| 1. |
- Andersson, Malte, 1941
(författare)
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Helping Relatives Survive and Reproduce: Inclusive Fitness and Reproductive Value in Brood Parasitism
- 2017
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Ingår i: American Naturalist. - : University of Chicago Press. - 0003-0147 .- 1537-5323. ; 189:2, s. 138-152
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Costly help can raise a relative's reproduction, survival, and reproductive value and increase the inclusive fitness of the donor of help. Donor fitness is explored here in conspecific brood parasitism. In this alternative reproductive tactic, some females, "parasites," lay eggs in nests of other females of the same species, "hosts," suppliers of help that alone take care of the offspring. Modeling shows that hosts can gain inclusive fitness if parasitized by relatives whose reproduction or survival is thereby increased. These predictions are explored in waterfowl with frequent brood parasitism, female-biased philopatry, and neighbor relatedness. Approximate estimates based on waterfowl reproductive and life-history data show that host inclusive-fitness gain is often possible with related parasites. The largest gains can be achieved through increased reproduction, but gain is also possible through higher survival of parasites that avoid increased predation and other risks of nesting. Inclusive fitness depends on parasite reproductive value and can be highest for a host parasitized by her mother and for old, senescent hosts with low fecundity, helping young related parasites. These results and observed levels of host-parasite relatedness suggest that being "parasitized" in waterfowl is sometimes neutral or even advantageous because of inclusive-fitness benefits, contributing to evolution of frequent conspecific brood parasitism in this group.
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| 2. |
- Berger, David, et al.
(författare)
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Intralocus Sexual Conflict and the Tragedy of the Commons in Seed Beetles
- 2016
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Ingår i: American Naturalist. - : University of Chicago Press. - 0003-0147 .- 1537-5323. ; 188:4, s. E98-E112
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The evolution of male traits that inflict direct harm on females during mating interactions can result in a so-called tragedy of the commons, where selfish male strategies depress population viability. This tragedy of the commons can be magnified by intralocus sexual conflict (IaSC) whenever alleles that reduce fecundity when expressed in females spread in the population because of their benefits in males. We evaluated this prediction by detailed phenotyping of 73 isofemale lines of the seed beetle Callosobruchus maculatus. We quantified genetic variation in life history andmorphology, as well as associated covariance in male and female adult reproductive success. In parallel, we created replicated artificial populations of each line and measured their productivity. Genetic constraints limited independent trait expression in the sexes, and we identified several instances of sexually antagonistic covariance between traits and fitness, signifying IaSC. Population productivity was strongly positively correlated to female adult reproductive success but uncorrelated with male reproductive success. Moreover, male (female) phenotypic optima for several traits under sexually antagonistic selection were exhibited by the genotypes with the lowest (highest) population productivity. Our study forms a direct link between individuallevel sex-specific selection and population demography and places lifehistory traits at the epicenter of these dynamics.
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| 3. |
- Brengdahl, Martin, et al.
(författare)
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Genetic Quality Affects the Rate of Male and Female Reproductive Aging Differently in Drosophila melanogaster
- 2018
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Ingår i: American Naturalist. - : University of Chicago Press. - 0003-0147 .- 1537-5323. ; 192:6, s. 761-772
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Males and females often maximize fitness by pursuing different reproductive strategies, with males commonly assumed to benefit more from increased resource allocation into current reproduction. Such investment should trade off with somatic maintenance and may explain why males frequently live shorter than females. It also predicts that males should experience faster reproductive aging. Here we investigate whether reproductive aging and life span respond to condition differently in male and female Drosophila melanogaster, as predicted if sexual selection has shaped male and female resource-allocation patterns. We manipulate condition through genetic quality by comparing individuals inbred or outbred for a major autosome. While genetic quality had a similar effect on condition in both sexes, condition had a much larger general effect on male reproductive output than on female reproductive output, as expected when sexual selection on vigor acts more strongly on males. We find no differences in reproductive aging between the sexes in low condition, but in high condition reproductive aging is relatively faster in males. No corresponding sex-specific change was found for life span. The sex difference in reproductive aging appearing in high condition was specifically due to a decreased aging rate in females rather than any change in males. Our results suggest that females age slower than males in high condition primarily because sexual selection has favored sex differences in resource allocation under high condition, with females allocating relatively more toward somatic maintenance than males.
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| 4. |
- Butlin, Roger, 1955, et al.
(författare)
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Coupling, reinforcement, and speciation
- 2018
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Ingår i: American Naturalist. - : University of Chicago Press. - 0003-0147 .- 1537-5323. ; 191, s. 155-172
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- © 2017 by The University of Chicago. During the process of speciation, populations may diverge for traits and at their underlying loci that contribute barriers to gene flow. These barrier traits and barrier loci underlie individual barrier effects, by which we mean the contribution that a barrier locus or trait—or some combination of barrier loci or traits—makes to overall isolation. The evolution of strong reproductive isolation typically requires the origin of multiple barrier effects. Critically, it also requires the coincidence of barrier effects; for example, two barrier effects, one due to assortative mating and the other due to hybrid inviability, create a stronger overall barrier to gene flow if they coincide than if they distinguish independent pairs of populations. Here, we define “coupling” as any process that generates coincidence of barrier effects, resulting in a stronger overall barrier to gene flow. We argue that speciation research, both empirical and theoretical, needs to consider both the origin of barrier effects and the ways in which they are coupled. Coincidence of barrier effects can occur either as a by-product of selection on individual barrier effects or of population processes, or as an adaptive response to indirect selection. Adaptive coupling may be accompanied by further evolution that enhances individual barrier effects. Reinforcement, classically viewed as the evolution of prezygotic barriers to gene flow in response to costs of hybridization, is an example of this type of process. However, we argue for an extended view of reinforcement that includes coupling processes involving enhancement of any type of additional barrier effect as a result of an existing barrier. This view of coupling and reinforcement may help to guide development of both theoretical and empirical research on the process of speciation.
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| 5. |
- Caruso, Christina M., et al.
(författare)
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What Are the Environmental Determinants of Phenotypic Selection? : A Meta-analysis of Experimental Studies
- 2017
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Ingår i: American Naturalist. - : University of Chicago Press. - 0003-0147 .- 1537-5323. ; 190:3, s. 363-376
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Although many selection estimates have been published, the environmental factors that cause selection to vary in space and time have rarely been identified. One way to identify these factors is by experimentally manipulating the environment and measuring selection in each treatment. We compiled and analyzed selection estimates from experimental studies. First, we tested whether the effect of manipulating the environment on selection gradients depends on taxon, trait type, or fitness component. We found that the effect of manipulating the environment was larger when selection was measured on life-history traits or via survival. Second, we tested two predictions about the environmental factors that cause variation in selection. We found support for the prediction that variation in selection is more likely to be caused by environmental factors that have a large effect on mean fitness but not for the prediction that variation is more likely to be caused by biotic factors. Third, we compared selection gradients from experimental and observational studies. We found that selection varied more among treatments in experimental studies than among spatial and temporal replicates in observational studies, suggesting that experimental studies can detect relationships between environmental factors and selection that would not be apparent in observational studies.
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| 6. |
- English, Sinead, et al.
(författare)
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Adaptive use of information during growth can explain long-term effects of early life experiences
- 2016
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Ingår i: American Naturalist. - : University of Chicago Press. - 0003-0147 .- 1537-5323. ; 187:5, s. 620-632
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Development is a continuous process during which individuals gain information about their environment and adjust their phenotype accordingly. In many natural systems, individuals are particularly sensitive to early life experiences, even in the absence of later constraints on plasticity. Recent models have highlighted how the adaptive use of information can explain age-dependent plasticity. These models assume that information gain and phenotypic adjustments either cannot occur simultaneously or are completely independent. This assumption is not valid in the context of growth, where finding food results both in a size increase and learning about food availability. Here, we describe a simple model of growth to provide proof of principle that long-termeffects of early life experiences can arise through the coupled dynamics of information acquisition and phenotypic change in the absence of direct constraints on plasticity. The increase in reproductive value from gaining information and sensitivity of behavior to experiences declines across development. Early life experiences have longterm impacts on age of maturity, yet-due to compensatory changes in behavior-our model predicts no substantial effects on reproductive success. We discuss how the evolution of sensitive windows can be explained by experiences having short-term effects on informational and phenotypic states, which generate long-term effects on life-history decisions.
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| 7. |
- Etienne, Rampal S., et al.
(författare)
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A minimal model for the latitudinal diversity gradient suggests a dominant role for ecological limits
- 2019
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Ingår i: American Naturalist. - : University of Chicago Press. - 0003-0147 .- 1537-5323. ; 194:5, s. 122-133
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The latitudinal diversity gradient (LDG) is one of Earth’s most iconic biodiversity patterns and still one of the most debated. Explanations for the LDG are often categorized into three broad pathways in which the diversity gradient is created by (1) differential diversification rates, (2) differential carrying capacities (ecological limits), or (3) differential time to accumulate species across latitude. Support for these pathways has, however, been mostly verbally expressed. Here, we present a minimal model to clarify the essential assumptions of the three pathways and explore the sensitivity of diversity dynamics to these pathways. We find that an LDG arises most easily from a gradient in ecological limits compared with a gradient in the time for species accumulation or diversification rate in most modeled scenarios. Differential diversification rates create a stronger LDG than ecological limits only when speciation and dispersal rates are low, but then the predicted LDG seems weaker than the observed LDG. Moreover, range dynamics may reduce an LDG created by a gradient in diversification rates or time for species accumulation, but they cannot reduce an LDG induced by differential ecological limits. We conclude that our simple model provides a null prediction for the effectiveness of the three LDG pathways and can thus aid discussions about the causal mechanisms underlying the LDG or motivate more complex models to confirm or falsify our findings.
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| 8. |
- Faulks, Leanne, et al.
(författare)
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Intraspecific Niche Variation Drives Abundance-Occupancy Relationships in Freshwater Fish Communities
- 2015
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Ingår i: American Naturalist. - : University of Chicago Press. - 0003-0147 .- 1537-5323. ; 186:2, s. 272-283
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A positive relationship between occupancy and average local abundance of species is found in a variety of taxa, yet the mechanisms driving this association between abundance and occupancy are still enigmatic. Here we show that freshwater fishes exhibit a positive abundance-occupancy relationship across 125 Swedish lakes. For a subset of 9 species from 11 lakes, we estimated species-specific diet breadth from stable isotopes, within-lake habitat breadth from catch data for littoral and pelagic nets, adaptive potential from genetic diversity, abiotic niche position, and dispersal capacity. Average local abundance was mainly positively associated with both within-lake habitat and diet breadth, that is, species with larger intraspecific variation in niche space had higher abundances. No measure was a good predictor of occupancy, indicating that occupancy may be more directly related to abundance or abiotic conditions than to niche breadth per se. This study suggests a link between intraspecific niche variation and a positive abundance-occupancy relationship and implies that management of freshwater fish communities, whether to conserve threatened or control invasive species, should initially be aimed at niche processes.
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| 9. |
- Fischer, Stefan, et al.
(författare)
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Rearing-Group Size Determines Social Competence and Brain Structure in a Cooperatively Breeding Cichlid
- 2015
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Ingår i: American Naturalist. - : University of Chicago Press. - 0003-0147 .- 1537-5323. ; 186:1, s. 123-140
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Social animals can greatly benefit from well-developed social skills. Because the frequency and diversity of social interactions often increase with the size of social groups, the benefits of advanced social skills can be expected to increase with group size. Variation in social skills often arises during ontogeny, depending on early social experience. Whether variation of social-group sizes affects development of social skills and related changes in brain structures remains unexplored. We investigated whether, in a cooperatively breeding cichlid, early group size (1) shapes social behavior and social skills and (2) induces lasting plastic changes in gross brain structures and (3) whether the development of social skills is confined to a sensitive ontogenetic period. Rearing-group size and the time juveniles spent in these groups interactively influenced the development of social skills and the relative sizes of four main brain regions. We did not detect a sensitive developmental period for the shaping of social behavior within the 2-month experience phase. Instead, our results suggest continuous plastic behavioral changes over time. We discuss how developmental effects on social behavior and brain architecture may adaptively tune phenotypes to their current or future environments.
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| 10. |
- Hagman, Mattias, et al.
(författare)
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Many Paths to a Common Destination : Morphological Differentiation of a Functionally Convergent Visual Signal
- 2016
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Ingår i: American Naturalist. - : University of Chicago Press. - 0003-0147 .- 1537-5323. ; 188:3, s. 306-318
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Understanding the interacting outcomes of selection and historical contingency in shaping adaptive evolution remains a challenge in evolutionary biology. While selection can produce convergent outcomes when species occupy similar environments, the unique history of each species can also influence evolutionary trajectories and result in different phenotypic end points. The question is to what extent historical contingency places species on different adaptive pathways and, in turn, the extent to which we can predict evolutionary outcomes. Among lizards there are several distantly related genera that have independently evolved an elaborate extendible dewlap for territorial communication. We conducted a detailed morphological study and employed new phylogenetic comparative methods to investigate the evolution of the underlying hyoid that powers the extension of the dewlap. This analysis showed that there appear to have been multiple phenotypic pathways for evolving a functionally convergent dewlap. The biomechanical complexity that underlies this morphological structure implies that adaptation should have been constrained to a narrow phenotypic pathway. However, multiple adaptive solutions have been possible in apparent response to a common selection pressure. Thus, the phenotypic outcome that subsequently evolved in different genera seems to have been contingent on the history of the group in question. This blurs the distinction between convergent and historically contingent adaptation and suggests that adaptive phenotypic diversity can evolve without the need for divergent natural selection.
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