Species identity matters: Functional responses to warming in congeneric turfs differ from those of a canopy algae but are species-specific

AbstractSpecies-specific vocal signals allow listeners to locate potential mates. During the tetrapod transition from water to land, lungs replaced gills, allowing expiration to drive sound production. Several groups, e.g. cetaceans and some frogs, then returned to water. Here we explore how air-driven sound production changed upon re-entry and how essential acoustic information on species identity was preserved in the secondarily aquatic frog Xenopus. We filmed movements of cartilage and muscles during evoked sound production in isolated larynges. Our results refute the current theory for Xenopus vocalization, cavitation, and instead favor sound production by mechanical excitation of laryngeal resonance modes following rapid separation of laryngeal arytenoid discs. The resulting frequency resonance modes (dyads) are intrinsic to the larynx rather than due to neuromuscular control. We show that dyads are a distinctive acoustic signature across species. While dyad component frequencies overlap across species, their ratio is shared within each Xenopus clade and thus provide information on species identity, potentially facilitating both conspecific localization and ancient species divergence.

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The Effects of Cross-Fostering On the Behavior of Two Species of North American Lemmings, Dicrostonyx Groenlandicus and Lemmus Trimucronatus. Iii. Agonistic Behavior

Behaviour ◽

10.1163/156853980x00267 ◽

1980 ◽

Vol 73 (3-4) ◽

pp. 261-275 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Edwin M. Banks ◽

U. William Huck

Keyword(s):

Agonistic Behavior ◽

Species Identity ◽

Maternal Environment ◽

Response Range ◽

Dicrostonyx Groenlandicus ◽

Specific Manner ◽

Species Specific ◽

Cross Fostering ◽

Species Cross

Abstract1. The role of the maternal environment in development of species-specific agonistic behavior was investigated by reciprocally cross-fostering two species of lemmings (Discrostonyx groenlandicus and Lemmus trimucronatus). Non-fostered and within-species-fostered (in-fostered) animals served as controls. 2. When adult, cross-fostered male lemmings engaged in more frequent contact social behavior with the foster species than with conspecifics. However, since cross-fostered animals retained their ability to interact with conspecifics in a species-specific manner, cross-fostering appears to have resulted in a broadening of "species identity" to include the foster species. 3. In-fostering reduced the aggressiveness of Dicrostonyx but had little effect on the behavior of Lemmus. 4. Both the intensity and orientation of agonistic behavior were altered as a result of cross-fostering. In Dicrostonyx, a highly aggressive species, cross-fostering resulted in decreased aggression directed at the foster species and increased aggression toward conspecifics. In Lemmus, a less aggressive species, cross-fostering appears to have resulted in a broadening of the response range to stimuli provided by the foster species. When paired with aggressive Dicrostonyx, cross-fostered Lemmus engaged in more frequent and intense aggression than did controls. However, when paired with nonaggressive (in-fostered) Dicrostonyx, cross-fostered Lemmus engaged in less frequent and intense aggression than controls. In contrast, non-fostered and in-fostered Lemmus males had a relatively narrow response range to Dicrostonyx. 5. In general, the results suggested that agonistic behaviour in lemmings is the product of a complex interaction between genotype and maternal environment.

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What drives the assembly of plant-associated protist microbiomes?

10.1101/2020.02.16.951384 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Kenneth Dumack ◽

Kai Feng ◽

Sebastian Flues ◽

Melanie Sapp ◽

Susanne Schreiter ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Plant Species ◽

Beta Diversity ◽

Small World ◽

Strong Impact ◽

Dominant Group ◽

Environmental Filters ◽

Species Identity ◽

Scale Free ◽

Network Analyses ◽

Species Specific

AbstractIn a field experiment we investigated the influence of the environmental filters soil type and plant species identity on rhizosphere community assembly of Cercozoa, a dominant group of (mostly bacterivorous) soil protists. The experiment was set up with two plant species, lettuce and potato, grown in an experimental plot system with three contrasting soils. Plant species (14%) and rhizosphere origin (vs. bulk soil) with 13%, together explained four times more variation in cercozoan beta diversity than the three soil types (7% explained variation in beta diversity). Our results clearly confirm the existence of plant species-specific protist communities. Network analyses of bacteria-Cercozoa rhizosphere communities identified scale-free small world topologies, indicating mechanisms of self-organization. While the assembly of rhizosphere bacterial communities is bottom-up controlled through the resource supply from root (secondary) metabolites, our results support the hypothesis that the net effect may depend on the strength of top-down control by protist grazers. Since grazing of protists has a strong impact on the composition and functioning of bacteria communities, protists expand the repertoire of plant genes by functional traits, and should be considered as ‘protist microbiomes’ in analogy to ‘bacterial microbiomes’.HighlightMicrobiomes of rhizosphere protists are plant species-specific and tightly co-evolving with their bacterial prey, thereby extending and modifying the functional repertoire of the bacterial-plant symbiosis.

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Maximum entropy models elucidate the contribution of metabolic traits to patterns of community assembly

10.1101/526764 ◽

2019 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jason Bertram ◽

Erica A Newman ◽

Roderick Dewar

Keyword(s):

Community Structure ◽

Maximum Entropy ◽

Functional Traits ◽

Community Assembly ◽

Species Abundance ◽

Metabolic Rates ◽

Species Identity ◽

Metabolic Traits ◽

Abundance Patterns ◽

Species Specific

Aim: Maximum entropy (MaxEnt) models promise a novel approach for understanding community assembly and species abundance patterns. One of these models, the "Maximum Entropy Theory of Ecology" (METE) reproduces many observed species abundance patterns, but is based on an aggregated representation of community structure that does not resolve species identity or explicitly represent species-specific functional traits. In this paper, METE is compared to "Very Entropic Growth" (VEG), a MaxEnt model with a less aggregated representation of community structure that represents species (more correctly, functional types) in terms of their per capita metabolic rates. We examine the contribution of metabolic traits to the patterns of community assembly predicted by VEG and, through aggregation, compare the results with METE predictions in order to gain insight into the biological factors underlying observed patterns of community assembly. Innovation: We formally compare two MaxEnt-based community models, METE and VEG, that differ as to whether or not they represent species-specific functional traits. We empirically test and compare the metabolic predictions of both models, thereby elucidating the role of metabolic traits in patterns of community assembly. Main Conclusions: Our analysis reveals that a key determinant of community metabolic patterns is the "density of species" distribution, defined as the intrinsic number of species with metabolic rates in a given range that are available to a community prior to filtering by environmental constraints. Our analysis suggests that appropriate choice of of the density of species in VEG may lead to more realistic predictions than METE, for which this distribution is not defined, and thus opens up new ways to understanding the link between functional traits and patterns of community assembly.

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Predicting the interactions between “ecologically equivalent” indigenous and nonindigenous brachyurans

Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences ◽

10.1139/f2012-037 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 69 (5) ◽

pp. 983-995 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Erin Breen ◽

Anna Metaxas

Keyword(s):

Predictive Models ◽

Species Interactions ◽

Interspecific Interactions ◽

Specific Information ◽

Functional Responses ◽

Spatial And Temporal Scales ◽

Qualitative And Quantitative ◽

Abiotic And Biotic Factors ◽

Species Specific ◽

Per Capita Consumption

Predictive models used to determine the impacts of nonindigenous brachyurans on their “ecological equivalents” in marine ecosystems are sorely lacking. Determining the spatial and temporal extent and magnitude of such impacts by nonindigenous species is difficult because of the broad range of qualitative and quantitative criteria currently used to describe their effects. Forecasting potential impacts requires the development of predictive models that incorporate the effects of interspecific interactions and the mechanisms that give rise to these interactions. Successful validation of such models requires improved techniques for measuring and estimating the functional responses on bioenergetic processes across species compositions, abundances, and environmental conditions. Species-specific information used to support predictive modeling of nonindigenous brachyurans is currently heavily biased towards (i) estimating per capita consumption and growth rates in laboratory conditions and (ii) incorporating the effects of abiotic and biotic factors on these measures. Robust predictive models require repetitive experimentation that advances the understanding of species’ interactions (beyond consumption alone) across variable densities and considers their effects across different spatial and temporal scales.

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Morphological and Molecular Identification of Fusarium oxysporum Sch. Isolated From Guava Wilt in Bangladesh

Bangladesh Journal of Botany ◽

10.3329/bjb.v41i1.11082 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 41 (1) ◽

pp. 49-54 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

M Zakir Hussain ◽

MA Rahman ◽

Mohammad Nurul Islam ◽

MA Latif ◽

MA Bashar

Keyword(s):

Fusarium Oxysporum ◽

Psidium Guajava ◽

18S Rrna Gene ◽

Rrna Gene ◽

Chain Reaction ◽

Species Identity ◽

Specific Primers ◽

Polymerase Chain ◽

Serious Disease ◽

Species Specific

Wilt of guava plants (Psidium guajava L.) is a serious disease in Bangladesh. Sixteen isolates of Fusarium oxysporum Sch. were collected from the root and stem fragments of guava plants growing in six districts of Bangladesh. Species identity was based on the colony character, nature of conidiogenous cell, morphology of microconidia, macroconidia and chlamydospores. Eleven isolates were confirmed as F. oxysporum through polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using species specific primers designed from the conserved regions of 18S rRNA gene. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjb.v41i1.11082 Bangladesh J. Bot. 41(1): 49-54, 2012 (June)

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Genetic analysis confirms the presence of Dicrocoelium dendriticum in the Himalaya ranges of Pakistan

10.1101/2020.06.02.130070 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Muhammad Asim Khan ◽

Kiran Afshan ◽

Muddassar Nazar ◽

Sabika Firasat ◽

Umer Chaudhry ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Biological Diversity ◽

Fasciola Hepatica ◽

Species Variation ◽

Nucleotide Polymorphisms ◽

Species Identity ◽

Liver Flukes ◽

Species Specific ◽

Ribosomal Cistron ◽

The Himalaya ◽

Cox 1

AbstractLancet liver flukes of the genus Dicrocoelium (Trematoda: Digenea) are recognised parasites of domestic and wild herbivores. The aim of the present study was to address a lack of knowledge of lancet flukes in the Himalaya ranges of Pakistan by characterising Dicrocoelium species collected from the Chitral valley. The morphology of 48 flukes belonging to eight host populations was examined in detail and according to published keys, they were identified as either D. dendriticum or Dicrocoelium chinensis. PCR and sequencing of fragments of ribosomal cistron DNA, and cytochrome oxidase-1 (COX-1) and NADH dehydrogenase-1 (ND-1) mitochondrial DNA from 34, 14 and 3 flukes revealed 10, 4 and 1 unique haplotypes, respectively. Single nucleotide polymorphisms in these haplotypes were used to differentiate between D. chinensis and D. dendriticum, and confirm the molecular species identity of each of the lancet flukes as D. dendriticum. Phylogenetic comparison of the D. dendriticum rDNA, COX-1 and ND-1 sequences with those from D. chinensis, Fasciola hepatica and Fasciola gigantica species was performed to assess within and between species variation and validate the use of species-specific markers for D. dendriticum. Genetic variations between D. dendriticum populations derived from different locations in the Himalaya ranges of Pakistan illustrate the potential impact of animal movements on gene flow. This work provides a proof of concept for the validation of species-specific D. dendriticum markers and is the first molecular confirmation of this parasite species from the Himalaya ranges of Pakistan. The characterisation of this parasite will allow research questions to be addressed on its ecology, biological diversity, and epidemiology.

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Evolutionary dynamics of circular RNAs in primates

eLife ◽

10.7554/elife.69148 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 ◽

Author(s):

Gabriela Santos-Rodriguez ◽

Irina Voineagu ◽

Robert James Weatheritt

Keyword(s):

Related Species ◽

Evolutionary Dynamics ◽

Expression Profiles ◽

Primate Evolution ◽

Circular Rnas ◽

Species Identity ◽

Closely Related Species ◽

Tissue Specific ◽

Organ Type ◽

Species Specific

Many primate genes produce circular RNAs (circRNAs). However, the extent of circRNA conservation between closely related species remains unclear. By comparing tissue-specific transcriptomes across over 70 million years of primate evolution, we identify that within 3 million years circRNA expression profiles diverged such that they are more related to species identity than organ type. However, our analysis also revealed a subset of circRNAs with conserved neural expression across tens of millions of years of evolution. By comparing to species-specific circRNAs, we identified that the downstream intron of the conserved circRNAs display a dramatic lengthening during evolution due to the insertion of novel retrotransposons. Our work provides comparative analyses of the mechanisms promoting circRNAs to generate increased transcriptomic complexity in primates.

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Recent greening driven by species-specific shrub growth characteristics in Nunatsiavut, Labrador, Canada

Arctic Science ◽

10.1139/as-2020-0031 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Taylor Larking ◽

Emma Davis ◽

Robert Way ◽

Luise Hermanutz ◽

Andrew Trant

Keyword(s):

Vegetation Change ◽

Vegetation Index ◽

Normalized Difference Vegetation Index ◽

Species Identity ◽

Shrub Species ◽

Ecological Processes ◽

Winter Temperatures ◽

Dwarf Birch ◽

Summer Temperatures ◽

Species Specific

Satellite remote sensing is a popular approach for identifying vegetation change in northern environments; however, disentangling ecological processes causing variability in spectral indices remains a challenge. Here, we aim to determine how shrub characteristics differ between low and rapidly greening areas near Nain, Nunatsiavut, Canada. Using a cross-scale approach, we combined remotely sensed spectral greening trends (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index; Landsat Collection 1; 1985-2018) with shrub dynamics derived from ring-widths of green alder (Alnus alnobetula) and dwarf birch (Betula glandulosa). Differentiation of spectral greening classes appears to be driven by the distribution of shrub species. Alder were taller, grew faster, had more recent stem initiation than dwarf birch, and were dominant in rapid greening subplots. In low greening subplots, alders were co-dominant with dwarf birch, whose dominant stems initiated more gradually, were shorter, and had lower rates of vertical growth. The radial growth of both shrub species was favoured by warm winter temperatures and precipitation, whereas rapid greening alder was also favoured by warm summer temperatures. Further shrub growth will likely be enhanced under continued climate warming if moisture does not become limiting. This research demonstrates the importance of species identity in determining rates of spectral greening in northern environments.

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Species-specific, age-varying plant traits affect herbivore growth and survival

10.1101/2020.01.14.906859 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Louie H. Yang ◽

Meredith L. Cenzer ◽

Laura J. Morgan ◽

Griffin W. Hall

Keyword(s):

Host Plant ◽

Plant Species ◽

Plant Traits ◽

Abiotic Factors ◽

Danaus Plexippus ◽

Plant Age ◽

Species Identity ◽

Growth And Survival ◽

Windows Of Opportunity ◽

Species Specific

AbstractSeasonal windows of opportunity represent intervals of time within a year during which organisms have improved prospects of achieving life history aims such as growth or reproduction, and may be commonly structured by temporal variation in abiotic factors, bottom-up factors, and top-down factors. Although seasonal windows of opportunity are likely to be common, few studies have examined the factors that structure seasonal windows of opportunity in time. Here, we experimentally manipulated host plant age in two milkweed species (Asclepias fascicularis and Asclepias speciosa) in order to investigate the role of plant species-specific and plant age-varying traits on the survival and growth of monarch caterpillars (Danaus plexippus). We show that the two plant species showed diverging trajectories of defense traits with increasing age. These species-specific and age-varying host plant traits significantly affected the growth and survival of monarch caterpillars through both resource quality- and resource quantity-based constraints. The effects of plant age on monarch developmental success were comparable to and sometimes larger than those of plant species identity. We conclude that species-specific and age-varying plant traits are likely to be important factors with the potential to structure seasonal windows of opportunity for monarch development, and examine the implications of these findings for both broader patterns in the ontogeny of plant defense traits and the specific ecology of milkweed-monarch interactions in a changing world.

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