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The importance of inter-individual variation in predicting species' responses to global change drivers.

ABSTRACT: Inter-individual variation in phenotypic traits has long been considered as "noise" rather than meaningful phenotypic variation, with biological studies almost exclusively generating and reporting average responses for populations and species' average responses. Here, we compare the use of an individual approach in the investigation of extracellular acid-base regulation by the purple sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus challenged with elevated pCO2 and temperature conditions, with a more traditional approach which generates and formally compares mean values. We detected a high level of inter-individual variation in acid-base regulation parameters both within and between treatments. Comparing individual and mean values for the first (apparent) dissociation constant of the coelomic fluid for individual sea urchins resulted in substantially different (calculated) acid-base parameters, and models with stronger statistical support. While the approach using means showed that coelomic pCO2 was influenced by seawater pCO2 and temperature combined, the individual approach indicated that it was in fact seawater temperature in isolation that had a significant effect on coelomic pCO2. On the other hand, coelomic [HCO3 -] appeared to be primarily affected by seawater pCO2, and less by seawater temperature, irrespective of the approach adopted. As a consequence, we suggest that individual variation in physiological traits needs to be considered, and where appropriate taken into account, in global change biology studies. It could be argued that an approach reliant on mean values is a "procedural error." It produces an artefact, that is, a population's mean phenotype. While this may allow us to conduct relatively simple statistical analyses, it will not in all cases reflect, or take into account, the degree of (physiological) diversity present in natural populations.

SUBMITTER: Guscelli E

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6476784 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The importance of inter-individual variation in predicting species' responses to global change drivers.

Guscelli Ella E Spicer John I JI Calosi Piero P

Ecology and evolution 20190328 8

Inter-individual variation in phenotypic traits has long been considered as "noise" rather than meaningful phenotypic variation, with biological studies almost exclusively generating and reporting average responses for populations and species' average responses. Here, we compare the use of an individual approach in the investigation of extracellular acid-base regulation by the purple sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus challenged with elevated pCO2 and temperature condition ...[more]

PMID: 31031908

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Project description:Interactions between microglia and neuronal components are important for normal CNS function. They are also associated with neuroinflammation and many pathological processes and several studies have explored these interactions in terms of phagocytic engulfment. Much progress has also been made in understanding the consequences of chronic neuroinflammatory changes following trauma. However, little is known about acute alterations to these physical non-phagocytic microglial-neuronal interactions following traumatic brain injury (TBI), and particularly to what degree these post-injury interactions may be influenced by the animal species utilized in pre-clinical models of TBI. To investigate these problems, we evaluated the physical interactions between microglia and injured axons acutely (6 h and 1 day) following central fluid percussion injury (cFPI) in both rats and micro pigs. The physical interactions between Iba-1+ microglia and either normal MBP+ myelinated fibers or APP+ injured axonal swellings in the thalamus were assessed following injury or sham via quantitative image analysis of 3D confocal micrographs. The results indicated that the physical interactions between microglia and injured axonal swellings decreased by nearly half in rats 6 h following cFPI but was consistent with sham control at 1 day post-cFPI. This reduction was also observed in non-injured intact fibers at both timepoints following TBI in the rat. Microglial process interactions with injured axons in the micro pig, however, increased nearly 2-fold compared to interactions with intact axonal segments 1 day post-cFPI. This study shows that the species utilized for in vivo pre-clinical studies influences the manner in which microglial-axonal interactions change following TBI. These species differences can be leveraged to further our understanding of the mechanisms involved in microglial process convergence and how these neuro-immune interactions alter the progression of axonal injury following TBI.

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The importance of inter-individual variation in predicting species' responses to global change drivers.

Publications

The importance of inter-individual variation in predicting species' responses to global change drivers.

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