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opencc-zeroDec 2016View details →

Data from: First plastid phylogenomic study reveals potential cyto-nuclear discordance in the evolutionary history of Ficus L. (Moraceae)

Standard Sanger chloroplast markers provide limited information to resolve species level relationships within plants, in particular within large genera. Figs (Ficus L., Moraceae) compose one of the 50 largest genera of angiosperms with ∼750 species occurring in the tropics and subtropics worldwide. Figs, in addition to being a keystone food resource in rainforests, are well-known for the mutualistic interactions with their pollinating wasps. It is regarded as a model system for understanding co-evolution dating back more than 75 million years. However, despite significant taxon sampling, combinations of low copy nuclear, nuclear ribosomal and chloroplast regions have not been able to confidently resolve relationships among major groups of figs. Using a high throughput sequencing approach we attempted to resolve the major lineages of Ficus based on plastome data. In this study, we show that the use of a de novo assembled plastome from within the genus provides less ambiguity and higher coverage across the 59 Ficus and 6 outgroup plastome assemblies compared to using the nearest available reference plastome outside the genus resulting in improved resolution and higher support of the phylogenetic relationships within Ficus inferred from plastome data. Chloroplast genome data confidently resolved relationships among major groups of figs and largely support current understanding based on nuclear sequence data including passively pollinated Neotropical section Pharmacosycea as sister lineage to all other Ficus. However, conflicts between the new plastome topology and previous nuclear studies are observed for both individual species as well as relationships among some sections at deeper levels. Conflicts could be caused by lack of resolution in the nuclear data or may indicate potential cyto-nuclear discordance as previously observed in an African lineage of Ficus.

opencc-zeroDec 2013View details →

Data from: The potential influence of morphology on the evolutionary divergence of an acoustic signal.

The evolution of acoustic behaviour and that of the morphological traits mediating its production are often coupled. Lack of variation in the underlying morphology of signalling traits has the potential to constrain signal evolution. This relationship is particularly likely in field crickets, where males produce acoustic advertisement signals to attract females by stridulating with specialized structures on their forewings. In this study, we characterize the size and geometric shape of the forewings of males from six allopatric populations of the black field cricket (Teleogryllus commodus) known to have divergent advertisement calls. We sample from each of these populations using both wild-caught and common-garden-reared cohorts, allowing us to test for multivariate relationships between wing morphology and call structure. We show that the allometry of shape has diverged across populations. However, there was a surprisingly small amount of covariation between wing shape and call structure within populations. Given the importance of male size for sexual selection in crickets, the divergence we observe among populations has the potential to influence the evolution of advertisement calls in this species

opencc-zeroDec 2012View details →

Data from: Long-distance dispersal maximizes evolutionary potential during rapid geographic range expansion

Conventional wisdom predicts that sequential founder events will cause genetic diversity to erode in species with expanding geographic ranges, limiting evolutionary potential at the range margin. Here, we show that invasive European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) in South Africa preserve genetic diversity during range expansion, possibly as a result of frequent long-distance dispersal events. We further show that unfavourable environmental conditions trigger enhanced dispersal, as indicated by signatures of selection detected across the expanding range. This brings genetic variation to the expansion front, counterbalancing the cumulative effects of sequential founding events and optimizing standing genetic diversity and thus evolutionary potential at range margins during spread. Therefore, dispersal strategies should be highlighted as key determinants of the ecological and evolutionary performances of species in novel environments and in response to global environmental change.

opencc-zeroDec 2017View details →

Data from: Heritable spouse effects increase evolutionary potential of human reproductive timing

Sexual reproduction is inherently interactive, especially in animal species such as humans that exhibit extended pair bonding. Yet we have little knowledge of the role of male characteristics and their evolutionary impact on reproductive behavioural phenotypes, to the extent that biologists typically consider component traits (e.g., reproductive timing) as female-specific. Based on extensive genealogical data detailing the life-histories of 6,435 human mothers born across four centuries of modern history, we use an animal modelling approach to estimate the indirect genetic effect of men on the reproductive phenotype of their partners. These analyses show that a woman's reproductive timing (age at first birth) is influenced by her partner's genotype. This indirect genetic effect is positively correlated with the direct genetic effect expressed in women, such that total heritable variance in this trait is doubled when heritable partner effects are considered. Our study thus suggests that much of the heritable variation in women's reproductive timing is mediated via partner effects, and that the evolutionary potential of this trait is far greater than previously appreciated.

opencc-zeroDec 2014View details →

Data from: Evolutionary potential of multiple measures of upper thermal tolerance in Drosophila melanogaster

Thermal tolerance influences the distribution and abundance of many species, but the adaptive capacity of species to increase upper thermal tolerance is poorly understood. Given that patterns of heat tolerance can strongly depend on assay method, it is crucial to get a better understanding of genetic variances and correlations among different heat tolerance components. This study tests for correlated responses in different heat tolerance assays in Drosophila melanogaster lines selected for increased heat tolerance following exposure to a static high temperature. Traits tested included heat tolerance measured under static (basal and hardened) and ramping assays (using different starting temperatures and ramping rates), with lines exposed to fluctuating conditions (3 days of a cycling temperature regime) and a variable food treatment. Selected lines had higher heat tolerance than control lines in all static and ramping assays. The upper thermal tolerance was up to 0·5 °C higher in the selected compared to control lines after ten generations of strong selection. Selection using a static assay therefore leads to correlated responses in other heat-resistant components, suggesting that traits are genetically correlated and not influenced strongly by assay conditions. While the D. melanogaster population we studied harboured additive genetic variation to evolve increased upper thermal tolerance, the level detected may be insufficient to keep up with temperature increases predicted under climate change.

opencc-zeroDec 2018View details →

Data from: Evolutionary potential of thermal preference and heat tolerance in Drosophila subobscura

Evolutionary change of thermal traits (i.e. heat tolerance and behavioral thermoregulation) is one of the most important mechanisms exhibited by organisms to respond to global warming. However, the evolutionary potential of heat tolerance, estimated as narrow-sense heritability, depends on the methodology employed. An alternative adaptive mechanism to buffer extreme temperatures is behavioral thermoregulation, although the association between heat tolerance and thermal preference is not clearly understood. We suspect that methodological effects associated with the duration of heat stress during thermal tolerance assays are responsible for missing this genetic association. To test this hypothesis, we estimated the heritabilities and genetic correlations for thermal traits in Drosophila subobscura, using high-temperature static and slow ramping assays. We found that heritability for heat tolerance was higher in static assays (h2 = 0.134) than in slow ramping assays (h2 = 0.084), suggesting that fast assays may provide a more precise estimation of the genetic variation of heat tolerance. In addition, thermal preference exhibited a low heritability (h2 = 0.066), suggesting a reduced evolutionary response for this trait. We also found that the different estimates of heat tolerance and thermal preference were not genetically correlated, regardless of how heat tolerance was estimated. In conclusion, our data suggest that these thermal traits can evolve independently in this species. In agreement with previous evidence, these results indicate that methodology may have an important impact on genetic estimates of heat tolerance and that fast assays are more likely to detect the genetic component of heat tolerance.

opencc-zeroDec 2017View details →

Data from: Can larvae of a marine fish adapt to ocean acidification? Evaluating the evolutionary potential of California Grunion (Leuresthes tenuis)

Ocean acidification can reduce the growth and survival of marine species during their larval stages. However, if populations have the genetic capacity to adapt and increase their tolerance of low pH and high pCO2 levels, this may offset the harmful effects of ocean acidification. By combining controlled breeding experiments with laboratory manipulations of seawater chemistry, we evaluated genetic variation in tolerance of ocean acidification conditions for a nearshore marine fish, the California Grunion (Leuresthes tenuis). Our results indicated that acidification conditions increased overall mortality rates of grunion larvae, but did not have a significant effect on growth. Groups of larvae varied widely with respect to mortality and growth rates in both ambient and acidified conditions. We demonstrate that the potential to evolve in response to ocean acidification is best described by considering additive genetic variation in fitness-related traits under both ambient and acidified conditions, and by evaluating the genetic correlation between traits expressed in these environments. We used a multivariate animal model to estimate additive genetic (co)variance in larval growth and mortality rates under both ambient and acidified conditions (low pH/high pCO2). Our results suggest appreciable genetic variation in larval mortality rates (h2Ambient = 0.120; h2Acidified = 0.183; rG = 0.460), but less genetic variation in growth (h2Ambient = 0.092; h2Acidified = 0.101; rG = 0.135). Maternal effects on larval mortality rates accounted for 26-36% of the variation in phenotypes, but maternal effects accounted for only 8% of the variation in growth. Collectively, our estimates of genetic variation and covariation suggest that populations of California Grunion have the capacity to adapt relatively quickly to long-term changes in ocean chemistry.

opencc-zeroDec 2015View details →

Data from: Evolutionary potential in the Alpine: trait heritabilities and performance variation of the dwarf willow Salix herbacea from different elevations and microhabitats

Alpine ecosystems are seriously threatened by climate change. One of the key mechanisms by which plants can adapt to changing environmental conditions is through evolutionary change. However, we still know little about the evolutionary potential in wild populations of long-lived alpine plants. Here, we investigated heritabilities of phenological traits, leaf size, and performance traits in natural populations of the long-lived alpine dwarf shrub Salix herbacea using relatedness estimates inferred from SSR (Simple Sequence Repeat) markers. Salix herbacea occurs in early- and late-snowmelt microhabitats (ridges and snowbeds), and we assessed how performance consequences of phenological traits and leaf size differ between these microhabitats in order to infer potential for evolutionary responses. Salix herbacea showed low, but significant, heritabilities of leaf size, clonal and sexual reproduction, and moderate heritabilities of phenological traits. In both microhabitats, we found that larger leaves, longer intervals between snowmelt and leaf expansion, and longer GDD (growing-degree days) until leaf expansion resulted in a stronger increase in the number of stems (clonal reproduction). In snowbeds, clonal reproduction increased with a shorter GDD until flowering, while the opposite was found on ridges. Furthermore, the proportion of flowering stems increased with GDD until flowering in both microhabitats. Our results suggest that the presence of significant heritable variation in morphology and phenology might help S. herbacea to adapt to changing environmental conditions. However, it remains to be seen if the rate of such an evolutionary response can keep pace with the rapid rate of climate change.

opencc-zeroDec 2014View details →

Data from: A quantitative genetic approach to assess the evolutionary potential of a coastal marine fish to ocean acidification

Assessing the potential of marine organisms to adapt genetically to increasing oceanic CO2 levels requires proxies such as heritability of fitness-related traits under ocean acidification (OA). We applied a quantitative genetic method to derive the first heritability estimate of survival under elevated CO2 conditions in a metazoan. Specifically, we reared offspring, selected from a wild coastal fish population (Atlantic silverside, Menidia menidia), at high CO2 conditions (~2,300 μatm) from fertilization to 15 days post hatch, which significantly reduced survival compared to controls. Perished and surviving offspring were quantitatively sampled and genotyped along with their parents, using 8 polymorphic microsatellite loci, to reconstruct a parent-offspring pedigree and estimate variance components. Genetically related individuals were phenotypically more similar (i.e., survived similarly long at elevated CO2 conditions) than unrelated individuals, which translated into a significantly non-zero heritability (0.20 ± 0.07). The contribution of maternal effects was surprisingly small (0.05 ± 0.04) and non-significant. Survival among replicates was positively correlated with genetic diversity, particularly with observed heterozygosity. We conclude that early life survival of M. menidia under high CO2 levels has a significant additive genetic component that could elicit an evolutionary response to OA, depending on the strength and direction of future selection.

Fig. 7 in Comparative osteology of paradoxical frogs (Hylidae: Pseudae) with comments on diagnostic features, evolutionary trends and potential aquatic adaptations

Fig. 7. Pelvic girdles in acetabular (left column) and dorsal (right column) views of representative pseudine species compared to that of Xenohyla. The pelvis of Pseudis minuta has been drawn from a dry specimen. Skeletal data from CT-scans available at Morphosource. Scale bars equal 1 mm. Anatomical abbreviations in section 2.2.5.

Fig. 6 in Comparative osteology of paradoxical frogs (Hylidae: Pseudae) with comments on diagnostic features, evolutionary trends and potential aquatic adaptations

Fig. 6. Pectoral girdles and forelimb bones of representative pseudine species compared to that of Xenohyla. Humerus in ventral view, radio-ulna in medial view, manus in plantar view, and close-up of finger in medial view. Skeletal data from CT-scans available at Morphosource. Scale bars equal 1 mm. Anatomical abbreviations in section 2.2.4.

Fig. 3 in Comparative osteology of paradoxical frogs (Hylidae: Pseudae) with comments on diagnostic features, evolutionary trends and potential aquatic adaptations

Fig. 3. Skulls of representative pseudine species in dorsal (left column), lateral (central column), and ventral (right column) views. Skeletal data from CT-scans available at Morphosource. Scale bars equal 1 mm. Anatomical abbreviations in section 2.2.1.

Fig. 10 in Comparative osteology of paradoxical frogs (Hylidae: Pseudae) with comments on diagnostic features, evolutionary trends and potential aquatic adaptations

Fig. 10. Evolutionary trends of digit morphology in pseudines. Schematic drawings of the distal part of finger IV (terminal phalanx, intercalary element, and penultimate phalanx) depict different character state combinations in pseudines and other hylids. See section 2.4 for methodological details.

Fig. 9 in Comparative osteology of paradoxical frogs (Hylidae: Pseudae) with comments on diagnostic features, evolutionary trends and potential aquatic adaptations

Fig. 9. Phylogenetic signal and homoplasy in the skeleton of pseudines and other hylids. Potential synapomorphies and autapomorphies are depicted as circles (if unambiguous) or squares (if ambiguous) on the scaffold tree, with color indicating the skeletal partition. Those unique within Hylidae are bordered in dark grey. A character distribution map indicates partition contribution to the whole data matrix. The homoplasy of each character is indicated by the homoplasy index (bottom left). See section 2.4 for methodological details.

Fig. 2 in Comparative osteology of paradoxical frogs (Hylidae: Pseudae) with comments on diagnostic features, evolutionary trends and potential aquatic adaptations

Fig. 2. Skeleton (in dorsal view) of Pseudis platensis compared to that of a tree-dwelling hylid. Skeletal data from CT-scans available at Morphosource.

Fig. 5 in Comparative osteology of paradoxical frogs (Hylidae: Pseudae) with comments on diagnostic features, evolutionary trends and potential aquatic adaptations

Fig. 5. Vertebral columns (in dorsal view) of representative pseudine species compared to that of Xenohyla. Close-ups are of the atlas-presacral II joint (in dorsal view) and the urostyle (in ventral view) of Pseudis platensis. Skeletal data from CT-scans available at Morphosource. Scale bars equal 1 mm. Anatomical abbreviations in section 2.2.3.

Fig. 1 in Comparative osteology of paradoxical frogs (Hylidae: Pseudae) with comments on diagnostic features, evolutionary trends and potential aquatic adaptations

Fig. 1. Geographic distribution map and phylogeny of paradoxical frogs (Pseudae). Species ranges are from Garda & Cannatella (2007) and timetree is from Duellman et al. (2016). The drawing (by ROG) is of an adult of Pseudis minuta. Abbreviations: L.bol, Lysapsus bolivianus; L.car, L. caraya; L.lae, L. laevis; L.lim, L. limellum; Ps.bol, Pseudis bolbodactyla; Ps.car, Ps. cardosoi; Ps.fus, Ps. fusca; Ps.min, Ps. minuta; Ps.par, Ps. paradoxa; Ps. pla, Ps. platensis; Ps.toc, Ps. tocantins; spp, species.

Fig. 4 in Comparative osteology of paradoxical frogs (Hylidae: Pseudae) with comments on diagnostic features, evolutionary trends and potential aquatic adaptations

Fig. 4. Hyolaryngeal complex (in ventral view) of Pseudis minuta (male; FCEN 19848). Red denotes bone and blue denotes cartilage. Scale bar equals 1 mm. Anatomical abbreviations in section 2.2.2.

Fig. 12 in Comparative osteology of paradoxical frogs (Hylidae: Pseudae) with comments on diagnostic features, evolutionary trends and potential aquatic adaptations

Fig. 12. Uniqueness of paradoxical frogs and convergence with aquatic taxa. Heatmap of 38 homoplastic characters showing clustering of Pseudae species with pipids and other aquatic frogs (phenogram on the left) and their distinctiveness amongst hylids (phylogenetic tree on the bottom). See section 2.4 for methodological details. Abbreviations: GD, Gower distance.

Fig. 11 in Comparative osteology of paradoxical frogs (Hylidae: Pseudae) with comments on diagnostic features, evolutionary trends and potential aquatic adaptations

Fig. 11. Evolutionary trends of selected characters of skull, pelvis, and limbs in pseudines and convergence with pipids. Optimization of 12 binary and multistate characters is depicted on the scaffold tree including all outgroup taxa, with color indicating the respective character state. Schematic drawings of skeletons depict different character state combinations in exemplar species (in bold) and the convergence of Pseudis and pipids. See section 2.4 for methodological details.