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Penman Z, Deeming DC, Soulsbury CD. Ecological and life-history correlates of erythrocyte size and shape in Lepidosauria. J Evol Biol 2022; 35:708-718. [PMID: 35384114 PMCID: PMC9322653 DOI: 10.1111/jeb.14004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/13/2021] [Revised: 12/20/2021] [Accepted: 03/04/2022] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
Abstract
Blood oxygen-carrying capacity is shaped both by the ambient oxygen availability as well as species-specific oxygen demand. Erythrocytes are a critical part of oxygen transport and both their size and shape can change in relation to species-specific life-history, behavioural or ecological conditions. Here, we test whether components of the environment (altitude), life history (reproductive mode, body temperature) and behaviour (diving, foraging mode) drive erythrocyte size variation in the Lepidosauria (lizards, snakes and rhynchocephalians). We collected data on erythrocyte size (area) and shape (L/W: elongation ratio) from Lepidosauria across the globe (N = 235 species). Our analyses show the importance of oxygen requirements as a driver of erythrocyte size. Smaller erythrocytes were associated with the need for faster delivery (active foragers, high-altitude species, warmer body temperatures), whereas species with greater oxygen demands (diving species, viviparous species) had larger erythrocytes. Erythrocyte size shows considerable cross-species variation, with a range of factors linked to the oxygen delivery requirements being major drivers of these differences. A key future aspect for study would include within-individual plasticity and how changing states, for example, pregnancy, perhaps alter the size and shape of erythrocytes in Lepidosaurs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zachary Penman
- School of Life Sciences and Environmental SciencesUniversity of LincolnLincolnUK
| | - D. Charles Deeming
- School of Life Sciences and Environmental SciencesUniversity of LincolnLincolnUK
| | - Carl D. Soulsbury
- School of Life Sciences and Environmental SciencesUniversity of LincolnLincolnUK
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2
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Oda GM, Leite CAC, Abe AS, Klein W. Effects of different levels of hypoxia and hypercarbia on ventilation and gas exchange in Boa constrictor amaralis and Crotalus durissus (Squamata: Serpentes). Respir Physiol Neurobiol 2021; 294:103747. [PMID: 34302991 DOI: 10.1016/j.resp.2021.103747] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2021] [Revised: 07/05/2021] [Accepted: 07/18/2021] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
Ventilation and gas exchange have been studied in relatively few species of snakes, especially regarding their response to environmental hypoxia or hypercarbia. We exposed Crotalus durissus (N = 6) and Boa constrictor (N = 6) to decreasing levels of oxygen (12, 9, 6, 3 % O2) and increasing levels of carbon dioxide (1.5, 3.0, 4.5, 6.0 % CO2) and analyzed the effect of the different gas mixtures on ventilation and gas exchange using open-flow respirometry. Neither hypoxia nor hypercarbia significantly altered the duration of expiration or inspiration, nor their proportions. Both hypoxia and hypercarbia increased minute ventilation, but the decrease in oxygen had a less pronounced effect on ventilation. Gas exchange under normoxic conditions was low and was not significantly affected by hypoxia, but hypercarbia decreased gas exchange significantly in both species. While B. constrictor maintained its respiratory exchange ratio (RER) under hypercarbia between 0.5 and 1.0, C. durissus showed a RER above 1.0 during hypercarbia, due to a significantly greater CO2 excretion. The overall responses of both species to hypercarbia and especially to hypoxia were very similar, which could be associated to similar lifestyles as ambush hunting sit-and-wait predators that are able to ingest large prey items. The observed differences in gas exchange could be related to respiratory systems with macroscopically different structures, possessing only a tracheal lung in C. durissus, but two functional lungs in B. constrictor.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gustavo Marega Oda
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biologia Comparada, Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, 14040-901, Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil; Departamento de Ciências Fisiológicas, Universidade Federal de São Carlos, 13565-905, São Carlos, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Cléo Alacantara Costa Leite
- Departamento de Ciências Fisiológicas, Universidade Federal de São Carlos, 13565-905, São Carlos, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Augusto Shinya Abe
- Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade Estadual Paulista, 13506-900, Rio Claro, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Wilfried Klein
- Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, 14040-901, Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil.
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3
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Verberk WCEP, Calosi P, Brischoux F, Spicer JI, Garland T, Bilton DT. Universal metabolic constraints shape the evolutionary ecology of diving in animals. Proc Biol Sci 2020; 287:20200488. [PMID: 32453989 PMCID: PMC7287373 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2020.0488] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/02/2020] [Accepted: 04/27/2020] [Indexed: 01/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Diving as a lifestyle has evolved on multiple occasions when air-breathing terrestrial animals invaded the aquatic realm, and diving performance shapes the ecology and behaviour of all air-breathing aquatic taxa, from small insects to great whales. Using the largest dataset yet assembled, we show that maximum dive duration increases predictably with body mass in both ectotherms and endotherms. Compared to endotherms, ectotherms can remain submerged for longer, but the mass scaling relationship for dive duration is much steeper in endotherms than in ectotherms. These differences in diving allometry can be fully explained by inherent differences between the two groups in their metabolic rate and how metabolism scales with body mass and temperature. Therefore, we suggest that similar constraints on oxygen storage and usage have shaped the evolutionary ecology of diving in all air-breathing animals, irrespective of their evolutionary history and metabolic mode. The steeper scaling relationship between body mass and dive duration in endotherms not only helps explain why the largest extant vertebrate divers are endothermic rather than ectothermic, but also fits well with the emerging consensus that large extinct tetrapod divers (e.g. plesiosaurs, ichthyosaurs and mosasaurs) were endothermic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wilco C E P Verberk
- Department of Animal Ecology and Ecophysiology, Radboud University, PO Box 9010, 6500 GL Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Marine Biology and Ecology Research Centre, School of Biological and Marine Sciences, University of Plymouth, Drake Circus, Plymouth PL4 8AA, UK
| | - Piero Calosi
- Marine Biology and Ecology Research Centre, School of Biological and Marine Sciences, University of Plymouth, Drake Circus, Plymouth PL4 8AA, UK
- Département de Biologie, Chimie et Géographie, Université du Québec à Rimouski, 300 Allée des Ursulines, Rimouski, Québec, Canada G5 L 3A1
| | - François Brischoux
- Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chizé, UMR 7372 CNRS-La Rochelle Université, 79360 Villiers en Bois, France
| | - John I Spicer
- Marine Biology and Ecology Research Centre, School of Biological and Marine Sciences, University of Plymouth, Drake Circus, Plymouth PL4 8AA, UK
| | - Theodore Garland
- Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521, USA
| | - David T Bilton
- Marine Biology and Ecology Research Centre, School of Biological and Marine Sciences, University of Plymouth, Drake Circus, Plymouth PL4 8AA, UK
- Department of Zoology, University of Johannesburg, PO Box 524, Auckland Park, 2006 Johannesburg, South Africa
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4
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Bury S, Borczyk B, Skawiński T. Ventral scale width in snakes depends on habitat but not hunting strategy. Biol J Linn Soc Lond 2019. [DOI: 10.1093/biolinnean/blz116] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
Environment and lifestyle induce substantial variation in the mechanisms of locomotion in vertebrates. A spectrum of adaptations related to locomotion is also present in limbless taxa, especially snakes, which have radiated successfully into a wide range of habitats. The majority of studies concerning habitat-driven variation in locomotor mechanisms of snakes have focused on the musculoskeletal system. Far less recognized is the variation in the morphology of ventral scales, which are another pivotal component of the locomotor system in snakes. Here, we investigated patterns of interspecific variation in the width of ventral scales in terms of lifestyle (hunting mode) and habitat occupied in 55 species of snakes belonging to eight families. We found that increasing terrestriality was associated with enlarged ventral scales. Reduction instead of maintenance of the width of ventral scales was observed in aquatic species, suggesting that wide ventral scales set constraints on aquatic locomotion. In terrestrial species, no significant differences were observed in terms of arboreality or hunting mode, which suggests overall optimization in the size of ventral scales towards terrestrial locomotion. Association between the width of ventral scales and locomotion can result in a habitat-dependent costs of abnormalities in ventral scale morphology, commonly observed in snakes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stanisław Bury
- Institute of Environmental Sciences, Jagiellonian University, Gronostajowa 7, Kraków, Poland
| | - Bartosz Borczyk
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Conservation of Vertebrates, University of Wroclaw, Sienkiewicza, Wroclaw, Poland
| | - Tomasz Skawiński
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Conservation of Vertebrates, University of Wroclaw, Sienkiewicza, Wroclaw, Poland
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Dupoué A, Brischoux F, Lourdais O. Climate and foraging mode explain interspecific variation in snake metabolic rates. Proc Biol Sci 2018; 284:rspb.2017.2108. [PMID: 29142118 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2017.2108] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/20/2017] [Accepted: 10/16/2017] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The energy cost of self-maintenance is a critical facet of life-history strategies. Clarifying the determinant of interspecific variation in metabolic rate (MR) at rest is important to understand and predict ecological patterns such as species distributions or responses to climatic changes. We examined variation of MR in snakes, a group characterized by a remarkable diversity of activity rates and a wide distribution. We collated previously published MR data (n = 491 observations) measured in 90 snake species at different trial temperatures. We tested for the effects of metabolic state (standard MR (SMR) versus resting MR (RMR)), foraging mode (active versus ambush foragers) and climate (temperature and precipitation) while accounting for non-independence owing to phylogeny, body mass and thermal dependence. We found that RMR was 40% higher than SMR, and that active foragers have higher MR than species that ambush their prey. We found that MR was higher in cold environments, supporting the metabolic cold adaptation hypothesis. We also found an additive and positive effect of precipitation on MR suggesting that lower MR in arid environments may decrease dehydration and energetic costs. Altogether, our findings underline the complex influences of climate and foraging mode on MR and emphasize the relevance of these facets to understand the physiological impact of climate change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andréaz Dupoué
- CNRS UPMC, UMR 7618, iEES Paris, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Tours 44-45, 4 Place Jussieu, 75005 Paris, France
| | | | - Olivier Lourdais
- CEBC-CNRS, UMR 7372, 79360, Villiers en Bois, France.,School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-4501, USA
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6
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Tingle JL, Gartner GEA, Jayne BC, Garland T. Ecological and phylogenetic variability in the spinalis muscle of snakes. J Evol Biol 2017; 30:2031-2043. [PMID: 28857331 DOI: 10.1111/jeb.13173] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/21/2017] [Revised: 08/03/2017] [Accepted: 08/18/2017] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Understanding the origin and maintenance of functionally important subordinate traits is a major goal of evolutionary physiologists and ecomorphologists. Within the confines of a limbless body plan, snakes are diverse in terms of body size and ecology, but we know little about the functional traits that underlie this diversity. We used a phylogenetically diverse group of 131 snake species to examine associations between habitat use, sidewinding locomotion and constriction behaviour with the number of body vertebrae spanned by a single segment of the spinalis muscle, with total numbers of body vertebrae used as a covariate in statistical analyses. We compared models with combinations of these predictors to determine which best fit the data among all species and for the advanced snakes only (N = 114). We used both ordinary least-squares models and phylogenetic models in which the residuals were modelled as evolving by the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process. Snakes with greater numbers of vertebrae tended to have spinalis muscles that spanned more vertebrae. Habitat effects dominated models for analyses of all species and advanced snakes only, with the spinalis length spanning more vertebrae in arboreal species and fewer vertebrae in aquatic and burrowing species. Sidewinding specialists had shorter muscle lengths than nonspecialists. The relationship between prey constriction and spinalis length was less clear. Differences among clades were also strong when considering all species, but not for advanced snakes alone. Overall, these results suggest that muscle morphology may have played a key role in the adaptive radiation of snakes.
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Affiliation(s)
- J L Tingle
- Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, University of California, Riverside, CA, USA
| | - G E A Gartner
- Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, University of California, Riverside, CA, USA
| | - B C Jayne
- Department of Biological Sciences, ML006, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA
| | - T Garland
- Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, University of California, Riverside, CA, USA
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7
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Studying the evolutionary significance of thermal adaptation in ectotherms: The diversification of amphibians' energetics. J Therm Biol 2016; 68:5-13. [PMID: 28689721 DOI: 10.1016/j.jtherbio.2016.11.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/15/2016] [Revised: 11/04/2016] [Accepted: 11/16/2016] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
A fundamental problem in evolutionary biology is the understanding of the factors that promote or constrain adaptive evolution, and assessing the role of natural selection in this process. Here, comparative phylogenetics, that is, using phylogenetic information and traits to infer evolutionary processes has been a major paradigm . In this study, we discuss Ornstein-Uhlenbeck models (OU) in the context of thermal adaptation in ectotherms. We specifically applied this approach to study amphibians's evolution and energy metabolism. It has been hypothesized that amphibians exploit adaptive zones characterized by low energy expenditure, which generate specific predictions in terms of the patterns of diversification in standard metabolic rate (SMR). We complied whole-animal metabolic rates for 122 species of amphibians, and adjusted several models of diversification. According to the adaptive zone hypothesis, we expected: (1) to find "accelerated evolution" in SMR (i.e., diversification above Brownian Motion expectations, BM), (2) that a model assuming evolutionary optima (i.e., an OU model) fits better than a white-noise model and (3) that a model assuming multiple optima (according to the three amphibians's orders) fits better than a model assuming a single optimum. As predicted, we found that the diversification of SMR occurred most of the time, above BM expectations. Also, we found that a model assuming an optimum explained the data in a better way than a white-noise model. However, we did not find evidence that an OU model with multiple optima fits the data better, suggesting a single optimum in SMR for Anura, Caudata and Gymnophiona. These results show how comparative phylogenetics could be applied for testing adaptive hypotheses regarding history and physiological performance in ectotherms.
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Nespolo RF, Solano-Iguaran JJ, Bozinovic F. Phylogenetic Analysis Supports the Aerobic-Capacity Model for the Evolution of Endothermy. Am Nat 2016; 189:13-27. [PMID: 28035890 DOI: 10.1086/689598] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
The evolution of endothermy is a controversial topic in evolutionary biology, although several hypotheses have been proposed to explain it. To a great extent, the debate has centered on the aerobic-capacity model (AC model), an adaptive hypothesis involving maximum and resting rates of metabolism (MMR and RMR, respectively; hereafter "metabolic traits"). The AC model posits that MMR, a proxy of aerobic capacity and sustained activity, is the target of directional selection and that RMR is also influenced as a correlated response. Associated with this reasoning are the assumptions that (1) factorial aerobic scope (FAS; MMR/RMR) and net aerobic scope (NAS; MMR - RMR), two commonly used indexes of aerobic capacity, show different evolutionary optima and (2) the functional link between MMR and RMR is a basic design feature of vertebrates. To test these assumptions, we performed a comparative phylogenetic analysis in 176 vertebrate species, ranging from fish and amphibians to birds and mammals. Using disparity-through-time analysis, we also explored trait diversification and fitted different evolutionary models to study the evolution of metabolic traits. As predicted, we found (1) a positive phylogenetic correlation between RMR and MMR, (2) diversification of metabolic traits exceeding that of random-walk expectations, (3) that a model assuming selection fits the data better than alternative models, and (4) that a single evolutionary optimum best fits FAS data, whereas a model involving two optima (one for ectotherms and another for endotherms) is the best explanatory model for NAS. These results support the AC model and give novel information concerning the mode and tempo of physiological evolution of vertebrates.
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Lourdais O, Gartner GEA, Brischoux F. Ambush or active life: foraging mode influences haematocrit levels in snakes. Biol J Linn Soc Lond 2014. [DOI: 10.1111/bij.12223] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Olivier Lourdais
- Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chizé; CNRS; 79360 Villiers en Bois France
- School of Life Sciences; Arizona State University; Tempe AZ 85287-4501 USA
| | - Gabriel E. A. Gartner
- Museum of Comparative Zoology Harvard University; 26 Oxford Street Cambridge MA 02138 USA
| | - François Brischoux
- Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chizé; CNRS; 79360 Villiers en Bois France
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Wang S, Lillywhite HB, Cheng YC, Tu MC. Variation of traits and habitat use in three species of sea kraits in
T
aiwan. J Zool (1987) 2013. [DOI: 10.1111/jzo.12012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- S. Wang
- Department of Life Science National Taiwan Normal University Taipei Taiwan
| | | | - Y. C. Cheng
- Department of Life Science National Taiwan Normal University Taipei Taiwan
| | - M. C. Tu
- Department of Life Science National Taiwan Normal University Taipei Taiwan
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Dabruzzi TF, Sutton MA, Bennett WA. Metabolic Thermal Sensitivity Optimizes Sea Krait Amphibious Physiology. HERPETOLOGICA 2012. [DOI: 10.1655/herpetologica-d-11-00077.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
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12
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CALOSI P, BILTON DT, SPICER JI, VERBERK WCEP, ATFIELD A, GARLAND T. The comparative biology of diving in two genera of European Dytiscidae (Coleoptera). J Evol Biol 2011; 25:329-41. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1420-9101.2011.02423.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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