Leaf chemistry of architecturally defended plants responds more strongly to soil phosphorus variation than non-architecturally defended ones.

Plants utilize a mixture of defence types in response to herbivores, including physical, chemical, and biological defences. Among chemical defences, phenolics are well-known to inhibit digestion and are highly variable across plant species and resource gradients. There are prominent hypotheses predicting the potential change of phenolics in response to soil nutrients, but most focus on nitrogen (N) and none consider their interaction with defence strategies. We proposed an updated theoretical model that incorporates defence types and predicts their relative advantages under herbivore attack. We studied intraspecific leaf chemistry of several architecturally defended and non-architecturally defended species growing together across four sites with varying soil chemistry. We measured individual-level leaf concentrations of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus (P), potassium (K), and phenolics, and site-level soil N, P, and K. We found that architectural defenders had lower phenolics and higher P than non-architectural defenders across locations. Relationships between soil nutrients and leaf chemistry were steeper in architectural defenders. Most leaf nutrients and phenolics showed significant relationships with soil P, and only leaf P was related to its respective soil resource. Within leaves, phenolics were negatively related to leaf N in both groups but only negatively related to leaf P for architectural defenders. Our results suggest that architectural defenders are less able to accumulate phenolic defences in high P soils than non-architectural defender. One possible explanation is that phenolic production is limited in P-rich soils via active phloem loading, but only in architectural defenders that have defence options other than chemical ones.

Rapid Eocene diversification of spiny plants in subtropical woodlands of central Tibet.

Spinescence is an important functional trait possessed by many plant species for physical defence against mammalian herbivores. The development of spinescence must have been closely associated with both biotic and abiotic factors in the geological past, but knowledge of spinescence evolution suffers from a dearth of fossil records, with most studies focusing on spatial patterns and spinescence-herbivore interactions in modern ecosystems. Numerous well-preserved Eocene (~39 Ma) plant fossils exhibiting seven different spine morphologies discovered recently in the central Tibetan Plateau, combined with molecular phylogenetic character reconstruction, point not only to the presence of a diversity of spiny plants in Eocene central Tibet but a rapid diversification of spiny plants in Eurasia around that time. These spiny plants occupied an open woodland landscape, indicated by numerous megafossils and grass phytoliths found in the same deposits, as well as numerical climate and vegetation modelling. Our study shows that regional aridification and expansion of herbivorous mammals may have driven the diversification of functional spinescence in central Tibetan woodlands, ~24 million years earlier than similar transformations in Africa.

Flexible breeding performance under unstable climatic conditions in a tropical passerine in Southwest China.

Parents may adjust their breeding time to optimize reproductive output and reduce reproductive costs associated with unpredictable climatic conditions, especially in the context of global warming. The breeding performance of tropical bird species in response to local climate change is relatively understudied compared with that of temperate bird species. Here, based on data from 361 white-rumped munia ( Lonchura striata) nests, we determined that breeding season onset, which varied from 15 February to 22 June, was delayed by drought and high temperatures. Clutch size (4.52±0.75) and daily survival rate but not egg mass (0.95±0.10 g) were negatively affected by frequent rainfall. Daily nest survival during the rainy breeding season in 2018 (0.95±0.04) was lower than that in 2017 (0.98±0.01) and 2019 (0.97±0.00). The overall nesting cycle was 40.37±2.69 days, including an incubation period of 13.10±1.18 days and nestling period of 23.22±2.40 days. The nestling period in 2018 (25.11±1.97 days) was longer than that in 2017 (22.90±2.22 days) and 2019 (22.00±2.48 days), possibly due to the cooler temperatures. Climate also affected the total number of successful fledglings, which was highest under moderate rainfall in 2017 (115 fledglings) and lowest during prolonged drought in 2019 (51 fledglings). Together, our results suggest that drought and frequent rainfall during the breeding season can decrease reproductive success. Thus, this study provides important insights into bird ecology and conservation in the context of global climate change.

Individual heterogeneity and offspring sex affect the growth-reproduction trade-off in a mammal with indeterminate growth.

Reproduction can lead to a trade-off with growth, particularly when individuals reproduce before completing body growth. Kangaroos have indeterminate growth and may always face this trade-off. We combined an experimental manipulation of reproductive effort and multi-year monitoring of a large sample size of marked individuals in two populations of eastern grey kangaroos to test the predictions (1) that reproduction decreases skeletal growth and mass gain and (2) that mass loss leads to reproductive failure. We also tested if sex-allocation strategies influenced these trade-offs. Experimental reproductive suppression revealed negative effects of reproduction on mass gain and leg growth from 1 year to the next. Unmanipulated females, however, showed a positive correlation between number of days lactating and leg growth over periods of 2 years and longer, suggesting that over the long term, reproductive costs were masked by individual heterogeneity in resource acquisition. Mass gain was necessary for reproductive success the subsequent year. Although mothers of daughters generally lost more mass than females nursing sons, mothers in poor condition experienced greater mass gain and arm growth if they had daughters than if they had sons. The strong links between individual mass changes and reproduction suggest that reproductive tactics are strongly resource-dependent.

Anthropogenic and natural drivers of gene flow in a temperate wild fruit tree: a basis for conservation and breeding programs in apples.

Gene flow is an essential component of population adaptation and species evolution. Understanding of the natural and anthropogenic factors affecting gene flow is also critical for the development of appropriate management, breeding, and conservation programs. Here, we explored the natural and anthropogenic factors impacting crop-to-wild and within wild gene flow in apples in Europe using an unprecedented dense sampling of 1889 wild apple (Malus sylvestris) from European forests and 339 apple cultivars (Malus domestica). We made use of genetic, environmental, and ecological data (microsatellite markers, apple production across landscapes and records of apple flower visitors, respectively). We provide the first evidence that both human activities, through apple production, and human disturbance, through modifications of apple flower visitor diversity, have had a significant impact on crop-to-wild interspecific introgression rates. Our analysis also revealed the impact of previous natural climate change on historical gene flow in the nonintrogressed wild apple M. sylvestris, by identifying five distinct genetic groups in Europe and a north-south gradient of genetic diversity. These findings identify human activities and climate as key drivers of gene flow in a wild temperate fruit tree and provide a practical basis for conservation, agroforestry, and breeding programs for apples in Europe.

Experimental manipulation of female reproduction demonstrates its fitness costs in kangaroos.

When resources are scarce, female mammals should face a trade-off between lactation and other life-history traits such as growth, survival and subsequent reproduction. Kangaroos are ideal to test predictions about reproductive costs because they may simultaneously lactate and carry a young, and have indeterminate growth and a long breeding season. An earlier study in three of our five study populations prevented female eastern grey kangaroos (Macropus giganteus) from reproducing during one reproductive season by either inserting contraceptive implants or removing very small pouch young. We explored how individual and environmental variables affect the costs of reproduction over time, combining this experimental reduction of reproductive effort with multi-year monitoring of 270 marked females. Experimental manipulation should control for individual heterogeneity, revealing the costs of reproduction and their likely sources. We also examined the fitness consequences of reproductive effort and offspring sex among unmanipulated individuals to test whether sex allocation strategies affected trade-offs. Costs of reproduction included longer inter-birth intervals and lower probability of producing a young that survived to 7 months in the subsequent reproductive event. Weaning success, however, did not differ significantly between manipulated and control females. By reducing reproductive effort, manipulation appeared to increase individual condition and subsequent reproductive success. Effects of offspring sex upon subsequent reproductive success varied according to year and study population. Mothers of sons were generally more likely to have a young that survived to 7 months, compared to mothers of daughters. The fitness costs of reproduction arise from constraints in both acquisition and allocation of resources. To meet these costs, females delay subsequent parturition and may manipulate offspring sex. Reproductive tactics thus vary according to the amount of resource available to each individual, promoting a wide range in reproductive performance within and among individuals and populations.

Indirect genetic effects and the evolution of aggression in a vertebrate system.

Aggressive behaviours are necessarily expressed in a social context, such that individuals may be influenced by the phenotypes, and potentially the genotypes, of their social partners. Consequently, it has been hypothesized that indirect genetic effects (IGEs) arising from the social environment will provide a major source of heritable variation on which selection can act. However, there has been little empirical scrutiny of this to date. Here we test this hypothesis in an experimental population of deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus). Using quantitative genetic models of five aggression traits, we find repeatable and heritable differences in agonistic behaviours of focal individuals when presented with an opponent mouse. For three of the traits, there is also support for the presence of IGEs, and estimated correlations between direct and indirect genetic (rAO,F) effects were high. As a consequence, any selection for aggression in the focal individuals should cause evolution of the social environment as a correlated response. In two traits, strong positive rAO,F will cause the rapid evolution of aggression, while in a third case changes in the phenotypic mean will be constrained by negative covariance between direct and IGEs. Our results illustrate how classical analyses may miss important components of heritable variation, and show that a full understanding of evolutionary dynamics requires explicit consideration of the genetic component of the social environment.