scholarly journals Plant eco-evolution weakens mutualistic interaction with declining pollinator populations

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Avril Weinbach ◽  
Nicolas Loeuille ◽  
Rudolf P. Rohr
Keyword(s):  
Growth Rates ◽  
Evolutionary Dynamics ◽  
Plant Evolution ◽  
Population Declines ◽  
Pollination Services ◽  
Nectar Production ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Mutualistic Interaction ◽  
Plant Pollinator

AbstractRecent pollinator population declines threaten pollination services and greatly impact plant-pollinator coevolution. We investigate how such evolutionary effects affect plant-pollinator coexistence. Using eco-evolutionary dynamics, we study the evolution of plant attractiveness in a simple pollinator-plant model, assuming an allocation trade-off between attractiveness (e.g. nectar production, flower shape and size) and plant intrinsic growth rates. First, we investigated how attractiveness evolution changes species persistence, biomass production, and the intensity of the mutualism (as a proxy for pollination services). We show that the shape of the allocation trade-off is key in determining the outcome of the eco-evolutionary dynamics and that concave trade-offs allow convergence to stable plant-pollinator coexistence. Then we analyse the effect of pollinator population declines on the eco-evolutionary dynamics. Decreasing intrinsic growth rates of pollinator population results in a plant-evolution driven disappearance of the mutualistic interaction, eventually leading to pollinator extinction. With asymmetric mutualism favouring the pollinator, the evolutionary disappearance of the mutualistic interaction is delayed. Our results suggest that evolution may account for the current collapse of pollination systems and that restoration attempts should be enforced early enough to prevent potential negative effects driven by plant evolution.

scholarly journals Escherichia colipopulations adapt to complex, unpredictable fluctuations without any trade-offs across environments

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shraddha Karve ◽  
Devika Bhave ◽  
Dhanashri Nevgi ◽  
Sutirth Dey
Keyword(s):  
Escherichia Coli ◽  
Growth Rate ◽  
Growth Rates ◽  
Complex Environments ◽  
Multiple Stresses ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Fluctuating Environments ◽  
Laboratory Populations ◽  
Lower Variation

AbstractIn nature, organisms are simultaneously exposed to multiple stresses (i.e. complex environments) that often fluctuate unpredictably. While both these factors have been studied in isolation, the interaction of the two remains poorly explored. To address this issue, we selected laboratory populations ofEscherichia coliunder complex (i.e. stressful combinations of pH, H2O2and NaCl) unpredictably fluctuating environments for ~900 generations. We compared the growth rates and the corresponding trade-off patterns of these populations to those that were selected under constant values of the component stresses (i.e. pH, H2O2and NaCl) for the same duration. The fluctuation-selected populations had greater mean growth rate and lower variation for growth rate over all the selection environments experienced. However, while the populations selected under constant stresses experienced severe tradeoffs in many of the environments other than those in which they were selected, the fluctuation-selected populations could by-pass the across-environment trade-offs completely. Interestingly, trade-offs were found between growth rates and carrying capacities. The results suggest that complexity and fluctuations can strongly affect the underlying trade-off structure in evolving populations.

scholarly journals Seedling growth rates and light requirements of subtropical rainforest trees associated with basaltic and rhyolitic soils

2014 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 48 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. H. Lusk ◽  
K. M. Sendall ◽  
P. J. Clarke
Keyword(s):  
Leaf Area ◽  
Seedling Growth ◽  
Growth Rates ◽  
Shade Tolerance ◽  
Light Availability ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Respiration Rates ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Light Requirements ◽  
Differential Adaptation

A trade-off between shade tolerance and growth in open conditions is widely believed to underlie the dynamics of humid forests. Little is known about how the growth versus shade tolerance trade-off interacts with other major trade-offs associated with differential adaptation to major environmental factors besides light. We asked whether the growth versus shade tolerance trade-off differed between subtropical rainforest tree assemblages native to basaltic (fertile) and rhyolitic (infertile) soils in northern New South Wales, because of the allocational costs of adaptation to low nutrient availability. Seedling relative growth rates of six basalt specialists and five rhyolite specialists were measured in a glasshouse and the minimum light requirements of each species were quantified in the field by determining the 10th percentile of juvenile tree distributions in relation to understorey light availability. A similar range of light requirements was observed in the two assemblages, and although the two fastest growing species were basalt specialists, seedling growth rates did not differ significantly between the two substrates. The overall relationship between light requirements and growth rate was weak, and there was no compelling evidence that the slope or elevation of this relationship differed between the two assemblages. Growth rates were significantly correlated, overall, with specific leaf area, and marginally with leaf area ratio. The apparent similarity of the growth versus shade tolerance trade-off in the two suites of species could reflect effects of leaf nutrient content on respiration rates; basalt specialists tended to have a smaller root mass fraction, but this may have been offset by the effects of leaf nitrogen status on respiration rates, with higher respiration rates expected on fertile basaltic soils. However, the results might also partly reflect impairment of the field performance of two basalt specialists that were heavily attacked by natural enemies.

scholarly journals Attracting pollinators vs escaping herbivores: eco-evolutionary dynamics of plants confronted with an ecological trade-off

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Youssef Yacine ◽  
Nicolas Loeuille
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Dynamics ◽  
Plant Traits ◽  
Adaptive Dynamics ◽  
Disruptive Selection ◽  
Stabilizing Selection ◽  
Ecological Communities ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Herbivore Community ◽  
Plant Animal Interactions

AbstractA large number of plant traits are subject to an ecological trade-off between attracting pollinators and escaping herbivores. The interplay of both plant-animal interactions determines their evolution. Within a plant-pollinator-herbivore community in which interaction strengths depend on trait-matching, eco-evolutionary dynamics are studied using the framework of adaptive dynamics. We characterize the type of selection acting on the plant phenotype and the consequences for multispecies coexistence. We find that pollination favors stabilizing selection and coexistence. In contrast, herbivory fosters runaway selection, which threatens plant-animal coexistence. These contrasting dynamics highlight the key role of ecological trade-offs in structuring ecological communities. In particular, we show that disruptive selection is possible when such trade-offs are strong. While the interplay of pollination and herbivory is known to maintain plant polymorphism in several cases, our work suggests that it might also have fueled the diversification process itself.

scholarly journals Conflicting functional effects of xylem pit structure relate to the growth-longevity trade-off in a conifer species

2019 ◽  
Vol 116 (30) ◽  
pp. 15282-15287 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beth Roskilly ◽  
Eric Keeling ◽  
Sharon Hood ◽  
Arnaud Giuggiola ◽  
Anna Sala
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Pinus Ponderosa ◽  
Growth Rates ◽  
Morphological Traits ◽  
Natural Populations ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Multiple Traits ◽  
Conifer Species ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Trade Offs

Consistent with a ubiquitous life history trade-off, trees exhibit a negative relationship between growth and longevity both among and within species. However, the mechanistic basis of this life history trade-off is not well understood. In addition to resource allocation conflicts among multiple traits, functional conflicts arising from individual morphological traits may also contribute to life history trade-offs. We hypothesized that conflicting functional effects of xylem structural traits contribute to the growth-longevity trade-off in trees. We tested this hypothesis by examining the extent to which xylem morphological traits (i.e., wood density, tracheid diameters, and pit structure) relate to growth rates and longevity in two natural populations of the conifer speciesPinus ponderosa. Hydraulic constraints arise as trees grow larger and xylem anatomical traits adjust to compensate. We disentangled the effects of size through ontogeny in individual trees and growth rates among trees on xylem traits by sampling each tree at multiple trunk diameters. We found that the oldest trees had slower lifetime growth rates compared with younger trees in the studied populations, indicating a growth-longevity trade-off. We further provide evidence that a single xylem trait, pit structure, with conflicting effects on xylem function (hydraulic safety and efficiency) relates to the growth-longevity trade-off in a conifer species. This study highlights that, in addition to trade-offs among multiple traits, functional constraints based on individual morphological traits like that of pit structure provide mechanistic insight into how and when life history trade-offs arise.

scholarly journals Metabolic enzyme cost explains variable trade-offs between microbial growth rate and yield

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meike T. Wortel ◽  
Elad Noor ◽  
Michael Ferris ◽  
Frank J. Bruggeman ◽  
Wolfram Liebermeister
Keyword(s):  
Growth Rate ◽  
Growth Rates ◽  
Metabolic Pathways ◽  
Biomass Yield ◽  
Cost Minimization ◽  
Fast Growth ◽  
Basic Question ◽  
Model Parameters ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Trade Offs

AbstractMicrobes may maximize the number of daughter cells per time or per amount of nutrients consumed. These two strategies correspond, respectively, to the use of enzyme-efficient or substrate-efficient metabolic pathways. In reality, fast growth is often associated with wasteful, yield-inefficient metabolism, and a general thermodynamic trade-off between growth rate and biomass yield has been proposed to explain this. We studied growth rate/yield trade-offs by using a novel modeling framework, Enzyme-Flux Cost Minimization (EFCM) and by assuming that the growth rate depends directly on the enzyme investment per rate of biomass production. In a comprehensive mathematical model of core metabolism inE. coli, we screened all elementary flux modes leading to cell synthesis, characterized them by the growth rates and yields they provide, and studied the shape of the resulting rate/yield Pareto front. By varying the model parameters, we found that the rate/yield trade-off is not universal, but depends on metabolic kinetics and environmental conditions. A prominent trade-off emerges under oxygen-limited growth, where yield-inefficient pathways support a 2-to-3 times higher growth rate than yield-efficient pathways. EFCM can be widely used to predict optimal metabolic states and growth rates under varying nutrient levels, perturbations of enzyme parameters, and single or multiple gene knockouts.Author SummaryWhen cells compete for nutrients, those that grow faster and produce more offspring per time are favored by natural selection. In contrast, when cells need to maximize the cell number at a limited nutrient supply, fast growth does not matter and an efficient use of nutrients (i.e. high biomass yield) is essential. This raises a basic question about metabolism: can cells achieve high growth rates and yields simultaneously, or is there a conflict between the two goals? Using a new modeling method called Enzymatic Flux Cost Minimization (EFCM), we predict cellular growth rates and find that growth rate/yield trade-offs and the ensuing preference for enzyme-efficient or substrate-efficient metabolic pathways are not universal, but depend on growth conditions such as external glucose and oxygen concentrations.

scholarly journals Palau’s warmest reefs harbor a thermally tolerant coral lineage that thrives across different habitats

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanny Rivera ◽  
Anne Cohen ◽  
Janelle Thompson ◽  
Iliana Baums ◽  
Michael Fox ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Growth Rates ◽  
Thermal Tolerance ◽  
Potential Growth ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Genetic Lineages ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Coral Communities ◽  
Heat Tolerant

Abstract Ocean warming is killing corals, but heat-tolerant populations exist; if protected, they could replenish affected reefs naturally or through restoration. Palau’s Rock Islands experience chronically higher temperatures and extreme heatwaves, yet their diverse coral communities bleach less than those on Palau’s cooler outer reefs. Here, we combined genetic analyses, bleaching histories and growth rates of Porites cf. lobata colonies to identify thermally tolerant genotypes, map their distribution, and investigate potential growth trade-offs. We identified four P cf. lobata genetic lineages. On Palau’s outer reefs, a thermally sensitive lineage dominates. The Rock Islands harbor two lineages with enhanced thermal tolerance and no consistent growth trade-off. One of these lineages also occurs on several outer reefs. This suggests that the Rock Islands provide naturally tolerant larvae to neighboring areas. Finding and protecting such sources of thermally-tolerant corals is key to reef survival under 21st century climate change.

scholarly journals Escherichia coli populations adapt to complex, unpredictable fluctuations by minimizing trade-offs across environments

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shraddha Madhav Karve ◽  
Devika Bhave ◽  
Dhanashri Nevgi ◽  
Sutirth Dey
Keyword(s):  
Escherichia Coli ◽  
Growth Rate ◽  
Growth Rates ◽  
Complex Environments ◽  
Multiple Stresses ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Fluctuating Environments ◽  
Laboratory Populations ◽  
Lower Variation

In nature, organisms are simultaneously exposed to multiple stresses (i.e. complex environments) that often fluctuate unpredictably. While both these factors have been studied in isolation, the interaction of the two remains poorly explored. To address this issue, we selected laboratory populations of Escherichia coli under complex (i.e. stressful combinations of pH, H2O2 and NaCl) unpredictably fluctuating environments for ~900 generations. We compared the growth rates and the corresponding trade-off patterns of these populations to those that were selected under constant values of the component stresses (i.e. pH, H2O2 and NaCl) for the same duration. The fluctuation-selected populations had greater mean growth rate and lower variation for growth rate over all the selection environments experienced. However, while the populations selected under constant stresses experienced trade-offs in the environments other than those in which they were selected, the fluctuation-selected populations could by-pass the across-environment trade-offs almost entirely. Interestingly, trade-offs were found between growth rates and carrying capacities. The results suggest that complexity and fluctuations can strongly affect the underlying trade-off structure in evolving populations.

scholarly journals Rapid evolution of learning and reproduction in natural populations of Drosophila melanogaster

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily L. Behrman ◽  
Tadeusz J. Kawecki ◽  
Paul Schmidt
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Evolutionary Dynamics ◽  
Rna Binding ◽  
Rapid Evolution ◽  
Learning Ability ◽  
Learning Performance ◽  
General Mechanism ◽  
Behavioural Plasticity ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Trade Offs

AbstractLearning is a general mechanism of adaptive behavioural plasticity whose benefits and costs depend on the environment. Thus, seasonal oscillations in temperate environments between winter and summer might produce cyclical selection pressures that would drive rapid evolution of learning performance in multivoltine populations. To test this hypothesis, we investigated the evolutionary dynamics of learning ability over this rapid seasonal timescale in a natural population of Drosophila melanogaster. Associative learning was tested in common garden-raised flies collected from nature in the spring and fall over three consecutive years. The spring flies consistently learned better than fall flies, revealing seasonal evolution of improved learning performance in nature. Fecundity showed the opposite seasonal pattern, suggesting a trade-off between learning and reproduction. This trade-off also held within population: more fecund individual females learned less well. This trade-off is mediated at least in part by natural polymorphism in the RNA binding protein couch potato (cpo), with a genotype favoured during summer showing poorer learning performance and higher fecundity than a genotype favoured over winter. Thus, seasonal environments can drive rapid cyclical evolution of learning performance, but the evolutionary dynamics may be driven by trade-offs generated by pleiotropic effects of causative alleles selected for other reasons.

scholarly journals Geographic Variation in the Trade-Off Between Nestling Growth Rate and Body Condition in the Tree Swallow

The Condor ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 108 (3) ◽  
pp. 601-611 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel R. Ardia
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Growth Rate ◽  
Body Mass ◽  
Body Condition ◽  
Growth Rates ◽  
Tree Swallow ◽  
Residual Body ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Nestling Growth ◽  
Trade Offs

AbstractNestlings can exhibit considerable variation in developmental patterns both within and among locations due to differences in environmental conditions and parental investment. I investigated trade-offs between nestling growth rate and residual body mass (body condition) at three locations across the range of the Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor). Nestlings at the northern extreme of the range in Alaska had slower growth rates, lower body mass, and higher residual body mass than nestlings in New York and Tennessee. High insect availability was correlated with increased growth rates of nestlings in New York and Tennessee, but not in Alaska. Conversely, nestlings in Alaska showed increased residual body mass with high insect availability, but nestlings in New York and Tennessee did not. The trade-off between growth rate and residual body mass varied among sites, with fast-growing nestlings in Tennessee maintaining a higher residual body mass than those in Alaska. These results suggest that factors affecting offspring growth and condition vary among sites, leading to geographical differences in offspring development trajectories.

Dual Goals for Speed and Accuracy on the Same Performance Task

2012 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 118-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olive Emil Wetter ◽  
Jürgen Wegge ◽  
Klaus Jonas ◽  
Klaus-Helmut Schmidt
Keyword(s):  
Memory Scanning ◽  
Performance Task ◽  
Performance Tasks ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Test Experiment ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
New Finding ◽  
Sternberg Paradigm ◽  
Speed Accuracy ◽  
Speed And Accuracy

In most work contexts, several performance goals coexist, and conflicts between them and trade-offs can occur. Our paper is the first to contrast a dual goal for speed and accuracy with a single goal for speed on the same task. The Sternberg paradigm (Experiment 1, n = 57) and the d2 test (Experiment 2, n = 19) were used as performance tasks. Speed measures and errors revealed in both experiments that dual as well as single goals increase performance by enhancing memory scanning. However, the single speed goal triggered a speed-accuracy trade-off, favoring speed over accuracy, whereas this was not the case with the dual goal. In difficult trials, dual goals slowed down scanning processes again so that errors could be prevented. This new finding is particularly relevant for security domains, where both aspects have to be managed simultaneously.

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