Bird rookeries have different effects on different feeding guilds of herbivores and alter the feeding behavior of a common caterpillar

Abstract Aggregations of nesting birds are common in many landscapes and have a broad impact on their surrounding habitat through the nutrient input and disturbance of their guano depositions. Ecological theory makes specific predictions about how disturbances or nutrient pulses will affect the interactions between different trophic levels of organisms. This study dissects the effects of a multispecies bird rookery on plant-herbivore interactions on coast live oak trees (Quercus agrifolia). I found that different feeding guilds of herbivores were affected in opposing directions by the rookery. I observed less chewing damage within the rookery than outside, but more damage from piercing/sucking and galling herbivores within the rookery than outside. To understand why chewing guild herbivores are negatively affected by the environmental impacts of the rookery, I explored the behavioral response of a specialist caterpillar (Phryganidia californica) to various rookery conditions. Bird guano had a direct negative impact on P. californica foraging. P. californica movement was impaired by guano addition to twigs, and caterpillars preferred to eat leaves without guano on them. The rookery also had an indirect negative effect on P. californica foraging, as P. californica preferred clean leaves from forest areas outside of the rookery over clean leaves from within the rookery. This study suggests that while it may be possible to make accurate predictions about the effect of large events (such as rookery formation) on different trophic levels, understanding the response of individual species within that trophic level requires an understanding of aspects of their natural history-such as feeding mode and behavior

From theory to experiments for testing the proximate mechanisms of mast seeding: an agenda for an experimental ecology

Highly variable and synchronised production of seeds by plant populations, known as masting, is implicated in many important ecological processes, but how it arises remains poorly understood. The lack of experimental studies prevents underlying mechanisms from being explicitly tested, and thereby precludes meaningful predictions on the consequences of changing environments for plant reproductive patterns and global vegetation dynamics. Here we review the most relevant proximate drivers of masting and outline a research agenda that takes the biology of masting from a largely observational field of ecology to one rooted in mechanistic understanding. We divide the experimental framework into three main processes: resource dynamics, pollen limitation, and genetic and hormonal regulation, and illustrate how specific predictions about proximate mechanisms can be tested, highlighting the few successful experiments as examples. We envision that the experiments we outline will deliver new insights into how and why masting patterns might respond to a changing environment

Modes of climate variability bridge proximate and evolutionary mechanisms of masting

There is evidence that variable and synchronous reproduction in seed plants (masting) correlates to modes of climate variability, e.g. El Niño Southern Oscillation and North Atlantic Oscillation. In this perspective, we explore the breadth of knowledge on how climate modes control reproduction in major masting species throughout Earth's biomes. We posit that intrinsic properties of climate modes (periodicity, persistence and trends) drive interannual and decadal variability of plant reproduction, as well as the spatial extent of its synchrony, aligning multiple proximate causes of masting through space and time. Moreover, climate modes force lagged but in-phase ecological processes that interact synergistically with multiple stages of plant reproductive cycles. This sets up adaptive benefits by increasing offspring fitness through either economies of scale or environmental prediction. Community-wide links between climate modes and masting across plant taxa suggest an evolutionary role of climate variability. We argue that climate modes may ‘bridge’ proximate and ultimate causes of masting selecting for variable and synchronous reproduction. The future of such interaction is uncertain: processes that improve reproductive fitness may remain coupled with climate modes even under changing climates, but chances are that abrupt global warming will affect Earth's climate modes so rapidly as to alter ecological and evolutionary links. This article is part of the theme issue ‘The ecology and evolution of synchronized seed production in plants’

MASTREE+: Time-series of plant reproductive effort from six continents

Significant gaps remain in understanding the response of plant reproduction to environmental change. This is partly because measuring reproduction in long-lived plants requires direct observation over many years and such datasets have rarely been made publicly available. Here we introduce MASTREE+, a data set that collates reproductive time-series data from across the globe and makes these data freely available to the community. MASTREE+ includes 73,828 georeferenced observations of annual reproduction (e.g. seed and fruit counts) in perennial plant populations worldwide. These observations consist of 5971 population-level time-series from 974 species in 66 countries. The mean and median time-series length is 12.4 and 10 years respectively, and the data set includes 1122 series that extend over at least two decades (≥20 years of observations). For a subset of well-studied species, MASTREE+ includes extensive replication of time-series across geographical and climatic gradients. Here we describe the open-access data set, available as a.csv file, and we introduce an associated web-based app for data exploration. MASTREE+ will provide the basis for improved understanding of the response of long-lived plant reproduction to environmental change. Additionally, MASTREE+ will enable investigation of the ecology and evolution of reproductive strategies in perennial plants, and the role of plant reproduction as a driver of ecosystem dynamics.EEA Santa CruzFil: Hacket-Pain, Andrew. University of Liverpool. School of Environmental Sciences. Department of Geography and Planning; Reino UnidoFil: Foest, Jessie J. University of Liverpool. School of Environmental Sciences. Department of Geography and Planning; Reino UnidoFil: Pearse, Ian S. U.S. Fort Collins Science Center. Geological Survey; Estados UnidosFil: LaMontagne, Jalene M. DePaul University. Department of Biological Sciences; Estados UnidosFil: Koenig, Walter D. University of California Berkeley. Hastings Reservation; Estados UnidosFil: Vacchiano, Giorgio. University of Milan. Milan Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences; Italia.Fil: Bogdziewicz, Michał. Adam Mickiewicz University. Faculty of Biology. Institute of Environmental Biology; PoloniaFil: Bogdziewicz, Michał. University Grenoble Alpes. INRAE, LESSEM; FranciaFil: Caignard, Thomas. Université Bordeaux. INRAE, BIOGECO; FranciaFil: Celebias, Paulina. Adam Mickiewicz University. Faculty of Biology. Institute of Environmental Biology; PoloniaFil: Peri, Pablo Luis. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Santa Cruz; Argentina.Fil: Peri, Pablo Luis. Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia Austral; Argentina.Fil: Peri, Pablo Luis. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina.Fil: Ascoli, Davide. University of Torino. Department of Agricultural. Forest and Food Sciences (DISAFA); ItaliaFil: Gallo, Leonardo Ariel. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche; ArgentinaFil: Gallo, Leonardo Ariel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias Bariloche; ArgentinaFil: Marchelli, Paula. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche; ArgentinaFil: Marchelli, Paula. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias Bariloche; Argentin

Open Science principles for accelerating trait-based science across the Tree of Life.

Synthesizing trait observations and knowledge across the Tree of Life remains a grand challenge for biodiversity science. Species traits are widely used in ecological and evolutionary science, and new data and methods have proliferated rapidly. Yet accessing and integrating disparate data sources remains a considerable challenge, slowing progress toward a global synthesis to integrate trait data across organisms. Trait science needs a vision for achieving global integration across all organisms. Here, we outline how the adoption of key Open Science principles-open data, open source and open methods-is transforming trait science, increasing transparency, democratizing access and accelerating global synthesis. To enhance widespread adoption of these principles, we introduce the Open Traits Network (OTN), a global, decentralized community welcoming all researchers and institutions pursuing the collaborative goal of standardizing and integrating trait data across organisms. We demonstrate how adherence to Open Science principles is key to the OTN community and outline five activities that can accelerate the synthesis of trait data across the Tree of Life, thereby facilitating rapid advances to address scientific inquiries and environmental issues. Lessons learned along the path to a global synthesis of trait data will provide a framework for addressing similarly complex data science and informatics challenges

Clathrin Is Spindle-Associated but Not Essential for Mitosis

Clathrin is a multimeric protein involved in vesicle coat assembly. Recently clathrin distribution was reported to change during the cell cycle and was found to associate with the mitotic spindle. Here we test whether the recruitment of clathrin to the spindle is indicative of a critical functional contribution to mitosis.Previously a chicken pre-B lymphoma cell line (DKO-R) was developed in which the endogenous clathrin heavy chain alleles were replaced with the human clathrin heavy chain under the control of a tetracycline-regulatable promoter. Receptor-mediated and fluid-phase endocytosis were significantly inhibited in this line following clathrin knockout, and we used this to explore the significance of clathrin heavy chain expression for cell cycle progression. We confirmed using confocal microscopy that clathrin colocalised with tubulin at mitotic spindles. Using a propidium iodide flow cytometric assay we found no statistical difference in the cell cycle distribution of the knockout cells versus the wild-type. Additionally, we showed that the ploidy and the recovery kinetics following cell cycle arrest with nocodazole were unchanged by repressing clathrin heavy chain expression.We conclude that the association of clathrin with the mitotic spindle and the contribution of clathrin to endocytosis are evolutionarily conserved. However we find that the contribution of clathrin to mitosis is less robust and dependent on cellular context. In other cell-lines silencing RNA has been used by others to knockdown clathrin expression resulting in an increase in the mitotic index of the cells. We show an effect on the G2/M phase population of clathrin knockdown in HEK293 cells but show that repressing clathrin expression in the DKO-R cell-line has no effect on the size of this population. Consequently this work highlights the need for a more detailed molecular understanding of the recruitment and function of clathrin at the spindle, since the localisation but not the impact of clathrin on mitosis appears to be robust in plants, mammalian and chicken B-cells

Complex Consequences of Herbivory and Interplant Cues in Three Annual Plants

Information exchange (or signaling) between plants following herbivore damage has recently been shown to affect plant responses to herbivory in relatively simple natural systems. In a large, manipulative field study using three annual plant species (Achyrachaena mollis, Lupinus nanus, and Sinapis arvensis), we tested whether experimental damage to a neighboring conspecific affected a plant's lifetime fitness and interactions with herbivores. By manipulating relatedness between plants, we assessed whether genetic relatedness of neighboring individuals influenced the outcome of having a damaged neighbor. Additionally, in laboratory feeding assays, we assessed whether damage to a neighboring plant specifically affected palatability to a generalist herbivore and, for S. arvensis, a specialist herbivore. Our study suggested a high level of contingency in the outcomes of plant signaling. For example, in the field, damaging a neighbor resulted in greater herbivory to A. mollis, but only when the damaged neighbor was a close relative. Similarly, in laboratory trials, the palatability of S. arvensis to a generalist herbivore increased after the plant was exposed to a damaged neighbor, while palatability to a specialist herbivore decreased. Across all species, damage to a neighbor resulted in decreased lifetime fitness, but only if neighbors were closely related. These results suggest that the outcomes of plant signaling within multi-species neighborhoods may be far more context-specific than has been previously shown. In particular, our study shows that herbivore interactions and signaling between plants are contingent on the genetic relationship between neighboring plants. Many factors affect the outcomes of plant signaling, and studies that clarify these factors will be necessary in order to assess the role of plant information exchange about herbivory in natural systems

MASTREE+: time-series of plant reproductive effort from six continents

Significant gaps remain in understanding the response of plant reproduction to environmental change. This is partly because measuring reproduction in long-lived plants requires direct observation over many years and such datasets have rarely been made publicly available. Here we introduce MASTREE+, a data set that collates reproductive time-series data from across the globe and makes these data freely available to the community. MASTREE+ includes 73,828 georeferenced observations of annual reproduction (e.g. seed and fruit counts) in perennial plant populations worldwide. These observations consist of 5971 population-level time-series from 974 species in 66 countries. The mean and median time-series length is 12.4 and 10 years respectively, and the data set includes 1122 series that extend over at least two decades (≥20 years of observations). For a subset of well-studied species, MASTREE+ includes extensive replication of time-series across geographical and climatic gradients. Here we describe the open-access data set, available as a.csv file, and we introduce an associated web-based app for data exploration. MASTREE+ will provide the basis for improved understanding of the response of long-lived plant reproduction to environmental change. Additionally, MASTREE+ will enable investigation of the ecology and evolution of reproductive strategies in perennial plants, and the role of plant reproduction as a driver of ecosystem dynamics.Additional co-authors: Ciprian Palaghianu, Mario Pesendorfer, Akiko Satake, Eliane Schermer, Andrew J. Tanentzap, Peter A. Thomas, Davide Vecchio, Andreas P. Wion, Thomas Wohlgemuth, Tingting Xue, Marie-Claire Aravena Acuña, Marcelo Daniel Barrera, Jessica H. Barton, Stan Boutin, Emma R. Bush, Sergio Donoso Calderón, Felipe S. Carevic, Carolina Volkmer de Castilho, Juan Manuel Cellini, Colin A. Chapman, Hazel Chapman, Francesco Chianucci, Patricia da Costa, Luc Croisé, Andrea Cutini, Ben Dantzer, R. Justin DeRose, Jean-Thoussaint Dikangadissi, Edmond Dimoto, Fernanda Lopes da Fonseca, Leonardo Gallo, Georg Gratzer, David F. Greene, Martín A. Hadad, Alejandro Huertas Herrera, Jill F. Johnstone, Urs Kalbitzer, Władysław Kantorowicz, Christie A. Klimas, Jonathan G. A. Lageard, Jeffrey Lane, Katharina Lapin, Mateusz Ledwoń, Abigail C. Leeper, Maria Vanessa Lencinas, Ana Cláudia Lira-Guedes, Michael C. Lordon, Paula Marchelli, Shealyn Marino, Harald Schmidt Van Marle, Andrew G. McAdam, Ludovic R. W. Momont, Manuel Nicolas, Lúcia Helena de Oliveira Wadt, Parisa Panahi, Guillermo Martínez Pastur, Thomas Patterson, Pablo Luis Peri, Łukasz Piechnik, Mehdi Pourhashemi, Claudia Espinoza Quezada, Fidel A. Roig, Karen Peña Rojas, Yamina Micaela Rosas, Silvio Schueler, Barbara Seget, Rosina Soler, Michael A. Steele, Mónica Toro-Manríquez, Caroline E. G. Tutin, Tharcisse Ukizintambara, Biplang Yadok, John L. Willis, Anita Zolles, Magdalena Żywiec, Davide Ascol