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- Hall, Britt D3
- Addison, Jason A2
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- Dupuis-Désormeaux, Marc2
- Edwards, Sara2
- Espie, Richard H M2
- Grayfer, Leon2
- Gutowsky, Lee F G2
- Guzzo, Matthew M2
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- Knight, Samantha M2
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- OPEN ACCESSIn some species where males make no direct contribution to a female’s lifetime reproductive success, females choose mates based on the indirect benefits manifested in their offspring. One trait that may be subject to this sexual selection is immunocompetence (the ability to mount an immune response following exposure to pathogens); however, the results of previous work on its link to male attractiveness have been ambiguous. Herein we examine the life history consequences of mating with males with a history of failure or success in reproductive competitions in Drosophila melanogaster. By examining egg-to-adult survival, body weights, and bacterial loads of offspring reared in either the absence or presence of a bacterial pathogen, we were able to examine whether sire reproductive success was associated with their offsprings’ ability to respond to an immunological challenge and other life history traits. Our results are partially consistent with the predictions of the “immunocompetence handicap hypothesis”: competitively successful males (“studs”) sire male offspring that are better able to handle an immunological challenge than those sired by competitively unsuccessful males (“duds”). However, our assay also revealed the opposite pattern in female offspring, suggestive of the complicating presence of alleles with sexually antagonistic effects on the expression of this important life history trait.
- OPEN ACCESSAn age-structured life-cycle model of steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) for the Stillaguamish River in Puget Sound, Washington, USA, was employed to estimate the number of age-1 steelhead parr that could have produced the estimated adult return of 69 000 in 1895. We then divided the estimated parr numbers by the estimated area of steelhead rearing habitat in the Stillaguamish River basin in 1895 and under current conditions to estimate density of rearing steelhead then and now. Scaled to estimates of total wetted area of tributary and mainstem shallow shoreline habitat, our historic estimates averaged 0.39–0.49 parr·m−2, and ranged from 0.24 to 0.7 parr·m−2. These values are significantly greater than current densities in the Stillaguamish (mainstem average: 0.15 parr·m−2, tributaries: 0.07 parr·m−2), but well within the range of recent estimates of steelhead parr rearing densities in high-quality habitats. Our results indicate that modest improvement in the capacity of mainstem and tributary rearing habitat in Puget Sound rivers will yield large recovery benefits if realized in a large proportion of the area of river basins currently accessible to steelhead.
- OPEN ACCESSThe behavioural response of animals to predation risk commonly depends on the behaviour of potential predators. Here, we report an experiment investigating effects of predator model (a life-like wooden trout model) distance and movement on the behaviour of three-spined sticklebacks Gasterosteus aculeatus L. in a standardized experimental setting. When the predator model was immobile, the behaviour of the sticklebacks could, in general, not be clearly distinguished from a no-predator control treatment. When moving the predator 41 cm towards the stickleback, clear anti-predator behaviours were observed. However, behavioural expression depended on the distance to the predator. At the two farthest distances (approaching from 129 to 88 cm and from 170 to 129 cm), the sticklebacks approached the predator and spent little time freezing. At the two closest distances (approaching from 88 to 47 cm and from 47 to 6 cm), the sticklebacks increased the distance to the predator model and froze their movements. These results suggest that the closest-distance groups showed avoidance behaviour, whereas the farthest-distance groups instead appeared to start inspecting the potential predator. This provides evidence for conditional anti-predator behaviour and highlights the importance of considering distance to, and movement of predator models when interpreting data from standardized behavioural trials.
- OPEN ACCESSTotal Zn concentrations and Zn isotope ratios were measured, using multicollector inductively coupled plasma (ICP)-mass spectrometry (MS), in three species of aquatic insects collected from a stream in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada. Total Zn levels averaged 193 ± 88 μg/g dry weight (dw) in water striders (Heteroptera: Gerridae, Aquarius remigis) and were significantly higher than the concentrations measured in stonefly nymphs (Plecoptera: Perlidae, Acroneuria abnormis) and caddisfly larvae (Trichoptera: Limnephilidae, Pycnopsyche guttifer), i.e., 136 ± 34 μg/g dw and 125 ± 26 μg/g dw, respectively. Average delta values for 66Zn/64Zn in the water striders were approximately 0.7‰ lighter (−1.2‰ ± 1.0‰) and were significantly different than those measured for stoneflies (−0.45‰ ± 0.62‰) and caddisflies (−0.51‰ ± 0.54‰). Nitrogen isotope ratios were significantly different (P < 0.05) among the three species suggesting differences in trophic positioning. Similar to the Zn isotope ratios, δ 13C values for the water striders (−28.61‰ ± 0.98‰) were significantly different than those of the stoneflies and caddisflies, i.e., −30.75‰ ± 1.33‰ and −30.68‰ ± 1.01‰, respectively. The data suggest that the differences observed in Zn ratios relate to food source for these insects. Similar to their carbon sources, Zn in water striders appears to be primarily of terrestrial origin, and of aquatic origin for the other two species.
- OPEN ACCESSAcanthodians may represent a paraphyletic assemblage of stem chondrichthyans, stem osteichthyans, stem gnathostomes, or some combination of the three. One of the difficulties in determining the phylogenetic affinities of this group of mostly small, spiny fishes is that several subgroups of acanthodians are represented by relatively little information in the fossil record. It is becoming increasingly apparent that to understand the evolution of gnathostomes, we must understand more about acanthodians. This study uses micro-computed tomography to test hypotheses about acanthodian jaw function, and in doing so provides insight into the form, function, and ecological role of ischnacanthiform acanthodian jaws and teeth from an extraordinary Early Devonian fossil locality in the Northwest Territories of Canada. The results of this study suggest that ischnacanthiform acanthodians may have coexisted by trophic niche differentiation, employing specialized feeding strategies during the Silurian and Early Devonian.
- OPEN ACCESSThe accumulation of evidence that open access publishing can increase citation rates highlights one benefit of universal accessibility to scholarly works. However, studies investigating the effect of open access publishing on citations are typically conducted across a wide variety of journals and disciplines, introducing a number of potential issues and limiting their utility for specific disciplines. Here, I used three primary marine ecology journals with an open access option as a “microcosm” of scientific publishing to determine whether or not open access articles received more citations than non-open access articles during the same time frame, controlling for self-citations, article type, and journal impact factor. I also tested for the effects of time since publication and the number of authors. Citations were positively correlated with time since publication and differed across the three journals. In addition, open access articles received significantly more citations than non-open access articles. Self-citations increased with author number and were affected by a complex interaction between open access, journal, and time since publication. This study demonstrates that open access articles receive more citations in hybrid marine ecology journals, although the causal factors driving this trend are unknown.
- OPEN ACCESS
- Krishna K. Thakur,
- Crawford Revie,
- Henrik Stryhn,
- Shannon Scott Tibbetts,
- Jean Lavallée, and
- Raphaël Vanderstichel
Soft-shelled lobsters pose economic challenges to the lobster industry due to low meat yields and survivability during holding and transportation. Our objectives were to describe spatio-temporal patterns of soft-shelled lobsters in southwestern Nova Scotia, and identify environmental and lobster-related factors associated with shell quality. We analyzed data obtained from a broad-scale, intensive monitoring project and remotely sensed water temperatures. Mixed-effect logistic regression and linear regression methods analyzed more than 130 000 samples collected between 2004 and 2014. The annual overall prevalence of soft-shelled lobsters ranged from 9% to 38% and varied significantly among fishing areas. Shell quality was influenced by sex and size, and in the 2 months before the fishing season, lower water temperatures (4–6 weeks prior to sampling) were associated with reduced prevalence of soft-shells. High annual variability of soft-shell prevalence, that water temperature alone could not explain, suggests that adjusting fishing seasons, arbitrarily, in two fishing areas will not improve the overall shell quality of landed lobsters. Further research is needed to evaluate the effects of long-term temperature and ecosystem changes on lobster health in eastern Canada. - OPEN ACCESSOceanic circulation patterns shape both the distribution of species and spatial patterns of intraspecific genetic variation by influencing passively dispersed marine invertebrates. In the northwest Atlantic, strong and consistent currents at the mouth of the Bay of Fundy are expected to restrict dispersal in this region, but the relationship between populations of high dispersal species along the surrounding coastal regions has been largely underrepresented in the phylogeographic literature. We analyzed phylogeographic patterns in two intertidal invertebrates with high dispersal abilities, Tritia obsoleta (Mollusca: Gastropoda) and Macoma petalum (Mollusca: Bivalvia), between Cape Cod and the Gulf of St. Lawrence using mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). Hierarchical analysis of molecular variance revealed population structuring among regions defined by circulation patterns, highly divergent lineages within M. petalum, and strong concordant genetic subdivision in both species between the Bay of Fundy and Gulf of Maine. Our results suggest that the gyre at the mouth of the bay is influential in restricting alongshore dispersal, allowing genetic divergence between regions to arise through genetic drift. These findings are concordant with biogeographic and phylogeographic studies of other marine organisms, suggesting that the genetic isolation of widely distributed species may be a common feature of intertidal invertebrate communities in the Bay of Fundy.
- OPEN ACCESSBody size is one of the most important characteristics of an organism, impacting a great variety of ecological characteristics. The influence of diet on body size has received considerable attention, with previous studies suggesting a greater tendency towards increased body size in herbivores than macro-carnivores. The earliest known herbivorous and macro-carnivorous synapsids provide an ideal case study for examining body size evolution in different dietary regimes. Sphenacomorpha contains two lineages: Edaphosauridae (some of the most abundant terrestrial herbivores in the late Carboniferous and early Permian), and Sphenacodontia (the largest and most abundant carnivores of that time). Phylogenetic comparative analyses are used to compare trait evolution in sphenacomorphs, including a Bayesian method for identifying branches along which phenotypic selection occurred. Two branches show rapid increases in body size in the late Carboniferous. The first occurred in Edaphosauridae, along the branch leading to the herbivorous members. The later shift towards larger size occurred in Sphenacodontia, producing a clade of large carnivores. It is possible that the rapid appearance of large herbivorous synapsids in the Carboniferous provided the selective pressure for carnivores to increase their size. Following these two shifts, rates of evolution in edaphosaurids slowed significantly, but the carnivorous sphenacodontians showed further increases.
- OPEN ACCESSThe diversity of insect parasitoids (Hymenoptera) has long been thought to be anomalous because it doesn’t appear to increase rapidly with decreasing latitude. However, due to the presence of undiscovered cryptic species and the under-sampling of hyper-diverse tropical areas, such apparently anomalous gradients may, in fact, be artifacts of limited geographic and taxonomic sampling. We attempted to circumvent such taxonomic impediments by elucidating a diversity/latitude relationship for parasitoid wasps, using publicly available DNA sequences to quantify diversity (via a species proxy molecular operational taxonomic unit (the DNA Barcode Index Number) and phylogenetic diversity) across a latitudinal gradient of ∼5000 km. We compared these diversity values to the abiotic factors (temperature and precipitation) that may drive the diversity/latitude relationship. We found no significant relationship between either diversity measure with latitude or with the environmental variables. Although ours is the first work to enumerate different DNA-based measures of parasitoid diversity across this geographic scale in a standardized fashion using publicly available sequences, further standardized collections over long time periods and a rapid movement of sequences into the public arena are needed to facilitate the further testing of macroecological trends elucidated with public DNA sequence libraries.
- OPEN ACCESSPrey individuals possess four basic strategies to manage predation risk while foraging: time allocation, space use, apprehension, and foraging tenacity. But there are no direct tests of theory detailing how spatial strategies change and covary from fine to coarse scales of environmental variability. We address this shortcoming with experiments that estimated space use and vigilance of snowshoe hares while we measured foraging tenacity in artificial resource patches placed in risky open versus safe alder habitat. Hares employed only two of eight a priori options to manage risk. Hares increased vigilance and reduced foraging in open areas as the distance from cover increased. Hares did not differentiate between open and alder habitats, increase vigilance at the coarse-grained scale, or reduce vigilance and foraging tenacity under supplemental cover. Hares were more vigilant in the putatively safe alder than in the purportedly risky open habitat. These apparently paradoxical results appear to reflect a trade-off between the benefit of alder as escape habitat and the cost of obscured sight lines that reduce predator detection. The trade-off also appears to equalize safety between habitats at small scales and suggests that common-sense predictions detailing how prey reduce risk may make no sense at all.
- OPEN ACCESSMicroplastic pollution is prevalent in the Ottawa River, with all open water samples (n = 62) and sediment samples (n = 10) containing microplastics. The median microplastic concentration of nearshore 100 L water samples was 0.1 fragments per L (ranged between 0.05 and 0.24 fragments per L). The larger volume Manta trawls samples taken in the middle of the Ottawa River had an overall mean concentration of plastics of 1.35 fragments per m3. Plastic concentrations were significantly higher downstream of the wastewater treatment plant (1.99 fragments per m3) compared with upstream of the effluent output (0.71 fragments per m3), suggesting that the effluent plume is a pathway for plastic pollution to the Ottawa River. The mean concentration of microplastic fragments recovered in the sediment samples was 0.22 fragments per g dry weight. The abundance of microplastics in the sediment was not significantly related to the mean particle size or the organic content of the sediment. The most common form of plastic particles found was microfibers. These made up between 70% and 100% of all plastic particles observed, although plastic microbeads and secondary plastic fragments were also recovered.
- OPEN ACCESSOrnithomimid material from the Belly River Group (Campanian) of Alberta, Canada is described as sharing characters with Qiupalong henanensis from the Qiupa Formation of Henan Province, China. Derived characters and character combinations of the pubis and astragalocalcaneum were previously used to diagnose Q. henanensis and support the referral of this material to Qiupalong sp., representing the first known occurrences of Qiupalong outside of China. Qiupalong is the sixth ornithomimid taxon to be reported from the Dinosaur Park Formation and the first ornithomimid genus with a transcontinental distribution. The Alberta material represents the oldest known occurrences of Qiupalong, and a reconsideration of character evidence suggests that this genus is phylogenetically nested within other North American ornithomimids. A North American origin for Qiupalong and subsequent dispersal to Asia is proposed.
- OPEN ACCESSFear of predation can disappear rapidly in the absence of predators, as bolder individuals outcompete vigilant individuals for food and mates. To examine the evolution of fear in a seasonal environment, we exposed Drosophila melanogaster to mantid predators during the breeding season and the non-breeding season, and compared these with a control. We compared three Drosophila lineages that were maintained in captivity for (1) ∼45 years without mantid predators, (2) ∼5 years without mantid predators, and (3) ∼5 years with mantid predators (predator-evolved). The presence of a predator during the non-breeding season caused reduced fecundity in the following breeding season, independent of the evolutionary lineage. However, the presence of a predator during reproduction caused offspring to emerge earlier, and this effect was more pronounced in the predator-evolved lineage. Thus, the fear response was related to evolutionary lineage only during the larval life stage, which is when foraging competition, and hence the cost of fear, may be highest. We present one of the first experimental demonstrations that emotion (fear) can evolve in response to environmental context.
- OPEN ACCESSLife history theory predicts selection for higher reproductive investment in response to increased mortality among mature individuals. We tested this prediction over the period from 1978 to 2013 for three populations of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) off Newfoundland. These populations were heavily fished for a long period. We considered changes in standardized gonad weight as a proxy for changes in gonadal investment. We accounted for the allometry between gonad and body weight, individual body condition, water temperature, and potential spatial and density-dependent effects. Males display significant temporal trends in gonadal investment in all populations; in agreement with theoretical predictions, these trends show increased gonadal investments during the earlier part of the time series when mortality was high, with the trends leveling off or reversing after the later imposition of fishing moratoria. In contrast, females display patterns that are less consistent and expected; significant trends are detected only when accounting for density-dependent effects, with females in two populations unexpectedly showing a long-term decline in gonadal investment. Our results support the hypothesis that fisheries-induced evolution has occurred in gonadal investment in males, but not in females, and suggest that gonadal investment is more important for male reproductive success than expected in this lekking species.
- OPEN ACCESS
- Christina M. Davy,
- Michael E. Donaldson,
- Yessica Rico,
- Cori L. Lausen,
- Kathleen Dogantzis,
- Kyle Ritchie,
- Craig K.R. Willis,
- Douglas W. Burles,
- Thomas S. Jung,
- Scott McBurney,
- Allysia Park,
- Donald F. McAlpine,
- Karen J. Vanderwolf, and
- Christopher J. Kyle
The fungus that causes bat white-nose syndrome (WNS) recently leaped from eastern North America to the Pacific Coast. The pathogen’s spread is associated with the genetic population structure of a host (Myotis lucifugus). To understand the fine-scale neutral and immunogenetic variation among northern populations of M. lucifugus, we sampled 1142 individuals across the species’ northern range. We used genotypes at 11 microsatellite loci to reveal the genetic structure of, and directional gene flow among, populations to predict the likely future spread of the pathogen in the northwest and to estimate effective population size (Ne). We also pyrosequenced the DRB1-like exon 2 of the class II major histocompatibility complex (MHC) in 160 individuals to explore immunogenetic selection by WNS. We identified three major neutral genetic clusters: Eastern, Montane Cordillera (and adjacent sampling areas), and Haida Gwaii, with admixture at intermediate areas and significant substructure west of the prairies. Estimates of Ne were unexpectedly low (289–16 000). Haida Gwaii may provide temporary refuge from WNS, but the western mountain ranges are not barriers to its dispersal in M. lucifugus and are unlikely to slow its spread. Our major histocompatibility complex (MHC) data suggest potential selection by WNS on the MHC, but gene duplication limited the immunogenetic analyses. - OPEN ACCESSCertain compounds of low toxicity can increase the susceptibility of an organism to toxic substances; this is known as potentiation. Demethylation inhibiting (DMI) fungicides can potentiate insecticides by impairing the production of detoxification enzymes. As both DMI fungicides and insecticides can be used near or during crop bloom, the combination may be hazardous if exposed to pollinators. Using pesticides used in blueberry or apple production, we conducted laboratory bioassays to test how combinations of field-relevant concentrations of DMI fungicides and insecticides affected honey bee (Apis mellifera) survival. We found propiconazole, a DMI fungicide, potentiated the toxicity of the neonicotinoid insecticide acetamiprid. We found no evidence of propiconazole potentiating field-relevant concentrations of the spinosyn insecticide spinetoram. We also found that the DMI fungicide flusilazole potentiated spinetoram but not acetamiprid. A fungicidal formulation combining pyraclostrobin and boscalid did not potentiate either insecticide. Given that bees can be simultaneously exposed to multiple pesticides, understanding the potential of pesticide potentiation and synergism may help mitigate risks associated with pollinator exposure to pesticides.
- OPEN ACCESS
- Michael R.S. Coffin,
- Simon C. Courtenay,
- Kyle M. Knysh,
- Christina C. Pater, and
- Michael R. van den Heuvel
In this study, we examined the effects of dissolved oxygen, via metrics based on hourly measurements, and other environmental variables on invertebrate assemblages in estuaries spanning a gradient of nutrient loading and geography in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence, Canada. Upper areas (15–25 practical salinity units (PSU)) of 13 estuaries that were dominated by either seagrass (Zostera marina Linnaeus, 1753) or macroalgae (Ulva spp. Linnaeus, 1753) were sampled from June to September 2013. Macroinvertebrate assemblages from Z. marina were found to be distinct from Ulva assemblages for both epifauna and infauna. Small snails dominated each vegetation type, specifically cerithids in Z. marina and hydrobids in Ulva. Although Z. marina had higher species richness, approximately 70% of species were common to both habitats. Faunal communities differed among estuaries with large, within-estuary, temporal variance only observed at Ulva sites impacted by hypoxia and particularly at sites with long water residence time. Indeed, abundances varied by several orders of magnitude in Ulva ranging from zero to thousands of macroinvertebrates. There was a strong negative correlation between hypoxic or anoxic water, 48 h prior to sampling, with relative abundances of amphipods, and a positive correlation with the relative abundances of snails. As one of the first studies to use high-frequency oxygen monitoring, this study revealed probable impacts and the transient nature of hypoxia in eutrophication. - OPEN ACCESSAnkylosaurus magniventris is an iconic dinosaur species often depicted in popular media. It is known from relatively fragmentary remains compared with its earlier and smaller relatives such as Euoplocephalus and Anodontosaurus. Nevertheless, the known fossils of Ankylosaurus indicate that it had diverged significantly in cranial and postcranial anatomy compared with other Laramidian ankylosaurines. In particular, the dentition, narial region, tail club, and overall body size differ substantially from other Campanian–Maastrichtian ankylosaurines. We review the anatomy of this unusual ankylosaur using data from historic and newly identified material and discuss its palaeoecological implications.
- OPEN ACCESSDistinguishing between intra- and inter-specific variation in genetic studies is critical to understanding evolution because the mechanisms driving change among populations are expected to be different than those that shape reproductive isolation among lineages. Genetic studies of north Atlantic green sea urchins Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis (Müller, 1776) have detected significant population substructure and asymmetric gene flow from Europe to Atlantic Canada and interspecific hybridization between S. droebachiensis and Strongylocentrotus pallidus (Sars, 1871). However, combined with patterns of divergence at mtDNA sequences, morphological divergence at gamete traits suggests that the European and North American lineages of S. droebachiensis may be cryptic species. Here, we use a combination of cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) sequences and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) to test for cryptic species within Strongylocentrotus sea urchins and hybrids between S. droebachiensis and S. pallidus populations. We detect striking patterns of habitat and reproductive isolation between two S. droebachiensis lineages, with offshore deep-water collections consisting of S. pallidus in addition to a cryptic lineage sharing genetic similarity with previously published sequences from eastern Atlantic S. droebachiensis. We detected only limited hybridization among all three lineages of sea urchins, suggesting that shared genetic differences previously reported may be a result of historical introgression or incomplete lineage sorting.