scholarly journals Microscale insight into microbial seed banks

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth J Locey ◽  
Melany C Fisk ◽  
Jay T Lennon
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Seed Banks ◽  
Life History Trait ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
Microbial Life ◽  
Chemical Complexity ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Individual Based Models ◽  
Boom And Bust ◽  
Insight Into

Dormancy is a general microbial life-history trait that leads to the emergence of seed banks across diverse ecosystems. While the primary forces driving seed banks include macroscale factors like resource supply, the importance of microscale factors such as individual encounters with resource molecules are often overlooked. Here, we used >10,000 individual based models (IBMs) to simulate energetic, physiological, and ecological processes across combinations of resource-, spatial-, and trophic-complexity. We found that increasing rates of encounter of individual organisms with resource molecules led to greater abundance, greater productivity, and larger seed banks. We also found that the chemical complexity of resource molecules reduced encounter rates, which led to increased variability in the size of seed banks. Encounter-driven ‘boom and bust’ dynamics also caused resource-rich environments to simultaneously host large seed banks and serve as hotbeds of microbial activity. In conclusion, microscale phenomena appear to be essential for understanding the emergence of seed banks, the energetic basis of microbial life history trade-offs, and variation in the abundance and activity of microbial communities.

scholarly journals Microscale insight into microbial seed banks

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth J Locey ◽  
Melany C Fisk ◽  
Jay T Lennon
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Seed Banks ◽  
Life History Trait ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
Microbial Life ◽  
Chemical Complexity ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Individual Based Models ◽  
Boom And Bust ◽  
Insight Into

Dormancy is a general microbial life-history trait that leads to the emergence of seed banks across diverse ecosystems. While the primary forces driving seed banks include macroscale factors like resource supply, the importance of microscale factors such as individual encounters with resource molecules are often overlooked. Here, we used >10,000 individual based models (IBMs) to simulate energetic, physiological, and ecological processes across combinations of resource-, spatial-, and trophic-complexity. We found that increasing rates of encounter of individual organisms with resource molecules led to greater abundance, greater productivity, and larger seed banks. We also found that the chemical complexity of resource molecules reduced encounter rates, which led to increased variability in the size of seed banks. Encounter-driven ‘boom and bust’ dynamics also caused resource-rich environments to simultaneously host large seed banks and serve as hotbeds of microbial activity. In conclusion, microscale phenomena appear to be essential for understanding the emergence of seed banks, the energetic basis of microbial life history trade-offs, and variation in the abundance and activity of microbial communities.

scholarly journals Longevity and ageing: appraising the evolutionary consequences of growing old

2005 ◽  
Vol 361 (1465) ◽  
pp. 119-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael B Bonsall
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Species Coexistence ◽  
Life History Strategies ◽  
Life History Trait ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
Physiological Processes ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Evolutionary Consequences

Senescence or ageing is an increase in mortality and/or decline in fertility with increasing age. Evolutionary theories predict that ageing or longevity evolves in response to patterns of extrinsic mortality or intrinsic damage. If ageing is viewed as the outcome of the processes of behaviour, growth and reproduction then it should be possible to predict mortality rate. Recent developments have shown that it is now possible to integrate these ecological and physiological processes and predict the shape of mortality trajectories. By drawing on the key exciting developments in the cellular, physiological and ecological process of longevity the evolutionary consequences of ageing are reviewed. In presenting these ideas an evolutionary demographic framework is used to argue how trade-offs in life-history strategies are important in the maintenance of variation in longevity within and between species. Evolutionary processes associated with longevity have an important role in explaining levels of biological diversity and speciation. In particular, the effects of life-history trait trade-offs in maintaining and promoting species diversity are explored. Such trade-offs can alleviate the effects of intense competition between species and promote species coexistence and diversification. These results have important implications for understanding a number of core ecological processes such as how species are divided among niches, how closely related species co-occur and the rules by which species assemble into food-webs. Theoretical work reveals that the proximate physiological processes are as important as the ecological factors in explaining the variation in the evolution of longevity. Possible future research challenges integrating work on the evolution and mechanisms of growing old are briefly discussed.

scholarly journals Mapping the adaptive landscape of a major agricultural pathogen reveals evolutionary constraints across heterogeneous environments

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anik Dutta ◽  
Fanny E. Hartmann ◽  
Carolina Sardinha Francisco ◽  
Bruce A. McDonald ◽  
Daniel Croll
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Life History Traits ◽  
Genetic Correlations ◽  
Stress Factors ◽  
Life History Trait ◽  
Adaptive Landscape ◽  
Heterogeneous Environments ◽  
Growth Responses ◽  
Trade Offs

AbstractThe adaptive potential of pathogens in novel or heterogeneous environments underpins the risk of disease epidemics. Antagonistic pleiotropy or differential resource allocation among life-history traits can constrain pathogen adaptation. However, we lack understanding of how the genetic architecture of individual traits can generate trade-offs. Here, we report a large-scale study based on 145 global strains of the fungal wheat pathogen Zymoseptoria tritici from four continents. We measured 50 life-history traits, including virulence and reproduction on 12 different wheat hosts and growth responses to several abiotic stressors. To elucidate the genetic basis of adaptation, we used genome-wide association mapping coupled with genetic correlation analyses. We show that most traits are governed by polygenic architectures and are highly heritable suggesting that adaptation proceeds mainly through allele frequency shifts at many loci. We identified negative genetic correlations among traits related to host colonization and survival in stressful environments. Such genetic constraints indicate that pleiotropic effects could limit the pathogen’s ability to cause host damage. In contrast, adaptation to abiotic stress factors was likely facilitated by synergistic pleiotropy. Our study illustrates how comprehensive mapping of life-history trait architectures across diverse environments allows to predict evolutionary trajectories of pathogens confronted with environmental perturbations.

scholarly journals Personality-dependent dispersal cancelled under predation risk

2013 ◽  
Vol 280 (1773) ◽  
pp. 20132349 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julien Cote ◽  
Sean Fogarty ◽  
Blaise Tymen ◽  
Andrew Sih ◽  
Tomas Brodin
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Predation Risk ◽  
Personality Types ◽  
Gambusia Affinis ◽  
Life History Trait ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
Behavioural Types

Dispersal is a fundamental life-history trait for many ecological processes. Recent studies suggest that dispersers, in comparison to residents, display various phenotypic specializations increasing their dispersal inclination or success. Among them, dispersers are believed to be consistently more bold, exploratory, asocial or aggressive than residents. These links between behavioural types and dispersal should vary with the cause of dispersal. However, with the exception of one study, personality-dependent dispersal has not been studied in contrasting environments. Here, we used mosquitofish ( Gambusia affinis ) to test whether personality-dependent dispersal varies with predation risk, a factor that should induce boldness or sociability-dependent dispersal. Corroborating previous studies, we found that dispersing mosquitofish are less social than non-dispersing fish when there was no predation risk. However, personality-dependent dispersal is negated under predation risk, dispersers having similar personality types to residents. Our results suggest that adaptive dispersal decisions could commonly depend on interactions between phenotypes and ecological contexts.

scholarly journals Mapping the adaptive landscape of a major agricultural pathogen reveals evolutionary constraints across heterogeneous environments

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anik Dutta ◽  
Fanny E Hartmann ◽  
Carolina Sardinha Francisco ◽  
Bruce A. McDonald ◽  
Daniel Croll
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Life History Traits ◽  
Stress Factors ◽  
Life History Trait ◽  
Adaptive Landscape ◽  
Heterogeneous Environments ◽  
Growth Responses ◽  
Zymoseptoria Tritici ◽  
Trade Offs

The adaptive potential of pathogens in novel or heterogeneous environments underpins the risk of disease epidemics. Antagonistic pleiotropy or differential resource allocation among life-history traits can constrain pathogen adaptation. However, we lack understanding how the genetic architecture of individual traits can generate trade-offs. Here, we report a large-scale study based on 145 global strains of the fungal wheat pathogen Zymoseptoria tritici from four continents. We measured 50 life-history traits, including virulence and reproduction on 12 different wheat hosts and growth responses to several abiotic stressors. To elucidate the genetic basis of adaptation, we used multi-trait genome-wide association mapping. We show that most traits are governed by polygenic architectures and are highly heritable suggesting that adaptation proceeds mainly through allele frequency shifts at many loci. We identified numerous pleiotropic SNPs with conflicting effects on host colonization and survival in stressful environments. Such genetic constraints are likely limiting the pathogen's ability to cause host damage and could be exploited for pathogen control. In contrast, adaptation to abiotic stress factors was likely facilitated by synergistic pleiotropy. Our study illustrates how comprehensive mapping of life-history trait architectures across diverse environments allows to predict evolutionary trajectories of pathogens confronted with environmental perturbations.

scholarly journals Life history trait differences in isolated populations of the endangered Red-cockaded Woodpecker

2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-68
Author(s):  
Lacey Williamson ◽  
Victoria Garcia ◽  
Jeffrey R. Walters
Keyword(s):  
North Carolina ◽  
Life History ◽  
Clutch Size ◽  
Life History Traits ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Life History Trait ◽  
Picoides Borealis ◽  
Isolated Populations ◽  
Local Conditions ◽  
Trade Offs

Abstract Changes in life history traits can reveal adaptations to changing environments. Red-cockaded Woodpeckers (Picoides borealis) are cooperative breeders that have specific reproductive habitat needs. We examined three separate sites in the southeastern United States to see how life history traits differed among isolated populations of Red-cockaded Woodpeckers from 1980 to 2013. We examined the life history traits group size, partial brood loss, number of fledglings, lay date, clutch size, and lifespan. Traits differed among sites, suggesting that populations were adapted to local conditions and different life history trade-offs were important under different environmental conditions at each site. At the two coastal sites in Florida and North Carolina, the family group sizes, lifespans, and partial brood loss were higher when compared to the inland site in North Carolina. Clutch size and number fledged were higher at the two northernmost sites when compared to the southern site. Identifying the differences in life history traits can allow more specific and effective management practices.

scholarly journals Reproductive Allocation and Maternal Investment in Intertidal Whelks

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
John Van der Sman
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Maternal Nutrition ◽  
Maternal Investment ◽  
Reproductive Allocation ◽  
Life History Trait ◽  
Offspring Size ◽  
Juvenile Growth ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Growth And Survival ◽  
Trade Offs

<p>Parental investment per offspring is a key life history trait in which offspring size and number combinations are balanced in order to maximise fitness. When food is scarce and energy for reproduction is reduced, changes in reproductive allocation can be expected. These adjustments may go on to influence the growth and survival of the next generation. Trade-offs in reproductive allocation in response to food availability occurred differently in each of the three whelks species of this study. However, each species traded numbers of offspring rather than size of offspring when fed low food. Offspring size was more variable among and within capsules than among food treatments. Capsule size was a plastic trait that varied in response to food treatments in each of the species and varied among populations of the same species. Carry-over effects of maternal nutrition influenced juvenile growth in all three species. However, while juvenile growth was greater when adults were fed high food in two of the species, high adult food suppressed the growth of juveniles of the third species. This may be a mechanism to prevent potential negative consequences of rapid growth. There was no evidence of a maternal effect of mortality in any of the three species. Greater variation in hatchling size occurred in the species in which nurse egg feeding occurred. Nurse egg feeding may be a successful strategy in unpredictable environments where optimal offspring size changes from year to year. Regional differences in reproductive allocation between whelks separated by small distances suggest that populations may be isolated from one another and may need to be managed separately for conservation purposes. This study highlights the influence of maternal nutritional effects on life history and the potential impacts that these may have on population and community structure.</p>

scholarly journals Organism body size structures the soil microbial and nematode community assembly at a continental and global scale

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lu Luan ◽  
Yuji Jiang ◽  
Menghua Cheng ◽  
Francisco Dini-Andreote ◽  
Yueyu Sui ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Community Assembly ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Life History Trait ◽  
Sampling Effort ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
Soil Biodiversity ◽  
Continental Scale

AbstractBody size is a key life-history trait that influences community assembly by affecting how ecological processes operate at the organism level. However, the extent to which the relative influences of ecological processes mediate the assembly of differentially sized soil organisms is still unknown. Here, we investigate the community assembly of differentially sized soil microorganisms and microfauna using a continental-scale sampling effort combined with a global-scale meta-analysis. Our results reveal a general relationship between organism body size and the stochastic-deterministic balance operating on community assembly. The smallest microorganisms (bacteria) are relatively more influenced by dispersal-based stochastic processes, while larger ones (fungi, protists and nematodes) are more structured by selection-based deterministic processes. This study elucidates a significant and consistent relationship between an organism life-history trait and how distinct ecological processes operate in mediating their respective community assemblages, thus providing a better understanding of the mechanisms supporting soil biodiversity.

scholarly journals Reproductive Allocation and Maternal Investment in Intertidal Whelks

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
John Van der Sman
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Maternal Nutrition ◽  
Maternal Investment ◽  
Reproductive Allocation ◽  
Life History Trait ◽  
Offspring Size ◽  
Juvenile Growth ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Growth And Survival ◽  
Trade Offs

<p>Parental investment per offspring is a key life history trait in which offspring size and number combinations are balanced in order to maximise fitness. When food is scarce and energy for reproduction is reduced, changes in reproductive allocation can be expected. These adjustments may go on to influence the growth and survival of the next generation. Trade-offs in reproductive allocation in response to food availability occurred differently in each of the three whelks species of this study. However, each species traded numbers of offspring rather than size of offspring when fed low food. Offspring size was more variable among and within capsules than among food treatments. Capsule size was a plastic trait that varied in response to food treatments in each of the species and varied among populations of the same species. Carry-over effects of maternal nutrition influenced juvenile growth in all three species. However, while juvenile growth was greater when adults were fed high food in two of the species, high adult food suppressed the growth of juveniles of the third species. This may be a mechanism to prevent potential negative consequences of rapid growth. There was no evidence of a maternal effect of mortality in any of the three species. Greater variation in hatchling size occurred in the species in which nurse egg feeding occurred. Nurse egg feeding may be a successful strategy in unpredictable environments where optimal offspring size changes from year to year. Regional differences in reproductive allocation between whelks separated by small distances suggest that populations may be isolated from one another and may need to be managed separately for conservation purposes. This study highlights the influence of maternal nutritional effects on life history and the potential impacts that these may have on population and community structure.</p>

scholarly journals Evolutionary ecology of specialization: insights from phylogenetic analysis

2014 ◽  
Vol 281 (1795) ◽  
pp. 20142004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jana C. Vamosi ◽  
W. Scott Armbruster ◽  
Susanne S. Renner
Keyword(s):  
Phylogenetic Analysis ◽  
Life History ◽  
Evolutionary Ecology ◽  
Geographical Range ◽  
Approaches To Studying ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Genetic Mechanisms ◽  
Evolutionary Success ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Lineage Diversification

In this Special feature, we assemble studies that illustrate phylogenetic approaches to studying salient questions regarding the effect of specialization on lineage diversification. The studies use an array of techniques involving a wide-ranging collection of biological systems (plants, butterflies, fish and amphibians are all represented). Their results reveal that macroevolutionary examination of specialization provides insight into the patterns of trade-offs in specialized systems; in particular, the genetic mechanisms of trade-offs appear to extend to very different aspects of life history in different groups. In turn, because a species may be a specialist from one perspective and a generalist in others, these trade-offs influence whether we perceive specialization to have effects on the evolutionary success of a lineage when we examine specialization only along a single axis. Finally, how geographical range influences speciation and extinction of specialist lineages remains a question offering much potential for further insight.

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