scholarly journals From metamorphosis to maturity in complex life cycles: equal performance of different juvenile life history pathways

Ecology ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 93 (3) ◽  
pp. 657-667 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benedikt R. Schmidt ◽  
Walter Hödl ◽  
Michael Schaub
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Life Cycles ◽  
Complex Life Cycles

scholarly journals Insights into how development and life-history dynamics shape the evolution of venom

EvoDevo ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joachim M. Surm ◽  
Yehu Moran
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Temporal Dynamics ◽  
Life Stage ◽  
Complex Trait ◽  
Life Cycles ◽  
Complex Life Cycles ◽  
Toxic Compounds ◽  
Evolution And Development ◽  
Ecological Implications ◽  
Mating Biology

AbstractVenomous animals are a striking example of the convergent evolution of a complex trait. These animals have independently evolved an apparatus that synthesizes, stores, and secretes a mixture of toxic compounds to the target animal through the infliction of a wound. Among these distantly related animals, some can modulate and compartmentalize functionally distinct venoms related to predation and defense. A process to separate distinct venoms can occur within and across complex life cycles as well as more streamlined ontogenies, depending on their life-history requirements. Moreover, the morphological and cellular complexity of the venom apparatus likely facilitates the functional diversity of venom deployed within a given life stage. Intersexual variation of venoms has also evolved further contributing to the massive diversity of toxic compounds characterized in these animals. These changes in the biochemical phenotype of venom can directly affect the fitness of these animals, having important implications in their diet, behavior, and mating biology. In this review, we explore the current literature that is unraveling the temporal dynamics of the venom system that are required by these animals to meet their ecological functions. These recent findings have important consequences in understanding the evolution and development of a convergent complex trait and its organismal and ecological implications.

The Life-History of Pineus pinifoliae (Fitch) (Homoptera: Phylloxeridae) and its Effect on White Pine

1950 ◽  
Vol 82 (6) ◽  
pp. 117-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. E. Balch ◽  
G. R. Underwood
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Black Spruce ◽  
Life Cycles ◽  
White Pine ◽  
Complex Life Cycles ◽  
Return Migrants ◽  
Winged Form ◽  
Typical Species ◽  
History Of

Pineus pinifoliae (Fitch) belongs to the Adelginae, a group characterized by unusually complex life-cycles. The typical species have at least five distinct forms, one bi-sexual and the others parthenogenetic. They alternate between two coniferous hosts, one of which is always a species of spruce (Picea). Galls are formed on spruce by a modification of the growth of the new shoot.The life-history of P. pinifoliae is only partially known. Patch has reported on observations in Maine which showed that the gall-making form flew from “black spruce” to the needles of white pine and that its offspring settled on the new shoots. She also described a morphologically similar winged form which developed on white-pine shoots and which she believed to be the return migrants. Annand made similar observations in Oregon and gave careful descriptions of three forms: the fundatrix, the gallicola migrans, and the exulis.

scholarly journals Transgenerational responses of molluscs and echinoderms to changing ocean conditions

2016 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
pp. 537-549 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pauline M. Ross ◽  
Laura Parker ◽  
Maria Byrne
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Life History ◽  
Life Cycles ◽  
Abnormal Development ◽  
Phenotypic Change ◽  
Life History Stage ◽  
Carryover Effects ◽  
Complex Life Cycles ◽  
Larval Stages ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms

Abstract We are beginning to understand how the larvae of molluscs and echinoderms with complex life cycles will be affected by climate change. Early experiments using short-term exposures suggested that larvae in oceans predicted to increase in acidification and temperature will be smaller in size, take longer to develop, and have a greater incidence of abnormal development. More realistic experiments which factored in the complex life cycles of molluscs and echinoderms found impacts not as severe as predicted. This is because the performance of one life history stage led to a significant carryover effect on the subsequent life history stage. Carryover effects that arise within a generation, for example, embryonic and larval stages, can influence juvenile and adult success. Carryover effects can also arise across a generation, known as transgenerational plasticity (TGP). A transgenerational response or TGP can be defined as a phenotypic change in offspring in response to the environmental stress experienced by a parent before fertilization. In the small number of experiments which have measured the transgenerational response of molluscs and echinoderms to elevated CO2, TGP has been observed in the larval offspring. If we are to safeguard ecological and economically significant mollusc and echinoderm species against climate change then we require more knowledge of the impacts that carryover effects have within and across generations as well as an understanding of the underlying mechanisms responsible for such adaptation.

scholarly journals Metamorphosing reef fishes avoid predator scent when choosing a home

2011 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 921-924 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander L. Vail ◽  
Mark I. McCormick
Keyword(s):  
Population Dynamics ◽  
Life History ◽  
Coral Reef ◽  
Reef Fishes ◽  
Life Cycles ◽  
Complex Life Cycles ◽  
Pelagic Larvae ◽  
Innate Predator Recognition ◽  
Predator Odour ◽  
Predator Effects

Most organisms possess anti-predator adaptations to reduce their risk of being consumed, but little is known of the adaptations prey employ during vulnerable life-history transitions when predation pressures can be extreme. We demonstrate the use of a transition-specific anti-predator adaptation by coral reef fishes as they metamorphose from pelagic larvae to benthic juveniles, when over half are consumed within 48 h. Our field experiment shows that naturally settling damselfish use olfactory, and most likely innate, predator recognition to avoid settling to habitat patches manipulated to emit predator odour. Settlement to patches emitting predator odour was on average 24–43% less than to control patches. Evidence strongly suggests that this avoidance of sedentary and patchily distributed predators by nocturnal settlers will gain them a survival advantage, but also lead to non-lethal predator effects: the costs of exhibiting anti-predator adaptations. Transition-specific anti-predator adaptations, such as demonstrated here, may be widespread among organisms with complex life cycles and play an important role in prey population dynamics.

scholarly journals Impacts of climate change on the complex life cycles of fish

2012 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 121-139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre Petitgas ◽  
Adriaan D. Rijnsdorp ◽  
Mark Dickey-Collas ◽  
Georg H. Engelhard ◽  
Myron A. Peck ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Life Cycles ◽  
Complex Life Cycles ◽  
Impacts Of Climate Change

Complex Life Cycles: Why Refrain from Growth before Reproduction in the Adult Niche?

2013 ◽  
Vol 181 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel P. Benesh ◽  
James C. Chubb ◽  
Geoff A. Parker
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycles ◽  
Complex Life Cycles

Autonomy and integration in complex parasite life cycles

Parasitology ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 143 (14) ◽  
pp. 1824-1846 ◽  
Author(s):  
DANIEL P. BENESH
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Holistic Approach ◽  
Life Cycles ◽  
Complex Life Cycle ◽  
Functional Specialization ◽  
Life Stages ◽  
Free Living ◽  
New Host ◽  
Complex Life Cycles ◽  
Life Cycle Stages

SUMMARYComplex life cycles are common in free-living and parasitic organisms alike. The adaptive decoupling hypothesis postulates that separate life cycle stages have a degree of developmental and genetic autonomy, allowing them to be independently optimized for dissimilar, competing tasks. That is, complex life cycles evolved to facilitate functional specialization. Here, I review the connections between the different stages in parasite life cycles. I first examine evolutionary connections between life stages, such as the genetic coupling of parasite performance in consecutive hosts, the interspecific correlations between traits expressed in different hosts, and the developmental and functional obstacles to stage loss. Then, I evaluate how environmental factors link life stages through carryover effects, where stressful larval conditions impact parasites even after transmission to a new host. There is evidence for both autonomy and integration across stages, so the relevant question becomes how integrated are parasite life cycles and through what mechanisms? By highlighting how genetics, development, selection and the environment can lead to interdependencies among successive life stages, I wish to promote a holistic approach to studying complex life cycle parasites and emphasize that what happens in one stage is potentially highly relevant for later stages.

Abiotic versus biotic hierarchies in the assembly of parasite populations

Parasitology ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 137 (4) ◽  
pp. 743-754 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. K. ANDERSON ◽  
M. V. K. SUKHDEO
Keyword(s):  
Fundulus Heteroclitus ◽  
Classification Tree ◽  
Benthic Invertebrate ◽  
Life Cycles ◽  
Complex Life Cycles ◽  
Parasite Communities ◽  
Parametric Classification ◽  
The Common ◽  
Correct Category ◽  
Parasite Populations

SUMMARYThe presence or absence of parasites within host populations is the result of a complex of factors, both biotic and abiotic. This study uses a non-parametric classification tree approach to evaluate the relative importance of key abiotic and biotic drivers controlling the presence/absence of parasites with complex life cycles in a sentinel, the common killifish Fundulus heteroclitus. Parasite communities were classified from 480 individuals representing 15 fish from 4 distinct marsh sites in each of 4 consecutive seasons between 2006 and 2007. Abiotic parameters were recorded at continuous water monitoring stations located at each of the 4 sites. Classification trees identified the presence of benthic invertebrate species (Gammarus sp. and Littorina sp.) as the most important variables in determining parasite presence: secondary splitters were dominated by abiotic variables including conductance, pH and temperature. Seventy percent of hosts were successfully classified into the correct category (infected/uninfected) based on only these criteria. The presence of competent definitive hosts was not considered to be an important explanatory variable. These data suggest that the most important determinant of the presence of these parasite populations in the common killifish is the availability of diverse communities of benthic invertebrates.

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