Feeding innovations and parasitism in birds

The rate of behavioural innovation, such as opportunistic feeding innovation, may facilitate adaptation to novel environments. Because parasites may affect how their hosts adopt novel means of resource acquisition, or because opportunistic behaviours may involve the risk of being exposed to a large parasite fauna, we hypothesize an evolutionary link between the rate of feeding innovations and parasitism. We investigated the phylogenetic relationship between relative frequency of feeding innovations (adjusted for research effort and population size) and relative size of immune defense organs (as a relative measure of parasite-mediated selection) and the prevalence of blood parasites in birds. Using generalized least squares models, we found that species with relatively large bursa of Fabricius, thymus, and spleen had higher rates of feeding innovations than species with small immune defense organs. Similarly, there was a positive interspecific association between feeding innovation and haematozoa prevalence. These relationships were not confounded by migration, relative brain size, geographical distribution, and male plumage brightness. Analyses of causality relying on evolutionary modelling of discrete variables and path analysis suggest that increasing rate of feeding innovation may place species under intense selection due to parasitism. Therefore, behavioural adaptation by feeding innovation seems to have consequences for the coevolutionary arm race between parasites and hosts.  © 2007 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society , 2007, 90 , 441–455.     

Ontogenetic changes in the trochoidean (Archaeogastropoda) radula, with some phylogenetic interpretations

Radulae have been examined of juvenile specimens of 18 species belonging to the Turbinidae, the Tricoliidae. and 6 subfamilies of Trochidae. The investigations show that all species pass through profound changes, usually finishing at a size of 1.5–3 teleoconch whorls. Most species have an identical, shared morphology at a size of up to 1.5–2 teleoconch whorls, except the species of Calliostomatinac and Solariellinae. The evolutionary consequences are discussed and it is suggested that such an unspecialized starting point means a high potential for specializations and future evolution. For the taxonomist this means a reduction in the reliability of radular differences as a systematic tool.     

Conflicting demands on wetland ecosystem services: nutrient retention,biodiversity or both?

1. Wetland ecosystems may, besides having considerable economical value, increase landscape biodiversity and function as traps for nutrients from land to freshwater‐ and marine systems. As a result of these features, wetlands are nowadays often protected and restored, and many countries have even initiated wetland construction programmes. 2. In the present study, we aim at increasing the knowledge on how to improve the design of a wetland with respect to both biodiversity and nutrient retention, by analysing physical, chemical and biological features of a large set of constructed wetlands. 3. Our results show that a combination of the wetland features, namely shallow depth, large surface area and high shoreline complexity are likely to provide a high biodiversity of birds, benthic invertebrates and macrophytes and to have high nitrogen retention, whereas a small, deep wetland is likely to be more efficient in phosphorus retention, but less valuable in terms of biodiversity. 4. Hence, among the features used to design new wetlands, area, depth and shoreline complexity have fundamental, and sometimes conflicting, effects on nutrient retention and biodiversity. This means that there are, within limits, possibilities to direct the ecosystem function of a specific wetland in desired directions.     

Marginal regression analysis of a multivariate binary response

We propose the use of the mean parameter for regression analysisof a multivariate binary response. We model the associationusing dependence ratios defined in terms of the mean parameter,the components of which are the joint success probabilitiesof all orders. This permits flexible modelling of higher-orderassociations, using maximum likelihood estimation. We reanalysetwo data sets, one with variable cluster size and the othera longitudinal data set with constant cluster size.     

Assimilation exceeds respiration sensitivity to drought: A FLUXNET synthesis

The intensification of the hydrological cycle, with an observed and modeled increase in drought incidence and severity, underscores the need to quantify drought effects on carbon cycling and the terrestrial sink. FLUXNET, a global network of eddy covariance towers, provides dense data streams of meteorological data, and through flux partitioning and gap filling algorithms, estimates of net ecosystem productivity (F_NEP), gross ecosystem productivity (P), and ecosystem respiration (R). We analyzed the functional relationship of these three carbon fluxes relative to evaporative fraction (EF), an index of drought and site water status, using monthly data records from 238 micrometeorological tower sites distributed globally across 11 biomes. The analysis was based on relative anomalies of both EF and carbon fluxes and focused on drought episodes by biome and climatic season. Globally P was ≈50% more sensitive to a drought event than R. Network‐wide drought‐induced decreases in carbon flux averaged ?16.6 and ?9.3 g C m^?2 month^?1 for P and R, i.e., drought events induced a net decline in the terrestrial sink. However, in evergreen forests and wetlands drought was coincident with an increase in P or R during parts of the growing season. The most robust relationships between carbon flux and EF occurred during climatic spring for F_NEP and in climatic summer for P and R. Upscaling flux sensitivities to a global map showed that spatial patterns for all three carbon fluxes were linked to the distribution of croplands. Agricultural areas exhibited the highest sensitivity whereas the tropical region had minimal sensitivity to drought. Combining gridded flux sensitivities with their uncertainties and the spatial grid of FLUXNET revealed that a more robust quantification of carbon flux response to drought requires additional towers in all biomes of Africa and Asia as well as in the cropland, shrubland, savannah, and wetland biomes globally.