Search results for "Coevolution"
showing 10 items of 85 documents
A Study of the Coevolution of Digital Organisms with an Evolutionary Cellular Automaton
2021
This article belongs to the Section Evolutionary Biology.
Male reproductive senescence as a potential source of sexual conflict in a beetle
2011
The link between senescence and reproductive success is a contentious yet crucial issue to our understanding of mate choice, sexual conflict, and the evolution of ageing. By imposing direct (i.e., male fertility) or indirect (i.e., zygote viability) reproductive costs to females, male senescence may lead to sexual conflict at different levels. For example, ageing may affect male ability to deliver sperm, thus setting the scene for sexual conflict over mating, and/or may affect the quality of individual sperm cells, generating the potential for sexual conflict over fertilizing strategies. We addressed these issues by studying the mating behavior, reproductive fitness, and fertilization patte…
Nest attendance, extended phenotype and social selection in multispecies colonies
2017
Colonial species interact not only with conspecifics but often with other species nesting in the same site. The effect of conspecific traits have been measured recently with a multilevel selection analysis, but the effect of social traits of heterospecifics on individual fitness remain unquantified. We recorded nest attendance effort of two species, lesser kestrels (Falco naumanni) and jackdaws (Corvus monedula), nesting on the Gela Plain (Sicily, Italy). Both species are secondary-cavity nesters breeding in abandoned rural buildings where they form single-species or mixed-species colonies. By correlating reproductive success as a measure of fitness to conspecific and heterospecific nest at…
Mimicry between unequally defended prey can be parasitic: evidence for quasi-Batesian mimicry
2010
The nature of signal mimicry between defended prey (known as Mullerian mimicry) is controversial. Some authors assert that it is always mutualistic and beneficial, whilst others speculate that less well defended prey may be parasitic and degrade the protection of their better defended co-mimics (quasi-Batesian mimicry). Using great tits (Parus major) as predators of artificial prey, we show that mimicry between unequally defended co-mimics is not mutualistic, and can be parasitic and quasi-Batesian. We presented a fixed abundance of a highly defended model and a moderately defended dimorphic (mimic and distinct non-mimetic) species, and varied the relative frequency of the two forms of the …
Evolution of the Secondary Symbiont “Candidatus Serratia symbiotica” in Aphid Species of the Subfamily Lachninae ▿†
2008
ABSTRACT Buchnera aphidicola BCc, the primary endosymbiont of the aphid Cinara cedri (subfamily Lachninae), is losing its symbiotic capacity and might be replaced by the coresident “ Candidatus Serratia symbiotica.” Phylogenetic and morphological analyses within the subfamily Lachninae indicate two different “ Ca . Serratia symbiotica” lineages and support the longtime coevolution of both symbionts in C. cedri .
Random Tanglegram Partitions (Random TaPas): An Alexandrian Approach to the Cophylogenetic Gordian Knot
2018
Abstract Symbiosis is a key driver of evolutionary novelty and ecological diversity, but our understanding of how macroevolutionary processes originate extant symbiotic associations is still very incomplete. Cophylogenetic tools are used to assess the congruence between the phylogenies of two groups of organisms related by extant associations. If phylogenetic congruence is higher than expected by chance, we conclude that there is cophylogenetic signal in the system under study. However, how to quantify cophylogenetic signal is still an open issue. We present a novel approach, Random Tanglegram Partitions (Random TaPas) that applies a given global-fit method to random partial tanglegrams of …
LOCAL ADAPTATION, RESISTANCE, AND VIRULENCE IN A HEMIPARASITIC PLANT-HOST PLANT INTERACTION
2000
Coevolution may lead to local adaptation of parasites to their sympatric hosts. Locally adapted parasites are, on average, more infectious to sympatric hosts than to allopatric hosts of the same species or their fitness on the sympatric hosts is superior to that on allopatric hosts. We tested local adaptation of a hemiparasitic plant, Rhinanthus serotinus (Scrophulariaceae), to its host plant, the grass Agrostis capillaris. Using a reciprocal cross-infection experiment, we exposed host plants from four sites to hemiparasites originating from the same four sites in a common environment. The parasites were equally able to establish haustorial connections to sympatric and allopatric hosts, and…
Virus-Host Coevolution as a Tool for Controlling Bacterial Resistance to Phage Therapy
2019
Bacterial resistance to antibiotics is a global public health concern. New treatments are needed to combat resistant strains, among which phage therapy is a promising option. Probably the main advantages of phage therapy are its high specificity as well as rapid viral adaptability, which in principle allows using phage evolution to overcome resistance. Here, we have performed serial coevolution passages between Escherichia coli and its phage T7 to investigate the ability of coevolved phages to reduce the emergence of resistances. We find that the initial bacterial population is less likely to undergo resistance when challenged with experimentally coevolved phages than when challenged with t…
Introduction. Ecological immunology.
2009
12 pages; International audience; An organism's fitness is critically reliant on its immune system to provide protection against parasites and pathogens. The structure of even simple immune systems is surprisingly complex and clearly will have been moulded by the organism's ecology. The aim of this review and the theme issue is to examine the role of different ecological factors on the evolution of immunity. Here, we will provide a general framework of the field by contextualizing the main ecological factors, including interactions with parasites, other types of biotic as well as abiotic interactions, intraspecific selective constraints (life-history trade-offs, sexual selection) and popula…
Soil aggregates and humus systems
2016
The European Society for Soil Conservation Conference, organized by the Babes-Bolyai University will take place from 15th June to the 18th June 2016 at the Babes-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The conference will cover areas like Soils – Our Common Future” stresses the vital interconnection between soil and life, as well as its importance for the future of the human society.; International audience; The survey of few main morphological soil aggregates (with intrinsic biological, chemical and physical contents) reveals the existence of different humus systems. Recognizable by naked eyes in the field, each humus system is confined in an ecological frame (climate, ve…