scholarly journals The ecological consequences of temperament in spiders

2012 ◽  
Vol 58 (4) ◽  
pp. 589-596 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan N. Pruitt ◽  
Susan E. Riechert
Keyword(s):  
Interspecific Interactions ◽  
Model Systems ◽  
Behavioral Syndromes ◽  
Ecological Communities ◽  
Ecological Consequences ◽  
Behavioral Trait ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Evolutionary Studies ◽  
Front Running ◽  
Trait Correlations

Abstract Ecological and evolutionary studies on spiders have been featured prominently throughout the contemporary behavioral syndromes movement. Here we review the behavioral syndromes literature devoted to spiders, and identify some ways in which behavioral syndromes can impact the function of spiders in ecological communities. We further highlight three general themes within the behavioral syndromes literature for which spiders have served as front running model systems: (1) how trait correlations beget performance trade-offs, (2) the influence that behavioral trait variants have on interspecific interactions and (3) mechanisms that aid in maintaining behavioral variation withinand among-populations. Research on behavioral syndromes continues to grow at an impressive rate, and we feel the success of behavioral syndromes studies in spiders bodes well for their continued prominence.

Climate-associated trends and variability in ichthyoplankton phenology from the longest continuous larval fish time series on the east coast of the United States

2020 ◽  
Vol 650 ◽  
pp. 269-287
Author(s):  
WC Thaxton ◽  
JC Taylor ◽  
RG Asch
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Environmental Variability ◽  
Larval Fish ◽  
Interspecific Interactions ◽  
River Estuary ◽  
Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Larval Survival ◽  
Ecological Communities ◽  
Northerly Wind

As the effects of climate change become more pronounced, variation in the direction and magnitude of shifts in species occurrence in space and time may disrupt interspecific interactions in ecological communities. In this study, we examined how the fall and winter ichthyoplankton community in the Newport River Estuary located inshore of Pamlico Sound in the southeastern United States has responded to environmental variability over the last 27 yr. We relate the timing of estuarine ingress of 10 larval fish species to changes in sea surface temperature (SST), the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation, the North Atlantic Oscillation, wind strength and phenology, and tidal height. We also examined whether any species exhibited trends in ingress phenology over the last 3 decades. Species varied in the magnitude of their responses to all of the environmental variables studied, but most shared a common direction of change. SST and northerly wind strength had the largest impact on estuarine ingress phenology, with most species ingressing earlier during warm years and delaying ingress during years with strong northerly winds. As SST warms in the coming decades, the average date of ingress of some species (Atlantic croaker Micropogonias undulatus, summer flounder Paralichthys dentatus, pinfish Lagodon rhomboides) is projected to advance on the order of weeks to months, assuming temperatures do not exceed a threshold at which species can no longer respond through changes in phenology. These shifts in ingress could affect larval survival and growth since environmental conditions in the estuarine and pelagic nursery habitats of fishes also vary seasonally.

Personality and behavioral syndromes in insects and spiders

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carl N. Keiser ◽  
James L.L. Lichtenstein ◽  
Colin M. Wright ◽  
Gregory T. Chism ◽  
Jonathan N. Pruitt
Keyword(s):  
Animal Behavior ◽  
Individual Variation ◽  
Insect Behavior ◽  
Behavioral Syndromes ◽  
Ecological Consequences ◽  
Behavioral Variation ◽  
Terrestrial Arthropods ◽  
Functional Differences ◽  
Behavioral Tendencies ◽  
Animal Personalities

The field of animal behavior has experienced a surge of studies focusing on functional differences among individuals in their behavioral tendencies (‘animal personalities’) and the relationships between different axes of behavioral variation (‘behavioral syndromes’). Many important developments in this field have arisen through research using insects and other terrestrial arthropods, in part, because they present the opportunity to test hypotheses not accessible in other taxa. This chapter reviews how studies on insects and spiders have advanced the study of animal personalities by describing the mechanisms underlying the emergence of individual variation and their ecological consequences. Furthermore, studies accounting for animal personalities can expand our understanding of phenomena in insect science like metamorphosis, eusociality, and applied insect behavior. In addition, this chapter serves to highlight some of the most exciting issues at the forefront of our field and to inspire entomologists and behaviorists alike to seek the answers to these questions.

Evolutionarily Stable Strategies

Ecology ◽  
2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael D. Breed
Keyword(s):  
Game Theory ◽  
Evolutionary Ecology ◽  
Interspecific Interactions ◽  
Developmental Time ◽  
Evolutionary Strategies ◽  
Strategic Choices ◽  
Evolutionarily Stable Strategies ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Evolutionarily Stable

Evolutionarily stable strategies (ESS) are phenotypes that persist in populations over evolutionary time and cannot be replaced by invading strategies. Cases in which alternative strategies coexist stand as being of particular interest. Evolutionary biologists were introduced to the concept of ESS through the efforts of John Maynard Smith and George R. Price, whose work remains the keystone expression of this concept. Maynard Smith and Price dealt with animal conflicts, in which combatants may have differing strategies and physical abilities. The stability of evolutionary strategies is often analyzed using the tools of game theory, which allows determination of the persistence of strategies when played against one another. Game theory also opens the door to assessing the potential success of novel strategies upon introduction into a population. ESS often coincide with the Nash equilibrium, a game theory concept that describes conditions under which cognitively aware players in a game cannot gain by changing their individual strategy. In addition to animal conflict, analyses of ESS have been applied in a wide variety of evolutionary contexts and indeed are applicable whenever alternative heritable phenotypes are present. One possibility is that ESS occur as alternative genotypes within populations and thus should be analyzed using population-genetic approaches. ESS can also be conditionally expressed by individuals, depending on environmental and social context. This second option also requires a genotypic basis for strategies but allows for more strategical complexity through responses that may shift over developmental time or with experience. Interspecific interactions are an additional context for ESS, in which ESS drive evolutionary arms races between predators and prey or hosts and diseases or parasites. Maynard Smith and Price built on a conceptual framework in evolutionary ecology developed by William D. Hamilton in studies of kin selection, sex ratios, and herding behavior, and by Geoff Parker, working on sperm competition. ESS offer convenient latticework for thinking about many ecological and evolutionary trade-offs in which organisms balance costs and benefits of potential strategic choices in development and behavior, either in within-generation decision-making or between-generation evolution.

scholarly journals Habitat urbanization and stress response are primary predictors of personality variation in northern cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis)

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ping Huang ◽  
Colette M St.Mary ◽  
Rebecca T Kimball
Keyword(s):  
Body Weight ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Habitat Type ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Behavioral Syndromes ◽  
Behavioral Syndrome ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Northern Cardinals ◽  
Urban Versus

Abstract Behavioral traits that vary consistently among individuals across different contexts are often termed as ‘personality traits,’ while the correlated suite formed by those traits is called a ‘behavioral syndrome’. Both personality trait and behavioral syndrome are potentially responsive to animal ‘states’, defined as strategically relevant individual features affecting the cost-and-benefit trade-offs of behavioral actions. Both extrinsic ‘states’ (e.g. urban versus rural habitats), and intrinsic ‘states’ (e.g. sex), may shape among-individual variation in personality traits, as well as behavioral syndromes. Here, we used northern cardinals sampled from four locations to examine the effect of habitat type (urban versus rural, an extrinsic state), stress hormone corticosterone (CORT) parameters, body weight and sex (intrinsic states) on personality traits and behavioral syndrome variation. We used behavioral trials to measure five personality traits. Using principal component analysis to quantify personality traits first, followed by general linear mixed models, we found that habitat type, CORT at capture and 2-day CORT response affected some personality traits, while body weight and sex did not. Cardinals inhabiting more urbanized areas had lower CORT metabolite levels at capture and were more neophilic, less neophobic and also less aggressive than their rural conspecifics. Using structural equation modeling to construct behavioral syndromes formed by our selected personality traits, we found that urban and rural cardinals varied in the models representing syndrome structure. When utilizing the shared syndrome structural model to examine the effects of states, habitat type and 2-day CORT response appear to affect syndrome variation in a coordinated, not hierarchical, manner.

scholarly journals Phenological variation in annual timing of hibernation and breeding in nearby populations of Arctic ground squirrels

2010 ◽  
Vol 278 (1716) ◽  
pp. 2369-2375 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Sheriff ◽  
G. Jim Kenagy ◽  
Melanie Richter ◽  
Trixie Lee ◽  
Øivind Tøien ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Ground Squirrels ◽  
Ecological Communities ◽  
Physiological Mechanisms ◽  
Interacting Species ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Phenological Shifts ◽  
Arctic Ground Squirrels ◽  
Northern Alaska

Ecologists need an empirical understanding of physiological and behavioural adjustments that animals can make in response to seasonal and long-term variations in environmental conditions. Because many species experience trade-offs between timing and duration of one seasonal event versus another and because interacting species may also shift phenologies at different rates, it is possible that, in aggregate, phenological shifts could result in mismatches that disrupt ecological communities. We investigated the timing of seasonal events over 14 years in two Arctic ground squirrel populations living 20 km apart in Northern Alaska. At Atigun River, snow melt occurred 27 days earlier and snow cover began 17 days later than at Toolik Lake. This spatial differential was reflected in significant variation in the timing of most seasonal events in ground squirrels living at the two sites. Although reproductive males ended seasonal torpor on the same date at both sites, Atigun males emerged from hibernation 9 days earlier and entered hibernation 5 days later than Toolik males. Atigun females emerged and bred 13 days earlier and entered hibernation 9 days earlier than those at Toolik. We propose that this variation in phenology over a small spatial scale is likely generated by plasticity of physiological mechanisms that may also provide individuals the ability to respond to variation in environmental conditions over time.

scholarly journals Cuckoos, cowbirds and hosts: adaptations, trade-offs and constraints

2006 ◽  
Vol 362 (1486) ◽  
pp. 1873-1886 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oliver Krüger
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Brood Parasitism ◽  
Reproductive Strategies ◽  
Life History Theory ◽  
Model Systems ◽  
Life History Strategies ◽  
Host System ◽  
Brood Parasites ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Evolution Of Life

The interactions between brood parasitic birds and their host species provide one of the best model systems for coevolution. Despite being intensively studied, the parasite–host system provides ample opportunities to test new predictions from both coevolutionary theory as well as life-history theory in general. I identify four main areas that might be especially fruitful: cuckoo female gentes as alternative reproductive strategies, non-random and nonlinear risks of brood parasitism for host individuals, host parental quality and targeted brood parasitism, and differences and similarities between predation risk and parasitism risk. Rather than being a rare and intriguing system to study coevolutionary processes, I believe that avian brood parasites and their hosts are much more important as extreme cases in the evolution of life-history strategies. They provide unique examples of trade-offs and situations where constraints are either completely removed or particularly severe.

scholarly journals On the temporally flexible structure of plant-pollinator interaction networks

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul J. CaraDonna ◽  
Nickolas M. Waser
Keyword(s):  
Temporal Variation ◽  
Network Structure ◽  
Species Interactions ◽  
Interspecific Interactions ◽  
Activity Period ◽  
Individual Species ◽  
Ecological Communities ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Temporal Flexibility ◽  
Plant Pollinator

AbstractEcological communities consist of species that are joined in complex networks of interspecific interaction. The interactions that networks depict often form and dissolve rapidly, but this temporal variation is not well integrated into our understanding of the causes and consequences of network structure. If interspecific interactions exhibit temporal flexibility across time periods over which organisms co-occur, then the emergent structure of the corresponding network may also be temporally flexible, something that a temporally-static perspective would miss. Here, we use an empirical system to examine short-term flexibility in network structure (connectance, nestedness, and specialization), and in individual species interactions that contribute to that structure. We investigated weekly plant-pollinator networks in a subalpine ecosystem across three summer growing seasons. To link the interactions of individual species to properties of their networks, we examined weekly temporal variation in species’ contributions to network structure. As a test of the potential robustness of networks to perturbation, we also simulated the random loss of species from weekly networks. We then compared the properties of weekly networks to the properties of cumulative networks that aggregate field observations over each full season. A week-to-week view reveals considerable flexibility in the interactions of individual species and their contributions to network structure. For example, species that would be considered relatively generalized across their entire activity period may be much more specialized at certain times, and at no point as generalized as the cumulative network may suggest. Furthermore, a week-to-week view reveals corresponding temporal flexibility in network structure and potential robustness throughout each summer growing season. We conclude that short-term flexibility in species interactions leads to short-term variation in network properties, and that a season-long, cumulative perspective may miss important aspects of the way in which species interact, with implications for understanding their ecology, evolution, and conservation.

scholarly journals The predictability of a lake phytoplankton community, from hours to years

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mridul K. Thomas ◽  
Simone Fontana ◽  
Marta Reyes ◽  
Michael Kehoe ◽  
Francesco Pomati
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
Cell Density ◽  
Algal Cell ◽  
Biotic Interactions ◽  
Ecological Communities ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Data Limitations ◽  
Frequency Monitoring ◽  
Phytoplankton Cell ◽  
Physical And Chemical

AbstractForecasting anthropogenic changes to ecological communities is one of the central challenges in ecology. However, nonlinear dependencies, biotic interactions and data limitations have limited our ability to assess how predictable communities are. Here we used a machine learning approach and environmental monitoring data (biological, physical and chemical) to assess the predictability of phytoplankton cell density in one lake across an unprecedented range of time scales. Communities were highly predictable over hours to months: model R2 decreased from 0. 89 at 4 hours to 0.75 at 1 month, and in a long-term dataset lacking fine spatial resolution, from 0.46 at 1 month to 0.32 at 10 years. When cyanobacterial and eukaryotic algal cell density were examined separately, model-inferred environmental growth dependencies matched laboratory studies, and suggested novel trade-offs governing their competition. High-frequency monitoring and machine learning can help elucidate the mechanisms underlying ecological dynamics and set prediction targets for process-based models.

scholarly journals Interaction capacity underpins community diversity

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masayuki Ushio
Keyword(s):  
Interspecific Interactions ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Interaction Strength ◽  
Single Species ◽  
Species Interaction ◽  
Community Diversity ◽  
Ecological Communities ◽  
Total Dna ◽  
Mathematical Equations ◽  
The Mean

AbstractHow patterns in community diversity emerge is a long-standing question in ecology. Theories and experimental studies suggested that community diversity and interspecific interactions are interdependent. However, evidence from multitaxonomic, high-diversity ecological communities is lacking because of practical challenges in characterizing speciose communities and their interactions. Here, I analyzed time-varying causal interaction networks that were reconstructed using 1197 species, DNA-based ecological time series taken from experimental rice plots and empirical dynamic modeling, and show that species interaction capacity, namely, the sum of interaction strength that a single species gives and receives, underpins community diversity. As community diversity increases, the number of interactions increases exponentially but the mean species interaction capacity of a community becomes saturated, weakening interaction among species. These patterns are explicitly modeled with simple mathematical equations, based on which I propose the “interaction capacity hypothesis”, namely, that species interaction capacity and network connectance are proximate drivers of community diversity. Furthermore, I show that total DNA concentrations and temperature influence species interaction capacity and connectance nonlinearly, explaining a large proportion of diversity patterns observed in various systems. The interaction capacity hypothesis enables mechanistic explanations of community diversity, and how species interaction capacity is determined is a key question in ecology.

scholarly journals A Holling Functional Response Model for Mapping QTLs Governing Interspecific Interactions

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiao-Yu Zhang ◽  
Huiying Gong ◽  
Qing Fang ◽  
Xuli Zhu ◽  
Libo Jiang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Functional Response ◽  
Species Interactions ◽  
Community Dynamics ◽  
Interspecific Interactions ◽  
Microbial Interactions ◽  
Ecological Communities ◽  
Response Model ◽  
Ecological Interactions ◽  
Dynamic Complexity ◽  
Genome Level

Genes play an important role in community ecology and evolution, but how to identify the genes that affect community dynamics at the whole genome level is very challenging. Here, we develop a Holling type II functional response model for mapping quantitative trait loci (QTLs) that govern interspecific interactions. The model, integrated with generalized Lotka-Volterra differential dynamic equations, shows a better capacity to reveal the dynamic complexity of inter-species interactions than classic competition models. By applying the new model to a published mapping data from a competition experiment of two microbial species, we identify a set of previously uncharacterized QTLs that are specifically responsible for microbial cooperation and competition. The model can not only characterize how these QTLs affect microbial interactions, but also address how change in ecological interactions activates the genetic effects of the QTLs. This model provides a quantitative means of predicting the genetic architecture that shapes the dynamic behavior of ecological communities.

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