The Evolution of Oscillatory Behavior in Age‐Structured Species

Site effect is stronger than species identity in driving demographic responses of Helianthemum (Cistaceae) shrubs in gypsum environments

PREMISE OF THE STUDY

Regional climatic patterns result in the synchrony of biological processes along large spatial areas. These patterns may be critical for effective plant recruitment in (semi)arid environments. Nevertheless, recruitment patterns of plant species within their range of distribution are still poorly known. Moreover, this response may be species-dependent, particularly between coexisting congenerics, which are thought to vary in demographic responses to climatic conditions as a coexistence-promoting mechanism. In this context, we investigated whether two congeneric plant species show synchronic age structures at varying spatial scales and whether they display demographic differences.

METHODS

We sampled 600 Helianthemum squamatum and H. syriacum individuals at six localities in Spain. We used dendrochronological techniques to estimate age and radial growth. We compared the age structure among populations and between species and assessed the effect of site and species on different demographic parameters. Correlations between age structure and climatic factors were also determined.

KEY RESULTS

We detected a very low intraspecific synchrony across sites but a high interspecific coupling in age structure within localities. Secondary growth, mean age, and flowering showed large intersite differences and small interspecific differences. Summer rainfall was a good predictor of age structure.

CONCLUSIONS

Fine-scale climatic variability plays a major role in determining age structure of the studied species. Climatic variability is more relevant than interspecific differences. Our results illustrate the relevance of including spatial variation in summer rainfall patterns when modeling the impact of climate change on Mediterranean plant demography.

The influence of context-dependent maternal effects on population dynamics: an experimental test

Parental effects arise when either the maternal or paternal phenotype influences the phenotypes of subsequent generations. Simple analytical models assume maternal effects are a mechanism creating delayed density dependence. Such models predict that maternal effects can very easily lead to population cycles. Despite this, unambiguous maternal-effect mediated cycles have not been demonstrated in any system. Additionally, much evidence has arisen to invalidate the underlying assumption that there is a simple positive correlation between maternal performance and offspring performance. A key issue in understanding how maternal effects may affect population dynamics is determining how the expression of parental effects changes in different environments. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that maternal effects influence population dynamics in a context-dependent way. Populations of the soil mite, Sancassania berlesei, were set up at high density (500 eggs) or low density (50 eggs), with eggs that were either laid by young mothers or old mothers (a previously documented maternal effect in this system). The influence of maternal age on both population and egg and body-size dynamics was only observed in the populations initiated under low density rather than high density. This difference was attributable to the context-dependence of maternal effects at the individual level. In low-density (high food) conditions, maternal effects have an impact on offspring reproductive performance, creating an impact on the population growth rate. In high density (low food), maternal effects impact more on juvenile survival (not adult size or reproduction), creating a smaller impact on the population growth rate. This context dependence of effects at the population level means that, in fluctuating populations, maternal effects cause intermittent delayed density dependence that does not lead to persistent cycles.

Colour of environmental noise affects the nonlinear dynamics of cycling, stage-structured populations

Populations fluctuate because of their internal dynamics, which can be nonlinear and stochastic, and in response to environmental variation. Theory predicts how the colour of environmental stochasticity affects population means, variances and correlations with the environment over time. The theory has not been tested for cycling populations, commonly observed in field systems. We applied noise of different colours to cycling laboratory beetle populations, holding other statistical properties of the noise fixed. Theory was largely validated, but failed to predict observations in sufficient detail. The main period of population cycling was shifted up to 33% by the colour of environmental stochasticity. Noise colour affected population means, variances and dominant periodicities differently for populations that cycled in different ways without noise. Our results show that changes in the colour of climatic variability, partly caused by humans, may affect the main periodicity of cycling populations, possibly impacting industry, pest management and conservation.

Why evolutionary biologists should be demographers

Evolution is driven by the propagation of genes, traits and individuals within and between populations. This propagation depends on the survival, fertility and dispersal of individuals at each age or stage during their life history, as well as on population growth and (st)age structure. Demography is therefore central to understanding evolution. Recent demographic research provides new perspectives on fitness, the spread of mutations within populations and the establishment of life histories in a phylogenetic context. New challenges resulting from individual heterogeneity, and instances where survival and reproduction are linked across generations are being recognized. Evolutionary demography is a field of exciting developments through both methodological and empirical advances. Here, we review these developments and outline two emergent research questions.