Bereczki et al. (2013) Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research

Bereczki, J., Tóth, J. P., Sramkó, G. and Varga, Z. (2013): Multilevel studies on the two phenological forms of Large Blue (Maculinea arion) (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae). Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research. DOI: 10.1111/jzs.12034

Abstract
The main goal of our research was to study comprehensively the differences between the two phenological forms of the socially parasitic and globally threatened Large Blue (Maculinea arion) in the Carpathian Basin using four character sets (mitochondrial sequences, allozymes, male genitalia and wing morphometrics). Comparative analyses of distance matrices, phylogenetic trees and ordination patterns have been applied. The genetic and morphometric patterns revealed by our studies were discordant. While we experienced a significant differentiation between the ‘spring’ and ‘summer type’ of M. arion in both wing and genital traits, the two phenological forms did not show any genetic differentiation on two mitochondrial loci and in allozymes. At the same time, all individuals were infected by Wolbachia. Although certain wing traits may not represent reliable tracers of phylogeny because of the particular adaptive significance, the wing characteristics involved in our research are probably determined genetically. Additionally, the significant differentiation of male genitalia also indicates incipient prezygotic isolation arising from phenological differentiation between the ‘spring and summer arion’. It is possible that all extant differences between the two forms are attributable to (1) different host-ant use, (2) incipient speciation, (3) cytoplasmatic incompatibility (CI) by Wolbachia or the combination of these factors. In addition, discordant results indicate that the combined use of different approaches and data sets is strictly necessary to clarify systematic and evolutionary relationships.

Keywords
Spring and summer arion, mtDNA variability, Wolbachia, geometric morphometry, Carpathian Basin

Loreto et al. (2013) Global Ecology and Biogeography

Loreto, F., Bagnoli, F., Calfapietra, C., Cafasso, D., De Lillis, M., Filibeck, G., Fineschi, S., Guidolotti, G., Sramkó, G., Tökölyi, J. and Ricotta, C. (2013): Isoprenoid emission in hygrophyte and xerophyte European woody flora: ecological and evolutionary implications. Global Ecology and Biogeography doi: 10.1111/geb.12124

Abstract
Aim
The relationship between isoprenoid emission and hygrophily was investigated in woody plants of the Italian flora, which is representative of European diversity.
Methods
Volatile isoprenoids (isoprene and monoterpenes) were measured, or data collected from the literature, for 154 species native or endemic to the Mediterranean. The Ellenberg indicator value for moisture (EIVM) was used to describe plant hygrophily. Phylogenetic analysis was carried out at a broader taxonomic scale on 128 species, and then refined on strong isoprene emitters (Salix and Populus species) based on isoprene synthase gene sequences (IspS).
Results
Isoprene emitters were significantly more common and isoprene emission was higher in hygrophilous EIVM classes, whereas monoterpene emitters were more widespread and monoterpene emission was higher in xeric classes. However, when controlling for phylogeny, isoprene emission was not associated with EIVM, possibly due to the large presence of Salicaceae among hygrophilous isoprene emitters. Moreover, the distribution of isoprene emitters among EIVM classes was not related to IspS-based phylogenesis in Populus and Salix, suggesting that the gene has not undergone evolution linked to ecological pressure. In contrast, the monoterpene emission pattern is independent of phylogeny, suggesting that the evolution of monoterpenes is associated with transitions to more xeric habitats.
Main conclusions
Our results reveal an interesting ecological pattern linking isoprenoids and water availability. We suggest that isoprene is a trait that: (1) evolved in plants adapted to high water availability; (2) is replaced by more effective protection mechanisms, e.g. more stable isoprenoids, in plants adapting to more xeric environments; and (3) being strongly constrained by phylogeny, persists in Salicaceae adapted to more xeric environments.

 

Keywords
Adaptation, chemo-taxonomy, hygrophytes, isoprene, monoterpenes, phylogenies, salicaceae, xerophytes, water stress

Halme et al. (2013) Biological Conservation

Panu Halme, Péter Ódor, Morten Christensen, Andrej Piltaver, Mirjam Veerkamp, Ruben Walleyn, Irén Siller, Jacob Heilmann-Clausen (2013): The effects of habitat degradation on metacommunity structure of wood-inhabiting fungi in European beech forests. Biological Conservation 168: 24–30. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2013.08.034


Abstract
Intensive forest management creates habitat degradation by reducing the variation of forest stands in general, and by removing old trees and dead wood in particular. Non-intervention forest reserves are commonly believed to be the most efficient tool to counteract the negative effects on biodiversity, but actual knowledge of the conservation efficiency is limited, especially for recent reserves. The structure of ecological communities is often described with measures of nestedness, beta diversity and similarity between communities. We studied whether these measures differ among forest reserves with different management histories. For this purpose, we used a large data set of wood-inhabiting fungi collected from dead beech trees in European beech-dominated forest reserves. The structure of fungal assemblages showed high beta diversity, while nestedness and similarity was low. During the decomposition process of trees beta diversity between the communities occupying different trees increased in natural, but not in previously managed sites. Effects of management and decay process on nestedness were complex. We argue that the detected differences most likely reflect historical effects which have extirpated specialized species from the local species pools in managed sites, and resulted in more homogeneous communities in managed sites. It is alarming that community structure is affected the most in the latest decay stages where the decay process turns the dead wood into litter, and which is thus the interface between the wood decay and the litter-decaying ecosystem. The effects of simplified communities in late decay stages on soil biodiversity should be studied.


Keywords
Beta diversity, Decay stage, Forest management, Nestedness, SDR simplex, Similarity

Ökológus Tea, 2013 őszi program

Szeretettel várjuk programjainkra! 
Minden előadás előtt küldök meghívót a levelezési 
lista tagjainak. A listára itt lehet jelentkezni. 

2013. szeptember 30, 16 óra

Podani János (ELTE Növényrendszertani, Ökológiai és Elméleti Biológiai Tsz.):

Új megközelités ökológai adatok struktúrájának feltárásához

2013. október 7, 16 óra

Hubai András és Oborny Beáta (ELTE Növényrendszertani, Ökológiai és Elméleti Biológiai Tsz.):Átkelni vagy maradni? - a növekedő növény optimális válasza a folthatárra

2013. október 14, 16 óra

Buczkó Krisztina és Magyari Enikő (Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum, Növénytár):
Kovavázas algák szinkron válaszai a környezeti változásokra

2013. október 21, 16 óra

Bán Miklós (Debreceni Egyetem, Evolúciós Állattani és Humánbiológiai Tanszék) 
két rövidebb előadást tart:
1) Szabadon használható adatbázis keretrendszer biológiai térképi adatok számára
2) Egy újabb trükk a kakukk-gazda kapcsolatban

2013. november 4, 16 óra

Liker András (Pannon Egyetem, Limnológiai Intézeti Tanszék): 

A felnőttkori ivararány és a szaporodási viselkedés kapcsolata madaraknál

2013. november 18, 16 óra

Engloner Attila (ELTE Növényrendszertani, Ökológiai és Elméleti Biológiai Tsz.):

2013. november 25, 16 óra

Gallé László (Szegedi Egyetem, Ökológiai Tanszék)

2013. december 2, 16 óra

Lengyel Attila (ELTE Növényrendszertani, Ökológiai és Elméleti Biológiai Tsz.)

Helyszín: ELTE TTK, Lágymányosi Campus 
   Budapest XI. ker, Pázmány P. stny. 1/c = Déli Tömb, 
   7. emelet 206. terem (a Dunával ellentétes oldalon)

Okologus Tea, link: https://sites.google.com/site/okologustea/

Cunning et al. (2013) Ecography

Cumming, S., Stralberg, D., Lefevre, K., Sólymos, P., Bayne, E., Fang, S., Fontaine, T., Mazerolle, D., Schmiegelow, F. & Song, S. (2013): Climate and vegetation hierarchically structure patterns of songbird distribution in the Canadian boreal region. Ecography, 36: in press. DOI: 10.1111/j.1600-0587.2013.00299.x, URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1600-0587.2013.00299.x/abstract


Abstract
Environmental factors controlling the distribution and abundance of boreal avifauna are not fully understood, limiting our ability to predict the consequences of a changing climate and industrial development activities underway. We used a compilation of avian point-count data, collected over 1990–2008 from nearly 36 000 locations, to model the abundance of individual forest songbird species within the Canadian boreal forest. We evaluated 30 vegetation and 101 climatic variables, representing most of the widely-used dimensions of climate space, along with less usual measures of inter-annual variability. Regression tree models allowed us to calculate the relative importance of climate and vegetation variable classes according to avian migration strategy without the need for a priori variable selection or dimension reduction. We tested for hierarchical habitat selection by formulating hypotheses on the locations of variables within the model tree structures. Climate variables explained the majority (77%) of deviance explained over 98 species modelled. As may be expected at high latitudes, we found energy availability (temperature, 65%) to be more important than moisture availability (precipitation, 12%). The contributions of inter- and intra-annual climate variability (28%) were about half that of mean conditions. The relatively large contribution of remotely-sensed vegetation metrics (23%) highlighted the importance of local vegetation heterogeneity controlled by non-climatic factors. The two most important vegetation variables were landcover type and April leaf area index. When selected, these generally occurred in a model's right subtree, consistent with predictions from hierarchical habitat selection theory. When occupying the root node, landcover effectively delineated the historical forest-prairie ecotone, reflecting the current disequilibrium between climate and vegetation due to human land use. Our findings suggest a large potential for avian distributional shifts in response to climate change, but also demonstrate the importance of finer scale vegetation heterogeneity in the spatial distribution of boreal birds.

Giokas et al. (2013) Evolutionary Ecology

Sinos Giokas, Barna Páll-Gergely, Onoufrios Mettouris (2013) Nonrandom variation of morphological traits across environmental gradients in a land snail. Evolutionary Ecology, DOI 10.1007/s10682-013-9676-5

Abstract

Morphological variation is often attributed to differential adaptations to diverse habitats, but adaptations to a similar environment do not necessarily result in similar phenotypes. Adaptations for water and heat budget are crucial for organisms living in arid habitats, and in snails, variation in shell morphology has been frequently attributed to selection by stressful environmental factors. However, their phenotypic divergence often is not accompanied by a relevant niche differentiation and consistent relationships with environmental correlates are lacking. In the pulmonate genus Albinaria, there is great size and shape variation between and within species, and there are two major shell sculpture morphotypes, ribbed and smooth. We used 62 populations of 28 Albinaria species, taking into account their phylogeny, to examine the variation of shell traits (sculpture, size, shape), their effect on water and heat budget, and their association with geographical and climatic gradients. We found unambiguous size and shape discrimination between the two morphotypes. Ribbed shells are lighter, taller, and slimmer and have a smaller aperture than the smooth ones. Moreover, significant correlations between shell traits and heat/moisture budget and climate/geography were revealed. Ribbed and taller shells retain more water on their shell surface, and on the other hand, smooth shells exhibit lower water permeability. Therefore, two strategies are being used to prevent water loss, active retention or resistance to loss. Consequently, different alternative solutions evolved and were retained as responses to the same stressful factor by the two distinct shell morphotypes. Larger shells occur in southern latitudes, mostly on islands, and at sites where there is a shortage of rainfall. Therefore, the variation of the examined traits is nonrandom with respect to location and to climate and their evolution can be attributed to selection by environmental factors, with water availability being the key driving agent of body-size variation.

Keywords

Sculpture, Size, Shape, Adaptation, Tradeoff, Environmental gradients

Habel et al. (2013) Biodiversity and Conservation

Jan Christian Habel, Jürgen Dengler, Monika Janišová, Péter Török, Camilla Wellstein, Michal Wiezik (2013) European grassland ecosystems: threatened hotspots of biodiversity.Biological Conservation 22(10): 2131-2138.


Abstract
Biodiversity is not homogenously distributed over the globe, and ecosystems differ strongly in the number of species they provide. With this special issue we highlight the ecology and endangerment of one of the most diverse ecosystem of Europe: the European grassland ecosystems. The selected 16 contributions describe interactions from below-ground to the atmosphere and focus on (1) effects of abiotic and biotic on species diversity, (2) the impact of various factors along spatial and temporal gradients, (3) the relevance of falling abandoned and eutrophication—including countervailing management strategies like encroachment; and (4) intraspecific effects based on physiology, genetics and intraspecific plasticity. The contributions cover fungi, plants, and invertebrates and highlight effects taking place at the level of ecosystem, species community, species, populations, and also within individuals (physiology and genetics).


Keywords
Abandonment, Animal assemblage, Conservation management, Diversity hotspot, Eutrophication, Plant community, Species richness