Article
Biology
Anton S. S. Zadorin, Olivier Rivoire
Summary: The environment can shape phenotypic plasticity, and sexual dimorphism can affect the evolution of phenotypic plasticity. However, sexual selection may have a negative impact on this process.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Austin S. Wilcox, Isabelle M. Vea, W. Anthony Frankino, Alexander W. Shingleton
Summary: The study explores the genetic variation of scaling in Drosophila by examining individual scaling relationships and their distribution in response to nutrition-induced size variation. The results show extensive variation in the slopes of wing-body and leg-body scaling relationships among genotypes, with variation in body size plasticity playing a major role. This study provides insights into how selection regimes influence scaling in Drosophila and can help identify the genetic targets of such selection.
Article
Biology
Glauco Machado, Bruno A. Buzatto, Diogo S. M. Samia
Summary: In many species, sexual dimorphism increases with body size when males are the larger sex but decreases when females are the larger sex, a macro-evolutionary pattern known as Rensch's rule. In this study, it was found that males were slightly smaller than females and body size did not follow Rensch's rule, whereas the length of the fourth pair of legs in males followed Rensch's rule. It is suggested that sexual selection might be stronger on the length of the fourth pair of legs than on body size in males, and the potential role of condition dependence in the emergence of Rensch's rule is discussed.
Article
Zoology
F. Reveillion, L. S. Carvalho, S. Montuire, M. Galipaud, L. Bollache
Summary: This study examines the difference in allometric rates as a potential cause of sexual dimorphism in pedipalps and walking legs of three Heterophrynus species. The results show that higher allometric rates are observed in males for pedipalps and the first walking legs in some species, and the evolution of walking legs appears to occur via natural selection rather than sexual selection.
CANADIAN JOURNAL OF ZOOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Marine
Tomas arnason, Heiodis Smaradottir, Helgi Thorarensen, Agnar Steinarsson
Summary: The effects of early thermal environment on growth, age at maturity, and sexual size dimorphism in Arctic charr were investigated. The study found that higher temperatures increased growth rates but also caused precocious sexual maturation and reduced long-term growth performance. Furthermore, elevated temperatures had a stronger impact on female maturity incidence and were positively associated with sexual size dimorphism.
JOURNAL OF MARINE SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
(2022)
Article
Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science
Chengzhi Yan, Hui Ma, Yuejun Yang, Zhiping Mi
Summary: The limb bones of the Bufo gargarizans in southwest China were found to exhibit sexual dimorphism. Males had longer forelimb skeletons, but shorter hand length compared to females. Additionally, males had larger deltoid and medial crest areas, as well as heavier humerus and radioulna weights. In terms of hindlimbs, males had greater lengths in various bone measurements, but no significant weight differences. These findings suggest that sexual selection plays a role in the evolution of sexual size and shape dimorphism in the limb bones of B. gargarizans.
Article
Ecology
Jacqueline L. Sztepanacz, David Houle
Summary: Sexual dimorphism is widely believed to be an adaptive trait, with males and females evolving towards different fitness optima. Evolution of sexual size dimorphism, shape dimorphism, and their allometric relationship were investigated in 82 taxa in the family Drosophilidae, showing remarkable similarities in shape dimorphism among species and quantitative variation in both size and shape dimorphism. The evolution of dimorphism was constrained by allometry for some traits, but was evolutionarily labile in others, suggesting different evolutionary optima among species over millions of years.
Article
Ecology
Zachary Emberts, Ummat Somjee, John J. Wiens
Summary: Allometry refers to the scaling relationship between a trait and body size, which can explain morphological variation within and among species. In a study of giant mesquite bugs, it was found that large males with large weapons successfully secured mates, while small males with small weapons could also access mates. These two patterns together contribute to the evolution of the allometric slope of the sexually selected weapon.
Article
Entomology
Bartosz W. Schramm, Anna Maria Labecka, Agnieszka Gudowska, Andrzej Anto, Anna Sikorska, Natalia Szabla, Ulf Bauchinger, Jan Kozlowski, Marcin Czarnoleski
Summary: This study compared body mass, resting metabolic rate, and cell size in different tissues of males and females of 19 Carabidae beetle species using phylogenetically informed comparisons. It was found that larger species or larger sexes consistently possessed larger cells in different tissues, which indicated coordination of cell size changes, and these changes contributed to evolutionary and sex differences in body mass. Additionally, beetles with larger cells exhibited lower mass-specific metabolic rates, supporting existing hypotheses about the fitness consequences of cell size changes.
JOURNAL OF INSECT PHYSIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Stano Pekar, Martina Martisova, Andrea Spalek Tothova, Charles R. Haddad
Summary: This study objectively measured the resemblance between arthropod mimics and ants, based on traits such as color, shape, size, and behavior. The results showed that mimics were more similar to ants in color and behavior, rather than size and body shape.
Article
Zoology
Tao Liang, Shai Meiri, Lei Shi
Summary: Rensch's rule shows a weak pattern in lizards with more applicability to oviparous species than viviparous ones. In viviparous lineages, female-biased sexual dimorphism is more prominent due to infrequent reproduction and evolution of large sizes to maximize fecundity.
INTEGRATIVE ZOOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Patrick T. Rohner, Armin P. Moczek
Summary: This study investigates how developmental niche construction affects sexual dimorphism in dung beetles. The findings suggest that environmental modifications shape phenotypic variation in sex-specific traits, primarily through nutrition-dependent plasticity and non-isometric trait scaling.
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2023)
Article
Biology
Tim Janicke, Salome Fromonteil
Summary: The study found that sexual size dimorphism (SSD) based on length measurements was correlated with the sex difference in the opportunity for sexual selection but showed a weak and statistically non-significant relationship with the sex difference in the Bateman gradient. This suggests that pre-copulatory sexual selection plays a limited role in the evolution of SSD across a broad phylogenetic context.
Review
Cell Biology
Alexander W. Shingleton, Isabelle M. Vea
Summary: Adult males and females of most species exhibit differences in morphology, physiology, and behavior in response to sex-specific selective pressures. While the genetic mechanisms initiating these differences are well understood, the developmental trajectories that generate them are still poorly understood. This review focuses on recent advances in understanding the regulation of sex-specific development, with a particular emphasis on two models: body size sexual dimorphism in Drosophila melanogaster and horn sexual dimorphism in Onthophagus taurus. The regulation of sex-specific metabolism during and after development is also an important aspect of generating male and female phenotypes, and recent research has revealed overlap in the mechanisms regulating both.
SEMINARS IN CELL & DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Bartosz Borczyk
Summary: Sea kraits exhibit clear sexual dimorphism in skull form that may be explained by intersexual differences in feeding habits and reproductive roles. Males and females follow distinct allometric trajectories in skull shape and size, corresponding to dietary divergence between the sexes.
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Wolf U. Blanckenhorn, Julian Baur, Jeannine Roy, Nalini Puniamoorthy, Juan Pablo Busso, Martin A. Schafer, Patrick T. Rohner
Summary: Phenomenological and behavioural studies have greatly advanced the study of natural selection. Selection on fore femur (sexual trait) and wing size (nonsexual trait) and shape varied considerably among seven species and continental populations. Strongest selection was found in species/populations with male-biased size dimorphism, implying mating advantages of large males.
Article
Ecology
Patrick T. Rohner
Summary: A comparative study on the black scavenger fly Sepsis thoracica revealed that polyphenic development represents a ancestral trait that was repeatedly lost, mainly contributing to interspecific variations through loss rather than gain. Coevolution between male melanization and mating system differences suggests sexual selection plays a role in the evolution of male melanization. The findings highlight the importance of comparative and natural history data in shedding new light on the evolution of phenotypic variation.
AMERICAN NATURALIST
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Patrick T. Rohner
Summary: An organism's fitness is strongly influenced by its age and size at maturation, with developmental mechanisms underlying intraspecific variation in adult size and development time remaining poorly understood. The sex-determination gene doublesex plays a crucial role in sexual size dimorphism in the gazelle dung beetle, but its function may differ among traits and species. Genes ancestral to sex determination may have been co-opted into the regulation of life history traits, potentially representing an underappreciated mechanism of life history evolution.
JOURNAL OF EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Biology
Wolf U. Blanckenhorn, David Berger, Patrick T. Rohner, Martin A. Schafer, Hiroshi Akashi, Richard J. Walters
Summary: Ambient temperature strongly influences the behavior, physiology, and life history of organisms, but the thermal performance curves (TPCs) may vary among different species, with some traits not fitting the idealized forms. In the case of yellow dung flies (Scathophaga stercoraria), they show unique TPCs for various life history traits, such as continuous body size increase with decreasing temperature and absence of an intermediate maximum for egg-to-adult mortality. This suggests the importance of considering specific adaptations and behaviors in understanding the thermal ecology of different species.
JOURNAL OF THERMAL BIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Biology
Patrick T. Rohner, David M. Linz, Armin P. Moczek
Summary: The study found that gene networks associated with trait exaggeration are highly dependent on precise developmental contexts, and the doublesex gene shapes morphological exaggeration differently in different developmental contexts. The context-specific dsx-mediated trait exaggeration may diversify rapidly.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Evolutionary Biology
Richard J. Walters, David Berger, Wolf U. Blanckenhorn, Luc F. Bussiere, Patrick T. Rohner, Ralf Jochmann, Karin Thueler, Martin A. Schaefer
Summary: Understanding how environmental variation influences cryptic traits is crucial for clarifying the roles of selection and development in evolution and adaptation. The polymorphism of spermathecae number in female yellow dung flies is both heritable and highly plastic, varying with rearing conditions. Overexpression of spermathecae under developmental stress is not universal, and there are both costs and benefits associated with 4S phenotypes and genotypes. These findings suggest that strong environmental variation can expose hidden traits to natural selection.
EVOLUTION & DEVELOPMENT
(2022)
Article
Biology
Patrick T. Rohner, Yonggang Hu, Armin P. Moczek
Summary: This study assesses whether developmental variability in beetle horn shape aligns with the phenotypic effects of plasticity and evolutionary divergence, and found that the results support the hypothesis that changes in horn shape are biased by the developmental system.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Jhoniel Perdigon Ferreira, Patrick T. Rohner, Stefan Luepold
Summary: Directional sexual selection drives the evolution of traits linked to reproductive success, resulting in trait exaggeration and sexual dimorphism. However, the relationship between sexual dimorphism and condition dependence has been poorly studied. This study found male-biased sexual dimorphism but no correlation between sex-specific condition dependence and sexual dimorphism.
EVOLUTIONARY ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Frank Johansson, David Berger, David Outomuro, Szymon Sniegula, Meagan Tunon, Phillip C. Watts, Patrick Thomas Rohner
Summary: The relationship between genetic differentiation and phenotypic plasticity was studied in a damselfly population across a latitudinal gradient in Europe. The results showed significant differences in wing shape between northern and southern populations when reared in their respective native environments. Phenotypic plasticity was found in wing shape, but the response differed among populations. Mixed support was found for the alignment between environmental plasticity and genetic differentiation. Population differences had a stronger effect on wing shape than plastic effects.
JOURNAL OF EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Patrick T. Rohner, David Berger
Summary: In this study, the authors use fluctuating asymmetry as a measure of developmental variability and find that it predicts phenotypic and genetic variation in wing shape in sepsid flies. They also find that developmental bias in wing shape aligns with allometric effects and fruit fly developmental variability. The findings suggest that developmental bias plays a significant role in the evolvability and macroevolutionary trajectories of fly wings.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2023)
Article
Biology
Gowri Rajaratnam, Gerald Lui, Kathy F. Y. Su, Martin S. J. Chew, Yuchen Ang, Nalini Puniamoorthy, Patrick T. Rohner, Wolf U. Blanckenhorn, Rudolf Meier
Summary: Male sexual ornaments often evolve rapidly and contribute to sexual size dimorphism, but little is known about their developmental costs. In this study, we quantified the size and complexity of male ornaments in sepsid fly species and found no evidence that sexual trait complexity incurs developmental costs.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Patrick T. Rohner, Sofia Casasa, Armin P. Moczek
Summary: Through transcript depletion experiments in the gazelle dung beetle, the functions of insulin signalling pathway components in shaping traits and species were investigated. The results showed divergent effects of different components on different traits, potentially fueling the evolution of scaling relationships.
JOURNAL OF EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Patrick T. Rohner, Armin P. Moczek
Summary: This study investigates how developmental niche construction affects sexual dimorphism in dung beetles. The findings suggest that environmental modifications shape phenotypic variation in sex-specific traits, primarily through nutrition-dependent plasticity and non-isometric trait scaling.
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Patrick T. Rohner, Armin P. Moczek
Summary: This study investigates how temperature affects the nutritional polyphenism in horn length in a beetle, and tests whether allometric plasticity predicts latitudinal differentiation. The results show that increased temperatures reduce the body size threshold separating two male morphs in all populations, but the magnitude of temperature-dependent changes in allometry diverged across recently established populations. Furthermore, a latitudinal increase in the threshold in the species' exotic range suggests that allometric plasticity may predict evolved clinal differences.
Article
Evolutionary Biology
Patrick T. Rohner, Yonggang Hu, Armin P. Moczek
Summary: Static allometry is a significant component of morphological variation. This study uses geometric morphometrics to investigate the effect of functional genetic manipulations on horn shape allometry in dung beetles. The findings suggest that some genes closely align with shape allometry, indicating their role in regulating relative trait growth, while other genes are implicated in scaling-independent processes. The study highlights the importance of multivariate approaches in studying allometry and phenotypic plasticity.
EVOLUTION & DEVELOPMENT
(2023)