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opencc-zeroMay 2021View details →

Data from: Behavioral constraints on local adaptation and counter-gradient variation: implications for climate change

Resource allocation to growth, reproduction, and body maintenance varies within species along latitudinal gradients. Two hypotheses explaining this variation are local adaptation and counter-gradient variation. The local adaptation hypothesis proposes that populations are adapted to local environmental conditions and are therefore less adapted to environmental conditions at other locations. The counter-gradient variation hypothesis proposes that one population out performs others across an environmental gradient because its source location has greater selective pressure than other locations. Our study had two goals. First, we tested the local adaptation and counter-gradient variation hypotheses by measuring effects of environmental temperature on phenotypic expression of reproductive traits in the burying beetle, Nicrophorus orbicollis Say, from three populations along a latitudinal gradient in a common garden experimental design. Second, we compared patterns of variation to evaluate whether traits co-vary or whether local adaptation of traits preclude adaptive responses by others. Across a latitudinal range, N. orbicollis exhibits variation in initiating reproduction and brood sizes. Consistent with local adaptation, (1) beetles were less likely to initiate breeding at extreme temperatures, especially when that temperature represents their source range; (2) once beetles initiate reproduction, source populations produce relatively larger broods at temperatures consistent with their local environment. Consistent with counter-gradient variation, lower latitude populations were more successful at producing offspring at lower temperatures. We found no evidence for adaptive variation in other adult or offspring performance traits. This suite of traits does not appear to coevolve along the latitudinal gradient. Rather, response to selection to breed within a narrow temperature range may preclude selection on other traits. Our study highlights that N. orbicollis uses temperature as an environmental cue to determine whether to initiate reproduction, providing insight into how behavior is modified to avoid costly reproductive attempts. Furthermore, our results suggest a temperature constraint that shapes reproductive behavior.

opencc-zeroNov 2020View details →

Behavioral variation in natural contests: integrating plasticity and personality

Animals often interact aggressively when competing over limited resources. Aggressive decisions can be complex, and may result from multiple sources of behavioral variation. The outcome of contests may be explained through contest theory and personality, by considering conjointly plasticity and individual consistency. This integrative approach also allows investigating individual differences in responsiveness to environmental changes. Here we observed multiple agonistic interactions occurring among eastern chipmunks (Tamias striatus) competing for food resources supplied at different distances from their burrows. Using an individual reaction norm approach, we found that the probability of winning a contest depended on an individual's own intrinsic characteristics (mass, age, but not sex) but was also adjusted to characteristics of its opponents. Winning a contest also depended on extrinsic environmental characteristics such as distance to the contestants' burrows, but not the order of arrival at the feeding patch. We found consistent individual differences in the probability of winning, potentially related to differences in aggressiveness and territoriality. We also found that individuals differed in their plasticity level in response to changes in different characteristics of their social and physical environments. Plasticity, personality and individual differences in responsiveness may thus all play a role in predicting contest outcome and in the evolution of animal contests.

FIGURE 2 in Description of female genitalia, additional morphological variations, and courtship behavior and copulation of Macrostemum brasiliense (Fischer 1970) (Trichoptera Hydropsychidae)

FIGURE 2. Macrostemum brasiliense (Fischer 1970), female genitalia. 2A, left lateral; 2B, with phallus in copula, ventral; 2C, vaginal apparatus, ventral; 2D, vaginal apparatus with phallus in copula, left lateral; 2E, ventral.

FIGURE 1 in Description of female genitalia, additional morphological variations, and courtship behavior and copulation of Macrostemum brasiliense (Fischer 1970) (Trichoptera Hydropsychidae)

FIGURE 1. Macrostemum brasiliense (Fischer 1970), aspects of natural history. 1A, occurrence records; 1B, 1C, habitat; 1D, in copula.

FIGURE 4 in Description of female genitalia, additional morphological variations, and courtship behavior and copulation of Macrostemum brasiliense (Fischer 1970) (Trichoptera Hydropsychidae)

FIGURE 4. Macrostemum brasiliense (Fischer 1970), male and female variations. 4A, male habitus, right lateral; 4B, female habitus, right lateral; 4C, head of male morphotype1, dorsal; 4D, head of male morphotype 2, dorsal; 4E, head of female morphotype 1, dorsal; 4F, head of female morphotype 2 dorsal.

FIGURE 3 in Description of female genitalia, additional morphological variations, and courtship behavior and copulation of Macrostemum brasiliense (Fischer 1970) (Trichoptera Hydropsychidae)

FIGURE 3. Macrostemum brasiliense (Fischer 1970), female wings and male variations. 3A, right female forewing, dorsal; 3B, right female hind wing, dorsal; 3C, genitalia of male morphotype 1, left lateral and dorsal; 3D, genitalia of male morphotype 2, left lateral and dorsal.

opencc-zeroDec 2019View details →

Data from: Length polymorphisms at two candidate genes explain variation of migratory behaviors in blackpoll warblers (Setophaga striata)

Migratory behaviors such as the timing and duration of migration are genetically inherited and can be under strong natural selection, yet we still know very little about the specific genes or molecular pathways that control these behaviors. Studies in candidate genes Clock and Adcyap1 have revealed that both of these loci can be significantly correlated with migratory behaviors in birds, though observed relationships appear to vary across species. We investigated geographic genetic structure of Clock and Adcyap1 in four populations of blackpoll warblers (Setophaga striata), a Neotropical-Nearctic migrant that exhibits geographic variation in migratory timing and duration across its boreal breeding distribution. Further, we used data on migratory timing and duration, obtained from light-level geolocator trackers to investigate candidate genotype-phenotype relationships at the individual level. While we found no geographic structure in either candidate gene, we did find evidence that candidate gene lengths are correlated with five of the six migratory traits. Maximum Clock allele length was significantly and negatively associated with spring arrival date. Minimum Adcyap1 allele length was significantly and negatively associated with spring departure date and positively associated with fall arrival date at the wintering grounds. Additionally, we found a significant interaction between Clock and Adcyap1 allele lengths on both spring and fall migratory duration. Adcyap1 heterozygotes also had significantly shorter migration duration in both spring and fall compared to homozygotes. Our results support the growing body of evidence that Clock and Adcyap1 allele lengths are correlated with migratory behaviors in birds.

opencc-zeroDec 2012View details →

Data from: Not everything is black and white: color and behavioral variation reveal a continuum between cryptic and aposematic strategies in a polymorphic poison frog

Aposematism and crypsis are often viewed as two extremes of a continuum of visual conspicuousness to predators. Theory predicts that behavioral and coloration conspicuousness should vary in tandem along the conspicuousness spectrum for antipredator strategies to be effective. Here we used visual modeling of contrast and behavioral observations to examine the conspicuousness of four populations of the granular poison frog, Oophaga granulifera, which exhibits almost continuous variation in dorsal color. The patterns of geographic variation in color, visual contrast, and behavior support a gradient of overall conspicuousness along the distribution of O. granulifera. Red and green populations, at the extremes of the color distribution, differ in all elements of color, contrast, and behavior, strongly reflecting aposematic and cryptic strategies. However, there is no smooth cline in any elements of behavior or coloration between the two extremes. Instead populations of intermediate colors attain intermediate conspicuousness by displaying different combinations of aposematic and cryptic traits. We argue that coloration divergence among populations may be linked to the evolution of a gradient of strategies to balance the costs of detection by predators and the benefits of learned aversion.

opencc-zeroDec 2016View details →

Data from: No geographic variation in thermoregulatory color plasticity and limited variation in heat-avoidance behavior in Battus philenor caterpillars

Phenotypic plasticity can help organisms cope with variation in their current environment, including temperature variation, but not all environments are equally variable. In the least variable or extreme environments, plasticity may no longer be used. In this case, the plasticity could be lost all together, or it could persist with either the same or an altered reaction norm, depending on factors such as the plasticity's costs. In the pipevine swallowtail caterpillar (Battus philenor), I tested for changes in two forms of heat-avoidance plasticity, color change and refuge-seeking behavior, across the species' range in the United states, including the cooler eastern parts of its range where color change has not been observed and is unlikely to be needed. I found that both heat-avoidance behavior and color change persisted in all surveyed populations. Indeed, the reaction norm for color change remained nearly unaltered, while the threshold for refuge-seeking only changed slightly across populations. These results suggest that the costs of these plastic traits are low enough for them to be maintained by whatever minimal gene flow the population receives. I show that plasticity can be maintained unaltered in populations where it is not used and discuss the potential consequences of this persistence for both the ecology and evolution of plasticity.

opencc-zeroDec 2015View details →

Data from: Genetic variation in social environment construction influences the development of aggressive behavior in Drosophila melanogaster

Individuals are not merely subject to their social environments; they choose and create them, through a process called social environment (or social niche) construction. When genotypes differ in social environment-constructing behaviors, different genotypes are expected to experience different social environments. As social experience often affects behavioral development, quantitative genetics and psychology theories predict that genetic variation in social environment construction should have an important role in determining phenotypic variation; however, this hypothesis has not been tested directly. I identify multiple mechanisms of social environment construction that differ among natural genotypes of Drosophila melanogaster and investigate their consequences for the development of aggressive behavior. Male genotypes differed in the group sizes that they preferred and in their aggressive behavior; both of these behaviors influenced social experience, demonstrating that these behaviors function as social environment-constructing traits. Further, the effects of social experience—as determined in part by social environment construction—carried over to affect focal male aggression at a later time and with a new opponent. These results provide manipulative experimental support for longstanding hypotheses in psychology, that genetic variation in social environment construction has a causal role in behavioral development. More broadly, these results imply that studies of the genetic basis of complex traits should be expanded to include mechanisms by which genetic variation shapes the environments that individuals experience.

opencc-zeroDec 2013View details →

Data from: Size, sex, and individual-level behavior drive intra-population variation in cross-ecosystem foraging of a top-predator

1. Large-bodied, top-predators are often highly mobile, with the potential to provide important linkages between spatially distinct food webs. What biological factors contribute to variation in cross-ecosystem movements, however, have rarely been examined. 2. Here, we investigated how ontogeny (body size), sex, and individual-level behavior impacts intra-population variation in cross-ecosystem foraging (i.e., between freshwater and marine systems), by the top-predator Alligator mississippiensis. 3. Field surveys revealed A. mississippiensis uses marine ecosystems regularly and are abundant in estuarine tidal creeks (from 0.3–6.3 individuals/km of creek, n = 45 surveys). Alligator mississippiensis captured in marine/estuarine habitats were significantly larger than individuals captured in freshwater and intermediate habitats. 4. Stomach content analysis showed that small juveniles consumed marine/estuarine prey less frequently (6.7% of individuals) than did large juveniles (57.8%), sub-adult (73%), and adult (78%) size classes. Isotopic mixing model analysis (SIAR) also suggests substantial variation in use of marine/estuarine prey resources with differences among and within size classes between sexes and individuals (range of median estimates for marine/estuarine diet contribution = 0.05–0.76). 5. These results demonstrate the importance of intra-population characteristics (body size, sex, and individual specialization) as key determinants of the strength of predator-driven ecosystem connectivity resulting from cross-ecosystem foraging behaviors. Understanding the factors which contribute to variation in cross-ecosystem foraging behaviors will improve our predictive understanding of the effects of top-predators on community structure and ecosystem function.

opencc-zeroDec 2011View details →

Data from: On the scent of standing variation for speciation: behavioral evidence for native sympatric host races of Rhagoletic pomonella (Diptera: Tephritidae) in the southern United States

Standing variation can be critical for speciation. Here, we investigate the origins of fruit odor discrimination for Rhagoletis pomonella underlying the fly's sympatric shift in the northeastern U.S. from downy hawthorn (Crataegus mollis) to apple (Malus domestica). Because R. pomonella mate on host fruit, preferences for natal fruit volatiles generate prezygotic isolation. Apples emit volatiles that appear to be missing from gas chromatography/electroantennographic detection profiles for flies infesting downy hawthorns, raising the question of how R. pomonella evolved a preference for apple. In the southern U.S., R. pomonella attacks several native hawthorns. Behaviorally active volatile blends for R. pomonella infesting southern hawthorns contain the missing apple volatiles, potentially explaining why downy hawthorn flies could have evolved to be sensitive to a blend of apple volatiles. Flight tunnel assays imply that southern hawthorn populations were not the antecedent of a preassembled apple race, as southern flies were not attracted to the apple volatile blend. Instead, behavioral evidence was found for southern host races on native hawthorns, complementing the story of the historical sympatric shift to introduced apple in the North and illustrating how R. pomonella may evolve novel combinations of agonist and antagonist responses to volatiles to utilize new fruit resources.

opencc-zeroDec 2017View details →

Data from: Juvenile social experience generates differences in behavioral variation but not averages

Developmental plasticity is known to influence the mean behavioral phenotype of a population. Yet, studies on how developmental plasticity shapes patterns of variation within populations are comparatively rare and often focus on a subset of developmental cues (e.g. nutrition). One potentially important but understudied developmental experience is social experience, as it is explicitly hypothesized to increase variation among individuals as a way to promote 'social niches.' To test this we exposed juvenile black widow spiders (Latrodectus hesperus) to the silk of conspecifics by transplanting them onto conspecific webs for 48 hours once a week until adulthood. We also utilized an untouched control group as well as a disturbed group. This latter group was removed from their web at the same time points as the social treatment, but was immediately placed back on their own web. After repeatedly measuring adult behavior and web structure we found that social rearing drove higher or significant levels of repeatability relative to the other treatments. Repeatability in the social treatment also decreased in some traits, paralleling the decreases observed in the disturbed treatments. Thus, repeated juvenile disturbance may decrease among-individual differences in adult spiders. Yet, social rearing appeared to override the effect of disturbance in some traits suggesting a prioritization effect. The resulting individual differences were maintained over at least one-third of the adult lifespan, and thus appear to represent stable, canalized developmental effects and not temporal state differences. These results provide proximate insight into how a broader range of developmental experiences shape trait variation.

opencc-zeroDec 2016View details →

Data from: A dynamic state model of migratory behavior and physiology to assess the consequences of environmental variation and anthropogenic disturbance on marine vertebrates

Integrating behavior and physiology is critical to formulating new hypotheses on the evolution of animal life-history strategies. Migratory capital breeders acquire most of the energy they need to sustain migration, gestation and lactation before parturition. Therefore, when predicting the impact of environmental variation on such species, a mechanistic understanding of the physiology of their migratory behavior is required. Using baleen whales as a model system, we developed a dynamic state variable model that captures the interplay among behavioral decisions, energy, reproductive needs and the environment. We applied the framework to blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus) in the Eastern North Pacific Ocean, and explored the effects of environmental and anthropogenic perturbations on female reproductive success. We demonstrate the emergence of migration to track prey resources, enabling us to quantify the trade-offs among capital breeding, body condition, and metabolic expenses. We predict that periodic climatic oscillations affect reproductive success less than unprecedented environmental changes do. The effect of localized, acute anthropogenic impacts depended on whales' behavioral response to the disturbance; chronic, but weaker, disturbances had little effect on reproductive success. Because we link behavior and vital rates by modeling individuals' energetic budgets, we provide a general framework to investigate the ecology of migration and assess the population consequences of disturbance, while identifying critical knowledge gaps.

opencc-zeroDec 2023View details →

Genetic and behavioral factors affecting interpopulation color pattern variation in two congeneric chameleon species

We conducted a study on interpopulation variation of color patterns in two congeneric chameleon species, which have an analogous life history. Both species are able to rapidly change color pattern, and context-dependent color patterns often vary across a wide geographic range. Specifically, we tested four hypotheses that can explain the observed interpopulation variation of color patterns by a series of behavioral field trials where the color patterns of individuals were recorded and later analyzed by a deep neural network algorithm. We used redundancy analysis (dbRDA) to relate genetic, spectral, and behavioral predictors to interpopulation color pattern distance. Our results showed that both isolation by distance and alternative mating tactics were significant predictors for interpopulation color pattern variation in Chamaeleo chamaeleon males. In contrast, in C. dilepis, the interpopulation color pattern variation was largely explained by isolation by distance, and the evidence for alternative mating tactics was absent. In both chameleon species, the environmental colors showed no evidence of influencing chameleon interpopulation color pattern variation, regardless of sex or behavioral context. This contrasting finding suggests that interpopulation context-dependent color pattern variations in each species are maintained under a different set of selective pressures or circumstances.

opencc-zeroJan 2022View details →

Variation in behavior drives multiscale responses to habitat conditions in timber rattlesnakes (Crotalus horridus)

Variations in both the behavior of wildlife and the scale at which the environment most influences the space use of wild animals (i.e., scale of effect) are critical, but often overlooked in habitat selection modeling. Ecologists have proposed that biological responses happening over longer time frames are influenced by environmental variables at larger spatial scales, but this has rarely been empirically tested. Here, we hypothesized that long-term patterns of behavior (i.e., lasting multiple weeks to months) would be associated with larger scales of effect than more sporadic behaviors. We predicted site use by 43 radio-telemetered timber rattlesnakes (Crotalus horridus) exhibiting four distinct, time-varying behaviors (foraging, digestion, ecdysis, and gestation) using remotely-sensed environmental variables related to forest structure and landscape topography. Among sites used by snakes, warmer temperatures and higher levels of forest disturbance were predictive of behaviors dependent on thermoregulation including gestation and ecdysis while more moderate temperatures and drier, more oak-dominated sites were predictive of foraging. Long-term behaviors were associated with larger spatial scales across most variables, supporting our hypothesis that the scale at which habitat selection occurs is linked to the temporal scale of relevant behaviors. Management recommendations based on single-scale models of habitat use that do not account for fine-scale variations in behavior may obscure the importance of potentially limiting habitat features needed for infrequent behaviors that are important for growth and reproduction of this and related species.

opennotspecifiedJul 2024View details →

FIGURE 2 in New specimens of Helicops boitata (Serpentes: Dipsadidae: Hydropsini), with data on morphological variation and behavior

FIGURE 2. Records of five new specimens of Helicops boitata (black circles), nearly 10 km straight-line distant from the type locality (white triangle), in the influence area of the Bento Gomes River, municipality of Poconé, state of Mato Grosso, Brazil. Cartographic raster modified from MapBiomas 7 Collection.

opennotspecifiedJul 2024View details →

FIGURE 1 in New specimens of Helicops boitata (Serpentes: Dipsadidae: Hydropsini), with data on morphological variation and behavior

FIGURE 1. Schematic representation of the terrarium in which three alive individuals of Helicops boitata were maintained for observations for three days.