scholarly journals Macroevolutionary consequences of mast seeding

2021 ◽  
Vol 376 (1839) ◽  
Author(s):  
Esther E. Dale ◽  
Jessie J. Foest ◽  
Andrew Hacket-Pain ◽  
Michał Bogdziewicz ◽  
Andrew J. Tanentzap
Keyword(s):  
Seed Production ◽  
Reproductive Output ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Species Level ◽  
Mast Seeding ◽  
Rich Diversity ◽  
Evolutionary Changes ◽  
Size Evolution ◽  
Speciation Rates

Masting characterizes large, intermittent and highly synchronous seeding events among individual plants and is found throughout the plant Tree of Life (ToL). Although masting can increase plant fitness, little is known about whether it results in evolutionary changes across entire clades, such as by promoting speciation or enhanced trait selection. Here, we tested if masting has macroevolutionary consequences by combining the largest existing dataset of population-level reproductive time series and time-calibrated phylogenetic tree of vascular plants. We found that the coefficient of variation (CV p ) of reproductive output for 307 species covaried with evolutionary history, and more so within clades than expected by random. Speciation rates estimated at the species level were highest at intermediate values of CV p and regional-scale synchrony (S r ) in seed production, that is, there were unimodal correlations. There was no support for monotonic correlations between either CV p or S r and rates of speciation or seed size evolution. These results were robust to different sampling decisions, and we found little bias in our dataset compared with the wider plant ToL. While masting is often adaptive and encompasses a rich diversity of reproductive behaviours, we suggest it may have few consequences beyond the species level. This article is part of the theme issue ‘The ecology and evolution of synchronized seed production in plants’.

A population-based analysis in 375,233 cases of heart failure stages A, B and C. Real world epidemiology of prevalence and temporal trends in South-European populations

2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (Supplement_2) ◽  
Author(s):  
S Jimenez ◽  
M Cainzos-Achirica ◽  
D Monterde ◽  
L Garcia-Eroles ◽  
C Enjuanes ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heart Failure ◽  
Chronic Conditions ◽  
Temporal Trends ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Population Based ◽  
Relative Increase ◽  
Funding Source ◽  
Private Company ◽  
Healthcare Database ◽  
Evolutionary Changes

Abstract Background Prevalence of congestive heart failure (CHF) and predisposing conditions has described previously. Most of these studies evaluated centre-European or north-American populations. However, the prevalence and evolutionary changes of Heart Failure stages A, B and C has not been fully elucidated in Mediterranean cohorts. Purpose To estimate the prevalence of CHF (HF Stage C) and four additional key chronic cardiovascular, metabolic and renal conditions predisposing to the development of CHF (HF Stages A and B) at a population level in a south-European healthcare area. We analysed the evolutionary changes in the prevalence in these five conditions. Methods In a healthcare area of 1,3Millions inhabitants, we extracted health related information of all individuals ≥55 years old. We analysed data of 375,233 individuals included in the population-based healthcare database of a public Institute of Health between 2015 and 2017. The conditions of interest were CHF, chronic kidney disease (CKD), diabetes mellitus (DM), ischemic heart disease (IHD) and hypertension (HTN). Results The prevalence of chronic conditions was high, particularly of HTN (48.2–48.9%) and DM individuals (14.6–14.8%). The other conditions were less frequent, with prevalence around 2–4% for IHD, 5–9% for CKD and 2–4% for CHF (Table). However, the less frequent conditions had a striking upward trend with over 1,500 new prevalent cases per year between 2015 and 2017 for CHF (45% relative increase), more than 2,500 new prevalent cases for IHD (67% relative increase) and more than 4,000 new prevalent cases per year for CKD (44% relative increase). Conclusion In this south European cohort, there were a high prevalence of HTN and DM as risk factors and a significant trend of increasing prevalence in high cost chronic conditions such as CHF, IHD and CKD. Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding source: Private company. Main funding source(s): The present study was funded by an unrestricted research grant from Vifor Pharma.

scholarly journals Identification of medicinal plant Schisandra chinensis using a potential DNA barcode ITS2

2013 ◽  
Vol 82 (4) ◽  
pp. 283-288 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xian-kuan Li ◽  
Bing Wang ◽  
Rong-chun Han ◽  
Yan-chao Zheng ◽  
Hai-bo Yin Yin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dna Barcode ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Species Level ◽  
Its2 Region ◽  
Schisandra Chinensis ◽  
Success Rates ◽  
Wild Populations ◽  
Efficient Tool ◽  
Different Populations ◽  
Cultivated Populations

To test whether the internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) region is an effective marker for using in authenticating of the <em>Schisandra chinensis</em> at the species and population levels, separately. And the results showed that the wild populations had higher percentage of individuals that had substitution of C→A at site 86-bp than the cultivated populations. At sites 10-bp, 37-bp, 42-bp and 235-bp, these bases of the <em>Schisandra sphenanthera</em> samples differed from that of <em>S. chinensis</em>. Two species showed higher levels of inter-specific divergence than intra-specific divergence within ITS2 sequences. However, 24 populations did not demonstrate much difference as inter-specific and intra-specific divergences were concerned. Both <em>S. chinensis</em> and <em>S. sphenanthera</em> showed monophyly at species level, yet the samples of different populations shown polyphyly at population level. ITS2 performed well when using BLAST1 method. ITS2 obtained 100% identification success rates at the species level for <em>S. chinensis</em>, with no ambiguous identification at the genus level for ITS2 alone. The ITS2 region could be used to identify <em>S. chinensis</em> and <em>S. sphenanthera</em> in the “Chinese Pharmacopoeia”. And it could also correctly distinguish 100% of species and 100% of genera from the 193 sequences of <em>S. chinensis</em>. Hence, the ITS2 is a powerful and efficient tool for species identification of <em>S. chinensis</em>.

scholarly journals From individual to population level: Temperature and snow cover modulate fledging success through breeding phenology in greylag geese (Anser anser)

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Didone Frigerio ◽  
Petra Sumasgutner ◽  
Kurt Kotrschal ◽  
Sonia Kleindorfer ◽  
Josef Hemetsberger
Keyword(s):  
Ambient Temperature ◽  
Reproductive Output ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Breeding Phenology ◽  
Anser Anser ◽  
Fledging Success ◽  
Average Annual Temperature ◽  
Greylag Geese

AbstractLocal weather conditions may be used as environmental cues by animals to optimize their breeding behaviour, and could be affected by climate change. We measured associations between climate, breeding phenology, and reproductive output in greylag geese (Anser anser) across 29 years (1990–2018). The birds are individually marked, which allows accurate long-term monitoring of life-history parameters for all pairs within the flock. We had three aims: (1) identify climate patterns at a local scale in Upper Austria, (2) measure the association between climate and greylag goose breeding phenology, and (3) measure the relationship between climate and both clutch size and fledging success. Ambient temperature increased 2 °C across the 29-years study period, and higher winter temperature was associated with earlier onset of egg-laying. Using the hatch-fledge ratio, average annual temperature was the strongest predictor for the proportion of fledged goslings per season. There is evidence for an optimum time window for egg-laying (the earliest and latest eggs laid had the lowest fledging success). These findings broaden our understanding of environmental effects and population-level shifts which could be associated with increased ambient temperature and can thus inform future research about the ecological consequences of climate changes and reproductive output in avian systems.

scholarly journals Environment drives high phylogenetic turnover among oceanic bacterial communities

2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 562-566 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Pommier ◽  
Emmanuel J. P. Douzery ◽  
David Mouillot
Keyword(s):  
Bacterial Communities ◽  
Environmental Gradient ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Environmental Filtering ◽  
Species Level ◽  
Geographical Distance ◽  
Abiotic Conditions ◽  
High Connectivity ◽  
Phylogenetic Lineages ◽  
Marine Microbial Communities

Although environmental filtering has been observed to influence the biodiversity patterns of marine bacterial communities, it was restricted to the regional scale and to the species level, leaving the main drivers unknown at large biogeographic scales and higher taxonomic levels. Bacterial communities with different species compositions may nevertheless share phylogenetic lineages, and phylogenetic turnover (PT) among those communities may be surprisingly low along any biogeographic or environmental gradient. Here, we investigated the relative influence of environmental filtering and geographical distance on the PT between marine bacterial communities living more than 8000 km apart in contrasted abiotic conditions. PT was high between communities and was more structured by local environmental factors than by geographical distance, suggesting the predominance of a lineage filtering process. Strong phenotype-environment mismatches observed in the ocean may surpass high connectivity between marine microbial communities.

Phenology and seed production in Chenopodium rubrum, Rumex maritimus, and Rumex palustris as related to photoperiod in river forelands

1992 ◽  
Vol 70 (2) ◽  
pp. 392-400 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. J. M. Van der Sman ◽  
C. W. P. M. Blom ◽  
H. M. Van de Steeg
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Seed Production ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Flowering Phenology ◽  
Chenopodium Rubrum ◽  
Axillary Shoots ◽  
Critical Photoperiod ◽  
Number Of Leaves ◽  
Rumex Maritimus ◽  
Flooded Areas

Reproductive development in three species from irregularly flooded areas of river forelands was studied in relation to time of emergence. In Chenopodium rubrum, flowering was induced earlier in plants germinated in April–May than in later cohorts. However, the period of vegetative growth diminished and the life cycle was completed in a shorter time in later germinated plants. Seed number was reduced, but seed size as well as reproductive effort per plant increased in later cohorts. Plants of both Rumex species flowered after a certain number of leaves had developed and before a critical photoperiod had passed. In earlier cohorts, the main shoot and several axillary shoots elongated and flowered. Fewer axillary shoots flowered closer to the critical photoperiod, and this resulted in a reduced seed output in later cohorts. The critical photoperiod as well as the time needed for completion of the life cycle was longer in Rumex palustris than in Rumex maritimus. It is argued that in the riparian habitat, plants of both Rumex species are only occasionally able to complete their life cycle in one growing season. Survival of these species on the population level will rely more upon adaptations towards flooding during the established phase than is the case for C. rubrum. Key words: flowering phenology, photoperiod, seed production, Chenopodium rubrum, Rumex maritimus, Rumex palustris.

scholarly journals The dynamics of trait variance in multi-species communities

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (8) ◽  
pp. 200321
Author(s):  
Jan Martin Nordbotten ◽  
Folmer Bokma ◽  
Jo Skeie Hermansen ◽  
Nils Chr. Stenseth
Keyword(s):  
Differential Equations ◽  
Blow Up ◽  
Adaptive Dynamics ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Species Level ◽  
Density Distributions ◽  
Formal Stability ◽  
Speciation Event ◽  
Trait Variance ◽  
Level Model

In this paper, we establish the explicit connection between deterministic trait-based population-level models (in the form of partial differential equations) and species-level models (in the form of ordinary differential equations), in the context of eco-evolutionary systems. In particular, by starting from a population-level model of density distributions in trait space, we derive what amounts to an extension of the typical models at the species level known from adaptive dynamics literature, to account not only for abundance and mean trait values, but also explicitly for trait variances. Thus, we arrive at an explicitly polymorphic model at the species level. The derivations make precise the relationship between the parameters in the two classes of models and allow us to distinguish between notions of fitness on the population and species levels. Through a formal stability analysis, we see that exponential growth of an eigenvalue in the trait covariance matrix corresponds to a breakdown of the underlying assumptions of the species-level model. In biological terms, this may be interpreted as a speciation event: that is, we obtain an explicit notion of the blow-up of the variance of (possibly a linear combination of) traits as a precursor to speciation. Moreover, since evolutionary volatility of the mean trait value is proportional to trait variance, this provides a notion that species at the cusp of speciation are also the most adaptive. We illustrate these concepts and considerations using a numerical simulation.

scholarly journals Inter-annual variation in seed production has increased over time (1900–2014)

2017 ◽  
Vol 284 (1868) ◽  
pp. 20171666 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian S. Pearse ◽  
Jalene M. LaMontagne ◽  
Walter D. Koenig
Keyword(s):  
Seed Production ◽  
Seed Set ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Mast Seeding ◽  
Plant Seed ◽  
Subtle Change ◽  
Animal Populations ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Seed Crops ◽  
Over Time

Mast seeding, or masting, is the highly variable and spatially synchronous production of seeds by a population of plants. The production of variable seed crops is typically correlated with weather, so it is of considerable interest whether global climate change has altered the variability of masting or the size of masting events. We compiled 1086 datasets of plant seed production spanning 1900–2014 and from around the world, and then analysed whether the coefficient of variation (CV) in seed set, a measure of masting, increased over time. Over this 115-year period, seed set became more variable for plants as a whole and for the particularly well-studied taxa of conifers and oaks. The increase in CV corresponded with a decrease in the long-term mean of seed set of plant species. Seed set CV increased to a greater degree in plant taxa with a tendency towards masting. Seed set is becoming more variable among years, especially for plant taxa whose masting events are known to affect animal populations. Such subtle change in reproduction can have wide-ranging effects on ecosystems because seed crops provide critical resources for a wide range of taxa and have cascading effects throughout food webs.

Pre-dispersal seed predation by the weevils Trichapion rostrum and Tychius sordidus limits reproductive output of Baptisia alba (Fabaceae)

Botany ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 95 (8) ◽  
pp. 809-817 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashley M. Hembrough ◽  
Victoria A. Borowicz
Keyword(s):  
Seed Production ◽  
Seed Predation ◽  
Reproductive Output ◽  
Pollen Limitation ◽  
Reproductive Potential ◽  
Prairie Restoration ◽  
Seed Number ◽  
Nutrient Supplementation ◽  
Perennial Legume ◽  
Herbaceous Perennial

Baptisia alba (L.) Vent., an herbaceous, perennial legume, produces more flowers than will mature into pods. Single-year experiments on two reconstructed prairies tested the hypothesis that reproductive potential of B. alba depends on nutrients, but pollen limitation and pre-dispersal seed predation by weevils reduce final production. Ramets were assigned one of four treatments that were combinations of fertilizer (none/70 g fertilizer twice) and insect barrier (none/application of Tanglefoot). Within inflorescences, flowers were naturally pollinated or supplemented with pollen. Fertilizer produced no effects, suggesting that B. alba are unresponsive within a season to nutrient supplementation. Pollen supplementation increased pod initiation at the two sites by 6.7% and 2.3%, respectively, but did not affect the proportion of initiated pods that matured or seed number within pods. Where Tychius sordidus occurred, only 67 pods matured on 19 ramets and only four seeds survived. Where only Trichapion rostrum was present, insect barrier increased pod maturation almost three-fold, but did not affect seed number within pods. Barrier treatment increased the reproductive output of entire ramets by increasing seed production, from 3.6 seeds·ramet−1 to 60.5 seeds·ramet−1. Prairie restoration frequently uses fruit collected from other populations. Managers should be careful to avoid the unintended introduction of voracious seed predators.

Fertility control of rodent pests

2008 ◽  
Vol 35 (6) ◽  
pp. 487 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jens Jacob ◽  
Grant R. Singleton ◽  
Lyn A. Hinds
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Output ◽  
Simulation Models ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Fertility Control ◽  
Reproductive Period ◽  
Future Research ◽  
House Mice ◽  
Breeding Period ◽  
Pest Species ◽  
Small Rodents

Ricefield rats (Rattus argentiventer) in south-east Asian rice fields and house mice (Mus domesticus) in Australian grain fields are major pest species. They cause damage before and after harvest and carry zoonotic diseases. For both species, management techniques have been pursued using the approach of immunocontraceptive vaccination. We review results from a series of enclosure and field studies conducted with these species to assess the effects of fertility control in small rodents. In the experiments, fertility control was simulated by tubal ligation, ovariectomy or progesterone treatment. A once-off sterilisation of 50–75% of enclosed founder females considerably reduced reproductive output of ricefield rat populations until the end of the reproductive period. In house mice, similar success was achieved when a sterility level of 67% of female founders and offspring was maintained. Repeated antifertility treatments are required because of the much longer breeding period of house mice versus ricefield rats. Comparing the results of enclosure trials with the outcome of simulation models suggests that partial compensation of treatment effects can occur through enhanced reproduction of the remaining fertile females and improved survival of juveniles. However, such compensatory effects as well as behavioural consequences of sterility in field populations are not likely to prevent the management effect at the population level. The challenge for effective fertility control of small rodents in the field is the wide-scale delivery of an antifertility treatment to founders at the beginning of the breeding season and to fertile immigrants that are recruited into the population, which otherwise contribute to the reproductive output at the population level. Future research efforts should focus on species-specific techniques and on agents that can be effectively delivered via bait.

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