Multiyear drought exacerbates long-term effects of climate on an invasive ant species.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Couper LI
PROVIDER: S-EPMC9285587 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:1. Frequency and duration of summer droughts are predicted to increase in the near future in many parts of the world, with considerable anticipated effects on riparian plant community composition and species richness. Riparian plant communities along lowland streams are characterised by high species richness due to their system-specific environmental gradients. As these streams and their hydrological gradients are mainly rain-fed, they are sensitive to precipitation changes. 2. We conducted a literature survey and meta-analysis to examine the effects of an increase in summer drought on: (i) riparian plant biomass; (ii) riparian seedling survival and (iii) riparian plant species composition and richness. We also aimed to determine whether hydrological thresholds related to drought tolerance can be distinguished for riparian plant species. 3. ISI Web of Knowledge was searched for relevant peer-reviewed studies, and 23 papers were found that met our criteria and contained quantitative study results. To detect overall responses of biomass and seedling survival, a random-effects model was applied using Comprehensive Meta-analysis™ software. Regression curves were then fitted to response ratio data relating the effects on drought-impacted groups to those on control groups. 4. Our results showed that a drought duration of approximately >30 days strongly reduces riparian plant biomass and that a duration of approximately >30-35 days and high drought intensities (starting from 3 to 4 cm water table decline per day) can be detrimental for riparian seedling survival. Especially Populus and Salix seedlings showed a reduced survival in response to drought, in contrast to Tamarix seedlings, which have the ability to rapidly and expansively elongate their roots. The data also revealed that an increase in drought conditions rapidly leads to a decline of riparian species richness and an increased presence of species adjusted to drier conditions. 5. Riparian groundwater level, surface water permanence and certain plant traits, especially plasticity in rooting depth, were mentioned most frequently as factors determining species responses. Very few studies mentioned hydrological thresholds, such as critical values for ground- and/or surface water levels, and so far these results have proved difficult to generalise. 6. Our meta-analysis has shown that the projected increase in the duration and intensity of drought periods, especially intense droughts lasting more than 30 days, can be expected to narrow the riparian wetland zone with typical hydric species and accelerate riparian wetland species losses in the near future. This may require extra efforts in terms of management and restoration of species-rich riparian areas.
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Project description:The globalization of trade and human movement has resulted in the accidental dispersal of thousands of alien species worldwide at an unprecedented scale. Some of these species are considered invasive because of their extensive spatial spread or negative impacts on native biodiversity. Explaining which alien species become invasive is a major challenge of invasion biology, and it is often assumed that invasiveness is linked to a greater ability to establish in novel climates. To test whether invasive species have expanded more into novel climates than non-invasive alien species, we quantified niche shifts of 82 ant species. Surprisingly, invasive species showed smaller niche shifts than non-invasive alien species. Independent of their invasiveness, the species with the smallest native niches and range sizes, experienced the greatest niche shifts. Overall, our results challenge the assumption that invasive species are particularly good pioneers of novel climates.
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Project description:Ants are among the most problematic invasive species. They displace numerous native species, alter ecosystem processes, and can have negative impacts on agriculture and human health. In part, their success might stem from a departure from the discovery-dominance trade-off that can promote co-existence in native ant communities, that is, invasive ants are thought to be at the same time behaviorally dominant and faster discoverers of resources, compared to native species. However, it has not yet been tested whether similar asymmetries in behavioral dominance, exploration, and recruitment abilities also exist among invasive species. Here, we establish a dominance hierarchy among four of the most problematic invasive ants (Linepithema humile, Lasius neglectus, Wasmannia auropunctata, Pheidole megacephala) that may be able to arrive and establish in the same areas in the future. To assess behavioral dominance, we used confrontation experiments, testing the aggressiveness in individual and group interactions between all species pairs. In addition, to compare discovery efficiency, we tested the species' capacity to locate a food resource in a maze, and the capacity to recruit nestmates to exploit a food resource. The four species differed greatly in their capacity to discover resources and to recruit nestmates and to dominate the other species. Our results are consistent with a discovery-dominance trade-off. The species that showed the highest level of interspecific aggressiveness and dominance during dyadic interactions.
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Project description:Remembering individual identities is part of our own everyday social life. Surprisingly, this ability has recently been shown in two social insects. While paper wasps recognize each other individually through their facial markings, the ant, Pachycondyla villosa, uses chemical cues. In both species, individual recognition is adaptive since it facilitates the maintenance of stable dominance hierarchies among individuals, and thus reduces the cost of conflict within these small societies. Here, we investigated individual recognition in Pachycondyla ants by quantifying the level of aggression between pairs of familiar or unfamiliar queens over time. We show that unrelated founding queens of P. villosa and Pachycondyla inversa store information on the individual identity of other queens and can retrieve it from memory after 24h of separation. Thus, we have documented for the first time that long-term memory of individual identity is present and functional in ants. This novel finding represents an advance in our understanding of the mechanism determining the evolution of cooperation among unrelated individuals.
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Project description:We investigated the physiological and gene expression response of drought-tolerant (IR57311 and LC-93-4; subgroup indica) and drought-sensitive (Nipponbare and Taipai 309; subgroup japonica) rice (Oryza sativa) cultivars to 18 days of drought stress in climate chamber experiments. Rice plants were grown under water sufficient and water limiting conditions in three independent experiments in a controlled climate chamber with 12 h day length at 600 µE m-2 s-1; temperature was 26°C in the light and 22°C at night, with a relative humidity of 75% in the light and 70% at night. Leaf material for expression profiling analysis was harvested five hours after the beginning of the light period after 18 days of stress or control treatment. Normalization and statistical testing was performed using the R package limma (R 2.3.1, limma version 2.7.3; (Smyth, 2005)). The methods Robustspline for within array normalization and Quantile for between array normalization were applied. A linear model with the effects genotype, drought treatment, genotype x drought, dye was fitted to normalized data in limma that models the systemic variation in the data. Afterwards, for the comparisons of interest, moderated t-statistics that use an empirical Bayes method were calculated. Differentially expressed genes were identified using the decideTests function (method global, Benjamini & Hochberg fdr corrected p-value <0.05 in limma) Keywords: stress reponse Growth design. Three independent experiments were performed. The design was a split-plot design with five blocks per drought or control treatment in each experiment. Each treatment and cultivar was represented by five replicate pots with one plant per pot. Pots were randomized within the blocks. Block position was rotated daily. Hybridisation design: A total of 28 samples, each representing mRNA from four parallel plants, were hybridized to 14 arrays. The hybridization design was optimized for the estimation of the effects of condition and the condition x cultivar interaction taking a variance minimization approach. In a two-step procedure, a smaller design for one sensitive and one tolerant cultivar was enlarged to encompass all four cultivars by integrating eight additional arrays. The optimization was programmed using R [R Development Core Team 2006] and carried out on the 16-node Beowulf Linux-Cluster at the University of Potsdam. R-scripts are available upon request and from the Bioinformatics Team at the MPI of Molecular Plant Physiology (see the website for more information). Allocation of the three biological replicates of each of the combinations of treatment and cultivar was completed such that a balanced distribution with respect to the labeling was achieved. Each combination of condition and cultivar from all experiments has been used at least once.
2008-10-29 | E-GEOD-7766 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:Xylem hydraulic adjustment to global climatic changes was reported from temperate, boreal, and Mediterranean tree species. Yet, the long-term hydraulic adjustment in tropical tree species has not been studied so far. Here we developed the first standard chronologies of three hydraulic trait variables for three South Asian moist forest tree species to analyze their long-term hydraulic responses to changing climate. Based on wood anatomical measurements, we calculated Hagen-Poiseuille hydraulically weighted vessel diameter (DH), potential specific hydraulic conductivity (KS), and vulnerability index (VX) and developed standard chronologies of these variables for Chukrasia tabularis, Toona ciliata, and Lagerstroemia speciosa which are different in their xylem structure, wood density, shade tolerance, growth rates, and habitat preferences. Bootstrap correlation analysis revealed that vapor pressure deficit (VPD) strongly positively influenced the xylem water transport capacity in C. tabularis, whereas T. ciliata was affected by both temperature and precipitation. The hydraulic conductivity of L. speciosa was mainly affected by temperature. Different adjustment strategies were observed among the species, probably due to the differences in life history strategies and xylem properties. No positive relationship of conductivity and radial growth was found, but a trade-off between hydraulic safety and efficiency was observed in all studied species.
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Project description:We investigated the physiological and gene expression response of drought-tolerant (IR57311 and LC-93-4; subgroup indica) and drought-sensitive (Nipponbare and Taipai 309; subgroup japonica) rice (Oryza sativa) cultivars to 18 days of drought stress in climate chamber experiments. Rice plants were grown under water sufficient and water limiting conditions in three independent experiments in a controlled climate chamber with 12 h day length at 600 µE m-2 s-1; temperature was 26°C in the light and 22°C at night, with a relative humidity of 75% in the light and 70% at night. Leaf material for expression profiling analysis was harvested five hours after the beginning of the light period after 18 days of stress or control treatment. Normalization and statistical testing was performed using the R package limma (R 2.3.1, limma version 2.7.3; (Smyth, 2005)). The methods Robustspline for within array normalization and Quantile for between array normalization were applied. A linear model with the effects genotype, drought treatment, genotype x drought, dye was fitted to normalized data in limma that models the systemic variation in the data. Afterwards, for the comparisons of interest, moderated t-statistics that use an empirical Bayes method were calculated. Differentially expressed genes were identified using the decideTests function (method global, Benjamini & Hochberg fdr corrected p-value <0.05 in limma) Keywords: stress reponse
2008-10-29 | GSE7766 | GEO
Project description:The effects of water availability on the temperate forest soil microbiome.
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Project description:Pest control is one of the areas in which population dynamic theory has been successfully applied to solve practical problems. However, the links between population dynamic theory and model construction have been less emphasized in the management and control of weed populations. Most management models of weed population dynamics have emphasized the role of the endogenous process, but the role of exogenous variables such as climate have been ignored in the study of weed populations and their management. Here, we use long-term data (22 years) on two annual weed species from a locality in Central Spain to determine the importance of endogenous and exogenous processes (local and large-scale climate factors). Our modeling study determined two different feedback structures and climate effects in the two weed species analyzed. While Descurainia sophia exhibited a second-order feedback and low climate influence, Veronica hederifolia was characterized by a first-order feedback structure and important effects from temperature and rainfall. Our results strongly suggest the importance of theoretical population dynamics in understanding plant population systems. Moreover, the use of this approach, discerning between the effect of exogenous and endogenous factors, can be fundamental to applying weed management practices in agricultural systems and to controlling invasive weedy species. This is a radical change from most approaches currently used to guide weed and invasive weedy species managements.
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