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Adaptive Hypotheses (adaptive + hypothesis)
Selected AbstractsA simple method for measuring colour in wild animals: validation and use on chest patch colour in geladas (Theropithecus gelada)BIOLOGICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY, Issue 2 2008THORE J. BERGMAN Adaptive hypotheses about colour variation are widespread in behavioural ecology, and several methods of objective colour assessment have been proposed and validated for use in a wide variety of taxa. However, to date, the most objective and reliable methods of assessing colour are not readily applied to wild animals. In the present study, we present a simple method for assessing colour in unrestrained, wild subjects using digital photography. The method we describe uses a digital camera, a colour standard, and colour analysis software, and can be used to measure any part of the visible colour spectrum. We demonstrate that the method: (1) is accurate and precise across different light conditions; (2) satisfies previous criteria regarding linearity and red, green, and blue equality; and (3) can be independently validated visually. In contrast with previous digital methods, this method can be used under natural light conditions and can be readily applied to subjects in their natural habitat. To illustrate this, we use the method to measure chest colour in wild geladas (Theropithecus gelada). Unique among primates, geladas have a red patch of skin on their chest and neck, which, for males, is thought to be a sexually selected signal. Offering some support to this hypothesis, we found differences in chest ,redness' for males across different age groups, with males in their reproductive prime exhibiting the reddest chests. © 2008 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2008, 94, 231,240. [source] A COMPARATIVE METHOD FOR STUDYING ADAPTATION TO A RANDOMLY EVOLVING ENVIRONMENTEVOLUTION, Issue 8 2008Thomas F. Hansen Most phylogenetic comparative methods used for testing adaptive hypotheses make evolutionary assumptions that are not compatible with evolution toward an optimal state. As a consequence they do not correct for maladaptation. The "evolutionary regression" that is returned is more shallow than the optimal relationship between the trait and environment. We show how both evolutionary and optimal regressions, as well as phylogenetic inertia, can be estimated jointly by a comparative method built around an Ornstein,Uhlenbeck model of adaptive evolution. The method considers a single trait adapting to an optimum that is influenced by one or more continuous, randomly changing predictor variables. [source] PHYLOGENETIC COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF LIFE-HISTORY VARIATION AMONG POPULATIONS OF THE LIZARD SCELOPORUS UNDULATUS:AN EXAMPLE AND PROGNOSISEVOLUTION, Issue 3 2004Peter H. Niewiarowski Abstract Over the past 15 years, phylogenetic comparative methods (PCMs) have become standard in the study of life-history evolution. To date, most studies have focused on variation among species or higher taxonomic levels, generally revealing the presence of significant phylogenetic effects as well as residual variation potentially attributable to adaptive evolution. Recently, population-level phylogenetic hypotheses have become available for many species, making it possible to apply PCMs directly to the level at which experiments are typically used to test adaptive hypotheses. In this study, we present the results of PCMs applied to life-history variation among populations of the widespread and well-studied lizard Sceloporus undulatus. Using S. undulatus (which may represent four closely related species) as an example, we explore the benefits of using PCMs at the population level, as well as consider the importance of several thorny methodological problems including but not limited to nonindependence of populations, lack of sufficient variation in traits, and the typically small sample sizes dictated by the difficulty of collecting detailed demographic data. We show that phylogenetic effects on life-history variation among populations of S. undulatus appear to be unimportant, and that several classic trade-offs expected by theory and revealed by many interspecific comparisons are absent. Our results suggest that PCMs applied to variation in life-history traits below the species level may be of limited value, but more studies like ours are needed to draw a general conclusion. Finally, we discuss several outstanding problems that face studies seeking to apply PCMs below the species level. [source] Determinants of within- and among-clutch variation in levels of maternal hormones in Black-Headed Gull eggsFUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY, Issue 3 2002Groothuis T. G. Summary 1.,Females of egg-laying vertebrates may adjust the development of their offspring to prevailing environmental conditions by regulating the deposition of hormones into their eggs. Within- and amng-clutch variation in levels of steroid hormones were studied in the egg yolks of the Black-Headed Gull (Larus ridibundus, Linnaeus) in relation to environmental conditions at the nest site. This species breeds in colonies of different densities and in different habitats, and the chicks hatch asynchronously. 2.,Egg yolks contained very high levels of androstenedione, substantial levels of testosterone and moderate levels of 5,-dihydrotestosterone. Oestrogen (17,-oestradiol) was not detected. 3.,Androgen levels increased strongly with laying order, irrespective of egg or yolk mass. This may compensate for the disadvantages of the later hatching chicks. These results have implications for adaptive hypotheses that were proposed for asynchronous incubation. 4.,Eggs of lighter clutches contained more androgens, perhaps to compensate for a lower nutritional quality of these eggs. 5.,Birds breeding in the periphery of a colony, being relatively more aggressive and having relatively large territories, laid eggs that contained more androgens than those of birds breeding in the centre. These high yolk androgen levels may facilitate growth and motor development of the chicks, which may be especially important for chicks developing at the periphery of a colony. Reduced levels may be adaptive for birds breeding in the centre, where risk of infectious diseases is high, since steroids may be immunosuppressive. 6.,Corrected for nest distance, clutches of birds in high vegetation, where predation risk is less severe and therefore competition for nest sites perhaps high, contained relatively high levels of androgens. It is suggested that the level of yolk androgens reflects the hormonal condition of the female, that in turn is influenced by her characteristics such as her age and aggressiveness, and the level of social stimulation. [source] Group breeding dramatically increases reproductive success of yearling but not older female scrubwrens: a model for cooperatively breeding birds?JOURNAL OF ANIMAL ECOLOGY, Issue 3 2001Robert D. Magrath Summary 1,Many studies of cooperatively breeding birds have found no effect of group size on reproductive success, contrary to predictions of most adaptive hypotheses. A model is proposed for variation in group-size effects: group size has a reduced effect on success when conditions for breeding are good, such as in good environmental conditions or in groups with older breeders. This hypothesis is tested with a case study of white-browed scrubwrens Sericornis frontalis and a review of the literature. 2,The scrubwren is a cooperatively breeding passerine with male helpers. Previous analyses revealed no effect of group size on reproductive success, but those analyses were restricted to groups with older females (Magrath & Yezerinac 1997). Here 7 years' data are used to contrast the effect of group size on reproductive success for yearling and older females. 3,Yearling females breeding in groups had more than double the seasonal reproductive success than those breeding in pairs, even after controlling for territory quality. However, group size still had no effect on the reproductive success of older females. Yearling females tended to survive better in groups, but older females tended to survive better in pairs, emphasizing this pattern. 4,Yearlings breeding in pairs were more likely to be found on poor-quality territories than those breeding in groups, exaggerating the already-strong effect of group size on yearling success. Older females were not affected significantly by territory quality. 5,Group size, territory quality and female age affected different components of seasonal reproductive success. Group size increased the success of individual nesting attempts, while both territory quality and female age affected the length of the breeding season, and thus the number of breeding attempts. 6,A sample of the literature on cooperative breeders shows that group size has a larger effect on reproductive success in poorer conditions, caused either by younger, inexperienced breeders or poorer environmental conditions. Scrubwrens therefore illustrate a widespread pattern, which provides an explanation for much of the variation in group-size effects among and within species. Clearly single estimates of group-size effects for species can be inadequate to test ideas about the evolution of cooperative breeding. [source] Behavioural syndromes differ predictably between 12 populations of three-spined sticklebackJOURNAL OF ANIMAL ECOLOGY, Issue 6 2007NIELS J. DINGEMANSE Summary 1Animals often differ in suites of correlated behaviours, comparable with how humans differ in personality. Constraints on the architecture of behaviour have been invoked to explain why such ,behavioural syndromes' exist. From an adaptationist viewpoint, however, behavioural syndromes should evolve only in those populations where natural selection has favoured such trait covariance, and they should therefore exist only in particular types of population. 2A comparative approach was used to examine this prediction of the adaptive hypothesis. We measured behavioural correlations in 12 different populations of three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) and assessed whether they indeed varied consistently according to the selective environment, where population was unit of analysis. 3For a sample of fry from each population, we measured five different behaviours within the categories of (i) aggression (towards conspecifics); (ii) general activity; and (iii) exploration,avoidance (of novel foods, novel environments and altered environments). 4We show that behavioural syndromes are not always the same in different types of stickleback population: the often-documented syndrome between aggressiveness, activity and exploratory behaviour existed only in large ponds where piscivorous predators were present. In small ponds where predators were absent, these behaviours were not (or only weakly) associated. 5Our findings imply that population variation in behavioural syndromes does not result from stochastic evolutionary processes, but may result instead from adaptive evolution of behaviour favouring what should prove to be optimal trait combinations. [source] Test of an adaptive hypothesis for egg speckling along an elevational gradient in a population of Mexican jays Aphelocoma ultramarinaJOURNAL OF AVIAN BIOLOGY, Issue 4 2009Elena C. Berg The adaptive significance of avian egg speckling patterns has been a subject of ongoing debate. We examined speckling in a population of Mexican jays Aphelocoma ultramarina exhibiting extreme eggshell variability. We sampled 167 eggs at 55 nests from sites ranging across a steep elevation gradient within the Sierra del Carmen mountain range in Coahuila, Mexico, in order to test the recent hypothesis that egg speckling lends structural support to eggs and should therefore be more prevalent in females subject to reduced environmental calcium. Although we documented high variation in the amount and distribution of eggshell speckling within the Sierra del Carmen jays, we found no relationship between local soil calcium levels and the pattern of speckling. Our results indicate that explanations in addition to soil calcium levels are necessary to explain extreme variation in eggshell speckling in birds. [source] Thermal evolution of pre-adult life history traits, geometric size and shape, and developmental stability in Drosophila subobscuraJOURNAL OF EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY, Issue 6 2006M. SANTOS Abstract Replicated lines of Drosophila subobscura originating from a large outbred stock collected at the estimated Chilean epicentre (Puerto Montt) of the original New World invasion were allowed to evolve under controlled conditions of larval crowding for 3.5 years at three temperature levels (13, 18 and 22 °C). Several pre-adult life history traits (development time, survival and competitive ability), adult life history related traits (wing size, wing shape and wing-aspect ratio), and wing size and shape asymmetries were measured at the three temperatures. Cold-adapted (13 °C) populations evolved longer development times and showed lower survival at the highest developmental temperature. No divergence for wing size was detected following adaptation to temperature extremes (13 and 22 °C), in agreement with earlier observations, but wing shape changes were obvious as a result of both thermal adaptation and development at different temperatures. However, the evolutionary trends observed for the wing-aspect ratio were inconsistent with an adaptive hypothesis. There was some indication that wing shape asymmetry has evolutionarily increased in warm-adapted populations, which suggests that there is additive genetic variation for fluctuating asymmetry and that it can evolve under rapid environmental changes caused by thermal stress. Overall, our results cast strong doubts on the hypothesis that body size itself is the target of selection, and suggest that pre-adult life history traits are more closely related to thermal adaptation. [source] The gestational timing of pregnancy loss: Adaptive strategy?,AMERICAN JOURNAL OF HUMAN BIOLOGY, Issue 6 2009Donna Day Baird This commentary links early pregnancy milestones (rescue of the corpus luteum, the luteal-placental shift, and blocking of the spiral arteries) with the pattern of gestation-specific pregnancy loss in humans. The objective is to describe the pattern and present an adaptive hypothesis: that high first trimester pregnancy loss results from selection to reduce the risk of maternal morbidity and mortality associated with human delivery. Specific questions within the broad framework of this hypothesis can be addressed with research in comparative physiology and endocrinology. Am. J. Hum. Biol., 2009. Published 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] | |||||||||||||||||||