Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Toman Barsbai, Dieter Lukas, Andreas Pondorfer
Summary: Research has shown that human populations and nonhuman mammal and bird species living in the same environment exhibit high levels of similarity in their behaviors, suggesting that local conditions may select for similar behaviors.
Article
Ecology
Anurag A. Agrawal, Xuening Zhang
Summary: The study of reciprocal adaptation between interacting species has been a prominent area of evolutionary research for almost 60 years. Dr. May Berenbaum's work in the 1980s significantly influenced modern research in this field. The focus is on specific hypotheses regarding different scales of reciprocal adaptation, including within populations, among communities, lineage divergence, and phylogenetic patterns.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
William R. Shoemaker, Stuart E. Jones, Mario E. Muscarella, Megan G. Behringer, Brent K. Lehmkuhl, Jay T. Lennon
Summary: Research shows that under limited resources, most bacterial taxa can survive, with a wide range of extinction times. Despite the lack of exogenous resources, bacterial populations continue to evolve and acquire numerous mutations. While adapting to environmental pressures, bacterial lifespan is extended through scavenging dead cells.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Sandeep Venkataram, Huan-Yu Kuo, Erik F. Y. Hom, Sergey Kryazhimskiy
Summary: Species interactions drive evolution and evolution shapes these interactions. The diversity of adaptive mutations and its relationship with the ecological milieu are not well understood. In a study on yeast and alga community, we find that yeast has access to many adaptive mutations with diverse ecological consequences, and the presence of the alga shifts the selection to favor yeast mutants that enhance the mutualism between the two species. This demonstrates that ecological interactions not only alter the trajectory of evolution but also dictate its repeatability.
NATURE ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Sarah J. Richardson, James K. Mccarthy, Andrew J. Tanentzap, Gary J. Houliston, Anne-Gaelle Ausseil, Aaron D. Wilton, Mike J. Clearwater, Olivia R. Burge, George L. W. Perry, Matthew S. Mcglone
Summary: This study investigates the drivers of flowering time strategy in a species. The results show that gender dimorphic species flower earlier than cosexual species by an average of 31 days, while abiotically pollinated species flower earlier than biotically pollinated species by an average of 19 days. Additionally, woody species and species with fleshy-fruits also flower earlier compared to herbaceous species and species with dry fruits. Furthermore, species in warmer and drier climates exhibit earlier flowering times.
JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Sana Romdhane, Ayme Spor, Julie Aubert, David Bru, Marie-Christine Breuil, Sara Hallin, Arnaud Mounier, Sarah Ouadah, Myrto Tsiknia, Laurent Philippot
Summary: This study utilized a top-down manipulation approach to investigate the role of biotic interactions in shaping soil microbial communities, revealing the importance of such interactions and identifying microbial community assembly rules. Modified biotic interactions had a greater impact on activities related to nitrogen cycling than carbon cycling, providing insights into microbial interactions in complex ecosystems and their relationship with ecosystem function.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Neda Barghi, Claudia Ramirez-Lanzas
Summary: A method for accurately and rapidly measuring Drosophila egg size using large particle flow cytometry (LPFC) is presented in this study. The size estimates obtained using LPFC are precise and highly correlated with manual measurements. LPFC-based sorting of eggs does not affect their viability, making it a suitable approach for downstream analyses. The method can be applied to organisms within the detectable size range of large particle flow cytometers (10-1500 μm). The potential applications of this method and recommendations for optimization are discussed.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
James T. Stroud, Michael P. Moore, R. Brian Langerhans, Jonathan B. Losos
Summary: Species' phenotypic characteristics often remain unchanged over long stretches of geological time. Stabilizing selection has been widely believed to be responsible for this pattern, but evidence for its role in driving long-term stasis is lacking. By studying natural selection in the wild, we found that different species occupy distinct fitness peaks, which presents a barrier to adaptive evolutionary change. However, instead of persistent stabilizing selection, species were maintained on these peaks by fluctuating periods of selection.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2023)
Review
Entomology
Ian W. Keesey, Bill S. Hansson
Summary: This article explores the sources of alcohols in nature and their effects on the behavioral and ecological roles of Drosophila melanogaster. Focusing on neuroethology, it discusses the olfactory detection and neural signaling of alcohol in the fly's brain. The article also explains the various behaviors influenced by alcohol, such as attraction, feeding, oviposition, aggression, and courtship, which are shaped by physiological state and social contexts. Additionally, it compares inter- and intraspecies differences related to alcohol tolerance and metabolism, and provides corollaries with other insect species. The article concludes with directions for further studies on the natural history of alcohol and the fly.
ANNUAL REVIEW OF ENTOMOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Lars Witting
Summary: I use data based life history models to demonstrate the natural selection process behind the inter-specific body mass allometries in birds and mammals. This study explains how resource handling, metabolism, and energy generation influence the selection of body masses and their impact on population dynamics and ecological variation. It also addresses the selection of body mass allometry exponents and the metabolic invariance observed across different vertebrate taxa.
ACTA OECOLOGICA-INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Psychology, Biological
Callie H. Burt
Summary: Burt's article fails to acknowledge the significant intellectual contribution of sociogenomics in understanding genetic evolution in contemporary human populations. Despite social scientists' focus on non-evolutionary research, there is a need to recognize the role of sociogenomics in answering important evolutionary questions.
BEHAVIORAL AND BRAIN SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Biology
Naima Madi, Daisy Chen, Richard Wolff, B. Jesse Shapiro, Nandita R. Garud
Summary: This study examines the interaction between community assembly, intra-species diversity, and evolutionary change. The results show a positive relationship between community diversity and taxa diversity, consistent with the Diversity Begets Diversity hypothesis. However, this relationship plateaus at high levels of community diversity, suggesting the influence of Ecological Controls. Additionally, higher community diversity predicts gene loss in the future.
Article
Plant Sciences
Zhe Hou, Ang Li
Summary: White poplar and David's aspen are important plant species with wide distribution and adaptation abilities. Genetic divergence indicates significant allopatric speciation events during the Middle Pleistocene. Climate differences and selection played important roles in the genomic divergence of these species.
FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Evolutionary Biology
Allison J. Shultz, Benjamin J. Adams, Kayce C. Bell, William B. Ludt, Gregory B. Pauly, Jann E. Vendetti
Summary: Urban environments are rapidly changing and impacting the evolution of organisms. Natural history collections provide crucial resources for urban evolution studies. However, there is a need to increase strategic deposition of specimens and other materials to ensure availability for future research.
EVOLUTIONARY APPLICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Maddie E. James, Henry Arenas-Castro, Jeffrey S. Groh, Scott L. Allen, Jan Engelstadter, Daniel Ortiz-Barrientos
Summary: This study reveals multiple origins within ecotypes of an Australian wildflower, Senecio lautos, implying that selection can repeatedly create similar phenotypes despite the low level of gene flow between different environments.
MOLECULAR BIOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Dagmar Frisch, Dorthe Becker, Marcin W. Wojewodzic
MOLECULAR BIOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2020)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Mark B. Edlund, David J. Jude, Thomas F. Nalepa
Summary: The decline of Diporeia species in the Great Lakes may be attributed to competition for food resources with dreissenid mussels, resulting in changes in food selectivity. Studies indicate significant shifts in Diporeia diet after the invasion of zebra and quagga mussels, leading to declines in Diporeia populations.
JOURNAL OF GREAT LAKES RESEARCH
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Dagmar Frisch, Christophe Lejeusne, Masaki Hayashi, Mark T. Bidwell, Javier Sanchez-Fontenla, Andy J. Green
Summary: The study of Artemia franciscana populations in natural saline lakes of Saskatchewan, Canada revealed that geological history, water chemistry, lake size, and location influence genetic diversity. Mitochondrial marker CO1 indicated historical colonization processes, while nuclear markers were related to variation in hydrochemistry. Geochemistry plays a key role in intraspecific genetic variation and may promote isolation by environment, impacting dispersal via waterbirds.
FRESHWATER BIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Marine & Freshwater Biology
Sarah A. Spaulding, Marina G. Potapova, Ian W. Bishop, Sylvia S. Lee, Tim S. Gasperak, Elena Jovanoska, Paula C. Furey, Mark B. Edlund
Summary: Consistent identification of diatoms is crucial for their study, but achieving taxonomic consistency among observers is challenging. Developing a content creation community dedicated to providing free taxonomic, ecological, and image-based data can help address these issues and benefit diatom researchers.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Christopher James O'Grady, Vignesh Dhandapani, John K. Colbourne, Dagmar Frisch
Summary: Whole genome sequencing is crucial for studying genome variation in natural populations, and large dormant eggbanks of aquatic invertebrates provide valuable information on genomic processes over centuries. An optimized workflow for whole genome amplification (WGA) has been developed to address limited DNA amounts in single eggs, allowing successful downstream whole genome sequencing of historical eggs. Comparison of two WGA kits showed high genome coverage breadth in samples, with high recovery of genomic positions with single nucleotide polymorphisms for genotyping, and even obtaining 100% coverage of mitochondrial genomes from the oldest isolates. Mitochondrial DNA serves as an additional source for evolutionary studies of these populations.
MOLECULAR ECOLOGY RESOURCES
(2022)
Letter
Limnology
Matthew J. Wersebe, Mark B. Edlund, Lawrence J. Weider
Summary: This study examines the effects of salinization on lake Daphnia populations by analyzing the sediment ephippia archive of a small urban lake near St. Paul, Minnesota. The results show that there were modest changes in the flux of ephippia and all three key Daphnia functional groups remained throughout the salinization period. Surprisingly, the body size of Daphnia pulicaria consistently increased contrary to expectations. These findings highlight the nuanced effects of salinization in hard-water lakes and call for further research on the overall impacts on Daphnia assemblages.
LIMNOLOGY AND OCEANOGRAPHY LETTERS
(2023)
Article
Marine & Freshwater Biology
Mark B. Edlund, Joy M. Ramstack Hobbs, Adam J. Heathcote, Daniel R. Engstrom, Jasmine E. Saros, Kristin E. Strock, William O. Hobbs, Norman A. Andresen, David D. VanderMeulen
Summary: Evidence suggests that boreal-lake ecosystems are undergoing rapid changes due to climate warming, with variable ecological responses. Paleolimnological analysis revealed significant shifts in diatom communities and increased carbon and biogenic silica burial. The historical response of algal communities indicates that physical characteristics of lakes and watersheds can predict sensitivity to climate change.
Article
Geography, Physical
Euan D. Reavie, Katya E. Kovalenko, Mark B. Edlund, Joy M. Ramstack Hobbs
Summary: By examining the diatom record from 109 lakes, we found that the diatom assemblages went through four periods of reorganization, and were impacted by stressors such as agriculture or climate change. Shallow and deep lakes showed variations in their taxonomic character and historical changes in diatom assemblages, but the amount of change was not specifically related to contemporary agricultural or in-lake nutrient status. Lake depth is a major factor in determining how lakes respond to stressors and manifest changes in primary producers. Lake- or ecoregion-specific considerations will continue to inform lake management. The recent reorganization of diatom assemblages is likely the result of multiple concurrent stressors including climate change and non-native species infestations.
PALAEOGEOGRAPHY PALAEOCLIMATOLOGY PALAEOECOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Joy M. Ramstack Hobbs, Adam J. Heathcote, David D. VanderMeulen, Mark B. Edlund
Summary: Protected or remote lakes can also be impacted by human activities and various stressors. This study used diatoms as indicators to examine ecological changes in lakes from national parks in the US Great Lakes region, and found that changes in water temperature and mixing were the main drivers of these changes.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Jesse Anderson, Andrew Paterson, Catherine Eimers, Reza Valipour, Arthur Zastepa, Caren Binding, Adam Heathcote, Mark Edlund
Summary: This introductory paper outlines eleven research articles included in this special section, focusing on phosphorus sources, lake and watershed modeling, and insights into cyanobacterial and harmful algal blooms (cHABs) in Lake of the Woods (LoW). The paper concludes with a roadmap for future transboundary water quality management, addressing remaining research gaps and future monitoring needs.
JOURNAL OF GREAT LAKES RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Marine & Freshwater Biology
Mark B. Edlund, David R. L. Burge, Norman A. Andresen, David D. Vandermeulen, Jeffery R. Stone, Bart van de Vijver
Summary: Semiorbis genus, established in 1966 by R.M.Patrick, is characterized by arcuate valves, short eunotioid raphe branches, well-developed external costae with spine-like projections, absence of rimoportulae, and a broader dorsal mantle. New populations of Semiorbis were discovered in different locations including the central USA, New Jersey (USA), and Nunavut (Canada), with one new species described as Semiorbis eliasiae, one identified as Semiorbis rotundus, and one representing a North American population of Semiorbis hemicyclus.
Article
Marine & Freshwater Biology
Jeffery R. Stone, Mark B. Edlund, Laura Streib, Hung Ha Quang, Michael M. McGlue
Article
Marine & Freshwater Biology
Jeffery R. Stone, Mark B. Edlund, Andrew J. Alverson
Review
Biology
Marianne Ellegaard, Martha R. J. Clokie, Till Czypionka, Dagmar Frisch, Anna Godhe, Anke Kremp, Andrey Letarov, Terry J. McGenity, Sofia Ribeiro, N. John Anderson
COMMUNICATIONS BIOLOGY
(2020)