Ecological speciation in European whitefish is driven by a large-gaped predator

Lake-dwelling fish that form species pairs/flocks characterized by body size divergence are important model systems for speciation research. Although several sources of divergent selection have been identified in these systems, their importance for driving the speciation process remains elusive. A major problem is that in retrospect, we cannot distinguish selection pressures that initiated divergence from those acting later in the process. To address this issue, we studied the initial stages of speciation in European whitefish (Coregonus lavaretus) using data from 358 populations of varying age (26-10,000 years). We find that whitefish speciation is driven by a large-growing predator, the northern pike (Esox lucius). Pike initiates divergence by causing a largely plastic differentiation into benthic giants and pelagic dwarfs: ecotypes that will subsequently develop partial reproductive isolation and heritable differences in gill raker number. Using an eco-evolutionary model, we demonstrate how pike's habitat specificity and large gape size are critical for imposing a between-habitat trade-off, causing prey to mature in a safer place or at a safer size. Thereby, we propose a novel mechanism for how predators may cause dwarf/giant speciation in lake-dwelling fish species.Peer reviewe

Acute interaction between hydrocortisone and insulin alters the plasma metabolome in humans

With the aim of identifying biomarkers of glucocorticoid action and their relationship with biomarkers of insulin action, metabolomic profiling was carried out in plasma samples from twenty healthy men who were administered either a low or medium dose insulin infusion (n = 10 each group). In addition, all subjects were given metyrapone (to inhibit adrenal cortisol secretion) +/-hydrocortisone (HC) in a randomised crossover design to produce low, medium and high glucocorticoid levels. The clearest effects of insulin were to reduce plasma levels of the branched chain amino acids (BCAs) leucine/isoleucine and their deaminated metabolites, and lowered free fatty acids and acylcarnitines. The highest dose of hydrocortisone increased plasma BCAs in both insulin groups but increased free fatty acids only in the high insulin group, however hydrocortisone did not affect the levels of acyl carnitines in either group. The clearest interaction between HC and insulin was that hydrocortisone produced an elevation in levels of BCAs and their metabolites which were lowered by insulin. The direct modulation of BCAs by glucocorticoids and insulin may provide the basis for improved in vivo monitoring of glucocorticoid and insulin action

Genetic signs of multiple colonization events in Baltic ciscoes with radiation into sympatric spring- and autumn-spawners confined to early postglacial arrival

Presence of sympatric populations may reflect local diversification or secondary contact of already distinct forms. The Baltic cisco (Coregonus albula) normally spawns in late autumn, but in a few lakes in Northern Europe sympatric autumn and spring- or winter-spawners have been described. So far, the evolutionary relationships and taxonomic status of these main life history forms have remained largely unclear. With microsatellites and mtDNA sequences, we analyzed extant and extinct spring- and autumn-spawners from a total of 23 Swedish localities, including sympatric populations. Published sequences from Baltic ciscoes in Germany and Finland, and Coregonus sardinella from North America were also included together with novel mtDNA sequences from Siberian C.sardinella. A clear genetic structure within Sweden was found that included two population assemblages markedly differentiated at microsatellites and apparently fixed for mtDNA haplotypes from two distinct clades. All sympatric Swedish populations belonged to the same assemblage, suggesting parallel evolution of spring-spawning rather than secondary contact. The pattern observed further suggests that postglacial immigration to Northern Europe occurred from at least two different refugia. Previous results showing that mtDNA in Baltic cisco is paraphyletic with respect to North American C.sardinella were confirmed. However, the inclusion of Siberian C.sardinella revealed a more complicated pattern, as these novel haplotypes were found within one of the two main C.albula clades and were clearly distinct from those in North American C.sardinella. The evolutionary history of Northern Hemisphere ciscoes thus seems to be more complex than previously recognized

Potential importance of physiologically diverse benthic foraminifera in sedimentary nitrate storage and respiration

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2012. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research 117 (2012): G03002, doi:10.1029/2012JG001949.Until recently, the process of denitrification (conversion of nitrate or nitrite to gaseous products) was thought to be performed exclusively by prokaryotes and fungi. The finding that foraminifera perform complete denitrification could impact our understanding of nitrate removal in sediments as well as our understanding of eukaryotic respiration, especially if it is widespread. However, details of this process and the subcellular location of these reactions in foraminifera remain uncertain. For example, prokaryotic endobionts, rather than the foraminifer proper, could perform denitrification, as has been shown recently in an allogromiid foraminifer. Here, intracellular nitrate concentrations and isotope ratios (δ15NNO3 and δ18ONO3) were measured to assess the nitrate dynamics in four benthic foraminiferal species (Bolivina argentea, Buliminella tenuata, Fursenkoina cornuta, Nonionella stella) with differing cellular architecture and associations with microbial endobionts, recovered from Santa Barbara Basin, California. Cellular nitrate concentrations were high (12–217 mM) in each species, and intracellular nitrate often had elevated δ15NNO3 and δ18ONO3 values. Experiments including suboxic and anoxic incubations of B. argentea revealed a decrease in intracellular nitrate concentration and an increase in δ15NNO3 and δ18ONO3 over time, indicating nitrate respiration and/or denitrification within the foraminifera. Results illustrate that nitrate reduction occurs in a range of foraminiferal species, including some possessing endobionts (including a chloroplast-sequestering species) and others lacking endobionts, implying that microbial associates may not solely be responsible for this process in foraminifera. Furthermore, we show that benthic foraminifera may represent important reservoirs of nitrate storage in sediments, as well as mediators of its removal.This research was supported by NSF grant EF-0702491 to JMB, KLC, and VPE.2013-01-0

The role of local adaptation in shaping fish-mussel coevolution

1. The survival of affiliate (dependent) species in a changing environment is determined by the interactions between the affiliate species and their available hosts. However, the patterns of spatial and temporal changes in host compatibility are often unknown despite host shifts having direct impact on the persistence of local populations. Bivalves of the order Unionida (freshwater mussels) are a functionally important but declining group of affiliate species, which are dependent on freshwater fish to host their parasitic larvae. The role of local adaptations and host fish resistance in shaping freshwater mussel host relationships remains poorly understood. 2. We used an invasive East Asian unionid bivalve, Sinanodonta woodiana, and its potential host fishes to study the mechanisms shaping fish-mussel coevolution using a combination of laboratory cross-exposure methods and field-collected data. We tested whether generalist host use of S. woodiana is pertinent to native host species, with special attention to bitterling fishes (Cyprinidae: Acheilognathinae) that are characterised by a mutual association with freshwater mussels. We also tested whether the pattern of the parasite–host association varies temporally (between areas of ancient and recent sympatry) and spatially (at a sub-basin level in its native range). 3. Results revealed the ability of S. woodiana to widely exploit non-bitterling host fishes at a global scale. In contrast, the ability of S. woodiana to exploit closely associated bitterling fishes was low in its native range (with ancient sympatry). In areas of recent sympatry (non-native S. woodiana range in Europe), S. woodiana glochidia were demonstrated to readily parasitise local, evolutionarily naive bitterling species at high density. 4. The results of a population-level experiment with three native populations of S. woodiana and rose bitterling, Rhodeus ocellatus, from various sub-basins of the River Yangtze confirmed that mussel populations vary in their compatibility with particular host populations. However, there was no evidence of population-specific adaptive coevolution. 5. This study provides the first evidence for a role of fish counter-adaptations against freshwater mussel glochidia, and documents the importance of population-level variation in shaping compatibility between glochidia and their host fishes. This outcome can inform predictions on the impact of biotic homogenisation on endangered affiliate species in general and freshwater mussels in particular

Data descriptor: a global multiproxy database for temperature reconstructions of the Common Era

Reproducible climate reconstructions of the Common Era (1 CE to present) are key to placing industrial-era warming into the context of natural climatic variability. Here we present a community-sourced database of temperature-sensitive proxy records from the PAGES2k initiative. The database gathers 692 records from 648 locations, including all continental regions and major ocean basins. The records are from trees, ice, sediment, corals, speleothems, documentary evidence, and other archives. They range in length from 50 to 2000 years, with a median of 547 years, while temporal resolution ranges from biweekly to centennial. Nearly half of the proxy time series are significantly correlated with HadCRUT4.2 surface temperature over the period 1850-2014. Global temperature composites show a remarkable degree of coherence between high-and low-resolution archives, with broadly similar patterns across archive types, terrestrial versus marine locations, and screening criteria. The database is suited to investigations of global and regional temperature variability over the Common Era, and is shared in the Linked Paleo Data (LiPD) format, including serializations in Matlab, R and Python. (TABLE) Since the pioneering work of D'Arrigo and Jacoby1-3, as well as Mann et al. 4,5, temperature reconstructions of the Common Era have become a key component of climate assessments6-9. Such reconstructions depend strongly on the composition of the underlying network of climate proxies10, and it is therefore critical for the climate community to have access to a community-vetted, quality-controlled database of temperature-sensitive records stored in a self-describing format. The Past Global Changes (PAGES) 2k consortium, a self-organized, international group of experts, recently assembled such a database, and used it to reconstruct surface temperature over continental-scale regions11 (hereafter, ` PAGES2k-2013'). This data descriptor presents version 2.0.0 of the PAGES2k proxy temperature database (Data Citation 1). It augments the PAGES2k-2013 collection of terrestrial records with marine records assembled by the Ocean2k working group at centennial12 and annual13 time scales. In addition to these previously published data compilations, this version includes substantially more records, extensive new metadata, and validation. Furthermore, the selection criteria for records included in this version are applied more uniformly and transparently across regions, resulting in a more cohesive data product. This data descriptor describes the contents of the database, the criteria for inclusion, and quantifies the relation of each record with instrumental temperature. In addition, the paleotemperature time series are summarized as composites to highlight the most salient decadal-to centennial-scale behaviour of the dataset and check mutual consistency between paleoclimate archives. We provide extensive Matlab code to probe the database-processing, filtering and aggregating it in various ways to investigate temperature variability over the Common Era. The unique approach to data stewardship and code-sharing employed here is designed to enable an unprecedented scale of investigation of the temperature history of the Common Era, by the scientific community and citizen-scientists alike

Late quaternary sea-ice and sedimentary redox conditions in the eastern Bering Sea – Implications for ventilation of the mid-depth North Pacific and an Atlantic-Pacific seesaw mechanism

On glacial-interglacial and millennial timescales, sea ice is an important player in the circulation and primary productivity of high latitude oceans, affecting regional and global biogeochemical cycling. In the modern North Pacific, brine rejection during sea-ice freezing in the Sea of Okhotsk drives the formation of North Pacific Intermediate Water (NPIW) that ventilates the North Pacific Ocean at 300 m to 1000 m water depth. Glacial intervals of the late Quaternary, however, experienced a deepening of glacial NPIW to at least 2000 m, with the strongest ventilation observed during cold stadial conditions of the last deglaciation. However, the origin of the shifts in NPIW ventilation is poorly understood. Numerical simulations suggest an atmospheric teleconnection between the North Atlantic and the North Pacific, in response to a slowdown or shutdown of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation. This leads to a build-up of salinity in the North Pacific surface ocean, triggering deep ventilation. Alternatively, increased sea-ice formation in the North Pacific and its marginal seas may have caused strengthened overturning in response to enhanced brine rejection. Here we use a multi-proxy approach to explore sea-ice dynamics, sedimentary redox chemistry, and benthic ecology at Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Site U1343 in the eastern Bering Sea across the last 40 ka. Our results suggest that brine rejection from enhanced sea-ice formation during early Heinrich Stadial 1 locally weakened the halocline, aiding in the initiation of deep overturning. Additionally, deglacial sea-ice retreat likely contributed to increased primary productivity and expansion of mid-depth hypoxia at Site U1343 during interstadials, confirming a vital role of sea ice in the deglacial North Pacific carbon cycle