The Diverse and Intricate Interactions Between Flies and Amphibians: A Systematic Review of Their Host-Use Patterns and Strategies.

Terrestrial oviposition with free-living aquatic larvae is a common reproductive mode used by amphibians within the central Amazonian rainforest. We investigated the factors presently associated with diversity of microhabitats (waterbodies) that may be maintaining the diversity of reproductive modes. In particular, desiccation, predation by fish, competition with other anurans and water quality were examined in 11 waterbodies as possible forces leading to the evolution of terrestrial oviposition. Predation experiments demonstrated that fish generally do not eat anuran eggs, and that predacious tadpoles and dytiscid beetle larvae are voracious predators of anuran eggs. The percentage of species with terrestrial oviposition was only weakly correlated with the occurrence of pond drying, pH and oxygen concentration, suggesting that anurans in this tropical community are able to use the range of water quality available for egg development. There was a tendency for terrestrial oviposition to be associated with the number of species of tadpoles using the waterbody, but we consider this to be spurious as there was no obvious competitive mechanism that could result in this relationship. The percentage of species with terrestrial oviposition was significantly positively related to our index of egg predation pressure, and negatively related to our index of fish biomass. Egg predation pressure was also negatively related to the index of fish biomass. These results allow us to discount as improbable the hypothesis that predation by fish on anuran eggs was an important selective pressure leading to terrestrial oviposition in this community. The strong positive relationship between terrestrial oviposition and our index of egg predation pressure indicates that these predators have exerted, and are exerting, a significant selective pressure for terrestrial oviposition. The strong negative relationship between the occurrence of fish and the egg predators suggests the surprising conclusion that the presence of fish actually protects aquatic anuran eggs from predation in this tropical system, and allows aquatic oviposition to dominate only in those waterbodies with moderate to high densities of fish. Our results suggest that terrestrial oviposition is a "fixed predator avoidance" trait.

Are polyploids really evolutionary dead-ends (again)? A critical reappraisal of Mayrose etal. ().

Ecologists are increasingly aware of the interplay between evolutionary history and ecological processes in shaping current species interaction patterns. The inclusion of phylogenetic relationships in studies of species interaction networks has shown that closely related species commonly interact with sets of similar species. Notably, the degree of phylogenetic conservatism in antagonistic ecological interactions is frequently stronger among species at lower trophic levels than among those at higher trophic levels. One hypothesis that accounts for this asymmetry is that competition among consumer species promotes resource partitioning and offsets the maintenance of dietary similarity by phylogenetic inertia. Here, we used a regional plant–herbivore network comprised of Asteraceae species and flower‐head endophagous insects to evaluate how the strength of phylogenetic conservatism in species interactions differs between the two trophic levels. We also addressed whether the asymmetry in the strength of the phylogenetic signal between plants and animals depends on the overall degree of relatedness among the herbivores. We show that, beyond the previously reported compositional similarity, closely related species also share a greater proportion of counterpart phylogenetic history, both for resource and consumer species. Comparison of the patterns found in the entire network with those found in subnetworks composed of more phylogenetically restricted groups of herbivores provides evidence that resource partitioning occurs mostly at deeper phylogenetic levels, so that a positive phylogenetic signal in antagonist similarity is detectable even between closely related consumers in monophyletic subnetworks. The asymmetry in signal strength between trophic levels is most apparent in the way network modules reflect resource phylogeny, both for the entire network and for subnetworks. Taken together, these results suggest that evolutionary processes, such as phylogenetic conservatism and independent colonization history of the insect groups may be the main forces generating the phylogenetic structure observed in this particular plant–herbivore network system.

Bacterial and fungal diversity and species interactions inversely affect ecosystem functions under drought in a semi-arid grassland.

Background and AimsLarge clades of angiosperms are often characterized by diverse interactions with pollinators, but how these pollination systems are structured phylogenetically and biogeographically is still uncertain for most families. Apocynaceae is a clade of >5300 species with a worldwide distribution. A database representing >10 % of species in the family was used to explore the diversity of pollinators and evolutionary shifts in pollination systems across major clades and regions.MethodsThe database was compiled from published and unpublished reports. Plants were categorized into broad pollination systems and then subdivided to include bimodal systems. These were mapped against the five major divisions of the family, and against the smaller clades. Finally, pollination systems were mapped onto a phylogenetic reconstruction that included those species for which sequence data are available, and transition rates between pollination systems were calculated.Key ResultsMost Apocynaceae are insect pollinated with few records of bird pollination. Almost three-quarters of species are pollinated by a single higher taxon (e.g. flies or moths); 7 % have bimodal pollination systems, whilst the remaining approx. 20 % are insect generalists. The less phenotypically specialized flowers of the Rauvolfioids are pollinated by a more restricted set of pollinators than are more complex flowers within the Apocynoids + Periplocoideae + Secamonoideae + Asclepiadoideae (APSA) clade. Certain combinations of bimodal pollination systems are more common than others. Some pollination systems are missing from particular regions, whilst others are over-represented.ConclusionsWithin Apocynaceae, interactions with pollinators are highly structured both phylogenetically and biogeographically. Variation in transition rates between pollination systems suggest constraints on their evolution, whereas regional differences point to environmental effects such as filtering of certain pollinators from habitats. This is the most extensive analysis of its type so far attempted and gives important insights into the diversity and evolution of pollination systems in large clades.

Environmental niche models (ENMs) have gained enormous popularity as tools to investigate potential changes in species distributions resulting from climate change and species introductions. Despite recognition that species interactions can influence the dynamics of invasion spread, most implementations of ENMs focus on abiotic factors as the sole predictors of potential range limits. Implicit in this approach is the assumption that biotic interactions are relatively unimportant, either because of scaling issues, or because fundamental and realized niches are equivalent in a species' native range. When species are introduced into exotic landscapes, changes in biotic interactions relative to the native range can lead to occupation of different regions of niche space and apparent shifts in physiological tolerances. We use an escaped biological control organism, Cactoblastis cactorum (Berg.), to assess the role of the environmental envelope as compared with patterns of host-herbivore associations based on collections made in the native range. Because all nonnative populations are derived from a single C. cactorum ecotype, we hypothesize that biotic interactions associated with this ecotype are driving the species' invasion dynamics. Environmental niche models constructed from known native populations perform poorly in predicting nonnative distributions of this species, except where there is an overlap in niche space. In contrast, genetic isolation in the native range is concordant with the observed pattern of host use, and strong host association has been noted in nonnative landscapes. Our results support the hypothesis that the apparent shift in niche space from the native to the exotic ranges results from a shift in biotic interactions, and demonstrate the importance of considering biotic interactions in assessing the risk of future spread for species whose native range is highly constrained by biotic interactions.

The primary aim of this study was to identify aquatic invertebrate predators of amphibian eggs and tadpoles in an area of South Australia. The presence and abundance of aquatic invertebrates was monitored at four field sites for a period of 5–6 months; this revealed notonectids, freshwater crayfish and odonates to be amongst the most common invertebrate predator types. The ability of these predators to consume eggs and tadpoles of the native Australian frogs Litoria ewingi and Crinia signifera was then investigated. Freshwater crayfish (Cherax destructor) were the most prolific consumers of frog eggs and tadpoles. The notonectid Enithares woodwardi significantly impacted tadpole survivorship for both species while Anisops sp. was less successful at capturing and consuming these tadpoles. Caddisfly nymphs (Lectrides varians and Leptorussa darlingtoni) reduced egg survivorship but not to the same extent as C. destructor. Unlike some predators, which prey upon particular life stages, freshwater crayfish are large, polytrophic omnivores that can act as important predators of both anuran eggs and tadpoles. Given that predation is a key source of mortality in juveniles, identification of likely common predators is useful for understanding the regulation of amphibian populations.

The larvae of the agromyzid flies that belong to the genus Phytobia Lioy feed by mining in the differentiating xylem just below the cambium of growing forest trees. The genus, which is apparently one of the most primitive groups in the Agromyzidae, comprises over 50 currently recognized species. Most of the species are mono- or oligophagous, and the host plants belong to numerous genera in about 60 families. Thus, Phytobia is an attractive candidate for studies on the evolution of insect-plant relationships. In spite of this, the taxonomy of Phytobia is currently poorly understood, mainly because the morphological differences between species are small. We used allozyme electrophoresis to investigate whether molecular markers could be used to separate and identify species in Phytobia, and to study the patterns of host use in the group. For this, we collected Phytobia larvae from eight host tree species occurring in southern Finland. An analysis of 10 variable allozyme loci showed that there are probably five species of Phytobia that feed on the hosts included in our study: one occurs on birches (Betula pubescens Ehrh. and B. pendula Roth) and alders (Alnus incana (L.) Moench and A. glutinosa (L.) Gaertn.), one on rowan (Sorbus aucuparia L.), and three species with overlapping feeding ranges on aspen (Populus tremula L.) and two willow species (Salix phylicifolia L. and S. caprea L.). Because birches and alders belong to the plant family Betulaceae, rowan to Rosaceae, and aspen and willows to Salicaceae, the host associations of the individual fly species can be explained by the taxonomic affinities of the hosts. However, our results also show that on a larger scale the evolution of host-plant associations in Phytobia cannot be explained by strict parallel cladogenesis (cospeciation) between the flies and their hosts.

Host specificity of avian haemosporidian parasites is unrelated among sister lineages but shows phylogenetic signal across larger clades

‘QUIET PLEASE: Flies are breeding’… reads the sign displayed on the factory breeding room. A female black soldier fly (BSF) is laying around 1500 tiny white eggs onto an industrially designed grid. Over 21 days, one kilogram of her eggs will hatch into eight tonnes of larvae, which will initiate a natural process of waste nutrient recycling as they feed on containers of organic consumer waste that would otherwise go to landfill. In a factory in one of Cape Town’s rapidly developing post-apartheid townships, larvae are thus recycling some 250 tonnes of ‘pre’ and ‘post’ consumer waste every day, transforming negative value waste products into highly valuable insect protein, an alternative to fishmeal – an unsustainably ocean sourced protein. Ethnographic research in this factory explored this biomimically inspired innovation, which uses nature’s purification agents – fly larvae – to revalorise a potentially harmful waste product into a critically important food source for the 21st Century. This paper argues that these industrially designed insect farms produce specific technologies and violent acts of reproductive enclosure. By incorporating debates about the role of naturally inspired solutions that use biological labour to accumulate value, it makes plain the ethical implications that emerge from mimicking and enclosing nature in this way. It contends that the ambition of the discipline of biomimicry to reunite human economies with natural ecologies is overshadowed by the logics of capitalism. While the outcomes of biomimicry may indeed be ecologically sustainable, capitalism’s drive to privatise and profit from the knowledge and labour of nonhuman life means not only controlling animals and their products, but also controlling the processes of life through a constellation of scientific, bureaucratic and legal techniques.

Ecosystem-based fisheries management seeks to consider trade-offs among management objectives for interacting species, such as those that arise through predator–prey linkages. In particular, fisheries-targeting forage fish (small and abundant pelagic fish) might have a detrimental effect on fisheries-targeting predators that consume them. However, complexities in ecological interactions might dampen, negate, or even reverse this trade-off, because small pelagic fish can be important predators on egg stages of piscivorous fish. Further, the strength of this trade-off might depend on the extent to which piscivorous fish targeted by fisheries regulate forage species productivity. Here, we developed a novel delay-differential bioeconomic model of predator–prey and fishing dynamics to quantify how much egg predation or weak top-town control affects the strength of trade-off between forage and piscivore fisheries, and to measure how ecological interactions dictate policies that maximize steady-state profits. We parameterized the model based on ecological and economic data from the North Sea Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) and Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus). The optimal policy was very sensitive to the ecological interactions (either egg predation or weak top-down control of forage by predators) at relatively low forage prices but was less sensitive at high forage fish prices. However, the optimal equilibrium harvest rates on forage and piscivores were not substantially different from what might be derived through analyses that did not consider species interactions. Applying the optimal multispecies policy would produce substantial losses (>25%) in profits in the piscivore fishery, and the extent of loss was sensitive to ecological scenarios. While our equilibrium analysis is informative, a dynamic analysis under similar ecological scenarios is necessary to reveal the full economic and ecological benefits of applying ecosystem-based fishery management policies to predator–prey fishery systems.

Understanding the main drivers of species distributions is one of the main goals of ecology. However, the relationships between traits and elevational and longitudinal distributions in inland fishes, as well as their underlying evolutionary processes, have been less investigated. Thus, we aimed to quantify and assess the relationships among several types of traits resulting from species’ evolutionary histories by measuring their phylogenetic signal across inland fishes of the Iberian Peninsula. We also aimed to test for correlated evolution of these traits with elevation and stream size (i.e. stream order), to test whether a species’ suite of traits and their elevational and longitudinal niche tend to evolve together.We compiled data on 23 fish biological and ecological traits for 30 inland fish species present in the Iberian Peninsula. We quantified their phylogenetic signal using four complementary indices (Pagel’sλ, Blomberg’sK, and Abouheif’sCmeanfor continuous and −D + 1 for binary traits). We used both phylogenetic and non‐phylogenetic methods to evaluate the relationship among traits and their relationship with elevation and stream order.We found a significant phylogenetic signal for 65% of the studied traits. Phylogenetic signals were quite variable, but we did not detect clear differences between continuous and binary traits or among trait types (i.e. morphological, trophic, reproductive, and habitat use). Evolutionary models revealed that elevational and longitudinal distribution showed little evidence for directional trends of evolution. Hence, species elevational and longitudinal niches tend to resemble to those of the common ancestor.Many fish traits were inter‐correlated as revealed by phylogenetic methods, indicating correlated evolution of pairs of traits. For example, reproductive traits such as maximum longevity, fecundity and age at maturity tended to evolve together with fish maximum length. Consequently, certain orders of fish showed shared suites of traits.Comparative methods revealed a significant positive relationship of parental care with elevation and stream order. By contrast, non‐phylogenetic analyses and multivariate analyses indicated positive relationships between elevation and rheophily and lithophily, and a negative relationship between stream order and invertivory and rheophily.Overall, our results point to a notable phylogenetic signal in many traits of inland fishes and a strong phylogenetic structure in their functional traits along their elevational and longitudinal gradients. Thereby, our results contribute to an improved understanding of species’ adaptations to environmental changes with important conceptual and practical implications for minimising further species losses.

A case of symbiosis between the centrolenid frog Centrolenella fleischmanni and the drosophilid fly Drosophila sp. nov. is documented. The fly lays her eggs near the surface of the frog's egg mass. Upon hatching, the larvae feed upon the frog embryos, killing many or all of them. Pupation occurs within the egg mass before the embryos hatch. Flies emerge about 10-13 days after the maggots hatch, and after the tadpoles have left the egg mass. For the frogflies the relationship appears to be obligatory, but not so for the frogs, which derive no obvious benefit from the association.

Understanding the influence of evolutionary history on species‐specific phenological events of high‐altitude plants and their sensitivity to the abiotic factors has gained importance mainly in the context of climate change. However, the majority of phenology studies across altitudinal gradient are carried out on flowering, whereas other reproductive phenology events are seldom considered. We tested the role of abiotic factors and evolutionary history on the reproductive phenology traits of high‐altitudeRhododendroncommunity which comprised of 10 locally aggregated species in Kyongnosla Alpine Sanctuary, Sikkim Himalaya. The study was carried out from 2013 to 2015 across an altitude gradient of 3400–4230 m a.s.l. We generated dated phylogenetic hypotheses to test for phylogenetic signal in reproductive phenology events, and its durations across 10Rhododendronspecies and also among groups of species distributed at every 100 m altitude. Comparative phylogenetic methods were used to explore the relationship between phenology traits and abiotic variables such as daylength and temperature. The early phenology events such as budding, flowering, and initial fruiting, which occurred during the favorable month of the year, exhibited strong phylogenetic signal and were mainly associated with daylength and temperature. In contrast, the later events such as immature fruiting, mature fruiting, and fruit dehiscence, which occurred during the later months of the year, showed a weak phylogenetic signal and were mostly associated with daylength. With the increase in altitude, we found a decreasing trend of phylogenetic signal for the early phenology events and later events did not show a significant trend. Our results suggest that only early events are constrained by evolutionary history; thus, the closely related species share the similar timing of the early phenology events. Also, the role of shared evolutionary history in phenological trait sensitivity to the abiotic factors reduces from early to the late phenology events. This approach can be extended to other representative plant families of the Himalayan region to better understand the response of reproductive traits to abiotic factors in deep evolutionary time.

AimPlant populations are declining in their native ranges around the globe through the expansion of agriculture, urbanization, and plant invasions. We test the hypothesis that animal species that have spent more of their evolutionary history in a region are more dependent on native plants, particularly those plants that have spent more of their evolutionary history in the region, and are therefore more negatively impacted by native plant decline.LocationYarra Valley landscapes, Australia.MethodsWe test the presence and pattern of phylogenetic signal in native bee community responses to local flower density of ancient Australian plant lineages and the amount of native vegetation in the surrounding landscape across farm and native vegetation sites. We also test phylogenetic signal in the frequency of bee visitation to flowers from ancient Australian plant lineages. We compare the patterns of phylogenetic signal to the current understanding of bee biogeographic histories to evaluate our hypothesis.ResultsThere was significant phylogenetic signal in responses to flower density of plants from ancient Australian lineages, and the frequency of visitation to these flowers, with most species from the ancient Australian bee clade being positively associated with these flowers. This is consistent with our hypothesis. Significant phylogenetic signal in response to native vegetation in the surrounding landscape was driven primarily by the more recently arrived bee linages, with ancient lineages able to persist on some farms where ancient Australian flowers were present (e.g. on roadsides).Main conclusionsBee species that have spent more of their evolutionary history in Australia are more dependent on ancient Australian plant lineages and so most negatively impacted by the decline of these plants. This may be a broader phenomenon because phylogenetic conservatism in host plant use, the main assumption underlying our hypothesis, is common among herbivorous arthropods (~500,000 species).