Acute and lagged fitness consequences for a sagebrush obligate in a post mega‐wildfire landscape

Environmental temperature has fitness consequences on ectotherm development, ecology and behaviour. Amphibians are especially vulnerable because thermoregulation often trades with appropriate water balance. Although substantial research has evaluated the effect of temperature in amphibian locomotion and physiological limits, there is little information about amphibians living under extreme temperature conditions. Leptodactylus lithonaetes is a frog allegedly specialised to forage and breed on dark granitic outcrops and associated puddles, which reach environmental temperatures well above 40 ˚C. Adults can select thermally favourable microhabitats during the day while tadpoles are constrained to rock puddles and associated temperature fluctuations; we thus established microhabitat temperatures and tested whether the critical thermal maximum (CTmax) of L. lithonaetes is higher in tadpoles compared to adults. In addition, we evaluated the effect of water temperature on locomotor performance of tadpoles. Contrary to our expectations, puddle temperatures were comparable and even lower than those temperatures measured in the microhabitats used by adults in the daytime. Nonetheless, the CTmax was 42.3 ˚C for tadpoles and 39.7 ˚C for adults. Regarding locomotor performance, maximum speed and maximum distance travelled by tadpoles peaked around 34 ˚C, approximately 1 ˚C below the maximum puddle temperatures registered in the puddles. In conclusion, L. lithonaetes tadpoles have a higher CTmax compared to adults, suggesting a longer exposure to extreme temperatures that lead to maintain their physiological performance at high temperatures. We suggest that these conditions are adaptations to face the strong selection forces driven by this granitic habitat.

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Faculty Opinions recommendation of Despite catch-up, prolonged growth has detrimental fitness consequences in a long-lived vertebrate.

Faculty Opinions – Post-Publication Peer Review of the Biomedical Literature ◽

10.3410/f.718191844.793492436 ◽

2014 ◽

Author(s):

Thomas Cameron

Keyword(s):

Fitness Consequences ◽

Catch Up

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Faculty Opinions recommendation of Inclusive fitness consequences of dispersal decisions in a cooperatively breeding bird, the long-tailed tit (Aegithalos caudatus).

Faculty Opinions – Post-Publication Peer Review of the Biomedical Literature ◽

10.3410/f.734375884.793556827 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Per Smiseth

Keyword(s):

Inclusive Fitness ◽

Breeding Bird ◽

Fitness Consequences ◽

Cooperatively Breeding ◽

Aegithalos Caudatus

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An Evolutionary Perspective on Mental Time Travel

The Oxford Handbook of Psychology of Time Travel and Temporality ◽

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190256685.013.12 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Thomas Suddendorf

Keyword(s):

Episodic Memory ◽

Deliberate Practice ◽

Time Travel ◽

Mental Time Travel ◽

Evolutionary Perspective ◽

Scenario Building ◽

Memory Traces ◽

Fitness Consequences ◽

Nonhuman Animals ◽

Archeological Evidence

This article examines the nature and evolution of mental time travel. Evidence for capacities in other animals is reviewed and evaluated in terms of which components of the human faculty appear to be shared and which are unique. While some nonhuman animals store episodic memory traces and can display a range of future-directed capacities, they do not appear to share the open-ended ability to construct mental scenarios, to embed them into larger narratives, nor to reflect and communicate on what they entail. Nested scenario building and the urge to exchange mental experiences seem to set human minds apart in this context as in many others. The article ends with a discussion of the archeological evidence for mental time travel, focusing on deliberate practice as an example of its tremendous fitness consequences.

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Hurry-up and hatch: selective filial cannibalism of slower developing eggs

Biology Letters ◽

10.1098/rsbl.2007.0589 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 4 (2) ◽

pp. 160-162 ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

Hope Klug ◽

Kai Lindström

Keyword(s):

Egg Size ◽

Adaptive Strategy ◽

Filial Cannibalism ◽

Sand Goby ◽

Pomatoschistus Minutus ◽

Fitness Consequences

Filial cannibalism (the consumption of one's own offspring) is thought to represent an adaptive strategy in many animals. However, little is known about the details of which offspring are consumed when a parent cannibalizes. Here, we examined patterns of within-brood filial cannibalism in the sand goby ( Pomatoschistus minutus ). Males spawned sequentially with two females, and we asked whether males cannibalized selectively with regard to egg size or the order in which eggs were received. Males preferentially consumed the larger eggs of the second female they spawned with. Because larger eggs took longer to hatch, and because female 2's eggs were up to 1 day behind those of female 1, such preferential cannibalism might allow males to decrease the time spent caring for the current brood and re-enter the mating pool sooner. More work is needed to understand the fitness consequences of such selective cannibalism.

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The Effects of Hill-Robertson Interference Between Weakly Selected Mutations on Patterns of Molecular Evolution and Variation

Genetics ◽

10.1093/genetics/155.2.929 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 155 (2) ◽

pp. 929-944 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Gilean A T McVean ◽

Brian Charlesworth

Keyword(s):

Codon Bias ◽

Molecular Adaptation ◽

Weak Selection ◽

Multiple Loci ◽

Locus Model ◽

Fitness Consequences ◽

Novel Variants ◽

Population Sizes ◽

The Hill ◽

Reversible Mutation

Abstract Associations between selected alleles and the genetic backgrounds on which they are found can reduce the efficacy of selection. We consider the extent to which such interference, known as the Hill-Robertson effect, acting between weakly selected alleles, can restrict molecular adaptation and affect patterns of polymorphism and divergence. In particular, we focus on synonymous-site mutations, considering the fate of novel variants in a two-locus model and the equilibrium effects of interference with multiple loci and reversible mutation. We find that weak selection Hill-Robertson (wsHR) interference can considerably reduce adaptation, e.g., codon bias, and, to a lesser extent, levels of polymorphism, particularly in regions of low recombination. Interference causes the frequency distribution of segregating sites to resemble that expected from more weakly selected mutations and also generates specific patterns of linkage disequilibrium. While the selection coefficients involved are small, the fitness consequences of wsHR interference across the genome can be considerable. We suggest that wsHR interference is an important force in the evolution of nonrecombining genomes and may explain the unexpected constancy of codon bias across species of very different census population sizes, as well as several unusual features of codon usage in Drosophila.

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Phenology-mediated effects of phenotype on the probability of social polygyny and its fitness consequences in a migratory passerine

BMC Ecology and Evolution ◽

10.1186/s12862-021-01786-w ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (1) ◽

Author(s):

David Canal ◽

Lotte Schlicht ◽

Simone Santoro ◽

Carlos Camacho ◽

Jesús Martínez-Padilla ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Ecological Factors ◽

Local Networks ◽

Mediated Effects ◽

Fitness Consequences ◽

Phenotypic Quality ◽

Lifetime Number ◽

Local Breeding ◽

Individual Mating ◽

Sexual Traits ◽

Secondary Female

AbstractWhy females engage in social polygyny remains an unresolved question in species where the resources provided by males maximize female fitness. In these systems, the ability of males to access several females, as well as the willingness of females to mate with an already mated male, and the benefits of this choice, may be constrained by the socio-ecological factors experienced at the local scale. Here, we used a 19-year dataset from an individual-monitored population of pied flycatchers (Ficedula hypoleuca) to establish local networks of breeding pairs. Then, we examined whether the probability of becoming socially polygynous and of mating with an already mated male (thus becoming a secondary female) is influenced by morphological and sexual traits as proxies of individual quality relative to the neighbours. We also evaluated whether social polygyny is adaptive for females by examining the effect of females’ mating status (polygamously-mated vs monogamously-mated) on direct (number of recruits in a given season) and indirect (lifetime number of fledglings produced by these recruits) fitness benefits. The phenotypic quality of individuals, by influencing their breeding asynchrony relative to their neighbours, mediated the probability of being involved in a polygynous event. Individuals in middle-age (2–3 years), with large wings and, in the case of males, with conspicuous sexual traits, started to breed earlier than their neighbours. By breeding locally early, males increased their chances of becoming polygynous, while females reduced their chances of mating with an already mated male. Our results suggest that secondary females may compensate the fitness costs, if any, of sharing a mate, since their number of descendants did not differ from monogamous females. We emphasize the need of accounting for local breeding settings (ecological, social, spatial, and temporal) and the phenotypic composition of neighbours to understand individual mating decisions.

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