Recent experimental and theoretical studies have shown that small asexual populations evolving on complex fitness landscapes may achieve a higher fitness than large ones due to the increased heterogeneity of adaptive trajectories. Here we introduce a class of haploid three-locus fitness landscapes that allow the investigation of this scenario in a precise and quantitative way. Our main result derived analytically shows how the probability of choosing the path of the largest initial fitness increase grows...

This study represents the first molecular survey of the ichthyofauna of Taal Lake and the first DNA barcoding attempt in Philippine fishes. Taal Lake, the third largest lake in the Philippines, is considered a very important fisheries resource and is home to the world’s only freshwater sardine, Sardinella tawilis. However, over-exploitation and introduction of exotic fishes have caused a massive decline in the diversity of native species as well as overall productivity of the lake....

Consensus sequences of the COI barcodes of the fishes collected in Taal Lake, Philippines

Bee visitation to blossoms of Dalechampia bidentata in relation to area of resin gland and size of upper bracts.

Patterns of morphological disparity yield important insight into the causes of diversification and adaptive radiation in East African cichlids. However, comparisons of cichlid disparity have often failed to consider the effects that differing clade ages or stochasticity may have on disparity before making interpretations. Here, a model of branching morphological evolution allows assessment of the relative contributions of differing turnover and morphological change rates, clade ages, and stochastic variation to the observed patterns of disparity...

Avian plumage colours are some of the most conspicuous sexual ornaments, and yet standardized selection gradients for plumage colour have rarely been quantified. We examined patterns of fecundity selection on plumage colour in blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus L.). When not accounting for environmental heterogeneity, we detected relatively few cases of selection. We found significant disruptive selection on adult male crown colour and yearling female chest colour and marginally nonsignificant positive linear selection on adult female...

Maternally transmitted symbionts can spread in host populations if they provide a fitness benefit to their hosts. Hamiltonella defensa, a bacterial endosymbiont of aphids, protects hosts against parasitoids but only occurs at moderate frequencies in most aphid populations. This suggests that harbouring this symbiont is also associated with costs, yet the nature of these costs has remained elusive. Here we demonstrate an important and clearly defined cost: reduced longevity. Experimental infections with six different isolates...

Hotter conditions favour effectively unbanded (EUB) shells in the snail Theba pisana. T. pisana is also polymorphic for colour of the shell's apex, determined by a pair of alleles at a locus linked to the banding locus. Apex colour is epistatic to shell banding, such that banded snails with a dark apex have darker bands. Annual censuses over 22 years across an ecotone between a sheltered Acacia thicket and open dune vegetation showed a persistent...

Standard lengths, BOLD process ID of the fishes collected in Taal Lake, Philippines

The 55473 tip phylogeny in newick format presented in the paper.

Fig2AB.xls provides the raw data used in figure 2 A and B.Data are presented into three sheets which show redundancy: Pax vs Pin: data obtained when germinated and ungerminated pollen grains either from P. axillaris or P. integrifolia were counted. Pax vs Phy: data obtained when germinated and ungerminated pollen grains either from P. axillaris or F1 hybrids were counted. Pin vs Phy: data obtained when germinated and ungerminated pollen grains either from P. integrifolia...

Frequencies of M. m. musculus alleles for each locus and sampling site. Distance along the transect and effective number of alleles (Ne) are also given. h = hybrid index expressed as the frequency of musculus alleles averaged across the six diagnostic allozyme loci.

Fig1AB.xls provides the raw data used in the figure 1, A and B. A: These data were obtained in Puerto Viejo (location 1), Uruguay and describe the weight (in g) of the P. integrifolia capsules obtained after having covered the flowers either during the day or night. B: These data were obtained in Rivera (location 2), Uruguay and describe the weight (in g) of the P. integrifolia capsules obtained after having covered the flowers either...

The 55473 tip phylogenetic dataset including the extended phylip format alignment and the model file identifying the gene and partitions.

In addition to the observed high diversity of species in the tropics, divergence among populations of the same species exists over short geographic distances in both phenotypic traits and neutral genetic markers. Divergence among populations suggests great potential for the evolution of reproductive isolation and eventual speciation. In birds, song can evolve quickly through cultural transmission resulting in regional dialects, which can be a critical component of reproductive isolation through variation in female preference. We...

This table contains the data used in this published meta-analysis. The data were originally extracted from the publications listed in the table. The file corresponds to Table 1 in the original publication.

Pintag male simulated territorial intrusions. Collected data in the field. Used excel for spreadsheet. Used JMP and SAS for data analysis. Treatment= song origin. PAP:Papallacta, Pin: Pintag, lp: La Paz, Ba: Buenos Aires, Con: Control song. Songs= number of songs sung during trial. Approach= closest approach to the playback speaker.

We analyzed mandible shape variation of 17 genera belonging to three superfamilies (Cavioidea, Chinchilloidea and Octodontoidea) of South American caviomorph rodents using geometric morphometrics. The relative influence of phylogeny and ecology on this variation was assessed through phylogenetic comparative methods. Most morphological variation was concentrated in condylar, coronoid and angular processes, and the diastema. Features potentially advantageous for digging (i.e. high coronoid and condylar processes, relatively short angular process and diastema) were present only in...

This file contains the essential elements of the SAS script used to perform meta-analyses published in Hoeksema & Forde 2008. Multi-factor models were fit to the data using weighted maximum likelihood estimation of parameters in a mixed model framework, using SAS PROC MIXED, in which the species traits and experimental design factors were considered fixed effects, and a random between-studies variance component was estimated. Significance (at alpha = 0.05) of individual factors in these models...

These data describe the movements of 8 lions after some identified kills. Data are from GPS-collars.

This file contains three tables. Two tables include all primary data for the response variables at regional and local scales of the experiment. The last table explains all variables.

Recent theory suggests that biodiversity and productivity are both constrained by resource supply rates and ratios, and that resource stoichiometry is the key to understand the relationship between biodiversity and productivity. We experimentally tested this theory using pelagic metacommunities. We amended existing predictions by explicitly considering evenness as biodiversity aspect and consumer instead of competitive control of algal biomass. The metacommunities received different phosphorus (P)-supply, the three patches within each metacommunity differed in nitrogen (N)-supply...