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opencc-zeroDec 2014View details →

Data from: Fitness declines toward range limits and local adaptation to climate affect dispersal evolution during climate-induced range shifts

Dispersal ability will largely determine whether species track their climatic niches during climate change, a process especially important for populations at contracting (low-latitude/low-elevation) range limits that otherwise risk extinction. We investigate whether dispersal evolution at contracting range limits is facilitated by two processes that potentially enable edge populations to experience and adjust to the effects of climate deterioration before they cause extinction: (i) climate-induced fitness declines towards range limits and (ii) local adaptation to a shifting climate gradient. We simulate a species distributed continuously along a temperature gradient using a spatially explicit, individual-based model. We compare range-wide dispersal evolution during climate stability vs. directional climate change, with uniform fitness vs. fitness that declines towards range limits (RLs), and for a single climate genotype vs. multiple genotypes locally adapted to temperature. During climate stability, dispersal decreased towards RLs when fitness was uniform, but increased when fitness declined towards RLs, due to highly dispersive genotypes maintaining sink populations at RLs, increased kin selection in smaller populations, and an emergent fitness asymmetry that favoured dispersal in low-quality habitat. However, this initial dispersal advantage at low-fitness RLs did not facilitate climate tracking, as it was outweighed by an increased probability of extinction. Locally adapted genotypes benefited from staying close to their climate optima; this selected against dispersal under stable climates but for increased dispersal throughout shifting ranges, compared to cases without local adaptation. Dispersal increased at expanding RLs in most scenarios, but only increased at the range centre and contracting RLs given local adaptation to climate.

opencc-zeroDec 2010View details →

Data from: Assortative mating counteracts the evolution of dispersal polymorphisms

Polymorphic dispersal strategies are found in many plant and animal species. An important question is how the genetic variation underlying such polymorphisms is maintained. Numerous mechanisms have been discussed, including kin competition or frequency-dependent selection. In the context of sympatric speciation events genetic and phenotypic variation is often assumed to be preserved by assortative mating. Thus, recently, this has been advocated as a possible mechanism leading to the evolution of dispersal polymorphisms. Here, we examine the role of assortative mating for the evolution of trade-off driven dispersal polymorphisms by modelling univoltine insect species in a metapopulation. We show that assortative mating does not favour the evolution of polymorphisms. On the contrary, assortative mating favours the evolution of an intermediate dispersal type and a uni-modal distribution of traits within populations. As an alternative mechanism dominance may explain the occurrence of two discrete morphs.

Figure 5 from: Kalaycı G (2022) Pliocene-Pleistocene dispersal bring along low inter species diversity between Vimba species based on multilocus analysis. Zoosystematics and Evolution 98(1): 65-75. https://doi.org/10.3897/zse.98.76937

Figure 5 Divergence timescale for the Vimba species inferred under Bayesian strict clock method from two concatenated mitochondrial genes (cyt b and COI) (1675 bp) sequences. Numbers in front of the node represent divergence times in million years (Ma) and their HPD 95% credibility intervals.

Figure 4 from: Kalaycı G (2022) Pliocene-Pleistocene dispersal bring along low inter species diversity between Vimba species based on multilocus analysis. Zoosystematics and Evolution 98(1): 65-75. https://doi.org/10.3897/zse.98.76937

Figure 4 Maximum likelihood tree based on the two concatenated mitochondrial genes (cyt b and COI) (1675 bp) sequences of Vimba species. Maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference analyses resulted in congruent trees. Bootstrap and posterior probability values are shown above nodes on a tree if 50% or higher.

Figure 2 from: Kalaycı G (2022) Pliocene-Pleistocene dispersal bring along low inter species diversity between Vimba species based on multilocus analysis. Zoosystematics and Evolution 98(1): 65-75. https://doi.org/10.3897/zse.98.76937

Figure 2 Median-joining network of the cyt b haplotypes. Circle size corresponds to sample size; one bar indicates an additional mutational step. Each small line represents one nucleotide difference.

Figure 3 from: Kalaycı G (2022) Pliocene-Pleistocene dispersal bring along low inter species diversity between Vimba species based on multilocus analysis. Zoosystematics and Evolution 98(1): 65-75. https://doi.org/10.3897/zse.98.76937

Figure 3 Median-joining network of the COI haplotypes. Circle size corresponds to sample size; one bar indicates an additional mutational step. Each small line represents one nucleotide difference.

opencc-zeroOct 2022View details →

Seed dispersal by wind decreases when plants are water-stressed, potentially counteracting species coexistence and niche evolution

<p>Hydrology is a major environmental factor determining plant fitness, and hydrological niche segregation (HNS) has been widely used to explain species coexistence. Nevertheless, the distribution of plant species along hydrological gradients does not only depend on their hydrological niches but also on their seed dispersal, with dispersal either weakening or reinforcing the effects of HNS on coexistence. However, it is poorly understood how seed dispersal responds to hydrological conditions. To close this gap, we conducted a common-garden experiment exposing five wind-dispersed plant species (Bellis perennis, Chenopodium album, Crepis sancta, Hypochaeris glabra, and H. radicata) to different hydrological conditions. We quantified the effects of hydrological conditions on seed production and dispersal traits, and simulated seed dispersal distances with a mechanistic dispersal model. We found species-specific responses of seed production, seed dispersal traits, and predicted dispersal distances to hydrological conditions. Despite these species-specific responses, there was a general positive relationship between seed production and dispersal distance: plants growing in favourable hydrological conditions not only produce more seeds but also disperse them over longer distances. This arises mostly because plants growing in favourable environments grow taller and thus disperse their seeds over longer distances. We postulate that the positive relationship between seed production and dispersal may reduce the concentration of each species to the environments favourable for it, thus counteracting species coexistence. Moreover, the resulting asymmetrical gene flow from favourable to stressful habitats may slow down the microevolution of hydrological niches, causing evolutionary niche conservatism. Accounting for context-dependent seed dispersal should thus improve ecological and evolutionary models for the spatial dynamics of plant populations and communities.</p>