scholarly journals Invasion but not hybridisation is associated with ecological niche shift in monkeyflowers

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniele Da Re ◽  
Angel P. Olivares ◽  
William Smith ◽  
Mario Vallejo-Marín
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Ecological Niche ◽  
Secondary Contact ◽  
Niche Shift ◽  
Ecological Niches ◽  
Introduced Populations ◽  
Niche Dynamics ◽  
Introduced Range ◽  
Niche Shifts ◽  
Native And Introduced Ranges

AbstractBackgroundThe ecological niche occupied by novel hybrids can influence their establishment as well as the potential to coexist with their parents. Hybridisation generates new phenotypic combinations, which, in some cases, may allow them to occupy ecological niches outside the environmental envelope of parental taxa. In other cases, hybrids may retain similar ecological niches to their parents, resulting in competition and affecting their coexistence. To date, few studies have quantitatively assessed niche shifts associated with hybridisation in recently introduced populations while simultaneously characterising the niche of parental species in both native and introduced ranges.AimsIn this study, we compared the ecological niche of a novel hybrid plant with the niches of its two parental taxa in the non-native geographic range. We also characterised and compared the parental taxa’s ecological niche of native and introduced populations in order to assess potential niche changes during the invasion process independent of hybridisation.MethodsWe studied monkeyflowers (Mimulus spp., Phrymaceae) that were introduced from the Americas to Europe and New Zealand in the last 200 years. We focused on a novel hybrid, triploid, asexual taxon (M. × robertsii) that occurs only in the British Isles where its two parents (M. guttatus and M. luteus) come into secondary contact. We assembled more than 12,000 geo-referenced occurrence records and eight environmental variables of the three taxa across native and introduced ranges, and conducted ecological niche model analysis using maximum entropy, principal component and niche dynamics analysis.ResultsWe found no evidence of niche shift in the hybrid, M. × robertsii compared to introduced populations of both of their parental taxa. The hybrid had a niche more similar to M. luteus, which is also the rarest of the parental taxa on the introduced range. Among parental monkeyflowers, M. guttatus showed niche conservatism in introduced populations in Europe, but a niche shift in New Zealand, while M. luteus showed a niche shift in Europe. However, the evidence of niche shift should be treated with caution due to the occurence of non-analog climatic conditions, small population size and unfilling niche dynamics.ConclusionsOur results suggest that hybridisation in non-native monkyeflowers did not result in a shift in ecological niche. This niche conservation could create competition between parental and derived taxa, the outcome of which will depend on relative competitive abilities. Further work is needed to establish if the expansion of the hybrid in the introduced range is causally related to the apparent rarity of one of the parents (M.luteus). Finally, the comparison of native and non-native populations of parental taxa, suggest that whether invasions result in niche shifts or not depends on both taxon and geographic region, highlighting the idiosyncratic nature of biological invasions.

scholarly journals An ecological niche shift for Neanderthal populations in Western Europe 70,000 years ago

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
William E. Banks ◽  
Marie-Hélène Moncel ◽  
Jean-Paul Raynal ◽  
Marlon E. Cobos ◽  
Daniel Romero-Alvarez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Ecological Niche ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Ecological Niche Modeling ◽  
Climatic Variability ◽  
Niche Shift ◽  
Ecological Niches ◽  
Middle Paleolithic ◽  
Niche Dynamics ◽  
Anatomically Modern Humans

AbstractMiddle Paleolithic Neanderthal populations occupied Eurasia for at least 250,000 years prior to the arrival of anatomically modern humans. While a considerable body of archaeological research has focused on Neanderthal material culture and subsistence strategies, little attention has been paid to the relationship between regionally specific cultural trajectories and their associated existing fundamental ecological niches, nor to how the latter varied across periods of climatic variability. We examine the Middle Paleolithic archaeological record of a naturally constrained region of Western Europe between 82,000 and 60,000 years ago using ecological niche modeling methods. Evaluations of ecological niche estimations, in both geographic and environmental dimensions, indicate that 70,000 years ago the range of suitable habitats exploited by these Neanderthal populations contracted and shifted. These ecological niche dynamics are the result of groups continuing to occupy habitual territories that were characterized by new environmental conditions during Marine Isotope Stage 4. The development of original cultural adaptations permitted this territorial stability.

scholarly journals Realised Niche Shifts, Rapid Evolution and Phenotypic Plasticity in Introduced Plants

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Charles Daniel Clark
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Phenotypic Plasticity ◽  
Introduced Species ◽  
Effect Size ◽  
Rapid Evolution ◽  
Niche Shift ◽  
Herbarium Specimens ◽  
Climate Niche ◽  
Niche Shifts ◽  
Glasshouse Experiment

<p>Recent biological invasions provide a unique opportunity to examine how species may adapt to novel conditions over relatively short time frames. Introduced species may respond to novel environmental conditions in the new range via rapid evolution, phenotypic plasticity, or the rapid evolution of phenotypic plasticity. However, the prevalence of these different mechanisms in introduced species remains unclear. In this thesis, I explore how introduced plant species may adjust their phenotype when introduced to a new range.  First, I tested for evidence of phenotypic change through time in key morphological traits (plant height, leaf area, leaf shape, and leaf mass per unit area), using historic herbarium records for 34 plants introduced to Australia and New Zealand. Thirty-two out of 94 trait-species combinations showed evidence for change through time. The rate and direction of trait change was variable across species and the local climate. One possibility is that species introduced to a new range exhibit different trait responses depending on the relative difference in environment between the native and introduced range. To investigate this, I quantified climatic niche shifts in introduced species relative to their native range. I then predicted trait change through time from the magnitude and direction of climate niche shift in a meta-regression. This is the first study to simultaneously assess trait change in multiple introduced species in relation to a shift in their realised niche. Overall, climate niche shifts did not predict trait change through time, suggesting that climate may not be the predominant driver of trait change in plants introduced to Australia and New Zealand. Alternatively, the combined uncertainty and the mismatch in spatial scales that may arise when combining these two methods could mask any underlying patterns in plant trait responses to the new environment.  It has been hypothesised that introduced species may respond to a sudden change in environment, by rapidly selecting for an increase in phenotypic plasticity. I tested for a difference in phenotypic plasticity between the native and introduced ranges of a beach daisy, Arctotheca populifolia. Contrary to my expectations, A. populifolia has shown a loss of phenotypic plasticity in as little as 80 years since its introduction to Australia. When using a meta-analysis to test for an overall difference in plasticity across multiple traits, I found that the current practice of calculating an effect size of an effect size (Hedges’ d) can lead to misleading results. I demonstrate how this issue arises when calculating a difference in Hedges’ d between two populations with different standard deviations. I propose an alternative way to calculate Hedges’ d to give a more accurate reflection of the difference in plasticity between ranges.  Finally, I combine different lines of evidence from the previous chapters in a case study to explore how A. populifolia has changed since its introduction to Australia, and examine any discrepancies between the results. A glasshouse experiment revealed distinct trait differences between native and introduced populations of A. populifolia, which were not reflected in trait change through time inferred from herbarium specimens. Additionally, measured trait differences between ranges in the glasshouse experiment better reflected a niche shift into wetter climate, than the predicted trait change through time from herbarium specimens. This suggests that trait differences determined in glasshouse or common garden experiments, may be a more suitable approach to assess trait change in relation to a realised niche shift than using herbarium specimens.</p>

scholarly journals Within outlying mean indexes: refining the OMI analysis for the realized niche decomposition

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stéphane Karasiewicz ◽  
Sylvain Dolédec ◽  
Sébastien Lefebvre
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Ecological Niche ◽  
Environmental Gradient ◽  
Niche Shift ◽  
Habitat Conditions ◽  
Realized Niche ◽  
Niche Dynamics ◽  
Niche Concept ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Definition Of

The ecological niche concept has a revival interest under climate change, especially to study its impact on niche shift and/or conservatism. Here, we propose the Within Outlying Mean Indexes (WitOMI), which refines the Outlying Mean Index (OMI) analysis by using its properties in combination with the K-select analysis species marginality decomposition. The purpose is to decompose the ecological niche, into subniches associated to the experimental design, i.e. taking into account temporal or spatial subsets. WitOMI emphasizes the habitat conditions that contribute 1) to the definition of species’ niches using all available conditions and, at the same time, 2) to the delineation of species’ subniches according to given subsets of dates or sites. This latter aspect allows addressing niche dynamics by highlighting the influence of atypical habitat conditions on species at a given time or space. 3) Then, the biological constraint exerted on the species subniche becomes observable within the Euclidean space as the difference between the potential subniche and the realized subniche. We illustrate the decomposition of published OMI analysis, using spatial and temporal examples. The species assemblage’s subniches are comparable to the same environmental gradient, producing a more accurate and precise description of the assemblage niche distribution under climate change.

scholarly journals Decomposing the causes for niche differentiation between species using hypervolumes

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jose Carlos Carvalho ◽  
Pedro Cardoso
Keyword(s):  
Community Assembly ◽  
Niche Partitioning ◽  
Niche Differentiation ◽  
Niche Shift ◽  
Niche Space ◽  
Niche Dynamics ◽  
Niche Shifts ◽  
Coexisting Species ◽  
Reduced Space ◽  
Niche Displacement

Hutchinson's n-dimensional hypervolume concept holds a central role across different fields of ecology and evolution. The question of the amount of hypervolume overlap and differentiation between species is of great interest to understand the processes that drive niche dynamics, competitive interactions and, ultimately, community assembly. A novel framework is proposed to decompose overall differentiation among hypervolumes into two distinct components: niche shifts and niche contraction / expansion processes. Niche shift corresponds to the replacement of space between the hypervolumes occupied by two species, whereas niche contraction / expansion processes correspond to net differences between the amount of space enclosed by each hypervolume. Hypervolumes were constructed for two Darwin' finches, Geospiza conirostris and Geospiza magnirostris, using intraspecific trait data from Genovesa Island, where they live in sympatry. Results showed that significant niche shifts, not niche contraction, occurred between these species. This means that Geospiza conirostris occupied a different niche space and not a reduced space on Genovesa. The proposed framework allows disentangling different processes and understand the drivers of niche partitioning between coexisting species. Niche displacement due to competition can this way be separated from niche contraction due to specialization or expansion due to lower pressure on newly occupied ecological settings.

scholarly journals Within outlying mean indexes: refining the OMI analysis for the realized niche decomposition

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stéphane Karasiewicz ◽  
Sylvain Dolédec ◽  
Sébastien Lefebvre
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Ecological Niche ◽  
Environmental Gradient ◽  
Niche Shift ◽  
Habitat Conditions ◽  
Realized Niche ◽  
Niche Dynamics ◽  
Niche Concept ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Definition Of

The ecological niche concept has a revival interest under climate change, especially to study its impact on niche shift and/or conservatism. Here, we propose the Within Outlying Mean Indexes (WitOMI), which refines the Outlying Mean Index (OMI) analysis by using its properties in combination with the K-select analysis species marginality decomposition. The purpose is to decompose the ecological niche, into subniches associated to the experimental design, i.e. taking into account temporal or spatial subsets. WitOMI emphasizes the habitat conditions that contribute 1) to the definition of species’ niches using all available conditions and, at the same time, 2) to the delineation of species’ subniches according to given subsets of dates or sites. This latter aspect allows addressing niche dynamics by highlighting the influence of atypical habitat conditions on species at a given time or space. 3) Then, the biological constraint exerted on the species subniche becomes observable within the Euclidean space as the difference between the potential subniche and the realized subniche. We illustrate the decomposition of published OMI analysis, using spatial and temporal examples. The species assemblage’s subniches are comparable to the same environmental gradient, producing a more accurate and precise description of the assemblage niche distribution under climate change.

scholarly journals Within outlying mean indexes: refining the OMI analysis for the realized niche decomposition

PeerJ ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. e3364 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stéphane Karasiewicz ◽  
Sylvain Dolédec ◽  
Sébastien Lefebvre
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Change ◽  
Ecological Niche ◽  
R Package ◽  
Habitat Destruction ◽  
Niche Shift ◽  
Habitat Conditions ◽  
Niche Dynamics ◽  
Niche Concept ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Definition Of

The ecological niche concept has regained interest under environmental change (e.g., climate change, eutrophication, and habitat destruction), especially to study the impacts on niche shift and conservatism. Here, we propose the within outlying mean indexes (WitOMI), which refine the outlying mean index (OMI) analysis by using its properties in combination with theK-select analysis species marginality decomposition. The purpose is to decompose the ecological niche into subniches associated with the experimental design, i.e., taking into account temporal and/or spatial subsets. WitOMI emphasize the habitat conditions that contribute (1) to the definition of species’ niches using all available conditions and, at the same time, (2) to the delineation of species’ subniches according to given subsets of dates or sites. The latter aspect allows addressing niche dynamics by highlighting the influence of atypical habitat conditions on species at a given time and/or space. Then, (3) the biological constraint exerted on the species subniche becomes observable within Euclidean space as the difference between the existing fundamental subniche and the realized subniche. We illustrate the decomposition of published OMI analyses, using spatial and temporal examples. The species assemblage’s subniches are comparable to the same environmental gradient, producing a more accurate and precise description of the assemblage niche distribution under environmental change. The WitOMI calculations are available in the open-access R package “subniche.”

Global Assessment of Climatic Niche Shifts in Three Rumex Species

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Carlin ◽  
Jennifer Bufford ◽  
Philip Hulme ◽  
William Godsoe
Keyword(s):  
Species Distributions ◽  
Niche Overlap ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Niche Shift ◽  
Native Range ◽  
Weed Species ◽  
Climatic Niche ◽  
Closely Related Species ◽  
Introduced Range ◽  
Niche Shifts

Abstract Climatic niche shifts occur when species occupy different climates in the introduced range than in their native range. We know that climatic niche shifts are common occurrences, however we do not currently understand whether climatic niche shifts can consistently be predicted across the globe. Using three congeneric weed species, we investigate whether the known presence of a climatic niche shift in one range can help predict a species’ distribution in other ranges. We consider whether data either from other ranges or from closely related species can help predict whether climatic niche shifts will occur. We compared the climatic conditions occupied by Rumex obtusifolius, R. crispus, and R. conglomeratus between their native range (Eurasia) and three different introduced ranges (North America, Australia, New Zealand). We consider metrics of niche overlap, expansion, unfilling, pioneering, and similarity to determine whether i) climatic niche shifts have occurred and ii) climatic niche shifts were consistent across ranges and congeners. We found that the presence and direction of climatic niche shifts is inconsistent across ranges for all three species. Within an introduced range, however, niche shifts were similar between species. Despite this, species distributions outside of their native range could not be reliably predicted by the distributions of congeners in either their native or introduced ranges. This study is the first of its kind to consider niche shifts across multiple introduced ranges and species, highlighting new challenges in predicting species distributions when species undergo climatic niche shifts.

scholarly journals Realised Niche Shifts, Rapid Evolution and Phenotypic Plasticity in Introduced Plants

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Charles Daniel Clark
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Phenotypic Plasticity ◽  
Introduced Species ◽  
Effect Size ◽  
Rapid Evolution ◽  
Niche Shift ◽  
Herbarium Specimens ◽  
Climate Niche ◽  
Niche Shifts ◽  
Glasshouse Experiment

<p>Recent biological invasions provide a unique opportunity to examine how species may adapt to novel conditions over relatively short time frames. Introduced species may respond to novel environmental conditions in the new range via rapid evolution, phenotypic plasticity, or the rapid evolution of phenotypic plasticity. However, the prevalence of these different mechanisms in introduced species remains unclear. In this thesis, I explore how introduced plant species may adjust their phenotype when introduced to a new range.  First, I tested for evidence of phenotypic change through time in key morphological traits (plant height, leaf area, leaf shape, and leaf mass per unit area), using historic herbarium records for 34 plants introduced to Australia and New Zealand. Thirty-two out of 94 trait-species combinations showed evidence for change through time. The rate and direction of trait change was variable across species and the local climate. One possibility is that species introduced to a new range exhibit different trait responses depending on the relative difference in environment between the native and introduced range. To investigate this, I quantified climatic niche shifts in introduced species relative to their native range. I then predicted trait change through time from the magnitude and direction of climate niche shift in a meta-regression. This is the first study to simultaneously assess trait change in multiple introduced species in relation to a shift in their realised niche. Overall, climate niche shifts did not predict trait change through time, suggesting that climate may not be the predominant driver of trait change in plants introduced to Australia and New Zealand. Alternatively, the combined uncertainty and the mismatch in spatial scales that may arise when combining these two methods could mask any underlying patterns in plant trait responses to the new environment.  It has been hypothesised that introduced species may respond to a sudden change in environment, by rapidly selecting for an increase in phenotypic plasticity. I tested for a difference in phenotypic plasticity between the native and introduced ranges of a beach daisy, Arctotheca populifolia. Contrary to my expectations, A. populifolia has shown a loss of phenotypic plasticity in as little as 80 years since its introduction to Australia. When using a meta-analysis to test for an overall difference in plasticity across multiple traits, I found that the current practice of calculating an effect size of an effect size (Hedges’ d) can lead to misleading results. I demonstrate how this issue arises when calculating a difference in Hedges’ d between two populations with different standard deviations. I propose an alternative way to calculate Hedges’ d to give a more accurate reflection of the difference in plasticity between ranges.  Finally, I combine different lines of evidence from the previous chapters in a case study to explore how A. populifolia has changed since its introduction to Australia, and examine any discrepancies between the results. A glasshouse experiment revealed distinct trait differences between native and introduced populations of A. populifolia, which were not reflected in trait change through time inferred from herbarium specimens. Additionally, measured trait differences between ranges in the glasshouse experiment better reflected a niche shift into wetter climate, than the predicted trait change through time from herbarium specimens. This suggests that trait differences determined in glasshouse or common garden experiments, may be a more suitable approach to assess trait change in relation to a realised niche shift than using herbarium specimens.</p>

scholarly journals Identifying early modern human ecological niche expansions and associated cultural dynamics in the South African Middle Stone Age

2017 ◽  
Vol 114 (30) ◽  
pp. 7869-7876 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco d’Errico ◽  
William E. Banks ◽  
Dan L. Warren ◽  
Giovanni Sgubin ◽  
Karen van Niekerk ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Transmission ◽  
Ecological Niche ◽  
Modern Human ◽  
Middle Stone Age ◽  
Niche Shift ◽  
Ecological Niches ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Evolutionary Trajectories ◽  
The One ◽  
Archaeological Cultures

The archaeological record shows that typically human cultural traits emerged at different times, in different parts of the world, and among different hominin taxa. This pattern suggests that their emergence is the outcome of complex and nonlinear evolutionary trajectories, influenced by environmental, demographic, and social factors, that need to be understood and traced at regional scales. The application of predictive algorithms using archaeological and paleoenvironmental data allows one to estimate the ecological niches occupied by past human populations and identify niche changes through time, thus providing the possibility of investigating relationships between cultural innovations and possible niche shifts. By using such methods to examine two key southern Africa archaeological cultures, the Still Bay [76–71 thousand years before present (ka)] and the Howiesons Poort (HP; 66–59 ka), we identify a niche shift characterized by a significant expansion in the breadth of the HP ecological niche. This expansion is coincident with aridification occurring across Marine Isotope Stage 4 (ca.72–60 ka) and especially pronounced at 60 ka. We argue that this niche shift was made possible by the development of a flexible technological system, reliant on composite tools and cultural transmission strategies based more on “product copying” rather than “process copying.” These results counter the one niche/one human taxon equation. They indicate that what makes our cultures, and probably the cultures of other members of our lineage, unique is their flexibility and ability to produce innovations that allow a population to shift its ecological niche.

scholarly journals Defining the niche for niche construction: evolutionary and ecological niches

2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rose Trappes
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Ecological Niche ◽  
Niche Construction ◽  
Habitat Degradation ◽  
Ecological Niches ◽  
Niche Concept ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Compare And Contrast ◽  
Extreme Habitat

AbstractNiche construction theory (NCT) aims to transform and unite evolutionary biology and ecology. Much of the debate about NCT has focused on construction. Less attention has been accorded to the niche: what is it, exactly, that organisms are constructing? In this paper I compare and contrast the definition of the niche used in NCT with ecological niche definitions. NCT’s concept of the evolutionary niche is defined as the sum of selection pressures affecting a population. So defined, the evolutionary niche is narrower than the ecological niche. Moreover, when contrasted with a more restricted ecological niche concept, it has a slightly different extension. I point out three kinds of cases in which the evolutionary niche does not coincide with realized ecological niches: extreme habitat degradation, commensalism, and non-limiting or super-abundant resources. These conceptual differences affect the role of NCT in unifying ecology and evolutionary biology.

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