Article
Ecology
Cristian Salgado-Luarte, Marcia Gonzalez-Teuber, Karina Madriaza, Ernesto Gianoli
Summary: There is a trade-off between plant resistance and tolerance. The study found a negative relationship between mechanical defenses and tolerance, while there was no significant association between chemical defenses and tolerance. Plant adaptation to light environments may affect the trade-off between resistance and tolerance.
Article
Ecology
Gregory F. Grether, Kenichi W. Okamo
Summary: This study establishes an eco-evolutionary model to investigate the coexistence mechanisms of interference competitors. The study finds that coexistence between interference competitors can occur in various ecological scenarios, even at the highest levels of resource overlap. However, coexistence requires co-evolution between species, and reductions in population size and levels of genetic variation may disrupt the coexistence mechanisms.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Anna Akesson, Alva Curtsdotter, Anna Ekloef, Bo Ebenman, Jon Norberg, Gyoergy Barabas
Summary: Eco-evolutionary dynamics play a crucial role in shaping biological responses to climate change. Species interactions and competition can mitigate the negative impacts of climate change, leading to more variable and responsive communities.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Entomology
Paul M. Severns, Melinda Guzman-Martinez
Summary: Taylor's checkerspot butterfly, a critically endangered species in northwestern North America, is facing a threat from an invasive plant pathogen that is causing the death of its primary food plant, English plantain, during the winter months. The invasion has disrupted the eco-evolutionary foodplant interactions and poses a risk of extinction to butterfly populations. Despite the presence of a native larval food plant Collinsia parviflora, it is rare in Taylor's checkerspot habitat and may only be suitable for Washington populations.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Akihiko Mougi
Summary: Microbes interact with their environment by modifying it and reacting to these modifications, and recent research has shown that the ecological consequences of these interactions can be predicted from their effects on pH. Adaptation of pH niche can affect microbial coexistence, but the mechanisms underlying this effect are not yet understood. This study demonstrates that ecological theory may have difficulty in accurately predicting ecological consequences when there are adaptive changes in pH niche.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Casey C. Day, Erin L. Landguth, Ryan K. Simmons, Andrew R. Bearlin
Summary: Multispecies approaches are important in ecology and evolution research, but existing models often lack the ability to consider landscape effects and simulate complex interspecific interactions. We present a simulation model that considers landscape effects and multiple species interactions, allowing for the study of genetic processes in a spatial context.
Article
Biology
Vanessa Ress, Arne Traulsen, Yuriy Pichugin
Summary: The evolution of multicellular life cycles is a central process in the emergence of multicellularity, and the interactions between multicellular groups play an important role in the evolution of life cycles. The outcome of evolution could be coexistence between multiple life cycles.
Review
Plant Sciences
Velemir Ninkovic, Dimitrije Markovic, Merlin Rensing
Summary: Volatile organic compounds play a crucial role in mediating interactions between plants and their environment, regulating plant responses to stress and competition. Plant communication mediated by volatiles is complex and context-dependent, shaping plant growth and survival in specific environments. The dialogue between emitter and receiver based on volatile cues determines communication patterns at the community level and ecological implications at other trophic levels.
PLANT CELL AND ENVIRONMENT
(2021)
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Man Qin, Liyun Jiang, Gexia Qiao, Jing Chen
Summary: Insects harbor diverse symbionts and studying the interactions between hosts and their symbionts provides valuable insights. Phylosymbiosis is a pattern that shows a positive correlation between host phylogeny and microbial community dissimilarities. The prevalence and mechanisms of phylosymbiosis in insects are still not well understood.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Sebastien Lion, Akira Sasaki, Mike Boots
Summary: Understanding the interaction between ecological processes and evolutionary dynamics of quantitative traits in natural systems is a challenge. Two main theoretical frameworks, adaptive dynamics and quantitative genetics, have strengths and limitations and are used by different research communities. To make progress, a novel theoretical framework called 'oligomorphic dynamics' is proposed to bridge the gap between these approaches and strengthen the link to empirical data. Oligomorphic dynamics considers environmental feedback and can analyze eco-evolutionary dynamics, including multimodal trait distributions and non-normal or skewed distributions encountered in nature, facilitating a tighter integration between theory and data.
Review
Ecology
William C. Wetzel, Brian D. Inouye, Philip G. Hahn, Susan R. Whitehead, Nora Underwood
Summary: Plants and herbivores exhibit significant variability in space and time. Research on variability expands our understanding of plant-herbivore ecology and evolution, leading to new hypotheses and insights into the distribution of herbivory.
ANNUAL REVIEW OF ECOLOGY EVOLUTION AND SYSTEMATICS
(2023)
Article
Biology
Joanna L. Rifkin, Solomiya Hnatovska, Meng Yuan, Bianca M. Sacchi, Baharul Choudhury, Yunchen Gong, Pasi Rastas, Spencer C. H. Barrett, Stephen Wright
Summary: There is growing evidence for sex differences in the genomic landscape of recombination, but the causes and consequences of these differences are still poorly understood. This study provides evidence and characterization of sex differences in recombination landscape in a dioecious plant, suggesting that pre-existing differences in recombination may have contributed to sex chromosome formation and divergence.
PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2022)
Review
Microbiology
Bryden Fields, Ville-Petri Friman
Summary: Microbial communities play a crucial role in plant health and productivity, and the rapid evolution of microbes in the rhizosphere has significant impacts on the ecological dynamics within and between plant generations. Understanding how evolution shapes the plant-microbe ecosystem functioning and recognizing the importance of intraspecies diversity are essential in harnessing the benefits of soil microbes for sustainable agriculture.
CURRENT OPINION IN MICROBIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Biology
Julianne N. Pelaez, Andrew D. Gloss, Julianne F. Ray, Samridhi Chaturvedi, Diler Haji, Joseph L. M. Charboneau, Kirsten I. Verster, Noah K. Whiteman
Summary: Herbivorous insects, which are diverse but limited to one-third of insect orders, may have evolved a trait called plant-penetrating ovipositor with densely lined hard bristles to overcome plant physical defenses. In this study, the evolution of this trait in the Scaptomyza genus was investigated, and it was found that the number of ovipositor bristles increased as herbivory evolved in the lineage. Genome-wide association study revealed the genetic architecture of variation in ovipositor bristle number, highlighting the involvement of transcriptional repressors and genes related to peripheral nervous system development. This study suggests that regulatory variation in conserved developmental genes contributes to the morphological trait involved in plant colonization.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2022)
Review
Microbiology
A. M. Pirttila, V. Brusila, J. J. Koskimaki, P. R. Wali, A. L. Ruotsalainen, M. Mutanen, A. M. Markkola
Summary: Prokaryotic and eukaryotic microbial symbiotic communities exist across different kingdoms, extending the host genome and aiding adaptation to changing environments. Plants and insects carry a variety of microbes on their surfaces, internally, and even within cells, with the insect gut being a selective environment. Despite their high dependence and frequent interaction, it remains uncertain how much plants and insects exchange and modify each other's microbiomes. This review focuses on herbivores that feed on plants in forest ecosystems, discussing the plant microbiome, overlap with insect microbial communities, and the effects of microbiome exchange on each host's fitness.