Evolution of character displacement in Darwin's finches

Competitor species can have evolutionary effects on each other that result in ecological character displacement; that is, divergence in resource-exploiting traits such as jaws and beaks. Nevertheless, the process of character displacement occurring in nature, from the initial encounter of competitors to the evolutionary change in one or more of them, has not previously been investigated. Here we report that a Darwin's finch species (Geospiza fortis) on an undisturbed Galápagos island diverged in beak size from a competitor species (G. magnirostris) 22 years after the competitor's arrival, when they jointly and severely depleted the food supply. The observed evolutionary response to natural selection was the strongest recorded in 33 years of study, and close to the value predicted from the high heritability of beak size. These findings support the role of competition in models of community assembly, speciation, and adaptive radiations.     

Experimental evidence that competition promotes divergence in adaptive radiation

Interspecific competition driving divergence in adaptive radiation has not previously been tested experimentally. Natural selection on a morphologically variable species of stickleback fish was contrasted in the presence and absence of a close relative. Selection was nondirectional when the target species was alone, whereas addition of the second species favored individuals most different from it morphologically and ecologically. Disproportionately severe competition between similar phenotypes indicates frequency-dependent selection, verifying a crucial element of theory of competition and character divergence. The findings help resolve outstanding debates on the ecological causes of diversification and the evolutionary consequences of competitive interactions.     

Biogeography and ecological setting of Indian Ocean hydrothermal vents

Within the endemic invertebrate faunas of hydrothermal vents, five biogeographic provinces are recognized. Invertebrates at two Indian Ocean vent fields (Kairei and Edmond) belong to a sixth province, despite ecological settings and invertebrate-bacterial symbioses similar to those of both western Pacific and Atlantic vents. Most organisms found at these Indian Ocean vent fields have evolutionary affinities with western Pacific vent faunas, but a shrimp that ecologically dominates Indian Ocean vents closely resembles its Mid-Atlantic counterpart. These findings contribute to a global assessment of the biogeography of chemosynthetic faunas and indicate that the Indian Ocean vent community follows asymmetric assembly rules biased toward Pacific evolutionary alliances.     

Phenotypic plasticity in the interactions and evolution of species

When individuals of two species interact, they can adjust their phenotypes in response to their respective partner, be they antagonists or mutualists. The reciprocal phenotypic change between individuals of interacting species can reflect an evolutionary response to spatial and temporal variation in species interactions and ecologically result in the structuring of food chains. The evolution of adaptive phenotypic plasticity has led to the success of organisms in novel habitats, and potentially contributes to genetic differentiation and speciation. Taken together, phenotypic responses in species interactions represent modifications that can lead to reciprocal change in ecological time, altered community patterns, and expanded evolutionary potential of species.     

Resource partitioning and sympatric differentiation among closely related bacterioplankton

Identifying ecologically differentiated populations within complex microbial communities remains challenging, yet is critical for interpreting the evolution and ecology of microbes in the wild. Here we describe spatial and temporal resource partitioning among Vibrionaceae strains coexisting in coastal bacterioplankton. A quantitative model (AdaptML) establishes the evolutionary history of ecological differentiation, thus revealing populations specific for seasons and life-styles (combinations of free-living, particle, or zooplankton associations). These ecological population boundaries frequently occur at deep phylogenetic levels (consistent with named species); however, recent and perhaps ongoing adaptive radiation is evident in Vibrio splendidus, which comprises numerous ecologically distinct populations at different levels of phylogenetic differentiation. Thus, environmental specialization may be an important correlate or even trigger of speciation among sympatric microbes.     

扩散限制和环境筛选对子午岭森林群落构建的相对贡献

【目的】改善区域生态环境是促进农业生产、实现可持续发展的重要前提,而加强植被的恢复重建是改善生态环境的重要途径。本研究拟通过对黄土高原子午岭森林群落构建过程的研究,为该区的植被恢复重建提供理论依据。【方法】采用典范变异分解和Mantel检验两种互补的方法,通过分离环境因子/距离（度量环境筛选）和空间因子/距离（间接度量扩散限制）对群落物种组成/距离的相对贡献,确定环境筛选和扩散限制在该区植物群落构建中的相对重要性。【结果】不同群落类型间的物种组成差异显著,空间和环境因子共同解释了草本、灌木、乔木三层29%—65%的物种组成变异（P＜0.01）。而二者的贡献特点在不同层次有所差异,乔木层和灌木层主要以空间因子为主导;而在草本层中,空间和环境因子具有相似的贡献率。草本、灌木、乔木三层的物种非相似性距离与环境距离和地理距离都显著相关（P＜0.05）,草本层具有较大的环境距离相关系数,而灌木层和乔木层具有较大的地理距离相关系数。【结论】扩散限制和环境筛选相互作用,共同影响着黄土高原森林群落的构建过程。本研究的结果并没有否定环境筛选在黄土高原群落构建中的重要性,而是更加强调了扩散限制在该区的主导性。因此,在黄土高原森林群落的恢复重建中,应该同时考虑环境异质性和地理空间的差异性。     

Contingency and determinism in replicated adaptive radiations of island lizards

The vagaries of history lead to the prediction that repeated instances of evolutionary diversification will lead to disparate outcomes even if starting conditions are similar. We tested this proposition by examining the evolutionary radiation of Anolis lizards on the four islands of the Greater Antilles. Morphometric analyses indicate that the same set of habitat specialists, termed ecomorphs, occurs on all four islands. Although these similar assemblages could result from a single evolutionary origin of each ecomorph, followed by dispersal or vicariance, phylogenetic analysis indicates that the ecomorphs originated independently on each island. Thus, adaptive radiation in similar environments can overcome historical contingencies to produce strikingly similar evolutionary outcomes.     

Natural selection and parallel speciation in sympatric sticklebacks

Natural selection plays a fundamental role in most theories of speciation, but empirical evidence from the wild has been lacking. Here the post-Pleistocene radiation of threespine sticklebacks was used to infer natural selection in the origin of species. Populations of sticklebacks that evolved under different ecological conditions show strong reproductive isolation, whereas populations that evolved independently under similar ecological conditions lack isolation. Speciation has proceeded in this adaptive radiation in a repeatable fashion, ultimately as a consequence of adaptation to alternative environments.     

The application of ecological theory toward an understanding of the human microbiome

The human-microbial ecosystem plays a variety of important roles in human health and disease. Each person can be viewed as an island-like "patch" of habitat occupied by microbial assemblages formed by the fundamental processes of community ecology: dispersal, local diversification, environmental selection, and ecological drift. Community assembly theory, and metacommunity theory in particular, provides a framework for understanding the ecological dynamics of the human microbiome, such as compositional variability within and between hosts. We explore three core scenarios of human microbiome assembly: development in infants, representing assembly in previously unoccupied habitats; recovery from antibiotics, representing assembly after disturbance; and invasion by pathogens, representing assembly in the context of invasive species. Judicious application of ecological theory may lead to improved strategies for restoring and maintaining the microbiota and the crucial health-associated ecosystem services that it provides.     

From plant traits to plant communities: a statistical mechanistic approach to biodiversity

We developed a quantitative method, analogous to those used in statistical mechanics, to predict how biodiversity will vary across environments, which plant species from a species pool will be found in which relative abundances in a given environment, and which plant traits determine community assembly. This provides a scaling from plant traits to ecological communities while bypassing the complications of population dynamics. Our method treats community development as a sorting process involving species that are ecologically equivalent except with respect to particular functional traits, which leads to a constrained random assembly of species; the relative abundance of each species adheres to a general exponential distribution as a function of its traits. Using data for eight functional traits of 30 herbaceous species and community-aggregated values of these traits in 12 sites along a 42-year chronosequence of secondary succession, we predicted 94% of the variance in the relative abundances.     

物种分布模型理论研究进展

利用物种分布模型估计物种的真实和潜在分布区,已成为区域生态学与生物地理学中非常活跃的研究领域。然而,到目前为止,这项技术的理论基础仍然存在不足之处,一些关键的生态过程未能被有效纳入到物种分布模型的理论框架中,从而为解释物种分布模型预测的结果带来了诸多困惑。鉴于此, 总结了物种分布模型的理论基础;系统探讨了物种分布模型与物种分布区的关系;特别指出了物种分布模型研究中存在的理论问题;重点阐述了物种分布模型未来的发展方向。研究认为,物种分布模型与生态位理论、源-库理论、种群动态理论、集合种群理论、进化理论等具有重要的联系;正确理解物种分布模型的预测结果与物种分布区的关系,有赖于对影响物种分布的3个主要因素(环境条件、物种相互作用与物种迁移能力)做出定量的分离;目前物种分布模型主要存在的问题是未能将物种的相互作用和物种的迁移能力有效纳入到模型的构建过程中;未来物种分布模型的发展应该加强模型背后理论框架的研究,并进一步加强整合物种相互作用过程、种群动态过程、迁移过程和物种进化过程等内容。研究还认为,从更高的理论层次模拟功能群和群落结构将是未来物种分布模型的重要发展方向。     

Onshore-offshore patterns in the evolution of phanerozoic shelf communities

Cluster analysis of Cambrian-Ordovician marine benthic communities and community-trophic analysis of Late Cretaceous shelf faunas indicate that major ecological innovations appeared in nearshore environments and then expanded outward across the shelf at the expense of older community types. This onshoreinnovation, offshore-archaic evolutionary pattern is surprising in light of the generally, higher species turnover rates of offshore clades. This pattern probably results from differential extinction rates of onshore as compared to offshore clades, or from differential origination rates of new ecological associations or evolutionary novelties in nearshore environments.     

云南省极危种馨香木兰的群落特征初步研究

[目的]探讨馨香木兰种群的生态学特性,为了解该植物所处群落的性质和与其生境间的相互关系,揭示其生态学上的濒危机理,以及为制定该树种的合理保护策略提供依据。[方法]通过开展野外调查工作,采用设置样地调查的方法,计测了馨香木兰所处植物群落的乔木树种的重要值、物种多样性,物种丰富度,优势度和群落均匀度,通过分析获得馨香木兰的种群结构特征及动态变化。[结果]馨香木兰散生在各群落中,优势不明显。在馨香木兰所处的3种群落中,物种多样性以青冈林最高,西畴润楠林次之,圆果化香树林最低。馨香木兰的种群结构呈金字塔型,为增长型种群。[结论]由于馨香木兰生长缓慢,在物种竞争中处于劣势,再加上人为的破坏和自然因素的影响,其生长前景不容乐观,对馨香木兰的保护刻不容缓。     

细河河岸带植物多样性研究

以野外样方调查数据为基础,详细调查了辽宁省太子河主要支流细河河岸带植物群落的组成、种类和外貌,应用重要值计算了细河河岸带植物丰富度指数、多样性指数、均匀度指数、优势度指数,并分析了其物种的多样性差异,从而为细河河岸带的生态修复提供理论和技术依据。结果表明:细河河岸带植物群落27个植物样方中共有23科60属99种,物种组成以菊科、蓼科、禾本科、莎草科、蔷薇科、唇形科植物为主,植物种类以荩草、藨草、中华结缕草、野稗、三叶草、老芒麦、问荆.、野艾蒿、桃叶蓼、狗尾草等为主。细河河岸带植物物种结构简单,物种组成较少。植物物种多样性水平较低,从多样性指数的数量特征来看,丰富度指数7.00～25.00,Pielou均匀度指数0.54～0.94,Simpson多样性指数0.56～0.92,Shannon-Wiener多样性指数1.44～2.80,Simpson优势度指数0.08～0.44。细河河岸带受到人为活动干扰,如农业生产、挖沙等人为活动干扰降低了植物多样性水平。     

Diet drives convergence in gut microbiome functions across mammalian phylogeny and within humans

Coevolution of mammals and their gut microbiota has profoundly affected their radiation into myriad habitats. We used shotgun sequencing of microbial community DNA and targeted sequencing of bacterial 16S ribosomal RNA genes to gain an understanding of how microbial communities adapt to extremes of diet. We sampled fecal DNA from 33 mammalian species and 18 humans who kept detailed diet records, and we found that the adaptation of the microbiota to diet is similar across different mammalian lineages. Functional repertoires of microbiome genes, such as those encoding carbohydrate-active enzymes and proteases, can be predicted from bacterial species assemblages. These results illustrate the value of characterizing vertebrate gut microbiomes to understand host evolutionary histories at a supraorganismal level.     

Influence of phylogeny on fungal community assembly and ecosystem functioning

Ecology seeks to explain species coexistence and its functional consequences, but experimental tests of mechanisms that simultaneously account for both processes are difficult. We used an experimental mycorrhizal plant system to test whether functional similarity among closely related species (phylogenetic conservatism) can drive community assembly and ecosystem functioning. Communities were constructed with the same number of fungal species, but after 1 year of growth, realized species richness was highest where the starting species were more distantly related to each other. Communities with high realized species richness also stimulated plant productivity more than those with low realized species richness. Our findings suggest that phylogenetic trait conservatism can promote coexistence because of reduced competition between distinct evolutionary lineages and enhance ecosystem function because of functional complementarity among those same lineages.     

长白山阔叶红松林系统发育和功能性状beta多样性

Beta多样性是生物多样性的重要组成部分,对于研究生物多样性的形成机制具有重要意义。基于物种进化历史和功能性状的系统发育和功能性状beta多样性的研究,能够从不同的角度反映群落格局形成的生态学过程。本文以长白山阔叶红松林40 hm2样地中45种木本植物(DBH≥1 cm)为研究对象,采集了最大树高、叶面积、比叶面积和叶氮含量4种功能性状,采用Srensen指数衡量功能性状与系统发育beta多样性在不同空间尺度(半径为10、20、25、50和75 m)的变化趋势,并通过比较系统发育和功能性状beta多样性格局与零模型的差异,进而推断潜在的生态过程。研究表明:1)长白山阔叶红松林系统发育和功能性状beta多样性均表现出距离衰减效应,并且随取样尺度的增大,系统发育和功能性状beta多样性逐渐降低。2)功能性状和系统发育beta多样性格局均具有非随机的变化趋势。随着取样尺度的增大,系统发育beta多样性呈现出先低于随机状态(10~20 m),随后趋于随机(25~50 m),最后又低于随机状态(75 m)的格局。而功能性状beta多样性格局则由随机状态(10~50 m)逐渐变为低于随机状态(75 m)。表明在中小尺度上(10~50 m),中性过程占主导作用,但不能排除生态位过程的影响;而随着尺度的增大,生境过滤在维持长白山阔叶红松林群落构建中起主导作用。3)功能性状与系统发育beta多样性格局变化趋势不一致,推测主要是由于功能性状系统发育信号较弱所导致。      

上海青草沙水库生态护坡区浮游植物的群落结构

2017年上海青草沙水库建设了生态护坡,为探究其对水体浮游植物群落结构的影响,于2018年逐月对该水库生态护坡区和库内对照区的浮游植物群落进行调查比较。共鉴定出生态护坡区浮游植物201种,库内对照区194种,两区域物种达中等相似,且种类组成均为绿藻-硅藻-蓝藻型。生态护坡区和库内对照区优势种以蓝藻门和硅藻门为主,且基本相同,优势度较大的优势种为隐球藻属未定种(Aphanocapsa sp.)、湖泊伪鱼腥藻(Pseudanabaena limnetica)、小环藻属未定种(Cyclotella sp.)和模糊沟链藻(Aulacoseira ambigua)。生态护坡区浮游植物群落密度、生物量年均值依次为(578.46±455.30)×10⁴ cells/L、(1.55±1.03)mg/L,库内对照区依次为(663.46±588.67)×10⁴ cells/L、(1.61±0.98)mg/L,两区域浮游植物现存量无显著差异(P>0.05)。主坐标PCOA分析表明生态护坡区和库内对照区浮游植物群落结构差异不显著(P>0.05)。上述结果...     

Hawaiian courtship songs: evolutionary innovation in communication signals of Drosophila

In Hawaii, flies of the genus Drosophila have undergone spectacular adaptive radiation, resulting in the evolution of more than 500 species of Drosophila that are found nowhere else on earth. This taxonomic uniqueness is reflected in behavior and morphology. Hawaiian Drosophila sing songs, as do continental Drosophila; however, the Hawaiian songs have diverged strongly in form and mechanism of production. The click-song of D. fasciculisetae's (Maui) has a carrier frequency an order of magnitude higher than those reported in familiar continental species, such as D. melanogaster (170 hertz). Drosophila fasciculisetae's song resembles a cicada's more than a fly's song. The song of D. cyrtoloma (Maui) has a complex pulse rhythm more typical of crickets than flies. The pulse song of D. silvestris (Hawaii) closely resembles that of D. melanogaster in both pulse rhythm and carrier frequency, but D. melanogaster sings by vibrating its wings, whereas D. silvestris sings through abdominal vibrations. These mechanisms are radical departures from the continental wing song mechanism and are further examples of the remarkable behavioral innovation that has occurred in the Drosophila of Hawaii during their evolutionary transit through these islands.     

浙江天童舟山新木姜子群落结构及其更新类型

舟山新木姜子Neolitsea sericea是主要分布在舟山群岛区域的珍稀树种。在进行宁波市生态公益林调查中发现天童林场有舟山新木姜子天然群落,采用标准样地法,对这一大陆种群进行群落学调查,分析了舟山新木姜子及其主要组成种群落结构。在与舟山原产地生境和个体形态比较基础上,讨论了天童林场舟山新木姜子的群落起源及其更新类型。结果表明：群落为4种共优势种群落,林木层中出现木本植物21科41种;种群结构有4种类型：逆J字型、单峰型、单柱型和L字型。逆J字型的舟山新木姜子更新个体和萌枝较多,将维持舟山新木姜子在群落中的优势地位。群落现处于灌丛阶段,与大猫种源舟山新木姜子生境较一致;叶形态与普陀种源的舟山新木姜子基本相同,因此推测该群落可能起源于普陀种源舟山新木姜子的种子漂移。图2表1参24