Assortative Mating in an Ecological Context: Effects of Mate Choice Errors and Relative Species Abundance on the Frequency and Asymmetry of Hybridization.

AbstractThe frequency and asymmetry of mixed-species mating set the initial stage for the ecological and evolutionary implications of hybridization. How such patterns of mixed-species mating, in turn, are influenced by the combination of mate choice errors and relative species abundance remains largely unknown. We develop a mathematical model that generates predictions for how relative species abundances and mate choice errors affect hybridization patterns. When mate choice errors are small (<5%), the highest frequency of hybridization occurs when one of the hybridizing species is at low abundance, but when mate choice errors are high (>5%), the highest hybridization frequency occurs when species occur in equal proportions. Furthermore, females of the less abundant species are overrepresented in mixed-species matings. We compare our theoretical predictions with empirical data on naturally hybridizing Ficedula flycatchers and find that hybridization is highest when the two species occur in equal abundance, implying rather high mate choice errors. We discuss ecological and evolutionary implications of our findings and encourage future work on hybrid zone dynamics that take demographic aspects, such as relative species abundance, into account.

Tissue-specific patterns of regulatory changes underlying gene expression differences among Ficedula flycatchers and their naturally occurring F1 hybrids.

Changes in interacting cis- and trans-regulatory elements are important candidates for Dobzhansky-Muller hybrid incompatibilities and may contribute to hybrid dysfunction by giving rise to misexpression in hybrids. To gain insight into the molecular mechanisms and determinants of gene expression evolution in natural populations, we analyzed the transcriptome from multiple tissues of two recently diverged Ficedula flycatcher species and their naturally occurring F1 hybrids. Differential gene expression analysis revealed that the extent of differentiation between species and the set of differentially expressed genes varied across tissues. Common to all tissues, a higher proportion of Z-linked genes than autosomal genes showed differential expression, providing evidence for a fast-Z effect. We further found clear signatures of hybrid misexpression in brain, heart, kidney, and liver. However, while testis showed the highest divergence of gene expression among tissues, it showed no clear signature of misexpression in F1 hybrids, even though these hybrids were found to be sterile. It is therefore unlikely that incompatibilities between cis-trans regulatory changes explain the observed sterility. Instead, we found evidence that cis-regulatory changes play a significant role in the evolution of gene expression in testis, which illustrates the tissue-specific nature of cis-regulatory evolution bypassing constraints associated with pleiotropic effects of genes.

Sensory environment affects Icelandic threespine stickleback's anti-predator escape behaviour.

Human-induced changes in climate and habitats push populations to adapt to novel environments, including new sensory conditions, such as reduced visibility. We studied how colonizing newly formed glacial lakes with turbidity-induced low-visibility affects anti-predator behaviour in Icelandic threespine sticklebacks. We tested nearly 400 fish from 15 populations and four habitat types varying in visibility and colonization history in their reaction to two predator cues (mechano-visual versus olfactory) in high versus low-visibility light treatments. Fish reacted differently to the cues and were affected by lighting environment, confirming that cue modality and light levels are important for predator detection and evasion. Fish from spring-fed lakes, especially from the highlands (likely more diverged from marine fish than lowland fish), reacted fastest to mechano-visual cues and were generally most active. Highland glacial fish showed strong responses to olfactory cues and, counter to predictions from the flexible stem hypothesis, the greatest plasticity in response to light levels. This study, leveraging natural, repeated invasions of novel sensory habitats, (i) illustrates rapid changes in anti-predator behaviour that follow due to adaptation, early life experience, or both, and (ii) suggests an additional role for behavioural plasticity enabling population persistence in the face of frequent changes in environmental conditions.

Eye flukes (Diplostomum spp) damage retinal tissue and may cause a regenerative response in wild threespine stickleback fish.

Fish rely upon vision as a dominant sensory system for foraging, predator avoidance, and mate selection. Damage to the visual system, in particular to the neural retina of the eye, has been demonstrated to result in a regenerative response in captive fish that serve as model organisms (e.g. zebrafish), and this response restores some visual function. The purpose of the present study is to determine whether damage to the visual system that occurs in wild populations of fish also results in a regenerative response, offering a potentially ecologically relevant model of retinal regeneration. Adult threespine stickleback were collected from several water bodies of Iceland, and cryosectioned eye tissues were processed for hematoxylin and eosin staining or for indirect immunofluorescence using cell-specific markers. In many of the samples, eye flukes (metacercariae of Diplostomum spp) were present, frequently between the neural retina and retinal pigmented epithelium (RPE). Damage to the retina and to the RPE was evident in eyes containing flukes, and RPE fragments were observed within fluke bodies, suggesting they had consumed this eye tissue. Expression of a cell proliferation marker was also observed in both retina and RPE, consistent with a proliferative response to the damage. Interestingly, some regions of infected retina displayed "laminar fusions," in which neuronal cell bodies were misplaced within the major synaptic layer of the retina. These laminar fusions are also frequently found in regenerated zebrafish retina following non-parasitic (experimental) forms of retinal damage. The stickleback retina may therefore respond to fluke-mediated damage by engaging in retinal regeneration.

Low Heritability but Significant Early Environmental Effects on Resting Metabolic Rate in a Wild Passerine.

AbstractPredicting the impact of climate change on biodiversity requires understanding the adaptation potential of wild organisms. Evolutionary responses depend on the additive genetic variation associated with the phenotypic traits targeted by selection. We combine 5 years of cross-fostering experiments, measurements of resting metabolic rate (RMR) on nearly 200 wild collared flycatcher (Ficedula albicollis) nestlings, and animal models using a 17-year pedigree to evaluate the potential for an evolutionary response to changing environmental conditions. Contrary to other avian studies, we find no significant heritability of whole-organism, mass-independent, or mass-specific RMR, but we report a strong effect of nest environment instead. We therefore conclude that variation in nestling RMR is explained by variation in the early-life environment provided by the parents. We discuss possible underlying specific parental effects and the importance of taking different mechanisms into account to understand how animals phenotypically adapt (or fail to adapt) to climate change.

Tracking hybrid viability across life stages in a natural avian contact zone.

Hybrid inviability is an important post-zygotic reproductive barrier between species, but emerging signs of reduced viability can be difficult to study across the lifespan of natural hybrids. We use a combination of long-term monitoring, extra-pair paternity, and mitochondrial DNA identification in a natural hybrid zone of Ficedula flycatchers to detect emerging signs of intrinsic hybrid inviability across their entire lifespan. We evaluate possible evidence of Darwin's corollary to Haldane's rule, predicting asymmetries in inviability between hybrids resulting from reciprocal crosses, due to incompatible genetic factors with sex-specific inheritance patterns. We found higher hatching failure among mixed-species pairs, possibly indicating early developmental impairments associated with specific parental genetic combinations. Adult hybrids had a higher basal mortality rate than both parental species and different age-specific mortality trajectories. There were signs of differences in age-independent mortality rates between the reciprocal hybrid crosses: hybrids with a pied flycatcher mother experienced slightly increased mortality later in life. Using an exceptional dataset with many natural hybrids tracked across life stages, we provide evidence for several emerging signs of reduced hybrid viability. Incompatibilities between alleles located on autosomes and uniparentally inherited factors such as Z-linked and/or mitochondrial genes are strong candidates underlying intrinsic hybrid dysfunction in this system.

Synthesis and Scope of the Role of Postmating Prezygotic Isolation in Speciation.

How barriers to gene flow arise and are maintained are key questions in evolutionary biology. Speciation research has mainly focused on barriers that occur either before mating or after zygote formation. In comparison, postmating prezygotic (PMPZ) isolation-a barrier that acts after gamete release but before zygote formation-is less frequently investigated but may hold a unique role in generating biodiversity. Here we discuss the distinctive features of PMPZ isolation, including the primary drivers and molecular mechanisms underpinning PMPZ isolation. We then present the first comprehensive survey of PMPZ isolation research, revealing that it is a widespread form of prezygotic isolation across eukaryotes. The survey also exposes obstacles in studying PMPZ isolation, in part attributable to the challenges involved in directly measuring PMPZ isolation and uncovering its causal mechanisms. Finally, we identify outstanding knowledge gaps and provide recommendations for improving future research on PMPZ isolation. This will allow us to better understand the nature of this often-neglected reproductive barrier and its contribution to speciation.

Low fertility of wild hybrid male flycatchers despite recent divergence.

Postzygotic isolation may be important for maintaining species boundaries, particularly when premating barriers are incomplete. Little is known about the course of events leading from minor environmental mismatches affecting hybrid fitness to severe genetic incompatibilities causing sterility or inviability. We investigated whether reduced reproductive success of hybrid males was caused by suboptimal sperm traits or by more severe genetic incompatibilities in a hybrid zone of pied (Ficedula hypoleuca) and collared flycatchers (F. albicollis) on the island of Öland, Sweden. About 4 per cent hybridization is observed in this population and all female hybrids are sterile. We found no sperm in the ejaculates of most sampled hybrid males, and sperm with abnormal morphology in two hybrids. Furthermore, none of the hybrids sired any offspring because of high levels of hatching failure and extra-pair paternity in their nests. These results from a natural hybrid zone suggest that the spermatogenesis of hybrid males may become disrupted despite little genetic divergence between the parental species.

Anthropogenic Change and the Process of Speciation.

Anthropogenic impacts on the environment alter speciation processes by affecting both geographical contexts and selection patterns on a worldwide scale. Here we review evidence of these effects. We find that human activities often generate spatial isolation between populations and thereby promote genetic divergence but also frequently cause sudden secondary contact and hybridization between diverging lineages. Human-caused environmental changes produce new ecological niches, altering selection in diverse ways that can drive diversification; but changes also often remove niches and cause extirpations. Human impacts that alter selection regimes are widespread and strong in magnitude, ranging from local changes in biotic and abiotic conditions to direct harvesting to global climate change. Altered selection, and evolutionary responses to it, impacts early-stage divergence of lineages, but does not necessarily lead toward speciation and persistence of separate species. Altogether, humans both promote and hinder speciation, although new species would form very slowly relative to anthropogenic hybridization, which can be nearly instantaneous. Speculating about the future of speciation, we highlight two key conclusions: (1) Humans will have a large influence on extinction and "despeciation" dynamics in the short term and on early-stage lineage divergence, and thus potentially speciation in the longer term, and (2) long-term monitoring combined with easily dated anthropogenic changes will improve our understanding of the processes of speciation. We can use this knowledge to preserve and restore ecosystems in ways that promote (re-)diversification, increasing future opportunities of speciation and enhancing biodiversity.

Differences in incubation behaviour and niche separation of two competing flycatcher species.

ABSTRACT: Food availability sets the stage for incubation behaviour of a female bird and thereby indirectly determines the nest temperature, which in turn affects development and metabolism of avian embryos. Changes in development and metabolism in turn are known to influence offspring's ability to adjust to environmental changes later in life. However, few studies have investigated the role of interspecific differences in incubation behaviour in relation to niche separation between competing sibling species. We studied the effects of habitat quality (in terms of caterpillar availability) on incubation behaviour of two ecologically similar and closely related species, collared and pied flycatchers (Ficedula albicollis and F. hypoleuca), in their hybrid zone on the island of Öland, Sweden. Even though both species prefer caterpillar-rich deciduous forests as nesting sites, collared flycatchers, whose nestlings have higher energetic demands, are able to nest only in deciduous forests, whereas pied flycatchers have more flexible habitat requirements. Overall, higher food availability was associated with increased nest attendance, higher incubation temperature and a lower number of foraging trips across species. In addition, collared flycatchers had more frequent and shorter foraging trips across habitat types, allocated more heat to eggs and therefore maintained higher nest temperatures compared to pied flycatchers. We argue that the higher heat allocation or the need to maintain a higher nest temperature for embryo development may constrain collared flycatchers to focus on relatively more profitable prey. Our results highlight the importance of considering incubation behaviour in the context of understanding species differences in niche use. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: Niche separation plays an important role in mitigating effects of competition between closely related species. Whether species differences in incubation behaviour relate to differences in niche use remains unknown. We compared incubation behaviour of two sympatric flycatcher species that differ in sensitivity to food availability. The competitively more dominant and larger species, the collared flycatcher, whose nestlings are more sensitive to food shortages, made more frequent foraging trips but allocated more heat to eggs, leading to higher nest temperature despite lower nest attendance, compared to pied flycatchers. These interspecific differences may be a result of differences in embryo sensitivity or female physiology and contribute to the niche separation between the species, which in turn can facilitate coexistence.

Academic ecosystems must evolve to support a sustainable postdoc workforce.

The postdoctoral workforce comprises a growing proportion of the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) community, and plays a vital role in advancing science. Postdoc professional development, however, remains rooted in outdated realities. We propose enhancements to postdoc-centred policies and practices to better align this career stage with contemporary job markets and work life. By facilitating productivity, wellness and career advancement, the proposed changes will benefit all stakeholders in postdoc success-including research teams, institutions, professional societies and the scientific community as a whole. To catalyse reform, we outline recommendations for (1) skills-based training tailored to the current career landscape, and (2) supportive policies and tools outlined in postdoc handbooks. We also invite the ecology and evolution community to lead further progressive reform.

Difference in plasticity of resting metabolic rate - the proximate explanation to different niche breadth in sympatric Ficedula flycatchers.

Variation in relative fitness of competing recently formed species across heterogeneous environments promotes coexistence. However, the physiological traits mediating such variation in relative fitness have rarely been identified. Resting metabolic rate (RMR) is tightly associated with life history strategies, thermoregulation, diet use, and inhabited latitude and could therefore moderate differences in fitness responses to fluctuations in local environments, particularly when species have adapted to different climates in allopatry. We work in a long-term study of collared (Ficedula albicollis) and pied flycatchers (Ficedula hypoleuca) in a recent hybrid zone located on the Swedish island of Öland in the Baltic Sea. Here, we explore whether differences in RMR match changes in relative performance of growing flycatcher nestlings across environmental conditions using an experimental approach. The fitness of pied flycatchers has previously been shown to be less sensitive to the mismatch between the peak in food abundance and nestling growth among late breeders. Here, we find that pied flycatcher nestlings have lower RMR in response to higher ambient temperatures (associated with low food availability). We also find that experimentally relaxed nestling competition is associated with an increased RMR in this species. In contrast, collared flycatcher nestlings did not vary their RMR in response to these environmental factors. Our results suggest that a more flexible nestling RMR in pied flycatchers is responsible for the better adaptation of pied flycatchers to the typical seasonal changes in food availability experienced in this hybrid zone. Generally, subtle physiological differences that have evolved when species were in allopatry may play an important role to patterns of competition, coexistence, or displacements between closely related species in secondary contact.

Climate-driven build-up of temporal isolation within a recently formed avian hybrid zone.

Divergence in the onset of reproduction can act as an important source of reproductive isolation (i.e., allochronic isolation) between co-occurring young species, but evidence for the evolutionary processes leading to such divergence is often indirect. While advancing spring seasons strongly affect the onset of reproduction in many taxa, it remains largely unexplored whether contemporary spring advancement directly affects allochronic isolation between young species. We examined how increasing spring temperatures affected onset of reproduction and thereby hybridization between pied and collared flycatchers (Ficedula spp.) across habitat types in a young secondary contact zone. We found that both species have advanced their timing of breeding in 14 years. However, selection on pied flycatchers to breed earlier was weaker, resulting in a slower response to advancing springs compared to collared flycatchers and thereby build-up of allochronic isolation between the species. We argue that a preadaptation to a broader niche use (diet) of pied flycatchers explains the slower response to raising spring temperature, but that reduced risk to hybridize may contribute to further divergence in the onset of breeding in the future. Our results show that minor differences in the response to environmental change of co-occurring closely related species can quickly cause allochronic isolation.

Correction: Hybrid Dysfunction Expressed as Elevated Metabolic Rate in Male Ficedula Flycatchers.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0161547.].

Climate adaptation and speciation: particular focus on reproductive barriers in Ficedula flycatchers.

Climate adaptation is surprisingly rarely reported as a cause for the build-up of reproductive isolation between diverging populations. In this review, we summarize evidence for effects of climate adaptation on pre- and postzygotic isolation between emerging species with a particular focus on pied (Ficedula hypoleuca) and collared (Ficedula albicollis) flycatchers as a model for research on speciation. Effects of climate adaptation on prezygotic isolation or extrinsic selection against hybrids have been documented in several taxa, but the combined action of climate adaptation and sexual selection is particularly well explored in Ficedula flycatchers. There is a general lack of evidence for divergent climate adaptation causing intrinsic postzygotic isolation. However, we argue that the profound effects of divergence in climate adaptation on the whole biochemical machinery of organisms and hence many underlying genes should increase the likelihood of genetic incompatibilities arising as side effects. Fast temperature-dependent co-evolution between mitochondrial and nuclear genomes may be particularly likely to lead to hybrid sterility. Thus, how climate adaptation relates to reproductive isolation is best explored in relation to fast-evolving barriers to gene flow, while more research on later stages of divergence is needed to achieve a complete understanding of climate-driven speciation.

Hybrid Dysfunction Expressed as Elevated Metabolic Rate in Male Ficedula Flycatchers.

Studies of ecological speciation are often biased towards extrinsic sources of selection against hybrids, resulting from intermediate hybrid morphology, but the knowledge of how genetic incompatibilities accumulate over time under natural conditions is limited. Here we focus on a physiological trait, metabolic rate, which is central to life history strategies and thermoregulation but is also likely to be sensitive to mismatched mitonuclear interactions. We measured the resting metabolic rate of male collared, and pied flycatchers as well as of naturally occurring F1 hybrid males, in a recent hybrid zone. We found that hybrid males had a higher rather than intermediate metabolic rate, which is indicative of hybrid physiological dysfunction. Fitness costs associated with elevated metabolic rate are typically environmentally dependent and exaggerated under harsh conditions. By focusing on male hybrid dysfunction in an eco-physiological trait, our results contribute to the general understanding of how combined extrinsic and intrinsic sources of hybrid dysfunction build up under natural conditions.

Competition-driven build-up of habitat isolation and selection favoring modified dispersal patterns in a young avian hybrid zone.

Competition-driven evolution of habitat isolation is an important mechanism of ecological speciation but empirical support for this process is often indirect. We examined how an on-going displacement of pied flycatchers from their preferred breeding habitat by collared flycatchers in a young secondary contact zone is associated with (a) access to an important food resource (caterpillar larvae), (b) immigration of pied flycatchers in relation to habitat quality, and (c) the risk of hybridization in relation to habitat quality. Over the past 12 years, the estimated access to caterpillar larvae biomass in the habitat surrounding the nests of pied flycatchers has decreased by a fifth due to shifted establishment possibilities, especially for immigrants. However, breeding in the high quality habitat has become associated with such a high risk of hybridization for pied flycatchers that overall selection currently favors pied flycatchers that were forced to immigrate into the poorer habitats (despite lower access to preferred food items). Our results show that competition-driven habitat segregation can lead to fast habitat isolation, which per se caused an opportunity for selection to act in favor of future "voluntarily" altered immigration patterns and possibly strengthened habitat isolation through reinforcement.

Females discriminate against heterospecific sperm in a natural hybrid zone.

When hybridization is maladaptive, species-specific mate preferences are selectively favored, but low mate availability may constrain species-assortative pairing. Females paired to heterospecifics may then benefit by copulating with multiple males and subsequently favoring sperm of conspecifics. Whether such mechanisms for biasing paternity toward conspecifics act as important reproductive barriers in socially monogamous vertebrate species remains to be determined. We use a combination of long-term breeding records from a natural hybrid zone between collared and pied flycatchers (Ficedula albicollis and F. hypoleuca), and an in vitro experiment comparing conspecific and heterospecific sperm performance in female reproductive tract fluid, to evaluate the potential significance of female cryptic choice. We show that the females most at risk of hybridizing (pied flycatchers) frequently copulate with multiple males and are able to inhibit heterospecific sperm performance. The negative effect on heterospecific sperm performance was strongest in pied flycatcher females that were most likely to have been previously exposed to collared flycatcher sperm. We thus demonstrate that a reproductive barrier acts after copulation but before fertilization in a socially monogamous vertebrate. While the evolutionary history of this barrier is unknown, our results imply that there is opportunity for it to be accentuated via a reinforcement-like process.