scholarly journals Sex in the wild: how and why field-based studies contribute to solving the problem of sex

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maurine Neiman ◽  
Patrick G. Meirmans ◽  
Tanja Schwander ◽  
Stephanie Meirmans
Keyword(s):  
Adaptive Evolution ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Empirical Evaluation ◽  
Natural Populations ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
Niche Differentiation ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
Supplementary Material

AbstractWhy and how sexual reproduction is maintained in natural populations, the so-called “queen of problems”, is a key unanswered question in evolutionary biology. Recent efforts to solve the problem of sex have often emphasized results generated from laboratory settings. Here, we use a survey of representative “sex in the wild” literature to review and synthesize the outcomes of empirical studies focused on natural populations. Especially notable results included relatively strong support for mechanisms involving niche differentiation and a near absence of attention to adaptive evolution. Support for a major role of parasites is largely confined to a single study system, and only three systems contribute most of the support for mutation accumulation hypotheses. This evidence for taxon specificity suggests that outcomes of particular studies should not be more broadly extrapolated without extreme caution. We conclude by suggesting steps forward, highlighting tests of niche differentiation mechanisms in both lab and nature and empirical evaluation of adaptive evolution-focused hypotheses in the wild. We also emphasize the value of leveraging the growing body of genomic resources for non-model taxa to address whether the clearance of harmful mutations and spread of beneficial variants in natural populations proceeds as expected under various hypotheses for sex.Author contributionsSM and MN conceived the paper idea, SM, PM, MN, and TS designed the review strategy, reviewed and analysed the literature, and wrote the manuscript. All authors gave final approval for publication.Data archival locationThe results of our literature survey are provided as electronic supplementary material.

scholarly journals Range-wide spatial mapping reveals convergent character displacement of bird song

2019 ◽  
Vol 286 (1902) ◽  
pp. 20190443 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander N. G. Kirschel ◽  
Nathalie Seddon ◽  
Joseph A. Tobias
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Patterns ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Environmental Gradients ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Remote Sensing Data ◽  
Character Displacement ◽  
Similar Species ◽  
Interspecific Territoriality ◽  
Coexisting Species

A long-held view in evolutionary biology is that character displacement generates divergent phenotypes in closely related coexisting species to avoid the costs of hybridization or ecological competition, whereas an alternative possibility is that signals of dominance or aggression may instead converge to facilitate coexistence among ecological competitors. Although this counterintuitive process—termed convergent agonistic character displacement—is supported by recent theoretical and empirical studies, the extent to which it drives spatial patterns of trait evolution at continental scales remains unclear. By modelling the variation in song structure of two ecologically similar species of Hypocnemis antbird across western Amazonia, we show that their territorial signals converge such that trait similarity peaks in the sympatric zone, where intense interspecific territoriality between these taxa has previously been demonstrated. We also use remote sensing data to show that signal convergence is not explained by environmental gradients and is thus unlikely to evolve by sensory drive (i.e. acoustic adaptation to the sound transmission properties of habitats). Our results suggest that agonistic character displacement driven by interspecific competition can generate spatial patterns opposite to those predicted by classic character displacement theory, and highlight the potential role of social selection in shaping geographical variation in signal phenotypes of ecological competitors.

scholarly journals Model and Data Concur and Explain the Coexistence of Two Very Distinct Animal Behavioral Types

Biology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 241
Author(s):  
Jordi Moya-Laraño ◽  
Rubén Rabaneda-Bueno ◽  
Emily Morrison ◽  
Philip Crowley
Keyword(s):  
Natural Populations ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
Female Aggression ◽  
Behavioral Syndromes ◽  
Behavioral Variability ◽  
Behavioral Types ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Genetically Determined ◽  
Animal Personalities

Behaviors may enhance fitness in some situations while being detrimental in others. Linked behaviors (behavioral syndromes) may be central to understanding the maintenance of behavioral variability in natural populations. The spillover hypothesis of premating sexual cannibalism by females explains genetically determined female aggression towards both prey and males: growth to a larger size translates into higher fecundity, but at the risk of insufficient sperm acquisition. Here, we use an individual-based model to determine the ecological scenarios under which this spillover strategy is more likely to evolve over a strategy in which females attack approaching males only once the female has previously secured sperm. We found that a classic spillover strategy could never prevail. However, a more realistic early-spillover strategy, in which females become adults earlier in addition to reaching a larger size, could be maintained in some ecological scenarios and even invade a population of females following the other strategy. We also found under some ecological scenarios that both behavioral types coexist through frequency-dependent selection. Additionally, using data from the spider Lycosa hispanica, we provide strong support for the prediction that the two strategies may coexist in the wild. Our results clarify how animal personalities evolve and are maintained in nature.

scholarly journals Range-wide spatial mapping reveals convergent character displacement of bird song

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander N. G. Kirschel ◽  
Nathalie Seddon ◽  
Joseph A. Tobias
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Patterns ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Environmental Gradients ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Remote Sensing Data ◽  
Character Displacement ◽  
Similar Species ◽  
Interspecific Territoriality ◽  
Coexisting Species

AbstractA long-held view in evolutionary biology is that character displacement generates divergent phenotypes in closely related coexisting species to avoid the costs of hybridisation or ecological competition, whereas an alternative possibility is that signals of dominance or aggression may instead converge to facilitate coexistence among ecological competitors. Although this counter-intuitive process—termed convergent agonistic character displacement—is supported by recent theoretical and empirical studies, the extent to which it drives spatial patterns of trait evolution at continental scales remains unclear. By modeling variation in song structure of two ecologically similar species of Hypocnemis antbird across western Amazonia, we show that their territorial signals converge such that trait similarity peaks in the sympatric zone, where intense interspecific territoriality between these taxa has previously been demonstrated. We also use remote sensing data to show that signal convergence is not explained by environmental gradients and is thus unlikely to evolve by sensory drive (i.e. acoustic adaptation to the sound transmission properties of habitats). Our results suggest that agonistic character displacement driven by interspecific competition can generate spatial patterns opposite to those predicted by classic character displacement theory, and highlight the potential role of social selection in shaping geographical variation in signal phenotypes of ecological competitors.

scholarly journals Gene regulatory evolution in cold-adapted fly populations neutralizes plasticity and may undermine genetic canalization

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuheng Huang ◽  
Justin Lack ◽  
Grant Hoppel ◽  
John E Pool
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Alternative Splicing ◽  
Adaptive Evolution ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Natural Populations ◽  
Plastic Response ◽  
Cold Adapted ◽  
Thermal Environments ◽  
Gene Regulatory ◽  
Transcriptomic Level

The relationships between adaptive evolution, phenotypic plasticity, and canalization remain incompletely understood. Theoretical and empirical studies have made conflicting arguments on whether adaptive evolution may enhance or oppose the plastic response. Gene regulatory traits offer excellent potential to study the relationship between plasticity and adaptation, and they can now be studied at the transcriptomic level. Here we take advantage of three closely-related pairs of natural populations of Drosophila melanogaster from contrasting thermal environments that reflect three separate instances of cold tolerance evolution. We measure the transcriptome-wide plasticity in gene expression levels and alternative splicing (intron usage) between warm and cold laboratory environments. We find that suspected adaptive changes in both gene expression and alternative splicing tend to neutralize the ancestral plastic response. Further, we investigate the hypothesis that adaptive evolution can lead to decanalization of selected gene regulatory traits. We find strong evidence that suspected adaptive gene expression (but not splicing) changes in cold-adapted populations are more vulnerable to the genetic perturbation of inbreeding than putatively neutral changes. We find some evidence that these patterns may reflect a loss of genetic canalization accompanying adaptation, although other processes including hitchhiking recessive deleterious variants may contribute as well. Our findings augment our understanding of genetic and environmental effects on gene regulation in the context of adaptive evolution.

scholarly journals Antibiotic resistance in the wild: an eco-evolutionary perspective

2017 ◽  
Vol 372 (1712) ◽  
pp. 20160039 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teppo Hiltunen ◽  
Marko Virta ◽  
Anna-Liisa Laine
Keyword(s):  
Antibiotic Resistance ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Evolutionary Dynamics ◽  
Natural Populations ◽  
Resistant Bacteria ◽  
Natural Environments ◽  
Full Potential ◽  
Global Public Health ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
In The Wild

The legacy of the use and misuse of antibiotics in recent decades has left us with a global public health crisis: antibiotic-resistant bacteria are on the rise, making it harder to treat infections. At the same time, evolution of antibiotic resistance is probably the best-documented case of contemporary evolution. To date, research on antibiotic resistance has largely ignored the complexity of interactions that bacteria engage in. However, in natural populations, bacteria interact with other species; for example, competition and grazing are import interactions influencing bacterial population dynamics. Furthermore, antibiotic leakage to natural environments can radically alter bacterial communities. Overall, we argue that eco-evolutionary feedback loops in microbial communities can be modified by residual antibiotics and evolution of antibiotic resistance. The aim of this review is to connect some of the well-established key concepts in evolutionary biology and recent advances in the study of eco-evolutionary dynamics to research on antibiotic resistance. We also identify some key knowledge gaps related to eco-evolutionary dynamics of antibiotic resistance, and review some of the recent technical advantages in molecular microbiology that offer new opportunities for tackling these questions. Finally, we argue that using the full potential of evolutionary theory and active communication across the different fields is needed for solving this global crisis more efficiently. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Human influences on evolution, and the ecological and societal consequences'.

scholarly journals Life span in the wild: the role of activity and climate in natural populations of bees

2014 ◽  
Vol 28 (5) ◽  
pp. 1235-1244 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jakub Straka ◽  
Kateřina Černá ◽  
Lenka Macháčková ◽  
Monika Zemenová ◽  
Petr Keil
Keyword(s):  
Life Span ◽  
Natural Populations ◽  
In The Wild

scholarly journals Secondary contact seeds phenotypic novelty in cichlid fishes

2015 ◽  
Vol 282 (1798) ◽  
pp. 20142272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Nichols ◽  
Martin J. Genner ◽  
Cock van Oosterhout ◽  
Alan Smith ◽  
Paul Parsons ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Adaptive Evolution ◽  
Natural Populations ◽  
Cichlid Fish ◽  
Single Species ◽  
Secondary Contact ◽  
Isolated Populations ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
Genetic Novelty ◽  
Genomic Introgression ◽  
Phenotypic Novelty

Theory proposes that genomic admixture between formerly reproductively isolated populations can generate phenotypic novelty for selection to act upon. Secondary contact may therefore be a significant promoter of phenotypic novelty that allows species to overcome environmental challenges and adapt to novel environments, including during adaptive radiation. To date, this has largely been considered from the perspective of interspecific hybridization at contact zones. However, it is also possible that this process occurs more commonly between natural populations of a single species, and thus its importance in adaptive evolution may have been underestimated. In this study, we tested the consequences of genomic introgression during apparent secondary contact between phenotypically similar lineages of the riverine cichlid fish Astatotilapia calliptera . We provide population genetic evidence of a secondary contact zone in the wild, and then demonstrate using mate-choice experiments that both lineages can reproduce together successfully in laboratory conditions. Finally, we show that genomically admixed individuals display extreme phenotypes not observed in the parental lineages. Collectively, the evidence shows that secondary contact can drive the evolution of phenotypic novelty, suggesting that pulses of secondary contact may repeatedly seed genetic novelty, which when coupled with ecological opportunity could promote rapid adaptive evolution in natural circumstances.

scholarly journals Epicuticular Compounds of Protopiophila litigata (Diptera: Piophilidae): Identification and Sexual Selection Across Two Years in the Wild

2019 ◽  
Vol 113 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-49
Author(s):  
Christopher S Angell ◽  
Sharon Curtis ◽  
Anaïs Ryckenbusch ◽  
Howard D Rundle
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Mate Choice ◽  
Mating Success ◽  
Natural Populations ◽  
Male Mating ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Or Groups ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
Males And Females

Abstract The epicuticular compounds (ECs) of insects serve both to waterproof the cuticle and, in many taxa, as pheromones that are important for various social interactions, including mate choice within populations. However, ECs have not been individually identified in many species and most studies of their role in mate choice have been performed in a laboratory setting. Here we newly identify and quantify the ECs of the antler fly, Protopiophila litigata Bonduriansky, and use a cross-sectional selection analysis to quantify their association with male mating success in the wild across two years (2013 and 2017). The ECs of antler flies include straight-chain and methylated alkanes, alkenes, and a family of branched wax esters. We find all ECs to be shared between males and females but also demonstrate sexual dimorphism in the abundance of several. Male EC relative abundances were significantly associated with mating success in both years, although the multivariate direction of selection differed significantly between the years. Surprisingly, only two of the 18 compounds (or groups of compounds) we identified were similarly associated with mating success across the sampling years. In 2017, we further partitioned sexual selection into intra- and intersexual components, revealing selection on ECs to be significant via female choice but not male–male competition. Our study is one of few to investigate the potential role of ECs in mating success in the wild and adds to a growing body of evidence demonstrating significant temporal variability in selection in natural populations.

scholarly journals The role of selection in the evolution of marine turtles mitogenomes

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisa Karen da Silva Ramos ◽  
Lucas Freitas ◽  
Mariana F. Nery
Keyword(s):  
Oxidative Phosphorylation ◽  
Positive Selection ◽  
Adaptive Evolution ◽  
Sea Turtles ◽  
Mitochondrial Protein ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
Sea Turtle ◽  
Protein Coding ◽  
Codon Positions

Abstract Sea turtles are the only extant chelonian representatives that inhabit the marine environment. One key to successful colonization of this habitat is the adaptation to different energetic demands. Such energetic requirement is intrinsically related to the mitochondrial ability to generate energy through oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) process. Here, we estimated Testudines phylogenetic relationships from 90 complete chelonian mitochondrial genomes and tested the adaptive evolution of 13 mitochondrial protein-coding genes of sea turtles to determine how natural selection shaped mitochondrial genes of the Chelonioidea clade. Complete mitogenomes showed strong support and resolution, differing at the position of the Chelonioidea clade in comparison to the turtle phylogeny based on nuclear genomic data. Codon models retrieved a relatively increased dN/dS (ω) on three OXPHOS genes for sea turtle lineages. Also, we found evidence of positive selection on at least three codon positions, encoded by NADH dehydrogenase genes (ND4 and ND5). The accelerated evolutionary rates found for sea turtles on COX2, ND1 and CYTB and the molecular footprints of positive selection found on ND4 and ND5 genes may be related to mitochondrial molecular adaptation to stress likely resulted from a more active lifestyle in sea turtles. Our study provides insight into the adaptive evolution of the mtDNA genome in sea turtles and its implications for the molecular mechanism of oxidative phosphorylation.

What Makes Airbnb Experiences Enjoyable? The Effects of Environmental Stimuli on Perceived Enjoyment and Repurchase Intention

2020 ◽  
pp. 004728752092124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Kam Fung So ◽  
Hyunsu Kim ◽  
Haemoon Oh
Keyword(s):  
Model Comparison ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Emotional Responses ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
Repurchase Intention ◽  
Environmental Stimuli ◽  
Mediating Role ◽  
Perceived Enjoyment ◽  
Scholarly Inquiry

While scholarly inquiry into Airbnb has experienced an exponential growth in the tourism literature, the role of the environmental stimuli of Airbnb experiences in creating consumer enjoyment is underexplored. Adopting the Mehrabian-Russell model, this study proposes a conceptual framework to investigate the linkages between three well-documented experiential attributes of Airbnb accommodations, perceived enjoyment, and repurchase intention. The results of two separate empirical studies with recent Airbnb users consistently show significant influences of authenticity and home benefits on perceived enjoyment, which subsequently drive repurchase intention, while social interaction was not found significant. The results of the model comparison and mediation analysis also converge across the two studies, providing strong support for the mediating role of perceived enjoyment as a mechanism that underlies the relationships between the environmental stimuli and repurchase intention. The findings provide important insights into what Airbnb attributes contribute to positive emotional responses and subsequently forming favorable behavioral consequences.

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