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opencc-zeroMar 2022View details →

Species provenance and traits mediate establishment and performance in an invaded grassland

In many invaded grasslands, dominant exotic species can produce large amounts of litter that modify local abiotic conditions and species' interactions. These novel conditions can reduce native species abundance and promote the persistence of exotic species, yet the strength of this disparity may be influenced by how consumer pressure interacts with litter accumulation. Consumers may exacerbate this disparity by preferentially targeting native species or by promoting heterogeneity in microhabitats due to their movement and small-scale ground disturbances that favours fast growing exotic species. How species respond to litter accumulation and consumer pressure may depend on either evolutionary differences, whereby exotics species may benefit from a lack natural predators, or by functional differences, in which species' physiological traits may confer fitness advantages to low-light conditions or herbivory or granivory pressure. We examined the impact of litter presence and small mammal herbivory on the establishment and reproduction of functionally diverse exotic versus native species seeded across sites that naturally vary in resource availability in an annual invaded California grassland. We assessed whether seed mass and leaf nitrogen content (LNC) were predictive of successful establishment and reproduction. Litter accumulation affected exotic and native species differently, with litter significantly decreasing native recruitment and reproduction, while exotics were largely unaffected. Small mammals had a slight positive effect on the establishment of native species when litter was present but did not influence exotic species. Regardless of species provenance, larger seeded species established at a higher density while species with lower leaf nitrogen content had a higher density of reproductive individuals. Native species that successfully established and reproduced were functionally different in LNC than the resident community, while successful exotic species were functionally more similar to the resident community in LNC. Our study demonstrates that exotic species outperformed native species regardless of the presence of litter or herbivory pressure. Without the removal or thinning of litter, it is likely that exotic species will continue to dominate, resulting in a positive feedback that further favours the persistence of exotic species within this invaded grassland system.

opencc-zeroApr 2022View details →

Species and foliar biochemical trait maps for Blackhawk Island, Wisconsin May-October 2018

Foliar biochemical traits are important indicators of ecosystem functioning and health that are impractical to characterize at large spatial and temporal scales using traditional measurements. However, comprehensive inventories of foliar traits are important for understanding ecosystem responses to anthropogenic and natural disturbances, as inputs into ecosystem process models, and for quantifying spatial variation in functional diversity. Imaging spectroscopy has been demonstrated as a valuable tool for developing maps of ecologically important foliar traits at large scales, but its application to mapping foliar traits over the course of the growing season has been limited. We collected high-resolution imaging spectroscopy data over Blackhawk Island, Wisconsin, USA at eight time points during the 2018 growing season (May – October). Using partial least squares regression (PLSR) we developed predictive models applicable to all dates to produce canopy-level maps of eight traits related to ecophysiological function: chlorophyll content, leaf mass per area and concentrations of calcium, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, phenolics and lignin. The accuracy of our models varied across traits (R2: 0.25-0.86); traits with well-defined absorption features were retrieved with high accuracy including chlorophyll (R2: 0.86; %RMSE: 11.0) and total phenolics (R2: 0.86; %RMSE: 11.0). We also assessed how well our models estimated biochemistry on novel species and new dates using a cross-validation analysis. Chlorophyll and total phenolics were well estimated across withheld dates and species, whereas calcium was estimated poorly on both withheld species (R2: 0.08) and dates (R2: 0.07). Our canopy-level maps of macronutrients (N, P and K) showed general trends of decreasing concentration over the course of the year, reflecting dilution by carbon-rich compounds during the growing season and resorption during senescence.

opencc-zeroJun 2022View details →

Morphological and olfactory tree traits influence the susceptibility and suitability of the apple species Malus domestica and M. sylvestris to Anthonomus pomorum

The florivorous apple blossom weevil, Anthonomus pomorum (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), is the most economically relevant insect pest of European apple orchards in early spring. Neither efficient monitoring nor ecologically sustainable management of this insect pest has yet been implemented. To identify heritable traits of apple trees that might influence host selection of A. pomorum, we compared susceptibility of apple tree species using infestation rates of the domesticated apple, Malus domestica (Rosaceae: Pyreae), and the European crab apple, M. sylvestris. We evaluated the suitability of the two apple species for A. pomorum by quantifying the mass of weevil offspring. Because volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from flower buds of domesticated apple have previously been suggested to mediate female weevil preference via olfactory cues, we conducted bioassay experiments with blossom buds of both apple species to explore the olfactory preference of adult weevils and, furthermore, identified the headspace VOCs of blossom buds of both apple species through GC-MS analysis. The infestation analysis showed that A. pomorum infested the native European crab apple stronger than the domesticated apple, which originated from Central Asia. The European crab apple also appeared to be better suited for weevil larval development than the domesticated apple, as weevils emerging from M. sylvestris had a higher body mass than those emerging from M. domestica. These field observations were supported by olfactory bioassays, which showed that A. pomorum significantly preferred the odor of M. sylvestris buds compared to the odor of M. domestica buds. The analysis of headspace VOCs indicated differences in the blossom bud volatiles separating several M. domestica individuals from M. sylvestris individuals. This knowledge might be employed in further studies to repel A. pomorum from M. domestica blossom buds.

opencc-by-4.0May 2022View details →

Ecological and metabolic traits of non-aposematic species challenge the crypsis-aposematic duality of Neotropical poison frogs

Within the context of animal defence strategies, most species are believed to be either cryptic or aposematic. In this sense, dendrobatid frogs are among the best-studied vertebrate systems in terms of colouration, behaviour, and chemical defence. Though a dual criterium, cryptic-palatable and conspicuous-toxic, was used to classify species within this clade, there are notorious exceptions that do not fit into this duality. In particular, some species assigned to the cryptic-palatable category possess colourful spots that markedly contrast the rest of the body's dark coloration and contain toxic substances. Here, we investigate whether two pairs of syntopic dendrobatids, in which one of the members within each pair has colour spots and the other a homogeneous dark colour, differ in the activity pattern, dietary specialization, foraging activity, and metabolic rate. In agreement with our prediction, we found that the coloured species in one of the pairs is more active and has a higher dietary selectivity and prey accumulation capacity. However, no association was not found for the other species pair. Furthermore, contrary to our prediction, species with coloured spots have a lower metabolic rate than their syntopic homogenous peers. Overall, our findings suggest that species with coloured spots could be classified in a different category based on ecological and metabolic traits while opening exciting perspectives for understanding the evolution of aposematism in amphibians.

opencc-zeroJun 2022View details →

Leaf traits, plant size and environment data of a common tree species Clausena dunniana in a subtropical broad-leaved forest

This dataset contains the leaf traits, plant size and environment data of 262 individuals of a widespread species Clausena dunniana in the subtropical broad-leaved forests in Maolan National Nature Reserve in the karst region of southwestern China. The 262 individuals of C. dunniana are distributed at two major topographic habitat types, the slope and the hilltop, within the forests of six sites evenly distributed in two regions within the Maolan reserve. The measured individual plant level leaf traits include specific leaf area (SLA), leaf area, leaf dry-matter content (LDMC) and leaf thickness. The plant size represents the first principal component of plant basal diameter and plant height, and the environmental factors include topographic habitat, canopy height, and rock-bareness rate.

opencc-zeroAug 2022View details →

Phylogenetic and environmental patterns of sex-differentiation in physiological traits across Drosophila species

Sex-based differences in physiological traits may be influenced by both evolutionary and environmental factors. Here we used male and female flies from >80 Drosophila species reared under common conditions to examine variance in a number of physiological traits including size, starvation, desiccation and thermal tolerance. Sex-based differences for desiccation and starvation resistance were comparable in magnitude to those for size, with females tending to be relatively more resistant than males. In contrast thermal resistance showed low divergence between the sexes. Phylogenetic signal was detected for measures of divergence between the sexes, such that species from the Sophophora clade showed larger differences between the sexes than species from the Drosophila clade. We also found that sex-based differences in desiccation resistance, body size and starvation resistance were weakly associated with climate (annual mean temperature/precipitation seasonality) but the direction and association with environment depended on phylogenetic position. The results suggest that divergence between the sexes can be linked to environmental factors, while an association with phylogeny suggests sex-based differences persist over long evolutionary time-frames.

opencc-zeroSep 2022View details →

Idiosyncratic shifts in life-history traits at species' geographic range edges

Anthropogenic changes drive shifts in species' geographic distributions and increase the occurrence of leading or trailing-edge marginal populations. Theoretical predictions and empirical observations indicate substantial changes in life-history traits in marginal populations, often involving dispersal and reproductive abilities. Using a common garden experiment, we studied the variation of life-history traits of populations sampled on spatial gradients extending from range-core to range-edge habitats for three expanding (miner's lettuce Claytonia perfoliata, Danish scurvygrass Cochlearia danica, and rock samphire Crithmum maritimum) and one receding plant species (dune pansy Viola tricolor subs. curtisii). We monitored life-history traits related to dispersal, phenology, survival, reproductive output, and selfing ability. Significant shifts in life-history traits between central and marginal populations strongly differed among species. Marginal populations of the three expanding species displayed modified seed weight in natura, suggesting increased dispersal abilities in leading-edge populations. Discarding unassessed maternal effects, this trait modification can be due to phenotypic plasticity or to genetic differentiation. In miner's lettuce, marginal expanding populations show advanced phenology and higher reproductive output, which may potentially influence their colonization ability. In rock samphire, life-history traits showed large intra- and inter-population variability that did not follow a core-to-edge geographic trend, except for seed size. Finally, the receding populations of the dune pansy displayed a shift towards a plant architecture maximizing survival but reducing individual reproductive success. Altogether, our results indicated a common trend for increased dispersal abilities in marginal populations of expanding species. However, shifts in species' distributions may drive idiosyncratic changes in other life-history traits, for which we observed no general evolutionary syndrome at range edges. These findings go along a stochastic view of trait evolution during range expansion and question how to draw predictive projections of species' distribution shifts under current global change.

opencc-zeroSep 2022View details →

Community composition and species traits and plot positions

Biodiversity decline and its cascading effects through trophic interactions pose a severe threat to ecosystem service worldwide. Within a synthetic conceptual framework for beta-diversity, we proposed a series of hypotheses related to multi-trophic community assembly in subtropical forests. Our results suggested that, resulting from niche-based bottom-up dynamics, producer dissimilarities are predominant in structuring consumer dissimilarity, the degree of which highly depends on the trophic dependency, the diversity facet and the data quality. More importantly, we detected a significant dynamic between niche-based processes (e.g. environmental filtering and competitive exclusion) with the increasing producer dissimilarity. These findings enrich our mechanistic understanding of the 'Diversity Begets Diversity' rule and the complexity of multi-trophic community assembly, which is fundamental and critical for sustainable biodiversity conservation and ecosystem management.

opencc-zeroSep 2022View details →

Litter and root traits control soil microbial composition and enzyme activities in 28 common subtropical tree species

1. Plant trait-based approaches are frequently used to explore the linkages between aboveground plant communities and belowground ecosystem functions. However, the role of plant leaf litter and living root traits in driving soil microbial biomass, community composition, and enzyme activities has rarely been explored. 2. Here, we measured the soil microbial biomass, community composition and enzyme activities related to carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) acquisition under three-year-old monocultures of 28 common subtropical tree species in China. 3. We found that plant leaf litter and absorptive root traits, including leaf litter C content, litter water holding capacity, and root N content, were the three best predictors for soil microbial biomass and enzyme activities. In particular, resource-exploitative tree species with higher root N contents were associated with microbial communities with lower fungi to bacteria ratios and lower C- and P-acquisition enzyme activities. Tree species with higher leaf litter water holding capacity were associated with microbial resource acquisition strategies for C and P acquisition. 4. Synthesis: Our findings highlighted that plant leaf litter and root traits are important for mechanistically understanding the ecological linkage between the plant community and ecosystem functions.

Fig. 4 in Divergence in Body Mass, Wing Loading, and Population Structure Reveals Species-Specific and Potentially Adaptive Trait Variation Across Elevations in Montane

Fig. 4. Parameter estimates for fixed effects (β) in spatial mixed effects models (spaMM) for each species, with 95% CIs, testing the effects of Elevation (scaled), AMT (scaled), and Elevation * AMT interaction on traits; Asterisk indicates the CIs did not encompass zero. If no estimate is shown that variable was not included in the model for that species. Maps show spatial trends of trait value from interpolation of estimates for each model (filled.mapMM function in spaMM). Note, for B. vosnesenskii mass and pw-Empty, the low-AIC models were intercept plus random effect only, but for visualization, results are presented for the next best model with at least one fixed effect (seeTable 2 for model details).

Fig. 3 in Divergence in Body Mass, Wing Loading, and Population Structure Reveals Species-Specific and Potentially Adaptive Trait Variation Across Elevations in Montane

Fig. 3. Effect predictions (with 95% CI) of mass (field and empty), thorax size (ITS), forewing area, and transformed wing loading (pw-Field, pw-Empty) against (A) latitude, (B) AMT (Worldclim BIO1 variable), and (C) elevation from univariate linear mixed effects models for B. vancouverensis (blue) and B. vosnesenskii (red). Statistical analyses were conducted on log-transformed mass, ITS, and wing loading (see SuppTable S4 [online only]), but responses were back-transformed to the original scale for plotting (plot_model function in sjPlot). Lines are labeled with significance estimate of the β parameter estimated from lmerTest (*P <0.05; ***P <0.001; unlabeled = not significant, CI encompasses zero).

Fig. 1 in Divergence in Body Mass, Wing Loading, and Population Structure Reveals Species-Specific and Potentially Adaptive Trait Variation Across Elevations in Montane

Fig. 1. Map of sampling localities in California, Oregon, and Washington, United States.Bombus vancouverensis is indicated by circles,B. vosnesenskii by triangles, and additional B. vosnesenskii from 2013 used to improve elevational coverage at middle latitudes for some traits by open triangles. Grayscale shading reflects a digital elevation model for the region.

Fig. 5 in Divergence in Body Mass, Wing Loading, and Population Structure Reveals Species-Specific and Potentially Adaptive Trait Variation Across Elevations in Montane

Fig. 5. Relationships among space, population structure (FST), and average mass and wing loading (pw) differences among pair of populations for (A) B. vancouverensis and (B) B. vosnesenskii. Panels include plots of isolation by distance (FST by geographic distance), effects of population structure on mass, and the effects of elevation on mass and pw residuals from models including FST and geographic distance.The latter panels are included to illustrate the remaining positive effect of elevational separation on wing loading differences among B. vancouverensis populations after accounting for space and population structure, but not for B. vosnesenskii populations and not for mass in either species (seeTable 3 and Supp Fig. S6 [online only]).

Fig. 2 in Divergence in Body Mass, Wing Loading, and Population Structure Reveals Species-Specific and Potentially Adaptive Trait Variation Across Elevations in Montane

Fig. 2. Boxplots (shown for site means) and tests of differences between species in overall field mass (A), empty mass (B), ITS (C), forewing area (D), pw-Field (E), and pw-Empty (F). Statistical tests are summaries taken from linear mixed models (full report and parameter estimates in Supp Table S1 [online only]), showing marginal (R 2) and conditional (R 2) R2 values and with df for the species effect t statistic and P-values (***P <0.001; N.S. = not significant) associated with the M C relevant fixed effect estimated using lmertest. Mass, ITS, and pw values were log-transformed for statistical tests but plotted untransformed. Panels G–L show scatterplots of correlations among several traits for each bee and are presented with Pearson's correlation coefficients (r) and 95% CIs (see SuppTables 2 and 3 [online only] and Supp Figs. S2–S4 [online only] for additional trait correlation statistical details).

opencc-zeroOct 2022View details →

Species list, with traits, in four forest types

Ecological strategy is the tactics employed by species in adapting to abiotic and biotic conditions. Ecological strategy spectrum is defined as the relative proportion of species in different ecological strategy types within a community. Determinants of ecological strategy spectrum of plant community explored by most previous studies are about abiotic factors. Yet, the roles of biotic factors in driving variations of ecological strategy spectra of forest communities across different geographic regions remains unknown. Here, we established 200 0.04-ha forest dynamics plots and measured three leaf functional traits of tree and shrub species in four forest vegetation types across four climatic zones. Based on Grime's CSR triangular framework and the StrateFy method, we categorized species into four ecological strategy groups (C-, S-, Int-, and R-groups) and related the ecological spectra of the forests to three species diversity indices (species richness, Shannon Wiener index, and stem density (stem abundance)). Linear-regression, redundancy analysis and variance partition analysis were utilized for assessing the roles of species diversity in regulating ecological strategy spectra of forest communities across different climatic zones. We found that the proportion of species in the C- and Int-groups increased, while that in the S-group decreased, with the increase of three indices of species diversity. Among the three species diversity indices, stem abundance played the most important role in driving variations in ecological strategy spectra of forests across different climatic zones. Our finding highlights the necessity of accounting for biotic factors, especially stem abundance, in modeling or predicting the geographical distributions of plant species with varied ecological adaptation strategies to future environmental changes.

FIGURES 21–26. Biguembia mirador n in Gibocercus Szumik and Biguembia Szumik (Embioptera, Archembiidae): new species and the potentiality of female traits

FIGURES 21–26. Biguembia mirador n. sp. 21, Head; 22, Mentum + submentum; 23, Left hind basitarsus, ventral view; 24, Male Terminalia, dorsal view; 25, detail of 10Lp; 26, Male terminalia, ventral view.

FIGURES 27–31. Biguembia troncol n in Gibocercus Szumik and Biguembia Szumik (Embioptera, Archembiidae): new species and the potentiality of female traits

FIGURES 27–31. Biguembia troncol n. sp. 27, Head; 28, Mentum + submentum; 29, detail of 10Lp; 30, Male terminalia, dorsal view; 31, Male terminalia, ventral view.

FIGURES 15–17. Female hind basitasus. 15 in Gibocercus Szumik and Biguembia Szumik (Embioptera, Archembiidae): new species and the potentiality of female traits

FIGURES 15–17. Female hind basitasus. 15, Gibocercus chaco; 16, Gibocercus beni; 17, Biguembia copo.

FIGURES 9–14. Gibocercus podamita n in Gibocercus Szumik and Biguembia Szumik (Embioptera, Archembiidae): new species and the potentiality of female traits

FIGURES 9–14. Gibocercus podamita n. sp. 9, Head; 10, Mentum + submentum; 11, Left hind basitarsus, ventral view; 12, Male Terminalia, dorsal view; 13, Detail of 10Lp; 14, Male Terminalia, ventral view.

FIGURE 4 in Gibocercus Szumik and Biguembia Szumik (Embioptera, Archembiidae): new species and the potentiality of female traits

FIGURE 4. Bremer support, Relative Bremer support and symmetric resampling. Asterisks (*) indicate junior synonyms.