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Włodarczyk R, Bouwhuis S, Bichet C, Podlaszczuk P, Chyb A, Indykiewicz P, Dulisz B, Betleja J, Janiszewski T, Minias P. Contrasting haemoparasite prevalence in larid species with divergent ecological niches and migration patterns. Parasitology 2022; 149:1479-1486. [PMID: 35768413 PMCID: PMC11010501 DOI: 10.1017/s0031182022000920] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2022] [Revised: 05/27/2022] [Accepted: 06/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
Haemoparasites represent a diverse group of vector-borne parasites that infect a wide range of vertebrate hosts. In birds, haemoparasite infection rates may be associated with various ecological and life history traits, including habitat choice, colony size and migration distance. Here, we molecularly assessed the prevalence of 3 main haemoparasite genera (Plasmodium, Haemoproteus and Leucocytozoon) in 2 bird species with different habitat preferences and migratory behaviour: black-headed gulls (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) and common terns (Sterna hirundo). We found that gulls showed a much higher prevalence and diversity of Plasmodium or Haemoproteus (ca. 60% of individuals infected) than terns (zero prevalence). The prevalence of Leucocytozoon was low in both species (<3%). The differences in haemoparasite prevalences may be primarily driven by varying vector encounter rate resulting from different habitat preferences, as black-headed gulls mainly use vector-rich vegetated freshwater habitats, whereas common terns often use vector-poor coastal and brackish habitats. Since common terns migrate further than black-headed gulls, our results did not provide support for an association between haemoparasite prevalence and migratory distance. In gulls, we found a negative association between colony size and infection rates, suggestive of an ideal despotic distribution, and phylogenetic analyses of detected haemoparasite lineages provided evidence for higher host specificity in Haemoproteus than Plasmodium. Our results suggest that the preference for coastal areas and less vegetated habitats in terns may reduce haemoparasite infection rates compared to other larids, regardless of their migratory distance, emphasizing the role of ecological niches in parasite exposure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Radosław Włodarczyk
- Department of Biodiversity Studies and Bioeducation, Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection, University of Łódź, Banacha 1/3, 90-237 Łódź, Poland
| | | | - Coraline Bichet
- Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chizé, UMR 7372, CNRS-La Rochelle Université, Villiers-en-Bois, France
| | - Patrycja Podlaszczuk
- Department of Biodiversity Studies and Bioeducation, Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection, University of Łódź, Banacha 1/3, 90-237 Łódź, Poland
| | - Amelia Chyb
- Department of Biodiversity Studies and Bioeducation, Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection, University of Łódź, Banacha 1/3, 90-237 Łódź, Poland
| | - Piotr Indykiewicz
- Department of Biology and Animal Environment, Faculty of Animal Breeding and Biology, Bydgoszcz University of Science and Technology, Mazowiecka 28, 85-084 Bydgoszcz, Poland
| | - Beata Dulisz
- Department of Ecology and Environmental Protection, Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Plac Łódzki 3, 10-727 Olsztyn, Poland
| | - Jacek Betleja
- Department of Natural History, Upper Silesian Museum, Plac Jana III Sobieskiego 2, 41-902 Bytom, Poland
| | - Tomasz Janiszewski
- Department of Biodiversity Studies and Bioeducation, Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection, University of Łódź, Banacha 1/3, 90-237 Łódź, Poland
| | - Piotr Minias
- Department of Biodiversity Studies and Bioeducation, Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection, University of Łódź, Banacha 1/3, 90-237 Łódź, Poland
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Arévalo Ayala DJ. Within-colony nest distribution of a waterbird mixed colony in a small alluvial forest at El Salvador. NEOTROPICAL BIODIVERSITY 2022. [DOI: 10.1080/23766808.2022.2040278] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Diego José Arévalo Ayala
- Facultat de Biologia, Departament de Biologia Evolutiva, Ecologia i Ciències Ambientals, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
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Fokkema RW, Korsten P, Schmoll T, Wilson AJ. Social competition as a driver of phenotype-environment correlations: implications for ecology and evolution. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2021; 96:2561-2572. [PMID: 34145714 PMCID: PMC9290562 DOI: 10.1111/brv.12768] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2020] [Revised: 06/09/2021] [Accepted: 06/11/2021] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
While it is universally recognised that environmental factors can cause phenotypic trait variation via phenotypic plasticity, the extent to which causal processes operate in the reverse direction has received less consideration. In fact individuals are often active agents in determining the environments, and hence the selective regimes, they experience. There are several important mechanisms by which this can occur, including habitat selection and niche construction, that are expected to result in phenotype–environment correlations (i.e. non‐random assortment of phenotypes across heterogeneous environments). Here we highlight an additional mechanism – intraspecific competition for preferred environments – that may be widespread, and has implications for phenotypic evolution that are currently underappreciated. Under this mechanism, variation among individuals in traits determining their competitive ability leads to phenotype–environment correlation; more competitive phenotypes are able to acquire better patches. Based on a concise review of the empirical evidence we argue that competition‐induced phenotype–environment correlations are likely to be common in natural populations before highlighting the major implications of this for studies of natural selection and microevolution. We focus particularly on two central issues. First, competition‐induced phenotype–environment correlation leads to the expectation that positive feedback loops will amplify phenotypic and fitness variation among competing individuals. As a result of being able to acquire a better environment, winners gain more resources and even better phenotypes – at the expense of losers. The distinction between individual quality and environmental quality that is commonly made by researchers in evolutionary ecology thus becomes untenable. Second, if differences among individuals in competitive ability are underpinned by heritable traits, competition results in both genotype–environment correlations and an expectation of indirect genetic effects (IGEs) on resource‐dependent life‐history traits. Theory tells us that these IGEs will act as (partial) constraints, reducing the amount of genetic variance available to facilitate evolutionary adaptation. Failure to recognise this will lead to systematic overestimation of the adaptive potential of populations. To understand the importance of these issues for ecological and evolutionary processes in natural populations we therefore need to identify and quantify competition‐induced phenotype–environment correlations in our study systems. We conclude that both fundamental and applied research will benefit from an improved understanding of when and how social competition causes non‐random distribution of phenotypes, and genotypes, across heterogeneous environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rienk W Fokkema
- Department of Animal Behaviour, Bielefeld University, Konsequenz 45, Bielefeld, 33615, Germany.,Evolutionary Biology, Bielefeld University, Konsequenz 45, Bielefeld, 33615, Germany.,Conservation Ecology Group, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences (GELIFES), University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, Groningen, 9747AG, The Netherlands
| | - Peter Korsten
- Department of Animal Behaviour, Bielefeld University, Konsequenz 45, Bielefeld, 33615, Germany
| | - Tim Schmoll
- Evolutionary Biology, Bielefeld University, Konsequenz 45, Bielefeld, 33615, Germany
| | - Alastair J Wilson
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter (Penryn Campus), Penryn, Cornwall, TR10 9FE, United Kingdom
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McDowall PS, Lynch HJ. When the "selfish herd" becomes the "frozen herd": spatial dynamics and population persistence in a colonial seabird. Ecology 2019; 100:e02823. [PMID: 31310664 DOI: 10.1002/ecy.2823] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/20/2018] [Revised: 05/28/2019] [Accepted: 06/13/2019] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Abstract
Aggregations are common in ecological systems at a range of scales and may be driven by exogenous constraints such as environmental heterogeneity and resource availability or by "self-organizing" interactions among individuals. One mechanism leading to self-organized animal aggregations is captured by Hamilton's "selfish herd" hypothesis, which suggests that aggregations may be driven by an individual's effort to minimize their risk of predation by surrounding themselves with conspecifics. We demonstrate that aggregations observed in Adélie Penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae) colonies are a convolution of both self-organized dynamics and external forcing arising from landscape terrain. In fluid, highly mobile aggregations, individuals are constantly moving in response to changing environmental conditions, the locations of predators, or the movements of conspecifics. However, when the ability to rearrange is limited and spatial reconfiguration occurs on slower time scales than changes in population size, systems may become trapped in suboptimal arrangements. We use simulated annealing to demonstrate that Adélie Penguin colonies are frozen in suboptimal spatial arrangements, and employ an individual-based modeling approach to demonstrate that this suboptimal spatial configuration is driven by a convolution of nest site fidelity and stochastic events at the level of individual nests. The resulting spatial dynamics are responsible for a hysteretic response to long-term changes in abundance. We find that declining abundance leads to fragmentation even in a homogeneous environment, which has population-level consequences for reproductive success because predation is biased towards colony edges. Strong edge effects from heterogeneous predation coupled with fragmentation in response to population declines create a positive feedback cycle that can accelerate population decline. This work provides a mechanistic understanding of complex spatial structuring in penguin colonies, provides a link between current spatial patterning and past dynamics, and suggests the possibility of critical collapse in seabird populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Philip S McDowall
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, Stony Brook University, 610 Life Sciences Building, Stony Brook, New York, 11794, USA
| | - Heather J Lynch
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, Stony Brook University, 610 Life Sciences Building, Stony Brook, New York, 11794, USA
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Spatio-temporal variation in nesting success of colonial waterbirds under the impact of a non-native invasive predator. Oecologia 2018; 188:1037-1047. [PMID: 30317388 PMCID: PMC6244866 DOI: 10.1007/s00442-018-4270-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/18/2018] [Accepted: 10/08/2018] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Colonial breeding in birds provides protection from predators and may be particularly important when birds have to cope with an invasive predator. The probability of nest predation in a colony can vary depending on several factors, such as the nest’s location in the colony and the level of aggregation of nests. We studied the nesting success of colonial great crested grebes and monitored the occurrence of the non-native invasive American mink in the colony. From among 92 grebe nests, 54.3% were successful. The daily survival rate (DSR) of grebe nests was positively affected by the increasing distance between the nest and lake shoreline, and negatively affected by the increasing distance between the nest and the five nearest grebe nests. The probability of mink occurrence in the colony increased with consecutive days of the breeding season and decreased with increasing distance from the lake shoreline. The DSR of grebe nests decreased with the increasing probability of mink occurrence along the shoreline distance gradient and the day of the breeding season. The results of the study confirm the impact of the American mink on waterbirds during the breeding season but also indicate that large breeding colonies are partially safe from mink predation, and that nest accessibility and the dilution effect influence the probability of nest survival. Our data suggest that the limited access to safe breeding sites on large lakes that can supply adult grebes and their chicks with food may affect bird productivity and population numbers at the landscape level.
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Seabirds fighting for land: phenotypic consequences of breeding area constraints at a small remote archipelago. Sci Rep 2018; 8:665. [PMID: 29330422 PMCID: PMC5766501 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-18808-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2017] [Accepted: 12/16/2017] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
Identifying associations between phenotypes and environmental parameters is crucial for understanding how natural selection acts at the individual level. In this context, genetically isolated populations can be useful models for identifying the forces selecting fitness-related traits. Here, we use a comprehensive dataset on a genetically and ecologically isolated population of the strictly marine bird, the brown booby Sula leucogaster, at the tropical and remote Saint Peter and Saint Paul Archipelago, mid-Atlantic Ocean, in order to detect phenotypic adjustments from interindividual differences in diet, foraging behaviour, and nest quality. For this, we took biometrics of all individuals of the colony breeding in 2014 and 2015 and tested their associations with nest quality, diet parameters, and foraging behaviour. While body size was not related to the foraging parameters, the body size of the females (responsible for nest acquisition and defence) was significantly associated with the nest quality, as larger females occupied high-quality nests. Our findings suggest that the small breeding area, rather than prey availability, is a limiting factor, emphasizing the role of on-land features in shaping phenotypic characteristics and fitness in land-dependent marine vertebrates.
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Muniz DG, Santos ESA, Guimarães PR, Nakagawa S, Machado G. A multinomial network method for the analysis of mate choice and assortative mating in spatially structured populations. Methods Ecol Evol 2017. [DOI: 10.1111/2041-210x.12798] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Danilo G. Muniz
- Postgraduate Programme in Ecology Department of Ecology Institute of Biosciences University of São Paulo São Paulo Brazil
- LAGE Lab Department of Ecology Institute of Biosciences University of São Paulo São Paulo Brazil
| | - Eduardo S. A. Santos
- LAGE Lab Department of Ecology Institute of Biosciences University of São Paulo São Paulo Brazil
- BECO Lab Department of Zoology Institute of Biosciences University of São Paulo São Paulo Brazil
| | - Paulo R. Guimarães
- LAGE Lab Department of Ecology Institute of Biosciences University of São Paulo São Paulo Brazil
| | - Shinichi Nakagawa
- Evolution & Ecology Research Centre, and School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences University New South Wales Sydney NSW Australia
| | - Glauco Machado
- LAGE Lab Department of Ecology Institute of Biosciences University of São Paulo São Paulo Brazil
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Minias P, Wojczulanis-Jakubas K, Rutkowski R, Kaczmarek K, Janiszewski T. Spatial patterns of extra-pair paternity in a waterbird colony: separating the effects of nesting density and nest site location. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2016; 70:369-376. [PMID: 26900213 PMCID: PMC4748001 DOI: 10.1007/s00265-015-2056-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/24/2015] [Revised: 12/27/2015] [Accepted: 12/29/2015] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Centres of avian colonies are usually associated with reduced predation risk and, thus, attract individuals of high quality, while poor-quality individuals are relegated to peripheral zones. Assuming that the incidence of extra-pair paternity (EPP) is dependent on individual quality, we could expect lower incidence of extra-pair offspring in the central parts of colonies. On the other hand, central pairs often nest in higher densities, which might increase EPP rate. To test these hypotheses, we sampled 124 great cormorant Phalacarocorax carbo sinensis chicks from 30 broods from different zones of a colony and genotyped them at seven highly polymorphic microsatellite loci. Sibship reconstruction confirmed the presence of at least one extra-pair chick in 30.0 % of broods. We found that EPP varied significantly between the zones of the colony, with higher incidence of extra-pair broods in the peripheral zone (53.3 vs. 6.7 % of broods). Centre-edge difference in EPP was consistent with the expected distribution of pair quality and suggested that poor-quality peripheral females were more likely to solicit extra-pair interactions, possibly to gain ‘good genes’ for their offspring. By contrast, we found no evidence for density dependence in EPP rate, indicating that likelihood of raising extra-pair offspring was not constrained by limited availability of local males. The results indicate that spatial randomization of sampling within avian colonies is critical to obtain robust estimations of EPP for non-solitary species. To our knowledge, this study provides the first evidence for the centre-edge difference in EPP within a breeding colony of birds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Piotr Minias
- Department of Teacher Training and Biodiversity Studies, University of Łódź, Banacha 1/3, 90-237 Łódź, Poland
| | | | - Robert Rutkowski
- Department of Molecular and Biometrical Techniques, Museum and Institute of Zoology PAS, 00-679 Warsaw, Poland
| | | | - Tomasz Janiszewski
- Department of Teacher Training and Biodiversity Studies, University of Łódź, Banacha 1/3, 90-237 Łódź, Poland
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Becker PH. In search of the gap: temporal and spatial dynamics of settling in natal common tern recruits. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2015. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-015-1954-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
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Minias P, Minias A, Dziadek J. Heterozygosity correlates with body size, nest site quality and productivity in a colonial waterbird, the whiskered tern ( Chlidonias hybrida, Aves: Sternidae). J ZOOL SYST EVOL RES 2014. [DOI: 10.1111/jzs.12084] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Piotr Minias
- Department of Teacher Training and Biodiversity Studies; University of Łódź; Łódź Poland
| | - Alina Minias
- Institute of Medical Biology of the Polish Academy of Sciences; Łódź Poland
| | - Jarosław Dziadek
- Institute of Medical Biology of the Polish Academy of Sciences; Łódź Poland
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