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2,291 results for “life history”
Data from: Variation in chronic radiation exposure does not drive life history divergence among Daphnia populations across the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone
Ionising radiation is a mutagen with known negative impacts on individual fitness. However, much less is known about how these individual fitness effects translate into population-level variation in natural environments that have experienced varying levels of radiation exposure. In this study, we sampled genotypes of the freshwater crustacean, Daphnia pulex, from the eight inhabited lakes across the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (CEZ). Each lake has experienced very different levels of chronic radiation exposure since a nuclear power reactor exploded there over thirty years ago. The sampled Daphnia genotypes represent genetic snapshots of current populations and allowed us to examine fitness-related traits under controlled laboratory conditions at UK background dose rates. We found that whilst there was variation in survival and schedules of reproduction among populations, there was no compelling evidence that this was driven by variation in exposure to radiation. Previous studies have shown that controlled exposure to radiation at dose rates included in the range measured in the current study reduce survival, or fecundity, or both. One limitation of this study is the lack of available sites at high dose rates, and future work could test life history variation in various organisms at other high radiation areas. Our results are nevertheless consistent with the idea that other ecological factors, e.g., competition, predation or parasitism, are likely to play a much bigger role in driving variation among populations than exposure to the high radiation dose rates found in the CEZ. These findings clearly demonstrate that it is important to examine the potential negative effects of radiation across wild populations that are subject to many and varied selection pressures as a result of complex ecological interactions.
Data from: Temperature, size, reproductive allocation, and life-history evolution in a gregarious caterpillar
The present study aimed to investigate the relation between growth rate, final mass and larval development, and how this relations influence the reproductive trade-offs in the context of a gregarious life-style and the need to keep an optimal group size. We use as model two sympatric populations of the pine processionary moth Thaumetopoea pityocampa, occurring in different seasons and thus experiencing different climatic conditions. T. pityocampa is a strictly gregarious caterpillar throughout the larval period, which occurs during winter in countries all over the Mediterranean Basin. However in 1997 a population, in which larval development occurs during the summer, was discovered in Portugal, being called Summer Population SP, as opposed to the normal Winter Population WP, which coexists in the same forest feeding on the same host during the winter. Both this populations were monitored during three years, with assessment of the length of the larval period and its relation with different climatic variables, final mass and adult size, egg size and number, colony size, and mortality in different life stages. The SP larval period was reduced due to development in the warmer part of the year, however reaching the same final mass and adult size as the WP. In spite of equal size at maturity, a trade-off between egg size and number was found between the two populations: SP produced less but bigger eggs than WP. This is the opposite of what is generally found in other Lepidoptera species, where development in colder environments leads to larger eggs at the expense of fecundity, but corroborates the trend found at a macro-geographic scale for T. pityocampa, with females from northern latitudes and colder environment, producing more and smaller eggs. Results point to the importance of number of eggs in cold environments due to an advantage of large colonies when gregarious caterpillars develop in such environments, and are discussed according to the major theories regarding size in animals.
Life history predicts flight muscle phenotype and function in birds
<p>1. Functional traits are the essential phenotypes that underlie an organism's life history and ecology. Although biologists have long recognized that intraspecific variation is consequential to an animals' ecology, studies of functional variation are often restricted to species-level comparisons, ignoring critical variation within species. In birds, interspecific comparisons have been foundational in connecting flight muscle phenotypes to species-level ecology, but intraspecific variation has remained largely unexplored.</p> <p>2. We asked how age- and sex-dependent demands on flight muscle function are reconciled in birds. The flight muscle is an essential multifunctional organ, mediating a large range of functions associated with powered flight and thermoregulation. These functions must be balanced over an individual's lifetime.</p> <p>3. We leveraged within- and between-species comparisons in a clade of small passerines (<em>Tarsiger</em> bush-robins) from the eastern edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. We integrated measurements of flight muscle physiology, morphology, behavior, phenology, and environmental data, analyzing trait data within a context of three widespread, adaptive life-history strategies – sexual dichromatism, age and sex-structured migration, and delayed plumage maturation. This approach provides a framework of the selective forces that shape functional variation within and between species.</p> <p>4. We found more variation in flight muscle traits within species than has been previously described between species of birds under 20 g. This variation was associated with the discovery of mixed muscle fiber types (i.e. both fast glycolytic and fast oxidative fibers), which differ markedly in their physiological and functional attributes. This result is surprising given that the flight muscles of small birds are generally thought to contain only fast oxidative fibers, suggesting a novel ecological context for glycolytic muscle fibers in small birds. Within each species, flight muscle phenotypes varied by age and sex, reflecting the functional demands at different life-history stages and the pressures that individuals face as a result of their multi-class identity (i.e. species, age, and sex).</p> <p>5. Our findings reveal new links between avian physiology, ecology, behavior, and life history, while demonstrating the importance of demographic-dependent selection in shaping functional phenotypic variation. </p>
Data from: Birth date predicts alternative life-history pathways in a fish with sequential reproductive tactics
In species with plastic expression of alternative reproductive tactics (ARTs), individuals of the same sex, usually males, can adopt different reproductive tactics depending on factors such as body size. The 'birth date hypothesis' proposes that condition-dependent expression of ARTs may ultimately depend on birth date, because individuals born at different times of the year may achieve different sizes and express different reproductive tactics accordingly. However, this has rarely been tested. Here, we tested this hypothesis in a fish with ARTs, the peacock blenny (Salaria pavo). A long-term (6 years) mark–recapture study demonstrated that ARTs in the peacock blenny were sequential and that males may follow at least two alternative life-history pathways: a nest-holder pathway, in which males express the nest-holder tactic from their first breeding season onwards, and a parasitic pathway, where males reproduce on their first breeding season as sneaker males and subsequently as nest-holders. We have found evidence of a birth date effect on the expression of ARTs in the peacock blenny. Males following the nest-holder pathway are born earlier and are larger at the first breeding season than males following the parasitic pathway, but they have similar growth curves. The mechanisms underlying a birth date effect are far from clear and might be diverse. We have not found support for a mechanism of body size threshold triggering sexual maturation and subsequent ARTs. A mechanism of tactic determination that is strictly based on timing of first maturation is also unlikely. A proxy of lifetime reproductive success shows crossing (body size associated) fitness curves for the two main life-history pathways.
Data from: Plant life history stage and nurse age change the development of ecological networks in an arid ecosystem
Understanding how ecological networks are organised over the course of an organism's lifetime is crucial for predicting the dynamics of interacting populations and communities across temporal scales. However, most studies so far considered only one life history stage at a time, such as adult, when studying networks of interacting species. Therefore, knowledge about how multiple life history stages affect the development and stability of plant–plant association networks is lacking. We measured the understory adult plant community and the soil seed bank across a plant age gradient of the nurse shrub Retama sphaerocarpa in an arid ecosystem in Spain. Using a multilayer network approach, we built adult understory–nurse and seed bank–nurse networks and analysed how network nestedness, species' role, and species specificity varied between them and with nurse plant age. We found that seed bank and adult understory networks changed depending on nurse plant age in two different ways. With increasing nurse plant age, adult understory networks became significantly more nested than seed bank networks. The nested architecture of seed bank networks was therefore a poor predictor of adult understory network nestedness. The contribution and specificity of species to network nestedness increased with increasing nurse plant age more in the adult understory than in seed bank networks, despite high species turnover. Our data show that life history and ontogeny affect the development of plant–plant association networks. Niche construction and environmental filtering along nurse ontogeny seem pivotal mechanisms structuring adult understory networks while the assembly of seed bank networks seems rather stochastic. We highlight the importance of mature plant communities for maintaining rare species populations and supporting the stability of ecological communities through time.
Data from: Do spatial scale and life history affect fish-habitat relationships?
1. Understanding how animals interact with their environment is a fundamental ecological question with important implications for conservation and management. The relationships between animals and their habitat, however, can be scale dependent. If ecologists work at suboptimal spatial scales, they will gain an incomplete picture of how animals respond to the landscape. Identifying the scale at which animal-landscape relationships are strongest (the 'scale of effect') will improve our ability to better plan management and conservation activities. 2. Several recent studies have greatly enhanced our knowledge about the scale of effect, and the potential drivers of inter-specific variability, in particular life-history traits. However, while many marine systems are inherently multi-scalar, research into the scale of effect has been mainly focussed on terrestrial taxa. As the scales of observation in fish-habitat association studies are often selected based on convention rather than biological reasoning, they may provide an incomplete picture of the scales where these associations are strongest. 3. We examined fish-habitat associations across four nested spatial scales in a temperate reef system to ask: (1.) at what scale are fish-habitat associations the strongest, (2.) are habitat elements consistently important across scales, and (3.) do scale-dependent fish-habitat associations vary in relation to either body size, geographic range size or trophic level? 4. We found that: (1.) the strongest fish-habitat associations were observed when these relationships were examined at considerably larger spatial scales than usually investigated; (2.) the importance of environmental predictors varied across spatial scales, indicating that conclusions about the importance of habitat elements will depend on the scales at which studies are undertaken; and (3.) scale-dependent fish-habitat associations were consistent across all life-history traits. 5. Our results highlight the importance of considering how animals relate to their environment and suggest the small scales often chosen to examine fish-habitat associations are likely to be suboptimal. Developing a more mechanistic understanding of animal-habitat associations will greatly aid in predicting and managing responses to future anthropogenic disturbances.
Data from: Lifetime fitness, sex-specific life history, and the maintenance of a polyphenism
Polyphenisms, alternative morphs produced through plasticity, can reveal the evolutionary and ecological processes that initiate and maintain diversity within populations. We examined lifetime fitness consequences of two morphs in a polyphenic population of Arizona Tiger Salamanders using a 27-year data set with 1,317 adults and 6,862 captures across eight generations. Larval salamanders develop into either an aquatic paedomorph that retains larval traits and stays in its natal pond or a terrestrial metamorph that undergoes metamorphosis. To evaluate the adaptive significance of this polyphenism, we compared lifetime reproductive success of each morph and assessed how life history strategies and spatiotemporal variation explained fitness. We found sex-specific differences in lifetime fitness between morphs. For males, paedomorphs had more reproductive opportunities than metamorphs when we accounted for the potential mating advantage of larger males. For females, in contrast, metamorphs had higher estimated egg production than paedomorphs. Life history strategies differed between morphs largely because the morphs maximize different ends of the trade-off between age at first reproduction and longevity. Spatiotemporal variation affected larval more than adult life history traits with little to no effect on lifetime fitness. Thus, environmental variation likely explains differences in morph production across time and space but contributes little to lifetime fitness differences between morphs and sexes. Our long-term study and measures of lifetime fitness provide unique insight into the complex selective regimes potentially acting on each morph and sex. Our findings motivate future work to examine how sex-specific selection may contribute to the maintenance of polyphenism.
Data from: Life-history characteristics and landscape attributes as drivers of genetic variation, gene flow and fine-scale population structure in Northern Dolly Varden (Salvelinus malma malma) in Canada
The Northern Dolly Varden (Salvelinus malma malma) displays variable life-history types and occupies freshwater habitats with varying levels of connectivity. Here, we assayed microsatellite DNA variation in Northern Dolly Varden from the western Canadian Arctic to resolve landscape and life history variables driving variation in genetic diversity and population structure. Overall, genetic variation was highest in anadromous populations and lowest in those isolated above waterfalls with stream-resident forms intermediate between the two. Anadromous and isolated populations were genetically divergent from each other while no genetic differentiation was detectable between sympatric anadromous and stream-resident forms. Population structure was stable over 25 years, hierarchically organized and conformed to an isolation-by-distance pattern, but stream-isolated forms often deviated from these patterns. Gene flow occurred primarily among Yukon North Slope populations and between sympatric anadromous and resident forms. These results were sex-dependent to some extent, but were influenced more by reproductive status and life history. Our study provides novel insights into the life history, population demographic and habitat variables that shape the distribution of genetic variation and population structure in Arctic fluvial habitats while providing a spatial context for management and conservation.
Data from: Spatially varying selection shapes life history clines among populations of Drosophila melanogaster from sub-Saharan Africa
Clines in life history traits, presumably driven by spatially varying selection, are widespread. Major latitudinal clines have been observed, for example, in Drosophila melanogaster, an ancestrally tropical insect from Africa that has colonized temperate habitats on multiple continents. Yet, how geographic factors other than latitude, such as altitude or longitude, affect life history in this species remains poorly understood. Moreover, most previous work has been performed on derived European, American and Australian populations, but whether life history also varies predictably with geography in the ancestral Afro-tropical range has not been investigated systematically. Here, we have examined life history variation among populations of D. melanogaster from sub-Saharan Africa. Viability and reproductive diapause did not vary with geography, but body size increased with altitude, latitude and longitude. Early fecundity covaried positively with altitude and latitude, whereas lifespan showed the opposite trend. Examination of genetic variance–covariance matrices revealed geographic differentiation also in trade-off structure, and QST-FST analysis showed that life history differentiation among populations is likely shaped by selection. Together, our results suggest that geographic and/or climatic factors drive adaptive phenotypic differentiation among ancestral African populations and confirm the widely held notion that latitude and altitude represent parallel gradients.
Data from: Life history traits and functional processes generate multiple pathways to ecological stability
Stability contributes to the persistence of ecological communities, yet the interactions among different stabilizing forces are poorly understood. We assembled mesocosms with an algal resource and 1-8 different clones of the consumer Daphnia ambigua and tracked algal and Daphnia abundances through time. We then fitted coupled ordinary differential equations (ODEs) to the consumer-resource time series. We show that variation in different components of stability (local stability and the magnitude of population fluctuations) across mesocosms arises through variation in life history traits and the functional processes represented by ODE model parameters. Local stability was enhanced by increased algal growth rate and Daphnia mortality and foraging rate. Population fluctuations were dampened by high Daphnia conversion efficiency and lower interaction strengths, low algal growth rate, high Daphnia death rate, and low Daphnia foraging. These results indicate that 1) stability in consumer-resource systems may arise through the net effect of multiple related stabilizing pathways, and 2) different aspects of stability can vary independently and may respond in opposite directions to the same forces.
Data from: Hybridization alters early life-history traits and increases plant colonization success in a novel region
Hybridization is hypothesized to promote invasiveness, but empirical tests comparing the performance of hybrid versus parental taxa in novel regions are lacking. We experimentally compared colonization ability of populations of wild radish (Raphanus raphanistrum) versus populations of advanced-generation hybrids between wild and cultivated radish (R. sativus) in a southeast Texas pasture, well beyond the known invasive range of hybrid radish. We also manipulated the strength of interspecific competition to better generalize across variable environments. In both competitive environments, hybrid populations produced at least three times more seeds than wild radish populations, a distinction that was driven by greater hybrid seedling emergence, earlier hybrid emergence and more hybrid seedlings surviving to flower, rather than by greater individual fecundity. Flowering duration in hybrids was less negatively affected by competition than it was in wild radishes, while early emergence was associated with subsequent high seed output in both biotypes. Our data show that hybridization can enhance colonization success in a novel region, and, by comparison with previous studies, that the life-history traits enhancing hybrid success can differ across regions, even for lineages originating from the same hybridization event. These results imply a much larger arena for hybrid success than previously appreciated.
Data from: Latitudinal clines in alternative life histories in a geometrid moth
The relative roles of genetic differentiation and developmental plasticity in generating latitudinal gradients in life histories remain insufficiently understood. In particular, this applies to determination of voltinism (annual number of generations) in short-lived ectotherms, and the associated trait values. We studied different components of variation in development of Chiasmia clathrata (Lepidoptera: Geometridae) larvae that originated from populations expressing univoltine, partially bivoltine or bivoltine phenology along a latitudinal gradient of season length. Indicative of population-level genetic differentiation, larval period became longer while growth rate decreased with increasing season length within a particular phenology, but saw-tooth clines emerged across the phenologies. Indicative of phenotypic plasticity, individuals that developed directly into reproductive adults had shorter development times and higher growth rates than those entering diapause. The most marked differences between the alternative developmental pathways were found in the bivoltine region suggesting that the adaptive correlates of the direct development evolve if exposed to selection. Pupal mass followed a complex cline without clear reference to the shift in voltinism or developmental pathway probably due to varying interplay between the responses in development time and growth rate. The results highlight the multidimensionality of evolutionary trajectories of life history traits, which either facilitate or constrain the evolution of integrated traits in alternative phenotypes.
Data from: Life history traits and phenotypic selection among sunflower crop-wild hybrids and their wild counterpart: implications for crop allele introgression
Hybridization produces strong evolutionary forces. In hybrid zones, selection can differentially occur on traits and selection intensities may differ among hybrid generations. Understanding these dynamics in crop-wild hybrid zones can clarify crop-like traits likely to introgress into wild populations and the particular hybrid generations through which introgression proceeds. In a field experiment with four crop-wild hybrid Helianthus annuus (sunflower) cross types, we measured growth and life history traits and performed phenotypic selection analysis on early season traits to ascertain the likelihood, and routes, of crop allele introgression into wild sunflower populations. All cross types overwintered, emerged in the spring, and survived until flowering, indicating no early life history barriers to crop allele introgression. While selection indirectly favored earlier seedling emergence and taller early season seedlings, direct selection only favored greater early season leaf length. Further, there was cross type variation in the intensity of selection operating on leaf length. Thus, introgression of multiple early season crop-like traits, due to direct selection for greater early season leaf length, should not be impeded by any cross type and may proceed at different rates among generations. In sum, alleles underlying early season sunflower crop-like traits are likely to introgress into wild sunflower populations.
Data from: Insulin-like growth factor 1 and life-history evolution of passerine birds
1. Natural selection has generated a diversity of ways in which vertebrates allocate their resources between fundamental life-history traits. The availability of possible evolutionary trajectories of these traits is limited by various genetic, physiological, and phylogenetic constraints. This causes trade-offs due to shared resource pools for, or genetic linkage of, competing traits. The majority of these trade-offs are mediated by hormones and create the variability of phenotypes that can be observed in nature. 2. Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) is an evolutionarily conserved peptide, which has been shown to be essential in the regulation of body size, the pattern of reproductive investment and lifespan across a broad taxonomic range of model species in laboratory and domesticated conditions. However, studies addressing corresponding evolutionary hypotheses on a broader scale and in free-living vertebrates are very rare. 3. In this phylogenetic comparative study on free-living passerines (Passeriformes), we explore the way in which plasma IGF-1 levels underlie the evolution of body size and demographic fitness correlates (clutch size, egg weight, lifespan). 4. We showed firstly that IGF-1 levels were positively associated with the body size of passerines, although smaller birds had larger IGF-1-mediated investment into building up their body faster. IGF-1 levels were negatively associated with lifespan of passerines, and more so in birds with smaller body weight. Finally, IGF-1 levels were negatively associated with clutch size in heavier species, and positively associated with egg weight in species with higher body weight and longer duration of parental care. The pattern was opposite in species with smaller body weight and shorter duration of parental care. 5. The described evolutionary framework indicates that variation in IGF-1 levels can be regarded as an important mechanism that may underlie life-history evolution in passerines. IGF-1 could act as a physiological link mediating the inter-regulatory growth–reproduction–lifespan "life-history triangle" on the pace-of-life continuum. Interestingly, body weight and investment into parental care have likely imposed a constraining effect on the IGF-1-mediated co-evolution of demographic fitness traits, such as lifespan or reproductive investment. This has limited the availability of adaptive pathways via which those traits could evolve as passerines diversified.
Data from: Rapid evolutionary responses of life history traits to different experimentally-induced pollution in Caenorhabditis elegans
Background Anthropogenic disturbances can lead to intense selection pressures on traits and very rapid evolutionary changes. Evolutionary responses to environmental changes, in turn, reflect changes in the genetic structure of the traits, accompanied by a reduction of evolutionary potential of the populations under selection. Assessing the effects of pollutants on the evolutionary responses and on the genetic structure of populations is thus important to understanding the mechanisms that entail specialization to novel environmental conditions or resistance to novel stressors. Results Using an experimental evolution approach we exposed Caenorhabditis elegans populations to uranium, salt and alternating uranium-salt environments over 22 generations. We analyzed the changes in the average values of life history traits and the consequences at the demographic level in these populations. We also estimated the phenotypic and genetic (co)variance structure of these traits at different generations. Compared to populations in salt, populations in uranium showed a reduction of the stability of their traits structure and a higher capacity to respond by acclimation. However, the evolutionary responses of traits were generally lower for uranium than salt and the evolutionary responses in the alternating uranium-salt environment were between those of constant environments. Consequently, at the end of the experiment, the population rate of increase were higher in uranium than in salt and intermediate in the alternating environment. Conclusions Our multigenerational experiment confirmed that rapid adaptation to different polluted environments may involve different evolutionary responses resulting demographic consequences. These changes are partly explain by the effects of the pollutants on the genetic (co)variance structure of traits and the capacity of acclimation to novel conditions. Finally, our results in the alternating environment may confirm the selection of a generalist type in this environment.
Data from: Rapid evolution of larval life history, adult immune function and flight muscles in a poleward moving damselfly
Although a growing number of studies have documented the evolution of adult dispersal-related traits at the range edge of poleward-expanding species, we know little about evolutionary changes in immune function or traits expressed by nondispersing larvae. We investigated differentiation in larval (growth and development) and adult traits (immune function and flight-related traits) between replicated core and edge populations of the poleward-moving damselfly Coenagrion scitulum. These traits were measured on individuals reared in a common garden experiment at two different food levels, as allocation trade-offs may be easier to detect under energy shortage. Edge individuals had a faster larval life history (growth and development rates), a higher adult immune function and a nearly significant higher relative flight muscle mass. Most of the differentiation between core and edge populations remained and edge populations had a higher relative flight muscle mass when corrected for latitude-specific thermal regimes, and hence could likely be attributed to the range expansion process per se. We here for the first time document a higher immune function in individuals at the expansion front of a poleward-expanding species and documented the rarely investigated evolution of faster life histories during range expansion. The rapid multivariate evolution in these ecological relevant traits between edge and core populations is expected to translate into changed ecological interactions and therefore has the potential to generate novel eco-evolutionary dynamics at the expansion front.
Data from: Gene flow from domesticated escapes alters the life history of wild Atlantic salmon
Interbreeding between domesticated and wild animals occurs in several species. This gene flow has long been anticipated to induce genetic changes in life-history traits of wild populations, thereby influencing population dynamics and viability. Here, we show that individuals with high levels of introgression (domesticated ancestry) have altered age and size at maturation in 62 wild Atlantic salmon Salmo salar populations, including seven ancestral populations to breeding lines of the domesticated salmon. This study documents widespread changes to life-history traits in wild animal populations following gene flow from selectively bred, domesticated conspecifics. The continued high abundance of escaped, domesticated Atlantic salmon thus threatens wild Atlantic salmon populations by inducing genetic changes in fitness-related traits. Our results represent key evidence and a timely warning concerning the potential ecological impacts of the globally increasing use of domesticated animals.
Data from: Life history change in response to fishing and an introduced predator in the East African cyprinid Rastrineobola argentea
Fishing and introduced species are among the most important stressors affecting freshwaters, and can be important selective agents. We examined the combined effects of commercial fishing and an introduced predator (Nile perch, Lates niloticus) on life history traits in an African cyprinid fish (Rastrineobola argentea) native to the Lake Victoria basin in East Africa. To understand whether these two stressors have driven shifts in life history traits of R. argentea, we tested for associations between life history phenotypes and the presence/absence of stressors both spatially (across 10 Ugandan lakes) and temporally (over 4 decades in Lake Victoria). Overall, introduced Nile perch and fishing tended to be associated with a suite of life history responses in R. argentea, including: decreased body size, maturation at smaller sizes, and increased reproductive effort (larger eggs; and higher relative fecundity, clutch volume, and ovary weight). This is one of the first well-documented examples of fisheries-induced phenotypic change in a tropical, freshwater stock; the magnitude of which raises some concerns for the long-term sustainability of this fishery, now the most important (by mass) in Lake Victoria.
Data from: Root foraging performance and life-history traits
Plants use their roots to forage for nutrients in heterogeneous soil environments, but different plant species vastly differ in the intensity of foraging they perform. This diversity suggests the existence of constraints on foraging at the species level. We therefore examined the relationships between the intensity of root foraging and plant body traits across species in order to estimate the degree of coordination between plant body traits and root foraging as a form of plant behavior. We cultivated 37 perennial herbaceous Central European species from open terrestrial habitats in pots with three different spatial gradients of nutrient availability (steep, shallow and no gradient). We assessed the intensity of foraging as differences in root placement inside pots with and without a spatial gradient of resource supply. For the same set of species, we retrieved data about body traits from available databases: maximum height at maturity, mean area of leaf, specific leaf area, shoot lifespan, ability to self-propagate clonally, maximal lateral spread (in clonal plants only), realized vegetative growth in cultivation and realized seed regeneration in cultivation. Clonal plants and plants with extensive vegetative growth showed considerably weaker foraging than their non-clonal or slow-growing counterparts. There was no phylogenetic signal in the amount of expressed root foraging intensity. Since clonal plants foraged less than non-clonals and foraging intensity did not seem to be correlated with species phylogeny, we hypothesize that clonal growth itself (i.e. the ability to develop at least partly self-sustaining ramets) may be an answer to soil heterogeneity. Whereas unitary plants use roots as organs specialized for both resource acquisition and transport to overcome spatial heterogeneity in resource supply, clonal plants separate these two functions. Becoming a clonal plant allows higher specialization at the organ level, since a typical clonal plant can be viewed as a network of self-sustainable harvesting units connected together with specialized high-throughput connection organs. This may be an effective alternative for coping with spatial heterogeneity in resource availability.
Data from: Carotenoids and amphibians: effects on life history and susceptibility to the infectious pathogen, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis
Carotenoids are considered beneficial nutrients because they provide increased immune capacity. Although carotenoid research has been conducted in many vertebrates, little research has been done in amphibians, a group that is experiencing global population declines from numerous causes, including disease. We raised two amphibian species through metamorphosis on three carotenoid diets to quantify the effects on life-history traits and post-metamorphic susceptibility to a fungal pathogen (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis; Bd). Increased carotenoids had no effect on survival to metamorphosis in gray treefrogs (Hyla versicolor) but caused lower survival to metamorphosis in wood frogs [Lithobates sylvaticus (Rana sylvatica)]. Increased carotenoids caused both species to experience slower development and growth. When exposed to Bd after metamorphosis, wood frogs experienced high mortality, and the carotenoid diets had no mitigating effects. Gray treefrogs were less susceptible to Bd, which prevented an assessment of whether carotenoids could mitigate the effects of Bd. Moreover, carotenoids had no effect on pathogen load. As one of only a few studies examining the effects of carotenoids on amphibians and the first to examine potential interactions with Bd, our results suggest that carotenoids do not always serve amphibians in the many positive ways that have become the paradigm in other vertebrates.
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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
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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
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