Article
Behavioral Sciences
Stella A. Encel, Timothy M. Schaerf, Ashley J. W. Ward
Summary: This study examined the effects of an immune challenge, induced through exposure to bacterial lipopolysaccharides (LPS), on individual and social behavior in female guppies. The research found that healthy individuals showed a preference to associate with saline-injected fish rather than LPS-injected fish. In addition, LPS-injected fish exhibited greater dispersion and less collective behavior cohesion at the group level.
BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biology
Giulia Montalbano, Cristiano Bertolucci, Tyrone Lucon-Xiccato
Summary: Environmental enrichment is crucial for the neural, cognitive, and behavioral development of individuals. This study on Poecilia reticulata found that guppies raised in enriched environments learned color discrimination faster than those in barren conditions, but enrichment did not affect inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Stella A. Encel, Emily K. Simpson, Timothy M. Schaerf, Ashley J. W. Ward
Summary: Immunocompetence and reproduction are important for fitness. Fish, despite being claimed resistant to immune effects, show significant effects on reproductive behavior when exposed to endotoxins.
ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Biology
Thomas M. Houslay, Ryan L. Earley, Stephen J. White, Wiebke Lammers, Andrew J. Grimmer, Laura M. Travers, Elizabeth L. Johnson, Andrew J. Young, Alastair Wilson
Summary: The vertebrate stress response, which comprises a suite of behavioural and physiological traits, is functionally integrated and genetically correlated. A study on Trinidadian guppies shows that the acute stress response components are heritable and integrated on a major axis of genetic covariation. This integration could either facilitate or constrain evolutionary responses to selection. Artificial selection on genetically correlated behavioural responses to stress may offer a non-invasive route to improve health and welfare in captive animal populations.
Article
Ecology
Regina Vega-Trejo, Catarina Vila-Pouca, David J. Mitchell, Alexander Kotrschal
Summary: Predation pressure can impact the size and morphology of an individual's brain, but this effect is dependent on the individual's body size.
EVOLUTIONARY ECOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Alexandra Paz, Karla J. Holt, Anik Clarke, Ari Aviles, Briana Abraham, Alex C. Keene, Erik R. Duboue, Yaouen Fily, Johanna E. Kowalko
Summary: Collective behavior emerges from individual interactions and can be influenced by evolution. This study on Mexican tetra fish reveals that surface fish undergo a transition to schooling behavior mediated by changes in their interactions with neighbors, while cave fish do not exhibit such behavior.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Melisandre A. Tefit, Tifanny Budiman, Adrianna Dupriest, Joanne Y. Yew
Summary: The microbiome has been proposed as a key factor in driving phenotypic variation in host organisms, affecting metabolic processes, development, and novel functions necessary for survival. A study inoculating germ-free fruit flies with microbes from different environmental sites shows that these microbes induce significant variation in reproduction, fatty acid levels, stress tolerance, and sleep behavior. Removal of microbes eliminates these phenotypic differences, supporting the causal role of environmental microbes in driving host phenotypic plasticity and potentially rapid adaptation and evolution.
Article
Plant Sciences
Osazee O. Oyanoghafo, Adam D. Miller, Madeline Toomey, Collin W. Ahrens, David T. Tissue, Paul D. Rymer
Summary: The increasing frequency and intensity of drought events caused by climate change pose a threat to biodiversity and terrestrial ecosystems worldwide. This study focuses on the adaptive capacity of a functionally important plant species, Banksia marginata, to water-limited environments in southeastern Australia. The findings suggest that populations from drier climate-origins exhibit greater growth in well-watered conditions and that environmental factors drive variations in physiological and structural traits. The study provides evidence for the adaptive capacity of B. marginata to drought conditions and contributes to predicting its response to climate change.
FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Ainsley Lilias Fraser, Rana El-Sabaawi
Summary: The study aimed to assess morphological trait variation in marine stickleback populations in southern British Columbia and determine the associated oceanographic and habitat characteristics. The researchers found that marine sticklebacks varied morphologically among and between regions and habitats, but the variation did not appear to be related to environmental variation. Sexual dimorphism was the largest source of variation, but oceanographic and habitat variables influenced differences between sexes.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Mayuko Kawamoto, Yuu Ishii, Masakado Kawata
Summary: This study investigates the genetic basis of orange spot formation in guppies, a model organism for sexual selection research. Through RNA-seq analysis, it was found that orange spots in male guppies might be formed by secondary differentiation of xanthophores induced by specific signaling pathways. The study also identified candidate genes associated with the areas and saturation levels of orange spots, providing insights into the genetic and cellular regulatory mechanisms underlying sexual ornamentation.
BMC ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Lea Blondel, Ian G. Paterson, Paul Bentzen, Andrew P. Hendry
Summary: The study demonstrates the impacts of rare extreme black swan disturbances on ecosystems, particularly on the abundance of fish and aquatic organisms as well as intraspecific diversity. Despite significant effects on phenotypic diversity, genetic diversity and population structure of guppies were mostly resistant to extreme floods, suggesting additional resilience in these populations.
Article
Behavioral Sciences
M. J. Hansen, A. L. Burns, C. T. Monk, C. Schutz, J. T. Lizier, I. Ramnarine, A. J. W. Ward, J. Krause
Summary: Groups of guppies from different predation environments exhibit differences in decision-making speed and behavioral patterns, with low-predation groups showing faster learning rates over successive trials. However, there is no significant difference in decision-making accuracy between high- and low-predation populations.
Article
Evolutionary Biology
Nathan W. Bailey, Camille Desjonqueres, Ana Drago, Jack G. Rayner, Samantha L. Sturiale, Xiao Zhang
Summary: The study discusses a conceptual issue regarding the connection between genes controlling new adaptations and genes contributing to trait plasticity. To address this, a testable genetic mechanism called genetic covariance is proposed to predict the role of plasticity in facilitating genetic adaptation. It is suggested that the genetic coupling of plasticity and adaptations could promote rapid evolution of novel adaptations.
Article
Ecology
Alexander Lalejini, Austin J. Ferguson, Nkrumah A. Grant, Charles Ofria
Summary: Populations with adaptive phenotypic plasticity undergo less evolutionary change than non-plastic populations, making it easier for them to retain new adaptive traits. Adaptive phenotypic plasticity helps stabilize populations against environmental fluctuations.
FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2021)
Article
Biology
Tyrone Lucon-Xiccato, Giulia Montalbano, Cristiano Bertolucci
Summary: Animal species, including humans, exhibit individual variability in cognition that is difficult to explain. This study demonstrates that cognitive plasticity contributes to this variability. The results show that guppies exposed to different levels of resource predictability develop different cognitive abilities, suggesting that adaptive cognitive plasticity is a key determinant of cognitive individual differences.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Tomos Potter, Ronald D. Bassar, Paul Bentzen, Emily W. Ruell, Julian Torres-Dowdall, Corey A. Handelsman, Cameron K. Ghalambor, Joseph Travis, David N. Reznick, Tim Coulson
Summary: The study shows that standard quantitative genetic models underestimated or failed to detect the evolution of a certain trait in a wild population. Researchers found that predictions of evolution are unreliable if environmental change is not appropriately captured in models.
AMERICAN NATURALIST
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Alisha A. Shah, H. Arthur Woods, Justin C. Havird, Andrea C. Encalada, Alexander S. Flecker, W. Chris Funk, Juan M. Guayasamin, Boris C. Kondratieff, N. LeRoy Poff, Steven A. Thomas, Kelly R. Zamudio, Cameron K. Ghalambor
Summary: A fundamental gap in climate change vulnerability research is the lack of understanding of the relative thermal sensitivity of ectotherms, particularly aquatic insects. This study found that tropical mayflies exhibit greater thermal sensitivity in metabolism compared to temperate mayflies, while temperate and tropical stoneflies did not show clear differences, possibly due to differences in evolutionary history or ecological roles. Thus, caution should be exercised when making broad generalizations about the vulnerability of tropical ectotherms.
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2021)
Review
Immunology
Lynn B. Martin, Haley E. Hanson, Mark E. Hauber, Cameron K. Ghalambor
Summary: Immunology has traditionally focused on controlling environmental variation to establish genetic causality, but individual variation actually arises from genetic, environmental, and their interactive pathways. Applying the evolutionary frameworks of phenotypic plasticity and reaction norms to immunology can enhance productivity, reproducibility, and reflect human physiology more accurately in model organism studies.
TRENDS IN IMMUNOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Ornithology
Michelle A. Desrosiers, Kathryn M. Langin, W. Chris Funk, T. Scott Sillett, Scott A. Morrison, Cameron K. Ghalambor, Lisa M. Angeloni
Summary: Large body size in Island Scrub-Jays is positively correlated with breeding success and avoidance of paternity loss to extra-pair males, indicating that larger males may have a fitness advantage in this species.
Article
Entomology
Marcel-Kate G. Jardeleza, Jonathan B. Koch, Ian S. Pearse, Cameron K. Ghalambor, Ruth A. Hufbauer
Summary: This study investigates the adaptive and maladaptive responses of the invasive species Drosophila suzukii in different environments. Results show an increase in wing size with elevation and a faster emergence in warm temperatures, indicating maladaptation to their original environment. High vagility and extreme plasticity constrain adaptation to temperature along an elevational gradient for D. suzukii.
ECOLOGICAL ENTOMOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Maybellene P. Gamboa, Cameron K. Ghalambor, Terence Scott Sillett, Scott A. Morrison, William Chris Funk
Summary: This study investigated the effects of genetic isolation and environmental selection on thermoregulatory traits in song sparrows. By analyzing neutral and divergent SNPs, distinct population structure by island and strong support for local adaptation were found. The results suggest that divergent selection across an island archipelago results in genomic changes in traits associated with climate adaptation.
Article
Zoology
Alexander A. Mauro, Alisha A. Shah, Paul R. Martin, Cameron K. Ghalambor
Summary: The outcome of species interactions depends on the environmental context. Climate change leads to species interactions occurring in new contexts. Predicting how the environment will alter the outcome requires an integrative biology approach, focusing on traits, mechanisms, and processes across disciplines.
INTEGRATIVE AND COMPARATIVE BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Rebecca G. Cheek, Brenna R. Forester, Patricia E. Salerno, Daryl R. Trumbo, Kathryn M. Langin, Nancy Chen, T. Scott Sillett, Scott A. Morrison, Cameron K. Ghalambor, W. Chris Funk
Summary: This study investigated the genetic divergence mechanism of a bird species endemic to a small island. The island scrub-jay on Santa Cruz Island showed genetic differentiation related to habitat type and bill length. Neutral landscape genomic analyses revealed that the genetic differentiation was primarily influenced by geographic distance and habitat composition. Putatively adaptive loci associated with habitat type were identified using multivariate redundancy analysis. Genome-wide association analyses revealed the polygenic basis of bill length variation. These findings support the hypothesis that divergent selection can lead to adaptive divergence at microgeographic scales in the presence of ongoing gene flow.
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Kristen S. Ellis, Randy T. Larsen, Cameron K. Ghalambor, David N. Koons
Summary: How nesting birds balance trade-offs between the needs of their offspring and themselves when facing different predator risks? Our study shows that snowy plovers vary their incubation behaviors in response to different risks of nest predation by different predator species. Individual breeding pairs exhibit variation in incubation behaviors, and risks of nest predation differentially influence behavioral responses of snowy plovers depending on the predator species.
BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY
(2022)
Review
Biodiversity Conservation
Ben J. Kefford, Cameron K. Ghalambor, Beatrice Dewenter, N. LeRoy Poff, Jane Hughes, Jollene Reich, Ross Thompson
Summary: Global warming is altering temperature variability at multiple temporal scales, which has important consequences for ectotherms. Understanding the responses of organisms within and across generations to different time scales of thermal variation is crucial in predicting the impacts of climate change on ectotherms.
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Sarah C. Hays, Rebecca G. Cheek, James C. Mouton, T. Scott Sillett, Cameron K. Ghalambor
Summary: Orange-crowned warblers on the California Channel Islands show remarkable variation in nest structure and placement. Nest construction is influenced by nest height, with higher nests being more successful. However, individual nest construction varies greatly and is not strongly correlated with nest success after controlling for nest height. This behavioral plasticity is likely a response to the absence of avian predators.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Tomos Potter, Jeff Arendt, Ronald D. Bassar, Beth Watson, Paul Bentzen, Joseph Travis, David N. Reznick
Summary: There is no consensus on why females prefer mates with rare phenotypes, but sexual selection can maintain genetic variation. We examined the fitness consequences of female preference for rare male color patterns in Trinidadian guppies over 10 generations and found that rare males have a reproductive advantage and mating with them gives females an indirect fitness advantage through the success of their sons. However, the fitness benefit disappears for grandsons as the rare phenotype becomes common. Contrary to prevailing theory, our study shows that female preference can be maintained through indirect selection.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Eric A. Riddell, Marko Mutanen, Cameron K. Ghalambor
Summary: Species' thermal tolerances are influenced by the hydric environment. As environments become hotter and drier, reducing water loss may lead to lower thermal tolerances. The correlation between water loss rate and CTmax suggests the need for a whole-organism perspective in studying thermal tolerances. Rating: 8 out of 10.
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2023)
Meeting Abstract
Zoology
K. R. Zeller, A. Mauro, C. K. Ghalambor
INTEGRATIVE AND COMPARATIVE BIOLOGY
(2023)
Meeting Abstract
Zoology
A. S. Cicchino, A. A. Shah, B. R. Forester, J. B. Dunham, E. L. Landguth, N. L. R. Poff, C. K. Ghalambor, W. C. Funk
INTEGRATIVE AND COMPARATIVE BIOLOGY
(2023)