1
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Chan WP, Lenoir J, Mai GS, Kuo HC, Chen IC, Shen SF. Climate velocities and species tracking in global mountain regions. Nature 2024; 629:114-120. [PMID: 38538797 PMCID: PMC11062926 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07264-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/13/2023] [Accepted: 03/01/2024] [Indexed: 04/06/2024]
Abstract
Mountain ranges contain high concentrations of endemic species and are indispensable refugia for lowland species that are facing anthropogenic climate change1,2. Forecasting biodiversity redistribution hinges on assessing whether species can track shifting isotherms as the climate warms3,4. However, a global analysis of the velocities of isotherm shifts along elevation gradients is hindered by the scarcity of weather stations in mountainous regions5. Here we address this issue by mapping the lapse rate of temperature (LRT) across mountain regions globally, both by using satellite data (SLRT) and by using the laws of thermodynamics to account for water vapour6 (that is, the moist adiabatic lapse rate (MALRT)). By dividing the rate of surface warming from 1971 to 2020 by either the SLRT or the MALRT, we provide maps of vertical isotherm shift velocities. We identify 17 mountain regions with exceptionally high vertical isotherm shift velocities (greater than 11.67 m per year for the SLRT; greater than 8.25 m per year for the MALRT), predominantly in dry areas but also in wet regions with shallow lapse rates; for example, northern Sumatra, the Brazilian highlands and southern Africa. By linking these velocities to the velocities of species range shifts, we report instances of close tracking in mountains with lower climate velocities. However, many species lag behind, suggesting that range shift dynamics would persist even if we managed to curb climate-change trajectories. Our findings are key for devising global conservation strategies, particularly in the 17 high-velocity mountain regions that we have identified.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wei-Ping Chan
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Bachelor Program in Data Science and Management, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan
- Rowland Institute at Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Jonathan Lenoir
- UMR CNRS 7058, Ecologie et Dynamique des Systèmes Anthropisés (EDYSAN), Université de Picardie Jules Verne, Amiens, France
| | - Guan-Shuo Mai
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Hung-Chi Kuo
- Department of Atmospheric Sciences, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - I-Ching Chen
- Department of Life Sciences, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.
- Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
| | - Sheng-Feng Shen
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.
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2
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Chan SF, Rubenstein DR, Chen IC, Fan YM, Tsai HY, Zheng YW, Shen SF. Higher temperature variability in deforested mountain regions impacts the competitive advantage of nocturnal species. Proc Biol Sci 2023; 290:20230529. [PMID: 37221845 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2023.0529] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/25/2023] Open
Abstract
Deforestation is a major contributor to biodiversity loss, yet the impact of forest loss on daily microclimate variability and its implications for species with different daily activity patterns remain poorly understood. Using a recently developed microclimate model, we investigated the effects of deforestation on the daily temperature range (DTR) in low-elevation tropical regions and high-elevation temperate regions. Our results show that deforestation substantially increases DTR in these areas, suggesting a potential impact on species interactions. To test this hypothesis, we studied the competitive interactions between nocturnal burying beetles and all-day-active blowfly maggots in forested and deforested habitats in Taiwan. We show that deforestation leads to increased DTR at higher elevations, which enhances the competitiveness of blowfly maggots during the day and leads to a higher failure rate of carcass burial by the beetles at night. Thus, deforestation-induced temperature variability not only modulates exploitative competition between species with different daily activity patterns, but also likely exacerbates the negative impacts of climate change on nocturnal organisms. In order to limit potential adverse effects on species interactions and their ecological functions, our study highlights the need to protect forests, especially in areas where deforestation can greatly alter temperature variability.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shih-Fan Chan
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei 11529, Taiwan
- Department of Life Science, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, 11677 Taiwan
- Biodiversity Program, Taiwan International Graduate Program, Academia Sinica and National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei 11529, Taiwan
| | - Dustin R Rubenstein
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA
- Center for Integrative Animal Behavior, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA
| | - I-Ching Chen
- Department of Life Sciences, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 70101, Taiwan
| | - Yu-Meng Fan
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei 11529, Taiwan
| | - Hsiang-Yu Tsai
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei 11529, Taiwan
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Yuan-Wen Zheng
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei 11529, Taiwan
| | - Sheng-Feng Shen
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei 11529, Taiwan
- Department of Life Science, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, 11677 Taiwan
- Biodiversity Program, Taiwan International Graduate Program, Academia Sinica and National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei 11529, Taiwan
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3
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Lin YH, Chen YY, Rubenstein DR, Liu M, Liu M, Shen SF. Environmental quality mediates the ecological dominance of cooperatively breeding birds. Ecol Lett 2023. [PMID: 37127410 DOI: 10.1111/ele.14226] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2022] [Revised: 03/08/2023] [Accepted: 03/30/2023] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
Although social species as diverse as humans and ants are among the most abundant organisms on Earth, animals cooperate and form groups for many reasons. How these different reasons for grouping affect a species' ecological dominance remains unknown. Here we use a theoretical model to demonstrate that the different fitness benefits that animals receive by forming groups depend on the quality of their environment, which in turn impacts their ecological dominance and resilience to global change. We then test the model's key predictions using phylogenetic comparative analysis of >6500 bird species. As predicted, we find that cooperative breeders occurring in harsh and fluctuating environments have larger ranges and greater abundances than non-cooperative breeders, but cooperative breeders occurring in benign and stable environments do not. Using our model, we further show that social species living in harsh and fluctuating environments will be less vulnerable to climate change than non-social species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yu-Heng Lin
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Ying-Yu Chen
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Dustin R Rubenstein
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology, Columbia University, New York City, New York, USA
- Center for Integrative Animal Behavior, Columbia University, New York City, New York, USA
| | - Ming Liu
- Department of Biology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Mark Liu
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Sheng-Feng Shen
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
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4
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Chen YY, Rubenstein DR, Shen SF. Cooperation and Lateral Forces: Moving Beyond Bottom-Up and Top-Down Drivers of Animal Population Dynamics. Front Psychol 2022; 13:768773. [PMID: 35185719 PMCID: PMC8847757 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.768773] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/01/2021] [Accepted: 01/10/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Biologists have long known that animal population dynamics are regulated by a combination of bottom-up (resource availability) and top-down forces (predation). Yet, economists have argued that human population dynamics can also be influenced by intraspecific cooperation. Despite awareness of the role of interspecific cooperation (mutualism) in influencing resource availability and animal population dynamics, the role of intraspecific cooperation (sociality) under different environmental conditions has rarely been considered. Here we examine the role of what we call “lateral forces” that act within populations and interact with external top-down and bottom-up forces in influencing population dynamics using an individual-based model linking environmental quality, intraspecific cooperation, and population size. We find that the proportion of cooperators is higher when the environment is poor and population sizes are greatest under intermediate resources levels due to the contrasting effects of resource availability on behavior and population size. We also show that social populations are more resilient to environmental change than non-social ones because the benefits of intraspecific cooperation can outweigh the effects of constrained resource availability. Our study elucidates the complex relationship between environmental harshness, cooperation, and population dynamics, which is important for understanding the ecological consequences of cooperation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ying-Yu Chen
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Dustin R Rubenstein
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology, Center for Integrative Animal Behavior, Columbia University, New York, NY, United States
| | - Sheng-Feng Shen
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.,Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, College of Life Science, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
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5
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Liu M, Rubenstein DR, Cheong SA, Shen SF. Antagonistic effects of long- and short-term environmental variation on species coexistence. Proc Biol Sci 2021; 288:20211491. [PMID: 34493074 PMCID: PMC8424298 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2021.1491] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2021] [Accepted: 08/13/2021] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Assessing the impact of environmental fluctuations on species coexistence is critical for understanding biodiversity loss and the ecological impacts of climate change. Yet determining how properties like the intensity, frequency or duration of environmental fluctuations influence species coexistence remains challenging, presumably because previous studies have focused on indefinite coexistence. Here, we model the impact of environmental fluctuations at different temporal scales on species coexistence over a finite time period by employing the concepts of time-windowed averaging and performance curves to incorporate temporal niche differences within a stochastic Lotka-Volterra model. We discover that short- and long-term environmental variability has contrasting effects on transient species coexistence, such that short-term variation favours species coexistence, whereas long-term variation promotes competitive exclusion. This dichotomy occurs because small samples (e.g. environmental changes over long time periods) are more likely to show large deviations from the expected mean and are more difficult to predict than large samples (e.g. environmental changes over short time periods), as described in the central limit theorem. Consequently, we show that the complex set of relationships among environmental fluctuations and species coexistence found in previous studies can all be synthesized within a general framework by explicitly considering both long- and short-term environmental variation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ming Liu
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei 11529, Taiwan
- Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3SZ, UK
| | - Dustin R. Rubenstein
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA
- Center for Integrative Animal Behavior, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA
| | - Siew Ann Cheong
- Division of Physics and Applied Physics, School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, 637371, Singapore
| | - Sheng-Feng Shen
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei 11529, Taiwan
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6
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Liu M, Chen BF, Rubenstein DR, Shen SF. Social rank modulates how environmental quality influences cooperation and conflict within animal societies. Proc Biol Sci 2020; 287:20201720. [PMID: 32993473 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2020.1720] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Although dominance hierarchies occur in most societies, our understanding of how these power structures influence individual investment in cooperative and competitive behaviours remains elusive. Both conflict and cooperation in animal societies are often environmentally regulated, yet how individuals alter their cooperative and competitive investments as environmental quality changes remain unclear. Using game theoretic modelling, we predict that individuals of all ranks will invest more in cooperation and less in social conflict in harsh environments than individuals of the same ranks in benign environments. Counterintuitively, low-ranking subordinates should increase their investment in cooperation proportionally more than high-ranking dominants, suggesting that subordinates contribute relatively more when facing environmental challenges. We then test and confirm these predictions experimentally using the Asian burying beetle Nicrophorus nepalensis. Ultimately, we demonstrate how social rank modulates the relationships between environmental quality and cooperative and competitive behaviours, a topic crucial for understanding the evolution of complex societies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mark Liu
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei 11529, Taiwan
| | - Bo-Fei Chen
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei 11529, Taiwan
| | - Dustin R Rubenstein
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA.,Center for Integrative Animal Behavior, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA
| | - Sheng-Feng Shen
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei 11529, Taiwan
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7
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Tsai HY, Rubenstein DR, Chen BF, Liu M, Chan SF, Chen DP, Sun SJ, Yuan TN, Shen SF. Antagonistic effects of intraspecific cooperation and interspecific competition on thermal performance. eLife 2020; 9:57022. [PMID: 32807299 PMCID: PMC7442485 DOI: 10.7554/elife.57022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/18/2020] [Accepted: 07/28/2020] [Indexed: 01/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Understanding how climate-mediated biotic interactions shape thermal niche width is critical in an era of global change. Yet, most previous work on thermal niches has ignored detailed mechanistic information about the relationship between temperature and organismal performance, which can be described by a thermal performance curve. Here, we develop a model that predicts the width of thermal performance curves will be narrower in the presence of interspecific competitors, causing a species' optimal breeding temperature to diverge from that of its competitor. We test this prediction in the Asian burying beetle Nicrophorus nepalensis, confirming that the divergence in actual and optimal breeding temperatures is the result of competition with their primary competitor, blowflies. However, we further show that intraspecific cooperation enables beetles to outcompete blowflies by recovering their optimal breeding temperature. Ultimately, linking abiotic factors and biotic interactions on niche width will be critical for understanding species-specific responses to climate change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hsiang-Yu Tsai
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.,Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, College of Life Science, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Dustin R Rubenstein
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology, Columbia University, New York, United States.,Center for Integrative Animal Behavior, Columbia University, New York, United States
| | - Bo-Fei Chen
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Mark Liu
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Shih-Fan Chan
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - De-Pei Chen
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.,Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, College of Life Science, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Syuan-Jyun Sun
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Tzu-Neng Yuan
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Sheng-Feng Shen
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.,Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, College of Life Science, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
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8
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Wang HY, Shen SF, Chen YS, Kiang YK, Heino M. Life histories determine divergent population trends for fishes under climate warming. Nat Commun 2020; 11:4088. [PMID: 32796849 PMCID: PMC7428017 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-17937-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/09/2019] [Accepted: 07/22/2020] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Most marine fish species express life-history changes across temperature gradients, such as faster growth, earlier maturation, and higher mortality at higher temperature. However, such climate-driven effects on life histories and population dynamics remain unassessed for most fishes. For 332 Indo-Pacific fishes, we show positive effects of temperature on body growth (but with decreasing asymptotic length), reproductive rates (including earlier age-at-maturation), and natural mortality for all species, with the effect strength varying among habitat-related species groups. Reef and demersal fishes are more sensitive to temperature changes than pelagic and bathydemersal fishes. Using a life table, we show that the combined changes of life histories upon increasing temperature tend to facilitate population growth for slow life-history populations, but reduce it for fast life-history ones. Within our data, lower proportions (25-30%) of slow life-history fishes but greater proportions of fast life-history fishes (42-60%) show declined population growth rates under 1 °C warming. Together, these findings suggest prioritizing sustainable management for fast life-history species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hui-Yu Wang
- Institute of Oceanography, National Taiwan University, No. 1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Rd, Taipei, 10617, Taiwan.
| | - Sheng-Feng Shen
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, No. 128, Sec. 2, Academia Rd, Nankang District, Taipei, 11529, Taiwan
| | - Ying-Shiuan Chen
- Institute of Oceanography, National Taiwan University, No. 1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Rd, Taipei, 10617, Taiwan
| | - Yun-Kae Kiang
- Institute of Oceanography, National Taiwan University, No. 1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Rd, Taipei, 10617, Taiwan
| | - Mikko Heino
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Bergen, P.O. Box 7803, 5020, Bergen, Norway
- Institute of Marine Research, P.O. Box 1870, Nordnes, 5817, Bergen, Norway
- International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, A-2361, Laxenburg, Austria
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9
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Tsai HY, Rubenstein DR, Fan YM, Yuan TN, Chen BF, Tang Y, Chen IC, Shen SF. Author Correction: Locally-adapted reproductive photoperiodism determines population vulnerability to climate change in burying beetles. Nat Commun 2020; 11:3754. [PMID: 32699234 PMCID: PMC7376146 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-17567-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Hsiang-Yu Tsai
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, 115, Taiwan.,Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, College of Life Science, National Taiwan University, Taipei, 115, Taiwan
| | - Dustin R Rubenstein
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology and Center for Integrative Animal Behavior, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10027, USA
| | - Yu-Meng Fan
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, 115, Taiwan.,Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, College of Life Science, National Taiwan University, Taipei, 115, Taiwan
| | - Tzu-Neng Yuan
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, 115, Taiwan
| | - Bo-Fei Chen
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, 115, Taiwan
| | - Yezhong Tang
- Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu, 61004, People's Republic of China
| | - I-Ching Chen
- Department of Life Sciences, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, 70101, Taiwan.
| | - Sheng-Feng Shen
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, 115, Taiwan. .,Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, College of Life Science, National Taiwan University, Taipei, 115, Taiwan.
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10
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Tibbetts EA, Liu M, Laub EC, Shen SF. Complex signals alter recognition accuracy and conspecific acceptance thresholds. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2020; 375:20190482. [PMID: 32420854 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2019.0482] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Many aspects of behaviour depend on recognition, but accurate recognition is difficult because the traits used for recognition often overlap. For example, brood parasitic birds mimic host eggs, so it is challenging for hosts to discriminate between their own eggs and parasitic eggs. Complex signals that occur in multiple sensory modalities or involve multiple signal components are thought to facilitate accurate recognition. However, we lack models that explore the effect of complex signals on the evolution of recognition systems. Here, we use individual-based models with a genetic algorithm to test how complex signals influence recognition thresholds, signaller phenotypes and receiver responses. The model has three main results. First, complex signals lead to more accurate recognition than simple signals. Second, when two signals provide different amounts of information, receivers will rely on the more informative signal to make recognition decisions and may ignore the less informative signal. As a result, the particular traits used for recognition change over evolutionary time as sender and receiver phenotypes evolve. Third, complex signals are more likely to evolve when recognition errors are high cost than when errors are low cost. Overall, redundant, complex signals are an evolutionarily stable mechanism to reduce recognition errors. This article is part of the theme issue 'Signal detection theory in recognition systems: from evolving models to experimental tests'.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Ming Liu
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei 115, Taiwan, Republic of China
| | - Emily C Laub
- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Sheng-Feng Shen
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei 115, Taiwan, Republic of China
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11
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Tsai HY, Rubenstein DR, Fan YM, Yuan TN, Chen BF, Tang Y, Chen IC, Shen SF. Locally-adapted reproductive photoperiodism determines population vulnerability to climate change in burying beetles. Nat Commun 2020; 11:1398. [PMID: 32170152 PMCID: PMC7069978 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-15208-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/16/2019] [Accepted: 02/24/2020] [Indexed: 02/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Understanding how phenotypic traits vary among populations inhabiting different environments is critical for predicting a species' vulnerability to climate change. Yet, little is known about the key functional traits that determine the distribution of populations and the main mechanisms-phenotypic plasticity vs. local adaptation-underlying intraspecific functional trait variation. Using the Asian burying beetle Nicrophorus nepalensis, we demonstrate that mountain ranges differing in elevation and latitude offer unique thermal environments in which two functional traits-thermal tolerance and reproductive photoperiodism-interact to shape breeding phenology. We show that populations on different mountain ranges maintain similar thermal tolerances, but differ in reproductive photoperiodism. Through common garden and reciprocal transplant experiments, we confirm that reproductive photoperiodism is locally adapted and not phenotypically plastic. Accordingly, year-round breeding populations on mountains of intermediate elevation are likely to be most susceptible to future warming because maladaptation occurs when beetles try to breed at warmer temperatures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hsiang-Yu Tsai
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, 115, Taiwan
- Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, College of Life Science, National Taiwan University, Taipei, 115, Taiwan
| | - Dustin R Rubenstein
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology and Center for Integrative Animal Behavior, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10027, USA
| | - Yu-Meng Fan
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, 115, Taiwan
- Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, College of Life Science, National Taiwan University, Taipei, 115, Taiwan
| | - Tzu-Neng Yuan
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, 115, Taiwan
| | - Bo-Fei Chen
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, 115, Taiwan
| | - Yezhong Tang
- Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu, 61004, People's Republic of China
| | - I-Ching Chen
- Department of Life Sciences, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, 70101, Taiwan.
| | - Sheng-Feng Shen
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, 115, Taiwan.
- Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, College of Life Science, National Taiwan University, Taipei, 115, Taiwan.
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12
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Abstract
Bet-hedging-a strategy that reduces fitness variance at the expense of lower mean fitness among different generations-is thought to evolve as a biological adaptation to environmental unpredictability. Despite widespread use of the bet-hedging concept, most theoretical treatments have largely made unrealistic demographic assumptions, such as non-overlapping generations and fixed or infinite population sizes. Here, we extend the concept to consider overlapping generations by defining bet-hedging as a strategy with lower variance and mean per capita growth rate across different environments. We also define an opposing strategy-the rising-tide-that has higher mean but also higher variance in per capita growth. These alternative strategies lie along a continuum of biological adaptions to environmental fluctuation. Using stochastic Lotka-Volterra models to explore the evolution of the rising-tide versus bet-hedging strategies, we show that both the mean environmental conditions and the temporal scales of their fluctuations, as well as whether population dynamics are discrete or continuous, are crucial in shaping the type of strategy that evolves in fluctuating environments. Our model demonstrates that there are likely to be a wide range of ways that organisms with overlapping generations respond to environmental unpredictability beyond the classic bet-hedging concept.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ming Liu
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei 11529, Taiwan, Republic of China
| | - Dustin R Rubenstein
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA.,Center for Integrative Animal Behavior, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA
| | - Wei-Chung Liu
- Institute of Statistical Science, Academia Sinica, Taipei 11529, Taiwan, Republic of China
| | - Sheng-Feng Shen
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei 11529, Taiwan, Republic of China
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13
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Wu S, Chang CM, Mai GS, Rubenstein DR, Yang CM, Huang YT, Lin HH, Shih LC, Chen SW, Shen SF. Artificial intelligence reveals environmental constraints on colour diversity in insects. Nat Commun 2019; 10:4554. [PMID: 31591404 PMCID: PMC6779759 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-12500-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/09/2019] [Accepted: 09/10/2019] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Explaining colour variation among animals at broad geographic scales remains challenging. Here we demonstrate how deep learning-a form of artificial intelligence-can reveal subtle but robust patterns of colour feature variation along an ecological gradient, as well as help identify the underlying mechanisms generating this biogeographic pattern. Using over 20,000 images with precise GPS locality information belonging to nearly 2,000 moth species from Taiwan, our deep learning model generates a 2048-dimension feature vector that accurately predicts each species' mean elevation based on colour and shape features. Using this multidimensional feature vector, we find that within-assemblage image feature variation is smaller in high elevation assemblages. Structural equation modeling suggests that this reduced image feature diversity is likely the result of colder environments selecting for darker colouration, which limits the colour diversity of assemblages at high elevations. Ultimately, with the help of deep learning, we will be able to explore the endless forms of natural morphological variation at unpreceded depths.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shipher Wu
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, 11529, Taiwan
| | - Chun-Min Chang
- Institute of Information Science, Academia Sinica, Taipei, 11529, Taiwan
| | - Guan-Shuo Mai
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, 11529, Taiwan
| | - Dustin R Rubenstein
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10027, USA
- Center for Integrative Animal Behavior, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10027, USA
| | - Chen-Ming Yang
- Institute of Information Science, Academia Sinica, Taipei, 11529, Taiwan
| | - Yu-Ting Huang
- Institute of Information Science, Academia Sinica, Taipei, 11529, Taiwan
| | - Hsu-Hong Lin
- Taiwan Endemic Species Research Institute, Nantou, 552, Taiwan
| | - Li-Cheng Shih
- Taiwan Endemic Species Research Institute, Nantou, 552, Taiwan
| | - Sheng-Wei Chen
- Institute of Information Science, Academia Sinica, Taipei, 11529, Taiwan.
| | - Sheng-Feng Shen
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, 11529, Taiwan.
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14
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Abstract
In cooperatively breeding species, social conflict is typically assumed to underlie destructive behaviours like infanticide. However, an untested alternative hypothesis in birds is that infanticide in the form of egg tossing may simply be a parental response to partial nest predation representing a life-history trade-off. We examined egg tossing behaviour in the colonial and cooperatively breeding grey-capped social weaver (Pseudonigrita arnaudi), a plural breeder in which pairs nest separately, often in the same tree. Using infrared nest cameras, we found that 78% of the tossing events from 2012 to 2017 were committed by parents, suggesting that social conflict is unlikely to be the main reason underlying egg tossing in this species. Instead, reductions in clutch size due to both natural and experimentally simulated predation induced parental egg tossing. Our study suggests that destructive behaviour in cooperatively breeding birds can be shaped by a variety of mechanisms beyond social conflict and that alternative hypotheses must be considered when studying the adaptive significance of infanticide in group-living species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yi-Ru Cheng
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, 115 Taiwan, Republic of China.,Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology, Columbia University, 1200 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, NY 10027, USA
| | - Dustin R Rubenstein
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology, Columbia University, 1200 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, NY 10027, USA
| | - Sheng-Feng Shen
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, 115 Taiwan, Republic of China
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15
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Chan SF, Shih WK, Chang AY, Shen SF, Chen IC. Contrasting forms of competition set elevational range limits of species. Ecol Lett 2019; 22:1668-1679. [PMID: 31347240 DOI: 10.1111/ele.13342] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2019] [Revised: 04/06/2019] [Accepted: 06/18/2019] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
How abiotic and biotic factors constrain distribution limits at the harsh and benign edges of species ranges is hotly debated, partly because macroecological experiments testing the proximate causes of distribution limits are scarce. It has long been recognized - at least since Darwin's On the Origin of Species - that a harsh climate strengthens competition and thus sets species range limits. Using thorough field manipulations along a large elevation gradient, we show the mechanisms by which temperature determines competition type, resulting in a transition from interference to exploitative competition from the lower to the upper elevation limits in burying beetles (Nicrophorus nepalensis). This transition is an example of Darwin's classic hypothesis that benign climates favor direct competition for highly accessible resources while harsh climates result in competition through resources of high rivalry. We propose that identifying the properties of these key resources will provide a more predictive framework to understand the interplay between biotic and abiotic factors in determining geographic range limits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shih-Fan Chan
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, 11529, Taiwan
| | - Wei-Kai Shih
- Department of Life Sciences, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, 70101, Taiwan
| | - An-Yu Chang
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, 11529, Taiwan.,Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, National Taiwan University, Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, 10617, Taipei, 11529, Taiwan
| | - Sheng-Feng Shen
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, 11529, Taiwan
| | - I-Ching Chen
- Department of Life Sciences, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, 70101, Taiwan
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16
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Wilkins MR, Scordato ESC, Semenov GA, Karaardiç H, Shizuka D, Rubtsov A, Pap PL, Shen SF, Safran RJ. Global song divergence in barn swallows (Hirundo rustica): exploring the roles of genetic, geographical and climatic distance in sympatry and allopatry. Biol J Linn Soc Lond 2018. [DOI: 10.1093/biolinnean/bly012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Matthew R Wilkins
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, USA
- Center for Science Outreach, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Elizabeth S C Scordato
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA
- Biological Sciences Department, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, CA, USA
| | - Georgy A Semenov
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA
- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - Hakan Karaardiç
- Alanya Alaaddin Keykubat University, Education Faculty, Math and Science, Alanya, Turkey
| | - Daizaburo Shizuka
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, USA
| | | | - Peter L Pap
- Department of Taxonomy and Ecology, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
| | - Sheng-Feng Shen
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Rebecca J Safran
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA
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17
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Shen SF, Emlen ST, Koenig WD, Rubenstein DR. The ecology of cooperative breeding behaviour. Ecol Lett 2017; 20:708-720. [PMID: 28480586 DOI: 10.1111/ele.12774] [Citation(s) in RCA: 91] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2017] [Revised: 03/10/2017] [Accepted: 03/28/2017] [Indexed: 01/11/2023]
Abstract
Ecology is a fundamental driving force for the evolutionary transition from solitary living to breeding cooperatively in groups. However, the fact that both benign and harsh, as well as stable and fluctuating, environments can favour the evolution of cooperative breeding behaviour constitutes a paradox of environmental quality and sociality. Here, we propose a new model - the dual benefits framework - for resolving this paradox. Our framework distinguishes between two categories of grouping benefits - resource defence benefits that derive from group-defended critical resources and collective action benefits that result from social cooperation among group members - and uses insider-outsider conflict theory to simultaneously consider the interests of current group members (insiders) and potential joiners (outsiders) in determining optimal group size. We argue that the different grouping benefits realised from resource defence and collective action profoundly affect insider-outsider conflict resolution, resulting in predictable differences in the per capita productivity, stable group size, kin structure and stability of the social group. We also suggest that different types of environmental variation (spatial vs. temporal) select for societies that form because of the different grouping benefits, thus helping to resolve the paradox of why cooperative breeding evolves in such different types of environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sheng-Feng Shen
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, 115, Taiwan
| | - Stephen T Emlen
- Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA
| | - Walter D Koenig
- Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA.,Lab of Ornithology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14850, USA
| | - Dustin R Rubenstein
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10027, USA.,Center for Integrative Animal Behavior, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10027, USA
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18
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Wang HY, Chen YS, Hsu CC, Shen SF. Fishing-induced changes in adult length are mediated by skipped-spawning. Ecol Appl 2017; 27:274-284. [PMID: 28052500 DOI: 10.1002/eap.1441] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/06/2016] [Revised: 08/29/2016] [Accepted: 09/07/2016] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
Elucidating fishing effects on fish population dynamics is a critical step toward sustainable fisheries management. Despite previous studies that have suggested age or size truncation in exploited fish populations, other aspects of fishing effects on population demography, e.g., via altering life histories and density, have received less attention. Here, we investigated the fishing effects altering adult demography via shifting reproductive trade-offs in the iconic, overexploited, Pacific bluefin tuna Thunnus orientalis. We found that, contrary to our expectation, mean lengths of catch increased over time in longline fisheries. On the other hand, mean catch lengths for purse seine fisheries did not show such increasing trends. We hypothesized that the size-dependent energetic cost of the spawning migration and elevated fishing mortality on the spawning grounds potentially drive size-dependent skipped spawning for adult tuna, mediating the observed changes in the catch lengths. Using eco-genetic individual-based modeling, we demonstrated that fishing-induced evolution of skipped spawning and size truncation interacted to shape the observed temporal changes in mean catch lengths for tuna. Skipped spawning of the small adults led to increased mean catch lengths for the longline fisheries, while truncation of small adults by the purse seines could offset such a pattern. Our results highlight the eco-evolutionary dynamics of fishing effects on population demography and caution against using demographic traits as a basis for fisheries management of the Pacific bluefin tuna as well as other migratory species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hui-Yu Wang
- Institute of Oceanography, National Taiwan University, No. 1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Road, Taipei, 106, Taiwan
| | - Ying-Shiuan Chen
- Institute of Oceanography, National Taiwan University, No. 1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Road, Taipei, 106, Taiwan
| | - Chien-Chung Hsu
- Institute of Oceanography, National Taiwan University, No. 1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Road, Taipei, 106, Taiwan
| | - Sheng-Feng Shen
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, 115, Taiwan
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19
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Chan WP, Chen IC, Colwell RK, Liu WC, Huang CY, Shen SF. Seasonal and daily climate variation have opposite effects on species elevational range size. Science 2016; 351:1437-9. [DOI: 10.1126/science.aab4119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 78] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/23/2015] [Accepted: 02/17/2016] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Wei-Ping Chan
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei 11529, Taiwan
| | - I-Ching Chen
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei 11529, Taiwan
- Department of Life Sciences, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 70101, Taiwan
| | - Robert K. Colwell
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269, USA
- University of Colorado Museum of Natural History, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
- Departmento de Ecologia, Universidade Federal de Goiás, CP 131, 74.001-970 Goiânia, Goiás, Brazil
| | - Wei-Chung Liu
- Institute of Statistical Science, Academia Sinica, Taipei 11529, Taiwan
| | - Cho-ying Huang
- Department of Geography, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan
| | - Sheng-Feng Shen
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei 11529, Taiwan
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20
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Liu M, Zhong QD, Cheng YR, Li SH, Fang S, Pu CE, Yuan HW, Shen SF. The Genetic Relatedness in Groups of Joint-Nesting Taiwan Yuhinas: Low Genetic Relatedness with Preferences for Male Kin. PLoS One 2015; 10:e0127341. [PMID: 26086267 PMCID: PMC4472666 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0127341] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/15/2014] [Accepted: 04/14/2015] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
The relative importance of direct and indirect fitness and, thus, the role of kinship in the evolution of social behavior is much debated. Studying the genetic relatedness of interacting individuals is crucial to improving our understanding of these issues. Here, we used a seven-year data set to study the genetic structure of the Taiwan yuhina (Yuhina brunneciceps), a joint-nesting passerine. Ten microsatellite loci were used to investigate the pair-wised relatedness among yuhina breeding group members. We found that the average genetic relatedness between same-sex group members was very low (0.069 for male dyads and 0.016 for female dyads). There was also a low ratio of closely-related kin (r>0.25) in the cooperative breeding groups of yuhinas (21.59% and 9.68% for male and female dyads, respectively). However, the relatedness of male dyads within breeding groups was significantly higher than female dyads. Our results suggest that yuhina cooperation is maintained primarily by direct fitness benefits to individuals; however, kin selection might play a role in partner choice for male yuhinas. Our study also highlights an important, but often neglected, question: Why do animals form non-kin groups, if kin are available? We use biological market theory to propose an explanation for group formation of unrelated Taiwan yuhinas.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mark Liu
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Quen-Dian Zhong
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
- School of Forestry and Resource Conservation, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Yi-Ru Cheng
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Shou-Hsien Li
- Department of Life Science, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Shu Fang
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Chang-En Pu
- Scientific and Technical Research Center Investigation Bureau, Ministry of justice, Hsin-Tien, Taiwan
| | - Hsiao-Wei Yuan
- School of Forestry and Resource Conservation, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
- * E-mail: (SFS); (HWY)
| | - Sheng-Feng Shen
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
- * E-mail: (SFS); (HWY)
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21
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Abstract
The ability to form cooperative societies may explain why humans and social insects have come to dominate the earth. Here we examine the ecological consequences of cooperation by quantifying the fitness of cooperative (large groups) and non-cooperative (small groups) phenotypes in burying beetles (Nicrophorus nepalensis) along an elevational and temperature gradient. We experimentally created large and small groups along the gradient and manipulated interspecific competition with flies by heating carcasses. We show that cooperative groups performed as thermal generalists with similarly high breeding success at all temperatures and elevations, whereas non-cooperative groups performed as thermal specialists with higher breeding success only at intermediate temperatures and elevations. Studying the ecological consequences of cooperation may not only help us to understand why so many species of social insects have conquered the earth, but also to determine how climate change will affect the success of these and other social species, including our own. DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.02440.001 The ability to live and work together in groups likely helped the earliest humans to leave their savannah homes in Africa and successfully settle around the globe. In doing so, humans shifted from being savannah specialists to generalists able to cope with a range of different environments. Cooperation is also believed to be a key to the global success of social insects like bees and ants. However, testing the idea that cooperation allows animals to become generalists that thrive in diverse environments—an idea referred to as the ‘social conquest hypothesis’—is difficult. Climate change has added a new sense of urgency to understanding how species adapt to changing environments, and some studies of humans and other animals have suggested that cooperation may increase or decrease in changing environments. Living in social groups has both benefits and drawbacks: it helps some animals to avoid being eaten by predators, but it also creates more competition for mates, food or other resources. As such, predicting how climate change will impact human and animal societies has also been difficult to test. Sun et al. have now tested the social conquest hypothesis by looking at how changes in environmental conditions affect the social behavior of the burying beetle. These insects find dead animals and then bury them to be eaten by their larvae. Burying beetles often fight each other to ensure that their own young get exclusive access to a food source. However, working together allows the beetles to bury a carcass before flies and other competitors discover it. Sun et al. compared how much the beetles cooperated at different elevations in the mountains of Taiwan. At each elevation the beetles faced different challenges: higher elevations were colder but had fewer flies, while lower elevations were warmer but had more flies. Although burying beetles tended to work together more at warmer elevations, where the competition from flies was the most intense, beetles that cooperated with each other were able to successfully breed at all elevations. On the other hand, beetles that were less cooperative were best adapted to raising their young at more moderate elevations, where the climate and competition were less harsh. Similar results were seen when Sun et al. created non-cooperative and cooperative groups of beetles at different elevations and provided each group with a rat carcass. Further experiments that used heaters to artificially warm the carcasses directly proved that cooperation among beetles was indeed encouraged by higher temperatures. Many studies have suggested that global warming might cause higher levels of conflict in human societies. But by studying how changes in an environment impact cooperation in burying beetles, Sun et al. provide new insights into how climate change may affect the future success of other social animals, including humans. DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.02440.002
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Affiliation(s)
- Syuan-Jyun Sun
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan Department of Entomology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Dustin R Rubenstein
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology, Columbia University, New York, United States
| | - Bo-Fei Chen
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Shih-Fan Chan
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Jian-Nan Liu
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Mark Liu
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Wenbe Hwang
- Department of Ecoscience and Ecotechnology, National University of Tainan, Tainan, Taiwan
| | - Ping-Shih Yang
- Department of Entomology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Sheng-Feng Shen
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
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22
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Abstract
Conflicts of interest over resources or reproduction among individuals in a social group have long been considered to result in automatic and universal costs to group living. However, exploring how social conflict varies with group size has produced mixed empirical results. Here we develop a model that generates alternative predictions for how social conflict should vary with group size depending on the type of benefits gained from being in a social group. We show that a positive relationship between social conflict and group size is favored when groups form primarily for the benefits of sociality but not when groups form mainly for accessing group-defended resources. Thus, increased social conflict in animal societies should not be viewed as an automatic cost of larger social groups. Instead, studying the relationship between social conflict and the types of grouping benefits will be crucial for understanding the evolution of complex societies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sheng-Feng Shen
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei 115, Taiwan
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23
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24
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Shen SF, Wang RL, Lu L, Li SF, Liu SB, Xie JJ, Zhang LY, Wang ML, Luo XG. Effect of intravenously injected zinc on tissue zinc and metallothionein gene expression of broilers. Br Poult Sci 2013; 54:381-90. [PMID: 23705842 DOI: 10.1080/00071668.2013.787158] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Abstract
1. The effect of intravenously injected zinc (Zn) on tissue Zn concentrations and pancreas metallothionein (MT) gene expression in broilers was investigated to detect differences in the tissue utilisation of Zn from different Zn sources. 2. A total of 432 male chickens were randomly allotted on d 22 post-hatch to one of nine treatments in a completely randomised design. Chickens were injected with either a 0.9% (w/v) NaCl solution (control) or a saline solution supplemented with Zn sulphate or one of three organic Zn chelates with weak (Zn-AA W), moderate (Zn-Pro M) or strong (Zn-Pro S) chelation strengths at two injected Zn dosages calculated according to two Zn absorbability levels (6 and 12%). 3. Bone and pancreas Zn concentrations, pancreas MT mRNA levels and MT concentrations increased on d 6 and 12 after Zn injections as the injected Zn dosages increased. Chickens injected with the Zn-Pro S had lower bone Zn concentration than those injected with the Zn-Pro M or Zn-AA W on d 6 after injections. However, no differences among Zn sources were observed in bone Zn concentration on d 12 after injections, pancreas Zn concentrations, pancreas MT mRNA levels and MT concentrations on both d 6 and d 12 after injections. 4. It was concluded that the injected Zn-Pro S was the least favourable for bone Zn utilisation of broilers. The pancreas Zn concentration and pancreas MT gene expressions might not be sensitive enough to detect differences in the tissue utilisation of injected Zn in broilers between organic and inorganic Zn sources or among organic Zn sources.
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Affiliation(s)
- S F Shen
- Mineral Nutrition Research Division, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences,No. 2Yuanmingyuan West Road, Haidian, Beijing, People's Republic of China
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25
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Shen SF, Reeve HK, Vehrencamp SL. Parental care, cost of reproduction and reproductive skew: a general costly young model. J Theor Biol 2011; 284:24-31. [PMID: 21703276 DOI: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2011.05.028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/23/2009] [Revised: 04/15/2011] [Accepted: 05/23/2011] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
Understanding the mechanisms by which animals resolve conflicts of interest is the key to understanding the basis of cooperation in social species. Conflict over reproductive portioning is the critical type of conflict among cooperative breeders. The costly young model represents an important, but underappreciated, idea about how an individual's intrinsic condition and cost of reproduction should affect the resolution of conflict over the distribution of reproduction within a cooperatively breeding group. However, dominant control in various forms and fixed parental care (offspring fitness dependent solely on total brood size) are assumed in previous versions of costly young models. Here, we develop a general costly young model by relaxing the restrictive assumptions of existing models. Our results show that (1) when the complete-control assumption is relaxed, the costly young model behaves very differently from the original model, and (2) when the fixed parental care assumption is relaxed, the costly young-costly care model displays similar predictions to the tug-of-war model, although the underlying mechanisms causing these similar patterns are different. These results, we believe, help simplify the seemingly divergent predictions of different reproductive skew models and highlight the importance of studying the group members' intrinsic conditions, costs of producing young, and costs of parental care for understanding breeding conflict resolution in cooperatively breeding animals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sheng-Feng Shen
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei 106, Taiwan.
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26
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Shen SF, Kern Reeve H. Reproductive skew theory unified: The general bordered tug-of-war model. J Theor Biol 2010; 263:1-12. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2009.11.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2009] [Revised: 11/12/2009] [Accepted: 11/12/2009] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
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27
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Abstract
Offspring often compete over limited available resources. Such sibling competition may be detrimental to parents both because it entails wasted expenditure and because it allows stronger offspring to obtain a disproportionate share of resources. We studied nestling conflict over food and its resolution in a joint-nesting species of bird, the Taiwan yuhina (Yuhina brunneiceps). We show that adult yuhinas coordinate their feeding visits, and that this coordination limits competition among nestlings, leading to a 'fairer' division of resources. Transponder identification and video-recording systems were used to observe adult feeding and nestling begging behaviours. We found that: (i) yuhinas feed nestlings more often in large parties than in small parties; (ii) feeding events occurred non-randomly in bouts of very short intervals; and (iii) food distribution among nestlings was more evenly distributed, and fewer nestlings begged, during large-party feeding bouts compared with small-party feeding bouts. To our knowledge, this is the first study in a cooperative breeding species showing that adults can influence food allocation and competition among nestlings by coordinating their feeding visits. Our results confirm the hypothesis that the monopolizability of food affects the intensity of sibling competition, and highlight the importance of understanding the temporal strategies of food delivery.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sheng-Feng Shen
- Department of Neurobiology and Behavior and Lab of Ornithology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, NY 14853, USA
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28
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Lu Y, Wang Y, Shen SF, Yan LH, Zhai SJ, Chen BJ, Zhang JF, Zhou SF. Biodegradation of organic compounds from coking wastewater with UASB reactor. Water Sci Technol 2010; 62:1784-1790. [PMID: 20962393 DOI: 10.2166/wst.2010.543] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/30/2023]
Abstract
The UASB reactor was applied for biodegradation of organic compounds in coking wastewater. The influent pH ranged between 6.8 and 7.2, and stirring speed and temperature were controlled at 2 r/min and 30±1°C, respectively. The reactor was successfully started up in 133 days. When the influent COD was 2,600 mg/L (VLR was 2.6 kg/m(3) d), the removal rate of COD was about 54% and the effluent VFA was below 400 mg/L. GC/MS analysis indicated that the coking wastewater mainly contained aniline, phenol, o-phenol, p-cresol, benzoic acid, indole, quinoline etc. Twenty four kinds of organic compounds were detected in the influent, and 20 kinds of organic compounds were completely removed in the UASB reactor. The biodegradation of organic compounds followed Grau second-order kinetics. It was proved to be an effective and feasible method for coking wastewater anaerobic treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Y Lu
- School of Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University of Science & Technology, Nanjing 210094, People's Republic of China.
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29
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Abstract
Models of reproductive skew can be classified into two groups: transactional models, in which group members yield shares of reproduction to each other in return for cooperation, and tug-of-war models, in which group members invest group resources in a tug-of-war over their respective reproductive shares. We synthesize these two models to yield a "bordered tug-of-war" model in which the internal tug-of-war is limited ("bordered") by the requirement that group members must achieve a certain amount of reproduction lest they pursue a noncooperative option leading to group breakup. Previous attempts to synthesize these two models did not allow for the fact that the tug-of-war will affect group output, which in turn feeds back on the reproductive payments required by group members to remain cooperative. The bordered tug-of-war model, which does not assume complete reproductive control by any individual and allows for conflict within groups, predicts that the degree of within-group selfishness will increase as the noncooperative options become less attractive, e.g., as ecological constraints on solitary breeding increase. When the noncooperative option involves fighting for the group resource (e.g., territory) and leaving if the fight is lost, the subordinate's overall share of reproduction is predicted to be independent of its relatedness to the dominant and to increase the greater its probability of winning the fight, the less the value of the territory, and the greater its personal payoff for leaving. The unique predictions of the bordered tug-of-war model may fit skew data from a number of species, including meerkats, lions, and wood mice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hudson Kern Reeve
- Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853.
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30
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Abstract
Most evolutionary game theory models solve for equilibrium levels of some behaviour on the restrictive assumptions that players choose their actions simultaneously, and that a player cannot change its action after observing that of its opponent. An alternative framework is provided by sequential or 'Stackelberg' games in which one player commits to a 'first move' and the other has an opportunity to observe this move before choosing its response. Recent interest in the economic literature has focused on Stackelberg games which exhibit 'endogenous timing', i.e. games in which a leader and a follower arise spontaneously as a consequence of each player attempting to maximize its reward. Here, we provide the first demonstration of endogenous timing in an evolutionary context using a simple model of resource competition (the 'tug-of-war' model). We show that whenever two related individuals compete for a share of communal resources, both do best to adopt distinct roles in a sequential game rather than engage in simultaneous competition. Somewhat counterintuitively, the stable solution is for the weaker individual to act as leader and commit to a first move, because this arrangement leads to a lower total effort invested in competition. Endogenous timing offers a new explanation for the spontaneous emergence of leaders and followers in social groups, and highlights the benefits of commitment in social interaction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael A Cant
- Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK.
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Huang YM, Shen SF. [Experimental and clinical studies of the effect of dahuang zhechong wan on hyperlipemia]. Zhong Xi Yi Jie He Za Zhi 1989; 9:589-92, 580. [PMID: 2605735] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
Experimental and clinical researches were done for the purpose of that to treat the hyperlipemia with Dahuang Zhechong Wan (DHZCW). The patients of primary hyperlipemia were divided into two groups. One group was treated with DHZCW, the other with inositol nicotinate as control. DHZCW could reduce the serum total cholesterol (0.05 less than P less than 0.2), triglyceride (P less than 0.05), the blood viscosity (P less than 0.01), reductive viscosity (P less than 0.001) and fibrinogen (0.05 less than P less than 0.2). No significant change of the other item of hemorheology, HDL-c and the subfraction were observed. No significant differential effect between those two groups. The experimental hyperlipidemic model was made by feeding cholesterol and axungia on rabbits. The results showed that DHZCW could reduce the serum total cholesterol (P less than 0.05), triglyceride (P less than 0.05), beta-LP (P less than 0.01), the blood viscosity (P less than 0.05) and plasma viscosity (P less than 0.05), but no significant effect on HDL-c and its subfraction, ESR, index of erythrocytic deformation and hematocrit. DHZCW could change the viscosity of blood of hyperlipemia and reduce the total cholesterol, triglyceride and fibrinogen of the blood. It might have some beneficial effects on atherosclerosis and prevent ischemic cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases.
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Tang ZL, Shen SF. [A study of Laminaria digitata powder on experimental hyperlipoproteinemia and its hemorrheology]. Zhong Xi Yi Jie He Za Zhi 1989; 9:223-5, 198. [PMID: 2758518] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Abstract
Twenty rabbits with experimental hyperlipoproteinemia were divided randomly into two groups. The first group was administered Laminaria digitata powder (1 g daily) for 14 days. Another was given only the routine menu. It was found that the Laminaria digitata had a significant effect of lowering total cholesterol, -lipoprotein, especially triglyceride (P less than 0.01), meanwhile it could increase the level of HDL-c and HDL2-c. Also it could reduce relative blood viscosity, relative plasma viscosity, reductive viscosity and fibrinogen very significantly (P less than 0.01). However HDL3-c, hematocrit and index of erythrocytic deformability were not much influenced (P greater than 0.05). This experiment showed that there was a connection between the blood lipids and the concept of "Phlegm" in TCM.
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