| 1. |
- Culina, Antica, et al.
(författare)
-
Connecting the data landscape of long-term ecological studies : The SPI-Birds data hub
- 2021
-
Ingår i: Journal of Animal Ecology. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 0021-8790 .- 1365-2656. ; 90:9, s. 2147-2160
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The integration and synthesis of the data in different areas of science is drastically slowed and hindered by a lack of standards and networking programmes. Long-term studies of individually marked animals are not an exception. These studies are especially important as instrumental for understanding evolutionary and ecological processes in the wild. Furthermore, their number and global distribution provides a unique opportunity to assess the generality of patterns and to address broad-scale global issues (e.g. climate change). To solve data integration issues and enable a new scale of ecological and evolutionary research based on long-term studies of birds, we have created the SPI-Birds Network and Database ()-a large-scale initiative that connects data from, and researchers working on, studies of wild populations of individually recognizable (usually ringed) birds. Within year and a half since the establishment, SPI-Birds has recruited over 120 members, and currently hosts data on almost 1.5 million individual birds collected in 80 populations over 2,000 cumulative years, and counting. SPI-Birds acts as a data hub and a catalogue of studied populations. It prevents data loss, secures easy data finding, use and integration and thus facilitates collaboration and synthesis. We provide community-derived data and meta-data standards and improve data integrity guided by the principles of Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR), and aligned with the existing metadata languages (e.g. ecological meta-data language). The encouraging community involvement stems from SPI-Bird's decentralized approach: research groups retain full control over data use and their way of data management, while SPI-Birds creates tailored pipelines to convert each unique data format into a standard format. We outline the lessons learned, so that other communities (e.g. those working on other taxa) can adapt our successful model. Creating community-specific hubs (such as ours, COMADRE for animal demography, etc.) will aid much-needed large-scale ecological data integration.
|
|
| 2. |
- Moller, Anders Pape, et al.
(författare)
-
Effects of interspecific coexistence on laying date and clutch size in two closely related species of hole-nesting birds
- 2018
-
Ingår i: Journal of Animal Ecology. - : WILEY. - 0021-8790 .- 1365-2656. ; 87:6, s. 1738-1748
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Coexistence between great tits Parus major and blue tits Cyanistes caeruleus, but also other hole-nesting taxa, constitutes a classic example of species co-occurrence resulting in potential interference and exploitation competition for food and for breeding and roosting sites. However, the spatial and temporal variations in coexistence and its consequences for competition remain poorly understood. We used an extensive database on reproduction in nest boxes by great and blue tits based on 87 study plots across Europe and Northern Africa during 1957-2012 for a total of 19,075 great tit and 16,729 blue tit clutches to assess correlative evidence for a relationship between laying date and clutch size, respectively, and density consistent with effects of intraspecific and interspecific competition. In an initial set of analyses, we statistically controlled for a suite of site-specific variables. We found evidence for an effect of intraspecific competition on blue tit laying date (later laying at higher density) and clutch size (smaller clutch size at higher density), but no evidence of significant effects of intraspecific competition in great tits, nor effects of interspecific competition for either species. To further control for site-specific variation caused by a range of potentially confounding variables, we compared means and variances in laying date and clutch size of great and blue tits among three categories of difference in density between the two species. We exploited the fact that means and variances are generally positively correlated. If interspecific competition occurs, we predicted a reduction in mean and an increase in variance in clutch size in great tit and blue tit when density of heterospecifics is higher than the density of conspecifics, and for intraspecific competition, this reduction would occur when density of conspecifics is higher than the density of heterospecifics. Such comparisons of temporal patterns of means and variances revealed evidence, for both species, consistent with intraspecific competition and to a smaller extent with interspecific competition. These findings suggest that competition associated with reproductive behaviour between blue and great tits is widespread, but also varies across large spatial and temporal scales.
|
|
| 3. |
- Chaguaceda, Fernando, et al.
(författare)
-
Short-term apparent mutualism drives responses of aquatic prey at increasing productivity
- 2021
-
Ingår i: Journal of Animal Ecology. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 0021-8790 .- 1365-2656. ; 90:4, s. 834-845
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- According to apparent competition theory, sharing a predator should cause indirect interactions among prey that can substantially influence food-web responses to environmental drivers. However, empirical evidence of apparent competition under ongoing environmental change is still scarce. In an 8-week mesocosm experiment, we found that short-term responses of aquatic food webs to increasing productivity were strongly regulated by apparent mutualism between benthic and pelagic prey in the presence of a generalist fish. Following trends in natural systems, increasing productivity in our mesocosms favored the relative abundance of benthic prey. This elicited a shift in fish selectivity from pelagic to benthic prey driven by fish switching behavior which resulted in lower and delayed top-down control on pelagic prey. Our results highlight that apparent competition theory may explain food-web responses across environmental gradients, whereby resulting prey dynamics and stability may highly depend on the foraging behavior exhibited by generalist predators.
|
|
| 4. |
- Corral-Lopez, Alberto, et al.
(författare)
-
Field evidence for colour mimicry overshadowing morphological mimicry
- 2021
-
Ingår i: Journal of Animal Ecology. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 0021-8790 .- 1365-2656. ; 90:3, s. 698-709
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Imperfect mimicry may be maintained when the various components of an aposematic signal have different salience for predators. Experimental laboratory studies provide robust evidence for this phenomenon. Yet, evidence from natural settings remains scarce.We studied how natural bird predators assess multiple features in a multicomponent aposematic signal in the Neotropical ‘clear wing complex’ mimicry ring, dominated by glasswing butterflies.We evaluated two components of the aposematic signal, wing colouration and wing morphology, in a predation experiment based on artificial replicas of glasswing butterflies (model) and Polythoridae damselflies (mimics) in their natural habitat. We also studied the extent of the colour aposematic signal in the local insect community. Finally, we inspected the nanostructures responsible for this convergent colour signal, expected to highly differ between these phylogenetically distinct species.Our results provide direct evidence for a stronger salience of wing colouration than wing morphology, as well as stronger selection on imperfect than in perfect colour mimics. Additionally, investigations of how birds perceive wing colouration of the local insect community provides further evidence that a UV‐reflective white colouration is being selected as the colour aposematic signal of the mimicry ring. Using electron microscopy, we also suggest that damselflies have convergently evolved the warning colouration through a pre‐adaptation.These findings provide a solid complement to previous experimental evidence suggesting a key influence of the cognitive assessment of predators driving the evolution of aposematic signals and mimicry rings.
|
|
| 5. |
- Ekblom, Robert
(författare)
-
A bird's eye view of a deleterious recessive allele
- 2016
-
Ingår i: Journal of Animal Ecology. - : Wiley. - 0021-8790 .- 1365-2656. ; 85:4, s. 855-856
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In Focus: Trask, A.E., Bignal, E.M., McCracken, D.I., Monaghan, P., Piertney, S.B. & Reid, J.M. (2016) Evidence of the phenotypic expression of a lethal recessive allele under inbreeding in a wild population of conservation concern. Journal of Animal Ecology, 85, 879-891. In this issue of Journal of Animal Ecology, Trask etal. () report on a strange, lethal, blindness that regularly affects chicks of an endangered bird population. The authors show that the inheritance mode of this blindness disease precisely matches the expectations of a recessive deleterious mutation. Intriguingly, there is also an indication that the disease-causing variant might be maintained in the population by balancing selection, due to a selective advantage for heterozygotes. Could this finding have consequences for conservation actions implemented for the population?
|
|
| 6. |
- Liess, Antonia, et al.
(författare)
-
Cool tadpoles from Arctic environments waste fewer nutrients : high gross growth efficiencies lead to low consumer-mediated nutrient recycling in the North
- 2015
-
Ingår i: Journal of Animal Ecology. - : Wiley. - 0021-8790 .- 1365-2656. ; 84:6, s. 1744-1756
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Endothermic organisms can adapt to short growing seasons, low temperatures and nutrient limitation by developing high growth rates and high gross growth efficiencies (GGEs). Animals with high GGEs are better at assimilating limiting nutrients and thus should recycle (or lose) fewer nutrients. Longer guts in relation to body mass may facilitate higher GGE under resource limitation. Within the context of ecological stoichiometry theory, this study combines ecology with evolution by relating latitudinal life-history adaptations in GGE, mediated by gut length, to its ecosystem consequences, such as consumer-mediated nutrient recycling. In common garden experiments, we raised Rana temporaria tadpoles from two regions (Arctic/Boreal) under two temperature regimes (18/23 degrees C) crossed with two food quality treatments (high/low-nitrogen content). We measured tadpole GGEs, total nutrient loss (excretion+egestion) rates and gut length during ontogeny. In order to maintain their elemental balance, tadpoles fed low-nitrogen (N) food had lower N excretion rates and higher total phosphorous (P) loss rates than tadpoles fed high-quality food. In accordance with expectations, Arctic tadpoles had higher GGEs and lower N loss rates than their low-latitude conspecifics, especially when fed low-N food, but only in ambient temperature treatments. Arctic tadpoles also had relatively longer guts than Boreal tadpoles during early development. That temperature and food quality interacted with tadpole region of origin in affecting tadpole GGEs, nutrient loss rates and relative gut length, suggests evolved adaptation to temperature and resource differences. With future climate change, mean annual temperatures will increase. Additionally, species and genotypes will migrate north. This will change the functioning of Boreal and Arctic ecosystems by affecting consumer-mediated nutrient recycling and thus affect nutrient dynamics in general. Our study shows that evolved latitudinal adaption can change key ecosystem functions.
|
|
| 7. |
- Liess, Antonia, et al.
(författare)
-
Hot tadpoles from cold environments need more nutrients - life history and stoichiometry reflects latitudinal adaptation
- 2013
-
Ingår i: Journal of Animal Ecology. - : Wiley-Blackwell. - 0021-8790 .- 1365-2656. ; 82:6, s. 1316-1325
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- 1. High-latitude species (and populations within species) are adapted to short and cold summers. They often have high growth and development rates to fully use the short growing season and mature before the onset of winter. Within the context of ecological stoichiometry theory, this study combines ecology with evolution by relating latitudinal life-history adaptations to their molecular consequences in body nutrient composition in Rana temporaria tadpoles. Temperature and food quality were manipulated during the development of tadpoles from Arctic and Boreal origins. We determined tadpole growth rate, development rate, body size and nutrient content, to test whether (i) Arctic tadpoles could realize higher growth rates and development rates with the help of higher-quality food even when food quantity was unchanged, (ii) Arctic and Boreal tadpoles differed in their stoichiometric (and life history) response to temperature changes, (iii) higher growth rates lead to higher tadpole P content (growth rate hypothesis) and (iv) allometric scaling affects tadpole nutrient allocation. We found that especially Arctic tadpoles grew and developed faster with the help of higher-quality food and that tadpoles differed in their stoichiometric (and life history) response to temperature changes depending on region of origin (probably due to different temperature optima). There was no evidence that higher growth rates mediated the positive effect of temperature on tadpole P content. On the contrary, the covariate growth rate was negatively connected with tadpole P content (refuting the growth rate hypothesis). Lastly, tadpole P content was not related to body size, but tadpole C content was higher in larger tadpoles, probably due to increased fat storage. We conclude that temperature had a strong effect on tadpole life history, nutrient demand and stoichiometry and that this effect depended on the evolved life history.
|
|
| 8. |
|
|
| 9. |
- Outomuro, David, et al.
(författare)
-
A potential pitfall in studies of biological shape : Does size matter?
- 2017
-
Ingår i: Journal of Animal Ecology. - : Wiley. - 0021-8790 .- 1365-2656. ; 86:6, s. 1447-1457
-
Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- 1. The number of published studies using geometric morphometrics (GM) for analysing biological shape has increased steadily since the beginning of the 1990s, covering multiple research areas such as ecology, evolution, development, taxonomy and palaeontology. Unfortunately, we have observed that many published studies using GM do not evaluate the potential allometric effects of size on shape, which normally require consideration or assessment. This might lead to misinterpretations and flawed conclusions in certain cases, especially when size effects explain a large part of the shape variation. 2. We assessed, for the first time and in a systematic manner, how often published studies that have applied GM consider the potential effects of allometry on shape. 3. We reviewed the 300 most recent published papers that used GM for studying biological shape. We also estimated how much of the shape variation was explained by allometric effects in the reviewed papers. 4. More than one-third (38%) of the reviewed studies did not consider the allometric component of shape variation. In studies where the allometric component was taken into account, it was significant in 88% of the cases, explaining up to 87.3% of total shape variation. We believe that one reason that may cause the observed results is a misunderstanding of the process that superimposes landmark configurations, i.e. the Generalized Procrustes Analysis, which removes isometric effects of size on shape, but not allometric effects. 5. Allometry can be a crucial component of shape variation. We urge authors to address, and report, size effects in studies of biological shape. However, we do not propose to always remove size effects, but rather to evaluate the research question with and without the allometric component of shape variation. This approach can certainly provide a thorough understanding of how much size contributes to the observed shaped variation.
|
|
| 10. |
- Sniegula, Szymon, et al.
(författare)
-
Seasonal time constraints reduce genetic variation in life-history traits along a latitudinal gradient
- 2016
-
Ingår i: Journal of Animal Ecology. - : Wiley. - 0021-8790 .- 1365-2656. ; 85:1, s. 187-198
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- 1. Time constraints cause strong selection on life-history traits, because populations need to complete their life cycles within a shorter time. We therefore expect lower genetic variation in these traits in high-than in low-latitude populations, since the former are more time-constrained. 2. The aim was to estimate life-history traits and their genetic variation in an obligately univoltine damselfly along a latitudinal gradient of 2730 km. 3. Populations were grown in the laboratory at temperatures and photoperiods simulating those at their place of origin. In a complementary experiment, individuals from the same families were grown in constant temperature and photoperiod that mimicked average conditions across the latitude. 4. Development time and size was faster and smaller, respectively, and growth rate was higher at northern latitudes. Additive genetic variance was very low for life-history traits, and estimates for egg development time and larval growth rate showed significant decreases towards northern latitudes. The expression of genetic effects in life-history traits differed considerably when individuals were grown in constant rather than simulated and naturally variable conditions. 5. Our results support strong selection by time constraints. They also highlight the importance of growing organisms in their native environment for correct estimates of genetic variance at their place of origin. Our results also suggest that the evolutionary potential of life-history traits is very low at northern compared to southern latitudes, but that changes in climate could alter this pattern.
|
|
