Integrative and Comparative Biology最新文献

{"title":"Advancing theory underlying diversity-disease relationships: competence in the context of life history, demography, and disease.","authors":"Tara E Stewart Merrill, Pieter T J Johnson","doi":"10.1093/icb/icaf077","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/icb/icaf077","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Biodiversity loss can increase parasite transmission via the dilution effect when two criteria are met. First, if communities consist of hosts that span a gradient of competence, from highly competent species that amplify transmission to low competence species that decrease transmission. Second, if biodiversity loss is non-random, such that low diversity communities possess a disproportionately high number of highly competent hosts. Infection is then predicted to spread more efficiently in low diversity (high competence) communities. These criteria offer a compelling direct connection between biodiversity loss and disease. Evaluating the processes underlying these criteria can provide insight into how commonly they are met, and when we can expect to observe parasite dilution. By pairing recently published competence values and high-resolution infection data from a multi-host multi-parasite system (five amphibian species and four trematode taxa), we evaluated core assumptions embedded in the dilution effect criteria: 1) Infection outcomes are governed by species competence; 2) community assembly is non-random; and 3) life history mediates an indirect connection between competence and community assembly. We found that competence was a strong predictor of infection in natural systems for the majority of host-parasite interactions. Community assembly order of amphibians was also predictable based on the spatiotemporal commonness of each species. While amphibian life history characteristics were associated with competence (with faster pace-of-life characteristics tied to higher levels of competence), we did not observe an association between life history characteristics and spatiotemporal patterns of commonness. Consequently, there was an idiosyncratic relationship between competence and assembly order. Simulations demonstrated that, even when the competence-assembly order relationship is absent, average community competence can still decline with species richness, as long as the most common species (first to assemble) has relatively high competence. By connecting life history, demography, competence and infection, we found strong empirical support for some of the assumptions underlying the dilution effect; for those that were not met, we gained novel insight into the pathways through which community structure may lead to dilution.</p>","PeriodicalId":54971,"journal":{"name":"Integrative and Comparative Biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-06-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144210281","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Humidity Cue Overcomes Pollinator Avoidance Behavior and May Contribute to Host-Plant Shifts.","authors":"Gwen M Bode, Joanna M Tucker Lima, Shayla Salzman","doi":"10.1093/icb/icaf079","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/icb/icaf079","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Ecological specialization is often described as an evolutionarily tenuous, or dead-end, strategy, where the loss of one partner may be catastrophic for the other. Some of the most highly specialized interactions are brood-pollination mutualisms, wherein plants trade food and shelter for pollination services, often at the cost of some offspring (i.e., fertile seeds). With few exceptions, brood-pollination mutualisms are generally obligate, thus the reproduction of both plant and insect pollinator are interdependent and cannot occur without the other. In many cases these interactions are also species-specific and pairwise. Due to the severity of reproductive constraint, an evolutionary \"dead-end\" seems all but inevitable. However, host-shifts are remarkably common, even in brood-pollination mutualisms, and may enhance evolutionary resilience. Yet we still lack a clear understanding of mechanisms of insect localization and choice of a new host-plant in these highly specialized mutualisms. Recently, Rhopalotria furfuracea, the specialized brood-site pollinator of the cycad Zamia furfuracea, has been observed on other Zamia species in an artificial environment (i.e., a conservation garden) where it is not found in the wild. To better understand what cues are facilitating this shift, we consider both \"private channels\", or unique secondary metabolites thought to facilitate partner fidelity in ecologically specialized interactions, and the more general cue humidity, representing two modes of signaling for which the ecological importance has been previously described in the R. furfuracea-Z. furfuracea mutualism. We hypothesize that humidity will increase pollinator attraction to non-host plant scent. To test this we characterize via GC-MS the previously unreported scent of the non-host plant, Zamia paucijuga, that R. furfuracea has recently colonized and find that it qualitatively differs from that of Z. furfuracea. Behavior trials, consisting of two-way y-tube olfactometer choice assays find that weevils are repelled by the non-host plant volatile blend, but that the addition of humidity overcomes avoidance behavior, suggesting that less specialized traits, such as primary metabolites, may create opportunities for novel associations to develop over evolutionary time.</p>","PeriodicalId":54971,"journal":{"name":"Integrative and Comparative Biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-06-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144210293","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Sharing Pollinators and Viruses: Virus Diversity of Pollen in a Co-Flowering Community.","authors":"Andrea M Fetters, Paul G Cantalupo, Maria Teresa Sáenz Robles, James M Pipas, Tia-Lynn Ashman","doi":"10.1093/icb/icaf073","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/icb/icaf073","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Co-flowering plant species frequently share pollinators, flower-inhabiting bacteria, and fungi, but whether pollen-associated viruses are shared is unknown. Given that pollen-associated viruses are sexually transmitted diseases, their diversity is expected to increase with pollinator sharing. We conducted a metagenomic study to identify pollen-associated viruses from 18 co-flowering plant species to determine whether 1) life history, floral traits, or pollination generalism were associated with viral richness, and 2) plants shared pollen-associated viruses. We demonstrated that pollination generalism influences pollen-associated virus richness and the extent of pollen virus sharing between plant species. We also revealed that perenniality, multiple flowers, and bilateral floral symmetry were associated with high pollen viral richness locally, confirming and extending patterns observed previously at a continental scale. Our results highlight the importance of plant-pollinator interactions as drivers of plant-viral interaction diversity.</p>","PeriodicalId":54971,"journal":{"name":"Integrative and Comparative Biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-06-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144210295","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Physiological responses vary with molecular damage outcomes after recovery from constant light.","authors":"Kevin Pham, Madeline Lazenby, Natalie R Gassman, Christine R Lattin, Haruka Wada","doi":"10.1093/icb/icaf075","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/icb/icaf075","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The Damage-Fitness model describes how stress is linked to damage and repair pathways that drive health and fitness outcomes across taxa. However, we lack an understanding of how variation in hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) responses (i.e., endocrine flexibility) affects damage, especially after recovery from stressors. In this study, adult female zebra finches were exposed to a normal photoperiod or constant light for 23 days followed by a recovery period. Using path analysis, we combined a suite of morphological and physiological traits to examine the mechanisms related to cellular damage outcomes. In control individuals, HPA axis reactivity was condition-dependent, such that birds with higher body mass had stronger HPA axis reactivity. HPA axis reactivity was associated with two specific relationships: a strong, positive, relationship with glucose reactivity and a slightly negative relationship with liver 4-hydroxynonaneal that covaried. Interestingly, this condition-dependency disappeared in birds recovering from constant light. While HPA axis reactivity was positively associated with glucose reactivity, this path relationship was not associated with any damage marker. Liver glucocorticoid receptor abundance was negatively associated with liver protein carbonyl damage in control birds, but this relationship was lost in birds recovering from light. These patterns indicate that long-term exposure to a stressor such as constant light can alter biologically linked relationships, even after cessation and recovery from that stressor. Yet, whether rewiring of physiological network connectivity is related to adaptive physiological outcomes, fitness-related traits, or performance remains unclear.</p>","PeriodicalId":54971,"journal":{"name":"Integrative and Comparative Biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-06-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144210294","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Methods for artificial incubation of passerine eggs.","authors":"Gabrielle R Names, Britt J Heidinger","doi":"10.1093/icb/icaf054","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/icb/icaf054","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Climate change is leading to higher and more variable temperatures worldwide, and these changes are likely to have consequences on the incubation stage of egg-laying organisms. Artificial incubation can be used to address a variety of mechanistic, ecological, and conservation questions related to the development of egg-laying animals in a warming climate. Artificial incubation of passerine eggs remains rare because their eggs can be highly sensitive to incubation conditions, causing it to be challenging to successfully incubate their eggs to hatch in captivity. The goal of this study was to describe a protocol to artificially incubate eggs of house sparrows (Passer domesticus), a widespread model species, and to provide a framework that can be used to develop protocols for artificial incubation of other passerine species. Since sufficient egg mass loss is necessary for proper development and can be related to hatching success, we monitored mass loss of eggs in natural nests in the field and used this information to inform and modify artificial incubation conditions. We found that eggs in our study population lost an average of 11.34% of their original mass across the incubation period, and that mass loss was greater later in incubation. To identify conditions promoting high hatching success, we tested incubation conditions of 36.9°C-37.4°C, 40-50% relative humidity (RH), and automatic and hand egg turning. We achieved 100% hatching success of artificially incubated eggs using a rocking incubator with automatic turning (90°/hour) and three 180° hand turns per day, incubation conditions of 37.36°C and 42.6% RH, and hatching conditions of 36.73°C and 57.9% RH. These conditions and the framework we provide to develop incubation protocols for other passerine species can be applied to better understand how changing environmental conditions are affecting the development of egg-laying organisms.</p>","PeriodicalId":54971,"journal":{"name":"Integrative and Comparative Biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-05-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144192548","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) and wild bee resource competition: how big is this problem?","authors":"Wade A Pike, Clare C Rittschof","doi":"10.1093/icb/icaf072","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/icb/icaf072","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The Western honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) has been managed by humans for centuries for honey, wax, and most recently, crop pollination. The deep history of human association with this species has enabled agricultural practices that reduce biodiversity of pollinating wild bees, largely through habitat modification. However, there is also interest in determining if Apis mellifera presence itself contributes significantly to wild bee population declines. Here we review the evidence of Apis mellifera effects on wild bees, with a particular emphasis on critically evaluating the evidence for detrimental impacts associated with resource competition. Despite accelerated research in this area, only ∼13% of resource competition studies evaluated fitness effects of Apis mellifera on wild bees, a research gap that has persisted for over 20 years. About three times as many studies have evaluated effects of Apis mellifera on wild bee community parameters, including wild bee abundance, which provides a measure of a landscape's \"bee carrying capacity\". Just over 20% of these studies show a negative correlation with Apis mellifera abundance. In a novel analysis of 68 additional studies measuring bee communities for a variety of other reasons, we found negative correlations between Apis mellifera abundance and any measure of the wild bee community (richness, abundance, etc.) for nine, and the measures showing Apis mellifera impacts were varied. For example, only two of these studies showed negative correlations between Apis mellifera and wild bee abundances. In contrast, we also found similar numbers of positive relationships between Apis mellifera and various wild bee community parameters, including ten studies that showed positive relationships between Apis mellifera and wild bee abundances. Most studies (64%) showed no relationship with any factor. We found no clear pattern to explain which habitat types are more vulnerable to Apis mellifera competition, nor is the literature clear on impactful densities of managed hives in particular environment types. We discuss suggestions for future research, as well as ways the research community could clarify its conservation priorities with respect to resource competition. Resource competition between Apis mellifera and wild bees is clearly a concern in some cases. However, more work is needed to identify and predict where Apis mellifera poses a significant threat to wild bee populations. Overall, the data do not support a generalized and widespread negative relationship between Apis mellifera abundance and wild bee community health. Rather, conservation measures that reliably improve wild bee health (habitat preservation and restoration) will likely have positive effects on Apis mellifera, and vice versa.</p>","PeriodicalId":54971,"journal":{"name":"Integrative and Comparative Biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-05-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144188526","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Biological Armors - Evolution, Materials, and Bioinspiration.","authors":"Karly E Cohen, Cassandra M Donatelli, Andrew K Schulz, Julia B Teeple, Theodore Stankowich, E W Misty Paig-Tran","doi":"10.1093/icb/icaf074","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/icb/icaf074","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Biological armors have evolved across taxa as structural adaptations that provide protection from external forces while balancing mobility, metabolic cost, and functional trade-offs. These systems, from arthropod exoskeletons to vertebrate osteoderms, illustrate how natural selection shapes materials and morphology to optimize defense without compromising essential movement and physiological processes. The evolution of armor is constrained by biomechanical limits, as seen in the structural rigidity of heavily plated organisms and the flexible composites that integrate protective and dynamic properties. Methods used to study these systems-CT scanning, histology, finite element analysis, and mechanical testing-directly influence how the biological principles of armor are defined and understood. These approaches reveal the material properties and functional constraints of armored structures that can be translated into engineered applications through bioinspiration. Bioinspired designs informed by natural armor have led to innovations in impact-resistant materials, flexible ceramics, and modular protective systems. By integrating biomechanics, materials science, and evolutionary biology, this manuscript examines how armor evolves, functions, and informs bioinspired design.</p>","PeriodicalId":54971,"journal":{"name":"Integrative and Comparative Biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-05-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144188505","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Genetic insight into tiger sharks (Galeocerdo cuvier) and whiprays (Brevitrygon sp.) in Sri Lanka.","authors":"P Buddhi Maheshika Pathirana, Annais Muschett-Bonilla, Dylan Gore, Christine M Sarkis, W Sahan Thilakaratna, Kenna L Peters, Toby S Daly-Engel","doi":"10.1093/icb/icaf061","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/icb/icaf061","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Marine predators often function as sentinel species, the first organisms to be impacted when a habitat is disturbed, and directly contribute to ecosystem health by maintaining physical connections between distal habitats. Elasmobranch fishes (sharks and rays) are common predators in most aquatic systems, but over the past 50 years, elasmobranch abundance has dropped > 70% from overfishing and climate change. Further, many populations throughout the world are known to be Data Deficient, confounding management decisions. To remedy this, we investigated patterns of genetic structure and diversity in two elasmobranchs from Sri Lanka, the tiger shark Galeocerdo cuvier, and the whipray Brevitrygon sp., using the mitochondrial genes ND2 and CO1. Our results showed low diversity and high connectivity in G. cuvier, with several haplotypes shared between sharks in Sri Lanka and other ocean basins. For Brevitrygon sp., our analyses confirmed this species to be Brevitrygon imbricata, but with additional genetic diversity not previously found in this species. Taken together, these results indicate that elasmobranchs sampled from the fish markets of Sri Lanka are connected by gene flow to populations in other regions, suggesting that they may resist depletion better than more-isolated groups.</p>","PeriodicalId":54971,"journal":{"name":"Integrative and Comparative Biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-05-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144175934","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Plant-pollinator interactions in the Anthropocene: why we need a systems approach.","authors":"Jordanna D H Sprayberry, Tia-Lynn Ashman, James Crall, John Hranitz, Mark Jankauski, Mathieu Lihoreau, Sushant Potdar, Nicole E Rafferty, Clare C Rittschof, Matthew A-Y Smith, Imeña Valdes, Erica L Westerman","doi":"10.1093/icb/icaf062","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/icb/icaf062","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Animal mediated pollination is one of the most ecologically and economically important mutualisms and serves as a remarkable example of cross-kingdom communication and coevolution. Unfortunately pollinators, plants, and the interactions between them are threatened in the Anthropocene. While pollination emerges from interactions across biological scales, existing research and expertise have developed in distinct silos reflecting traditional fields of study such as ecology, plant physiology, neuroethology, etc. This forward-looking review and perspective is a culmination of the \"Plant-pollinator interactions in the Anthropocene\" symposium at the 2025 Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology meeting, which collected expertise across these disciplinary silos to identify pressing questions our community needs to tackle in the next decade. In this perspective piece we argue that an integrative, organismally-informed systems approach is critical to unraveling the complexity of how plant-pollinator relationships are impacted by dynamic anthropogenic stressors. Specifically, this calls for an intentional and iterative integration of holistic modelling studies with empirical studies. Modelling the emergent properties driven by organismal-interactions in pollination-systems can identify impactful variables; this in turn should drive design of empirical studies that elucidate how organisms respond to changing environments in the context of those impactful variables, feeding back into improved models. Repetition of this process will allow better predictive power over pollination-stability in changing landscapes. Finally, we consider both existing barriers to this integration, as well as emerging opportunities (such as new technologies) that can help bridge across traditional fields.</p>","PeriodicalId":54971,"journal":{"name":"Integrative and Comparative Biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-05-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144175954","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Matryoshka Dolls of Virus Evolution: the Internal Forces That Shape Viral Fate.","authors":"John Yin","doi":"10.1093/icb/icaf063","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/icb/icaf063","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Viral evolution unfolds across nested layers of adaptation, much like a set of Matryoshka dolls. The outermost, well-studied layer involves interactions between viruses and their hosts-where immune evasion, cross-species transmission, and long-term coevolution drive viral diversification. Yet, hidden within this framework is an often-overlooked inner layer: the coevolution of viruses with their own molecular parasites, defective interfering (DI) particles and defective viral genomes (DVGs). These molecular parasites exploit viral replication machinery, reshaping infection dynamics and imposing selective pressures that influence viral fitness, transmission, and persistence. This perspective synthesizes evidence from experimental evolution, mathematical modeling, and molecular virology to propose a more integrated view of viral evolution. By framing host-virus interactions and virus-DI particle dynamics within a unified evolutionary framework, we highlight the underappreciated role of DI particles as evolutionary players, not just aberrant byproducts. Recognizing these internal layers of viral evolution may inform the development of antiviral strategies and broader questions in host-pathogen coevolution.</p>","PeriodicalId":54971,"journal":{"name":"Integrative and Comparative Biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-05-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144175941","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}