Selection in nature: experimental manipulations of natural populations (original) (raw)
Related papers
Phenotypic shifts caused by predation: Selection or life-history shifts?
Evolutionary Ecology, 1999
Predators can impose both selection and life-history shifts in prey populations. Because both processes may aect phenotypic distributions, the estimates of selection dierentials may be biased. We carried out two ®eld experiments to disentangle these separate eects. We studied whether dragon¯y predation by Aeshna cyanea changes the distributions in body size and lamellae morphology in the damsel¯y Lestes sponsa. Damsel¯ies have caudal lamellae which are used in escapes by swimming. In a ®rst experiment, we manipulated predator presence (No Aeshna, Encaged Aeshna or Free-ranging Aeshna) and stopped the experiment when all larvae had moulted once. In a second experiment, larvae were confronted with a Free-ranging Aeshna but collected before moulting, and survivors were compared with a control sample taken at the start of the experiment. The presence of Aeshna largely reduced the survival probabilities of the Lestes larvae at a very similar rate in both experiments. Daily survival probabilities did not dier between the No Aeshna and Encaged Aeshna treatments. In the Free-ranging Aeshna treatment of the ®rst experiment, size was reduced compared to the other two treatments, creating a signi®cant apparent selection dierential. This was probably mainly due to predator-induced reduced growth because in the second experiment, where growth eects were excluded, size of the survivors did not dier from the control sample. In both experiments there was a signi®cant selection pressure for larger lamellae. Standardized directional selection dierentials were similar in both experiments (0.57 and 0.28 phenotypic standard deviation units). No survival selection on lamellae shape was detected. These results are in agreement with previous ®ndings that lamellae size, but not lamellae shape, enhances swimming performance and thereby predator escape in this species.
The Young, the Weak and the Sick: Evidence of Natural Selection by Predation
PLoS ONE, 2010
It is assumed that predators mainly prey on substandard individuals, but even though some studies partially support this idea, evidence with large sample sizes, exhaustive analysis of prey and robust analysis is lacking. We gathered data from a culling program of yellow-legged gulls killed by two methods: by the use of raptors or by shooting at random. We compared both data sets to assess whether birds of prey killed randomly or by relying on specific individual features of the prey. We carried out a meticulous post-mortem examination of individuals, and analysing multiple prey characteristics simultaneously we show that raptors did not hunt randomly, but rather preferentially predate on juveniles, sick gulls, and individuals with poor muscle condition. Strikingly, gulls with an unusually good muscle condition were also predated more than expected, supporting the mass-dependent predation risk theory. This article provides a reliable example of how natural selection may operate in the wild and proves that predators mainly prey on substandard individuals.
Selection on insect immunity in the wild
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 2004
The strength of selection on immune function in wild populations has only been examined in a few vertebrate species. We report the results from a study measuring selection on a key insect immune enzyme, phenoloxidase (PO), in a wild population of the damselfly Calopteryx xanthostoma. We followed individually marked males from the pre-reproductive adult phase and recorded their lifetime mating success. We found positive selection on PO activity in response to an immune insult, but no selection on wing-spot quality, a trait actively displayed to females during courtship. We suggest that positive selection on PO activity in the year of study may be explained by annual fluctuations in parasite loads.
On the Equivalence of Host Local Adaptation and Parasite Maladaptation: An Experimental Test
The American Naturalist, 2012
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. abstract: In spatiotemporally varying environments, host-parasite coevolution may lead to either host or parasite local adaptation. Using reciprocal infestations over 11 pairs of plots, we tested local adaptation in the hen flea and its main host, the great tit. Flea reproductive success (number of adults at host fledging) was lower on host individuals from the same plot compared with foreign hosts (from another plot), revealing flea local maladaptation. Host reproductive success (number of fledged young) for nests infested by foreign fleas was lower compared with the reproductive success of controls, with an intermediate success for nests infested by local fleas. This suggests host local adaptation although the absence of local adaptation could not be excluded. However, fledglings were heavier and larger when reared with foreign fleas than when reared with local fleas, which could also indicate host local maladaptation if the fitness gain in offspring size offsets the potential cost in offspring number. Our results therefore challenge the traditional view that parasite local maladaptation is equivalent to host local adaptation. The differences in fledgling morphology between nests infested with local fleas and those with foreign fleas suggest that flea origin affects host resource allocation strategy between nestling growth and defense against parasites. Therefore, determining the mechanisms that underlie these local adaptation patterns requires the identification of the relevant fitness measures and life-history trade-offs in both species.
Fitness consequences of immune responses: strengthening the empirical framework for ecoimmunology
Functional …, 2011
1. Ecoimmunologists aim to understand the costs, benefits, and net fitness consequences of different strategies for immune defense. 2. Measuring the fitness consequences of immune responses is difficult, partly because of complex relationships between host fitness and the within-host density of parasites and immunological cells or molecules. In particular, neither the strongest immune responses nor the lowest parasite densities necessarily maximize host fitness. 3. Here, we propose that ecoimmunologists should routinely endeavour to measure three intertwined parameters: host fitness, parasite density, and relevant immune responses. We further propose that analyses of relationships among these traits would benefit from the statistical machinery used for analyses of phenotypic plasticity and/or methods that are robust to the bi-directional causation inherent in host-parasite relationships. For example, analyses of how host fitness depends upon parasite density, which is an evolutionary ecological definition of tolerance, would benefit from these more robust methods. 4. Together, these steps promote rigorous quantification of the fitness consequences of immune responses. Such quantification is essential if ecoimmunologists are to decipher causes of immune polymorphism in nature and predict trajectories of natural selection on immune defense.
Immune Response Increases Predation Risk
Evolution, 2012
and neglect ecological factors, such as predation. We provide one of the first experimental studies demonstrating a contextdependent survival cost to immune activation. In the presence of a predator, immune-challenged male field crickets showed significantly lower survival than controls, whilst there was no difference in a predator-free environment. Immune-challenged males spent more time outside their burrows and reacted slower to a simulated predator attack. We conclude that some costs of immunity are expressed via increased susceptibility to predation, indicating the importance of integrating the ecological context when investigating optimal investment in immunity.
Ecological Entomology
1. The level of an organism's investment in defences against natural enemies depends on the fitness costs of resisting parasitism and on the costs of maintaining defences in the absence of infection. Heritable variation in resistance suggests that costs exist, but very little is known about the nature or magnitude of these costs in natural populations of animals.2. A powerful technique for identifying trade-offs between fitness components is the study of correlated responses to artificial selection. We selected for increased resistance in the Indian meal moth, Plodia interpunctella, following parasitism by the koinobiont parasitoid, Venturia canescens, and measured the cost of resistance to parasitism and the cost of maintaining resistance in the absence of immune challenge during the next generation.3. Parasitism decreased larval host size, growth, and developmental time and was significantly negatively correlated with the size of surviving host adults. Larvae of the next gener...
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2008
The ecological impacts of the indirect effects of predators are well established, but the evolutionary consequences are unknown. Predators often decrease prey density, which indirectly increases the resources available to surviving prey. This ecological effect could provide a link to evolution because it is generally assumed that resource availability influences life history evolution. Yet, predictions from theory that consider food availability are inconsistent, and evidence for an important role of resources in shaping life history evolution is absent. We compared life history traits in a Trinidadian killifish, Rivulus hartii, from fish communities that differ in predation intensity; predators are associated with lower population density and faster growth rates. To determine whether the indirect effects of predators influence evolutionary change, we reared second-generation-born fish under two food levels that approximated natural differences in resources between communities. Rivulus from sites with predators are younger and smaller at maturity. They have increased reproductive investment and produce many small eggs and smaller hatchlings. Such divergence is predicted as a direct effect of predation. We also found significant interactions between predator community and food level for age and size at maturity, fecundity, and egg size. These interactions, whereby the differences between communities were more pronounced at high-food levels, argue that evolution in Rivulus has been influenced by the indirect effects of predators mediated through resource availability. Rivulus from sites with predators better exploit the higher resources in those habitats. Therefore, both direct and indirect effects of predators have evolutionary consequences.