Digest: The guppy project: Predicting evolution in the wild

ABSTRACT Is the evolution of sexual traits predictable in the wild? Using replicate experimental guppy populations, Kemp et al. (2018) addressed this question and found that males evolved more elaborate ornamentation in response to a manipulation that increased the influence of sexual selection. Moreover, the study reveals that evolutionary trajectories of male ornamentation are causally affected by female preference and the environmental conditions under which sexual coloration is displayed and perceived. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reservedPeer reviewe

Micro and macro indicators of competition: comparison and relation with productivity change

This paper investigates competition in the Dutch manufacturing sector. We look at various indicators that have been used throughout the literature and relate these to productivity growth. Moreover, where possible, the indicators and productivity growth are calculated at both the firm and industry level. This enables us to investigate differences in competition and in its relation with productivity for both aggregation levels. Our results indicate that contemporaneous competition is associated with lower productivity, while lagged competition is positively associated with productivity. This finding is consistent between micro and macro, and robust over the various indicators and industries. The results are consistent with the idea that firms first experience negative effects of changes in competition and need time to adjust, while in the period after adjustment productivity rises again.competition, productivity change, growth accounts, Production Statistics, micro-macro

Multidimensional plasticity in the Glanville fritillary butterfly: larval performance is temperature, host and family specific

Variation in environmental conditions during development can lead to changes in life-history traits with long-lasting effects. Here, we study how variation in temperature and host plant (i.e. the consequences of potential maternal oviposition choices) affects a suite of life-history traits in pre-diapause larvae of the Glanville fritillary butterfly. We focus on offspring survival, larval growth rates and relative fat reserves, and pay specific attention to intraspecific variation in the responses (G × E × E). Globally, thermal performance and survival curves varied between diets of two host plants, suggesting that host modifies the temperature impact, or vice versa. Additionally, we show that the relative fat content has a host-dependent, discontinuous response to developmental temperature. This implies that a potential switch in resource allocation, from more investment in growth at lower temperatures to storage at higher temperatures, is dependent on the larval diet. Interestingly, a large proportion of the variance in larval performance is explained by differences among families, or interactions with this variable. Finally, we demonstrate that these family-specific responses to the host plant remain largely consistent across thermal environments. Together, the results of our study underscore the importance of paying attention to intraspecific trait variation in the field of evolutionary ecology.Peer reviewe

Seasonal environments drive convergent evolution of a faster pace-of-life in tropical butterflies

New ecological niches that may arise due to climate change can trigger diversification, but their colonisation often requires adaptations in a suite of life-history traits. We test this hypothesis in species-rich Mycalesina butterflies that have undergone parallel radiations in Africa, Asia, and Madagascar. First, our ancestral state reconstruction of habitat preference, using c. 85% of extant species, revealed that early forest-linked lineages began to invade seasonal savannahs during the late Miocene-Pliocene. Second, rearing replicate pairs of forest and savannah species from the African and Malagasy radiation in a common garden experiment, and utilising published data from the Asian radiation, demonstrated that savannah species consistently develop faster, have smaller bodies, higher fecundity with an earlier investment in reproduction, and reduced longevity, compared to forest species across all three radiations. We argue that time-constraints for reproduction favoured the evolution of a faster pace-of-life in savannah species that facilitated their persistence in seasonal habitats.Peer reviewe

Conserved patterns of integrated developmental plasticity in a group of polyphenic tropical butterflies

Background: Developmental plasticity is thought to have profound macro-evolutionary effects, for example, by increasing the probability of establishment in new environments and subsequent divergence into independently evolving lineages. In contrast to plasticity optimized for individual traits, phenotypic integration, which enables a concerted response of plastic traits to environmental variability, may affect the rate of local adaptation by constraining independent responses of traits to selection. Using a comparative framework, this study explores the evolution of reaction norms for a variety of life history and morphological traits across five related species of mycalesine butterflies from the Old World tropics. Results: Our data indicate that an integrated response of a suite of key traits is shared amongst these species. Interestingly, the traits that make up the functional suite are all known to be regulated by ecdysteroid signalling in Bicyclus anynana, one of the species included in this study, suggesting the same underlying hormonal regulator may be conserved within this group of polyphenic butterflies. We also detect developmental thresholds for the expression of alternative morphs. Conclusions: The phenotypic plasticity of a broad suite of morphological and life history traits is integrated and shared among species from three geographically independent lineages of mycalesine butterflies, despite considerable periods of independent evolution and exposure to disparate environments. At the same time, we have detected examples of evolutionary change where independent traits show different patterns of reaction norms. We argue that the expression of more robust phenotypes may occur by shifting developmental thresholds beyond the boundaries of the typical environmental variation

Micro and macro indicators of competition: comparison and relation with productivity change

This paper investigates competition in the Dutch manufacturing sector. We look at various indicators that have been used throughout the literature and relate these to productivity growth. Moreover, where possible, the indicators and productivity growth are calculated at both the firm and industry level. This enables us to investigate differences in competition and in its relation with productivity for both aggregation levels. Our results indicate that contemporaneous competition is associated with lower productivity, while lagged competition is positively associated with productivity. This finding is consistent between micro and macro, and robust over the various indicators and industries. The results are consistent with the idea that firms first experience negative effects of changes in competition and need time to adjust, while in the period after adjustment productivity rises again

Metacognitive Awareness : sebuah Upaya Optimalisasi Kualitas Pembelajaran Akuntansi

Pemahaman dan pembiasaan strategi metakognisi sangat dibutuhkan bagi seseorang yang sedang melakukan proses pembelajaran. Strategi ini memfasilitasi seseorang untuk mampu mengontrol pembelajarannya dalam hal ini merencanakan, memonitoring dan mengevaluasi proses belajarnya agar dapat berjalan efektif dan efisien. Individu yang sudah terbiasa menggunakan strategi ini akan menemukan cara yang tepat dalam memahami sesuatu, mengembangkan cara memecahkan masalah serta kemampuan melakukan self asesmen. Tujuan penulisan artikel ini adalah menawarkan suatu strategi yang mampu membantu pebelajar dalam mengoptimalkan kualitas proses belajarnya. Artikel ini ditulis berdasarkan hasil review literature yang relevan. Artikel ini menyimpulkan bahwa strategi metakognitif dapat dikembangkan melalui pengalaman belajar secara berkelanjutan sejak mahasiswa baru masuk perguruan tinggi sampai mereka lulus

House dust mite-driven neutrophilic airway inflammation in mice with TNFAIP3-deficient myeloid cells is IL-17-independent

Background: Asthma is a heterogeneous disease of the airways that involves several types of granulocytic inflammation. Recently, we have shown that the activation status of myeloid cells regulated by TNFAIP3/A20 is a crucial determinant of eosinophilic or neutrophilic airway inflammation. However, whether neutrophilic inflammation observed in this model is dependent on IL-17 remains unknown. Objective: In this study, we investigated whether IL-17RA-signalling is essential for eosinophilic or neutrophilic inflammation in house dust mite (HDM)-driven airway inflammation. Methods: Tnfaip3fl/flxLyz2+/cre (Tnfaip3LysM-KO) mice were crossed to Il17raKO mice, generating Tnfaip3LysMIl17raKO mice and subjected to an HDM-driven airway inflammation model. Results: Both eosinophilic and neutrophilic inflammation observed in HDM-exposed WT and Tnfaip3LysM-KO mice respectively were unaltered in the absence of IL-17RA. Production of IL-5, IL-13 and IFN-γ by CD4+ T cells was similar between WT, Tnfaip3LysM-KO and Il17raKO mice, whereas mucus-producing cells in Tnfaip3LysM-KOIl17raKO mice were reduced compared to controls. Strikingly, spontaneous accumulation of pulmonary Th1, Th17 and γδ-17 T cells was observed in Tnfaip3LysM-KOIl17raKO mice, but not in the other genotypes. Th17 cell-associated cytokines such as GM-CSF and IL-22 were increased in the lungs of HDM-exposed Tnfaip3LysM-KOIl17raKO mice, compared to IL-17RA-sufficient controls. Moreover, neutrophilic chemo-attractants CXCL1, CXCL2, CXCL12 and Th17-promoting cytokines IL-1β and IL-6 were unaltered between Tnfaip3LysM-KO and Tnfaip3LysM-KOIl17raKO mice. Conclusion and Clinical Relevance: These findings show that neutrophilic airway inflammation induced by activated TNFAIP3/A20-deficient myeloid cells can develop in the absence of IL-17RA-signalling. Neutrophilic inflammation is likely maintained by similar quantities of pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-1β and IL-6 that can, independently of IL-17-signalling, induce the expression of neutrophil chemo-attractants

Miocene climate and habitat change drove diversification in Bicyclus, Africa’s largest radiation of satyrine butterflies

Compared to other regions, the drivers of diversification in Africa are poorly understood. We studied a radiation of insects with over 100 species occurring in a wide range of habitats across the Afrotropics to investigate the fundamental evolutionary processes and geological events that generate and maintain patterns of species richness on the continent. By investigating the evolutionary history of Bicyclus butterflies within a phylogenetic framework, we inferred the group’s origin at the Oligo-Miocene boundary from ancestors in the Congolian rainforests of central Africa. Abrupt climatic fluctuations during the Miocene (ca. 19-17 Ma) likely fragmented ancestral populations, resulting in at least eight early-divergent lineages. Only one of these lineages appears to have diversified during the drastic climate and biome changes of the early Miocene, radiating into the largest group of extant species. The other seven lineages diversified in forest ecosystems during the late Miocene and Pleistocene when climatic conditions were more favourable–warmer and wetter. Our results suggest changing Neogene climate, uplift of eastern African orogens, and biotic interactions might have had different effects on the various subclades of Bicyclus, producing one of the most spectacular butterfly radiations in Africa