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Innate immunity promotes sleep through epidermal antimicrobial peptides
<p>Wounding and infection trigger a protective innate immune response that includes the production of antimicrobial peptides in the affected tissue as well as increased sleep. Little is known, however, how peripheral wounds or innate immunity signal to the nervous system to increase sleep. We found that during <i>C. elegans</i> larval molting, an epidermal tolloid/BMP-1-like protein called NAS-38 promotes sleep. NAS-38 is negatively regulated by its thrombospondin domain and acts through its astacin protease domain to activate p38 MAP/PMK-1 kinase and TGF-β-SMAD/SMA-3-dependent innate immune pathways in the epidermis that cause STAT/STA-2 and SLC6 (solute carrier)/SNF-12-dependent expression of antimicrobial peptide (AMP) genes. We show that more than a dozen epidermal AMPs act as somnogens, signaling across tissues to promote sleep through the sleep-active RIS neuron. In the adult, epidermal injury activates innate immunity and turns up AMP production to trigger sleep, a process that requires EGFR signaling that is known to promote sleep following cellular stress. We show for one AMP, NLP-29, that it acts through the neuropeptide receptor NPR-12 in locomotion-controlling neurons that are presynaptic to RIS and that depolarize this neuron to induce sleep. Sleep in turn increases the chance of surviving injury. Thus, we found a novel mechanism by which peripheral wounds signal to the nervous system to increase protective sleep. Such a cross-tissue somnogen signaling function of AMPs might also boost sleep in other animals including humans.</p>
Data from: Aquatic animals promote antibiotic resistance gene dissemination in water via conjugation: role of different regions within the zebra fish intestinal tract, and impact on fish intestinal microbiota
The aqueous environment is one of many reservoirs of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). Fish, as important aquatic animals which possess ideal intestinal niches for bacteria to grow and multiply, may ingest antibiotic resistance bacteria from aqueous environment. The fish gut would be a suitable environment for conjugal gene transfer including those encoding antibiotic resistance. However, little is known in relation to the impact of ingested ARGs or antibiotic resistance bacteria (ARB) on gut microbiota. Here, we applied the cultivation method, qPCR, nuclear molecular genetic marker and 16S rDNA amplicon sequencing technologies to develop a plasmid-mediated ARG transfer model of zebrafish. Furthermore, we aimed to investigate the dissemination of ARGs in microbial communities of zebrafish guts after donors carrying self-transferring plasmids that encode ARGs were introduced in aquaria. On average, 15% of faecal bacteria obtained ARGs through RP4-mediated conjugal transfer. The hindgut was the most important intestinal region supporting ARG dissemination, with concentrations of donor and transconjugant cells almost 25 times higher than those of other intestinal segments. Furthermore, in the hindgut where conjugal transfer occurred most actively, there was remarkable upregulation of the mRNA expression of the RP4 plasmid regulatory genes, trbBp and trfAp. Exogenous bacteria seem to alter bacterial communities by increasing Escherichia and Bacteroides species, while decreasing Aeromonas compared with control groups. We identified the composition of transconjugants and abundance of both cultivable and uncultivable bacteria (the latter accounted for 90.4%–97.2% of total transconjugants). Our study suggests that aquatic animal guts contribute to the spread of ARGs in water environments.
Data from: Twelve years of repeated wild hog activity promotes population maintenance of an invasive clonal plant in a coastal dune ecosystem
Invasive animals can facilitate the success of invasive plant populations through disturbance. We examined the relationship between the repeated foraging disturbance of an invasive animal and the population maintenance of an invasive plant in a coastal dune ecosystem. We hypothesized that feral wild hog (Sus scrofa) populations repeatedly utilized tubers of the clonal perennial, yellow nutsedge (Cyperus esculentus) as a food source and evaluated whether hog activity promoted the long-term maintenance of yellow nutsedge populations on St. Catherine's Island, Georgia, United States. Using generalized linear mixed models, we tested the effect of wild hog disturbance on permanent sites for yellow nutsedge culm density, tuber density, and percent cover of native plant species over a 12-year period. We found that disturbance plots had a higher number of culms and tubers and a lower percentage of native live plant cover than undisturbed control plots. Wild hogs redisturbed the disturbed plots approximately every 5 years. Our research provides demographic evidence that repeated foraging disturbances by an invasive animal promote the long-term population maintenance of an invasive clonal plant. Opportunistic facultative interactions such as we demonstrate in this study are likely to become more commonplace as greater numbers of introduced species are integrated into ecological communities around the world.
Data from: Persistence in peripheral refugia promotes phenotypic divergence and speciation in a rainforest frog
It is well established from the fossil record and phylogeographic analyses that late Quaternary climate fluctuations led to substantial changes in species' distribution, but whether and how these fluctuations resulted in phenotypic divergence and speciation is less clear. This question can be addressed through detailed analysis of traits relevant to ecology and mating within and among intraspecific lineages that persisted in separate refugia. In a biogeographic system (the Australian Wet Tropics, AWT) with a well-established history of refugial isolation during Pleistocene glacial periods, we test whether climate-mediated changes in distribution drove genetic and phenotypic divergence in the rainforest frog, Cophixalus ornatus. We combine paleomodeling and multilocus genetics to demonstrate long-term persistence within, and isolation among, one central and two peripheral refugia. In contrast to other AWT vertebrates, the three major lineages differ in ecologically relevant morphology and in mating call, reflecting divergent selection and/or genetic drift in the peripheral isolates. Divergence in mating call, and contact zone analyses, suggest that the lineages now represent distinct species. The results show that climate shifts can promote genetic and phenotypic divergence, and potentially speciation, and direct attention towards incorporating adaptive traits into phylogeographic studies to better resolve the mechanisms of speciation.
Data from: Long-tongued insects promote disassortative pollen transfer in style-dimorphic Narcissus papyraceus (Amaryllidaceae)
1. In hermaphroditic flowers, reciprocal herkogamy e.g. heterostyly enhances pollen transfer between floral morphs (disassortative pollination) while avoiding self-interference between sexual organs. By contrast, disassortative pollination might be compromised in style-dimorphic flowers, which lack perfect reciprocity between the two floral morphs. This sub-optimal functioning has been considered to explain why stylar dimorphism is rare in nature. 2. Some style-polymorphic species receive a wide array of floral visitors, including long-tongued insects that feed on nectar and short-tongued insects that feed on pollen. Differences in the morphology and behaviour of these two insect types could be manifested as different pollination patterns in each floral morph. 3. By observing individual pollinators and pollen deposition and delivery in small field-based experimental arrays with emasculated and intact flowers, we studied pollination patterns mediated by different insect types (long- and short-tongued) in the two floral morphs (long- and short-styled) of the style-dimorphic Narcissus papyraceus. We investigated patterns of pollen transfer between and within style morphs in cross pollinations, as well as self-pollination and pollen-removal rates, for each floral morph mediated by each insect type. 4. Long-tongued insects were efficient pollinators of both floral morphs as they removed little pollen from the anthers but deposited comparatively large amounts on the stigmas. Although disassortative and assortative pollen transfer were equally high to the long-styled morph, the former prevailed in the short-styled morph. Short-tongued insects removed large amounts of pollen from the anthers but deposited only a few pollen grains on the long-styled stigmas and a negligible number of grains on short-styled stigmas regardless of the morph of the donor. 5. In this study we provide empirical support for the hypothesis that, under the action of long-tongued pollinators, pollen transfer patterns in the stylar-dimorphic Narcissus papyraceus resemble in part those of heterostylous species. In addition, we found that short-tongued insects act mostly as pollen thieves, thereby limiting the male fitness of both style morphs, besides depleting the female fitness of S-morph plants. In view of these results, we propose that the differing pollination efficiencies of floral visitors, in addition to their frequency, are key in determining the morph ratio of populations in this Narcissus.
Data from: Wind-associated detours promote seasonal migratory connectivity in a flapping flying long-distance avian migrant
1. It is essential to gain knowledge about the causes and extent of migratory connectivity between stationary periods of migrants to further the understanding of processes affecting populations, and to allow efficient implementation of conservation efforts throughout the annual cycle. Avian migrants likely use optimal routes with respect to mode of locomotion, orientation and migration strategy, influenced by external factors such as wind and topography. In self-powered flapping flying birds any increases in fuel loads are associated with added flight costs. Energy-minimizing migrants are therefore predicted to trade-off extended detours against reduced travel across ecological barriers with no or limited foraging opportunities. 2. Here we quantify the extent of detours taken by different populations of European nightjars Caprimulgus europaeus, to test our predictions that they used routes beneficial according to energetic principles and evaluate the effect of route shape on seasonal migratory connectivity. 3. We combined data on birds tracked from breeding sites along a longitudinal gradient from England to Sweden. We analysed the migratory connectivity between breeding and main non-breeding sites, and en route stopover sites just south of the Sahara desert. We quantified each track's route extension relative to the direct route between breeding and wintering sites, respectively, and contrasted it to the potential detour derived from the barrier reduction along the track while accounting for potential wind effects. 4. Nightjars extended their tracks from the direct route between breeding and main non-breeding sites as they crossed the Mediterranean Sea – Sahara desert, the major ecological barrier in the Palaearctic-African migration system. These clockwise detours were small for birds from eastern sites but increased from east to west breeding longitude. Routes of the tracked birds were associated with partial reduction of the barrier-crossing resulting in a trade-off between route extension and barrier reduction, as expected in an energy-minimizing migrant. 5. This study demonstrates how the costs of barrier crossings in prevailing winds can disrupt migratory routes towards slightly different goals, and thereby promote migratory connectivity. This is an important link between individual migration strategies in association with an ecological barrier, and both spatially and demographic population patterns. 16-Aug-2019
Data from: Elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations promote ant tending of aphids
1. Animal mutualisms, which involve beneficial interactions between individuals of different species, are common in nature. Insect-insect mutualism, for example, is widely regarded as a keystone ecological interaction. Some mutualisms are anticipated to be modified by climate change, but the focus has largely been on plant-microbe and plant-animal mutualisms rather than those between animals. 2. Ant-aphid mutualisms, whereby ants tend aphids to harvest their honeydew excretions and, in return, provide protection for the aphids are widespread. The mutualism is heavily influenced by the quality and quantity of honeydew produced by aphids, which is directly affected by host plant quality. Since predicted increases in concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide (eCO2) are widely reported to affect plant nutritional chemistry, this may also alter honeydew quality and hence the nature of ant-aphid mutualisms. 3. Using glasshouse chambers and field-based open top chambers we determined the effect of eCO2 on the growth and nutritional quality (foliar amino acids) of lucerne (Medicago sativa). We determined how cowpea aphid (Aphis craccivora) populations and honeydew production were impacted when feeding on such plants and how this affected the tending behaviour of ants (Iridomyrmex spp.). 4. eCO2 stimulated plant growth but decreased concentrations of foliar amino acids by 29% and 14% on aphid-infested plants and aphid-free plants, respectively. Despite the deterioration in host plant quality under eCO2, aphids maintained performance and populations were unchanged by eCO2. Aphids induced higher concentrations of amino acids (glutamine, asparagine, glutamic acid and aspartic acid) important for endosymbiont-mediated synthesis of essential amino acids. Aphids feeding under eCO2 also produced over three times more honeydew than aphids feeding under ambient CO2., suggesting they were imbibing more phloem sap at eCO2. The frequency of ant tending of aphids more than doubled in response to eCO2. 5. To our knowledge, this is the first study to demonstrate the effects of atmospheric change on an ant-aphid mutualism. In particular, these results highlight how impending changes to concentrations of atmospheric CO2 may alter mutualistic behaviour between animals. These could include positive impacts, as reported here, shifts from mutualism to antagonism, partner switches and mutualism abandonment.
Data from: Adaptive responses to cool climate promotes persistence of a non-native lizard
Successful establishment and range expansion of non-native species often require rapid accommodation of novel environments. Here, we use common-garden experiments to demonstrate parallel adaptive evolutionary response to a cool climate in populations of wall lizards (Podarcis muralis) introduced from southern Europe into England. Low soil temperatures in the introduced range delay hatching, which generates directional selection for a shorter incubation period. Non-native lizards from two separate lineages have responded to this selection by retaining their embryos for longer before oviposition—hence reducing the time needed to complete embryogenesis in the nest—and by an increased developmental rate at low temperatures. This divergence mirrors local adaptation across latitudes and altitudes within widely distributed species and suggests that evolutionary responses to climate can be very rapid. When extrapolated to soil temperatures encountered in nests within the introduced range, embryo retention and faster developmental rate result in one to several weeks earlier emergence compared with the ancestral state. We show that this difference translates into substantial survival benefits for offspring. This should promote short- and long-term persistence of non-native populations, and ultimately enable expansion into areas that would be unattainable with incubation duration representative of the native range.
Data from: Competition alters seasonal resource selection and promotes use of invasive shrubs by an imperiled native cottontail
1. Many ecosystems face multiple invaders, and interactions among invasive and native species may complicate conservation efforts for imperiled species. Examination of fine-scale resource selection can be used to detect patterns in habitat selection resulting from species interactions and assess the value of specific resources, including invasive plants, to wildlife. 2. We used animal location data with mixed-effects resource selection models to examine seasonal competitive interactions and species-specific selection for forage and cover resources by an imperiled native lagomorph, the New England cottontail Sylvilagus transitionalis and its non-native competitor, the eastern cottontail S. floridanus in the eastern Hudson Valley, NY. 3. We found evidence that resource selection by New England cottontails depended on the relative prevalence of eastern cottontails to New England cottontails. Where eastern cottontails were less prevalent New England cottontail selected for resources characteristic of early-successional shrublands. Where eastern cottontails were more prevalent, New England cottontails selected for resources characteristic of later-successional shrublands. 4. New England cottontail use of certain invasive shrubs depended on the prevalence of eastern cottontails relative to New England cottontails, suggesting response to invasive plants is confounded by interactions with a non-native competitor. 5. Our results further emphasize the need for conservation efforts to consider invasive management within the ecosystem context. We demonstrate the utility of resource selection studies to assist in this regard by exploring competitive interactions in the absence of removal studies, while simultaneously assessing the impact of habitat components such as invasive vegetation on species of conservation concern. 6. Synthesis and applications Resource selection studies can be directly applied to inform ongoing species conservation where multiple invaders are present or where species interactions influence resource selection. Fine-scale assessments of resource selection, similar to those presented here, can be used to selectively manage habitat to benefit desired species within the ecosystem context.
Data from: The evolution of coexistence: reciprocal adaptation promotes the assembly of a simple community
Species coexistence may result by chance when co-occurring species do not strongly interact or it may be an evolutionary outcome of strongly interacting species adapting to each other. While patterns like character displacement indicate that coexistence has often been an evolutionary outcome, it is unclear how often the evolution of coexistence represents adaptation in only one species or reciprocal adaptation among all interacting species. Here we demonstrate a strong role for evolution in the coexistence of guppies and killifish in Trinidadian streams. We experimentally recreated the temporal stages in the invasion and establishment of guppies into communities that previously contained only killifish. We combined demographic responses of guppies and killifish with a size-based integral projection model to calculate the fitness of the phenotypes of each species in each of the stages of community assembly. We show that guppies from locally adapted populations that are sympatric with killifish have higher fitness when paired with killifish than guppies from allopatric populations. This elevated fitness involves effects traceable to both guppy and killifish evolution. We discuss the implications of our results to the study of species coexistence and how it may be mediated through eco-evolutionary feedbacks.
Data from: Diversifying livestock promotes multidiversity and multifunctionality in managed grasslands
Increasing plant diversity can increase ecosystem functioning,stability, and services in both natural and managed grasslands,but the effects of herbivore diversity, and especially of livestock diversity, remain underexplored. Given that managed grazing is the most extensive land use worldwide, and that land managers can readily change livestock diversity, we experimentally tested how livestock diversification (sheep, cattle, or both) influenced multidiversity (the diversity of plants, insects, soil microbes, and nematodes) and ecosystem multifunctionality (including plant biomass production, plant leaf N and P, above-ground insect abundance, nutrient cycling, soil C stocks, water regulation, and plant–microbe symbiosis) in the world's largest remaining grassland. We also considered the potential dependence of ecosystem multifunctionality on multidiversity. We found that livestock diversification substantially increased ecosystem multifunctionality by increasing multidiversity. The link between multidiversity and ecosystem multifunctionality was always stronger than the link between single diversity components and functions. Our work provides insights into the importance of multitrophic diversity to maintain multifunctionality in managed ecosystems and suggests that diversifying livestock could promote both multidiversity and ecosystem multifunctionality in an increasingly managed world.
Data from: Plant species richness promotes soil carbon and nitrogen stocks in grasslands without legumes
1. The storage of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) in soil are important ecosystem functions. Grassland biodiversity experiments have shown a positive effect of plant diversity on soil C and N storage. However, these experiments all included legumes, which constitute an important N input through N2-fixation. Indeed, the results of these experiments suggest that N2-fixation by legumes is a major driver of soil C and N storage. 2. We studied whether plant diversity affects soil C and N storage in the absence of legumes. In an 11-years grassland biodiversity experiment without legumes, we measured soil C and N stocks. We further determined above-ground biomass productivity, standing root biomass, soil organic matter decomposition and N mineralization rates to understand the mechanisms underlying the change in soil C and N stocks in relation to plant diversity and their feedbacks to plant productivity. 3. We found that soil C and N stocks increased by 18 and 16% in eight-species mixtures compared to the average of monocultures of the same species, respectively. Increased soil C and N stocks were mainly driven by increased C input and N retention, resulting from enhanced plant productivity, which surpassed enhanced C loss from decomposition. Importantly, higher soil C and N stocks were associated with enhanced soil N mineralization rates, which can explain the strengthening of the positive diversity-productivity relationship observed in the last years of the experiment. 4. Synthesis: We demonstrated that also in the absence of legumes plant species richness promotes soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) stocks via increased plant productivity. In turn, enhanced soil C and N stocks showed a positive feedback to plant productivity via enhanced N mineralization, which could further accelerate soil C and N storage in the long term.
Phenotypic variability can promote the evolution of adaptive plasticity by reducing the stringency of natural selection
Adaptive phenotypic plasticity is a potent but not ubiquitous solution to environmental heterogeneity, driving interest in what factors promote and limit its evolution. Here a novel computational model representing stochastic information flow in development is used to explore evolution from a constitutive phenotype to an adaptively plastic response. Results show that populations tend to evolve robustness to developmental stochasticity, but this evolved robustness limits evolvability; specifically, robust genotypes have less ability to evolve adaptive plasticity when presented with a mix of both the ancestral environment and a new environment. Analytic calculations and computational experiments confirm that this constraint occurs when the initial mutational steps toward plasticity are pleiotropic, such that mutant fitnesses decline in the environment to which their parents are well-adapted. Greater phenotypic variability improves evolvability in the model by lessening this decline as well as improving the fitness of partial adaptations to the new environment. By making initial plastic mutations more palatable to natural selection, phenotypic variability can increase the evolvability of an innovative, plastic response without improving evolvability to simpler challenges such as a shifted optimum in a single environment. Populations that evolved robustness by negative feedback between the trait and its rate of change show a particularly strong constraining effect on the evolvability of plasticity, revealing another mechanism by which evolutionary history can limit later innovation. These results document a novel mechanism by which weakening selection could actually stimulate the evolution of a major innovation.
Data from: Female mate preferences for male body size and shape promote sexual isolation in threespine sticklebacks
Female mate preferences for ecologically relevant traits may enhance natural selection, leading to rapid divergence. They may also forge a link between mate choice within species and sexual isolation between species. Here, we examine female mate preference for two ecologically important traits: body size and body shape. We measured female preferences within and between species of benthic, limnetic, and anadromous threespine sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus species complex). We found that mate preferences differed between species and between contexts (i.e., within vs. between species). Within species, anadromous females preferred males that were deep bodied for their size, benthic females preferred larger males (as measured by centroid size), and limnetic females preferred males that were more limnetic shaped. In heterospecific mating trials between benthics and limnetics, limnetic females continued to prefer males that were more limnetic like in shape when presented with benthic males. Benthic females showed no preferences for size when presented with limnetic males. These results show that females use ecologically relevant traits to select mates in all three species and that female preference has diverged between species. These results suggest that sexual selection may act in concert with natural selection on stickleback size and shape. Further, our results suggest that female preferences may track adaptation to local environments and contribute to sexual isolation between benthic and limnetic sticklebacks.
Data from: Facultative paedomorphosis as a mechanism promoting intraspecific niche differentiation
Organisms with complex life cycles are characterized by a metamorphosis that allows for a major habitat shift and the exploitation of alternative resources. However, metamorphosis can be bypassed in some species through a process called paedomorphosis, resulting in the retention of larval traits at the adult stage and is considered important at both micro- and macroevolutionary scales. In facultatively paedomorphic populations of newts, some individuals retain gills and a fully aquatic life at the adult stage (paedomorphs), while others undergo complete metamorphosis (metamorphs), allowing for a terrestrial life-stage. Because facultative paedomorphosis affects trophic structures and feeding mechanism of newts, one hypothesis is that it may be maintained as a trophic polymorphism, with the advantage to lessen intraspecific competition during the shared aquatic life-stage. Here, we tested this hypothesis combining stomach content data with stable isotope techniques, using carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes, in facultatively paedomorphic alpine newts (Ichthyosaura alpestris). Both stomach content and stable isotope analyses showed that paedomorphs had smaller trophic niches and were more reliant on pelagic resources, while metamorphs relied more on littoral resources, corresponding to a polyphenism along the littoral-pelagic axis and the extension of the population's trophic niche to otherwise 'underused' pelagic resources by paedomorphs. Interestingly, stable isotopes revealed that the trophic polyphenism was less marked in males than in females and potentially linked to sexual activity. Although paedomorphosis and metamorphosis are primarily seen as results of trade-offs between the advantages of using aquatic versus terrestrial habitats, this study provides evidence that additional forces, such as intraspecific trophic niche differences between morphs and trophic niche expansion, may play an important role in the persistence of this dimorphism in heterogeneous environments. Moreover, the different patterns found in males and females show the importance of considering sex to understand the evolutionary ecology of trophic polymorphisms.
Data from: Landscape greening and local creation of wildflower strips and hedgerows promote multiple ecosystem services
1. The explicit and implicit aims of creating ecological focus areas (EFAs) and implementing greening measures in European agro-ecosystems include the promotion of regulatory ecosystem services (ES) to sustain crop production in conventional cropping systems. However, the extent to which these goals are achieved with current policy measures remains poorly explored. 2. We measured insect-mediated pollination and natural pest control service provisioning in 18 winter oilseed rape fields as a function of the independent and interactive effects of local EFA establishment ─ sown wildflower strips and hedgerows ─ and landscape-scale greening measures within a 1 km radius around focal fields and quantified their contribution to crop yield. 3. Insect pollination potential and pest predation increased on average by 10 and 13%, respectively, when landscape-scale greening measures share was increased from 6 to 26%. For pollination, the increase was stronger in fields adjoining an EFA (14%) than in fields without adjacent EFA (7%). 4. Agricultural management practices were the main drivers of crop yield. Neither insect pollination potential or natural pest control (pest predation & parasitism) nor adjacent EFAs and landscape-scale greening significantly affected crop yield in addition to agricultural management. 5. Synthesis and applications. Local establishment of perennial, species–rich wildflower strips and hedgerows, combined with landscape-scale greening measures in agricultural landscapes, can promote multiple ecosystem services (ES) in conventional production systems. Benefits may be maximized when local and landscape measures are combined. However, enhanced pollination and natural pest regulation seem to contribute relatively little to final crop yield compared to local agricultural management practices in the high-input conventional production system studied. Further research is needed to better understand how to improve the effectiveness of ecological focus areas and other greening measures in promoting regulatory ES. Potential improvements include minimising trade-offs while promoting synergies between ES provision, food production and biodiversity conservation.
Data from: Tailored flower strips promote natural enemy biodiversity and pest control in potato crops
1. Sown flower strips are increasingly implemented within agri-environment schemes (AES) to increase functional biodiversity and ecosystem services such as pollination or natural pest control, but their effectiveness in achieving these goals remains poorly studied. 2. We tested the performance of experimentally sown annual flower strips specifically designed to promote natural enemies of aphids and their pest control services (tailored flower strips) in adjacent potato crops (n=8) compared to control fields (n=10). Flower strips consisted of 11 plant species providing abundant floral and extra-floral resources. 3. The abundance of key natural enemies of aphids (hoverflies, lacewings and ladybirds) and hoverfly species richness was greatly enhanced in tailored flower strips compared to potato control strips. This resulted in an average increase in the number of eggs deposited by hoverflies and lacewings by 127 % and 48 %, respectively, and a reduction in the number of aphids by 75 % in adjacent potato crops. 4. Synthesis and applications. We conclude that tailored flower strips can be an effective agri-environmental measure to enhance natural enemies and aphid control in nearby crops. Indeed, tailored flower strips may help to reduce insecticide input in potato production as they significantly decrease the probability that action thresholds are reached. Promoting natural enemy abundance and diversity, as observed for hoverflies, may increase the stability of pest control and provide additional benefits to agro-ecosystems in terms of natural enemy conservation. We thus recommend establishing tailored flower strips as a promising management option to reconcile the objectives of ecological intensification and biodiversity conservation.
Data from: Herbivory promotes dental disparification and macroevolutionary dynamics in grunters (Teleostei: Terapontidae), a freshwater adaptive radiation
Trophic shifts into new adaptive zones have played major (although often conflicting) roles in reshaping the evolutionary trajectories of many lineages. We analyze data on diet, tooth, and oral morphology and relate these traits to phenotypic disparification and lineage diversification rates across the ecologically diverse Terapontidae, a family of Australasian fishes. In contrast to carnivores and most omnivores, which have retained relatively simple, ancestral caniniform tooth shapes, herbivorous terapontids appear to have evolved a variety of novel tooth shapes at significantly faster rates to meet the demands of plant-based diets. The evolution of herbivory prompted major disparification, significantly expanding the terapontid adaptive phenotypic continuum into an entirely novel functional morphospace. There was minimal support for our hypothesis of faster overall rates of integrated tooth shape, spacing, and jaw biomechanical evolution in herbivorous terapontids in their entirety, compared with other trophic strategies. There was, however, considerable support for accelerated disparification within a diverse freshwater clade containing a range of specialized freshwater herbivores. While the evolutionary transition to herbivorous diets has played a central role in terapontid phenotypic diversification by pushing herbivores toward novel fitness peaks, there was little support for herbivory driving significantly higher lineage diversification compared with background rates across the family.
Data from: Comparative landscape genetics of pond-breeding amphibians in Mediterranean temporal wetlands: the positive role of structural heterogeneity in promoting gene flow
Comparative landscape genetics studies can provide key information to implement cost-effective conservation measures favoring a broad set of taxa. These studies are scarce, particularly in Mediterranean areas, which include diverse but threatened biological communities. Here we focus on Mediterranean wetlands in central Iberia and perform a multi-level, comparative study of two endemic pond-breeding amphibians, a salamander (Pleurodeles waltl) and a toad (Pelobates cultripes). We genotyped 411 salamanders from 20 populations and 306 toads from 16 populations at 18 and 16 microsatellite loci, respectively, and identified major factors associated with population connectivity through the analysis of three sets of variables potentially affecting gene flow at increasingly finer levels of spatial resolution. Topographic, land use/cover, and remotely sensed vegetation/moisture indices were used to derive optimized resistance surfaces for the two species. We found contrasting patterns of genetic structure, with stronger, finer-scale genetic differentiation in Pleurodeles waltl, and notable differences in the role of fine-scale patterns of heterogeneity in vegetation cover and water content in shaping patterns of regional genetic structure in the two species. Overall, our results suggest a positive role of structural heterogeneity in population connectivity in pond-breeding amphibians, with habitat patches of Mediterranean scrubland and open oak woodlands ("dehesas") facilitating gene flow. Our study highlights the usefulness of remotely sensed continuous variables of land cover, vegetation and water content (e.g., NDVI, NDMI) in conservation-oriented studies aimed at identifying major drivers of population connectivity.
Data from: Hybridization promotes color polymorphism in the aposematic harlequin poison frog, Oophaga histrionica
Whether hybridization can be a mechanism that drives phenotypic diversity is a widely debated topic in evolutionary biology. In poison frogs (Dendrobatidae), assortative mating has been invoked to explain how new color morphs persist despite the expected homogenizing effects of natural selection. Here, we tested the complementary hypothesis that new morphs arise through hybridization between different color morphs. Specifically, we (1) reconstructed the phylogenetic relationships among the studied populations of a dart-poison frog to provide an evolutionary framework, (2) tested whether microsatellite allele frequencies of one putative hybrid population of the polymorphic frog O. histrionica are intermediate between O. histrionica and O. lehmanni, and (3) conducted mate-choice experiments to test whether putatively intermediate females prefer homotypic males over males from the other two populations. Our findings are compatible with a hybrid origin for the new morph and emphasize the possibility of hybridization as a mechanism generating variation in polymorphic species. Moreover, because coloration in poison frogs is aposematic and should be heavily constrained, our findings suggest that hybridization can produce phenotypic novelty even in systems where phenotypes are subject to strong stabilizing selection.
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Allen Brain Atlas
Allen Brain Atlas is an Allen Institute collection of brain map atlases, datasets, APIs, and analysis tools covering mouse, human, and non-human primate brain resources.
Annotated Behaviour and Observability Dataset (ABODe)
ABODe is a University of Edinburgh DataShare dataset for behavior classification in group-housed mice using home-cage video, identities, bounding boxes, ground-plate positions, and annotator labels.
DANDI Archive for NWB datasets
DANDI is a BRAIN Initiative archive for publishing and sharing neurophysiology data, including electrophysiology, optophysiology, and behavioral data packaged as NWB and related standards.
International Brain Laboratory public data
The International Brain Laboratory public data releases expose standardized mouse decision-making experiments, including Neuropixels recordings, widefield calcium imaging, behavior, and session metadata accessed through the ONE API.
OpenNeuro
OpenNeuro is a free, open platform for sharing neuroimaging datasets, with public search, dataset pages, and download paths for web, S3, DataLad, and the OpenNeuro CLI.