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Aagaard A, Bechsgaard J, Sørensen JG, Sandfeld T, Settepani V, Bird TL, Lund MB, Malmos KG, Falck-Rasmussen K, Darolti I, Nielsen KL, Johannsen M, Vosegaard T, Tregenza T, Verhoeven KJF, Mank JE, Schramm A, Bilde T. Molecular Mechanisms of Temperature Tolerance Plasticity in an Arthropod. Genome Biol Evol 2024; 16:evae165. [PMID: 39058286 DOI: 10.1093/gbe/evae165] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2024] [Accepted: 07/11/2024] [Indexed: 07/28/2024] Open
Abstract
How species thrive in a wide range of environments is a major focus of evolutionary biology. For many species, limited genetic diversity or gene flow among habitats means that phenotypic plasticity must play an important role in their capacity to tolerate environmental heterogeneity and to colonize new habitats. However, we have a limited understanding of the molecular components that govern plasticity in ecologically relevant phenotypes. We examined this hypothesis in a spider species (Stegodyphus dumicola) with extremely low species-wide genetic diversity that nevertheless occupies a broad range of thermal environments. We determined phenotypic responses to temperature stress in individuals from four climatic zones using common garden acclimation experiments to disentangle phenotypic plasticity from genetic adaptations. Simultaneously, we created data sets on multiple molecular modalities: the genome, the transcriptome, the methylome, the metabolome, and the bacterial microbiome to determine associations with phenotypic responses. Analyses of phenotypic and molecular associations reveal that acclimation responses in the transcriptome and metabolome correlate with patterns of phenotypic plasticity in temperature tolerance. Surprisingly, genes whose expression seemed to be involved in plasticity in temperature tolerance were generally highly methylated contradicting the idea that DNA methylation stabilizes gene expression. This suggests that the function of DNA methylation in invertebrates varies not only among species but also among genes. The bacterial microbiome was stable across the acclimation period; combined with our previous demonstrations that the microbiome is temporally stable in wild populations, this is convincing evidence that the microbiome does not facilitate plasticity in temperature tolerance. Our results suggest that population-specific variation in temperature tolerance among acclimation temperatures appears to result from the evolution of plasticity in mainly gene expression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anne Aagaard
- Section for Genetics, Ecology and Evolution, Centre for EcoGenetics, Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus C, Denmark
| | - Jesper Bechsgaard
- Section for Genetics, Ecology and Evolution, Centre for EcoGenetics, Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus C, Denmark
| | - Jesper Givskov Sørensen
- Section for Genetics, Ecology and Evolution, Centre for EcoGenetics, Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus C, Denmark
| | - Tobias Sandfeld
- Section for Microbiology, Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus C, Denmark
| | - Virginia Settepani
- Section for Genetics, Ecology and Evolution, Centre for EcoGenetics, Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus C, Denmark
| | - Tharina L Bird
- General Entomology, DITSONG: National Museum of Natural History, Pretoria, South Africa
- Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
- Department of Arachnology and Myriapodology, National Museum of Namibia, Windhoek, Namibia
| | - Marie Braad Lund
- Section for Microbiology, Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus C, Denmark
| | - Kirsten Gade Malmos
- Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center (iNANO), Aarhus University, Aarhus C, Denmark
| | - Kasper Falck-Rasmussen
- Section for Genetics, Ecology and Evolution, Centre for EcoGenetics, Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus C, Denmark
| | - Iulia Darolti
- Department of Zoology and Biodiversity Research Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | | | - Mogens Johannsen
- Department of Forensic Medicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus N, Denmark
| | - Thomas Vosegaard
- Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center (iNANO), Aarhus University, Aarhus C, Denmark
- Department of Chemistry, Aarhus University, Aarhus C, Denmark
| | - Tom Tregenza
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Penryn TR109FE, UK
| | - Koen J F Verhoeven
- Terrestrial Ecology Department, Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), Wageningen 6708 PB, The Netherlands
| | - Judith E Mank
- Department of Zoology and Biodiversity Research Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Andreas Schramm
- Section for Microbiology, Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus C, Denmark
| | - Trine Bilde
- Section for Genetics, Ecology and Evolution, Centre for EcoGenetics, Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus C, Denmark
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Penryn TR109FE, UK
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Piñanez-Espejo YMG, Munévar A, Schilman PE, Zurita GA. It is hot and cold here: the role of thermotolerance in the ability of spiders to colonize tree plantations in the southern Atlantic Forest. Oecologia 2024; 204:789-804. [PMID: 38561554 DOI: 10.1007/s00442-024-05529-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2023] [Accepted: 02/14/2024] [Indexed: 04/04/2024]
Abstract
Worldwide, with the decline of natural habitats, species with reduced niche breadth (specialists) are at greater risk of extinction as they cannot colonise or persist in disturbed habitat types. However, the role of thermal tolerance as a critical trait in understanding changes in species diversity in disturbed habitats, e.g., due to forest replacement by tree plantations, is still understudied. To examine the role of thermal tolerance on the responses of specialist and generalist species to habitat disturbances, we measured and compared local temperature throughout the year and thermotolerance traits [upper (CTmax) and lower (CTmin) thermal limits] of the most abundant species of spiders from different guilds inhabiting pine tree plantations and native Atlantic Forests in South America. Following the thermal adaptation hypothesis, we predicted that generalist species would show a wider thermal tolerance range (i.e., lower CTmin and higher CTmax) than forest specialist species. As expected, generalist species showed significantly higher CTmax and lower CTmin values than specialist species with wider thermal tolerance ranges than forest specialist species. These differences are more marked in orb weavers than in aerial hunter spiders. Our study supports the specialisation disturbance and thermal hypotheses. It highlights that habitat-specialist species are more vulnerable to environmental changes associated with vegetation structure and microclimatic conditions. Moreover, thermal tolerance is a key response trait to explain the Atlantic Forest spider's ability (or inability) to colonise and persist in human-productive land uses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yolanda M G Piñanez-Espejo
- IBS-Instituto de Biología Subtropical (UNaM-CONICET), Puerto Iguazú, Misiones, Argentina.
- Facultad de Ciencias Forestales, Universidad Nacional de Misiones, Puerto Iguazú, Misiones, Argentina.
| | - Ana Munévar
- IBS-Instituto de Biología Subtropical (UNaM-CONICET), Puerto Iguazú, Misiones, Argentina
- Facultad de Ciencias Forestales, Universidad Nacional de Misiones, Puerto Iguazú, Misiones, Argentina
| | - Pablo E Schilman
- Laboratorio de Ecofisiología de Insectos, Departamento de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- CONICET-Instituto de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental y Aplicada (IBBEA), Buenos Aires, Argentina.
| | - Gustavo Andrés Zurita
- IBS-Instituto de Biología Subtropical (UNaM-CONICET), Puerto Iguazú, Misiones, Argentina.
- Facultad de Ciencias Forestales, Universidad Nacional de Misiones, Puerto Iguazú, Misiones, Argentina.
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Pilakouta N, Killen SS, Kristjánsson BK, Skúlason S, Lindström J, Metcalfe NB, Parsons KJ. Geothermal stickleback populations prefer cool water despite multigenerational exposure to a warm environment. Ecol Evol 2023; 13:e9654. [PMID: 36644700 PMCID: PMC9831902 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.9654] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/21/2022] [Revised: 12/01/2022] [Accepted: 12/05/2022] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Given the threat of climate change to biodiversity, a growing number of studies are investigating the potential for organisms to adapt to rising temperatures. Earlier work has predicted that physiological adaptation to climate change will be accompanied by a shift in temperature preferences, but empirical evidence for this is lacking. Here, we test whether exposure to different thermal environments has led to changes in preferred temperatures in the wild. Our study takes advantage of a "natural experiment" in Iceland, where freshwater populations of threespine sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus) are found in waters warmed by geothermal activity year-round (warm habitats), adjacent to populations in ambient-temperature lakes (cold habitats). We used a shuttle-box approach to measure temperature preferences of wild-caught sticklebacks from three warm-cold population pairs. Our prediction was that fish from warm habitats would prefer higher water temperatures than those from cold habitats. We found no support for this, as fish from both warm and cold habitats had an average preferred temperature of 13°C. Thus, our results challenge the assumption that there will be a shift in ectotherm temperature preferences in response to climate change. In addition, since warm-habitat fish can persist at relatively high temperatures despite a lower-temperature preference, we suggest that preferred temperature alone may be a poor indicator of a population's adaptive potential to a novel thermal environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Natalie Pilakouta
- Institute of Biodiversity, One Health, and Veterinary MedicineUniversity of GlasgowGlasgowUK,School of Biological SciencesUniversity of AberdeenAberdeenUK
| | - Shaun S. Killen
- Institute of Biodiversity, One Health, and Veterinary MedicineUniversity of GlasgowGlasgowUK
| | | | - Skúli Skúlason
- Department of Aquaculture and Fish BiologyHólar UniversitySauðárkrókurIceland,Icelandic Museum of Natural HistoryReykjavíkIceland
| | - Jan Lindström
- Institute of Biodiversity, One Health, and Veterinary MedicineUniversity of GlasgowGlasgowUK
| | - Neil B. Metcalfe
- Institute of Biodiversity, One Health, and Veterinary MedicineUniversity of GlasgowGlasgowUK
| | - Kevin J. Parsons
- Institute of Biodiversity, One Health, and Veterinary MedicineUniversity of GlasgowGlasgowUK
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Renault D, Leclerc C, Colleu M, Boutet A, Hotte H, Colinet H, Chown SL, Convey P. The rising threat of climate change for arthropods from Earth's cold regions: Taxonomic rather than native status drives species sensitivity. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2022; 28:5914-5927. [PMID: 35811569 PMCID: PMC9544941 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.16338] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/25/2022] [Accepted: 06/14/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Polar and alpine regions are changing rapidly with global climate change. Yet, the impacts on biodiversity, especially on the invertebrate ectotherms which are dominant in these areas, remain poorly understood. Short-term extreme temperature events, which are growing in frequency, are expected to have profound impacts on high-latitude ectotherms, with native species being less resilient than their alien counterparts. Here, we examined in the laboratory the effects of short periodic exposures to thermal extremes on survival responses of seven native and two non-native invertebrates from the sub-Antarctic Islands. We found that survival of dipterans was significantly reduced under warming exposures, on average having median lethal times (LT50 ) of about 30 days in control conditions, which declined to about 20 days when exposed to daily short-term maxima of 24°C. Conversely, coleopterans were either not, or were less, affected by the climatic scenarios applied, with predicted LT50 as high as 65 days under the warmest condition (daily exposures at 28°C for 2 h). The native spider Myro kerguelensis was characterized by an intermediate sensitivity when subjected to short-term daily heat maxima. Our results unexpectedly revealed a taxonomic influence, with physiological sensitivity to heat differing between higher level taxa, but not between native and non-native species representing the same higher taxon. The survival of a non-native carabid beetle under the experimentally imposed conditions was very high, but similar to that of native beetles, while native and non-native flies also exhibited very similar sensitivity to warming. As dipterans are a major element of diversity of sub-Antarctic, Arctic and other cold ecosystems, such observations suggest that the increased occurrence of extreme, short-term, thermal events could lead to large-scale restructuring of key terrestrial ecosystem components both in ecosystems protected from and those exposed to the additional impacts of biological invasions.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Renault
- UMR 6553Univ Rennes, CNRS, ECOBIO (Ecosystèmes, Biodiversité, Évolution)RennesFrance
| | - Camille Leclerc
- UMR 6553Univ Rennes, CNRS, ECOBIO (Ecosystèmes, Biodiversité, Évolution)RennesFrance
- INRAE, Aix‐Marseille Université, UMR RECOVERAix‐en‐ProvenceFrance
| | - Marc‐Antoine Colleu
- UMR 6553Univ Rennes, CNRS, ECOBIO (Ecosystèmes, Biodiversité, Évolution)RennesFrance
| | - Aude Boutet
- UMR 6553Univ Rennes, CNRS, ECOBIO (Ecosystèmes, Biodiversité, Évolution)RennesFrance
| | - Hoel Hotte
- UMR 6553Univ Rennes, CNRS, ECOBIO (Ecosystèmes, Biodiversité, Évolution)RennesFrance
- Nematology Unit, Plant Health LaboratoryANSESLe Rheu CedexFrance
| | - Hervé Colinet
- UMR 6553Univ Rennes, CNRS, ECOBIO (Ecosystèmes, Biodiversité, Évolution)RennesFrance
| | - Steven L. Chown
- Securing Antarctica's Environmental Future, School of Biological SciencesMonash UniversityMelbourneVictoriaAustralia
| | - Peter Convey
- British Antarctic Survey, NERCCambridgeUK
- Department of ZoologyUniversity of JohannesburgAuckland ParkSouth Africa
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Rose C, Kyneb S, Schou MF, Bechsgaard J, Bilde T. The role of inter-individual intolerance in group cohesion and the transition to sociality in spiders. J Evol Biol 2022; 35:1020-1026. [PMID: 35674385 DOI: 10.1111/jeb.14032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/28/2022] [Revised: 04/21/2022] [Accepted: 05/04/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Conspecific tolerance is key for maintaining group cohesion in animals. Understanding shifts from conspecific tolerance to intolerance is therefore important for understanding transitions to sociality. Subsocial species disperse to a solitary lifestyle after a gregarious juvenile phase and display conspecific intolerance as adults as a mechanism to maintain a solitary living. The development of intolerance towards group members is hypothesized to play a role in dispersal decisions in subsocial species. One hypothesis posits that dispersal is triggered by factors such as food competition with the subsequent development of conspecific intolerance, rather than conspecific intolerance developing prior to and potentially driving dispersal. Consistent with this hypothesis, we show that intolerance (inferred by inter-individual distance) developed post-dispersal in the subsocial spider Stegodyphus lineatus. The development of conspecific intolerance was delayed when maintaining spiders in groups showing plasticity in this trait, which is advantageous when trade-offs are not fixed over time. However, major evolutionary transitions, such as the transition to sociality, can permanently modify trade-offs and cause derived adaptations by the evolution of new or modified traits or evolutionary loss of traits that become redundant. Sociality in spiders has evolved repeatedly from subsocial ancestors, and social life in family groups combined with a lack of interaction with competing groups suggests relaxed selection for the development of conspecific intolerance. In the social Stegodyphus sarasinorum we found no evidence for the development of conspecific intolerance, consistent with the loss of this trait. Instead, we found evidence for conspecific attraction, which is likely to govern group cohesion.
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Affiliation(s)
- Clémence Rose
- Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus C, Denmark
| | - Sarah Kyneb
- Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus C, Denmark
| | | | | | - Trine Bilde
- Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus C, Denmark
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Sandfeld T, Malmos KG, Nielsen CB, Lund MB, Aagaard A, Bechsgaard J, Wurster M, Lalk M, Johannsen M, Vosegaard T, Bilde T, Schramm A. Metabolite Profiling of the Social Spider Stegodyphus dumicola Along a Climate Gradient. Front Ecol Evol 2022. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2022.841490] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Animals experience climatic variation in their natural habitats, which may lead to variation in phenotypic responses among populations through local adaptation or phenotypic plasticity. In ectotherm arthropods, the expression of thermoprotective metabolites such as free amino acids, sugars, and polyols, in response to temperature stress, may facilitate temperature tolerance by regulating cellular homeostasis. If populations experience differences in temperatures, individuals may exhibit population-specific metabolite profiles through differential accumulation of metabolites that facilitate thermal tolerance. Such thermoprotective metabolites may originate from the animals themselves or from their associated microbiome, and hence microbial symbionts may contribute to shape the thermal niche of their host. The social spider Stegodyphus dumicola has extremely low genetic diversity, yet it occupies a relatively broad temperature range occurring across multiple climate zones in Southern Africa. We investigated whether the metabolome, including thermoprotective metabolites, differs between populations, and whether population genetic structure or the spider microbiome may explain potential differences. To address these questions, we assessed metabolite profiles, phylogenetic relationships, and microbiomes in three natural populations along a temperature gradient. The spider microbiomes in three genetically distinct populations of S. dumicola showed no significant population-specific pattern, and none of its dominating genera (Borrelia, Diplorickettsia, and Mycoplasma) are known to facilitate thermal tolerance in hosts. These results do not support a role of the microbiome in shaping the thermal niche of S. dumicola. Metabolite profiles of the three spider populations were significantly different. The variation was driven by multiple metabolites that can be linked to temperature stress (e.g., lactate, succinate, or xanthine) and thermal tolerance (e.g., polyols, trehalose, or glycerol): these metabolites had higher relative abundance in spiders from the hottest geographic region. These distinct metabolite profiles are consistent with a potential role of the metabolome in temperature response.
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Rose C, Schramm A, Irish J, Bilde T, Bird TL. Host Plant Availability and Nest-Site Selection of the Social Spider Stegodyphus dumicola Pocock, 1898 (Eresidae). INSECTS 2021; 13:30. [PMID: 35055873 PMCID: PMC8777811 DOI: 10.3390/insects13010030] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2021] [Revised: 12/21/2021] [Accepted: 12/23/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
An animals' habitat defines the resources that are available for its use, such as host plants or food sources, and the use of these resources are critical for optimizing fitness. Spiders are abundant in all terrestrial habitats and are often associated with vegetation, which may provide structure for anchoring capture webs, attract insect prey, or provide protective function. Social spiders construct sedentary communal silk nests on host plants, but we know little about whether and how they make nest-site decisions. We examined host plant use in relation to host plant availability in the social spider Stegodyphus dumicola Pocock, 1898 (Eresidae) across different arid biomes in Namibia and analysed the role of host plant characteristics (height, spines, scent, sturdiness) on nest occurrence. Host plant communities and densities differed between locations. Spider nests were relatively more abundant on Acacia spp., Boscia foetida, Combretum spp., Dichrostachys cinerea, Parkinsonia africana, Tarchonanthus camphoratus, and Ziziphus mucronatus, and nests survived longer on preferred plant genera Acacia, Boscia and Combretum. Spider nests were relatively more abundant on plants higher than 2 m, and on plants with thorns and with a rigid structure. Our results suggest that spiders display differential use of host plant species, and that characteristics such as rigidity and thorns confer benefits such as protection from browsing animals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Clémence Rose
- Department of Biology, Aarhus University, 8000 Aarhus, Denmark; (A.S.); (T.B.); (T.L.B.)
| | - Andreas Schramm
- Department of Biology, Aarhus University, 8000 Aarhus, Denmark; (A.S.); (T.B.); (T.L.B.)
| | - John Irish
- National Museum of Namibia, Windhoek 1005, Namibia;
| | - Trine Bilde
- Department of Biology, Aarhus University, 8000 Aarhus, Denmark; (A.S.); (T.B.); (T.L.B.)
| | - Tharina L. Bird
- Department of Biology, Aarhus University, 8000 Aarhus, Denmark; (A.S.); (T.B.); (T.L.B.)
- General Entomology Section, Ditsong National Museum of Natural History, Pretoria 0002, South Africa
- Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X20, Pretoria 0028, South Africa
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Malmos KG, Lüdeking AH, Vosegaard T, Aagaard A, Bechsgaard J, Sørensen JG, Bilde T. Behavioural and physiological responses to thermal stress in a social spider. Funct Ecol 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/1365-2435.13921] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Kirsten Gade Malmos
- Interdisciplinary Nano Science Center (iNANO) Aarhus University Aarhus C Denmark
| | | | - Thomas Vosegaard
- Interdisciplinary Nano Science Center (iNANO) Aarhus University Aarhus C Denmark
- Department of Chemistry Aarhus University Aarhus C Denmark
| | - Anne Aagaard
- Department of Biology Aarhus University Aarhus C Denmark
| | | | | | - Trine Bilde
- Department of Biology Aarhus University Aarhus C Denmark
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