Ionizing radiation and melanism in Chornobyl tree frogs.

Human actions are altering ecosystems worldwide. Among human-released pollutants, ionizing radiation arises as a rare but potentially devastating threat to natural systems. The Chornobyl accident (1986) represents the largest release of radioactive material to the environment.

Rising temperatures threaten pollinators of fig trees-Keystone resources of tropical forests.

Pollinating insects are decreasing worldwide in abundance, biomass, and species richness, affecting the plants that rely on pollinators for fruit production and seed set. Insects are often sensitive to high temperatures. The projected temperature increases may therefore severely affect plants that rely on insect pollinators.

Unusual evolution of tree frog populations in the Chernobyl exclusion zone.

Despite the ubiquity of pollutants in the environment, their long-term ecological consequences are not always clear and still poorly studied. This is the case concerning the radioactive contamination of the environment following the major nuclear accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Notwithstanding the implications of evolutionary processes on the population status, few studies concern the evolution of organisms chronically exposed to ionizing radiation in the Chernobyl exclusion zone.

How to achieve a higher selection plateau in forest tree breeding? Fostering heterozygote × homozygote relationships in optimal contribution selection in the case study of .

In breeding, optimal contribution selection (OCS) is one of the most effective strategies to balance short- and long-term genetic responses, by maximizing genetic gain and minimizing global coancestry. Considering genetic diversity in the selection dynamic-through coancestry-is undoubtedly the reason for the success of OCS, as it avoids preliminary loss of favorable alleles. Originally formulated with the pedigree relationship matrix, global coancestry can nowadays be assessed with one of the possible formulations of the realized genomic relationship matrix.

Divergent selection on flowering phenology but not on floral morphology between two closely related orchids.

Closely related species often differ in traits that influence reproductive success, suggesting that divergent selection on such traits contribute to the maintenance of species boundaries. G ss. and are two closely related, perennial orchid species that differ in (a) floral traits important for pollination, including flowering phenology, floral display, and spur length, and (b) dominant pollinators.

Assessing the potential for assisted gene flow using past introduction of Norway spruce in southern Sweden: Local adaptation and genetic basis of quantitative traits in trees.

Norway spruce () is a dominant conifer species of major economic importance in northern Europe. Extensive breeding programs were established to improve phenotypic traits of economic interest. In southern Sweden, seeds used to create progeny tests were collected on about 3,000 trees of outstanding phenotype ('plus' trees) across the region.

Parental genetic similarity and offspring performance in blue tits in relation to brood size manipulation.

In birds, as in many other taxa, higher genetic similarity of mates has long been known to reduce offspring fitness. To date, the majority of avian studies have focused on examination whether the genetic similarity of social mates predicts hatching success. Yet, increased genetic similarity of mates may also reduce offspring fitness during later life stages, including the nestling period and beyond.

Genomic data provide new insights on the demographic history and the extent of recent material transfers in Norway spruce.

Primeval forests are today exceedingly rare in Europe, and transfer of forest reproductive material for afforestation and improvement has been very common, especially over the last two centuries. This can be a serious impediment when inferring past population movements in response to past climate changes such as the last glacial maximum (LGM), some 18,000 years ago. In the present study, we genotyped 1,672 individuals from three species (, , and ) at 400K SNPs using exome capture to infer the past demographic history of Norway spruce () and estimate the amount of recent introduction used to establish the Norway spruce breeding program in southern Sweden.

Implications of existing local (mal)adaptations for ecological forecasting under environmental change.

Standing genetic variation represents a genetic load on population fitness but can also support a rapid response to short-term environmental change, and the greatest potential source of such standing genetic variation typically exists among locally adapted populations living along an environmental gradient. Here, we develop a spatially explicit simulation model to quantify the contribution of existing genetic variation arising from migration-mutation-selection-drift balance to time to extinction under environmental change. Simulations reveal that local adaptation across a species range associated with an underlying environmental gradient could extend time to extinction by nearly threefold irrespective of the rate of environmental change.

Asymmetrical habitat coupling of an aquatic predator-The importance of individual specialization.

Predators should stabilize food webs because they can move between spatially separate habitats. However, predators adapted to forage on local resources may have a reduced ability to couple habitats. Here, we show clear asymmetry in the ability to couple habitats by Eurasian perch-a common polymorphic predator in European lakes.

The independent and combined effects of floral traits distinguishing two pollination ecotypes of a moth-pollinated orchid.

Identifying traits and agents of selection involved in local adaptation is important for understanding population divergence. In southern Sweden, the moth-pollinated orchid occurs as a woodland and a grassland ecotype that differ in dominating pollinators. The woodland ecotype is taller (expected to influence pollinator attraction) and produces flowers with longer spurs (expected to influence efficiency of pollen transfer) compared to the grassland ecotype.

Interspecific transfer of parasites following a range-shift in flycatchers.

Human-induced climate change is expected to cause major biotic changes in species distributions and thereby including escalation of novel host-parasite associations. Closely related host species that come into secondary contact are especially likely to exchange parasites and pathogens. Both the Enemy Release Hypothesis (where invading hosts escape their original parasites) and the Novel Weapon Hypothesis (where invading hosts bring new parasites that have detrimental effects on native hosts) predict that the local host will be most likely to experience a disadvantage.

Host diet mediates a negative relationship between abundance and diversity of gut microbiota.

Nutrient supply to ecosystems has major effects on ecological diversity, but it is unclear to what degree the shape of this relationship is general versus dependent on the specific environment or community. Although the diet composition in terms of the source or proportions of different nutrient types is known to affect gut microbiota composition, the relationship between the quantity of nutrients supplied and the abundance and diversity of the intestinal microbial community remains to be elucidated. Here, we address this relationship using replicate populations of maintained over multiple generations on three diets differing in the concentration of yeast (the only source of most nutrients).

Past and potential future population dynamics of three grouse species using ecological and whole genome coalescent modeling.

Studying demographic history of species provides insight into how the past has shaped the current levels of overall biodiversity and genetic composition of species, but also how these species may react to future perturbations. Here we investigated the demographic history of the willow grouse (), rock ptarmigan (), and black grouse () through the Late Pleistocene using two complementary methods and whole genome data. Species distribution modeling (SDM) allowed us to estimate the total range size during the Last Interglacial (LIG) and Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) as well as to indicate potential population subdivisions.

Difference in plasticity of resting metabolic rate - the proximate explanation to different niche breadth in sympatric flycatchers.

Variation in relative fitness of competing recently formed species across heterogeneous environments promotes coexistence. However, the physiological traits mediating such variation in relative fitness have rarely been identified. Resting metabolic rate (RMR) is tightly associated with life history strategies, thermoregulation, diet use, and inhabited latitude and could therefore moderate differences in fitness responses to fluctuations in local environments, particularly when species have adapted to different climates in allopatry.

Explosive radiation and spatial expansion across the cold environments of the Old World in an avian family.

Our objective was to elucidate the biogeography and speciation patterns in an entire avian family, which shows a complex pattern of overlapping and nonoverlapping geographical distributions, and much variation in plumage, but less in size and structure. We estimated the phylogeny and divergence times for all of the world's species of based on multiple genetic loci, and analyzed morphometric divergence and biogeographical history. The common ancestor of was present in the Sino-Himalayan Mountains or these mountains and Central Asia-Mongolia more than 9 million years ago (mya), but a burst of speciations took place during the mid-Pliocene to early Pleistocene.

A worldwide phylogeography of the whiteworm lichens reveals three lineages with distinct habitats and evolutionary histories.

is a lichenized fungus with an extremely wide distribution, being encountered in arctic and alpine environments in most continents. In this study, we used molecular markers to investigate the population structure of the fungal symbiont and the associated photosynthetic partner of . By analyzing molecular, morphological, and chemical variation among 253 specimens covering the species distribution range, we revealed the existence of three mycobiont lineages.

Maximum thermal tolerance trades off with chronic tolerance of high temperature in contrasting thermal populations of .

Thermal adaptation theory predicts that thermal specialists evolve in environments with low temporal and high spatial thermal variation, whereas thermal generalists are favored in environments with high temporal and low spatial variation. The thermal environment of many organisms is predicted to change with globally increasing temperatures and thermal specialists are presumably at higher risk than thermal generalists. Here we investigated critical thermal maximum (CT ) and preferred temperature () in populations of the common pond snail () originating from a small-scale system of geothermal springs in northern Iceland, where stable cold (ca.

Genomics advances the study of inbreeding depression in the wild.

Inbreeding depression (reduced fitness of individuals with related parents) has long been a major focus of ecology, evolution, and conservation biology. Despite decades of research, we still have a limited understanding of the strength, underlying genetic mechanisms, and demographic consequences of inbreeding depression in the wild. Studying inbreeding depression in natural populations has been hampered by the inability to precisely measure individual inbreeding.

Interspecific variation in the relationship between clutch size, laying date and intensity of urbanization in four species of hole-nesting birds.

The increase in size of human populations in urban and agricultural areas has resulted in considerable habitat conversion globally. Such anthropogenic areas have specific environmental characteristics, which influence the physiology, life history, and population dynamics of plants and animals. For example, the date of bud burst is advanced in urban compared to nearby natural areas.

A further cost for the sicker sex? Evidence for male-biased parasite-induced vulnerability to predation.

Males are typically the sicker sex. Data from multiple taxa indicate that they are more likely to be infected with parasites, and are less "tolerant," or less able to mitigate the fitness costs of a given infection, than females. One cost of infection for many animals is an increased probability of being captured by a predator.

Developmental plasticity increases at the northern range margin in a warm-dependent amphibian.

Accurate predictions regarding how climate change affects species and populations are crucial for the development of effective conservation measures. However, models forecasting the impact of climate change on natural environments do not often consider the geographic variation of an organism's life history. We examined variation in developmental plasticity to changing temperature in the pool frog (Pelophylax lessonae) across its distribution by studying populations from central areas (Poland), edge populations (Latvia) and northern marginal populations (Sweden).