Ecology and Evolution最新文献

{"title":"What's on the menu? A novel molecular gut content analysis to investigate the feeding behavior of phytophagous insects","authors":"Maja Fluch,&nbsp;Marta Chignola,&nbsp;Erika Corretto,&nbsp;Manfred Wolf,&nbsp;Stefanie Fischnaller,&nbsp;Luigimaria Borruso,&nbsp;Hannes Schuler","doi":"10.1002/ece3.70071","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.70071","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The relationship between phytophagous insects and plants is a central aspect of food webs and ecosystem functioning. The introduction of new species into an environment can have significant impacts on the food web of a native ecosystem. In many cases, there is a lack of knowledge on the biology and feeding behavior of invasive species prior their introduction and in the invaded regions. Gut content analyses of insects have provided valuable information on the host spectrum of insects. However, current approaches are time-consuming and costly. Here, we describe a new molecular gut content analysis (GCA) approach using the Oxford Nanopore (ONT) Flongle sequencing platform to characterize the plant DNA present in the gut of the highly polyphagous insect species <i>Halyomorpha halys</i>. We demonstrate that this technique efficiently amplifies and correctly identifies plant DNA in a mock community. We performed a feeding experiment to determine the sensitivity of this approach and to assess how long the plant DNA can be detected. All plants used in the feeding experiment were correctly identified and detected after 56 days. Surprisingly, we also detected various plant genera that were not included in the feeding experiment and thus were likely ingested months before the experiment. Our study suggests that the GCA using the ONT Flongle sequencing platform represents a rapid and cost-efficient diagnosis of the dietary preferences, host range, and the diversity of consumed plant species of pest insects with high precision.</p>","PeriodicalId":11467,"journal":{"name":"Ecology and Evolution","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2024-09-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ece3.70071","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142316945","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Correction to Comparative analysis of the gut microbiome of ungulate species from Qinghai–Xizang plateau","authors":"","doi":"10.1002/ece3.70356","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ece3.70356","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Wang, X., Gao, X., Chen, Y., Wu, X., Shang, Y., Zhang, Z., Zhou, S., Zhang, H. (2024). Comparative analysis of the gut microbiome of ungulate species from Qing hai–Xizang plateau. <i>Ecology and Evolution</i>, 14, e70251. http://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.70251</p><p>There are group name errors in Figure 4 and Table S2. The HA, HY, HB, and HT should be changed to EK, BG, PN, and PH, respectively. The group names have been modified in the corrected version.</p><p>We apologize for this error.</p><p>The correct sample names in Table S2 are shown below.\u0000 </p>","PeriodicalId":11467,"journal":{"name":"Ecology and Evolution","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2024-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11418403/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142307318","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Effects of salt stress on the rhizosphere soil microbial communities of Suaeda salsa (L.) Pall. in the Yellow River Delta","authors":"Yumiao Zhang,&nbsp;Huan Wang,&nbsp;Xinhan Zhang,&nbsp;Ziqi Feng,&nbsp;Junhua Liu,&nbsp;Yan Wang,&nbsp;Shuai Shang,&nbsp;Jikun Xu,&nbsp;Tao Liu,&nbsp;Longxiang Liu","doi":"10.1002/ece3.70315","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.70315","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Studies have shown that the microbiome of saline-tolerant plants plays a significant role in promoting salt stress in non-saline-tolerant plants, but the microorganisms are still unclear. In the present study, the microbial diversity changes in <i>Suaeda salsa</i> (L.) <i>Pall</i>. in the Yellow River Delta region were investigated. In the bacterial community, the dominant bacteria in the rhizosphere soil of the low-saline soil (YDL), moderate-saline soil (YDM), and high-saline soil (YDH) groups were <i>Proteobacteria</i>, <i>Chloroflexi</i>, <i>Bacteroidota</i>, and <i>Actinobacteriota</i> (at the phylum level), while <i>Ascomycota</i> and <i>Basidiomycota</i> were the dominant fungi in the fungal community. At the family level, with the increase of salinity, the relative abundance of <i>Rhodobacteraceae</i> (bacterial community), <i>Thermoascaceae</i>, and <i>Phaffomycetaceae</i> (fungal community) gradually increased; and to the best of our knowledge, there are no reports on the relationship between <i>Thermoascaceae</i> and <i>Phaffomycetaceae</i> families with salt stress. At the genus level, <i>Salinimicrobium</i> (bacterial community) was the dominant bacterium in the rhizosphere soil of the YDL, YDM, and YDH groups, while with the increase of salinity, the relative abundance of <i>Byssochlamys</i> and <i>Wickerhamomyces</i> (fungal community) gradually increased, and to the best of our knowledge there are no reports on the relationship between <i>Byssochlamys</i> and salt stress. Salinity mainly affected the bacterial community abundance, but it had little effect on the fungi community abundance. The bacterial community of the YDH group was dominated by bacteria of unknown origin (52.76%), while bacteria of unknown origin accounted for 26.46% and 20.78% of the bacterial communities in the YDM and YDL groups, respectively. The fungi community of the YDH group was dominated by YDL group fungi (relative abundance of 44.44%), followed by YDM group fungi (29.42%) and fungi of unknown origin (26.14%). These results provide a better understanding of the rhizosphere microbial diversity of saline–alkali-tolerant plants, laying a foundation for developing a saline–alkali-tolerant plant microbiome.</p>","PeriodicalId":11467,"journal":{"name":"Ecology and Evolution","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2024-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ece3.70315","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142316700","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Seasonal variation in the ultrasonic vocal activity of Humboldt's flying squirrel (Glaucomys oregonensis)","authors":"Travis A. Farwell,&nbsp;Barbara Clucas","doi":"10.1002/ece3.70344","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ece3.70344","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Most mammals rely on vocal communication to increase survival and reproductive success. While the functions of audible vocalizations have been well-studied across mammal species, ultrasonic vocalizations in small mammals outside of bats are less understood. North American flying squirrel species (<i>Glaucomys</i> spp.), including the newly described Humboldt's flying squirrel (<i>Glaucomys oregonensis</i>), produce numerous call-types that extend into the ultrasonic range. To investigate the potential function of ultrasonic call-types in the Humboldt's flying squirrels, we used ultrasonic recorders to record squirrels in the wild across multiple seasons to determine if there are temporal and seasonal patterns in nightly vocal activity and rates of different call-types. We recorded Humboldt's flying squirrels in two geographic locations - Humboldt and San Bernardino counties—in California from 2018 to 2022 in the summer and winter across multiple study areas. We found that although seasonal weather conditions differ between locations, flying squirrels in Humboldt and San Bernardino had similar vocal activity patterns across nightly active periods between locations and between summer and winter. Nightly activity patterns of when the three main chirp-like call-types (arc chirps, tonal chirps, upsweeps) were given varied between seasons in both geographic locations, and these call-types were given at greater rates in the summer in San Bernardino, but rates did not vary by season in Humboldt. Trills, the most structurally complex of the four main call-types, were produced more in the summer than in winter, and also differed in their nightly activity patterns, in both geographic locations. Flying squirrels may use certain call-types earlier or later in the nightly active period due to their potentially varying functions, and may produce more trills in the summer coinciding with the breeding season. Further understanding of the function of different call-types can provide insight into social, foraging, and antipredator behavior of this nocturnal and elusive species.</p>","PeriodicalId":11467,"journal":{"name":"Ecology and Evolution","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2024-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11419791/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142307320","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The role of heterotrophic plasticity in coral response to natural low-light environments","authors":"Yong Luo,&nbsp;Xiaolei Yu,&nbsp;Lintao Huang,&nbsp;Jianfeng Gan,&nbsp;Xinming Lei,&nbsp;Lei Jiang,&nbsp;Chengyue Liu,&nbsp;Youfang Sun,&nbsp;Meng Cheng,&nbsp;Yuyang Zhang,&nbsp;Guowei Zhou,&nbsp;Sheng Liu,&nbsp;Jiansheng Lian,&nbsp;Hui Huang","doi":"10.1002/ece3.70278","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.70278","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Coastal darkening is emerging as a global threat to fringing reefs. While some reef-building corals exhibit resistance to low-light environments, the mechanisms behind this resistance, particularly the role of coral hosts, remain inadequately understood. Here, we investigated variations in underwater photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) and employed the Bayesian stable isotope mixing model (MixSIAR) to estimate the contributions of autotrophic (i.e., dissolved inorganic matter, DIM) and heterotrophic sources (i.e., particulate organic matter, POM, and dissolved organic matter, DOM) to the nutrition of the reef coral <i>Galaxea fascicularis</i> on the Luhuitou turbid reef in the northern South China Sea. Our findings revealed that the heterotrophic contribution to coral nutrition increased to 58.5% with decreasing PAR and that the heterotrophic contribution was significantly negatively correlated with δ¹³C difference between host and symbiont (δ¹³C_h–s). Moreover, we observed significant seasonal variations in the respective contributions of POM and DOM to coral nutrition, linked to the sources of these nutrients, demonstrating that <i>G. fascicularis</i> can selectively ingest POM and DOM based on their bioavailability to enhance its heterotrophic contribution. This heterotrophic plasticity improved the low-light resistance of <i>G. fascicularis</i> and contributed to its prominence within coral communities. However, with a low-light threshold of approximately 3.73% of the surface PAR for <i>G. fascicularis</i>, our results underscore the need for effective strategies to mitigate low-light conditions on nearshore turbid reefs. In summary, our study highlights the critical role of heterotrophic plasticity in coral responses to natural low-light environments, suggesting that some reef-building corals with such plasticity could become dominant or resilient species in the context of coastal darkening.</p>","PeriodicalId":11467,"journal":{"name":"Ecology and Evolution","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2024-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ece3.70278","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142316699","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Predation scars provide a new method to distinguish native and invasive crab predation on mollusc prey","authors":"Kristina M. Barclay,&nbsp;Paige Amos,&nbsp;Lindsey R. Leighton,&nbsp;Chris L. Schneider,&nbsp;Julia K. Baum","doi":"10.1002/ece3.70338","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.70338","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Crab species are increasingly important socioeconomic resources that are threatened by human exploitation, climate change, and invasive species, such as European green crabs (<i>Carcinus maenas</i>). However, the continued health of their populations is often uncertain given the limited long-term population data, necessitating alternate approaches to ensure their continued viability. Furthermore, <i>C. maenas</i> are one of the most highly invasive and destructive marine species globally, posing a threat to local ecosystems and species, including socioeconomically important crabs and their mollusc prey. Improved understanding of <i>C. maenas</i> invasions and their impacts on local crab and mollusc resources is therefore vitally important. Here, we present a new method for identifying species-level presence and relative abundances of important crab species, including invasive <i>C. maenas</i>, from the scars they leave on their prey. We conducted controlled manipulative feeding experiments in which individuals of Dungeness crabs (<i>Metacarcinus magister</i>), red rock crabs (<i>Cancer productus</i>), and <i>C. maenas</i>, were allowed to attack snails (<i>Tegula funebralis</i>) and produce sublethal shell damage. Resulting shell damage was photographed and landmarked for geometric morphometric analyses to determine any differences in the shape of shell damage between crab species. There were statistically significant differences between the shape of shell damage created by all three crab species (<i>p</i> &lt; .0001). Shell damage formed a gradient from narrow/deep (<i>C. productus</i>) to shallow/wide (<i>C. maenas</i>) with <i>M. magister</i> as an intermediate form. Our method provides a novel, cost-effective tool for long-term species-specific reconstructions of crab populations and assessing the broader ecological impacts of <i>C. maenas</i> invasions that can inform management and mitigation for these three important crab species.</p>","PeriodicalId":11467,"journal":{"name":"Ecology and Evolution","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2024-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ece3.70338","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142316701","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Development of a multisensor biologging collar and analytical techniques to describe high-resolution spatial behavior in free-ranging terrestrial mammals","authors":"Michael S. Painter,&nbsp;Václav Silovský,&nbsp;Justin Blanco,&nbsp;Mark Holton,&nbsp;Monika Faltusová,&nbsp;Rory Wilson,&nbsp;Luca Börger,&nbsp;Liza Psotta,&nbsp;Fabian Ramos-Almodovar,&nbsp;Luis Estrada,&nbsp;Lukas Landler,&nbsp;Pascal Malkemper,&nbsp;Vlastimil Hart,&nbsp;Miloš Ježek","doi":"10.1002/ece3.70264","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.70264","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Biologging has proven to be a powerful approach to investigate diverse questions related to movement ecology across a range of spatiotemporal scales and increasingly relies on multidisciplinary expertise. However, the variety of animal-borne equipment, coupled with little consensus regarding analytical approaches to interpret large, complex data sets presents challenges and makes comparison between studies and study species difficult. Here, we present a combined hardware and analytical approach for standardizing the collection, analysis, and interpretation of multisensor biologging data. Here, we present (i) a custom-designed integrated multisensor collar (IMSC), which was field tested on 71 free-ranging wild boar (<i>Sus scrofa</i>) over 2 years; (ii) a machine learning behavioral classifier capable of identifying six behaviors in free-roaming boar, validated across individuals equipped with differing collar designs; and (iii) laboratory and field-based calibration and accuracy assessments of animal magnetic heading measurements derived from raw magnetometer data. The IMSC capacity and durability exceeded expectations, with a 94% collar recovery rate and a 75% cumulative data recording success rate, with a maximum logging duration of 421 days. The behavioral classifier had an overall accuracy of 85% in identifying the six behavioral classes when tested on multiple collar designs and improved to 90% when tested on data exclusively from the IMSC. Both laboratory and field tests of magnetic compass headings were in precise agreement with expectations, with overall median magnetic headings deviating from ground truth observations by 1.7° and 0°, respectively. Although multisensor equipment and sophisticated analyses are now commonplace in biologging studies, the IMSC hardware and analytical framework presented here provide a valuable tool for biologging researchers and will facilitate standardization of biologging data across studies. In addition, we highlight the potential of additional analyses available using this framework that can be adapted for use in future studies on terrestrial mammals.</p>","PeriodicalId":11467,"journal":{"name":"Ecology and Evolution","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2024-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ece3.70264","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142316667","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Diversity analysis: Richness versus evenness","authors":"Tarald O. Kvålseth","doi":"10.1002/ece3.70275","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.70275","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Richness and evenness, two important components of diversity, have been the subject of numerous studies exploring their potential dependence or lack thereof. The results have been contradictory and inconclusive, but tending to indicate only a low (positive or negative) correlation. While such reported studies have been based on particular data sets and species abundance distributions, the present article provides the results of a study using randomly generated abundance distributions and hence more generalizable findings and valid statistical results. The results reveal no statistically significant correlation between richness and evenness based on such random sample of abundance distributions and on four well-known measures of diversity, including Simpson's indices and the entropy index. Of the two diversity components, evenness is found to have the strongest influence on diversity, but for numbers-equivalent or effective-number formulations, richness tends to be the most influential diversity component. For analyzing the tradeoff between richness and evenness for any given diversity measure and abundance distribution, the <i>richness-evenness curve</i> is introduced as a new tool for diversity analysis.</p>","PeriodicalId":11467,"journal":{"name":"Ecology and Evolution","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2024-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ece3.70275","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142316781","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Differential use of nest materials and niche space among avian species within a single ecological community","authors":"Michael E. Akresh,&nbsp;David Mandell,&nbsp;Peter P. Grima,&nbsp;David I. King,&nbsp;Kathryn Lauer","doi":"10.1002/ece3.70142","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ece3.70142","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Differential use of resources among bird species has been examined extensively in diet and nesting sites, but few studies have assessed this regarding avian nest materials. We assessed the structure and composition of nests in a group of co-existing passerine shrubland birds at a site in Massachusetts, USA. We found, measured, collected, and dissected nests, and then weighed nest materials in morphological groups (e.g., bark, twigs, feathers) to determine if our seven focal species were using different nest materials. Among species, we compared proportional material masses in complete nests, and also separately in the exterior, structural part of the nest and the interior, cup lining. We found that the proportional masses of all 17 material types that we examined in nests differed among species. The compositions of nests among all seven bird species were distinct in multivariate ordination space and only a few pairs of species had substantial niche overlap. Proportional masses of materials within discrete sections (exterior and interior) also varied among species. Although some differences in nest composition could be partially explained by bird species size, nest materials differed even within the three larger bodied species and within four smaller bodied species. Our study builds upon previous studies that have shown species-specificity in avian nest composition and supports the notion that birds using the same environment have distinct niches in relation to the materials placed in their nests. Niche partitioning due to interspecific competition could partially explain our findings, as certain materials are limited as resources, and searching for suitable nest materials is energetically costly. Additionally, other factors, such as partitioned nest sites, may have led to differential nest material use. We recommend further research to help elucidate underlying mechanisms of nest composition partitioning in birds and potentially other nest-building taxa.</p>","PeriodicalId":11467,"journal":{"name":"Ecology and Evolution","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2024-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11419847/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142307319","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The influence of sample size and sampling design on estimating population-level intra specific trait variation (ITV) along environmental gradients","authors":"Isadora E. Fluck,&nbsp;Sydne Record,&nbsp;Angela Strecker,&nbsp;Phoebe L. Zarnetske,&nbsp;Benjamin Baiser","doi":"10.1002/ece3.70250","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.70250","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Understanding the relationship between intraspecific trait variability (ITV) and its biotic and abiotic drivers is crucial for advancing population and community ecology. Despite its importance, there is a lack of guidance on how to effectively sample ITV and reduce bias in the resulting inferences. In this study, we explored how sample size affects the estimation of population-level ITV, and how the distribution of sample sizes along an environmental gradient (i.e., sampling design) impacts the probabilities of committing Type I and II errors. We investigated Type I and II error probabilities using four simulated scenarios which varied sampling design and the strength of the ITV-environment relationships. We also applied simulation scenarios to empirical data on populations of the small mammal, <i>Peromyscus maniculatus</i> across gradients of latitude and temperature at sites in the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) in the continental United States. We found that larger sample sizes reduce error rates in the estimation of population-level ITV for both in silico and <i>Peromyscus maniculatus</i> populations. Furthermore, the influence of sample size on detecting ITV-environment relationships depends on how sample sizes and population-level ITV are distributed along environmental gradients. High correlations between sample size and the environment result in greater Type I error, while weak ITV–environmental gradient relationships showed high Type II error probabilities. Therefore, having large sample sizes that are even across populations is the most robust sampling design for studying ITV-environment relationships. These findings shed light on the complex interplay among sample size, sampling design, ITV, and environmental gradients.</p>","PeriodicalId":11467,"journal":{"name":"Ecology and Evolution","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2024-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ece3.70250","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142316702","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}