scholarly journals Fruiting phenology and nutrient content variation among sympatric figs and the ecological correlates

2019 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu-Ting Huang ◽  
Ya-Fu Lee ◽  
Yen-Min Kuo ◽  
Sing-Yi Chang ◽  
Chia-Ling Wu
Keyword(s):  
Seed Dispersal ◽  
Functional Traits ◽  
Species Differences ◽  
Size Variation ◽  
Biotic Interactions ◽  
Nutrient Content ◽  
Breeding Systems ◽  
Fruiting Phenology ◽  
Ecological Correlates ◽  
Water Contents

Abstract Background Figs are key resources for tropical frugivores and display unique fruiting patterns. While monoecious figs support both seeds and wasp rearing, dioecious plants perform the tasks separately and produce seeded figs in smaller asynchronous crops. Thus dioecious females, compared to monoecious figs, may afford to invest more efforts to maximize seediness, or increase fruit pulp, water content, and nutrient rewards to attract frugivores for better seed dispersal. Yet size variation among and within fig species in either breeding system may lead to complicated resource allocation. We assessed fruiting phenology, measured fig morphological traits, and analyzed fig nutrient contents of the monoecious Ficus caulocarpa and F. subpisocarpa and the dioecious F. ampelas and F. irisana in a sympatric tropical forest to investigate species differences and size effects on fig functional traits and their ecological correlates. Results All four species fruited nearly year-round. Monoecious figs’ inter-tree asynchronous crops had high peak mature crop sizes over much shorter fruiting periods than dioecious figs. Among trees, F. subpisocarpa and F. irisana were greater in fig-size and size variation, F. caulocarpa and F. ampelas comparatively displayed large variation in fig compositions. As fig size increased, water contents gradually increased in large-fig species, but seediness with a decreasing trend in small-fig species. Dioecious figs had lower pulp-seed ratio but tended to have higher water contents than monoecious figs, particularly within a similar size range. Dioecious figs also had higher carbohydrates, whereas monoecious figs contained higher fiber and lipid contents. Conclusions Our study revealed species differences in certain fig functional traits that were correlated with fig size or their breeding systems, with substantial inter-tree variation. This partially supported the predictions regarding their fruiting strategies of aiding seed dispersal by frugivores, yet suggests a fruiting plasticity of individual trees subject to environmental constraints and their biotic interactions.

scholarly journals Modelling Tree Growth in Monospecific Forests from Forest Inventory Data

Forests ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 753
Author(s):  
Guadalupe Sáez-Cano ◽  
Marcos Marvá ◽  
Paloma Ruiz-Benito ◽  
Miguel A. Zavala
Keyword(s):  
Tree Growth ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Temporal Dynamics ◽  
Carbon Sink ◽  
Size Variation ◽  
Biotic Interactions ◽  
Richards Equation ◽  
Tree Level ◽  
Forest Inventories ◽  
Large Scale Data

The prediction of tree growth is key to further understand the carbon sink role of forests and the short-term forest capacity on climate change mitigation. In this work, we used large-scale data available from three consecutive forest inventories in a Euro-Mediterranean region and the Bertalanffy–Chapman–Richards equation to model up to a decade’s tree size variation in monospecific forests in the growing stages. We showed that a tree-level fitting with ordinary differential equations can be used to forecast tree diameter growth across time and space as function of environmental characteristics and initial size. This modelling approximation was applied at different aggregation levels to monospecific regions with forest inventories to predict trends in aboveground tree biomass stocks. Furthermore, we showed that this model accurately forecasts tree growth temporal dynamics as a function of size and environmental conditions. Further research to provide longer term prediction forest stock dynamics in a wide variety of forests should model regeneration and mortality processes and biotic interactions.

scholarly journals Frugivory and seed dispersal by carnivorous mammals: functional traits

Ecosistemas ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 43-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Pedro González-Varo ◽  
◽  
José María Fedriani Laffite ◽  
Alberto Suárez-Esteban
Keyword(s):  
Seed Dispersal ◽  
Functional Traits

scholarly journals Habitat fragmentation narrows the distribution of avian functional traits associated with seed dispersal in tropical forest

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 90-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex A.A. Bovo ◽  
Katia M.P.M.B. Ferraz ◽  
Marcelo Magioli ◽  
Eduardo R. Alexandrino ◽  
Érica Hasui ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Fragmentation ◽  
Seed Dispersal ◽  
Tropical Forest ◽  
Functional Traits

Habitat use, interspecific competition and phylogenetic history shape the evolution of claw and toepad morphology in Lesser Antillean anoles

2020 ◽  
Vol 129 (3) ◽  
pp. 630-643 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael L Yuan ◽  
Catherine Jung ◽  
Marvalee H Wake ◽  
Ian J Wang
Keyword(s):  
Interspecific Competition ◽  
Functional Traits ◽  
Functional Morphology ◽  
Biotic Interactions ◽  
Single Species ◽  
Morphometric Data ◽  
Opposite Pattern ◽  
Geometric Morphometric ◽  
Vegetation Use ◽  
Selective Forces

Abstract Ecologically functional traits are the product of several, at times opposing, selective forces. Thus, ecomorphological patterns can be disrupted locally by biotic interactions, such as competition, and may not be consistent across lineages. Here, we studied the evolution of claws and toepads in relationship to macrohabitat (vegetation), use of structural microhabitat (perch height) and congeneric competition for two distantly related Lesser Antillean anole clades: the Anolis bimaculatus and Anolis roquet series. We collected univariate and geometric morphometric data from 254 individuals across 22 species to test the hypotheses that functional morphology should covary with both vegetation and perch height and that the presence of a competitor may disrupt such covariation. Our data showed predictable associations between morphology and macrohabitat on single-species islands but not when a congeneric competitor was present. The outcomes of competition differed between series, however. In the A. bimaculatus series, species with a sympatric congener diverged in claw and toepad traits consistent with functional predictions, whereas A. roquet series anoles showed either no association between habitat and morphology or the opposite pattern. Our results demonstrated that ecomorphological patterns across macrohabitats can be disrupted by competition-driven microhabitat partitioning and that specific morphological responses to similar ecological pressures can vary between lineages.

scholarly journals Functional Genomics Differentiate Inherent and Environmentally Influenced Traits in Dinoflagellate and Diatom Communities

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 567 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie Elferink ◽  
Uwe John ◽  
Stefan Neuhaus ◽  
Sylke Wohlrab
Keyword(s):  
Signal Transduction ◽  
Functional Traits ◽  
Species Interactions ◽  
Marine Ecosystem ◽  
Biotic Interactions ◽  
Sulfur Cycle ◽  
Functional Responses ◽  
Physiological Importance ◽  
Metabolic Interactions ◽  
Lysine Degradation

Dinoflagellates and diatoms are among the most prominent microeukaryotic plankton groups, and they have evolved different functional traits reflecting their roles within ecosystems. However, links between their metabolic processes and functional traits within different environmental contexts warrant further study. The functional biodiversity of dinoflagellates and diatoms was accessed with metatranscriptomics using Pfam protein domains as proxies for functional processes. Despite the overall geographic similarity of functional responses, abiotic (i.e., temperature and salinity; ~800 Pfam domains) and biotic (i.e., taxonomic group; ~1500 Pfam domains) factors influencing particular functional responses were identified. Salinity and temperature were identified as the main drivers of community composition. Higher temperatures were associated with an increase of Pfam domains involved in energy metabolism and a decrease of processes associated with translation and the sulfur cycle. Salinity changes were correlated with the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites (e.g., terpenoids and polyketides) and signal transduction processes, indicating an overall strong effect on the biota. The abundance of dinoflagellates was positively correlated with nitrogen metabolism, vesicular transport and signal transduction, highlighting their link to biotic interactions (more so than diatoms) and suggesting the central role of species interactions in the evolution of dinoflagellates. Diatoms were associated with metabolites (e.g., isoprenoids and carotenoids), as well as lysine degradation, which highlights their ecological role as important primary producers and indicates the physiological importance of these metabolic pathways for diatoms in their natural environment. These approaches and gathered information will support ecological questions concerning the marine ecosystem state and metabolic interactions in the marine environment.

Body size variation in hybrids among populations of European water frogs (Pelophylax esculentus complex) with different breeding systems

2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 361-371
Author(s):  
Adam Hermaniuk ◽  
Magdalena Czajkowska ◽  
Anetta Borkowska ◽  
Jan R.E. Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Sex Ratio ◽  
Parental Species ◽  
Size Variation ◽  
Breeding Systems ◽  
European Water ◽  
Water Frogs ◽  
Population Type ◽  
Pelophylax Esculentus ◽  
European Water Frogs

Abstract In some populations, hybrids reproduce with a parental species by eliminating the genome of this species from their own germline and produce gametes that only contain the genome of the other parental species (sexual host). This mode of reproduction, known as hybridogenesis, leads to a conflict of interest between the two parties because the sexual host should avoid mating with the hybrid to prevent a reduction in reproductive success, whereas the hybrid depends on such matings for survival. We investigated European water frogs (Pelophylax esculentus complex), including hybrids (P. esculentus, genotype LR) and two sexual host species (P. lessonae, LL and P. ridibundus, RR). We hypothesized that to maximize fitness, hybrid males should be morphologically more similar to the sexual host that is preferred by females for successful reproduction. To test this hypothesis, we compared hybrid males in two different population types, L-E (hybrids coexist with LL) and L-E-R (hybrids coexist with both LL and RR). The latter was described in terms of genome composition, sex ratio, and mate choice preferences; the sex ratio of hybrids was significantly male-biased. We found that LR males from the L-E-R populations were significantly larger than those from the L-E, which makes them more similar to P. ridibundus, the largest species within the P. esculentus complex. We suggest that a larger body size of hybrid males may provide a reproductive advantage in the L-E-R population type, where the most common type of pair caught in the breeding season was LR males × RR females.

scholarly journals Plant dominance in a subalpine montane meadow: biotic vs. abiotic controls of subordinate diversity within and across sites

PeerJ ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. e5619 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erika LaPlante ◽  
Lara Souza
Keyword(s):  
Species Diversity ◽  
Observational Study ◽  
Plant Species ◽  
Functional Traits ◽  
Relative Abundance ◽  
Abiotic Factors ◽  
Biotic Interactions ◽  
Removal Experiment ◽  
Plant Removal ◽  
Montane Meadow

Background Understanding the underlying factors that determine the relative abundance of plant species is critical to predict both biodiversity and ecosystem function. Biotic and abiotic factors can shape the distribution and the relative abundance of species across natural communities, greatly influencing local biodiversity. Methods Using a combination of an observational study and a five-year plant removal experiment we: (1) documented how plant diversity and composition of montane meadow assemblages vary along a plant dominance gradient using an observational study; (2) tracked above- and belowground functional traits of co-dominant plant species Potentilla and Festuca along a plant dominance gradient in an observational study; (3) determined whether plant species diversity and composition was directly influenced by commonly occurring species Potentilla and Festuca with the use of a randomized plot design, 5-year plant removal experiment (no removal control, Potentilla removed, Festuca removed, n = 10). Results We found that subordinate species diversity and compositional dissimilarity were greatest in Potentilla and Festuca co-dominated sites, where neither Potentilla nor Festuca dominated, rather than at sites where either species became dominant. Further, while above- and belowground plant functional traits varied along a dominance gradient, they did so in a way that inconsistently predicted plant species relative abundance. Also, neither variation in plant functional traits of Festuca and Potentilla nor variation in resources and conditions (such as soil nitrogen and temperature) explained our subordinate diversity patterns. Finally, neither Potentilla nor Festuca influenced subordinate diversity or composition when we directly tested for their impacts in a plant removal experiment. Discussion Taken together, patterns of subordinate diversity and composition were likely driven by abiotic factors rather than biotic interactions. As a result, the role of abiotic factors influencing local-level species interactions can be just as important as biotic interactions themselves in structuring plant communities.

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