Dataset Information

Contrasting effects of habitat discontinuity on three closely related fungivorous beetle species with diverging host-use patterns and dispersal ability.

ABSTRACT: Understanding how landscape structure influences biodiversity patterns and ecological processes are essential in ecological research and conservation practices. Forest discontinuity is a primary driver affecting the population persistence and genetic structure of forest-dwelling species. However, the actual impacts on populations are highly species-specific. In this study, we tested whether dispersal capability and host specialization are associated with susceptibility to forest discontinuity using three closely related, sympatric fungivorous ciid beetle species (two host specialists, Octotemnus assimilis and O. crassus; one host generalist, O. kawanabei). Landscape genetic analyses and the estimation of effective migration surfaces (EEMS) method consistently demonstrated contrasting differences in the relationships between genetic structure and configuration of forest land cover. Octotemnus assimilis, one of the specialists with a presumably higher dispersal capability due to lower wing loading, lacked a definite spatial genetic structure in our study landscape. The remaining two species showed clear spatial genetic structure, but the results of landscape genetic analyses differed between the two species: while landscape resistance appeared to describe the spatial genetic structure of the specialist O. crassus, genetic differentiation of the generalist O. kawanabei was explained by geographic distance alone. This finding is consistent with the prediction that nonforest areas act more strongly as barriers between specialist populations. Our results suggest that differences in host range can influence the species-specific resistance to habitat discontinuity among closely related species inhabiting the same landscape.

SUBMITTER: Kobayashi T

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6405892 | biostudies-other | 2019 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Contrasting effects of habitat discontinuity on three closely related fungivorous beetle species with diverging host-use patterns and dispersal ability.

Kobayashi Takuya T Sota Teiji T

Ecology and evolution 20190216 5

Understanding how landscape structure influences biodiversity patterns and ecological processes are essential in ecological research and conservation practices. Forest discontinuity is a primary driver affecting the population persistence and genetic structure of forest-dwelling species. However, the actual impacts on populations are highly species-specific. In this study, we tested whether dispersal capability and host specialization are associated with susceptibility to forest discontinuity us ...[more]

PMID: 30891194

Similar Datasets

Project description:AimSpecies' ecological traits influence their spatial genetic patterns. Bedrock preference strongly shapes the phylogeography of alpine plants, but its interactions with other ecological traits have rarely been disentangled. Here, we explore whether dispersal ability and degree of habitat specialization account for divergent postglacial expansion patterns of high-elevation plants in spite of similar bedrock preference.LocationThe Pyrenees, southwestern Europe.TaxonCirsium glabrum (Asteraceae), Salix pyrenaica (Salicaceae) and Silene borderei (Caryophyllaceae).MethodsPhylogenetic, genetic structure and demographic modelling analyses based on restriction-site-associated DNA sequencing (RADseq) data from a range-wide populational sampling were conducted. Occurrence data and environmental variables were used to construct species distribution models, which were projected under current and Last Glacial Maximum conditions, and were combined with RADseq data to reconstruct the postglacial history of the study species. The degree of habitat specialization of each species was estimated based on the plant communities within which they occur, and their climatic niche breadth.ResultsSalix pyrenaica, which occupies a broad range of habitats, shows a high level of range filling, a blurred genetic structure and an admixture cline between the two main genetic groups, congruent with rapid postglacial expansion. The microsite specialists C. glabrum and S. borderei exhibit a strong genetic structure and low levels of range filling, indicative of slow postglacial expansion. The good disperser C. glabrum shows higher levels of admixture between genetic groups and weaker population differentiation than the poor disperser S. borderei.Main conclusionsFactors other than bedrock preference have a strong impact on the postglacial range dynamics of high-elevation species. Habitat specialization plays an important role, allowing species occupying a broad range of habitats to more rapidly expand their ranges after environmental change. The effect of dispersal ability is lower than expected for the study species.

Project description:Teleost fish represent an invaluable repertoire of host species to study the factors shaping animal-associated microbiomes. Several studies have shown that the phylogenetic structure of the fish gut microbiome is driven by species-specific (e.g., host ancestry, genotype, or diet) and habitat-specific (e.g., hydrochemical parameters and bacterioplankton composition) factors. However, our understanding of other host-associated microbial niches, such as the skin mucus microbiome, remains limited. The goal of our study was to explore simultaneously the phylogenetic structure of the fish skin mucus and gut microbiome and compare the effect of species- and habitat-specific drivers on the structure of microbial communities in both tissues. We sampled 114 wild fish from 6 populations of 3 ecologically and phylogenetically contrasting Amazonian teleost species. Water samples were collected at each site, and 10 physicochemical parameters were characterized. The skin mucus, gut, and water microbial communities were characterized using a metabarcoding approach targeting the V3-V4 regions of the 16S rRNA. Our results showed a significant distinction between the phylogenetic profile and diversity of the microbiome from each microbial niche. Skin mucus and bacterioplankton communities were significantly closer in composition than gut and free-living communities. Species-specific factors mostly modulated gut bacterial communities, while the skin mucus microbiome was predominantly associated with environmental physicochemistry and bacterioplankton community structure. These results suggest that the variable skin mucus community is a relevant target for the development of microbial biomarkers of environmental status, while the more conserved gut microbiome is better suited to study long-term host-microbe interactions over evolutionary time scales.IMPORTANCE Whether host-associated microbiomes are mostly shaped by species-specific or environmental factors is still unresolved. In particular, it is unknown to what extent microbial communities from two different host tissues from the same host respond to these factors. Our study is one of the first to focus on the microbiome of teleost fish to shed a light on this topic as we investigate how the phylogenetic structure of microbial communities from two distinct fish tissues are shaped by species- and habitat-specific factors. Our study showed that in contrast to the teleost gut microbiome, skin mucus communities are highly environment dependent. This result has various implications: (i) the skin mucus microbiome should be used, rather than the gut, to investigate bacterial biomarkers of ecosystem perturbance in the wild, and (ii) the gut microbiome is better suited for studies of the drivers of phylosymbiosis, or the coevolution of fish and their symbionts.

Project description:BACKGROUND: Biogeographical and macroecological principles are derived from patterns of distribution in large organisms, whereas microscopic ones have often been considered uninteresting, because of their supposed wide distribution. Here, after reporting the results of an intensive faunistic survey of marine microscopic animals (meiofauna) in Northern Sardinia, we test for the effect of body size, dispersal ability, and habitat features on the patterns of distribution of several groups. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: As a dataset we use the results of a workshop held at La Maddalena (Sardinia, Italy) in September 2010, aimed at studying selected taxa of soft-bodied meiofauna (Acoela, Annelida, Gastrotricha, Nemertodermatida, Platyhelminthes and Rotifera), in conjunction with data on the same taxa obtained during a previous workshop hosted at Tjärnö (Western Sweden) in September 2007. Using linear mixed effects models and model averaging while accounting for sampling bias and potential pseudoreplication, we found evidence that: (1) meiofaunal groups with more restricted distribution are the ones with low dispersal potential; (2) meiofaunal groups with higher probability of finding new species for science are the ones with low dispersal potential; (3) the proportion of the global species pool of each meiofaunal group present in each area at the regional scale is negatively related to body size, and positively related to their occurrence in the endobenthic habitat. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: Our macroecological analysis of meiofauna, in the framework of the ubiquity hypothesis for microscopic organisms, indicates that not only body size but mostly dispersal ability and also occurrence in the endobenthic habitat are important correlates of diversity for these understudied animals, with different importance at different spatial scales. Furthermore, since the Western Mediterranean is one of the best-studied areas in the world, the large number of undescribed species (37%) highlights that the census of marine meiofauna is still very far from being complete.

Dataset Information

Contrasting effects of habitat discontinuity on three closely related fungivorous beetle species with diverging host-use patterns and dispersal ability.

Publications

Contrasting effects of habitat discontinuity on three closely related fungivorous beetle species with diverging host-use patterns and dispersal ability.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets