Article
Psychology, Biological
Emily S. Durkin, Steven T. Cassidy, Arletys Leyva, Carl N. Keiser
Summary: Long-term interactions in animal societies are not stable due to individuals dying or groups becoming fragmented. This study on social spiders found that fragmentation events can influence how individuals interact and accomplish collective tasks, and the behavior and fusion after fragmentation can differ among groups from different populations. The results suggest that group stability and composition play a crucial role in collective behavior.
Article
Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science
S. J. Harrison, P. B. Siegel, C. F. Honaker, R. M. Lewis
Summary: The population dynamics of 2 lines of chickens from a long-term selection experiment were assessed based on pedigree data. It was found that the 2 lines maintained similar population structures over the selection horizon, allowing reliable comparisons of their performance data.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Emma J. Morgan, Christopher N. Kaiser-Bunbury, Peter J. Edwards, Frauke Fleischer-Dogley, Chris J. Kettle
Summary: We studied the spatial patterns of kinship in the offspring of the endangered Lodoicea maldivica. Our findings suggest that restricted seed and pollen dispersal in populations have led to a strong spatial genetic structure. The study also revealed that mother trees were often pollinated by multiple fathers, and parental pairs were more closely related than expected by chance, indicating a preference for close kin in mate choice.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Zea Walton, Mari Hagenlund, Kjartan Ostbye, Gustaf Samelius, Morten Odden, Anita Norman, Tomas Willebrand, Goran Spong
Summary: The study found limited genetic differentiation among red foxes at a regional scale, but revealed patterns of female philopatry and male-biased dispersal at a more localized level, ultimately leading to significant influences of relatedness on the spatial organization of red foxes locally.
CONSERVATION GENETICS
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Christina Meiring, Haiko Schurz, Paul van Helden, Eileen Hoal, Gerard Tromp, Craig Kinnear, Leanie Kleynhans, Brigitte Glanzmann, Louis van Schalkwyk, Michele Miller, Marlo Moeller
Summary: African wild dogs are an endangered species with low genomic diversity, and this study provides the first population-wide genomic data for this species. The analysis reveals low levels of variation and some inbreeding, which may lead to population decline when suitable mates are limited. The study highlights the importance of assessing population genomic parameters for setting conservation priorities.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2022)
Article
Forestry
Rainbow DeSilva, Richard S. Dodd
Summary: Patterns of dispersal play a crucial role in shaping genetic diversity within and among populations, especially in the face of environmental changes. Research on giant sequoia populations revealed predominantly outcrossing with moderate levels of inbreeding, low diversity in the pollen pool, and significant genetic structure at fine spatial scales. The findings suggest a potential for restoration planting to mitigate diversity loss in giant sequoia populations.
Article
Genetics & Heredity
A. S. M. Faridul Islam, Dean Sanders, Amit Kumar Mishra, Vijay Joshi
Summary: This study aimed to explore the genetic diversity and population structure of 90 olive accessions from the USDA repository along with six popular varieties using genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS)-generated SNP markers. The results showed moderate genetic diversity for the US olive germplasm, distributed across seven subpopulations with 63% of the accessions grouped into an identifiable subpopulation. These findings provide critical information for future olive breeding programs to develop varieties suited to production in the US.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Wei Huang, Jill G. Pilkington, Josephine M. Pemberton
Summary: This study investigates evidence for MHC-dependent non-random mating patterns in a free-living population of Soay sheep using Monte Carlo simulation, finding sexual selection mechanisms at different stages, disassortative mating later stage, and strong inbreeding avoidance. However, results suggest that the disassortative mating pattern could be a by-product of inbreeding avoidance, indicating alternative explanations for some apparent mechanisms of non-random mating with respect to the MHC.
Article
Microbiology
Mickael Le Gac, Lou Mary, Gabriel Metegnier, Julien Quere, Raffaele Siano, Francisco Rodriguez, Christophe Destombe, Marc Sourisseau
Summary: Despite theoretical expectations, marine microeukaryote populations are highly structured with strong genetic differences indicated by strain and meta-transcriptome analysis. The presence of private alleles and fixed polymorphism suggests ancient divergence and limited gene flow between populations. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) throughout the genome indicate both soft selective sweeps and hard selective sweeps within populations.
ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science
Ante Kasap, Jelena Ramljak, Marija Spehar
Summary: The study examined the effective population size and connectedness between flocks of dairy Istrian sheep, revealing a progressive loss of genetic variability and overall low connectedness. To ensure the long-term survival and self-sufficiency of the breed, genetic links between different flocks need to be strengthened.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Pengcheng Wang, John T. Burley, Yang Liu, Jiang Chang, De Chen, Qi Lu, Shou-Hsien Li, Xuming Zhou, Scott Edwards, Zhengwang Zhang
Summary: This study analyzed genomic data of three isolated populations of Brown eared pheasant in China, showing low genome-wide diversity and declining effective population size. The comparison with a closely related species revealed detrimental genetic consequences in the Brown eared pheasant genomes, indicating a potential risk of deleterious mutations in wild populations undergoing long-term decline. This comprehensive conservation genomic analysis could help improve conservation planning for threatened species and promote population recovery.
MOLECULAR BIOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Hugo Cayuela, Jerome G. Prunier, Martin Laporte, Jerome M. W. Gippet, Laurent Boualit, Francois Guerold, Alain Laurent, Francesco Foletti, Gwenael Jacob
Summary: Population decline is a complex process involving both deterministic factors such as habitat loss and fragmentation, as well as stochastic factors such as demographic and environmental stochasticity. A decrease in population size has negative impacts on genetic diversity and effective population size, accelerating the loss of genetic diversity. This study on the decline of a lekking bird population showed that individuals dispersed to avoid small subpopulations, leading to low genetic diversity and high inbreeding levels.
Article
Genetics & Heredity
Muhammad Massub Tehseen, Fatma Aykut Tonk, Muzaffer Tosun, Deniz Istipliler, Ahmed Amri, Carolina P. Sansaloni, Ezgi Kurtulus, Muhammad Salman Mubarik, Kumarse Nazari
Summary: In this study, genetic diversity and population structure of 600 bread wheat landraces were analyzed using SNP markers. The results showed that the population could be grouped into three subpopulations based on geographical information rather than countries. Additionally, genetic distance analysis revealed significant differences between landraces from different countries.
FRONTIERS IN GENETICS
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Antoine Fraimout, Pasi Rastas, Lei Lv, Juha Merila
Summary: Using experimental cross data and genome-wide identity-by-descent (IBD) relationships, this study finds a significant decrease in offspring survival probability with increasing parental IBD sharing in an outbred marine nine-spined stickleback population, indicating substantial inbreeding load. Interestingly, a positive effect of paternal inbreeding coefficient on offspring survival suggests that certain combinations of parental inbreeding and genetic relatedness among mates may promote offspring survival. These results demonstrate the potential for inbreeding depression in outbred populations and highlight the importance of considering fine-scale genetic relatedness in future studies.
Article
Ecology
Esteban Botero-Delgadillo, Veronica Quirici, Silvina Ippi, Rodrigo A. Vasquez, Bart Kempenaers
Summary: This study investigates whether there is a preference for mating with kin in isolated populations of the Thorn-tailed Rayadito. The results suggest that mating is not random with respect to kinship, with breeding pairs showing lower relatedness values compared to randomly generated pairs. Female-biased dispersal is hypothesized to be the main mechanism reducing the likelihood of kin mating.
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2022)
Article
Ecology
S. J. Milton, H. Petersen, G. Nampa, H. van der Merwe, J. R. Henschel
Summary: This study documents the changes in rangeland during a prolonged drought in the arid Karoo region. The drought led to a reduction in vegetation cover and grazing potential, with varying levels of mortality among species and habitats. The growth form was not a reliable predictor of drought survival, but there was a shift in dominant vegetation species towards the end of the drought. Areas that were historically degraded experienced greater losses in vegetation cover and grazing capacity compared to protected areas. Drought-induced changes in vegetation composition may present higher grazing potential if livestock numbers are reduced and reseeding is conducted during the recovery period.
AFRICAN JOURNAL OF RANGE & FORAGE SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Soren Magnus Bang Nielsen, Trine Bilde, Soren Toft
Summary: Analyzing the trophic niches of a woodland assemblage of seven harvestman species reveals that the predator species are mainly non-protein limited in the field, with differences in macronutrient selection between morphological clusters. The study sheds light on the impact of invasive species and resource competition in biological communities.
JOURNAL OF ANIMAL ECOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Andre Walter, Trine Bilde
Summary: Cooperation involving shared resource systems can lead to the tragedy of the commons. However, in subsocial spiders, cooperation between kin members provides a solution to this problem. This study on Stegodyphus africanus spiders shows that groups of related individuals exhibit faster prey capture, more efficient feeding, and less antagonistic interactions compared to groups of mixed relatedness, resulting in a higher growth rate.
JOURNAL OF EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Entomology
Efrat Gavish-Regev, Igor Armiach Steinpress, Ibrahim N. A. Salman, Nitzan Segev, Assaf Uzan, Yebin Byun, Tanya Levy, Shlomi Aharon, Yoram Zvik, Raisa Shtuhin, Yotam Shapira, Marija Majer, Zeana Ganem, Sergei Zonstein, Ivan L. F. Magalhaes, Yael Lubin
Summary: Deserts are characterized by unpredictable precipitation and extreme temperatures. Fauna and flora in deserts are sensitive to anthropogenic environmental changes and often recover slowly from environmental disasters. The study found that burrow-dwelling spiders can be used as effective bioindicators of persistent soil pollution in desert habitats, as oil spills have long-lasting negative effects on their populations.
Article
Agronomy
Ibrahim N. A. Salman, Yael Lubin, Efrat Gavish-Regev
Summary: Orchards may have high spider diversity due to their structural complexity and stability. The composition of spider assemblages in orchards is influenced by environmental variables at different scales, including latitude and surrounding landscape at large scale, and vegetation at local scale.
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Bharat Parthasarathy, Michelle Mueller, Trine Bilde, Jutta M. Schneider
Summary: Task specialization is important for social success, but in social spiders, individual traits do not determine specific task participation. Instead, hunger state is the key factor influencing prey capture.
Article
Ecology
Clemence Rose, Sarah Kyneb, Mads Fristrup Schou, Jesper Bechsgaard, Trine Bilde
Summary: Conspecific tolerance is crucial for maintaining group cohesion in animals. Subsocial species disperse to a solitary lifestyle after a gregarious juvenile phase and display conspecific intolerance as adults. The development of intolerance towards group members is delayed and flexible in some cases. Major evolutionary transitions, such as the transition to sociality, can lead to the modification or loss of conspecific intolerance. In social spiders, conspecific attraction rather than intolerance appears to govern group cohesion.
JOURNAL OF EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Evolutionary Biology
Felicitas Gunter, Jens Oldeland, Mike D. Picker, Joh R. Henschel, Norbert Juergens
Summary: Psammotermes allocerus is the only described species of the genus Psammotermes in Southern Africa, with a large geographical range. Significant genetic diversification was found within P. allocerus, supporting its classification as a species complex consisting of seven highly differentiated genetic groups.
ORGANISMS DIVERSITY & EVOLUTION
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Anders P. Charmouh, Jane M. Reid, Trine Bilde, Greta Bocedi
Summary: Understanding how genetic and ecological effects interact to shape genetic loads is crucial for understanding the ongoing persistence of systems that should be susceptible to extinction. Our hypothesis suggests that genetic stochasticity and evolving dispersal can facilitate metapopulation persistence by causing fluctuations in metapopulation size and transient gene flow. This mechanism provides an explanation for the continued existence of structured populations with inbreeding mating systems in diverse taxa.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Anne Aagaard, Shenglin Liu, Tom Tregenza, Marie Braad Lund, Andreas Schramm, Koen J. F. Verhoeven, Jesper Bechsgaard, Trine Bilde
Summary: Understanding the role of genetic and nongenetic variants in shaping phenotypic responses to local environments is crucial for our understanding of evolutionary potential. By conducting environmental association studies, we found strong associations between genetic and nongenetic variation and environmental factors. Genetic variants were strongly correlated with average temperature, while DNA methylation variation was correlated with multiple climate parameters. Microbiome composition was mainly associated with precipitation-related climatic factors.
Article
Ecology
Colleen L. Seymour, Grant S. Joseph, Wynand Calitz, Joh R. Henschel, Tshililo Ramaswiela, Helga van der Merwe
Summary: This study assessed the growth of Vachellia erioloba saplings over a 15-year period. The results showed that the height increase of this species varied greatly, while the growth of horizontal canopy was much greater than vertical growth. The study also found that saplings with the fastest increase in horizontal canopy in 2003-2004 continued to grow rapidly over the following 15 years.
Article
Ecology
Joh R. Henschel, Suzanne J. Milton, Colleen L. Seymour
JOURNAL OF ARID ENVIRONMENTS
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Joh R. Henschel, Frances D. Duncan, Justin C. O. du Toit, Suzanne J. Milton, Helga van der Merwe
Summary: Populations of brown locusts in the Karoo alternate between resident solitaria grasshoppers and nomadic gregaria locusts. Despite decades of research, there is still a lack of follow-up studies on insightful field observations made in the early to mid-20th century. The potential negative impacts and important roles of brown locusts on rangeland and crop yields have not been well-documented.
JOURNAL OF ARID ENVIRONMENTS
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Clemence Rose, Marie Braad Lund, Andreas Schramm, Trine Bilde, Jesper Bechsgaard
Summary: Considerable variation in the composition of the host microbiome exists within a given species. Social interactions in group-living animals homogenize microbiome composition among group members, but still give rise to divergence in microbiome composition among related groups. This variation can result from deterministic and stochastic processes. We tested whether ecological drift associated with dispersal and foundation of new groups cause divergence in microbiome composition between natal and newly formed groups in the social spider Stegodyphus dumicola. The results suggest that stochastic divergence in host microbiomes can arise during the process of group formation by individual founders.
JOURNAL OF EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biology
Jesper Bechsgaard, Tove Hedegaard Jorgensen, Anne Katrine Jonsson, Mads Schou, Trine Bilde
Summary: An efficient immune system is crucial for the survival of animals. Sociality increases the risk of pathogen transmission, but the selection efficiency for immune function is weakened in social species. This may be due to the demographic processes that accompany social evolution and elevate genetic drift, resulting in weakened responses to pathogen selection.
