Temperature-Dependent Reproductive Success of Stickleback Lateral Plate Morphs: Implications for Population Polymorphism and Range Shifts Under Ocean Warming

Changing environments associated with rapid climate change can shape direct measures of fitness such as reproductive success by altering mating behavior, fecundity and offspring development. Using a polymorphic oceanic population of threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus), we investigated whether a 4°C increase in sea surface temperature influenced clutch siring success, reproductive output, and offspring growth among lateral plate morphs. Since low plated morphs are thought to have a selective advantage in warmer environments, we predicted that low plated males should have higher clutch siring success in +4°C environments, and that thermal plasticity of traits (e.g., egg size, offspring growth) should reflect different trait optima in different environments among plate morphs. Parentage analysis of egg clutches revealed temperature-specific clutch siring success, in that low plated males sired more clutches in +4°C environments and completely plated males sired more clutches at ambient (seasonal) temperature. Both completely and low plated females laid larger eggs when acclimated to +4°C, but only completely plated females had smaller clutches at +4°C. Offspring of low and partially plated females grew much less at +4°C compared to those of completely plated females. Taken together, our results demonstrate that ocean warming could impact reproductive success at various levels, with differential effects depending on phenotype, in this case, lateral plate morph. Some traits (clutch siring success, egg size) showed better performance for low plated fish at +4°C, whereas others (e.g., growth) did not. Higher clutch siring success of low plated males at elevated temperature might indicate a future shift in plate morph composition for polymorphic stickleback populations, with potential implications for colonization ability during range shifts under climate change

Auf dem Weg zum Räumlichen Leitbild Karlsruhe

Deutsche Großstädte beschäftigen sich seit einigen Jahren wieder verstärkt mit langfristigen planerischen Ausblicken auf ihre räumliche Entwicklung, unabhängig von der Bauleitplanung. So hat sich auch die Stadt Karlsruhe die Aufgabe gestellt, ein "Räumliches Leitbild" zu erarbeiten. Zum Stadtjubiläum 2015 kann nun der größte Teil des Entstehungsprozesses des Räumlichen Leitbildes durch eine Ausstellung und mit der vorliegenden Publikation dokumentiert werden

Within-generation and transgenerational plasticity of mate choice in oceanic stickleback under climate change

Plasticity, both within and across generations, can shape sexual traits involved in mate choice and reproductive success, and thus direct measures of fitness. Especially, transgenerational plasticity (TGP), where parental environment influences offspring plasticity in future environments, could compensate for otherwise negative effects of environmental change on offspring sexual traits. We conducted a mate choice experiment using stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) with different thermal histories (ambient 178C or elevated 218C) within and across generations under simulated ocean warming using outdoor mesocosms. Parentage analysis of egg clutches revealed that maternal developmental temperature and reproductive (mesocosm) environment affected egg size, with females that developed at 178C laying smaller eggs in 218C mesocosms, likely owing to metabolic costs at elevated temperature. Paternal developmental temperature interacted with the reproductive environment to influence mating success, particularly under simulated ocean warming, with males that developed at 218C showing lower overallmating success compared with 178C males, but higher mating success in 218C mesocosms. Furthermore, mating success of males was influenced by the interaction between F1 developmental temperature and F0 parent acclimation temperature, demonstrating the potential role of both TGP and within-generation plasticity in shaping traits involved in sexual selection and mate choice, potentially facilitating rapid responses to environmental change. This article is part of the theme issue ‘The role of plasticity in phenotypic adaptation to rapid environmental change’

Auf dem Weg zum Räumlichen Leitbild Karlsruhe

For several years, European cities increasingly focus on long-term planning perspectives due to their spatial development, separated and independent of classic urban land-use planning. As a logical consequence, the city of Karlsruhe define the challenge to develop a spatial mission statement called „Räumliches Leitbild"". For the city anniversary in 2015, most of the development process of the spatial mission statement is documented through an exhibition and the present publication

Impact of disease mutations on the desmin filament assembly process

It has been documented that mutations in the human desmin gene lead to a severe type of myofibrillar myopathy, termed more specifically desminopathy, which affects cardiac and skeletal as well as smooth muscle. We showed recently that 14 recombinant versions of these disease-causing desmin variants, all involving single amino acid substitutions in the a-helical rod domain, interfere with in vitro filament formation at distinct stages of the assembly process. We now provide mechanistic details of how these mutations affect the filament assembly process by employing anal. ultracentrifugation, time-lapse electron microscopy of neg. stained and glycerol-sprayed/low-angle rotary metal-shadowed samples, quant. scanning TEM, and viscometric studies. In particular, the sol. assembly intermediates of two of the mutated proteins exhibit unusually high s-values, compatible with octamers and other higher-order complexes. Moreover, several of the six filament-forming mutant variants deviated considerably from wild-type desmin with respect to their filament diams. and mass-per-length values. In the heteropolymeric situation with wild-type desmin, four of the mutant variants caused a pronounced "hyper-assembly", when assayed by viscometry. This indicates that the various mutations may cause abortion of filament formation by the mutant protein at distinct stages, and that some of them interfere severely with the assembly of wild-type desmin. Taken together, our findings provide novel insights into the basic intermediate filament assembly mechanisms and offer clues as to how amino acid changes within the desmin rod domain may interfere with the normal structural organization of the muscle cytoskeleton, eventually leading to desminopathy. [on SciFinder (R)

Temperature-Dependent Reproductive Success of Stickleback Lateral Plate Morphs: Implications for Population Polymorphism and Range Shifts Under Ocean Warming

Changing environments associated with rapid climate change can shape direct measures of fitness such as reproductive success by altering mating behavior, fecundity and offspring development. Using a polymorphic oceanic population of threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus), we investigated whether a 4 degrees C increase in sea surface temperature influenced clutch siring success, reproductive output, and offspring growth among lateral plate morphs. Since low plated morphs are thought to have a selective advantage in warmer environments, we predicted that low plated males should have higher clutch siring success in +4 degrees C environments, and that thermal plasticity of traits (e.g., egg size, offspring growth) should reflect different trait optima in different environments among plate morphs. Parentage analysis of egg clutches revealed temperature-specific clutch siring success, in that low plated males sired more clutches in +4 degrees C environments and completely plated males sired more clutches at ambient (seasonal) temperature. Both completely and low plated females laid larger eggs when acclimated to +4 degrees C, but only completely plated females had smaller clutches at +4 degrees C. Offspring of low and partially plated females grew much less at +4 degrees C compared to those of completely plated females. Taken together, our results demonstrate that ocean warming could impact reproductive success at various levels, with differential effects depending on phenotype, in this case, lateral plate morph. Some traits (clutch siring success, egg size) showed better performance for low plated fish at +4 degrees C, whereas others (e.g., growth) did not. Higher clutch siring success of low plated males at elevated temperature might indicate a future shift in plate morph composition for polymorphic stickleback populations, with potential implications for colonization ability during range shifts under climate change