Environmental stressors induced strong small-scale phenotypic differentiation in a wide-dispersing marine snail

While a large body of research has focused on the physiological effects of multiple environmental stressors, behavioral effects remain far less studied. However, behavioural plasticity can not only directly drive responses to stressors but can also mediate physiological responses. Here, we provide a conceptual framework incorporating four fundamental tradeoffs explicitly linking animal behaviour to life history-based pathways for energy allocation, shaping the impact of multiple stressors on fitness. We first address how small-scale behavioural changes can drive conflicts between the effects of multiple stressors and alternative physiological responses. We then discuss how animal behaviour gives rise to three additional understudied and interrelated trade-offs: balancing the benefits and risks of obtaining the energy needed to cope with stressors, allocation of energy between life-history traits and stressor responses, and larger-scale escape from stressors in space or time via dispersal or dormancy. Finally, we outline how these trade-offs interactively affect fitness and qualitative ecological outcomes resulting from multiple stressors. Our framework suggests that animal behavior could underlie the extensive context dependence in results from stressor research, highlighting promising avenues for future empirical and theoretical research.

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Testing the Sensitivity and Limitations of Frequently Used Aquatic Biota Indices in Temperate Mountain Streams and Plain Streams of China

Water ◽

10.3390/w13233318 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (23) ◽

pp. 3318

Author(s):

Nan Zhang ◽

Guangxia Shang ◽

Yang Dai ◽

Yuan Zhang ◽

Sen Ding ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Index System ◽

Biological Evaluation ◽

Environmental Stressors ◽

Evaluation Index System ◽

Evaluation Index ◽

Mountain Stream ◽

Small Scale ◽

Sensitivity Index ◽

Plain Streams

Different biological groups show biased responses to similar or different environmental stressors on different scales. The selection of bioindicators based on pressure characteristics is the basis for accurately assessing ecological quality. In this study, we investigated the responses of common bioindicators, namely, macroinvertebrates and fish, to multiple stressors in temperate mountain and plain streams of northeast China. We used 56 indices, including the single biological evaluation index and biological evaluation index system, to analyze and compare characteristic response to different scales under varying environmental stressors. The principal component analysis (PCA) showed that PCA axis 1 in the catchment scale explained 83.6% and 96.1% of the variance in mountain and plain rivers, respectively, which characterized the comprehensive pressure gradient integrated by land-use development and water pollution. PCA axis 1 explained 40.7% and 53.9% of variance in mountain and plain rivers on the reach scale and 63.1% and 61.8% of variance on the site scale. The correlation analysis showed responses of different indices to abiotic variables which did not overlap. Macroinvertebrate and fish indices successfully explained the change in water chemistry on a small scale, whereas fish indices additionally explained the change in land use on a large scale. Macroinvertebrate and fish indices were recommended because of their rich responses to environmental stressors, particularly in plain rivers. For mountain stream biomonitoring programs, especially in the Taizi River of northeastern China, we suggest that macroinvertebrates and fish should be used separately or jointly according to the actual capacity and cost, Moreover, compared with the possible differences in the evaluation results of different single biological evaluation indexes, the biological evaluation index system shows more stable monitoring results, and the single sensitivity index is more significant in biological evaluation, and more sensitive to some special environmental factors.

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Small-scale phenotypic differentiation along complex stream gradients in a non-native amphipod

Frontiers in Zoology ◽

10.1186/s12983-019-0327-8 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 16 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Jonas Jourdan ◽

Kathrin Piro ◽

Alexander Weigand ◽

Martin Plath

Keyword(s):

Small Scale ◽

Phenotypic Differentiation

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Effects of co-management on technical efficiency and environmental stressors: An application to small-scale shrimp polyculture in Indonesia

Aquaculture Economics & Management ◽

10.1080/13657305.2021.1897190 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-20

Author(s):

Venticia Hukom ◽

Rasmus Nielsen ◽

Max Nielsen

Keyword(s):

Technical Efficiency ◽

Environmental Stressors ◽

Small Scale

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Small-Scale and Artisanal Fisheries

Overfishing ◽

10.1093/wentk/9780199798131.003.0011 ◽

2012 ◽

Author(s):

Ray Hilborn ◽

Ulrike Hilborn

Keyword(s):

Small Scale ◽

Artisanal Fisheries ◽

Large Individual ◽

Rocky Shores ◽

Marine Snail ◽

The World

Many of the fisheries of the world are small scale—how can they be managed? The “loco” is a carnivorous marine snail common to the rocky shores of Chile and Peru. A large individual is about the size of a slightly flattened fist and would...

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Pronounced phenotypic differentiation in a wide-dispersing marine snail in response to contrasting selection pressures at a local scale

10.1101/2020.10.06.327767 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Nicolás Bonel ◽

Jean-Pierre Pointier ◽

Pilar Alda

Keyword(s):

Local Scale ◽

Coi Gene ◽

Heterogeneous Environments ◽

List Type ◽

Marine Snail ◽

Phenotypic Differentiation ◽

Selection Pressures ◽

Fine Grained ◽

Heterogeneous Habitats ◽

High Dispersal

AbstractHeterogeneous environments pose a particular challenge for organisms because the same phenotype is unlikely to perform best regardless of the types of stress it encounters. The grain size theory predicts that species with high dispersal potential experience a more heterogeneous, fine-grained environment where phenotypic plasticity may evolve to cope with habitat heterogeneity.To understand how species meet this challenge, we investigated the extent to which contrasting selection pressures induced ecological and phenotypic responses in a natural population of a wide-dispersing marine snail.We collected, measured external and internal characters, weighted, and dissected individuals of Heleobia australis (Rissooidea: Cochliopidae) from heterogeneous habitats from the intertidal area of the Bahía Blanca estuary, Argentina. We also conducted molecular analyses by amplifying the COI gene in individuals sampled from each habitat.We found that subpopulations of H. australis, inhabiting close to each other and without physical barriers, exhibited a strong phenotypic differentiation in shell characters and body weight in response to environmental conditions (thermal, saline, and dehydration stress), crab predation, and parasites. We proved that this differentiation occurred even early in life as most of the characters observed in juveniles mirrored those found in adults. We also found a clear variation in penis size in snails collected from each habitat and raised in common garden laboratory conditions. The COI gene analysis confirmed that the individuals studied constituted a single species despite the strong phenotypic difference among subpopulations.The pronounced phenotypic differentiation in H. australis is all the more remarkable because it occurred at a very small geographical scale, which is rarely documented for a wide-dispersing species. Our findings provide a reasonable ground for advocating that H. australis experienced a fine-grained environment and, thus, benefited from the combined effect of directional selection and plasticity to evolve locally adapted phenotypes to contrasting habitat conditions at a local scale.

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Microenvironmental correlates of phenotypic variation in Capsella bursa-pastoris (Cruciferae)

Canadian Journal of Botany ◽

10.1139/b91-207 ◽

1991 ◽

Vol 69 (8) ◽

pp. 1637-1641 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Claudia Paoletti ◽

Massimo Pigliucci ◽

Mauro Serafini

Keyword(s):

Principal Components ◽

Phenotypic Variability ◽

Geographic Distance ◽

Mantel Test ◽

Small Scale ◽

Phenotypic Differentiation ◽

Environmental Correlates ◽

Extreme Degree ◽

Multivariate Procedures ◽

Components Analysis

The majority of papers dealing with environmental correlates of phenotypic variability are concerned with macrogeographical structuring of the investigated species. However, a possible major component of phenotypic differentiation in some taxa is small-scale variability in the microenvironment. The statistical methods usually employed for such studies seems to be restricted to a few standardized sets of procedure, often assuming linearity and additivity of effects among variates. In this paper we studied small-scale geographical differentiation of phenotypes of Capsella bursa-pastoris (Cruciferae), a species characterized by an apparent extreme degree of phenetic specialization that could be due to fixation of alternative alleles in small local demes. We use nonparametric multivariate procedures to test the relationships between phenotypic principal components, geographic distance, and a number of microenvironmental parameters. A concept recently applied to population genetics, that of biological boundaries, is used here in relation to phenetic variation to assess its association with geographical mapping of the populations studied. Key words: Capsella, Mantel test, phenotypic boundaries, biotic parameters, principal components analysis.

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Reasons to strike first

Behavioral and Brain Sciences ◽

10.1017/s0140525x19000840 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 42 ◽

Author(s):

William Buckner ◽

Luke Glowacki

Keyword(s):

Intergroup Conflict ◽

Small Scale

Abstract De Dreu and Gross predict that attackers will have more difficulty winning conflicts than defenders. As their analysis is presumed to capture the dynamics of decentralized conflict, we consider how their framework compares with ethnographic evidence from small-scale societies, as well as chimpanzee patterns of intergroup conflict. In these contexts, attackers have significantly more success in conflict than predicted by De Dreu and Gross's model. We discuss the possible reasons for this disparity.

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