| 21. |
- Horvitz, Carol C., et al.
(författare)
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Context-dependent pollinator limitation in stochastic environments : can increased seed set overpower the cost of reproduction in an understorey herb?
- 2010
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Ingår i: Journal of Ecology. - : Wiley. - 0022-0477 .- 1365-2745. ; 98:2, s. 268-278
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- 1. In the understorey herb Lathyrus vernus seed production is pollen limited, but increased reproduction results in a lower probability of remaining reproductive. Putting these two results together, previous research reported that population growth rate lambda was negatively impacted by high pollination. 2. Thus, costs and benefits have to be translated into the common currency of their respective effects on population dynamics to determine whether populations are truly pollen limited or whether they are already at an optimal level of pollination. 3. Also, when pollinators and demography vary from year to year we require a framework that examines reproductive benefits and demographic costs in the context of a variable environment. Whether or not additional pollination will increase the stochastic population growth rate lambda(S) depends upon the balance of stochastic elasticities of the costs and benefits. 4. In constant environment models, where seed survival, germination and seedling survival were increased, we found that the high cost of reproduction could be offset by improvements in seed survival and germination, but not by improvements of seedling survival. 5. In variable environment models, where changes in the sequence and frequencies of high- and low-pollination years mixed with occasional high-germination years were modelled, we found that increasing the frequency of high-germination conditions could offset the cost of reproduction, and the offset was even greater if high-germination years occurred after a high-pollination year or if high pollination was accompanied by high-germination conditions in the same year. 6. Both deterministic lambda and stochastic lambda(S) were less sensitive to perturbation of reproduction than to perturbation of the probability for flowering plants to remain reproductive. In other words, a small change in the parameter which is related to the 'cost' of reproduction had a bigger effect than a small change in the parameter which is related to the 'benefit' of increased pollination for Lathyrus. 7.Synthesis. Stochastic environment-specific elasticities for reproduction and stasis of flowering plants differ in their response to environmental context. The cost-benefit relationships, the ultimate fitness consequences of supplemental pollen, are influenced by the frequency and sequence of years differing in pollen availability and recruitment conditions.
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| 22. |
- Hylander, Kristoffer, et al.
(författare)
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The mechanisms causing extinction debts
- 2013
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Ingår i: Trends in Ecology & Evolution. - : Elsevier BV. - 0169-5347 .- 1872-8383. ; 28:6, s. 341-346
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Extinction debts can result from many types of habitat changes involving mechanisms other than metapopulation processes. This is a fact that most recent literature on extinction debts pays little attention to. We argue that extinction debts can arise because (i) individuals survive in resistant life-cycle stages long after habitat quality change, (ii) stochastic extinctions of populations that have become small are not immediate, and (iii) metapopulations survive long after that connectivity has decreased if colonization-extinction dynamics is slow. A failure to distinguish between these different mechanisms and to simultaneously consider both the size of the extinction debt and the relaxation time hampers our understanding of how extinction debts arise and our ability to prevent ultimate extinctions.
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| 23. |
- Kolb, Annette, et al.
(författare)
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Environmental context drives seed predator-mediated selection on a floral display trait
- 2010
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Ingår i: Evolutionary Ecology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0269-7653 .- 1573-8477. ; 24:2, s. 433-445
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Linking trait selection to environmental context is necessary to move beyond the simple recognition that selection is spatially variable and to understand what ultimately drives this variation. Natural selection acts through differences among individuals in lifetime fitness and information about effects on fitness components is therefore often not sufficient to gain such an understanding. We investigated how environmental context influenced intensity of seed predation, flower abortion and selection on floral display traits in 44-52 populations of the perennial herb Primula veris over 2 years. Phenotypic selection on both inflorescence height and flower number varied among populations and was mediated partly by pre-dispersal seed predation and flower abortion in one of the years. Among-population variation in selection on inflorescence height, but not flower number, was linked to variation in canopy cover via its effects on seed predation. Lifetime fitness was less sensitive to seed predator damage in shaded environments but estimates of selection based on lifetime fitness agreed qualitatively with those based on seed output. Our results demonstrate that seed predators constitute an important link between environmental conditions and trait evolution in plants, and that selection on plant traits by seed predators can depend on environmental context.
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| 24. |
- König, Malin A. E., et al.
(författare)
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Among-Population Variation in Tolerance to Larval Herbivory by Anthocharis cardamines in the Polyploid Herb Cardamine pratensis
- 2014
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Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 9:6, s. e99333-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Plants have two principal defense mechanisms to decrease fitness losses to herbivory: tolerance, the ability to compensate fitness after damage, and resistance, the ability to avoid damage. Variation in intensity of herbivory among populations should result in variation in plant defense levels if tolerance and resistance are associated with costs. Yet little is known about how levels of tolerance are related to resistance and attack intensity in the field, and about the costs of tolerance. In this study, we used information about tolerance and resistance against larval herbivory by the butterfly Anthocharis cardamines under controlled conditions together with information about damage in the field for a large set of populations of the perennial plant Cardamine pratensis. Plant tolerance was estimated in a common garden experiment where plants were subjected to a combination of larval herbivory and clipping. We found no evidence of that the proportion of damage that was caused by larval feeding vs. clipping influenced plant responses. Damage treatments had a negative effect on the three measured fitness components and also resulted in an earlier flowering in the year after the attack. Tolerance was related to attack intensity in the population of origin, i.e. plants from populations with higher attack intensity were more likely to flower in the year following damage. However, we found no evidence of a relationship between tolerance and resistance. These results indicate that herbivory drives the evolution for increased tolerance, and that changes in tolerance are not linked to changes in resistance. We suggest that the simultaneous study of tolerance, attack intensity in the field and resistance constitutes a powerful tool to understand how plant strategies to avoid negative effects of herbivore damage evolve.
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| 25. |
- König, Malin A. E., 1987-
(författare)
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Context dependency of plant – animal interactions
- 2014
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The strength and direction of interactions between organisms vary spatially across the landscape. Traditionally, the focus has been on how trait variation affects the interactions between species. However, differences in abiotic and biotic environmental factors may also alter the distribution, phenology and behavior of the interacting species. To be able to understand why an interaction varies across the landscape, the effects of trait variation has to be separated from the effects of the environmental context. In this thesis, I try to separate the effects of context and trait differences on plant resistance against herbivory, through experimental and observational studies conducted with two cytotypes of the perennial herb Cardamine pratensis and its main herbivore, Anthocharis cardamines.The results show that differences in plant resistance against oviposition under controlled conditions were mainly mediated by flower size; larger flowers were more attractive to the female butterfly. However, among-populations differences in oviposition under natural conditions were not related to the resistance observed under controlled conditions, or to ploidy type, flowering phenology or plant size. Within populations under natural conditions the oviposition patterns by A. cardamines was affected by the plant traits plant size and flowering phenology.The result of this thesis shows that among-population differences in intensity of plant-herbivore interactions were caused by differences in environmental context rather than by herbivore preferences for any phenotypic plant traits, while host plant selection within population was based on plant traits. This suggests that biotic and biotic context can have important effects on the intensity of plant-herbivore interactions. Although genetic traits influenced the outcome of the interaction within populations, it was the environmental context of the populations that determined largely if the interaction took place or not.
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| 26. |
- König, Malin A. E., et al.
(författare)
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Context-dependent resistance against butterfly herbivory in a polyploid herb
- 2014
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Ingår i: Oecologia. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0029-8549 .- 1432-1939. ; 174:4, s. 1265-1272
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Spatial variation in biotic interactions and natural selection are fundamental parts of natural systems, and can be driven by differences in both trait distributions and the local environmental context of the interaction. Most studies of plant–animal interactions have been performed only in natural settings, making it difficult to disentangle the effects of traits and context. To assess the relative importance of trait differences and environmental context for among-population variation in plant resistance to herbivory, we compared oviposition by the butterfly Anthocharis cardamines on two ploidy types of the herb Cardamine pratensis under experimentally controlled conditions with oviposition in natural populations. Under controlled conditions, plants from octoploid populations were significantly more preferred than plants from tetraploid populations. This difference was largely mediated by differences in flower size. Among natural populations, there was no difference in oviposition rates between the two ploidy types. Our results suggest that differences in oviposition rates among populations of the two cytotypes in the field are caused mainly by differences in environmental context, and that the higher attractiveness of octoploids to herbivores observed under common environmental conditions is balanced by the fact that they occur in habitats which harbor lower densities of butterflies. This illustrates that spatial variation in biotic interactions is the net result of differences in trait distributions of the interacting organisms and differences in environmental context, and that variation in both traits and context are important in understanding species interactions.
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| 27. |
- Lönnell, Niklas, 1969-
(författare)
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Dispersal of bryophytes across landscapes
- 2014
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Dispersal, especially long-distance dispersal, is an important component in many disciplines within biology. Many species are passively dispersed by wind, not least spore-dispersed organisms.In this thesis I investigated the dispersal capacity of bryophytes by studying the colonization patterns from local scales (100 m) to landscape scales (20 km). The dispersal distances were measured from a known source (up to 600 m away) or inferred from a connectivity measure (1–20 km). I introduced acidic clay to measure the colonization rates over one season of a pioneer moss, Discelium nudum (I–III). I also investigated which vascular plants and bryophytes that had colonized limed mires approximately 20–30 years after the first disturbance (IV).Discelium effectively colonized new disturbed substrates over one season. Most spores were deposited up to 50 meters from a source but the relationship between local colonization rates and connectivity increased with distance up to 20 km (I–III). Also calcicolous wetland bryophyte species were good colonizers over similar distances, while vascular plants in the same environment colonized less frequently. Common bryophytes that produce spores frequently were more effective colonizers, while no effect of spore size was detected (IV). A mechanistic model that take into account meteorological parameters to simulate the trajectories for spores of Discelium nudum fitted rather well to the observed colonization pattern, especially if spore release thresholds in wind variation and humidity were accounted for (III).This thesis conclude that bryophytes in open habitats can disperse effectively across landscapes given that the regional spore source is large enough (i.e. are common in the region and produce spores abundantly). For spore-dispersed organisms in open landscapes I suggest that it is often the colonization phase and not the transport that is the main bottle-neck for maintaining populations across landscapes.
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| 28. |
- Madec, Camille
(författare)
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Genetic Variation and Evolution of Floral Display in Primula farinosa
- 2014
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In this thesis, I combine molecular analyses, common-garden and field experiments to examine how evolutionary and ecological processes influence patterns of genetic variation among and within populations of the declining, insect-pollinated, self-incompatible, perennial herb Primula farinosa. More specifically I examined 1) whether genetic diversity at neutral marker loci was related to habitat fragmentation and habitat stability, 2) whether floral display and flowering time were more strongly differentiated among populations than were putatively neutral marker loci, 3) whether adaptive population differentiation could be detected on a local spatial scale, and 4) whether floral display differentially affected male and female reproductive success.Genetic diversity at neutral marker loci was lower within fragmented populations on the Swedish mainland than within the more densely occurring populations on the island Öland, SE Sweden. On Öland, fluctuations in population size were more pronounced on thin than on deep soils, but genetic diversity was not related to soil depth. Among-population genetic differentiation in scape length and flowering time was stronger than that of neutral marker loci, which is consistent with divergent selection acting on these traits. Water availability should influence the length of the growing season and thus the time available for fruit maturation, but flowering time in a common-garden experiment was not related to estimates of water availability at sites of origin. In a reciprocal transplant experiment conducted among four populations separated by up to a few kilometres and growing in environment differing in water availability and grazing intensity, no evidence of local adaption was observed. Finally, in a field experiment, interactions with pollinators and antagonists differentially affected selection on floral display through male and female function.Taken together, the results indicate that habitat connectivity and environmental heterogeneity contribute to high neutral and adaptive genetic variation in Primula farinosa on the island Öland, SE Sweden, and illustrate that effects on both male and female reproductive success need to be considered to understand fully the evolution of floral display.
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| 29. |
- Marteinsdóttir, Bryndís, 1980-
(författare)
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Plant community assembly in grazed grasslands
- 2014
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Species assembly into local communities from the surrounding region can be caused either by species failure to reach the site (i.e. seed limitation) or to establish (i.e. establishment limitation). The aim of this thesis was to investigate plant species assembly and to determine the relative importance of different factors in that process.In a cultivated landscape in southeast Sweden, plant community assembly was studied in grazed ex-arable fields. Community assembly from the surrounding region into the local community was explored using trait-based null models and seed sowing and transplanting experiments. The influence of local environmental factors and landscape history and structure on community assembly was also studied. In addition, differences in species assembly between ex-arable fields and semi-natural grasslands were explored.Seed limitation was the strongest filter on local community assembly. Only a fraction (36%) of species in a region dispersed to a local site and adding seeds/transplants increased species establishment. Species abundance at the regional scale, species dispersal method and seed mass strongly influenced which species arrived at the local sites. Establishment limitation also affected the assembly. Of species arriving at a site 78% did establish, seedling survival was low and which species established was influenced by species interactions, local environmental conditions and stochastic events. In addition, landscape structure that determined the species richness in the regional species pool influenced the local assembly. The comparison between assembly in ex-arable fields and semi-natural grasslands indicated that the main cause of difference in species assembly between them was difference in their age.The main conclusion of this thesis is that regional processes are more important than local factors in determining plant community assembly.
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| 30. |
- Posledovich, Diana, et al.
(författare)
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Latitudinal variation in thermal reaction norms of post-winter pupal development in two butterflies differing in phenological specialization
- 2014
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Ingår i: Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0024-4066 .- 1095-8312. ; 113:4, s. 981-991
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Latitudinal clines in thermal reaction norms of development are a common phenomenon in temperate insects. Populations from higher latitudes often develop faster throughout the range of relevant temperatures (i.e countergradient variation) because they must be able to complete their life cycle within a shorter seasonal time window compared to populations at lower latitudes. In the present study, we experimentally demonstrate that two species of butterflies Anthocharis cardamines (L.) and Pieris napi (L.) instead show a cogradient variation in thermal reaction norms of post-winter pupal development so that lower latitude populations develop faster than higher latitude populations. The two species share host plants but differ in the degree of phenological specialization, as well as in the patterns of voltinism. We suggest that the pattern in A. cardamines, a univoltine phenological specialist feeding exclusively on flowers and seedpods, is the result of selection for matching to the phenological pattern of its local host plants. The other species, P. napi, is a phenological generalist feeding on the leaves of the hosts and it shows a latitudinal cline in voltinism. Because the latitudinal pattern in P. napi was an effect of slow development in a fraction of the pupae from the most northern population, we hypothesize that this population may include both bivoltine and univoltine genotypes. Consequently, although the two species both showed cogradient patterns in thermal reaction norms, it appears likely that this was for different reasons.
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