Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

Water impoundment imposes fundamental changes on natural landscapes by transforming rivers into reservoirs. The dramatic shift in physical conditions accompanying the loss of flow creates novel ecological and evolutionary challenges for native species. In this study, we compared the body shape of Cyprinella venusta collected from eight pairs of river and reservoir sites across the Mobile River Basin (USA). Geometric morphometric analysis of body shape showed that river populations differ from reservoir populations. Individuals inhabiting reservoirs are deeper-bodied and have a smaller head, a more anterior dorsal fin, a shorter dorsal fin base, and a more ventral position of the eye than C. venusta in streams. The direction of shape divergence within reservoir-river pairs was consistent among pairs of sites, and the shape of C. venusta in reservoirs is strongly correlated with reservoir size. These findings show that physical characteristics of reservoirs drive changes in the morphological attributes of native fish populations, indicating that water impoundment may be an important, yet largely unrecognized, evolutionary driver acting on aquatic biodiversity.

An icon in the field of evolutionary biology is initially just one of many discoveries, but may emerge to prominence as an icon a) because it is the first to demonstrate a concept or process with scientific rigor or b) because it is a particularly clear, interesting, or easy to understand example of a concept or process.  An icon of evolution is a placeholder for, or illustration of, a concept in the field and serves as a convenient mental aid when teaching and learning about evolutionary concepts.  No icons of evolutionary biology serve as the one and only piece of supporting evidence for an evolutionary concept.  To become an accepted evolutionary concept, and therefore worthy of being illustrated with an icon, such a concept must be supported by a large body of studies published in the scientific literature.  At present, icons of evolution are being misused by evolution’s doubters; some members of the intelligent design community are wrongly asserting that a given icon is the one and only piece of evidence that evolutionists provide as support for an evolutionary concept, when in fact the icons merely serve as placeholders for the concept.  Critiques of the theory of evolution based upon critiques of individual icons are critiques of a pedagogical technique, not of the theory of evolution itself.  Icons of evolution are of great value as illustrations of major components of the theory of evolution; because each icon is but one example of a concept, scientific practice holds that a single icon cannot be used to either wholly prove or disprove the concept that it illustrates.

Performance-related variation in fitness can manifest as morphological responses to ecological and evolutionary pressures. Eco-morphological studies often utilize stark binary comparisons, such as lentic to lotic populations of freshwater fishes, to characterize relationships between form and function despite possible complications from confounding factors. In the present study, we compared body shape variation among lotic populations of a stream fish (Cyprinella venusta Girard) to disentangle the influence of ecological and evolutionary drivers of phenotypic change. We assessed the extent to which body shape corresponded to three key environmental factors (mean channel velocity, mean discharge, and mean annual run-off), phylogeny (mitochondrial DNA divergence), and body size (centroid size). We also examined relationships between these parameters and a fineness index, which is a measure of streamlining and morphological optimization for steady swimming performance. All three enviro...

Performance-related variation in fitness can manifest as morphological responses to ecological and evolutionary pressures. Eco-morphological studies often utilize stark binary comparisons, such as lentic to lotic populations of freshwater fishes, to characterize relationships between form and function despite possible complications from confounding factors. In the present study, we compared body shape variation among lotic populations of a stream fish (Cyprinella venusta Girard) to disentangle the influence of ecological and evolutionary drivers of phenotypic change. We assessed the extent to which body shape corresponded to three key environmental factors (mean channel velocity, mean discharge, and mean annual run-off), phylogeny (mitochondrial DNA divergence), and body size (centroid size). We also examined relationships between these parameters and a fineness index, which is a measure of streamlining and morphological optimization for steady swimming performance. All three enviro...

Habitat and water quality restoration projects are commonly used to enhance coastal resources or mitigate the negative impacts of water quality stressors. Significant resources have been expended for restoration projects, yet much less attention has focused on evaluating broad regional outcomes beyond site-specific assessments. This study presents an empirical framework to evaluate multiple datasets in the Tampa Bay area (Florida, USA) to identify (1) the types of restoration projects that have produced the greatest improvements in water quality and (2) time frames over which different projects may produce water quality benefits. Information on the location and date of completion of 887 restoration projects from 1971 to 2017 were spatially and temporally matched with water quality records at each of the 45 long-term monitoring stations in Tampa Bay. The underlying assumption was that the developed framework could identify differences in water quality changes between types of restoration projects based on aggregate estimates of chlorophyll-a concentrations before and after the completion of one to many projects. Water infrastructure projects to control point source nutrient loading into the Bay were associated with the highest likelihood of chlorophylla reduction, particularly for projects occurring prior to 1995. Habitat restoration projects were also associated with reductions in chlorophyll-a, although the likelihood of reductions from the cumulative effects of these projects were less than those from infrastructure improvements alone. The framework is sufficiently flexible for application to different spatiotemporal contexts and could be used to develop reasonable expectations for implementation of future water quality restoration activities throughout the Gulf of Mexico.

In the United States, extensive investments have been made to restore the ecological function and services of coastal marine habitats. Despite a growing body of science supporting coastal restoration, few studies have addressed the suite of societally enabling conditions that helped facilitate successful restoration and recovery efforts that occurred at meaningful ecological (i.e., ecosystem) scales, and where restoration efforts were sustained for longer (i.e., several years to decades) periods. Here, we examined three case studies involving large-scale and long-term restoration efforts including the seagrass restoration effort in Tampa Bay, Florida, the oyster restoration effort in the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland and Virginia, and the tidal marsh restoration effort in San Francisco Bay, California. The ecological systems and the specifics of the ecological restoration were not the focus of our study. Rather, we focused on the underlying social and political contexts of each case st...

Empirical support for the genetic management strategies employed by captive breeding and reintroduction programs is scarce. We evaluated the genetic management plan for the highly endangered black-footed ferret (Mustela nigripes) developed by the American Zoo and Aquarium Associations (AZA) as a part of the species survival plan (SSP). We contrasted data collected from five microsatellite loci to predictions from a pedigree-based kinship matrix analysis of the captive black-footed ferret population. We compared genetic diversity among captive populations managed for continued captive breeding or reintroduction, and among wild-born individuals from two reintroduced populations. Microsatellite data gave an accurate but only moderately precise estimate of heterozygosity. Genetic diversity was similar in captive populations maintained for breeding and release, and it appears that the recovery program will achieve its goal of maintaining 80% of the genetic diversity of the founder population over 25 years. Wild-born individuals from reintroduced populations maintained genetic diversity and avoided close inbreeding. We detected small but measurable genetic differentiation between the reintroduced populations. The model of random mating predicted only slightly lower levels of heterozygosity retention compared to the SSP strategy. The random mating strategy may be a viable alternative for managing large, stable, captive populations such as that of the black-footed ferret.

The genetic status of the critically endangered Mississippi sandhill crane (Grus canadensis pulla) was analyzed using 2008 studbook data from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service managed captive breeding and release program. Since the captive breeding program was established in 1964, gene diversity has decreased 6%, average mean kinship is at the level of first cousin, and inbreeding coefficients have been observed as high as 0.375. These high inbreeding levels were correlated with lower survivorship, and an analysis of the mate suitability of current pairs at the release site revealed poor mate suitability indices. These factors may be contributing to the low survivorship and poor nest success observed in the wild. Before the results of this study can be adequately assessed and applied to management strategies, current assumptions regarding original founder relationships must be improved. I recommend applying molecular genetic analyses of the captive and released Mississippi sandhill crane population to the results of this study to increase our understanding of the population's genetic structure, and promote management decisions that result in increased genetic diversity.

The 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the largest ever accidental release of oil into marine waters, affected hundreds of miles of US northern Gulf of Mexico coastline that is important habitat for migratory shorebirds. Shorebirds are particularly susceptible to oil contamination because of their subsurface probe-foraging behavior and reliance on intertidal habitat. More than one million migratory shorebirds representing 28 species were potentially exposed to Deepwater Horizon oil during their 2010-2011 nonbreeding season. Although only 8.6% of the shorebirds trapped from fall 2010 to spring 2011 showed visible signs of oiling, nonlethal effects and degradation of habitat can affect populations in ways that carry over into subsequent seasons. Here, we discuss how the spill could affect populations of migratory shorebirds through acute mortality, as well as through long-term and indirect pathways. We also discuss the potential impacts on ecosystems far from the spill, including prairie grasslands and the Arctic, where migratory shorebirds breed.

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The coastline of the Gulf of Mexico in the United States is an important wintering and stopover region for migratory shorebirds. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill (April-August 2010) impacted more than 1700 km of this coastline and could potentially affect shorebirds through long-term exposure to toxins, degraded habitats, and altered food chains. We investigated the exposure to Deepwater Horizon oil of seven species of shorebirds that winter or stopover along the northern Gulf of Mexico. From October 2010 to May 2012, we captured and banded 691 shorebirds at six sites that experienced varying levels of oil contamination. Of birds sampled, 22 were lightly oiled, with species that forage on the coast having higher rates of oiling than those that forage in more estuarine habitats. Although only 8.6% of birds captured from October 2010 to May 2011 and 0.6% of the birds captured from August 2011 to June 2012 showed signs of oiling, an unknown, but potentially larger, number of shorebirds were likely exposed to indirect effects of the spill, such as decreased foraging time due to oiling of sites or disturbance from cleanup activities. Fuel stores and fattening rates of Dunlins (Calidris alpina) during spring migration, as measured using plasma metabolites, were not influenced by site oiling level. However, the level of disturbance at study sites was a significant predictor of both fuel stores and glycerol levels, suggesting that Dunlins stopping over during spring migration may have had difficulty reaching necessary fuel stores in spring 2011 due to disturbance from cleanup activity on oiled beaches. These effects from disturbance were only observed at sites with high cleanup activity, suggesting that the impact of oil-spill cleanup on shorebirds may be minimized by limiting cleanup activities to specific areas and times of day. RESUMEN. Tasa de empetrolamiento e indices de condición de aves costeras en el norte del Golfo de México tras el derrame de petróleo de la Deepwater Horizon. La costa del Golfo de México en los Estados Unidos es una importante región de invernada y de puerto intermedio para aves costeras migratorias. El derrame de petróleo de la plataforma Deepwater Horizon (Abril-Agosto 2010) impactó más de 1700 km de su costa y puede potencialmente afectar a las aves costeras a través de la exposición prolongada a toxinas, ambientes degradados, y cadena alimenticia alterada. Investigamos la exposición al petróleo de la Deepwater Horizon por parte de siete especies de aves costeras que invernan o tienen paradas intermedias a lo largo del norte del Golfo de México. De Octubre 2010 a Mayo 2012, capturamos y anillamos 691 aves costeras en seis sitios que mostraban niveles variables de contaminación por petróleo. De las aves muestreadas,

Benthic infaunal communities are important components of coastal ecosystems. Understanding the relationships between the structure of these communities and characteristics of the habitat in which they live is becoming progressively more important as coastal systems face increasing stress from anthropogenic impacts and changes in climate. To examine how sediment characteristics and infaunal community composition were related along the northern Gulf of Mexico coast, we sampled intertidal infaunal communities at seven sites covering common habitat types at a regional scale. Across 69 samples, the communities clustered into four distinct groups on the basis of faunal composition. Nearly 70% of the variation in the composition of the communities was explained by salinity, median grain size, and total organic content. Our results suggest that at a regional level coarse habitat characteristics are able to explain a large amount of the variation among sites in infaunal community structure. By examining the relationships between infaunal communities and their sedimentary habitats, we take a necessary first step that will allow the exploration of how changes in habitat and community composition influence higher trophic levels and ecosystem scale processes.

Twenty-eight species of migratory shorebirds rely on the coastlines of the northern Gulf of Mexico (NGOM) to fuel migrations to near-arctic breeding grounds. Shorebird species vary in their migration ecology: some species use a “jump” strategy, migrating long distances without stopping, while others use “skip” and “hop” strategies, stopping to refuel at shorter intervals along their journey. We compared stopover duration, body condition (fat scores and size-adjusted mass), and refueling rates (plasma metabolite concentrations), in three Calidrid sandpiper species (Calidris pusilla, C. mauri, and C. alpina) that differ in migration strategy after leaving the NGOM during spring. Results indicate that, while birds refueled at similar rates, C. alpina, an intermediate distance jump migrant, reached higher fuel stores before departing on migration than the hop and skip migrants, C. pusilla and C. mauri. C. alpina also spent more time on the NGOM than the other two species. Results sugges...

AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS All authors conceived and outlined the framework for this research as part of a Science for Nature and People Partnership (SNAPP) Coastal Restoration Working Group, led by JG, KA, BD, and RG. RG and CB wrote the initial draft of the paper. All authors contributed to writing, editing, and revising subsequent drafts of the paper. RG extracted the NOAA C-CAP data with the assistance of NH. RG, CB, and JG synthesized the voluntary restoration data with the assistance of RB, JB, ACh, RHou, RHow, and TS. RG and CB analyzed the data and created the figures.

The diversity and distribution of fish species occurring in the Choctawhatchee River drainage in southeastern Alabama and northcentral Florida were surveyed to obtain historical baseline information. Three hundred seventy-four sites were evaluated for species diversity and distribution in the drainage, including compilation of unpublished records from southeastern natural history museums. The greatest diversity at any single site was 37 species. Sixty-eight sites were represented by 15 species or more, and 26 sites were represented by a single species. The most frequently encountered species includes Gambusia holbrooki, Percina nigrofasciata, Esox americanus, Notropis texanus, Lepomis macrochirus, Cyprinella n. sp. cf venusta, Notropis amplamala, and Aphredoderus sayanus. New records for Hybopsis n. sp. cf winchelli and Etheostoma parvipinne were found in the drainage, and range extensions were found for 14 other species. Our study increases the known number of fish species in the Choctawhatchee River drainage to 132 species and two hybrids, including 83 native freshwater, 10 introduced freshwater, 24 estuarine, and 17 marine species.

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Over 1 billion biodiversity collection specimens ranging from fungi to fish to fossils are housed in more than 1,600 natural history collections across the United States. The digitization of these specimens has risen significantly within the last few decades and this is only likely to increase, as the use of digitized data gains more importance every day. Numerous experiments with automated image analysis have proven the practicality and usefulness of digitized biodiversity images by computational techniques such as neural networks and image processing. However, most of the computational techniques to analyze images of biodiversity collection specimens require a good curation of this data. One of the challenges in curating multimedia data of biodiversity collection specimens is the quality of the multimedia objects—in our case, two dimensional images. To tackle the image quality problem, multimedia needs to be captured in a specific format and presented with appropriate descriptors....

One of the most important developers of liquid propellant rocket engines in Argentina was Polish-born Ricardo Dyrgalla. Dyrgalla immigrated to Argentina from the United Kingdom in 1946, where he had been studying German weapons development at the end of the Second World War. A trained pilot and aeronautical engineer, he understood the intricacies of rocket propulsion and was eager to find practical applications to his recently gained knowledge. Dyrgalla arrived in Argentina during Juan Perón's first presidency, a time when technicians from all over Europe were being recruited to work in various projects for the recently created Argentine Air Force. Shortly after immigrating, Dyrgalla proposed to develop an advanced air-launched weapon, the Tábano, based on a rocket engine of his design, the AN-1. After a successful development program, the Tábano was tested between 1949 and 1951; however, the project was canceled by the government shortly after. Today, the AN-1 rocket engine is recognized as the first liquid propellant rocket to be developed in South America. Besides the AN-1, Dyrgalla also developed several other rockets systems in Argentina, including the PROSON, a solid-propellant rocket launcher developed by the Argentine Institute of Science and Technology for the Armed Forces (CITEFA). In the late 1960s, Dyrgalla and his family relocated to Brazil due mostly to the lack of continuation of rocket development in Argentina. There, he worked for the Institute of Aerospace Technology (ITA) until his untimely death in 1970. Ricardo Dyrgalla deserves to be recognized among the world's rocket pioneers and his contribution to the science and engineering of rocketry deserves a special place in the history of South America's rocketry and space flight advocacy programs.