The Diversity of Life Histories in Ants

2009 ◽

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle ◽

Life Histories ◽

Life Cycles ◽

Partial Migration ◽

Environmental Stochasticity ◽

Species Dynamics ◽

Life Cycle Pattern ◽

Aquatic Sciences ◽

Diversity Of Life

<em>Abstract</em>.-In the study of species life histories and the structure of diadromous populations, an emerging trend is the prevalence of life cycle diversity-that is, individuals within populations that do not conform to a single life cycle pattern. A rapid rise in publications documenting within-population variability in life cycles has resulted in the use of numerous terms and phrases. We argue that myriad terms specific to taxa, ecosystem types, and applications are in fact describing the same phenomenon-life cycle diversity. This phenomenon has been obscured by the use of multiple terms across applications, but also by the overuse of typologies (i.e., anadromy, catadromy) that fail to convey the extent of life cycle variations that underlay population, metapopulation, and species dynamics. To illustrate this, we review migration and habitat-use terms that have been used to describe life cycles and life cycle variation. Using a citation index (Cambridge Scientific Abstracts © Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Abstracts), terms were tallied across taxonomic family, ecosystem, type of application, analytical approach, and country of study. Studies on life cycle diversity have increased threefold during the past 15 years, with a total of 336 papers identified in this review. Most of the 40 terms we identified described either sedentary or migratory lifetime behaviors. The sedentary-migratory dichotomy fits well with the phenomenon of partial migration, which has been commonly reported for birds and Salmonidae and is postulated to be the result of early life thresholds (switch-points). On the other hand, the lexicon supports alternate modes of migration, beyond the simple sedentary-migratory dichotomy. Here more elaborate causal mechanisms such as the entrainment hypothesis may have application. Diversity of life cycles in fish populations, whether due to partial migration, entrainment, or other mechanisms, is increasingly recognized as having the effect of offsetting environmental stochasticity and contributing to long-term persistence.

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Field assessment of precocious maturation in salmon parr using ultrasound imaging

10.1101/425561 ◽

2018 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Marie Nevoux ◽

Frédéric Marchand ◽

Guillaume Forget ◽

Dominique Huteau ◽

Julien Tremblay ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Ultrasound Imaging ◽

Life Histories ◽

Imaging Techniques ◽

Image Interpretation ◽

Ultrasound Image ◽

Portable Ultrasound ◽

Field Assessment ◽

In The Wild ◽

Salmon Parr ◽

Diversity Of Life

AbstractSalmonids are characterized by a large diversity of life histories, but their study is often limited by the imperfect observation of the true state of an individual in the wild. Challenged by the need to reduce uncertainty of empirical data, recent development in medical imaging techniques offered new opportunities to assess precocious maturation in Atlantic salmon parr. Traditional phenotypic (external) examination and ultrasound (internal) examination were compared and recommendations on fish handling and ultrasound image interpretation are provided. By allowing to see the unseen, portable ultrasound imaging offers great opportunities for ecological studies in the wild, such as the assessment of individual sexual maturation.

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Life tables: construction and interpretation

10.1093/oso/9780198838609.003.0008 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 151-162

Author(s):

Owen R. Jones

Keyword(s):

Life Histories ◽

Worked Examples ◽

Time Frame ◽

Life Tables ◽

Type I ◽

Type Ii ◽

Risk Of Death ◽

Nonhuman Animals ◽

Using Data ◽

Diversity Of Life

Life tables, which describe how the risk of death (and sometimes fertility) changes with age, are a fundamental tool for describing and exploring the diversity of life histories. Numerous important life history metrics can be derived from them. This chapter provides a broad coverage of life table construction and use and use with a particular focus on nonhuman animals. The calculation of life tables can be divided into approaches: cohort-based, where the data are obtained from individuals born at (approximately) the same time that are followed until death; and period-based, where the data are obtained from a population of mixed ages followed for a particular time-frame (e.g. a year). Worked examples of both approaches are provided using data from published sources. Emphasis is placed on understanding concepts such as rates vs. probability, life expectancy, and generation time. Links are drawn between the survivorship curve (type I, type II, and type III survivorship) and entropy. The chapter also covers the concept of the Lexis diagram which is used to represent births and deaths for individuals in different cohorts. Finally, the assumptions and limitations of life tables are discussed, with pointers to further reading. Code and data are provided.

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Genetic signatures of ecological diversity along an urbanization gradient

10.7287/peerj.preprints.2356v1 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Ryan P. Kelly ◽

James L O'Donnell ◽

Natalie C. Lowell ◽

Andrew O. Shelton ◽

Jameal F. Samhouri ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Life Histories ◽

Environmental Science ◽

Survey Methods ◽

Environmental Dna ◽

Biological Data ◽

Ecological Communities ◽

Human Land Use ◽

Ecological Sampling ◽

Genetic Signatures ◽

Diversity Of Life

Despite decades of work in environmental science and ecology, estimating human influences on ecosystems remains challenging. This is partly due to complex chains of causation among ecosystem elements, exacerbated by the difficulty of collecting biological data at sufficient spatial, temporal, and taxonomic scales. Here, we demonstrate the utility of environmental DNA (eDNA) for quantifying associations between human land use and changes in an adjacent ecosystem. We analyze metazoan eDNA sequences from water sampled in nearshore marine eelgrass communities and assess the relationship between these ecological communities and the degree of urbanization in the surrounding watershed. Counter to conventional wisdom, we find strongly increasing richness and decreasing beta diversity with greater urbanization, and similar trends in the diversity of life histories with urbanization. We also find evidence that urbanization influences nearshore communities at local (hundreds of meters) rather than regional (tens of km) scales. Given that different survey methods sample different components of an ecosystem, we then discuss the advantages of eDNA—which we use here to detect hundreds of taxa simultaneously—as a complement to traditional ecological sampling, particularly in the context of broad ecological assessments where exhaustive manual sampling is impractical. Genetic data are a powerful means of uncovering human-ecosystem interactions that might otherwise remain hidden; nevertheless, no sampling method reveals the whole of a biological community.

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10. The Diversity of Life Histories in Ants

Social Evolution in Ants ◽

10.1515/9780691206899-011 ◽

1996 ◽

pp. 328-364

Keyword(s):

Life Histories ◽

Diversity Of Life

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Constraints in the evolution of life histories

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rstb.1991.0027 ◽

1991 ◽

Vol 332 (1262) ◽

pp. 3-13 ◽

Cited By ~ 87

Keyword(s):

Life History ◽

Life Histories ◽

Ecological Impact ◽

Genetic Studies ◽

Local Optima ◽

Trade Offs ◽

Evolution Of Life ◽

Diversity Of Life ◽

Irreversible Evolution

The life history favoured by natural selection maximizes fitness, and this implies maximization of fecundity and survival at all ages. The observed diversity in life histories suggests that there are constraints on what can be achieved in practice. Functional constraints occur if only certain combinations of age-specific fertility and survival are possible, either because of the physiology of the organism or because of the ecological impact of its environment. The resulting constrained optimization means that the organism is involved in making trade-offs between life-history characters. A major task for the future is the measurement of trade-off functions in the environment in which the life-history evolved. Natural variation between individuals and populations, genetic studies and experimental manipulations have all been used to detect trade-offs. The last two methods are the most satisfactory, and can be complementary. Experimental manipulations are at their best when based on sound physiological understanding of the traits under manipulation. Constraints can also operate on the long-term. Local optima, evolutionary lags and irreversible evolution may all have contributed to the diversity of life histories.

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Reproductive ecology of the Australian herb Trachymene incisa subsp.incisa (Apiaceae)

Australian Journal of Botany ◽

10.1071/bt02001 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 50 (5) ◽

pp. 619 ◽

Cited By ~ 19

Author(s):

Yvonne C. Davila ◽

Glenda M. Wardle

Keyword(s):

Life Histories ◽

Seed Set ◽

Reproductive Ecology ◽

Seed Mass ◽

Perennial Herb ◽

Male And Female ◽

Pollen Presentation ◽

And Gender ◽

Diversity Of Life ◽

Reproductive Characters

Within the Apiaceae, subtle variation in reproductive characters such as dichogamy, pollinator specificity and umbel density may cause cryptic specialisation and be responsible for the diversity of life histories and gender expression in the family. To address the paucity of information for Australian species we investigated the reproductive ecology of the native perennial herb, Trachymene incisa Rudge subsp. incisa. T. incisa exhibits protandry within flowers and umbels; however, an overlap of 3 days in male and female phases among umbels of consecutive orders permits geitonogamous pollination. There are 72 ± 2.0 (n = 74) white flowers per umbel and nectar is presented during the male and female phases. Apis mellifera appears to be the main diurnal pollinator. The pollen : ovule ratio is 1902 : 1, indicating that T. incisa is a facultatively xenogamous species. The long phase of pollen presentation and the low natural seed set of about 45% implies that many flowers are functioning as pollen donors only. Controlled pollination experiments showed that self-pollen led to lower seed set than cross, open and supplemental applications. Early and late-produced cohorts differed in days to emergence but not in seed mass or final percentage emergence.

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Genetic signatures of ecological diversity along an urbanization gradient

10.7287/peerj.preprints.2356 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Ryan P. Kelly ◽

James L O'Donnell ◽

Natalie C. Lowell ◽

Andrew O. Shelton ◽

Jameal F. Samhouri ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Life Histories ◽

Environmental Science ◽

Survey Methods ◽

Environmental Dna ◽

Biological Data ◽

Ecological Communities ◽

Human Land Use ◽

Ecological Sampling ◽

Genetic Signatures ◽

Diversity Of Life

Despite decades of work in environmental science and ecology, estimating human influences on ecosystems remains challenging. This is partly due to complex chains of causation among ecosystem elements, exacerbated by the difficulty of collecting biological data at sufficient spatial, temporal, and taxonomic scales. Here, we demonstrate the utility of environmental DNA (eDNA) for quantifying associations between human land use and changes in an adjacent ecosystem. We analyze metazoan eDNA sequences from water sampled in nearshore marine eelgrass communities and assess the relationship between these ecological communities and the degree of urbanization in the surrounding watershed. Counter to conventional wisdom, we find strongly increasing richness and decreasing beta diversity with greater urbanization, and similar trends in the diversity of life histories with urbanization. We also find evidence that urbanization influences nearshore communities at local (hundreds of meters) rather than regional (tens of km) scales. Given that different survey methods sample different components of an ecosystem, we then discuss the advantages of eDNA—which we use here to detect hundreds of taxa simultaneously—as a complement to traditional ecological sampling, particularly in the context of broad ecological assessments where exhaustive manual sampling is impractical. Genetic data are a powerful means of uncovering human-ecosystem interactions that might otherwise remain hidden; nevertheless, no sampling method reveals the whole of a biological community.

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Genetic signatures of ecological diversity along an urbanization gradient

PeerJ ◽

10.7717/peerj.2444 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 4 ◽

pp. e2444 ◽

Cited By ~ 35

Author(s):

Ryan P. Kelly ◽

James L. O’Donnell ◽

Natalie C. Lowell ◽

Andrew O. Shelton ◽

Jameal F. Samhouri ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Life Histories ◽

Environmental Science ◽

Survey Methods ◽

Environmental Dna ◽

Biological Data ◽

Ecological Communities ◽

Human Land Use ◽

Ecological Sampling ◽

Genetic Signatures ◽

Diversity Of Life

Despite decades of work in environmental science and ecology, estimating human influences on ecosystems remains challenging. This is partly due to complex chains of causation among ecosystem elements, exacerbated by the difficulty of collecting biological data at sufficient spatial, temporal, and taxonomic scales. Here, we demonstrate the utility of environmental DNA (eDNA) for quantifying associations between human land use and changes in an adjacent ecosystem. We analyze metazoan eDNA sequences from water sampled in nearshore marine eelgrass communities and assess the relationship between these ecological communities and the degree of urbanization in the surrounding watershed. Counter to conventional wisdom, we find strongly increasing richness and decreasing beta diversity with greater urbanization, and similar trends in the diversity of life histories with urbanization. We also find evidence that urbanization influences nearshore communities at local (hundreds of meters) rather than regional (tens of km) scales. Given that different survey methods sample different components of an ecosystem, we then discuss the advantages of eDNA—which we use here to detect hundreds of taxa simultaneously—as a complement to traditional ecological sampling, particularly in the context of broad ecological assessments where exhaustive manual sampling is impractical. Genetic data are a powerful means of uncovering human-ecosystem interactions that might otherwise remain hidden; nevertheless, no sampling method reveals the whole of a biological community.

Download Full-text