Fungal functional ecology: bringing a trait‐based approach to plant‐associated fungi

Fungi play many essential roles in ecosystems. They facilitate plant access to nutrients and water, serve as decay agents that cycle carbon and nutrients through the soil, water and atmosphere, and are major regulators of macro‐organismal populations. Although technological advances are improving the detection and identification of fungi, there still exist key gaps in our ecological knowledge of this kingdom, especially related to function . Trait‐based approaches have been instrumental in strengthening our understanding of plant functional ecology and, as such, provide excellent models for deepening our understanding of fungal functional ecology in ways that complement insights gained from traditional and ‐omics‐based techniques. In this review, we synthesize current knowledge of fungal functional ecology, taxonomy and systematics and introduce a novel database of fungal functional traits (Fun^Fun). Fun^Fun is built to interface with other databases to explore and predict how fungal functional diversity varies by taxonomy, guild, and other evolutionary or ecological grouping variables. To highlight how a quantitative trait‐based approach can provide new insights, we describe multiple targeted examples and end by suggesting next steps in the rapidly growing field of fungal functional ecology.     

A genome‐wide linkage map for the house sparrow (Passer domesticus) provides insights into the evolutionary history of the avian genome

The house sparrow is an important model species for studying physiological, ecological and evolutionary processes in wild populations. Here, we present a medium density, genome wide linkage map for house sparrow (Passer domesticus) that has aided the assembly of the house sparrow reference genome, and that will provide an important resource for ongoing mapping of genes controlling important traits in the ecology and evolution of this species. Using a custom house sparrow 10 K iSelect Illumina SNP chip we have assigned 6,498 SNPs to 29 autosomal linkage groups, based on a mean of 430 informative meioses per SNP. The map was constructed by combining the information from linkage with that of the physical position of SNPs within scaffold sequences in an iterative process. Averaged between the sexes; the linkage map had a total length of 2,004 cM, with a longer map for females (2,240 cM) than males (1,801 cM). Additionally, recombination rates also varied along the chromosomes. Comparison of the linkage map to the reference genomes of zebra finch, collared flycatcher and chicken, showed a chromosome fusion of the two avian chromosomes 8 and 4A in house sparrow. Lastly, information from the linkage map was utilized to conduct analysis of linkage disequilibrium (LD) in eight populations with different effective population sizes (N_e) in order to quantify the background level LD. Together, these results aid the design of future association studies, facilitate the development of new genomic tools and support the body of research that describes the evolution of the avian genome.     

Systematic review and meta-analysis of PIT tagging effects on mortality and growth of juvenile salmonids

Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries - A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to evaluate the appropriate tag:fish size ratio when tagging juvenile salmonids (genera Oncorhynchus,...     

Are you what you eat? A highly transient and prey‐influenced gut microbiome in the grey house spider Badumna longinqua

Stable core microbial communities have been described in numerous animal species and are commonly associated with fitness benefits for their hosts. Recent research, however, highlights examples of species whose microbiota are transient and environmentally derived. Here, we test the effect of diet on gut microbial community assembly in the spider Badumna longinqua. Using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing combined with quantitative PCR, we analyzed diversity and abundance of the spider's gut microbes, and simultaneously characterized its prey communities using nuclear rRNA markers. We found a clear correlation between community similarity of the spider's insect prey and gut microbial DNA, suggesting that microbiome assembly is primarily diet‐driven. This assumption is supported by a feeding experiment, in which two types of prey—crickets and fruit flies—both substantially altered microbial diversity and community similarity between spiders, but did so in different ways. After cricket consumption, numerous cricket‐derived microbes appeared in the spider's gut, resulting in a rapid homogenization of microbial communities among spiders. In contrast, few prey‐associated bacteria were detected after consumption of fruit flies; instead, the microbial community was remodelled by environmentally sourced microbes, or abundance shifts of rare taxa in the spider's gut. The reshaping of the microbiota by both prey taxa mimicked a stable core microbiome in the spiders for several weeks post feeding. Our results suggest that the spider's gut microbiome undergoes pronounced temporal fluctuations, that its assembly is dictated by the consumed prey, and that different prey taxa may remodel the microbiota in drastically different ways.     

Perfluoro-tert-butanol for selective on-resin detritylation: a mild alternative to traditionally used methods

Amino Acids - Solid-phase synthesis of cyclic, branched or side-chain-modified peptides typically involves introduction of a residue carrying a temporary side-chain protecting group that undergoes...