Phylogeography of competing sexual and parthenogenetic forms of a freshwater flatworm: patterns and explanations

BACKGROUND: Models of the maintenance of sex predict that one reproductive strategy, sexual or parthenogenetic, should outcompete the other. Distribution patterns may reflect the outcome of this competition as well as the effect of chance and historical events. We review the distribution data of sexual and parthenogenetic biotypes of the planarian Schmidtea polychroa. RESULTS: S. polychroa lives in allopatry or sympatry across Europe except for Central and North-Western Europe, where sexual individuals have never been reported. A phylogenetic relationship between 36 populations based on a 385 bp fragment of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I gene revealed that haplotypes were often similar over large geographic distances. In North Italian lakes, however, diversity was extreme, with sequence differences of up to 5% within the same lake in both sexuals and parthenogens. Mixed populations showed "endemic" parthenogenetic lineages that presumably originated from coexisting sexuals, and distantly related ones that probably result from colonization by parthenogens independent from sexuals. CONCLUSIONS: Parthenogens originated repeatedly from sexuals, mainly in Italy, but the same may apply to other Mediterranean regions (Spain, Greece). The degree of divergence between populations suggests that S. polychroa survived the ice ages in separate ice-free areas in Central, Eastern and Southern Europe and re-colonised Europe after the retreat of the major glaciers. Combining these results with those based on nuclear markers, the data suggest that repeated hybridisation between sexuals and parthenogenetic lineages in mixed populations maintains high levels of genetic diversity in parthenogens. This can explain why parthenogens persist in populations that were originally sexual. Exclusive parthenogenesis in central and western populations suggests better colonisation capacity, possibly because of inbreeding costs as well as hybridisation of sexuals with parthenogens

Biological Earth observation with animal sensors

Space-based tracking technology using low-cost miniature tags is now delivering data on fine-scale animal movement at near-global scale. Linked with remotely sensed environmental data, this offers a biological lens on habitat integrity and connectivity for conservation and human health; a global network of animal sentinels of environmen-tal change

Phylogeography of competing sexual and parthenogenetic forms of a freshwater flatworm: patterns and explanations

Background: Models of the maintenance of sex predict that one reproductive strategy, sexual or parthenogenetic, should outcompete the other. Distribution patterns may reflect the outcome of this competition as well as the effect of chance and historical events. We review the distribution data of sexual and parthenogenetic biotypes of the planarian Schmidtea polychroa. Results: S. polychroa lives in allopatry or sympatry across Europe except for Central and North-Western Europe, where sexual individuals have never been reported. A phylogenetic relationship between 36 populations based on a 385 bp fragment of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I gene revealed that haplotypes were often similar over large geographic distances. In North Italian lakes, however, diversity was extreme, with sequence differences of up to 5% within the same lake in both sexuals and parthenogens. Mixed populations showed "endemic" parthenogenetic lineages that presumably originated from coexisting sexuals, and distantly related ones that probably result from colonization by parthenogens independent from sexuals. Conclusions: Parthenogens originated repeatedly from sexuals, mainly in Italy, but the same may apply to other Mediterranean regions (Spain, Greece). The degree of divergence between populations suggests that S. polychroa survived the ice ages in separate ice-free areas in Central, Eastern and Southern Europe and re-colonised Europe after the retreat of the major glaciers. Combining these results with those based on nuclear markers, the data suggest that repeated hybridisation between sexuals and parthenogenetic lineages in mixed populations maintains high levels of genetic diversity in parthenogens. This can explain why parthenogens persist in populations that were originally sexual. Exclusive parthenogenesis in central and western populations suggests better colonisation capacity, possibly because of inbreeding costs as wel

The Movebank system for studying global animal movement and demography

Quantifying movement and demographic events of free-ranging animals is fundamental to studying their ecology, evolution and conservation. Technological advances have led to an explosion in sensor-based methods for remotely observing these phenomena. This transition to big data creates new challenges for data management, analysis and collaboration. We present the Movebank ecosystem of tools used by thousands of researchers to collect, manage, share, visualize, analyse and archive their animal tracking and other animal-borne sensor data. Users add sensor data through file uploads or live data streams and further organize and complete quality control within the Movebank system. All data are harmonized to a data model and vocabulary. The public can discover, view and download data for which they have been given access to through the website, the Animal Tracker mobile app or by API. Advanced analysis tools are available through the EnvDATA System, the MoveApps platform and a variety of user-developed applications. Data owners can share studies with select users or the public, with options for embargos, licenses and formal archiving in a data repository. Movebank is used by over 3,100 data owners globally, who manage over 6 billion animal location and sensor measurements across more than 6,500 studies, with thousands of active tags sending over 3 million new data records daily. These data underlie >700 published papers and reports. We present a case study demonstrating the use of Movebank to assess life-history events and demography, and engage with citizen scientists to identify mortalities and causes of death for a migratory bird. A growing number of researchers, government agencies and conservation organizations use Movebank to manage research and conservation projects and to meet legislative requirements. The combination of historic and new data with collaboration tools enables broad comparative analyses and data acquisition and mapping efforts. Movebank offers an integrated system for real-time monitoring of animals at a global scale and represents a digital museum of animal movement and behaviour. Resources and coordination across countries and organizations are needed to ensure that these data, including those that cannot be made public, remain accessible to future generations.DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT : White stork tracking and mortality data: Publicly available on Movebank in the ‘LifeTrack White Stork’ studies for Armenia (Study ID 10236270, Flack et al., 2015), Bavaria (ID 24442409, Fiedler, Flack, Schäfle, et al., 2019), Greece (ID 10449535, Flack et al., 2015), Kosova (ID 175720577, Maxhuni et al., data to be published upon paper acceptance), Moscow (ID 10596067, Fiedler, Flack, Schäfle, et al., 2019), Oberschwaben (ID 212096177, Fiedler et al., 2019b), Poland ECG (ID 25166516), Rheinland-Pfalz (ID 76367850, Fiedler, Hilsendegen, et al., 2019), Sicily (ID 79206236, Grasso et al., data to be published upon paper acceptance) and SW Germany (ID 21231406, Fiedler, Leppelsack, et al., 2019). Tracking data participating in the AAMA (Figure 5a): See data access instructions at www.movebank.org/cms/movebank-content/arctic-animal-movement-archive. MoveApps Apps and links to source code are publicly available from https://moveapps.org.Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft; Directorate for Biological Sciences; Knobloch Family Foundation; Division of Integrative Organismal Systems; Division of Biological Infrastructure; National Aeronautics and Space Administration; Ministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst Baden-Württemberg.http://www.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/mee3hj2022Veterinary Tropical Disease