively with prey availability and negatively with OSR, suggesting that males increase reproductive effort when resource and mate availability increase. We did not find evidence for body condition affecting male tactic use. Male size had a marked effect on the reproductive tactic employed. Males that matured early in the season were very small and employed mostly the nutritive gift tactic during their short life. Among the males that matured later and persisted through the season, relatively small males employed the worthless gift tactic whereas large males employed the nutritive gift tactic. We suggest that the existence of two distinct life history strategies among males (early small and late large size) interacts with environmental and demographic conditions to maintain the deceptive tactic.

opencc-zeroDec 2014View details →

Data from: Reduced fitness in progeny from old parents in a natural population

A nongenetic, transgenerational effect of parental age on offspring fitness has been described in many taxa in the laboratory. Such a transgenerational fitness effect will have important influences on population dynamics, population age structure, and the evolution of aging and lifespan. However, effects of parental age on offspring lifetime fitness have never been demonstrated in a natural population. We show that parental age has sex-specific negative effects on lifetime fitness, using data from a pedigreed insular population of wild house sparrows. Birds whose parents were older produced fewer recruits annually than birds with younger parents, and the reduced number of recruits translated into a lifetime fitness difference. Using a long-term cross-fostering experiment, we demonstrate that this parental age effect is unlikely to be the result of changes in the environment but that it potentially is epigenetically inherited. Our study reveals the hidden consequences of late-life reproduction that persist into the next generation.

opencc-zeroDec 2016View details →

Data from: Population demography and heterozygosity-fitness correlations in natural guppy populations: an examination using sexually selected fitness traits

Heterozygosity-fitness correlations (HFCs) have been examined in a wide diversity of contexts, and the results are often used to infer the role of inbreeding in natural populations. Although population demography, reflected in population-level genetic parameters such as allelic diversity or identity disequilibrium, is expected to play a role in the emergence and detectability of HFCs, direct comparisons of variation in HFCs across many populations of the same species, with different genetic histories, are rare. Here, we examined the relationship between individual microsatellite heterozygosity and a range of sexually selected traits in 660 male guppies from 22 natural populations in Trinidad. Similar to previous studies, observed HFCs were weak overall. However, variation in HFCs among populations was high for some traits (although these variances were not statistically different from zero). Population-level genetic parameters, specifically genetic diversity levels (number of alleles, observed/expected heterozygosity) and measures of identity disequilibrium (g2 and heterozygosity-heterozygosity correlations) were not associated with variation in population-level HFCs. This latter result indicates that these metrics do not necessarily provide a reliable predictor of HFC effect sizes across populations. Importantly, diversity and identity disequilibrium statistics were not correlated, providing empirical evidence that these metrics capture different essential characteristics of populations. A complex genetic architecture likely underpins multiple fitness traits, including those associated with male fitness, which may have reduced our ability to detect HFCs in guppy populations. Further advances in this field would benefit from additional research to determine the demographic contexts in which HFCs are most likely to occur.

opencc-zeroDec 2013View details →

Data from: Predictability rather than amplitude of temperature fluctuations determines stress resistance in a natural population of Drosophila simulans

The adaptability of organisms to novel environmental conditions depends on the amount of genetic variance present in the population as well as on the ability of individuals to adjust their phenotype through phenotypic plasticity. Here, we investigated the phenotypic plasticity induced by a single generation's exposure to three different temperature regimes with respect to several life-history and stress-resistance traits in a natural population of Drosophila simulans. We studied a constant as well as a predictably and an unpredictably fluctuating temperature regime. We found high levels of phenotypic plasticity among all temperature regimes, suggesting a strong influence of both temperature fluctuations and their predictability. Increased heat tolerance was observed for flies developed in both types of fluctuating thermal environments compared with flies developed in a constant environment. We suggest that this was due to beneficial hardening when developing in either fluctuating temperature environment. To our surprise, flies that developed in constant and predictably changing environments were similar to each other in most traits when compared to flies from the unpredictably fluctuating environment. The unpredictably changing thermal environment imposed the most stressful condition, resulting in the lowest performance for stress-related traits, even though the absolute temperature changes never exceeded that of the predictably fluctuating environment. The overall decreased stress resistance of flies in the unpredictably fluctuating environment may be the consequence of maladaptive phenotypic plasticity in this setting, indicating that the adaptive value of plasticity depends on the predictability of the environment.

opencc-zeroDec 2015View details →

Data from: Predator-driven brain size evolution in natural populations of Trinidadian killifish (Rivulus hartii)

Vertebrates exhibit extensive variation in relative brain size. It has long been assumed that this variation is the product of ecologically driven natural selection. Yet, despite more than 100 years of research, the ecological conditions that select for changes in brain size are unclear. Recent laboratory selection experiments showed that selection for larger brains is associated with increased survival in risky environments. Such results lead to the prediction that increased predation should favour increased brain size. Work on natural populations, however, foreshadows the opposite trajectory of evolution; increased predation favours increased boldness, slower learning, and may thereby select for a smaller brain. We tested the influence of predator-induced mortality on brain size evolution by quantifying brain size variation in a Trinidadian killifish, Rivulus hartii, from communities that differ in predation intensity. We observed strong genetic differences in male (but not female) brain size between fish communities; second generation laboratory-reared males from sites with predators exhibited smaller brains than Rivulus from sites in which they are the only fish present. Such trends oppose the results of recent laboratory selection experiments and are not explained by trade-offs with other components of fitness. Our results suggest that increased male brain size is favoured in less risky environments because of the fitness benefits associated with faster rates of learning and problem-solving behaviour.

opencc-zeroDec 2018View details →

Data from: Bacteria from natural populations transfer plasmids mostly towards their kin

Plasmids play a key role in microbial ecology and evolution, yet the determinants of plasmid transfer rates are poorly understood. Particularly, interactions between donor hosts and potential recipients are understudied. Here we investigate the importance of genetic similarity between naturally co-occurring Escherichia coli isolates in plasmid transfer. We uncover extensive variability, spanning over five orders of magnitude, in the ability of isolates to donate and receive two different plasmids, R1 and RP4. Overall, transfer is strongly biased towards clone-mates, but not correlated to genetic distance when donors and recipients are not clone-mates. Transfer is limited by the presence of a functional restriction-modification system in recipients, suggesting sharing of strain-specific defence systems contributes to bias towards kin. Such restriction of transfer to kin sets the stage for longer-term coevolutionary interactions leading to mutualism between plasmids and bacterial hosts in natural communities.

opencc-zeroDec 2017View details →

Data from: Facultative bacterial endosymbionts shape parasitoid food webs in natural host populations: a correlative analysis

1.Facultative bacterial endosymbionts can protect their aphid hosts from natural enemies such as hymenopteran parasitoids. As such, they have the capability to modulate interactions between aphids, parasitoids and hyperparasitoids. However, the magnitude of these effects in natural aphid populations and their associated parasitoid communities is currently unknown. Moreover, environmental factors such as plant fertilization and landscape complexity are known to affect aphid‐parasitoid interactions but it remains unclear how such environmental factors affect the interplay between aphids, parasitoids and endosymbionts. 2.Here, we tested whether facultative endosymbionts confer protection to parasitoids in natural populations of the English grain aphid, Sitobion avenae, and if this is affected by plant fertilization and landscape complexity. Furthermore, we examined whether the effects of facultative endosymbionts can cascade up to the hyperparasitoid level and increase primary‐hyperparasitoid food web specialization. 3.Living aphids and mummies were collected in fertilized and unfertilized plots within 13 wheat fields in Central Germany. We assessed the occurrence of primary parasitoid, hyperparasitoid and endosymbiont species in aphids and mummies using a newly established molecular approach. 4.Facultative endosymbiont infection rates were high across fields (~80 %), independent of whether aphids were parasitized or un‐parasitized. Aphid mummies exhibited a significantly lower share of facultative endosymbiont infection (~38 %). These findings suggest that facultative endosymbionts do not affect parasitoid oviposition behavior, but decrease parasitoid survival in the host. Facultative endosymbiont infection rates were lower in mummies collected from fertilized compared to unfertilized plants, indicating that plant fertilization boosts the facultative endosymbiont protective effect. Furthermore, we found strong evidence for species‐specific and negative cascading effects of facultative endosymbionts on primary and hyperparasitoids, respectively. Facultative endosymbionts impacted parasitoid assemblages and increased the specialization of primary‐hyperparasitoid food webs: these effects were independent from and much stronger than other environmental factors. 5.The current findings stongly suggest that facultative endosymbionts act as a driving force in aphid‐parasitoid‐hyperparastioid networks: they shape insect community composition at different trophic levels and modulate, directly and indirectly, the interactions between aphids, parasitoids and their environment.

opencc-zeroDec 2011View details →

Data from: Relative accuracy of three common methods of parentage analysis in natural populations

Parentage studies and family reconstructions have become increasingly popular for investigating a range of evolutionary, ecological and behavioral processes in natural populations. However, a number of different assignment methods have emerged in common use, and the accuracy of each may differ in relation to the number of loci examined, allelic diversity, incomplete sampling of all candidate parents, and the presence of genotyping errors. Here we examine how these factors affect the accuracy of three popular parentage inference methods (COLONY, FaMoz and an exclusion-Bayes' theorem approach by Christie et al. (2010a)) to resolve true parent-offspring pairs using simulated data. Our findings demonstrate that accuracy increases with the number and diversity of loci. These were clearly the most important factors in obtaining accurate assignments explaining 75-90% of variance in overall accuracy across 60 simulated scenarios. Furthermore, the proportion of candidate parents sampled had a small but significant impact on the susceptibility of each method to either false positive or false negative assignments. Within the range of values simulated, COLONY outperformed FaMoz, which outperformed the exclusion-Bayes' theorem method. However, with 20 or more highly polymorphic loci, all methods could be applied with confidence. Our results show that for parentage inference in natural populations, careful consideration of the number and quality of markers will increase the accuracy of assignments and mitigate the effects of incomplete sampling of parental populations.