scholarly journals Do avian species survive better on islands?

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 20200643
Author(s):  
Guy Beauchamp
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Clutch Size ◽  
Ecological Factors ◽  
Adult Survival ◽  
Apparent Survival ◽  
Island Species ◽  
Island Syndrome ◽  
Shed Light

Island species are often predictably different from their mainland counterparts. Milder climates and reduced predation risk on islands have been involved to explain shifts in body size and a suite of life-history traits such as clutch size and offspring growth rate. Despite the key role of adult survival on risk taking and reproduction, the prediction that living on islands increases adult survival has yet to be tested systematically. I gathered data on adult annual apparent survival from the island and mainland year-round resident species of birds from around the world. With this large dataset (697 species), I found that species of birds living on islands showed higher apparent survival than their mainland counterparts in the two Hemispheres and at all latitudes, controlling for several known predictors of adult survival, including body size, clutch size and breeding system. These results shed light on the ecological factors that influence survival on islands and extend the life-history island syndrome to adult survival.

Clutch Mass, Offspring Mass, and Clutch Size: Body Mass Scaling and Taxonomic and Environmental Variation

2018 ◽  
pp. 68-97
Author(s):  
Douglas S. Glazier
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Clutch Size ◽  
Body Mass ◽  
Life History Evolution ◽  
Offspring Size ◽  
Egg Mass ◽  
Mass Scaling ◽  
Scaling Relationships ◽  
Clutch Mass

In this chapter, I show how clutch mass, offspring (egg) mass, and clutch size relate to body mass among species of branchiopod, maxillipod, and malacostracan crustaceans, as well as how these important life history traits vary among major taxa and environments independently of body size. Clutch mass relates strongly and nearly isometrically to body mass, probably because of physical volumetric constraints. By contrast, egg mass and clutch size relate more weakly and curvilinearly to body mass and vary in inverse proportion to one another, thus indicating a fundamental trade-off, which occurs within many crustacean taxa as well. In general, offspring (egg) size and number and their relationships to body mass appear to be more ecologically sensitive and evolutionarily malleable than clutch mass. The body mass scaling relationships of egg mass and clutch size show much more taxonomic and ecological variation (log-log scaling slopes varying from near 0 to almost 1 among major taxa) than do those for clutch mass, a pattern also observed in other animal taxa. The curvilinear body mass scaling relationships of egg mass and number also suggest a significant, size-related shift in how natural selection affects offspring versus maternal fitness. As body size increases, selection apparently predominantly favors increases in offspring size and fitness up to an asymptote, beyond which increases in offspring number and thus maternal fitness are preferentially favored. Crustaceans not only offer excellent opportunities for furthering our general understanding of life history evolution, but also their ecological and economic importance warrants further study of the various factors affecting their reproductive success.

scholarly journals Solitary ecology as a phenomenon extending beyond insular systems: exaptive evolution in Anolis lizards

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (5) ◽  
pp. 20190056 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julián A. Velasco ◽  
Steven Poe ◽  
Constantino González-Salazar ◽  
Oscar Flores-Villela
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Adaptive Evolution ◽  
Environmental Filtering ◽  
Phenotypic Evolution ◽  
Phenotypic Differentiation ◽  
Evolutionary Transitions ◽  
Ecological Release ◽  
Selective Pressures ◽  
Island Species

The mechanisms driving phenotypic evolution have been of interest to biologists since Darwin. Ecological release—wherein adaptive evolution occurs following relaxation of constraining selective pressures—and environmental filtering—wherein exaptive traits allow colonization of a new area—have been studied in several insular cases. Anolis lizards, which may exist in solitude or sympatry with multiple congeners, are an excellent system for evaluating whether ecological release and environmental filtering are associated with phenotypic shifts across phylogenetic and geographical scales. Insular solitary Anolis exhibit phenotypic differentiation in body size and sexual size dimorphism—SSD—through exaptive and adaptive evolution, respectively. But, the generality of these effects has not yet been addressed. Here, we analyse the evolution of body size and SSD relative to sympatry in mainland Anolis . We found that mainland species co-occurring with few congeners exhibit uniform body size and greater SSD relative to other random mainland assemblages, consistent with the insular solitary pattern. The locations of evolutionary shifts for both traits do not coincide with evolutionary transitions to decreased levels of sympatry. These results are consistent with exaptive environmental filtering but not adaptive ecological release. Future studies should be conducted at local scales to evaluate the role of these factors in the evolution of solitary existence in mainland and island species.

scholarly journals Clutch size in the small-sized lizard Eurolophosaurus nanuzae (Tropiduridae): does it vary along the geographic distribution of the species?

2011 ◽  
Vol 101 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 61-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Conrado A. B Galdino ◽  
Monique Van Sluys
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Clutch Size ◽  
Endemic Species ◽  
Life History Traits ◽  
Geographic Range ◽  
Southeastern Brazil ◽  
Rock Outcrop ◽  
Female Body Size ◽  
Clutch Mass

We studied life history traits of females of the lizard Eurolophosaurus nanuzae (Rodrigues, 1981), an endemic species of rock outcrop habitats in southeastern Brazil. During October 2002 and 2003 we sampled three populations in sites that encompass the meridional portion of the geographic range of the species. Clutch size varied from one to three eggs, with most females carrying two eggs. Clutch size did not vary among populations, but was correlated to female body size. Only larger females produced clutches of three eggs. Females of the small-sized E. nanuzae produce eggs as large as those of medium-sized tropidurids, thus investing a considerable amount of energy to produce clutches resulting in high values of relative clutch mass.

Morphological and Dietary Correlates of Clutch Size in North American Woodpeckers

The Auk ◽  
1987 ◽  
Vol 104 (4) ◽  
pp. 757-765 ◽  
Author(s):  
Walter D. Koenig
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Clutch Size ◽  
North American ◽  
Life History Evolution ◽  
Morphological Characters ◽  
The Family ◽  
Size And Morphology ◽  
Cranial Kinesis ◽  
Wood Boring

Abstract There are diverse relations among ecological, morphological, and life-history traits in North American woodpeckers (family Picidae). Within the family as a whole, clutch size does not correlate with body size. However, clutch size increases with body size within the genus Melanerpes and decreases with size in Picoides. In the family as a whole, species that specialize on wood-boring larvae have small clutches. Such species use pecking as a major foraging technique, and pecking is associated with a wide suite of morphological specializations, including relatively wide first ribs, long pygostyle disks, short tibia, wide crania, wide maxillae, long mandibular symphyses, less cranial kinesis, and greater culmen sexual dimorphism. Hence, these morphological characters also correlate with clutch size, in two cases (length of the mandibular symphysis and cranial kinesis) even after controlling for both body size and generic effects. The observed correlations between clutch size and morphology are probably the result of dietary influences. These correlations, however, may at least in part be due to morphological constraints. Morphological design may thus constrain life-history evolution at the intrafamilial and intrageneric levels as well as at higher taxonomic levels.

scholarly journals Introduction. Ecological immunology

2008 ◽  
Vol 364 (1513) ◽  
pp. 3-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hinrich Schulenburg ◽  
Joachim Kurtz ◽  
Yannick Moret ◽  
Michael T Siva-Jothy
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Ecological Factors ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Ecological Immunology ◽  
Defence Mechanisms ◽  
Theme Issue ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Abiotic Interactions ◽  
Evolution Of Immunity

An organism's fitness is critically reliant on its immune system to provide protection against parasites and pathogens. The structure of even simple immune systems is surprisingly complex and clearly will have been moulded by the organism's ecology. The aim of this review and the theme issue is to examine the role of different ecological factors on the evolution of immunity. Here, we will provide a general framework of the field by contextualizing the main ecological factors, including interactions with parasites, other types of biotic as well as abiotic interactions, intraspecific selective constraints (life-history trade-offs, sexual selection) and population genetic processes. We then elaborate the resulting immunological consequences such as the diversity of defence mechanisms (e.g. avoidance behaviour, resistance, tolerance), redundancy and protection against immunopathology, life-history integration of the immune response and shared immunity within a community (e.g. social immunity and microbiota-mediated protection). Our review summarizes the concepts of current importance and directs the reader to promising future research avenues that will deepen our understanding of the defence against parasites and pathogens.

scholarly journals Quality versus quantity: The balance between egg and clutch size among Australian amphibians is related to life history and environmental conditions

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Gould ◽  
Chad Beranek ◽  
Jose Valdez ◽  
Michael Mahony
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Parental Care ◽  
Clutch Size ◽  
Female Body ◽  
Inverse Relationship ◽  
Life History Traits ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Breeding Habitat ◽  
Female Body Size

AbstractAn inverse relationship between egg and clutch size has been found repeatedly across animal groups, including birds, reptiles and amphibians, and is considered to be a result of resource limitations and physical constraints on the reproducing female. However, few studies have contextualised this relationship with respect to various environmental selecting pressures and life history traits that have also likely influenced the selection of an optimal egg/clutch size combination, while even fewer have tested these interrelationships using robust natural history datasets. In this study, we aimed to test current hypothesises regarding these relationships on both egg and clutch sizes among the Australian Anurans, which to date have not received this kind of investigation. Specifically, we looked at the influence of environmental selecting pressures (egg laying location, environment persistence and bioregion) and life history traits (adult female body size, egg development type, parental care level, breeding period and temporal breeding pattern). As expected, a clear inverse relationship was found between egg and clutch size, while female body size was positively related to both. Generally speaking, smaller clutches of larger eggs tended to be produced by species that i) oviposit terrestrially, ii) showcase direct development and iii) possess high levels of parental care. Temporal breeding pattern was strongly related to clutch size only, with large clutches occurring in explosive breeding species, while breeding habitat was strongly related to egg size only, with large eggs sizes occurring in terrestrial species. Altogether, these findings indicate that numerous factors have likely influenced the evolution of an optimal clutch type in this group, highlighting the importance of incorporating such variables into animal studies on egg and clutch sizes.

scholarly journals Latitudinal Variation in Life History Reveals a Reproductive Disadvantage in the Texas Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma cornutum)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel F. Hughes ◽  
Walter E. Meshaka ◽  
Carl S. Lieb ◽  
Joseph H. K. Pechmann
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Clutch Size ◽  
Life History Strategy ◽  
Life History Evolution ◽  
Population Variation ◽  
Latitudinal Variation ◽  
Widespread Species ◽  
Phrynosoma Cornutum ◽  
History Evolution

Geographically widespread species that occupy many thermal environments provide testable models for understanding the evolution of life-history responses to latitude, yet studies that draw range-wide conclusions using descriptive data from populations in the core of a species’ distribution can overlook meaningful inter-population variation. The phrynosomatid lizard Phrynosoma cornutum spans an extensive latitudinal distribution in North America and has been well-studied in connection with life-history evolution, yet populations occupying the most northern and coldest areas within its range were absent from previous examinations. We tested genus-wide models and challenged species-specific findings on the evolution of the life-history strategy for P. cornutum using populations at the northern edge of its geographic range and comparative material from farther south. Multivariate analyses revealed that egg dimensions decreased with clutch size, suggestive of a previously unrecognized tradeoff between egg size and egg number in this species. Interestingly, reproductive traits of females with shelled eggs did not covary with latitude, yet we found that populations at the highest latitudes typified several traits of the genus and for the species, including a model for Phrynosoma of large clutches and delayed reproduction. A significant deviation from earlier findings is that we detected latitudinal variation in clutch size. This finding, although novel, is unsurprising given the smaller body sizes from northern populations and the positive relationship between clutch size and body size. Intriguing, however, was that the significant reduction in clutch size persisted when female body size was held constant, indicating a reproductive disadvantage to living at higher latitudes. We discuss the possible selective pressures that may have resulted in the diminishing returns on reproductive output at higher latitudes. Our findings highlight the type of insights in the study of life-history evolution that can be gained across Phrynosomatidae from the inclusion of populations representing latitudinal endpoints.

scholarly journals Partitioning colony size variation into growth and partial mortality

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 20190727 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua S. Madin ◽  
Andrew H. Baird ◽  
Marissa L. Baskett ◽  
Sean R. Connolly ◽  
Maria A. Dornelas
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Life History Strategy ◽  
Size Variation ◽  
Partial Mortality ◽  
Physical Damage ◽  
Extrinsic Factors ◽  
Intrinsic Factors ◽  
Size Dependent

Body size is a trait that broadly influences the demography and ecology of organisms. In unitary organisms, body size tends to increase with age. In modular organisms, body size can either increase or decrease with age, with size changes being the net difference between modules added through growth and modules lost through partial mortality. Rates of colony extension are independent of body size, but net growth is allometric, suggesting a significant role of size-dependent mortality. In this study, we develop a generalizable model of partitioned growth and partial mortality and apply it to data from 11 species of reef-building coral. We show that corals generally grow at constant radial increments that are size independent, and that partial mortality acts more strongly on small colonies. We also show a clear life-history trade-off between growth and partial mortality that is governed by growth form. This decomposition of net growth can provide mechanistic insights into the relative demographic effects of the intrinsic factors (e.g. acquisition of food and life-history strategy), which tend to affect growth, and extrinsic factors (e.g. physical damage, and predation), which tend to affect mortality.

On the role of body size for life‐history evolution

1997 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
CHRISTIAN PETER KLINGENBERG ◽  
JOHN SPENCE
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Life History Evolution ◽  
History Evolution
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