Stuart B. Piertney

Physiological stress links parasites to carotenoid-based colour signals

Vertebrates commonly use carotenoid‐based traits as social signals. These can reliably advertise current nutritional status and health because carotenoids must be acquired through the diet and their allocation to ornaments is traded‐off against other self‐maintenance needs. We propose that the coloration more generally reveals an individual’s ability to cope with stressful conditions. We tested this idea by manipulating the nematode parasite infection in free‐living red grouse (Lagopus lagopus scoticus) and examining the effects on body mass, carotenoid‐based coloration of a main social signal and the amount of corticosterone deposited in feathers grown during the experiment. We show that parasites increase stress and reduce carotenoid‐based coloration, and that the impact of parasites on coloration was associated with changes in corticosterone, more than changes in body mass. Carotenoid‐based coloration appears linked to physiological stress and could therefore reveal an individual’s ability to cope with stressors.

Genetic differentiation among North Atlantic killer whale populations

Population genetic structure of North Atlantic killer whale samples was resolved from differences in allele frequencies of 17 microsatellite loci, mtDNA control region haplotype frequencies and for a subset of samples, using complete mitogenome sequences. Three significantly differentiated populations were identified. Differentiation based on microsatellite allele frequencies was greater between the two allopatric populations than between the two pairs of partially sympatric populations. Spatial clustering of individuals within each of these populations overlaps with the distribution of particular prey resources: herring, mackerel and tuna, which each population has been seen predating. Phylogenetic analyses using complete mitogenomes suggested two populations could have resulted from single founding events and subsequent matrilineal expansion. The third population, which was sampled at lower latitudes and lower density, consisted of maternal lineages from three highly divergent clades. Pairwise population differentiation was greater for estimates based on mtDNA control region haplotype frequencies than for estimates based on microsatellite allele frequencies, and there were no mitogenome haplotypes shared among populations. This suggests low or no female migration and that gene flow was primarily male mediated when populations spatially and temporally overlap. These results demonstrate that genetic differentiation can arise through resource specialization in the absence of physical barriers to gene flow.

Oxidative stress and the effect of parasites on a carotenoid-based ornament.

SUMMARY Oxidative stress, the physiological condition whereby the production of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species overwhelms the capacity of antioxidant defences, causes damage to key bio-molecules. It has been implicated in many diseases, and is proposed as a reliable currency in the trade-off between individual health and ornamentation. Whether oxidative stress mediates the expression of carotenoid-based signals, which are among the commonest signals of many birds, fish and reptiles, remains controversial. In the present study, we explored interactions between parasites, oxidative stress and the carotenoid-based ornamentation of red grouse Lagopus lagopus scoticus. We tested whether removing nematode parasites influenced both oxidative balance (levels of oxidative damage and circulating antioxidant defences) and carotenoid-based ornamentation. At the treatment group level, parasite purging enhanced the size and colouration of ornaments but did not significantly affect circulating carotenoids, antioxidant defences or oxidative damage. However, relative changes in these traits among individuals indicated that males with a greater number of parasites prior to treatment (parasite purging) showed a greater increase in the levels of circulating carotenoids and antioxidants, and a greater decrease in oxidative damage, than those with initially fewer parasites. At the individual level, a greater increase in carotenoid pigmentation was associated with a greater reduction in oxidative damage. Therefore, an individuals ability to express a carotenoid-based ornament appeared to be linked to its current oxidative balance and susceptibility to oxidative stress. Our experimental results suggest that oxidative stress can mediate the impact of parasites on carotenoid-based signals, and we discuss possible mechanisms linking carotenoid-based ornaments to oxidative stress.

Selection Maintains MHC Diversity through a Natural Population Bottleneck

A perceived consequence of a population bottleneck is the erosion of genetic diversity and concomitant reduction in individual fitness and evolutionary potential. Although reduced genetic variation associated with demographic perturbation has been amply demonstrated for neutral molecular markers, the effective management of genetic resources in natural populations is hindered by a lack of understanding of how adaptive genetic variation will respond to population fluctuations, given these are affected by selection as well as drift. Here, we demonstrate that selection counters drift to maintain polymorphism at a major histocompatibility complex (MHC) locus through a population bottleneck in an inbred island population of water voles. Before and after the bottleneck, MHC allele frequencies were close to balancing selection equilibrium but became skewed by drift when the population size was critically low. MHC heterozygosity generally conformed to Hardy-Weinberg expectations except in one generation during the population recovery where there was a significant excess of heterozygous genotypes, which simulations ascribed to strong differential MHC-dependent survival. Low allelic diversity and highly skewed frequency distributions at microsatellite loci indicated potent genetic drift due to a strong founder affect and/or previous population bottlenecks. This study is a real-time examination of the predictions of fundamental evolutionary theory in low genetic diversity situations. The findings highlight that conservation efforts to maintain the genetic health and evolutionary potential of natural populations should consider the genetic basis for fitness-related traits, and how such adaptive genetic diversity will vary in response to both the demographic fluctuations and the effects of selection.

Eco-evolutionary dynamics in response to selection on life-history

Understanding the consequences of environmental change on ecological and evolutionary dynamics is inherently problematic because of the complex interplay between them. Using invertebrates in microcosms, we characterise phenotypic, population and evolutionary dynamics before, during and after exposure to a novel environment and harvesting over 20 generations. We demonstrate an evolved change in life-history traits (the age- and size-at-maturity, and survival to maturity) in response to selection caused by environmental change (wild to laboratory) and to harvesting (juvenile or adult). Life-history evolution, which drives changes in population growth rate and thus population dynamics, includes an increase in age-to-maturity of 76% (from 12.5 to 22 days) in the unharvested populations as they adapt to the new environment. Evolutionary responses to harvesting are outweighed by the response to environmental change (∼ 1.4 vs. 4% change in age-at-maturity per generation). The adaptive response to environmental change converts a negative population growth trajectory into a positive one: an example of evolutionary rescue.

Impacts of climate, host and landscape factors on Culicoides species in Scotland

Culicoides biting midges (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) vector a wide variety of internationally important arboviral pathogens of livestock and represent a widespread biting nuisance. This study investigated the influence of landscape, host and remotely‐sensed climate factors on local abundance of livestock‐associated species in Scotland, within a hierarchical generalized linear model framework. The Culicoides obsoletus group and the Culicoides pulicaris group accounted for 56% and 41%, respectively, of adult females trapped. Culicoides impunctatus Goetghebuer and C. pulicaris s.s. Linnaeus were the most abundant and widespread species in the C. pulicaris group (accounting for 29% and 10%, respectively, of females trapped). Abundance models performed well for C. impunctatus, Culicoides deltus Edwards and Culicoides punctatus Meigen (adjusted R2: 0.59–0.70), but not for C. pulicaris s.s. (adjusted R2: 0.36) and the C. obsoletus group (adjusted R2: 0.08). Local‐scale abundance patterns were best explained by models combining host, landscape and climate factors. The abundance of C. impunctatus was negatively associated with cattle density, but positively associated with pasture cover, consistent with this species preference in the larval stage for lightly grazed, wet rush pasture. Predicted abundances of this species varied widely among farms even over short distances (less than a few km). Modelling approaches that may facilitate the more accurate prediction of local abundance patterns for a wider range of Culicoides species are discussed.

Testing the interactive effects of testosterone and parasites on carotenoid-based ornamentation in a wild bird

Abstract Testosterone underlies the expression of most secondary sexual traits, playing a key role in sexual selection. However, high levels might be associated with physiological costs, such as immunosuppression. Immunostimulant carotenoids underpin the expression of many red‐yellow ornaments, but are regulated by testosterone and constrained by parasites. We manipulated testosterone and nematode burdens in red grouse (Lagopus lagopus scoticus) in two populations to tease apart their effects on carotenoid levels, ornament size and colouration in three time‐step periods. We found no evidence for interactive effects of testosterone and parasites on ornament size and colouration. We showed that ornament colouration was testosterone‐driven. However, parasites decreased comb size with a time delay and testosterone increased carotenoid levels in one of the populations. This suggests that environmental context plays a key role in determining how individuals resolve the trade‐off between allocating carotenoids for ornamental coloration or for self‐maintenance needs. Our study advocates that adequately testing the mechanisms behind the production or maintenance of secondary sexual characters has to take into account the dynamics of sexual trait expression and their environmental context.

Characterising functionally important and ecologically meaningful genetic diversity using a candidate gene approach.

Over the past two decades the fields of molecular ecology and population genetics have been dominated by the use of putatively neutral DNA markers, primarily to resolve spatio-temporal patterns of genetic variation to inform our understanding of population structure, gene flow and pedigree. Recent emphasis in comparative functional genomics, however, has fuelled a resurgence of interest in functionally important genetic variation that underpins phenotypic traits of adaptive or ecological significance. It may prove a major challenge to transfer genomics information from classical model species to examine functional diversity in non-model species in natural populations, but already multiple gene-targeted candidate loci with major effect on phenotype and fitness have been identified. Here we briefly describe some of the research strategies used for isolating and characterising functional genetic diversity at candidate gene-targeted loci, and illustrate the efficacy of some of these approaches using our own studies on red grouse (Lagopus lagopus scoticus). We then review how candidate gene markers have been used to: (1) quantify genetic diversity among populations to identify those depauperate in genetic diversity and requiring specific management action; (2) identify the strength and mode of selection operating on individuals within natural populations; and (3) understand direct mechanistic links between allelic variation at single genes and variance in individual fitness.

Frontiers in host–parasite ecology and evolution

Host–parasite interactions have long been recognized as a major force in ecology (Elton 1927) and evolution (Haldane 1949). The effects of parasitism are considered instrumental in influencing fundamental aspects of host biology, including host behaviour, the evolution of sex, variation in mating systems and life history strategies, sex ratio variation, population regulation, invasion dynamics, the maintenance of genetic diversity and the evolution of immune genes and organization of immunological responses (Anderson & May 1978; Hamilton 1980; Poulin 2007; Schmid-Hempel 2010). Conversely, the fitness of a parasite is completely dependent on its success at infecting and reproducing in a host and so interactions with the host can determine the size of parasite populations and shape the evolution of parasite genomes. These antagonistic interactions have taken centre stage in much of ecological and evolutionary theory and this position will be enhanced as postgenomics resources and technologies are utilized to explore the causes and consequences of host–parasite interaction. In this special issue, we highlight emerging areas of research in host–parasite ecology and evolution that are enabled by novel molecular and postgenomic approaches, including work in natural systems of ecological relevance. For vertebrates, the need to defend against infection has given rise to the complexity of the adaptive immune system, with different arms of the immune system activated in response to different types of infection (e.g. viral, bacterial or helminthic), and with cytokine signalling molecules mediating the regulation of these different immune arms. While medical and laboratory immunologists have developed assays that provide tremendous mechanistic insight into the com-

A systematic review of phenotypic responses to between-population outbreeding

BackgroundThe translocation of plants or animals between populations has been used in conservation to reinforce populations of threatened species, and may be used in the future to buffer species’ ranges from the anticipated effects of environmental change. This population admixture can result in outbreeding, and the resulting “hybrid” offspring can be either fitter (heterosis) or less fit (outbreeding depression) than their parents. Outbreeding depression has the potential to undermine conservation plans that mix populations of declining or threatened species.MethodsWe searched for literature documenting phenotypic responses to intraspecific outbreeding between natural populations of animal and plant species. Outbreeding responses were summarised as log-response ratios that compared hybrid with mid-parent phenotypes (528 effect sizes from 98 studies). These data included effect sizes from both fitness components (survival, viability and fecundity traits) and other traits (e.g. morphological, physiological, defence), and were pooled using Bayesian mixed-effects meta-analysis.ResultsThere was no overall effect of outbreeding on hybrid phenotypes (overall pooled effectu2009=u2009+2.61% phenotypic change relative to parents, 95% credible interval (CI) −1.03–6.60%). However, fitness component traits responded significantly more negatively to outbreeding than traits less directly linked with fitness. Our model predicted a significant 6.9%xa0F1 generation benefit to outcrossing through non-fitness traits (CI 2.7–11.2%), but no significant benefit to these traits in the F2 (3.5%; CI −4.3–12.2%). Fitness component traits were predicted to suffer a cost (−8.8%) relative to parents in the F2 (CI −14.1–u2009−u20092.5%), but not in the F1 (+1.3%; CI −2.1–5.4%). Between-study variation accounted for 39.5% of heterogeneity in outbreeding responses, leaving 27.1% of heterogeneity between effect sizes within studies and 33.4% attributable to measurement error within effect sizes.ConclusionsOur study demonstrates consistent effects of trait type on responses to intraspecific outbreeding, and indicates the potential for outbreeding depression in the F2. However, our analyses also reveal significant heterogeneity in outbreeding responses within and among studies. Thus, outbreeding costs will not always occur. Conservation practitioners may be able to anticipate when such outbreeding depression should arise using an existing decision-making framework that takes into account the context of hybridising populations.