Faster is not always better: selection on growth rate fluctuates across life history and environments

Growth rate is increasingly recognized as a key life-history trait that may affect fitness directly rather than evolve as a by-product of selection on size or age. An ongoing challenge is to explain the abundant levels of phenotypic and genetic variation in growth rates often seen in natural populations, despite what is expected to be consistently strong selection on this trait. Such a paradox suggests limits to how contemporary growth rates evolve. We explored limits arising from variation in selection, based on selection differentials for age-specific growth rates expressed under different ecological conditions. We present results from a field experiment that measured growth rates and reproductive output in wild individuals of a colonial marine invertebrate (Hippopodina iririkiensis), replicated within and across the natural range of succession in its local community. Colony growth rates varied phenotypically throughout this range, but not all such variation was available for selection, nor was it always targeted by selection as expected. While the maintenance of both phenotypic and genetic variation in growth rate is often attributed to costs of growing rapidly, our study highlights the potential for fluctuating selection pressures throughout the life history and across environments to play an important role in this process

Biochemical evolution in response to intensive harvesting in algae: evolution of quality and quantity

Evolutionary responses to indirect selection pressures imposed by intensive harvesting are increasingly common. While artificial selection has shown that biochemical components can show rapid and dramatic evolution, it remains unclear as to whether intensive harvesting can inadvertently induce changes in the biochemistry of harvested populations. For applications such as algal culture, many of the desirable bioproducts could evolve in response to harvesting, reducing cost-effectiveness, but experimental tests are lacking. We used an experimental evolution approach where we imposed heavy and light harvesting regimes on multiple lines of an alga of commercial interest for twelve cycles of harvesting and then placed all lines in a common garden regime for four cycles. We have previously shown that lines in a heavy harvesting regime evolve a live fast phenotype with higher growth rates relative to light harvesting regimes. Here, we show that algal biochemistry also shows evolutionary responses, although they were temporarily masked by differences in density under the different harvesting regimes. Heavy harvesting regimes, relative to light harvesting regimes, had reduced productivity of desirable bioproducts, particularly fatty acids. We suggest that commercial operators wishing to maximize productivity of desirable bioproducts should maintain mother cultures, kept at higher densities (which tend to select for desirable phenotypes), and periodically restart their intensively harvested cultures to minimize the negative consequences of biochemical evolution. Our study shows that the burgeoning algal culture industry should pay careful attention to the role of evolution in intensively harvested crops as these effects are nontrivial if subtle

Near-Threshold Production of omega Mesons in the pp -> pp omega Reaction

The total cross section for omega production in the pp -> pp omega reaction has been measured at five c.m. excess energies from 3.8 to 30 MeV. The energy dependence is easily understood in terms of a strong proton-proton final state interaction combined with a smearing over the width of the state. The ratio of near-threshold phi and omega production is consistent with the predictions of a one-pion-exchange model and the degree of violation of the OZI rule is similar to that found in the pi-p -> n omega/phi reactions.Comment: Report in LaTeX2e. 12 pages with 2 eps figure

Study of the process e+e−→π+π−π0e^+e^- \to \pi^+\pi^-\pi^0 in the energy region s\sqrt[]{s} below 0.98 GeV

The cross section of the process $e^+e^-\to \pi^+\pi^-\pi^0$ was measured in the Spherical Neutral Detector (SND) experiment at the VEPP-2M collider in the energy region $\sqrt[]{s}$ below 980 MeV. This measurement was based on about $1.2 \times 10^6$ selected events. The obtained cross section was analyzed together with the SND and DM2 data in the energy region $\sqrt[]{s}$ up to 2 GeV. The $\omega$-meson parameters: $m_\omega=782.79\pm 0.08\pm 0.09$ MeV, $\Gamma_\omega=8.68\pm 0.04\pm 0.15$ MeV and $\sigma(\omega\to 3\pi)=1615\pm 9\pm 57$ nb were obtained. It was found that the experimental data cannot be described by a sum of only $\omega$, $\phi$, $\omega^\prime$ and $\omega^{\prime\prime}$ resonances contributions. This can be interpreted as a manifestation of $\rho\to 3\pi$ decay, suppressed by $G$-parity, with relative probability $B(\rho\to 3\pi) = (1.01\pm^{0.54}_{0.36}\pm 0.034) \times 10^{-4}$.Comment: 41 pages REVTEX and 34 figure

One-loop corrections to omega photoproduction near threshold

One-loop corrections to $\omega$ photoproduction near threshold have been investigated by using the approximation that all relevant transition amplitudes are calculated from the tree diagrams of effective Lagrangians. With the parameters constrained by the data of $\gamma N \to \pi N$, $\gamma N \to \rho N$, and $\pi N \to \omega N$ reactions, it is found that the one-loop effects due to the intermediate $\pi N$ and $\rho N$ states can significantly change the differential cross sections and spin observables. The results from this exploratory investigation suggest strongly that the coupled-channel effects should be taken into account in extracting reliable resonance parameters from the data of vector meson photoproduction in the resonance region.Comment: 19 pages, REVTeX, 14 figures, title changed, revised version to appear in Phys. Rev.

Near-threshold ω\omega and ϕ\phi meson productions in pppp collisions

Using a relativistic effective Lagrangian at the hadronic level, near-threshold $\omega$ and $\phi$ meson productions in proton proton ($pp$) collisions, $p p \to p p \omega/\phi$, are studied within the distorted wave Born approximation. Both initial and final state $pp$ interactions are included. In addition to total cross section data, both $\omega$ and $\phi$ angular distribution data are used to constrain further the model parameters. For the $p p \to p p \omega$ reaction we consider two different possibilities: with and without the inclusion of nucleon resonances. The nucleon resonances are included in a way to be consistent with the $\pi^- p \to \omega n$ reaction. It is shown that the inclusion of nucleon resonances can describe the data better overall than without their inclusion. However, the SATURNE data in the range of excess energies $Q < 31$ MeV are still underestimated by about a factor of two. As for the $p p \to p p \phi$ reaction it is found that the presently limited available data from DISTO can be reproduced by four sets of values for the vector and tensor $\phi NN$ coupling constants. Further measurements of the energy dependence of the total cross section near threshold energies should help to constrain better the $\phi NN$ coupling constant.Comment: Latex, 37 pages, 13 figures (14 EPS-figure files), text modified, version to appear in Phys. ReV.

Monro & Marshall 2014 AmNat

Estimates of relative growth rates and fecundity for 20 focal colonies replicated across 3 stages of succession in the field

Data from: Interspecific competition alters nonlinear selection on offspring size in the field

Offspring size is one of the most important life-history traits with consequences for both the ecology and evolution of most organisms. Surprisingly, formal estimates of selection on offspring size are rare, and the degree to which selection (particularly nonlinear selection) varies among environments remains poorly explored. We estimate linear and nonlinear selection on offspring size, module size, and senescence rate for a sessile marine invertebrate in the field under three different intensities of interspecific competition. The intensity of competition strongly modified the strength and form of selection acting on offspring size. We found evidence for differences in nonlinear selection across the three environments. Our results suggest that the fitness returns of a given offspring size depend simultaneously on their environmental context, and on the context of other offspring traits. Offspring size effects can be more pervasive with regards to their influence on the fitness returns of other traits than previously recognized, and we suggest that the evolution of offspring size cannot be understood in isolation from other traits. Overall, variability in the form and strength of selection on offspring size in nature may reduce the efficacy of selection on offspring size and maintain variation in this trait

Data from: Evolutionary constraints and the maintenance of individual specialization throughout succession

Constraints on life-history traits, with their close links to fitness, are widely invoked as limits to niche expansion at most organizational levels. Theoretically, such constraints can maintain individual specialization by preventing adaptation to all niches available, but empirical evidence of them remains elusive for natural populations. This problem may be compounded by a tendency to seek constraints involving multiple traits, neglecting their added potential to manifest in trait expression across environments (i.e., within reaction norms). By replicating genotypes of a colonial marine invertebrate across successional stages in its local community, and taking a holistic approach to the analysis of ensuing reaction norms for fitness, we show the potential for individual specialization to be maintained by genetic constraints associated with these norms, which limit the potential for fitness at one successional stage to improve without loss of fitness at others. Our study provides new insight into the evolutionary maintenance of individual specialization in natural populations and reinforces the importance of reaction norms for studying this phenomenon

Data from: Faster isn't always better: selection on growth rate fluctuates across the life history and environments

Growth rate is increasingly recognised as a key life-history trait that may affect fitness directly, rather than evolving as a by-product of selection on size or age. An ongoing challenge is to explain the abundant levels of phenotypic and genetic variation in growth rates often seen in natural populations, despite what is expected to be consistently strong selection on this trait. Such a paradox suggests limits to how contemporary growth rates evolve. We explored limits arising from variation in selection, based on selection differentials for age-specific growth rates expressed under different ecological conditions. We present results from a field experiment that measured growth rates and reproductive output in wild individuals of a colonial marine invertebrate (Hippopodina iririkiensis), replicated within and across the natural range of succession in its local community. Colony growth rates varied phenotypically throughout this range, but not all such variation was available for selection, nor was it always targeted by selection as expected. While the maintenance of both phenotypic and genetic variation in growth rate is often attributed to costs of growing rapidly, our study highlights the potential for fluctuating selection pressures throughout the life history and across environments to play an important role in this process