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LaBarge LR, Krofel M, Allen ML, Hill RA, Welch AJ, Allan ATL. Keystone individuals - linking predator traits to community ecology. Trends Ecol Evol 2024:S0169-5347(24)00166-6. [PMID: 39068138 DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2024.07.001] [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: 11/13/2023] [Revised: 06/28/2024] [Accepted: 07/04/2024] [Indexed: 07/30/2024]
Abstract
Individual behavioral plasticity enables animals to adjust to different scenarios. Yet, personality traits limit this flexibility, leading to consistent interindividual differences in behavior. These individual behavioral traits have the potential to govern community interactions, although testing this is difficult in complex natural systems. For large predators who often exert strong effects on ecosystem functioning, this behavioral diversity may be especially important and lead to individualized ecosystem roles. We present a framework for quantifying individual behavioral plasticity and personality traits of large wild predators, revealing the extent to which certain natural behaviors are governed by these latent traits. The outcomes will reveal how the innate characteristics of wildlife can scale up to affect community interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura R LaBarge
- Comparative Socioecology Group, Department for the Ecology of Animal Societies, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Konstanz, Germany.
| | - Miha Krofel
- Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia
| | - Maximilian L Allen
- Illinois Natural History Survey, Prairie Research Institute, University of Illinois, Champaign, IL, USA
| | - Russell A Hill
- Department of Anthropology, Durham University, Durham, UK; Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, Engineering and Agriculture, University of Venda, Thohoyandou, South Africa
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2
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Gelambi M, Whitehead SR. Multiscale variability in nutrients and secondary metabolites in a bat-dispersed neotropical fruit. Ecol Evol 2023; 13:e10453. [PMID: 37664504 PMCID: PMC10474796 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.10453] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/09/2023] [Revised: 07/31/2023] [Accepted: 08/15/2023] [Indexed: 09/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Ripe fleshy fruits contain not only nutrients but also a diverse array of secondary metabolites. Nutrients serve as a reward for mutualists, whereas defensive metabolites protect the fruit against pests and predators. The composition of these chemical traits is highly variable, both across different plants and even within repeating structures on the same individual plant. This intraspecific and intraindividual variation has important fitness consequences for both plants and animals, yet patterns of variation and covariation in nutrients and secondary metabolites are not well understood, especially at smaller scales. Here, we investigate the multiscale variation and covariation between nutrients and defensive metabolites in Piper sancti-felicis ripe fruits. Means and measures of variation of sugars, proteins, phenolics, and alkenylphenols vary greatly among plants, and at least 50% of the trait variation occurs at the intraindividual level. Also, we found that proteins, but not sugars, were correlated with phenolics and alkenylphenols at multiple scales, suggesting trait variation in protein content may be more constrained than sugars. Our findings emphasize the importance of examining patterns across scales and provide the groundwork to better understand how complex patterns of variation and covariation in nutrients and defensive metabolites shape ecological interactions surrounding fruits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mariana Gelambi
- Department of Biological SciencesVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State UniversityBlacksburgVirginiaUSA
- La Selva Biological StationOrganization for Tropical StudiesPuerto Viejo de SarapiquíHeredia ProvinceCosta Rica
| | - Susan R. Whitehead
- Department of Biological SciencesVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State UniversityBlacksburgVirginiaUSA
- La Selva Biological StationOrganization for Tropical StudiesPuerto Viejo de SarapiquíHeredia ProvinceCosta Rica
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Nevo O, Valenta K, Helman A, Ganzhorn JU, Ayasse M. Fruit scent as an honest signal for fruit quality. BMC Ecol Evol 2022; 22:139. [PMID: 36451093 PMCID: PMC9710009 DOI: 10.1186/s12862-022-02064-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2022] [Accepted: 09/15/2022] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Fleshy fruits evolved to be attractive to seed dispersers through various signals such as color and scent. Signals can evolve through different trajectories and have various degrees of reliability. The strongest substrate on which reliable signals can evolve is when there is an inherent link between signal and reward, rendering cheating costly or impossible. It was recently proposed that aliphatic esters in fruit scent may be predictive of sugar content due to their synthesis from products of sugar fermentation. We test this hypothesis on a case study of wild fig species (Ficus tiliifolia) from Madagascar, which relies on seed dispersal by lemurs. RESULTS We found a strong positive correlation between signal (esters) and reward (sugar). We also found that non-esters, including direct fermentation products, in fruit scent do not indicate sugar levels, which implies that this relationship is not simply a product of fruit maturation wherein more mature fruits emit more scent and contain more sugar. CONCLUSIONS While based on a single taxon, these results strongly support the hypothesis that a biochemical link between ester synthesis and sugar may render the ester fraction of fruit scent an honest signal for fruit quality, with consequences for animal sensory and feeding ecology, and the evolution of plants in the context of seed dispersal.
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Affiliation(s)
- Omer Nevo
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany. .,Institute of Biodiversity, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany. .,Institute of Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation Genomics, Ulm University, Ulm, Germany.
| | - Kim Valenta
- grid.15276.370000 0004 1936 8091Department of Anthropology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL USA
| | - Annabella Helman
- grid.26009.3d0000 0004 1936 7961Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University, Durham, NC USA
| | - Jörg U. Ganzhorn
- grid.9026.d0000 0001 2287 2617Animal Ecology and Conservation, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Manfred Ayasse
- grid.6582.90000 0004 1936 9748Institute of Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation Genomics, Ulm University, Ulm, Germany
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DeSisto C, Herrera JP. Drivers and consequences of structure in plant-lemur ecological networks. J Anim Ecol 2022; 91:2010-2022. [PMID: 35837841 DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.13776] [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: 02/13/2022] [Accepted: 06/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Species interactions shape the diversity and resilience of ecological networks. Plant and animal traits, as well as phylogeny, affect interaction likelihood, driving variation in network structure and tolerance to disturbance. We investigated how traits and phylogenetic effects influenced network-wide interaction probabilities and examined the consequences of extinction on the structure and robustness of ecological networks. We combined both mutualistic and antagonistic interactions of animals (55 species, Infraorder Lemuriformes, Order Primates) and their food plants (590 genera) throughout Madagascar to generate ecological networks. We tested the effects of both lemur and plant traits, biogeographic factors, and phylogenetic relatedness on interaction probability in these networks using exponential random graph models. Next, we simulated animal and plant extinction to analyze the effects of extinction on network structure (connectance, nestedness, and modularity) and robustness for mutualistic, antagonistic, and combined plant-animal networks. Both animal and plant traits affected their interaction probabilities. Large, frugivorous lemurs with a short gestation length, occurring in arid habitats, and with a Least Concern threat level had a high interaction probability in the network, given all other variables. Closely related plants were more likely to interact with the same lemur species than distantly related plants, but closely related lemurs were not more likely to interact with the same plant genus. Simulated lemur extinction tended to increase connectance and modularity, but decrease nestedness and robustness, compared to pre-extinction networks. Networks were more tolerant to plant than lemur extinctions. Lemur-plant interactions were highly trait-structured and the loss of both lemurs and plants threatened the tolerance of mutualistic, antagonistic, and combined networks to future disturbance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Camille DeSisto
- Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
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Vissoto M, Vizentin-Bugoni J, Sendoya SF, Gomes GC, Dias RA. Plant height and spatial context influence individual connectivity and specialization on seed dispersers in a tree population. Oecologia 2022; 198:721-731. [PMID: 35292859 DOI: 10.1007/s00442-022-05142-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/10/2021] [Accepted: 02/18/2022] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
While network analyses have stimulated a renewed interest in understanding patterns and drivers of specialization within communities, few studies have explored specialization within populations. Thus, in plant populations, causes and consequences of individual variation in their interactions with mutualistic animals remain poorly understood. Studying a Brazilian pepper (Schinus terebinthifolia) population, we measured the extent of individual variation in interactions with seed dispersers and tested whether connectivity (number of seed dispersers) and specialization (exclusiveness of partners) are associated with phenotypic and phenological traits of individuals and their spatial context. We found that: (i) individuals varied broadly in their connectivity and specialization on seed dispersers; (ii) phenotypic traits and spatial context matter more than fruiting duration in determining how many and how exclusive are seed dispersers of an individual; (iii) the individual-based network was nested and indicated that the less connected individuals were shorter, occurred in neighborhoods with fewer fruits, and tended to interact with a subset of the partners of more generalist individuals which, in turn, were taller and inserted in higher fruit density neighborhoods; (iv) modularity indicated the existence of subsets of individuals that interacted disproportionately with distinct groups of partners, which may occur due to differences in bird habitat use across the landscape. Our study underlines a remarkable interindividual variation that is overlooked when interactions are compiled to describe species-level interactions. Traits and spatial contexts that define variation among individuals may have important implications not only for fitness but also for sampling and description of interactions at species level.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maiara Vissoto
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biologia Animal, Departamento de Ecologia, Zoologia e Genética, Universidade Federal de Pelotas, Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. .,Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia e Conservação, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul, Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil.
| | - Jeferson Vizentin-Bugoni
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biologia Animal, Departamento de Ecologia, Zoologia e Genética, Universidade Federal de Pelotas, Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.,Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia, Departamento de Ecologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
| | - Sebastian F Sendoya
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biologia Animal, Departamento de Ecologia, Zoologia e Genética, Universidade Federal de Pelotas, Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
| | - Gustavo C Gomes
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Desenvolvimento Territorial e Sistemas Agroindustriais, Universidade Federal de Pelotas, Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
| | - Rafael A Dias
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biologia Animal, Departamento de Ecologia, Zoologia e Genética, Universidade Federal de Pelotas, Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
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Carlo TA, Cazetta E, Traveset A, Guimarães PR, McConkey KR. Special issue: Fruits, animals and seed dispersal: timely advances on a key mutualism. OIKOS 2022. [DOI: 10.1111/oik.09220] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Tomás A. Carlo
- Biology Dept, The Pennsylvania State Univ. University Park PA USA
| | - Eliana Cazetta
- Applied Ecology and Conservation Lab, Univ. Estadual de Santa Cruz Ilhéus Bahia Brazil
| | - Anna Traveset
- Global Change Research Group, Mediterranean Inst. of Advanced Studies (CSIC‐UIB), Esporles Mallorca Balearic Islands Spain
| | - Paulo R. Guimarães
- Depto de Ecologia, Inst. de Biociências, Univ. de São Paulo São Paulo Brazil
| | - Kim R. McConkey
- School of Geography, Univ. of Nottingham Malaysia Campus Semenyih Selangor Malaysia
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Friedemann P, Côrtes MC, de Castro ER, Galetti M, Jordano P, Guimarães Jr PR. The individual‐based network structure of palm‐seed dispersers is explained by a rainforest gradient. OIKOS 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/oik.08384] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Pâmela Friedemann
- Depto de Ecologia, Inst. de Biociências, Univ. de São Paulo São Paulo Brazil
| | - Marina Corrêa Côrtes
- Depto de Biodiversidade, Inst. de Biociências, Univ. Estadual Paulista (UNESP) São Paulo Brazil
| | | | - Mauro Galetti
- Depto de Biodiversidade, Inst. de Biociências, Univ. Estadual Paulista (UNESP) São Paulo Brazil
- Dept of Biology, Univ. of Miami Coral Gables FL USA
| | - Pedro Jordano
- Estación Biológica de Doñana, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (EBD‐CSIC) Seville Spain
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Wang L, Yang Y, Duan Y. Pollinator individual-based networks reveal the specialized plant-pollinator mutualism in two biodiverse communities. Ecol Evol 2021; 11:17509-17518. [PMID: 34938525 PMCID: PMC8668776 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.8384] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2021] [Revised: 11/08/2021] [Accepted: 11/08/2021] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Generalization of pollination systems is widely accepted by ecologists in the studies of plant-pollinator interaction networks at the community level, but the degree of generalization of pollination networks remains largely unknown at the individual pollinator level. Using potential legitimate pollinators that were constantly visiting flowers in two alpine meadow communities, we analyzed the differences in the pollination network structure between the pollinator individual level and species level. The results showed that compared to the pollinator species-based networks, the linkage density, interaction diversity, interaction evenness, the average plant linkage level, and interaction diversity increased, but connectance, degree of nestedness, the average of pollinator linkage level, and interaction diversity decreased in the pollinator individual-based networks, indicating that pollinator individuals had a narrower food niche than their counterpart species. Pollination networks at the pollinator individual level were more specialized at the network level (H'2) and the plant species node level (d') than at the pollinator species-level networks, reducing the chance of underestimating levels of specialization in pollination systems. The results emphasize that research into pollinator individual-based pollination networks will improve our understanding of the pollination networks at the pollinator species level and the coevolution of flowering plants and pollinators.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lin‐Lin Wang
- Germplasm Bank of Wild SpeciesKunming Institute of BotanyChinese Academy of SciencesKunmingChina
- University of Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijingChina
| | - Yong‐Ping Yang
- Germplasm Bank of Wild SpeciesKunming Institute of BotanyChinese Academy of SciencesKunmingChina
- Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research at KunmingKunming Institute of BotanyChinese Academy of SciencesKunmingChina
| | - Yuan‐Wen Duan
- Germplasm Bank of Wild SpeciesKunming Institute of BotanyChinese Academy of SciencesKunmingChina
- Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research at KunmingKunming Institute of BotanyChinese Academy of SciencesKunmingChina
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