OecologiaPub Date : 2024-12-07DOI: 10.1007/s00442-024-05642-8
Veronica Saenz, Allison Q Byrne, Michel E B Ohmer, Talisin T Hammond, Laura A Brannelly, Karie A Altman, Miranda Kosowsky, Caitlin L Nordheim, Erica Bree Rosenblum, Corinne L Richards-Zawacki
{"title":"Landscape-scale drivers of spatial dynamics and genetic diversity in an emerging wildlife pathogen.","authors":"Veronica Saenz, Allison Q Byrne, Michel E B Ohmer, Talisin T Hammond, Laura A Brannelly, Karie A Altman, Miranda Kosowsky, Caitlin L Nordheim, Erica Bree Rosenblum, Corinne L Richards-Zawacki","doi":"10.1007/s00442-024-05642-8","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00442-024-05642-8","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Aquatic pathogens often cannot tolerate drying, and thus their spread, and diversity across a landscape may depend on interactions between hydrological conditions and the movement of infected hosts. The aquatic fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) is a nearly ubiquitous pathogen of amphibians and particular lineages have been associated with host declines. By coupling amphibian surveys with molecular pathogen detection and genotyping techniques, we characterized the spatial dynamics and genetic diversity of Bd on a landscape containing both permanent and ephemeral ponds. In doing so, we aimed to clarify how pathogen loads and prevalences vary across seasons and among habitat types, and which host species move the pathogen from place to place. At the start of spring breeding, Bd prevalence was lower on amphibians sampled from ephemeral ponds. For the remainder of the amphibian active season, prevalence was similar across both ephemeral and permanent ponds, with variation in prevalence being well-explained by a hump-shaped relationship with host body temperature. The first amphibians to arrive at these ephemeral ponds infected were species that breed in ephemeral ponds and likely emerged infected from terrestrial hibernacula. However, species from permanent ponds, most of which hibernate aquatically, later visited the ephemeral ponds and these animals had a greater prevalence and load of Bd, suggesting that migrants among ponds and pond types also move Bd across the landscape. The Bd we sampled was genetically diverse within ponds but showed little genetic structure among ponds, host species, or seasons. Taken together, our findings suggest that Bd can be diverse even at small scales and moves readily across a landscape with help from a wide variety of hosts.</p>","PeriodicalId":19473,"journal":{"name":"Oecologia","volume":"207 1","pages":"3"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2024-12-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11624241/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142791896","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
OecologiaPub Date : 2024-12-05DOI: 10.1007/s00442-024-05637-5
Brenda Ratoni, Carlos Pinilla Cruz, Samuel Novais, Dulce Rodríguez-Morales, Frederico S Neves, Ricardo Ayala, Wesley Dáttilo
{"title":"Temporal decay of similarity in bee-plant relationships throughout the day.","authors":"Brenda Ratoni, Carlos Pinilla Cruz, Samuel Novais, Dulce Rodríguez-Morales, Frederico S Neves, Ricardo Ayala, Wesley Dáttilo","doi":"10.1007/s00442-024-05637-5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-024-05637-5","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Assessing plant-pollinator relationships often employs a snapshot approach to describe the complexity and dynamic involving species interactions. However, this framework overlooks the nuanced changes in species composition, their interactions, and the underlying drivers of such variations. This is particularly evident on less explored temporal scales, such as the dynamic decision-making processes occurring within hours throughout the day. To address these gaps, in this study, we evaluated the temporal and environmental factors shaping the change of species and interactions (beta diversity) between bees and plants throughout the day in a coastal environment in Mexico. In general, we found that the changes in species composition of bees and plants were mainly associated with species turnover throughout the day, while the principal component of changes in interaction composition was interaction rewiring (reassembling of pairwise bee-plant interactions). This was mainly because a few species (6 of 47 bee species, and 5 of 35 plant species) with many interactions remain permanent most of the day, leading to rewiring being the most important component of beta diversity interaction. While environmental conditions such as temperature and humidity did not significantly drive the compositional dissimilarity of species and interactions, we observed that nearby time intervals have a similar composition of species and interactions. In conclusion, our study emphasizes the importance of considering shorter temporal dynamics in understanding species interactions during the day. These insights deepen our understanding of the intricate dynamics shaping plant-pollinator interactions, providing valuable implications for future studies focused on conservation and management strategies.</p>","PeriodicalId":19473,"journal":{"name":"Oecologia","volume":"207 1","pages":"2"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2024-12-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142786371","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
OecologiaPub Date : 2024-12-04DOI: 10.1007/s00442-024-05640-w
Robert J Warren, Paul T Frankson, Jacqueline E Mohan, Mark A Bradford, Joshua King
{"title":"Antagonistic biotic interactions mitigate the positive effects of warming on wood decomposition.","authors":"Robert J Warren, Paul T Frankson, Jacqueline E Mohan, Mark A Bradford, Joshua King","doi":"10.1007/s00442-024-05640-w","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-024-05640-w","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Global change drivers such as habitat fragmentation, species invasion, and climate warming can act synergistically upon native systems; however, global change drivers can be neutralized if they induce antagonistic interactions in ecological communities. Deadwood comprises a considerable portion of forest carbon, and it functions as refuge, nesting habitat and nutrient source for plant, animal and microbial communities. We predicted that thermophilic termites would increase wood decomposition with experimental warming and in forest edge habitat. Alternately, given that predatory ants also are thermophilic, they might limit termite-mediated decomposition regardless of warming. In addition, we predicted that a non-native, putative termite-specialist ant species would decrease termite activity, and consequently decomposition, when replacing native ants. We tested these hypotheses using experimental warming plots (~ 2.5 °C above ambient) where termites, and their ant predators, have full access and vary in abundance at microscales. We found that termite activity was the strongest control on decomposition of field wood assays, with mass loss increasing 20% with each doubling of termite activity. However, both native and non-native ant abundance increased with experimental warming and, in turn, appeared to equally limit termite activity and, consequently, reduced wood decomposition rates. As a result, experimental warming had little net effect on the decomposition rates-likely because, although termite activity increased somewhat in warmed plots, ant abundances increased more than five times as much. Our results suggest that, in temperate southern U.S. forests, the negative top-down effects of predatory ants on termites outweighed the potential positive influences of warming on termite-driven wood decomposition rates.</p>","PeriodicalId":19473,"journal":{"name":"Oecologia","volume":"207 1","pages":"1"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2024-12-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142771126","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
OecologiaPub Date : 2024-12-01Epub Date: 2024-11-03DOI: 10.1007/s00442-024-05633-9
Albert Michaud, Kevin S White, Sandra Hamel, Julien H Richard, Steeve D Côté
{"title":"Of goats and heat, the differential impact of summer temperature on habitat selection and activity patterns in mountain goats of different ecotypes.","authors":"Albert Michaud, Kevin S White, Sandra Hamel, Julien H Richard, Steeve D Côté","doi":"10.1007/s00442-024-05633-9","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00442-024-05633-9","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Climate change disproportionately affects northern and alpine environments, with faster rates of warming than the global average. Because alpine and northern species are particularly well adapted to cool temperatures, most species must modify their behavior when temperatures exceed a critical threshold. Evaluating how temperature increases affect species inhabiting northern and alpine environments is therefore essential to understand the effects of projected climate change on these ecosystems. We analyzed the influence of temperature on the activity patterns and habitat selection of four populations of a cold-adapted, mountain specialist, the mountain goat (Oreamnos americanus). We collected GPS location and activity sensor data during 2010-2019 from 223 mountain goats from two distinct ecotypes: coastal and continental. Using a resource selection modeling approach, we determined that mountain goats of both ecotypes decreased selection for alpine meadows when temperatures increased. Reduced selection for open, forage rich habitat was associated with increased selection for habitat dominated by snow/ice patches in coastal areas, and by forests in continental sites. Mountain goats in continental environments selected higher elevation habitats only when temperature increased, whereas goats in coastal environments selected higher elevation habitat at all temperatures. Mountain goats of both ecotypes reduced the proportion of time spent active when temperatures increased during the middle of the day. Our study reveals that mountain goats use diverse tactics to mitigate thermal stress, and that these tactics vary between ecotypes, highlighting the need for considering adaptation to specific environments within a species when assessing climate change impacts on populations.</p>","PeriodicalId":19473,"journal":{"name":"Oecologia","volume":" ","pages":"359-379"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142564862","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
OecologiaPub Date : 2024-12-01Epub Date: 2024-10-29DOI: 10.1007/s00442-024-05625-9
Fábio Carlos da Silva Filho, Vanessa Stefani, Eduardo Soares Calixto
{"title":"Plant traits and seasonality shape coexistence and niche segregation patterns among spider species.","authors":"Fábio Carlos da Silva Filho, Vanessa Stefani, Eduardo Soares Calixto","doi":"10.1007/s00442-024-05625-9","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00442-024-05625-9","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Understanding the mechanisms that enable species coexistence is a central question in ecology, as it helps to comprehend species diversity. One of the most common stabilizing mechanisms of coexistence is niche segregation, which can prevent the competitive exclusion of the fittest competitor. Niche segregation can manifest itself at various temporal and spatial scales, allowing provide essential insights into understanding the stabilizing mechanisms facilitating the coexistence of species. We assessed coexistence patterns among flower-dwelling spiders in two ways, in the first set of analyses, we investigated the factors influencing the quantity of spider individuals and species. The second approach we investigate the spatio-temporal segregation between species, effectively examining the coexistence patterns. We observed that the presence of inflorescences per plant, the number of flowers per inflorescence, and the presence of EFNs play a significant role in increasing spider abundance and richness. We find only a marginal seasonal effect, suggesting that spiders have constant access to resources throughout the year. Our niche overlap analysis demonstrated synchrony in the spatial occupation of niches by different spider species. The coexistence patterns appeared to be unaffected by the number of inflorescences. The greater number of inflorescences will enable a greater availability of niches, and consequently more abundance and richness of species of spiders the plant can sustain. Our results suggest that, to mitigate the adverse consequences of competitive interactions, spiders tend to adopt spatial partitioning as a strategy to facilitate the coexistence of spiders living in reproductive structures on plants in the Brazilian savanna.</p>","PeriodicalId":19473,"journal":{"name":"Oecologia","volume":" ","pages":"265-274"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142546604","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
OecologiaPub Date : 2024-12-01Epub Date: 2024-09-28DOI: 10.1007/s00442-024-05609-9
Kelsey C King, Cheryl B Schultz
{"title":"Fecundity without nectar is insufficient for the persistence of a blue butterfly.","authors":"Kelsey C King, Cheryl B Schultz","doi":"10.1007/s00442-024-05609-9","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00442-024-05609-9","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Organisms with complex life cycles undergo ecological transitions between life stages, often resulting in stage-specific resource use. The relative contribution of each stage-specific resource to vital rates influences population dynamics and subsequently whether habitats can support viable populations. In lepidopterans, survival to reproduction requires sufficient resources for immature life stages, but the extent to which resources for adults are critical to population persistence is variable. We studied Boisduval's blue butterflies (Icaricia icarioides), in a greenhouse experiment, to quantify the effect of the adult diet, nectar, on vital rates. Butterflies fed ad libitum produced 3.4 times more eggs, on average, over their lifetime and lived 6 more days relative to those which only had access to water. We used these experimental data to parameterize a population model to test if vital rates with and without nectar result in viable population growth rates. Despite individual females laying 68 eggs without nectar, we found that Boisduval's blue butterfly populations will not persist without the improved fecundity associated with nectar resources (λ < 1). In this species, although amino acids in the adult diet contributed to various improvements in fecundity, these improvements did not translate to improvements in population growth rates. Incorporating our experimental vital rates into a population model indicates that the relative abundance and quality of nectar can alter at what threshold other resource(s) are limiting the population.</p>","PeriodicalId":19473,"journal":{"name":"Oecologia","volume":" ","pages":"241-252"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142351156","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
OecologiaPub Date : 2024-12-01Epub Date: 2024-11-11DOI: 10.1007/s00442-024-05634-8
Constant Perry, Tom Sarraude, Manon Billet, Elsa Minot, Eric J Gangloff, Fabien Aubret
{"title":"Sex-dependent shifts in body size and condition along replicated elevational gradients in a montane colonising ectotherm, the common wall lizard (Podarcis muralis).","authors":"Constant Perry, Tom Sarraude, Manon Billet, Elsa Minot, Eric J Gangloff, Fabien Aubret","doi":"10.1007/s00442-024-05634-8","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00442-024-05634-8","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In ectothermic animals, elevational gradients, such as mountainous environments, are often associated with shifts in body size, although patterns differ across taxa and contexts. Mountain landscapes are characterised by relatively rapid shifts in biotic and abiotic conditions along an elevational gradient, commonly referred to as elevational zonation. Such zonation can reduce the geographic scale at which organisms experience the effects of climate change. The upslope range shifts will expose organisms at the colonization front to sub-optimal conditions. We can expect these challenging conditions to influence many life-history traits including growth rates and reproductive output. We tested the hypothesis that body size varies across elevational gradients in a contemporary montane colonizer, the common wall lizard (Podarcis muralis). Further, we assessed active body temperatures and available environmental temperatures in an attempt to discern a potential abiotic factor that might drive such a pattern. We quantified body size in lizards along four replicate transects ranging from 400 to 2400 m above sea level in the Pyrenees. Male body size decreased with increasing elevation. While female body size was invariant, females at higher elevation exhibited lower body condition. These results suggest that the effects of abiotic limitations or selective pressures experienced at the high-elevation colonisation front are sex-specific. Furthermore, lizards from both sexes were able to maintain similar field active body temperatures across elevation, despite reduced ambient temperature. If available temperatures limit activity periods or necessitate higher thermoregulatory investment, as suggested by our results, then further warming may benefit lizards and favour further upslope migration.</p>","PeriodicalId":19473,"journal":{"name":"Oecologia","volume":" ","pages":"335-346"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142624805","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
OecologiaPub Date : 2024-12-01Epub Date: 2024-10-14DOI: 10.1007/s00442-024-05616-w
Mery Ingrid Guimarães de Alencar, André T C Dias, Ana Elizabeth Bonato Asato, Adriano Caliman
{"title":"Patterns of decomposition and functional traits for flower and leaf litter in tropical woody species.","authors":"Mery Ingrid Guimarães de Alencar, André T C Dias, Ana Elizabeth Bonato Asato, Adriano Caliman","doi":"10.1007/s00442-024-05616-w","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00442-024-05616-w","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The variation within and across species has afterlife effects on carbon and nutrient cycling through the alteration of litter decomposability. However, the focus on leaves may not reflect a whole-plant economic spectrum of strategies. Here, we assessed the patterns and predictors of flower and leaf-litter decomposition at the intra- (i.e., flowers and leaves of the same species) and inter-specific (i.e., flowers and leaves from different species) levels for 29 tropical woody species in northeast Brazil. We evaluated nine functional litter traits, including structural and chemical traits. Flower litter decomposed, on average, three times faster than leaf litter (11.9% and 39.4% mass remaining, respectively) and exhibited higher water-holding capacity (WHC), leaching (LEA), and N, P, and K content. Otherwise, leaf litter showed higher density (DEN) and Ca, Mg, and Na content. The average relative differences in decomposition rate and functional traits between flower and leaf litter did not differ at both intra- and inter-specific levels. The predictors of decomposition were mostly similar, explaining 39% and 37% of flower and leaf litter, respectively. Leaching, P, Ca, Mg, and Na predict both flower and leaf-litter decomposition. However, WHC exclusively predicted flower-litter decomposition, and DEN, N, and K exclusively predicted leaf-litter decomposition. The observed differences in decomposition rate and functional traits between flower and leaf litter indicate that the afterlife effects differ between these plant organs and leverage the role of flower litter and its secondary consequences to nutrient and carbon cycling on ecosystems.</p>","PeriodicalId":19473,"journal":{"name":"Oecologia","volume":" ","pages":"253-264"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142471265","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
OecologiaPub Date : 2024-12-01Epub Date: 2024-09-28DOI: 10.1007/s00442-024-05621-z
Brooke A Pellegrini, Lina S Pintado, Paige N Souza, Santhi P Bhavanam, Colin M Orians, John L Orrock, Evan L Preisser
{"title":"Herbivore kairomones affect germination speed, seedling growth, and herbivory.","authors":"Brooke A Pellegrini, Lina S Pintado, Paige N Souza, Santhi P Bhavanam, Colin M Orians, John L Orrock, Evan L Preisser","doi":"10.1007/s00442-024-05621-z","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00442-024-05621-z","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Seeds and seedlings are particularly vulnerable to herbivory. Unlike mature plants, which can wait until herbivory is experienced to induce defense, seeds and seedlings face mortality if they wait. Slug mucus functions as a kairomone, a non-attack-related substance emitted by consumers that is detected by a prey species (in this case, plants). While snail mucus has been shown to induce defense in seedlings, it is not widely confirmed whether slugs have the same effect and whether seeds can also detect and react to such herbivore cues. We investigated how exposure to Arion subfuscus mucus affected growth and defense in Brassica nigra seeds and seedlings. Seeds exposed to slug mucus germinated 5% faster than control (water only) seeds, but the resulting seedlings weighed 16% less than control seedlings. To test whether this difference results from herbivore-exposed plants allocating energy from growth to defense, we conducted choice bioassays assessing slug preference for control seedlings versus seedlings that were either (A) exposed to mucus only as a seed; or (B) exposed to mucus as a seed and seedling. While slugs did not differentiate between control seedlings and ones exposed to herbivore cues only as a seed, they ate 88% less biomass of seedlings exposed to mucus as both seeds and seedlings. These results suggest that slug mucus induces changes in plant traits related to defense and growth/competitive ability. Future research should determine the chemical mechanisms of this induced defense.</p>","PeriodicalId":19473,"journal":{"name":"Oecologia","volume":" ","pages":"215-223"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11599366/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142351157","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
OecologiaPub Date : 2024-12-01Epub Date: 2024-10-18DOI: 10.1007/s00442-024-05627-7
Timo D Rittweg, Clive Trueman, Michael Wiedenbeck, Jan Fietzke, Christian Wolter, Lauren Talluto, Stefan Dennenmoser, Arne Nolte, Robert Arlinghaus
{"title":"Variable habitat use supports fine-scale population differentiation of a freshwater piscivore (northern pike, Esox lucius) along salinity gradients in brackish lagoons.","authors":"Timo D Rittweg, Clive Trueman, Michael Wiedenbeck, Jan Fietzke, Christian Wolter, Lauren Talluto, Stefan Dennenmoser, Arne Nolte, Robert Arlinghaus","doi":"10.1007/s00442-024-05627-7","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00442-024-05627-7","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In mobile animals, selection pressures resulting from spatio-temporally varying ecological factors often drive adaptations in migration behavior and associated physiological phenotypes. These adaptations may manifest in ecologically and genetically distinct ecotypes within populations. We studied a meta-population of northern pike (Esox lucius) in brackish environments and examined intrapopulation divergence along environmental gradients. Behavioral phenotypes in habitat use were characterized via otolith microchemistry in 120 individuals sampled from brackish lagoons and adjacent freshwater tributaries. We genotyped 1514 individual pike at 33 highly informative genetic markers. The relationship between behavioral phenotype and genotype was examined in a subset of 101 pikes for which both phenotypic and genomic data were available. Thermosaline differences between juvenile and adult life stages indicated ontogenetic shifts from warm, low-saline early habitats towards colder, higher-saline adult habitats. Four behavioral phenotypes were found: Freshwater residents, anadromous, brackish residents, and cross-habitat individuals, the latter showing intermediary habitat use between brackish and freshwater areas. Underlying the behavioral phenotypes were four genotypes, putative freshwater, putative anadromous, and two putatively brackish genotypes. Through phenotype-genotype matching, three ecotypes were identified: (i) a brackish resident ecotype, (ii) a freshwater ecotype expressing freshwater residency or anadromy, and (iii) a previously undescribed intermediary cross-habitat ecotype adapted to intermediate salinities, showing limited reliance on freshwater. Life-time growth of all ecotypes was similar, suggesting comparable fitness. By combining genetic data with lifelong habitat use and growth as a fitness surrogate, our study revealed strong differentiation in response to abiotic environmental gradients, primarily salinity, indicating ecotype diversity in coastal northern pike is higher than previously believed.</p>","PeriodicalId":19473,"journal":{"name":"Oecologia","volume":" ","pages":"275-292"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11599437/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142471266","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}