Badge Size Reflects Sperm Oxidative Status within Social Groups in the House Sparrow Passer domesticus

The phenotype-linked fertility hypothesis proposes that male ornaments reflect male fertility. Male ornaments could honestly signal sperm quality due to the high susceptibility of sperm to free radicals on the one hand and the negative impact of oxidative stress on ornament elaboration on the other hand. Thus, only males with superior antioxidant defences could bear the cost of more elaborated sexual ornaments without suffering adverse fitness costs. Yet, in species where males experience differential access to fertile females, a trade-off emerges between investing into traits favouring mating opportunities (e.g. secondary sexual ornaments, social dominance, mate-guarding behaviours, etc.) or into traits favouring sperm competitive ability (e.g. sperm numbers and quality). When male sexual ornaments promote greater access to fertile females, a negative relationship can then be predicted between ornamentation and sperm quality. We tested the latter hypothesis and the phenotype-linked fertility hypothesis in wild House Sparrows Passer domesticus by exploring the relationships between sperm quality, melanin-based ornamentation, and redox status in blood and sperm. We found no correlation between badge size and sperm swimming performance. However, we found that within a social group, large-badged males better protect their ejaculates from oxidative stress, and thus produce less oxidized ejaculates. Additionally, we found that badge size did not reflect social dominance, and thus the protection of the ejaculate is independent of males’ ability to monopolize resources. Our results suggest that badge size might reflect male investment into the antioxidant protection of their sperm relative to a given social environment, and thus females may accrue both direct and indirect benefits by mating with large-badged males producing less oxidized ejaculates

Root herbivore performance suppressed when feeding on a jasmonate-induced pasture grass

1. Plants defend themselves from insect herbivore attack using a range of physical and chemical defences which are in many cases regulated by phytohormones such as jasmonates. While much more is known about how jasmonates regulate defence against above‐ground herbivores (e.g. herbivores of leaves), there is increasing interest in how they influence below‐ground defences. 2. For the Poaceae, most below‐ground studies focus on highly domesticated cereals. Here it is demonstrated how exogenous application of methyl jasmonate (MeJA) to the leaf blades of a non‐domesticated pasture grass (Microlaena stipoides) caused a more than two‐fold decrease in relative growth rate (RGR) of a root‐feeding chafer (Dermolepida albohirtum). MeJA treatment did not affect root consumption rates, but substantially reduced the efficiency of conversion of ingested food to body mass. 3. Non‐targeted metabolomics identified significant changes in the metabolome of MeJA‐induced plants, with three compounds (a galactolipid, a trihydroxy fatty acid and a lysophospholipid) found to be correlated with herbivore RGR, although their roles in herbivore defence remain uncertain. 4. This study suggests that an important Australian pasture grass can become better defended against root herbivores via enhanced jasmonate activity

Leaf metabolic traits reveal hidden dimensions of plant form and function

International audienceThe metabolome is the biochemical basis of plant form and function, but we know little about its macroecological variation across the plant kingdom. Here, we used the plant functional trait concept to interpret leaf metabolome variation among 457 tropical and 339 temperate plant species. Distilling metabolite chemistry into five metabolic functional traits reveals that plants vary on two major axes of leaf metabolic specialization—a leaf chemical defense spectrum and an expression of leaf longevity. Axes are similar for tropical and temperate species, with many trait combinations being viable. However, metabolic traits vary orthogonally to life-history strategies described by widely used functional traits. The metabolome thus expands the functional trait concept by providing additional axes of metabolic specialization for examining plant form and function

Seedling resistance, tolerance and escape from herbivores: insights from co-dominant canopy tree species in a resource-poor African rain forest

* Although plants can reduce the impacts of herbivory in multiple ways, these defensive traits are often studied in isolation and an understanding of the resulting strategies is incomplete. * In the study reported here, empirical evidence was simultaneously evaluated for the three main sets of traits available to plants: (i) resistance through constitutive leaf traits, (ii) tolerance to defoliation and (iii) escape in space, for three caesalpiniaceous tree species Microberlinia bisulcata, Tetraberlinia bifoliolata and T. korupensis, which co-dominate groves within the lowland primary rain forest of Korup National Park (Cameroon). * Mesh cages were placed around individual wild seedlings to exclude insect herbivores at 41 paired canopy gap and understorey locations. After following seedling growth and survival for c. 2 years, caged and control treatments were removed, leaves harvested to determine nutrient and phenolic concentrations, leaf mass per area estimated, and seedling performance in gaps followed for a further c. 2 years to quantify tolerance to the leaf harvesting. * The more nutrient-rich leaves of the weakly shade-tolerant M. bisulcata were damaged much more in gaps than the two strongly shade-tolerant Tetraberlinia species, which had higher leaf mass per area and concentrations of total phenols. Conversely, the faster-growing M. bisulcata was better able to tolerate defoliation in terms of height growth (reflushing capacity), but not at maintaining overall leaf numbers, than the other two species. * Across gaps, insect-mediated Janzen–Connell effects were most pronounced for M. bisulcata, less so for T. korupensis, and not detectable for T. bifoliolata. The three species differed distinctly in their secondary metabolic profiles. * Taken together, the results suggested a conceptual framework linking the three sets of traits, one in which the three co-dominant species adopt different strategies towards herbivore pressure depending on their different responses to light availability. This study is one of the first in a natural forest ecosystem to examine resistance to, tolerance of, and escape from herbivory among a group of co-occurring tropical tree species

Growth-, resistance-, and chemical-related trait measurement of C. pratensis and P major plant

The data file consists into an excel document divided in three worksheets; the first two named "C_pratensis" and P_major" contain data about the treatments, measurements of plant growth and plant secondary metabolites and the herbivore performance (one file for each species used in the study); the third worksheet called "Unit and Info About Variables" contains info and measuring units about treatments and dependent variables used in the study

Chromatographic analysis of alkaloids in Aconitum pollen : towards new insights in plant protection mechanisms

Alkaloids are a class of naturally occurring organic nitrogen-containing bases that are found primarily in plants. They display a huge diversity with more than 3,000 different types already identified. Next to their different pharmacological and therapeutic effects, alkaloids can have a deleterious impact on organisms as they are known to be neurotoxic and cardiotoxic for mammals and insects. In the current context of worldwide bee decline, occurrence of such compounds in floral production, i.e. nectar and pollen, raises major concerns. They could be beneficial to bees by protecting them against disease and pathogens but they could also cause toxicity. Until now alkaloids, and their effect on human health, are mainly studied in vegetative parts of plants. More recently the natural occurrence of alkaloids in nectar was also studied to investigate their effect on bee health. Whereas nectar chemicals can relatively easily and quickly be analyzed by chromatography, extracting chemicals from low pollen amount remains a challenge because of pollen structure and complexity. However, characterization of pollen chemicals can lead to valuable insight in their impact on pollinators allowing the development of mitigation strategies. In this study, we used a UHPLC-(ESI)-Q-ToF/MS method allowing the identification and quantification of alkaloids in pollen matrices from four Aconitum species; A. lycoctonum, A. napellus compactum, A. napellus neomontanum and A. variegatum. Alkaloid extraction was performed using bead-beating disruption of the pollen sample and chromatographic analysis was carried out on an Acquity UPLC system interfaced with a Synapt G2 QTOF. The separation was achieved in gradient mode on an Acquity UPLC BEH C18 column and detection was performed in electrospray positive ionization mode (ES+). Alkaloid concentrations were measured as aconitine equivalents by using a pure aconitine standard as reference compound. The total amount of alkaloids in Aconitum pollen ranged from 0.75 to 1.20 mg/g with 859 different compounds detected, some of them being pollen-specific. Statistical analyses were conducted on the global dataset to assess both quantitative and qualitative interspecific differences. One-way analysis of variance was performed on the total alkaloid content while a permutational test of multivatiate analysis of variance was used to compare the alkaloid profiles among the four Aconitum species. Results are briefly discussed in an ecological context

Bird health and sperm quality in relation to environmental levels of neonicotinoids

Neonicotinoids pesticides are commonly used in agriculture. They are administered mainly prophylactically as seed coating, but can also be sprayed in some cultures. Several characteristics of these molecules make them prone to be transported from the field of application to the surrounding areas. As a consequence, neonicotinoid insecticides represent an environmental risk to non-treated land with potential consequences for non-target species. In this context, we visited 62 farms over the Swiss lowland agricultural area managed under three types of agricultural practices: conventional, integrated production called “IP-Suisse” and organic. We collected soil and vegetation samples in cultivated fields as well as in ecological focus areas (EFAs). Additionally, we captured between 5 and 20 house sparrows (Passer domesticus) in each visited farms, with the aim to examined whether neonicotinoid concentrations in soils and plants are related to indices of the birds’ health (body mass, blood and sperm redox status, sperm quality) and/or neonicotinoid concentrations in the birds’ plumage.peerReviewe