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opencc-zeroNov 2021View details →

Does fluctuating asymmetry of wing traits capture relative environmental stress in a lepidopteran?

Fluctuating asymmetry (FA) may be a useful predictor of population canalization, especially for organisms at risk from environmental change. <ol> <li> Identification of traits that meet statistical criteria as FA measures remains a challenge. </li> <li> In the present study, a laboratory experiment subjected immature butterflies (Vanessa cardui) to a range of diet and temperature conditions of varying stress levels. Variation in dietary macronutrient ratio (protein: carbohydrate) and rearing temperature (optimal: 25°C; elevated: 32°C) were introduced as stressors. </li> <li> Individuals subjected to stressful conditions were predicted to show elevated FA of three wing size traits. </li> <li> While FA of all three traits proved measurable, it did not vary across diet and temperature treatments. Instead, treatment levels impacted viability: the combined incidence of death prior to eclosion and expression of significant wing malformations increased in treatment levels predicted to increase FA. Variation in adult dry mass also reflected predicted stress levels. Results suggest that predicted FA variation was not found because individuals predicted to display increased FA either died or displayed gross developmental aberrations. </li> <li> This experiment illustrates important constraints on the investigation of FA, including selection of appropriate traits and identification of appropriate levels of stressors to avoid elevated mortality. The latter concern brings into question the utility of FA as an indicator of stress in vulnerable, natural populations, where stress levels are rarely controlled, and mortality and fitness effects are often not quantifiable. </li> </ol>

opencc-zeroNov 2021View details →

Environmental stress gradients regulate the relative importance of predator density- and trait-mediated indirect effects in oyster reef communities

Predators affect community structure by influencing prey density and traits, but the importance of these effects often is difficult to predict. We measured the strength of blue crab predator effects on mud crab prey consumption of juvenile oysters across a flow gradient that inflicts both physical and sensory stress to determine how the relative importance of top predator density-mediated indirect effects (DMIEs) and trait-mediated indirect effects (TMIEs) change within systems. Overall, TMIEs dominated in relatively benign flow conditions where blue crab predator cues increased oyster survivorship by reducing mud crab oyster consumption. Blue crab DMIEs became more important in high sensory stress conditions, which impaired mud crab perception of blue crab chemical cues. At high physical stress, the environment benefitted oyster survival by physically constraining mud crabs. Thus, factors that structure communities may be predicted based on an understanding of how physical and sensory performances change across environmental stress gradients.

opencc-zeroJan 2022View details →

Fossilized pollen malformations as indicators of past environmental stress and meiotic disruption: insights from modern conifers

Pollen malformations have been proposed as a paleoenvironmental stress proxy. However, the frequency and variability of pollen malformations under near-optimal conditions and environmental stress, as well as their developmental origins, remain unclear. To bridge these gaps, we compared pollen malformation frequencies and assemblages of 14 extant conifer genera of Pinaceae and Podocarpaceae producing saccate (winged) grains grown under near-optimal conditions. These baseline pollen yields were compared with those produced by Pinus mugo 'Columnaris' cultured under an abiotic stress—three experimentally heightened UV-B regimes proposed for the end-Permian crisis. We additionally reviewed previous cytological literature of abnormal microsporogenesis in conifers. Under near-optimal conditions, malformations comprise <3% of pollen yields in 12 out of 13 bisaccate genera and >10% of yields in the naturally trisaccate Dacrycarpus dacrydioides. We detected no phylogenetic pattern in malformation assemblages of the baseline comparisons. UV-B irradiated P. mugo produced significantly higher malformation frequencies and different assemblage compositions when compared with baseline bisaccate lineages. We propose that pollen malformations originate during the meiotic and tetrad stages of microsporogenesis and present a framework for the ontogeny of different malformation types seen in the fossil record. Malformations comprising >3% of bisaccate pollen yields can be used as a paleoenvironmental stress proxy, but rare, naturally trisaccate lineages are not suitable for such assessments. Furthermore, heightened UV-B not only increases pollen malformation production, but also alters the types of abnormalities trees produce. Different environmental stresses may therefore leave behind distinct fingerprints in the fossil record.

opencc-zeroAug 2022View details →

Caulerpa-associated bacterial 16S rRNA in response to environmental stress

This dataset contains data from algal-associated bacteria from the green macroalgae, Caulerpa, from the paper " Morrissey, K.L. et al. (2021) Impacts of environmental stress on resistance and resilience of algal-associated bacterial communities. Ecology and Evolution". The experiment investigates the effects of a factorial combination of nutrient and temperature stress on the bacterial communities. We have also assessed the resistance and resilience of the algal-associated microbiota to environmental stress, using community dissimilarity metrics. Bacteria were characterised using the 16S rRNA gene and the community compositions were compared between different parts of the algal thallus (endo-, epi- and rhizomicrobiome). The results of this study provide evidence that nutrient enrichment has a significant influence on the taxonomic and functional structure of the epimicrobiota, with a low community resistance index observed for both. Temperature and nutrient stress had a significant effect on the rhizomicrobiota taxonomic composition, exhibiting the lowest overall resistance to change. The functional performance of the rhizomicrobiota had low resilience to the combination of stressors, indicating potential additive effects. Interestingly, the endomicrobiota had the highest overall resistance, yet the lowest overall resilience to environmental stress. This further contributes to our understanding of algal microbiome dynamics in response to environmental changes.

opencc-zeroDec 2015View details →

Data from: Heritability, environmental effects, and genetic and phenotypic correlations of oxidative stress resistance-related enzyme activities during early life stages in Atlantic salmon

Oxidative stress (OS) may pose important physiological constraints on individuals, affecting trade-offs between growth and reproduction or ageing and survival. Despite such evolutionary and ecological importance, the results from studies on the magnitude of individual variation in OS resistance and the underlying causes of this variation such as genetic, environmental, and maternal origins, remain inconclusive. Using a high throughput methodology, we investigated the activity levels in three OS resistance-related enzymes (superoxide dismutase, SOD; glutathione reductase, GR; glutathione S-transferase, GST) during the early life stages of 1000 individuals from 50 paternal half-sib families in two populations of Atlantic salmon. Using animal mixed models, we detected the presence of narrow-sense heritability for SOD and GST; that for GST differed between populations due to differences in environmental variance. We found support for the presence of common environmental variation, including maternal effects, for only GR. Using a bivariate animal model, we detected a positive environmental correlation between activity levels of SOD and GST but were unable to detect an additive genetic correlation. Our results complement previous heritability findings for levels of reactive oxygen species or OS resistance by demonstrating the presence of heritability for OS-related enzyme activities. Our findings provide a foundation for future work, such as investigations on the evolutionary importance of variation in enzyme activities. In addition, our findings emphasise the importance of accounting for developmental stage, environmental variance, and kin relationships when investigating the OS-response at the enzyme activity level.

Figure 4 in Community properties of benthic molluscs as indicators of environmental stress induced by organic enrichment

Figure 4. MDS plots of Functional Feeding Groups (FFG) where mean abundance of each group is superimposed.

Figure 3 in Community properties of benthic molluscs as indicators of environmental stress induced by organic enrichment

Figure 3. MDS plot (a) and cluster analysis (b) of species abundances highlighting three main groups of areas.

Figure 2 in Community properties of benthic molluscs as indicators of environmental stress induced by organic enrichment

Figure 2. Probability funnels of diversity indices Δ+ (a) and Λ+ (b) for all sampling stations and seasons in the study area.

Figure 1. A in Community properties of benthic molluscs as indicators of environmental stress induced by organic enrichment

Figure 1. A map of the island of Lesvos indicating Gera Gulf, the study area (Palioloutro) where the fish farm unit is located and the sampling sites.

opencc-zeroJan 2023View details →

Experimental evidence root-associated microbes mediate seagrass response to environmental stress

<ol> <li>Below-ground microbiota play an important role in mediating environmental conditions with important consequences for plant performance. Microorganisms involved in plant-soil interactions may be associated with roots or bulk-soil; however, the relative influence of these below-ground microbial assemblages on plant performance is poorly known, particularly for marine plants. </li> <li>We separately manipulated the root and sediment microbial assemblages of the seagrass Zostera muelleri in a fully factorial experiment to determine how these assemblages determined plant response (e.g., growth) to nutrient enrichment, a major stressor in marine systems. </li> <li>Under ambient nutrient conditions, seagrass growth was maintained regardless of root microbial assemblage disruption. Under high nutrient stress, however, seagrasses with disrupted root microbiota had reduced growth, whereas growth was maintained in seagrasses with an intact root microbiota. Disruption of bulk-sediment microbiota did not affect seagrass growth. Nutrient elevation was correlated to enhanced abundances of several putatively beneficial microbial taxa (e.g. sulfide-oxidizing Beggiatoaceae and denitrifying Geofilum rubicundum) associated with roots. </li> <li> Synthesis: Our results suggest that under ambient nutrient conditions, microorganisms play a reduced role in influencing plant performance, but under more stressful conditions positive plant-root microorganism interactions strengthened. These results are among the first to experimentally determine that interactions between marine plants and the root-associated microbiota are key drivers of seagrass performance under human-induced environmental changes. This suggests that as in terrestrial systems, marine plant resilience depends on the stress-mitigating functions of their root-associated microbiota and disturbance to those plant-microbiota interactions can be deleterious for plant performance. Improving our understanding of these plant-microorganism interactions may be critical for understanding the functioning and resilience of threatened marine plants and developing more effective restoration strategies for them.</li> </ol>

Fig. 6 in Genome-wide characterization and expression profiling of GASA gene family in Triticum turgidum ssp. durum (desf.) husn. (Durum wheat) unveils its involvement in environmental stress responses

Fig. 6. Predicted cis-acting elements in the TdGASA genes promoter regions. The 2-kb sequences upstream of the 19 TdGASA genes were analyzed with the PlantCARE (http://bioinformatics.psb.ugent.be/webtools/plantcare/html) and New PLACE (https://www.dna.affrc.go.jp/PLACE/?action=new place) databases. The cis-acting elements were classified into three major classes: hormone-related cis-elements, development-related cis-elements, and stress-related cis-elements.

Fig. 8 in Genome-wide characterization and expression profiling of GASA gene family in Triticum turgidum ssp. durum (desf.) husn. (Durum wheat) unveils its involvement in environmental stress responses

Fig. 8. Expression of TdGASA1, TdGASA4, TdGASA14, and TdGASA19 genes confers stress tolerance to yeast cells. Wild-type transformed with empty vector (EV) or with four TdGASA genes were grown for 4 days under normal growth conditions (30 ◦ C) or under heat (37 ◦ C or 42 ◦ C), ionic (LiCl 100 mM), salt stress (NaCl 2 M), osmotic stress (Mannitol 2 M), and oxidative stress (H2O2 10 mM) in rich solid media a containing galactose as carbon source. The growth assays depicted are reflective of three independent replicates (A). (B) Cell growth (OD600) of wild-type transformed with empty vector (EV) or with four TdGASA genes under different stress conditions. Error bars represent calculated standard error of the mean (SEM) of three independent replicates. Different letters on bars represent the significant values according to Duncan's test (p <0.05).

Fig. 7 in Genome-wide characterization and expression profiling of GASA gene family in Triticum turgidum ssp. durum (desf.) husn. (Durum wheat) unveils its involvement in environmental stress responses

Fig. 7. Expression pattern of durum wheat GASA genes. (A) Heatmap of the expression pattern of TdGASA genes in roots, stems, leaves, and seeds. (B) Heatmap showing the expression pattern of TdGASA genes T. durum plants subjected to 150 mM NaCl, 15% PEG-6000, 50 μM GA3 and 50 μM ABA. The data represent means of three independent experiments. Color code is presented above the heatmap. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the Web version of this article.)

Fig. 1 in Genome-wide characterization and expression profiling of GASA gene family in Triticum turgidum ssp. durum (desf.) husn. (Durum wheat) unveils its involvement in environmental stress responses

Fig. 1. Locations of the 19 TdGASA genes on durum wheat chromosomes. The scale on the left represented the length of the chromosomes. Mb = million base pair. The pairs of duplicated genes are underlined with same color. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the Web version of this article.)

Fig. 5 in Genome-wide characterization and expression profiling of GASA gene family in Triticum turgidum ssp. durum (desf.) husn. (Durum wheat) unveils its involvement in environmental stress responses

Fig. 5. Analysis of 19 TdGASA genes structures. (A) An unrooted phylogenetic tree constructed based on TdGASA genes sequences. (B) Exon-intron structure analysis, blue boxes represent untranslated regions, yellow boxes and black lines were exon and intron positions, respectively. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the Web version of this article.)

Fig. 2 in Genome-wide characterization and expression profiling of GASA gene family in Triticum turgidum ssp. durum (desf.) husn. (Durum wheat) unveils its involvement in environmental stress responses

Fig. 2. Predicted three-dimensional structures of TdGASA proteins. Models were generated by using Phyr2 server. The secondary structure elements: α-helices (blue), β-sheets (yellow), and coils (cyan) are indicated for the predicted 3D structures of TdGASA proteins. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the Web version of this article.)

Fig. 4 in Genome-wide characterization and expression profiling of GASA gene family in Triticum turgidum ssp. durum (desf.) husn. (Durum wheat) unveils its involvement in environmental stress responses

Fig. 4. Analysis of Triticum durum TdGASA proteins structures. (A) An unrooted phylogenetic tree generated using TdGASA protein sequences. (B) Motif identification using MEME. (C) TdGASA protein structure (D) Multiple sequence alignments of GASA domain. (E) Logo of the TdGASA conserved-domain.

Fig. 3 in Genome-wide characterization and expression profiling of GASA gene family in Triticum turgidum ssp. durum (desf.) husn. (Durum wheat) unveils its involvement in environmental stress responses

Fig. 3. Phylogenetic tree analysis of B. distachyon, O. sativa, S. bicolor, A. thaliana, T. aestivum, T. turgidum, and H. vulgare GASA proteins. Maximum likelihood method with 1000 bootstrap replicates was used to compute the distances of GASA proteins by using the MEGA11 software. The four subgroups of GASAs are presented with different colors. Black triangles denote B distachyon (Bd) proteins, yellow triangles denote the O. sativa (Os) proteins, blue triangles denote the S. bicolor (Sb), red triangles are for A. thaliana (At) proteins, black circles refer to T. turgidum (TdGASA) proteins, blue diamond's indicate T. aestivum (Ta) proteins, and yellow diamonds are for H. vulgare (Hv) proteins. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the Web version of this article.)

restrictedIPD-UNDECIDEDFeb 2026View details →

ClinicalTrials.gov32/100

Environmental Stress and Individualized Sensorimotor Care on Autonomic Nervous System Activity in Premature Population

ClinicalTrials.gov study NCT00451607. IPD Sharing: Not stated. Countries: 1. Publications: 2.