Stuart Humphries

Sperm competition: linking form to function.

BackgroundUsing information from physics, biomechanics and evolutionary biology, we explore the implications of physical constraints on sperm performance, and review empirical evidence for links between sperm length and sperm competition (where two or more males compete to fertilise a females eggs). A common theme in the literature on sperm competition is that selection for increased sperm performance in polyandrous species will favour the evolution of longer, and therefore faster swimming, sperm. This argument is based on the common assumption that sperm swimming velocity is directly related to sperm length, due to the increased thrust produced by longer flagella.ResultsWe critically evaluate the evidence for links between sperm morphology and swimming speed, and draw on cross-disciplinary studies to show that the assumption that velocity is directly related to sperm length will rarely be satisfied in the microscopic world in which sperm operate.ConclusionWe show that increased sperm length is unlikely to be driven by selection for increased swimming speed, and that the relative lengths of a sperms constituent parts, rather than their absolute lengths, are likely to be the target of selection. All else being equal, we suggest that a simple measure of the ratio of head to tail length should be used to assess the possible link between morphology and speed. However, this is most likely to be the case for external fertilizers in which females have relatively limited opportunity to influence a sperms motility.

Sperm Morphology and Velocity are Genetically Codetermined in the Zebra Finch

Sperm morphology (size and shape) and sperm velocity are both positively associated with fertilization success, and are expected to be under strong selection. Until recently, evidence for a link between sperm morphology and velocity was lacking, but recent comparative studies have shown that species with high levels of sperm competition have evolved long and fast sperm. It is therefore surprising that evidence for a phenotypic or genetic relationship between length and velocity within species is equivocal, even though sperm competition is played out in the intraspecific arena. Here, we first show that sperm velocity is positively phenotypically correlated with measures of sperm length in the zebra finch Taeniopygia guttata. Second, by using the quantitative genetic “animal model” on a dataset from a multigenerational-pedigreed population, we show that sperm velocity is heritable, and positively genetically correlated to a number of heritable components of sperm length. Therefore, selection for faster sperm will simultaneously lead to the evolution of longer sperm (and vice versa). Our results provide, for the first time, a clear phenotypic and genetic link between sperm length and velocity, which has broad implications for understanding how recently described macroevolutionary patterns in sperm traits have evolved.

Variability in Isotope Discrimination Factors in Coral Reef Fishes: Implications for Diet and Food Web Reconstruction

Interpretation of stable isotope ratios of carbon and nitrogen (δ13C and δ15N) is generally based on the assumption that with each trophic level there is a constant enrichment in the heavier isotope, leading to diet-tissue discrimination factors of 3.4‰ for 15N (ΔN) and ∼0.5‰ for 13C (ΔC). Diet-tissue discrimination factors determined from paired tissue and gut samples taken from 152 individuals from 26 fish species at Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia demonstrate a large amount of variability around constant values. While caution is necessary in using gut contents to represent diet due to the potential for high temporal variability, there were significant effects of trophic position and season that may also lead to variability in ΔN under natural conditions. Nitrogen enrichment increased significantly at higher trophic levels (higher tissue δ15N), with significantly higher ΔN in carnivorous species. Changes in diet led to significant changes in ΔN, but not tissue δ15N, between seasons for several species: Acanthurus triostegus, Chromis viridis, Parupeneus signatus and Pomacentrus moluccensis. These results confirm that the use of meta-analysis averages for ΔN is likely to be inappropriate for accurately determining diets and trophic relationships using tissue stable isotope ratios. Where feasible, discrimination factors should be directly quantified for each species and trophic link in question, acknowledging the potential for significant variation away from meta-analysis averages and, perhaps, controlled laboratory diets and conditions.

Positive Allometry and the Prehistory of Sexual Selection

The function of the exaggerated structures that adorn many fossil vertebrates remains largely unresolved. One recurrent hypothesis is that these elaborated traits had a role in thermoregulation. This orthodoxy persists despite the observation that traits exaggerated to the point of impracticality in extant organisms are almost invariably sexually selected. We use allometric scaling to investigate the role of sexual selection and thermoregulation in the evolution of exaggerated traits of the crested pterosaur Pteranodon longiceps and the sail‐backed eupelycosaurs Dimetrodon and Edaphosaurus. The extraordinarily steep positive allometry of the head crest of Pteranodon rules out all of the current hypotheses for this trait’s main function other than sexual signaling. We also find interspecific patterns of allometry and sexual dimorphism in the sails of Dimetrodon and patterns of elaboration in Edaphosaurus consistent with a sexually selected function. Furthermore, small ancestral, sail‐backed pelycosaurs would have been too small to need adaptations to thermoregulation. Our results question the popular view that the elaborated structures of these fossil species evolved as thermoregulatory organs and provide evidence in support of the hypothesis that Pteranodon crests and eupelycosaur sails are among the earliest and most extreme examples of elaborate sexual signals in the evolution of terrestrial vertebrates.

Filter feeders and plankton increase particle encounter rates through flow regime control

Collisions between particles or between particles and other objects are fundamental to many processes that we take for granted. They drive the functioning of aquatic ecosystems, the onset of rain and snow precipitation, and the manufacture of pharmaceuticals, powders and crystals. Here, I show that the traditional assumption that viscosity dominates these situations leads to consistent and large-scale underestimation of encounter rates between particles and of deposition rates on surfaces. Numerical simulations reveal that the encounter rate is Reynolds number dependent and that encounter efficiencies are consistent with the sparse experimental data. This extension of aerosol theory has great implications for understanding of selection pressure on the physiology and ecology of organisms, for example filter feeders able to gather food at rates up to 5 times higher than expected. I provide evidence that filter feeders have been strongly selected to take advantage of this flow regime and show that both the predicted peak concentration and the steady-state concentrations of plankton during blooms are ≈33% of that predicted by the current models of particle encounter. Many ecological and industrial processes may be operating at substantially greater rates than currently assumed.

Relationships between sperm length and speed differ among three internally and three externally fertilizing species.

It is often assumed that longer sperm, by virtue of their increased swimming speed, have a fertilization advantage over shorter sperm when in competition to fertilize eggs. However, there is surprisingly little evidence for a positive correlation between sperm length and speed. Here we use an approach that accounts for within‐male variation in sperm traits to examine the relationships between sperm length and sperm speed across a broad range of species, including three internally fertilizing species and three externally fertilizing species. Our results reveal that correlations between sperm size and speed are indeed present and possibly more common than currently thought. However, the direction of the correlations between sperm length and speed, which are more prevalent within a males ejaculate than among males, were influenced by fertilization mode in contrasting and unexpected ways. Broadly, the patterns revealed that in externally fertilizing species sperm with longer flagellum and shorter heads relative to their flagellum swam faster, whereas in internally fertilizing species sperm with shorter flagellum and longer heads relative to their flagellum swam faster. We discuss these results in light of sperm competition theory and contrast the intraspecific patterns observed in this study with macroevolutionary patterns of sperm evolution reported elsewhere.

Stable isotope analysis reveals community-level variation in fish trophodynamics across a fringing coral reef

In contrast to trophodynamic variations, the marked zonation in physical and biological processes across coral reefs and the concomitant changes in habitat and community structure are well documented. In this study, we demonstrate consistent spatial changes in the community-level trophodynamics of 46 species of fish across the fringing Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia, using tissue stable isotope and fatty acid analyses. Increasing nitrogen (δ15N) and decreasing carbon (δ13C) isotope ratios in the tissues of herbivores, planktivores and carnivores with increasing proximity to the ocean were indicative of increased reliance on oceanic productivity. In contrast, detritivores and corallivores displayed no spatial change in δ15N or δ13C, indicative of the dependence on reef-derived material across the reef. Higher δ13C, as well as increased benthic- and bacterial-specific fatty acids, suggested reliance on reef-derived production increased in back-reef habitats. Genus-level analyses supported community- and trophic group-level trends, with isotope modelling of species from five genera (Abudefduf sexfasciatus, Chromis viridis, Dascyllus spp., Pomacentrus spp. and Stegastes spp.), demonstrating declining access to oceanic zooplankton and, in the case of Pomacentrus spp. and Stegastes spp., a switch to herbivory in the back-reef. The spatial changes in fish trophodynamics suggest that the relative roles of oceanic and reef-derived nutrients warrant more detailed consideration in reef-level community ecology.

Direct and indirect effects of temperature on the population dynamics and ecosystem functioning of aquatic microbial ecosystems

1. While much is known about the direct effect that temperature can have on aquatic communities, less is known about its indirect effect via the temperature dependence of viscosity and temperature-dependent trophic interactions. 2. We manipulated the temperature (5-20 °C) and the viscosity (equivalent to 5-20 °C) of water in laboratory-based bacteria-protist communities. Communities contained food chains with one, two or three trophic levels. Responses measured were population dynamics (consumer carrying capacity and growth rate, average species population density, and the coefficient of variation of population density through time) and ecosystem function (decomposition). 3. Temperature, viscosity and food chain length produced significant responses in population dynamics. Temperature-dependent viscosity had a significant effect on the carrying capacity and growth rates of consumers, as well as the average density of the top predator. Overall, indirect effects of temperature via changes in viscosity were subtle in comparison to the indirect effect of temperature via trophic interactions. 4. Our results highlight the importance of direct and indirect effects of temperature, mediated through trophic interactions and physical changes in the environment, both for population dynamics and ecosystem processes. Future mechanistic modelling of effects of environmental change on species will benefit from distinguishing the different mechanisms of the overall effect of temperature.

Did pterosaurs feed by skimming? physical modelling and anatomical evaluation of an unusual feeding method

Similarities between the anatomies of living organisms are often used to draw conclusions regarding the ecology and behaviour of extinct animals. Several pterosaur taxa are postulated to have been skim-feeders based largely on supposed convergences of their jaw anatomy with that of the modern skimming bird, Rynchops spp. Using physical and mathematical models of Rynchops bills and pterosaur jaws, we show that skimming is considerably more energetically costly than previously thought for Rynchops and that pterosaurs weighing more than one kilogram would not have been able to skim at all. Furthermore, anatomical comparisons between the highly specialised skull of Rynchops and those of postulated skimming pterosaurs suggest that even smaller forms were poorly adapted for skim-feeding. Our results refute the hypothesis that some pterosaurs commonly used skimming as a foraging method and illustrate the pitfalls involved in extrapolating from limited morphological convergence.

Physical properties of Hydropsyche siltalai (Trichoptera) net silk

Abstract Most suspension-feeding trichopterans spin a fine-silk capture net that is used to remove suspended matter from the water. The efficiency of these nets has previously been studied by considering the geometry of the web structure but the material from which the nets is constructed has received little attention. We report measurements of the tensile strength and extensibility of net silk from Hydropsyche siltalai. These measurements place caddisfly silk as one of the weakest natural silks so far reported, with a mean tensile strength of 221 ± 22 megaNewtons (MN)/m2. We also show that H. siltalai silk can more than double in length before catastrophic breakage, and that the silk is at least 2 orders of magnitude stronger than the maximum force estimated to act upon it in situ. Possible reasons for this disparity include constraints of evolutionary history and safety margins to prevent net failure or performance reduction.