Heatwave-Induced Paternal Effects Have Limited Adaptive Benefits in Offspring.

As the threat of climate change and associated heatwaves grows, we need to understand how natural populations will respond. Inter-generational non-genetic inheritance may play a key role in rapid adaptation, but whether such mechanisms are truly adaptive and sufficient to protect wild populations is unclear. The contribution of paternal effects in particular is not fully understood, even though the male reproductive system may be highly sensitive to heatwaves.

Tests of evolutionary and genetic rescue using flour beetles, , experimentally evolved to thermal conditions.

Small, isolated populations are often characterised by low levels of genetic diversity. This can result in inbreeding depression and reduced capacity to adapt to changes in the environment, and therefore higher risk of extinction. However, sometimes these populations can be rescued if allowed to increase in size or if migrants enter, bringing in new allelic variation and thus increasing genetic diversity.

Grand challenges in entomology: Priorities for action in the coming decades.

Entomology is key to understanding terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems at a time of unprecedented anthropogenic environmental change and offers substantial untapped potential to benefit humanity in a variety of ways, from improving agricultural practices to managing vector-borne diseases and inspiring technological advances.We identified high priority challenges for entomology using an inclusive, open, and democratic four-stage prioritisation approach, conducted among the membership and affiliates (hereafter 'members') of the UK-based Royal Entomological Society (RES).A list of 710 challenges was gathered from 189 RES members.

The importance of multi-year studies and commercial yield metrics in measuring pollinator dependence ratios: A case study in UK raspberries L.

The benefit of pollinators to crop production is normally calculated using "pollinator dependence ratios," which reflect the proportion of yield lost (here reported as a value between 0 and 1) in the absence of pollinators; these ratios are quantified experimentally using pollinator exclusion experiments. Pollinator dependence ratio estimates can vary considerably for a single crop, creating large, frequently overlooked, uncertainty in economic valuations of pollinators. The source of this variation is usually unclear.

Sex-dependent effects of parental age on offspring fitness in a cooperatively breeding bird.

Parental age can have considerable effects on offspring phenotypes and health. However, intergenerational effects may also have longer term effects on offspring fitness. Few studies have investigated parental age effects on offspring fitness in natural populations while also testing for sex- and environment-specific effects.

Photocatalytic Removal of the Greenhouse Gas Nitrous Oxide by Liposomal Microreactors.

Nitrous oxide (NO) is a potent greenhouse and ozone-reactive gas for which emissions are growing rapidly due to increasingly intensive agriculture. Synthetic catalysts for NO decomposition typically contain precious metals and/or operate at elevated temperatures driving a desire for more sustainable alternatives. Here we demonstrate self-assembly of liposomal microreactors enabling catalytic reduction of NO to the climate neutral product N.

Effects of pair migratory behavior on breeding phenology and success in a partially migratory shorebird population.

In migratory systems, variation in individual phenology can arise through differences in individual migratory behaviors, and this may be particularly apparent in partial migrant systems, where migrant and resident individuals are present within the same population. Links between breeding phenology and migratory behavior or success are generally investigated at the individual level. However, for breeding phenology in particular, the migratory behaviors of each member of the pair may need to be considered simultaneously, as breeding phenology will likely be constrained by timing of the pair member that arrives last, and carryover effects on breeding success may vary depending on whether pair members share the same migratory behavior or not.

Seychelles warblers with silver spoons: Juvenile body mass is a lifelong predictor of annual survival, but not annual reproduction or senescence.

The environment experienced during development, and its impact on intrinsic condition, can have lasting outcomes for individual phenotypes and could contribute to variation in adult senescence trajectories. However, the nature of this relationship in wild populations remains uncertain, owing to the difficulties in summarizing natal conditions and in long-term monitoring of individuals from free-roaming long-lived species. Utilizing a closely monitored, closed population of Seychelles warblers (), we determine whether juvenile body mass is associated with natal socioenvironmental factors, specific genetic traits linked to fitness in this system, survival to adulthood, and senescence-related traits.

Early-life conditions impact juvenile telomere length, but do not predict later life-history strategies or fitness in a wild vertebrate.

Environmental conditions experienced during early life may have long-lasting effects on later-life phenotypes and fitness. Individuals experiencing poor early-life conditions may suffer subsequent fitness constraints. Alternatively, individuals may use a strategic "Predictive Adaptive Response" (PAR), whereby they respond-in terms of physiology or life-history strategy-to the conditions experienced in early life to maximize later-life fitness.

Mechanistic insights into the key marine dimethylsulfoniopropionate synthesis enzyme DsyB/DSYB.

Marine algae and bacteria produce approximately eight billion tonnes of the organosulfur molecule dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) in Earth's surface oceans annually. DMSP is an antistress compound and, once released into the environment, a major nutrient, signaling molecule, and source of climate-active gases. The methionine transamination pathway for DMSP synthesis is used by most known DMSP-producing algae and bacteria.

Prey life-history influences the evolution of egg mass and indirectly reproductive investment in a group of free-living insect predators.

The balance between risk and benefit of exploiting resources drives life-history evolution in organisms. Predators are naturally recognized as major drivers of the life-history evolution of their prey. Although prey may also influence the life-history evolution of their predators in the context of an evolutionary arms race, there is far more evidence of the role of predators than of prey.

Ageing as "early-life inertia": Disentangling life-history trade-offs along a lifetime of an individual.

The theory that ageing evolves because of competitive resource allocation between the soma and the germline has been challenged by studies showing that somatic maintenance can be improved without impairing reproduction. However, it has been suggested that cost-free improvement in somatic maintenance is possible only under a narrow range of benign conditions. Here, we show that experimental downregulation of insulin/IGF-1 signaling (IIS) in nematodes, a robustly reproducible life span- and health span-extending treatment, reduces fitness in a complex variable environment when initiated during development but does not reduce fitness when initiated in adulthood.

Domestication-induced reduction in eye size revealed in multiple common garden experiments: The case of Atlantic salmon ( L.).

Domestication leads to changes in traits that are under directional selection in breeding programmes, though unintentional changes in nonproduction traits can also arise. In offspring of escaping fish and any hybrid progeny, such unintentionally altered traits may reduce fitness in the wild. Atlantic salmon breeding programmes were established in the early 1970s, resulting in genetic changes in multiple traits.

Ageing European lobsters () using DNA methylation of evolutionarily conserved ribosomal DNA.

Crustaceans are notoriously difficult to age because of their indeterminate growth and the moulting of their exoskeleton throughout life. The poor knowledge of population age structure in crustaceans therefore hampers accurate assessment of population dynamics and consequently sustainable fisheries management. Quantification of DNA methylation of the evolutionarily conserved ribosomal DNA (rDNA) may allow for age prediction across diverse species.

Helpers compensate for age-related declines in parental care and offspring survival in a cooperatively breeding bird.

Offspring from elderly parents often have lower survival due to parental senescence. In cooperatively breeding species, where offspring care is shared between breeders and helpers, the alloparental care provided by helpers is predicted to mitigate the impact of parental senescence on offspring provisioning and, subsequently, offspring survival. We test this prediction using data from a long-term study on cooperatively breeding Seychelles warblers ().

Help or hindrance? The evolutionary impact of whole-genome duplication on immunogenetic diversity and parasite load.

Whole-genome duplication (WGD) events occur in all kingdoms and have been hypothesized to promote adaptability. WGDs identified in the early history of vertebrates, teleosts, and angiosperms have been linked to the large-scale diversification of these lineages. However, the mechanics and full outcomes of WGD regarding potential evolutionary impacts remain a topic of debate.

Environmental variation mediates the evolution of anticipatory parental effects.

Theory maintains that when future environment is predictable, parents should adjust the phenotype of their offspring to match the anticipated environment. The plausibility of positive anticipatory parental effects is hotly debated and the experimental evidence for the evolution of such effects is currently lacking. We experimentally investigated the evolution of anticipatory maternal effects in a range of environments that differ drastically in how predictable they are.

Fitness consequences of redundant cues of competition in male .

Phenotypic plasticity can allow animals to adapt their behavior, such as their mating effort, to their social and sexual environment. However, this relies on the individual receiving accurate and reliable cues of the environmental conditions. This can be achieved via the receipt of multimodal cues, which may provide redundancy and robustness.

Resource-dependent evolution of female resistance responses to sexual conflict.

Sexual conflict can promote the evolution of dramatic reproductive adaptations as well as resistance to its potentially costly effects. Theory predicts that responses to sexual conflict will vary significantly with resource levels-when scant, responses should be constrained by trade-offs, when abundant, they should not. However, this can be difficult to test because the evolutionary interests of the sexes align upon short-term exposure to novel environments, swamping any selection due to sexual conflict.

Adaptive landscape genetics and malaria across divergent island bird populations.

Environmental conditions play a major role in shaping the spatial distributions of pathogens, which in turn can drive local adaptation and divergence in host genetic diversity. Haemosporidians, such as (malaria), are a strong selective force, impacting survival and fitness of hosts, with geographic distributions largely determined by habitat suitability for their insect vectors. Here, we have tested whether patterns of fine-scale local adaptation to malaria are replicated across discrete, ecologically differing island populations of Berthelot's pipits .

Improving pulse crops as a source of protein, starch and micronutrients.

Pulse crops have been known for a long time to have beneficial nutritional profiles for human diets but have been neglected in terms of cultivation, consumption and scientific research in many parts of the world. Broad dietary shifts will be required if anthropogenic climate change is to be mitigated in the future, and pulse crops should be an important component of this change by providing an environmentally sustainable source of protein, resistant starch and micronutrients. Further enhancement of the nutritional composition of pulse crops could benefit human health, helping to alleviate micronutrient deficiencies and reduce risk of chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes.

Why do earlier-arriving migratory birds have better breeding success?

In migratory birds, early arrival on breeding sites is typically associated with greater breeding success, but the mechanisms driving these benefits are rarely known. One mechanism through which greater breeding success among early arrivers can potentially be achieved is the increased time available for replacement clutches following nest loss. However, the contribution of replacement clutches to breeding success will depend on seasonal variation in nest survival rates, and the consequences for juvenile recruitment of hatching at different times in the season.

Selection for longer lived sperm within ejaculate reduces reproductive ageing in offspring.

Males produce numerous sperm in a single ejaculate that greatly outnumber their potential egg targets. Recent studies found that phenotypic and genotypic variation among sperm in a single ejaculate of a male affects the fitness and performance of the resulting offspring. Specifically, within-ejaculate sperm selection for sperm longevity increased the performance of the resulting offspring in several key life-history traits in early life.