Bendtsenjunker0028

g., houseflies to blue whales). However, strong density dependence at either the adult reproduction or offspring survival life stage creates quasi-independent population dynamics, allowing fast-type reproduction alongside slow-type survival (e.g., trees and large fish), or the perhaps rarer slow-type reproduction alongside fast-type survival (e.g., mayflies-short-lived adults producing few long-lived offspring). Therefore, most types of species life histories in nature can potentially be explained via the eco-evolutionary consequences of density-dependent selection given the possible separation of demographic effects at different life stages. © 2020 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.Next-generation sequencing has greatly promoted the investigation of single nucleotide polymorphisms, while studies of simple sequence repeats are sharply decreasing. However, simple sequence repeats still present some advantages in conservation genetics. In this study, an end-to-end pipeline referred to as MultiplexSSR was established to develop multiplex PCR assays in batches with highly polymorphic simple sequence repeats for capillary platforms from resequencing data. The distribution of single sequence repeats in the genome, the error profiles of genotypes and allelotypes, and the increase in the allele length range depending on the number of individuals were investigated. A total of 98% of single sequence repeats presented lengths of less than 100 bp. The error rate of the genotyping and allelotyping of dimeric patterns was ten times higher than those for other patterns. The error rate of allelotyping was less than that of genotyping. The allele length range reached approximate saturation with 10 individuals. This pipeline uses allele numbers to select highly polymorphic loci, masks loci with variation, and applies in silico PCR to improve primer specificity. The application of the developed multiplex SSR-PCR assays validated the pipeline's robustness, showing higher polymorphism and stability for the developed simple sequence repeats and a lower cost for genotyping and providing low-depth resequencing data from less than a dozen individuals for the development of markers. This pipeline fills the gap between next-generation sequencing and multiplex SSR-PCR. © 2020 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.The dynamics and prevalence of mutualistic interactions, which are responsible for the maintenance and structuring of all ecological communities, are vulnerable to changes in abiotic and biotic environmental conditions. Mutualistic outcomes can quickly shift from cooperation to conflict, but it unclear how resilient and stable mutualistic outcomes are to more variable conditions. Tidally controlled coral atoll lagoons that experience extreme diurnal environmental shifts thus provide a model from which to test plasticity in mutualistic behavior of dedicated (formerly obligate) cleaner fish, which acquire all their food resources through client interactions. Here, we investigated cleaning patterns of a model cleaner fish species, the bluestreak wrasse (Labroides dimidiatus), in an isolated tidal lagoon on the Great Barrier Reef. Under tidally restricted conditions, uniquely both adults and juveniles were part-time facultative cleaners, pecking on Isopora palifera coral. Selleckchem T3 activator The mutualism was not completely abandoned, with adults also wandering across the reef in search of clients, rather than waiting at fixed site cleaning stations, a behavior not yet observed at any other reef. Contrary to well-established patterns for this cleaner, juveniles appeared to exploit the system, by biting ("cheating") their clients more frequently than adults. We show for the first time, that within this variable tidal environment, where mutualistic cleaning might not represent a stable food source, the prevalence and dynamics of this mutualism may be breaking down (through increased cheating and partial abandonment). Environmental variability could thus reduce the pervasiveness of mutualisms within our ecosystems, ultimately reducing the stability of the system. link2 © 2020 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.Root-associated fungi (RAF) are an important factor affecting the host's growth, and their contribution to Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica plantation decline is substantial. Therefore, we selected three age groups of P. sylvestris plantations (26, 33, and 43 years), in the Mu Us Desert, to characterize the community structure and functional groups of RAF, identified by Illumina high-throughput sequencing and FUNGuild platform, respectively. The effects of soil properties and enzyme activities on fungal diversity and functional groups were also examined. The results indicated that (a) 805 operational taxonomic units of RAF associated with P. sylvestris belonged to six phyla and 163 genera. Diversity and richness were not significantly different in the three age groups, but community composition showed significant differences. Ascomycota and Basidiomycota dominated the fungal community, while Rhizopogon dominated in each plot. (b) The proportion of pathotrophs decreased with increasing age, while that of symbiotrophs increased sharply, which were mainly represented by ectomycorrhizal fungi. (c) Stand age and soil enzyme activity had a greater influence on fungal community composition than did soil properties, whereas environmental variables were not significantly correlated with fungal diversity and richness. Dynamics of fungal community composition and functional groups with the aging plantations reflected the growth state of P. sylvestris and were related to plantation degradation. © 2020 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.In West Virginia, USA, there are 24 conservation easement program wetlands enrolled in the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP). link3 These wetlands are located on private agricultural land and are passively managed. Due to their location within fragmented agricultural areas, wetlands enrolled in ACEP in West Virginia have the potential to add wetland ecosystem services in areas that are lacking these features. We evaluated ACEP wetlands compared to reference wetlands on public land in West Virginia by using surrounding land cover, vegetative cover, and wetland features and stressors such as the presence or absence of erosion, upland inclusion, algal mats, and evidence of impacts from the surrounding landscape as surrogate measurements of wetland function on 13 ACEP wetlands and 10 reference wetlands. ACEP wetlands had higher percentages of tree coverage and a higher proportion of agricultural land in the areas immediately surrounding the wetland. Reference wetlands had higher percent coverage of emergent vegetation and had a higher proportion of forest in the immediate landscape. Our findings suggest that ACEP wetlands provide valuable early successional and forested wetland cover in a state that is largely forested. Because of this, it is important to maintain and even expand ACEP in West Virginia to continue providing a valuable source of early successional wetland habitat. © 2020 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.Notopterygium incisum Ting ex H. T. Chang is a rare and endangered traditional Chinese medicinal plant. In this research, we built a comprehensive habitat suitability (CHS) model to analyze the potential suitable habitat distribution of this species in the present and future in China. First, using nine different algorithms, we built an ensemble model to explore the possible impacts of climate change on the habitat distribution of this species. Then, based on this model, we built a CHS model to further identify the distribution characteristics of N. incisum-suitable habitats in three time periods (current, 2050s, and 2070s) while considering the effects of soil and vegetation conditions. The results indicated that the current suitable habitat for N. incisum covers approximately 83.76 × 103 km2, and these locations were concentrated in the Tibet Autonomous Region, Gansu Province, Qinghai Province, and Sichuan Province. In the future, the areas of suitable habitat for N. incisum would significantly decrease and would be 69.53 × 103 km2 and 60.21 × 103 km2 in the 2050s and 2070s, respectively. However, the area of marginally suitable habitat would remain relatively stable. This study provides a more reliable and comprehensive method for modelling the current and future distributions of N. incisum, and it provides valuable insights for highlighting priority areas for medicinal plant conservation and resource utilization. © 2020 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.Some carnivorous mammals ingest fruit and disperse seeds of forest plant species capable of colonizing disturbed areas in ecosystems. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the dissemination of Arctostaphylos pungens and Juniperus deppeana seeds by the gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus), coyote (Canis latrans), and other carnivores in the Protected Natural Area Sierra Fría, in Aguascalientes, Mexico. Scat collection was undertaken via transects using the direct search method, while the seasonal phenology of A. pungens and J. deppeana was evaluated by recording flower and fruit abundance on both the plant and the surrounding forest floor ground. Seed viability was assessed by optical densitometry via X-ray and a germination test. It was found that the gray fox, coyote, ringtail (Bassariscus astutus), and bobcat (Lynx rufus) disseminated seeds of A. pungens (212 ± 48.9 seeds/scat) and J. deppeana (23.6 ± 4.9 seeds/scat), since a large proportion of the collected scat of these species contained seeds (28/30 = 93.33%, 12/43 = 27.9%, 6/12 = 50% and 7/25 = 28% respectively). The gray fox, coyote, ringtail, and bobcat presented an average of seed dispersion of both plant species of 185.4 ± 228.7, 4.0 ± 20.0, 12.1 ± 30.4, and 0.8 ± 1.5 per scat; the seed proportions in the gray fox, coyote, ringtail, and bobcat were 89.6/10.4%, 82.3/17.7%, 90.4/9.6%, and 38.1/61.9% for A. pungens and J. deppeana, respectively. The phenology indicated a finding related to the greater abundance of ripe fruit in autumn and winter (p  .05), except in those of A. pungens dispersed by coyote. These results suggest that carnivores, particularly the gray fox, the coyote, and the bobcat, play an important role in forest seed dissemination, and thus forest regeneration, by making both a quantitative and qualitative contribution to the dispersal of the two pioneer species under study. © 2020 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.Hairiness is a salient trait of insect pollinators that has been linked to thermoregulation, pollen uptake and transportation, and pollination success. Despite its potential importance in pollination ecology, hairiness is rarely included in pollinator trait analyses. This is likely due to the lack of standardized and efficient methods to measure hairiness. We describe a novel methodology that uses a stereomicroscope equipped with a live measurement module software to quantitatively measure two components of hairiness hair density and hair length. We took measures of the two hairiness components in 109 insect pollinator species (including 52 bee species). We analyzed the relationship between hair density and length and between these two components and body size. We combined hair density and length measures to calculate a hairiness index and tested whether hairiness differed between major pollinator groups and bee genera. Body size was strongly and positively correlated to hair length and weakly and negatively correlated to hair density.