0000000001311755

AUTHOR

Bonnie B. Blaimer

showing 5 related works from this author

How do cuticular hydrocarbons evolve? Physiological constraints and climatic and biotic selection pressures act on a complex functional trait

2017

Cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs) cover the cuticles of virtually all insects, serving as a waterproofing agent and as a communication signal. The causes for the high CHC variation between species, and the factors influencing CHC profiles, are scarcely understood. Here, we compare CHC profiles of ant species from seven biogeographic regions, searching for physiological constraints and for climatic and biotic selection pressures. Molecule length constrained CHC composition: long-chain profiles contained fewer linear alkanes, but more hydrocarbons with disruptive features in the molecule. This is probably owing to selection on the physiology to build a semi-fluid cuticular layer, which is necessa…

0106 biological sciences0301 basic medicineAlkenesBiology010603 evolutionary biology01 natural sciencesGeneral Biochemistry Genetics and Molecular Biology03 medical and health sciencesAnimal ShellsAlkanesAnimalsEcosystemSelection (genetic algorithm)General Environmental ScienceGeneral Immunology and MicrobiologyAntsEcologyfungiSpecial FeatureGeneral MedicineBiological EvolutionHydrocarbonsPhenotype030104 developmental biologyTraitAdaptationGeneral Agricultural and Biological SciencesProceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
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The evolution of a complex trait: cuticular hydrocarbons in ants evolve independent from phylogenetic constraints.

2016

Cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs) are ubiquitous and highly diverse in insects, serving as communication signal and waterproofing agent. Despite their vital function, the causes, mechanisms and constraints on CHC diversification are still poorly understood. Here, we investigated phylogenetic constraints on the evolution of CHC profiles, using a global data set of the species-rich and chemically diverse ant genus Crematogaster. We decomposed CHC profiles into quantitative (relative abundances, chain length) and qualitative traits (presence/absence of CHC classes). A species-level phylogeny was estimated using newly generated and previously published sequences from five nuclear markers. Moreover,…

0106 biological sciences0301 basic medicineCrematogasterAlkenes010603 evolutionary biology01 natural sciences03 medical and health sciencesGenusPhylogeneticsAnimalsTaxonomic rankCladeEcology Evolution Behavior and SystematicsPhylogenyPhylogenetic treebiologyEcologyAntsbiology.organism_classificationPhenotypeBiological EvolutionHydrocarbons030104 developmental biologyPhenotypeEvolutionary biologyFunction (biology)Journal of evolutionary biology
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Supplemental Tables S1 and S2: Additional information on the species investigated from How do cuticular hydrocarbons evolve? Physiological constraint…

2017

Cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs) cover the cuticles of virtually all insects, serving as waterproofing agent and as communication signal. The causes for the high CHC variation between species, and the factors influencing CHC profiles, are scarcely understood. Here, we compare CHC profiles of ant species from seven biogeographic regions, searching for physiological constraints and for climatic and biotic selection pressures. Molecule length constrained CHC composition: long-chain profiles contained fewer linear alkanes, but more hydrocarbons with disruptive features in the molecule. This is likely due to selection on the physiology to build a semi-fluid cuticular layer, which is necessary for w…

fungi
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Data from: The evolution of a complex trait: cuticular hydrocarbons in ants evolve independent from phylogenetic constraints

2017

Cuticular hydrocarbons (CHC) are ubiquitous and highly diverse in insects, serving as communication signal and waterproofing agent. Despite their vital function, the causes, mechanisms and constraints on CHC diversification are still poorly understood. Here, we investigated phylogenetic constraints on the evolution of CHC profiles, using a global dataset of the species-rich and chemically diverse ant genus Crematogaster. We decomposed CHC profiles into quantitative (relative abundances, chain length) and qualitative traits (presence/absence of CHC classes). A species-level phylogeny was estimated using newly generated and previously published sequences from five nuclear markers. Moreover, w…

medicine and health carepheromonesaltational evolutionCrematogaster leviorLife SciencesMedicinegradual evolutionCrematogaster
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Data from: How do cuticular hydrocarbons evolve? Physiological constraints and climatic and biotic selection pressures act on a complex functional tr…

2016

Cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs) cover the cuticles of virtually all insects, serving as a waterproofing agent and as a communication signal. The causes for the high CHC variation between species, and the factors influencing CHC profiles, are scarcely understood. Here, we compare CHC profiles of ant species from seven biogeographic regions, searching for physiological constraints and for climatic and biotic selection pressures. Molecule length constrained CHC composition: long-chain profiles contained fewer linear alkanes, but more hydrocarbons with disruptive features in the molecule. This is probably owing to selection on the physiology to build a semi-fluid cuticular layer, which is necessa…

medicine and health careCamponotusphysiological constraintselection pressureviscosityfungiclimatic nicheMedicineCrematogasterwater loss rateLife sciences
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