In theory, conservation genetics predicts that forest fragmentation will reduce gene dispersal, but in practice, genetic and ecological processes are also dependent on other population characteristics. We used Bayesian genetic analyses to characterize parentage and propagule dispersal in Heliconia acuminata L. C. Richard (Heliconiaceae), a common Amazonian understory plant that is pollinated and dispersed by birds. We studied these processes in two continuous forest sites and three 1-ha fragments in Brazil's Biological Dynamics of Forest...

1. Deterministic theories predict that local communities assemble from a regional species pool based on niche differences, thus by plant functional adaptations. We tested whether functional traits can also explain patterns in species dominance among the suite of co-occurring species. 2. We predicted that along a gradient of secondary succession the main driver of species dominance changes from environmental filtering in the relatively harsh (dry and hot) early successional conditions, towards increased competitive interactions and...

1) The concentration, stoichiometry, and resorption of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) in plant leaves are often used as proxies of the availability of these growth-limiting nutrients, but the responses of these metrics to changes in nutrient availability remains largely untested for tropical forest trees. 2) We evaluated changes in N and P concentrations, N:P ratios, and resorption for 4 common tree species after 13 years of factorial N and P additions in a lowland...

1. Long-term pedogenesis leads to important changes in the availability of soil nutrients, especially nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P). Changes in the availability of micronutrients can also occur, but are less well understood. We explored whether changes in leaf nutrient concentrations and resorption were consistent with a shift from N to P limitation of plant productivity with soil age along a >2-million year dune chronosequence in south-western Australia. We also compared these traits among plants...

Partner fidelity through vertical symbiont transmission is thought to be the primary mechanism stabilizing cooperation in the mutualism between fungus-farming (attine) ants and their cultivated fungal symbionts. An alternate or additional mechanism could be adaptive partner or symbiont choice mediating horizontal cultivar transmission or de novo domestication of free-living fungi. Using microsatellite-genotyping for the attine ant Mycocepurus smithii and ITS rDNA-sequencing for fungal cultivars, we provide the first detailed population-genetic analysis of local ant-fungus associations...

Animal displays are often perceived by intended and non-intended receivers in more than one sensory system. In addition, cues that are an incidental consequence of signal production can also be perceived by different receivers, even when the receivers employ different sensory systems to perceive them. Here, we show that vocal responses of male túngara frogs (Physalaemus pustulosus) increase two-fold when call-induced water ripples are added to the acoustic component of a rival’s call. Hunting bats...

Aim: To examine the history of diversification of ‘blue’ cardinalids (Cardinalidae) across North and South America. Location: North America (including Middle America) and South America. Methods: We collected 163 individuals of the 14 species of blue cardinalids and generated multilocus sequence data (3193 base pairs from one mitochondrial and three nuclear genes) to infer phylogeographical structure and reconstruct time-calibrated species trees. We then estimated the ancestral range at each divergence event and tested for temporal...

Identifying the genetic changes driving adaptive variation in natural populations is key to understanding the origins of biodiversity. The mosaic of mimetic wing patterns in Heliconius butterflies makes an excellent system for exploring adaptive variation using next-generation sequencing. In this study, we use a combination of techniques to annotate the genomic interval modulating red color pattern variation, identify a narrow region responsible for adaptive divergence and convergence in Heliconius wing color patterns, and explore the...