{"title":"Correlation between bioluminescent blinks and swimming behavior in the splitfin flashlight fish Anomalops katoptron","authors":"Peter Jägers, Timo Frischmuth, Stefan Herlitze","doi":"10.1186/s12862-024-02283-6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-024-02283-6","url":null,"abstract":"The light organs of the splitfin flashlight fish Anomalops katoptron are necessary for schooling behavior, to determine nearest neighbor distance, and to feed on zooplankton under dim light conditions. Each behavior is coupled to context-dependent blink frequencies and can be regulated via mechanical occlusion of light organs. During shoaling in the laboratory individuals show moderate blink frequencies around 100 blinks per minute. In this study, we correlated bioluminescent blinks with the spatio-temporal dynamics of swimming profiles in three dimensions, using a stereoscopic, infrared camera system. Groups of flashlight fish showed intermediate levels of polarization and distances to the group centroid. Individuals showed higher swimming speeds and curved swimming profiles during light organ occlusion. The largest changes in swimming direction occurred when darkening the light organs. Before A. katoptron exposed light organs again, they adapted a nearly straight movement direction. We conclude that a change in movement direction coupled to light organ occlusion in A. katoptron is an important behavioral trait in shoaling of flashlight fish.","PeriodicalId":9111,"journal":{"name":"BMC Evolutionary Biology","volume":"11 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2024-07-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141567772","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ivette Enríquez-Mercado, Taggert G. Butterfield, Rafael Aguilar-Romero, Rodrigo Macip-Ríos
{"title":"Home range of three turtle species in Central Yucatan. A comparative study","authors":"Ivette Enríquez-Mercado, Taggert G. Butterfield, Rafael Aguilar-Romero, Rodrigo Macip-Ríos","doi":"10.1186/s12862-024-02258-7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-024-02258-7","url":null,"abstract":"Home range is a fundamental characteristic of an animal natural history. The study of home range provides information on the sites where organisms forage for food, find shelter, or locate mates. Home range size and shape can change throughout the lifespan of an organism, during the year, or across seasons, driven by resource availability and the basic needs for each organism. For freshwater and semi-aquatic turtles, home range is greatly affected by water availability, humidity, and temperature throughout the year, nevertheless demographic factors such age and sex are also important determinants of home range size. In this study we estimated home range and dispersal movements for Kinosternon creaseri, Terrapene yucatana, and Rhinoclemmys areolata in a semi-tropical dry forest in central Yucatán. For a two-year period, turtles were surveyed using hoop traps and visual encounters. Twenty-one individuals (5–8 per species) were equipped with radio transmitters to track them across the landscape. Distances between relocations and home range were compared across species seasons, sex, and interactions of these variables. Monthly average movements were positively correlated with rain in the three species studied. Home range of R. areolata was larger than those of K. creaseri and T. yucatana. Home range of the three studied species were larger during the wet season. Home range overlap index within same species individuals was higher during the rainy than dry season, but overall overlap is low between and within species. Comparative studies of home range in sympatric organisms can shed light on how organisms partition resources to co-exist, and identify the habitat needs for each species. We compared the home range and movement of three sympatric turtle species on the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, a habitat characterized as semideciduous dry forest. Home range and movements differ among species and seasons. Turtles move larges distances and have larger home ranges during the rainy season, while their home range shrank during the dry season, when some species estivate, while others occupy permanent water bodies. Our results show that home range is related to season and water availability for the species studied, which used different of microhabitats, with Kinosternon creaseri used sartenejas and rock shelters, while Rhinoclemmys areolate used wooded debris and leaf litter microhabitats, finally, Terrapene yucatana was observed in rocky and woody debris microhabitats.","PeriodicalId":9111,"journal":{"name":"BMC Evolutionary Biology","volume":"13 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2024-05-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141166347","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Raul de la Mata, Almudena Mollá-Morales, Belén Méndez-Vigo, Rafael Torres-Pérez, Juan Carlos Oliveros, Rocío Gómez, Arnald Marcer, Antonio R. Castilla, Magnus Nordborg, Carlos Alonso-Blanco, F. Xavier Picó
{"title":"Variation and plasticity in life-history traits and fitness of wild Arabidopsis thaliana populations are not related to their genotypic and ecological diversity","authors":"Raul de la Mata, Almudena Mollá-Morales, Belén Méndez-Vigo, Rafael Torres-Pérez, Juan Carlos Oliveros, Rocío Gómez, Arnald Marcer, Antonio R. Castilla, Magnus Nordborg, Carlos Alonso-Blanco, F. Xavier Picó","doi":"10.1186/s12862-024-02246-x","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-024-02246-x","url":null,"abstract":"Despite its implications for population dynamics and evolution, the relationship between genetic and phenotypic variation in wild populations remains unclear. Here, we estimated variation and plasticity in life-history traits and fitness of the annual plant Arabidopsis thaliana in two common garden experiments that differed in environmental conditions. We used up to 306 maternal inbred lines from six Iberian populations characterized by low and high genotypic (based on whole-genome sequences) and ecological (vegetation type) diversity. Low and high genotypic and ecological diversity was found in edge and core Iberian environments, respectively. Given that selection is expected to be stronger in edge environments and that ecological diversity may enhance both phenotypic variation and plasticity, we expected genotypic diversity to be positively associated with phenotypic variation and plasticity. However, maternal lines, irrespective of the genotypic and ecological diversity of their population of origin, exhibited a substantial amount of phenotypic variation and plasticity for all traits. Furthermore, all populations harbored maternal lines with canalization (robustness) or sensitivity in response to harsher environmental conditions in one of the two experiments. Overall, we conclude that the environmental attributes of each population probably determine their genotypic diversity, but all populations maintain substantial phenotypic variation and plasticity for all traits, which represents an asset to endure in changing environments.","PeriodicalId":9111,"journal":{"name":"BMC Evolutionary Biology","volume":"108 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2024-05-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140829518","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Does local soil factor drive functional leaf trait variation? A test on Neilingding Island, South China","authors":"Sen Tong, Juanjuan Zhang, Xueting Qiao, Buhang Li, Qiong Yang, Ping Hu, Shixiao Yu","doi":"10.1186/s12862-024-02227-0","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-024-02227-0","url":null,"abstract":"Leaf traits were affected by soil factors and displayed varietal differences in forest. However, few examples have been reported on the Island ecosystems. We comprehensively investigated 9 leaf traits (leaf length, leaf width, leaf area, SLA, leaf fresh weight, leaf C content, leaf N content, leaf K content, leaf C:N ratio) of 54 main subtropical woody species and soil parameters (soil pH, total C content, total N content, total K content, available N content, available P content, available K content and soil moisture) in Neilingding Island, Shenzhen, southern China. Intra-and interspecific variation of leaf traits were measured and their correlations with soil parameters were explored. The interspecific variations of leaf C:N ratio, leaf N content and leaf fresh weight were higher than their intraspecific variations. The intraspecific variation of leaf K content was larger than that of interspecific one, accounting for 80.69% of the total variance. Positive correlations were found among intraspecific coefficients of variations in leaf morphological traits. The correlation analysis between the variation of intraspecific traits and the variation of soil parameters showed that changes in soil factors affected leaf morphology and stoichiometry. The interaction between soil moisture and soil available P content was the key factor on intraspecific variations of leaf traits including leaf area, leaf fresh weight, leaf C and leaf K content. We concluded that leaf traits of plants in the island were tightly related to soil parameters. Soil parameters, especially soil moisture and available P content, affected plant leaf morphology and stoichiometry at the local scale.","PeriodicalId":9111,"journal":{"name":"BMC Evolutionary Biology","volume":"113 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2024-04-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140581474","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lijing Ye, Saijun Peng, Yuanqing Ma, Wenjing Zhang, Lei Wang, Xiyan Sun, Chen Zhang, Munjira Yeasmin, Jianmin Zhao, Zhijun Dong
{"title":"Biodiversity and distribution patterns of blooming jellyfish in the Bohai Sea revealed by eDNA metabarcoding","authors":"Lijing Ye, Saijun Peng, Yuanqing Ma, Wenjing Zhang, Lei Wang, Xiyan Sun, Chen Zhang, Munjira Yeasmin, Jianmin Zhao, Zhijun Dong","doi":"10.1186/s12862-024-02224-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-024-02224-3","url":null,"abstract":"The mass occurrence of scyphozoan jellyfish severely affects marine ecosystems and coastal economies, and the study of blooming jellyfish population dynamics has emerged in response. However, traditional ecological survey methods required for such research have difficulties in detecting cryptic life stages and surveying population dynamics owing to high spatiotemporal variations in their occurrence. The environmental DNA (eDNA) technique is an effective tool for overcoming these limitations. In this study, we investigated the biodiversity and spatial distribution characteristics of blooming jellyfish in the Bohai Sea of China using an eDNA metabarcoding approach, which covered the surface, middle, and bottom seawater layers, and sediments. Six jellyfish taxa were identified, of which Aurelia coerulea, Nemopilema nomurai, and Cyanea nozakii were the most dominant. These three blooming jellyfish presented a marked vertical distribution pattern in the offshore regions. A. coerulea was mainly distributed in the surface layer, whereas C. nozakii and N. nomurai showed a upper-middle and middle-bottom aggregation, respectively. Horizontally, A. coerulea and C. nozakii were more abundant in the inshore regions, whereas N. nomurai was mainly distributed offshore. Spearman’s correlation analysis revealed a strong correlation between the eDNA of the three dominant blooming jellyfish species and temperature, salinity, and nutrients. Our study confirms the applicability of the eDNA approach to both biodiverstiy evaluation of blooming jellyfish and investigating their spatial distribution, and it can be used as a supplementary tool to traditional survey methods.","PeriodicalId":9111,"journal":{"name":"BMC Evolutionary Biology","volume":"26 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2024-03-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140155187","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Zibah Mirzakhel, Gudur Ashrith Reddy, Jennifer Boman, Brianna Manns, Savannah ter Veer, Parag Katira
{"title":"“Patchiness” in mechanical stiffness across a tumor as an early-stage marker for malignancy","authors":"Zibah Mirzakhel, Gudur Ashrith Reddy, Jennifer Boman, Brianna Manns, Savannah ter Veer, Parag Katira","doi":"10.1186/s12862-024-02221-6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-024-02221-6","url":null,"abstract":"Mechanical phenotyping of tumors, either at an individual cell level or tumor cell population level is gaining traction as a diagnostic tool. However, the extent of diagnostic and prognostic information that can be gained through these measurements is still unclear. In this work, we focus on the heterogeneity in mechanical properties of cells obtained from a single source such as a tissue or tumor as a potential novel biomarker. We believe that this heterogeneity is a conventionally overlooked source of information in mechanical phenotyping data. We use mechanics-based in-silico models of cell-cell interactions and cell population dynamics within 3D environments to probe how heterogeneity in cell mechanics drives tissue and tumor dynamics. Our simulations show that the initial heterogeneity in the mechanical properties of individual cells and the arrangement of these heterogenous sub-populations within the environment can dictate overall cell population dynamics and cause a shift towards the growth of malignant cell phenotypes within healthy tissue environments. The overall heterogeneity in the cellular mechanotype and their spatial distributions is quantified by a “patchiness” index, which is the ratio of the global to local heterogeneity in cell populations. We observe that there exists a threshold value of the patchiness index beyond which an overall healthy population of cells will show a steady shift towards a more malignant phenotype. Based on these results, we propose that the “patchiness” of a tumor or tissue sample, can be an early indicator for malignant transformation and cancer occurrence in benign tumors or healthy tissues. Additionally, we suggest that tissue patchiness, measured either by biochemical or biophysical markers, can become an important metric in predicting tissue health and disease likelihood just as landscape patchiness is an important metric in ecology.","PeriodicalId":9111,"journal":{"name":"BMC Evolutionary Biology","volume":"17 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2024-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140126105","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Duncan E. Edgley, Madeleine Carruthers, Nestory P. Gabagambi, Andrew D. Saxon, Alan M. Smith, Domino A. Joyce, Grégoire Vernaz, M. Emília Santos, George F. Turner, Martin J. Genner
{"title":"Lateral line system diversification during the early stages of ecological speciation in cichlid fish","authors":"Duncan E. Edgley, Madeleine Carruthers, Nestory P. Gabagambi, Andrew D. Saxon, Alan M. Smith, Domino A. Joyce, Grégoire Vernaz, M. Emília Santos, George F. Turner, Martin J. Genner","doi":"10.1186/s12862-024-02214-5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-024-02214-5","url":null,"abstract":"The mechanosensory lateral line system is an important sensory modality in fishes, informing multiple behaviours related to survival including finding food and navigating in dark environments. Given its ecological importance, we may expect lateral line morphology to be under disruptive selection early in the ecological speciation process. Here we quantify the lateral line system morphology of two ecomorphs of the cichlid fish Astatotilapia calliptera in crater Lake Masoko that have diverged from common ancestry within the past 1,000 years. Based on geometric morphometric analyses of CT scans, we show that the zooplanktivorous benthic ecomorph that dominates the deeper waters of the lake has large cranial lateral line canal pores, relative to those of the nearshore invertebrate-feeding littoral ecomorph found in the shallower waters. In contrast, fluorescence imaging revealed no evidence for divergence between ecomorphs in the number of either superficial or canal neuromasts. We illustrate the magnitude of the variation we observe in Lake Masoko A. calliptera in the context of the neighbouring Lake Malawi mega-radiation that comprises over 700 species. These results provide the first evidence of divergence in this often-overlooked sensory modality in the early stages of ecological speciation, suggesting that it may have a role in the broader adaptive radiation process.","PeriodicalId":9111,"journal":{"name":"BMC Evolutionary Biology","volume":"40 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2024-02-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139911227","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Benjamin R. Karin, Michael Lough-Stevens, Te-En Lin, Sean B. Reilly, Anthony J. Barley, Indraneil Das, Djoko T. Iskandar, Evy Arida, Todd R. Jackman, Jimmy A. McGuire, Aaron M. Bauer
{"title":"The natural and human-mediated expansion of a human-commensal lizard into the fringes of Southeast Asia","authors":"Benjamin R. Karin, Michael Lough-Stevens, Te-En Lin, Sean B. Reilly, Anthony J. Barley, Indraneil Das, Djoko T. Iskandar, Evy Arida, Todd R. Jackman, Jimmy A. McGuire, Aaron M. Bauer","doi":"10.1186/s12862-024-02212-7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-024-02212-7","url":null,"abstract":"Human-commensal species often display deep ancestral genetic structure within their native range and founder-effects and/or evidence of multiple introductions and admixture in newly established areas. We investigated the phylogeography of Eutropis multifasciata, an abundant human-commensal scincid lizard that occurs across Southeast Asia, to determine the extent of its native range and to assess the sources and signatures of human introduction outside of the native range. We sequenced over 350 samples of E. multifasciata for the mitochondrial ND2 gene and reanalyzed a previous RADseq population genetic dataset in a phylogenetic framework. Nuclear and mitochondrial trees are concordant and show that E. multifasciata has retained high levels of genetic structure across Southeast Asia despite being frequently moved by humans. Lineage boundaries in the native range roughly correspond to several major biogeographic barriers, including Wallace’s Line and the Isthmus of Kra. Islands at the outer fringe of the range show evidence of founder-effects and multiple introductions. Most of enormous range of E. multifasciata across Southeast Asia is native and it only displays signs of human-introduction or recent expansion along the eastern and northern fringe of its range. There were at least three events of human-introductions to Taiwan and offshore islands, and several oceanic islands in eastern Indonesia show a similar pattern. In Myanmar and Hainan, there is a founder-effect consistent with post-warming expansion after the last glacial maxima or human introduction.","PeriodicalId":9111,"journal":{"name":"BMC Evolutionary Biology","volume":"269 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2024-02-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139911231","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Y. Yildirim, D. Kristensson, D. Outomuro, D. Mikolajewski, P. Rödin Mörch, S. Sniegula, F. Johansson
{"title":"Phylogeography and phenotypic wing shape variation in a damselfly across populations in Europe","authors":"Y. Yildirim, D. Kristensson, D. Outomuro, D. Mikolajewski, P. Rödin Mörch, S. Sniegula, F. Johansson","doi":"10.1186/s12862-024-02207-4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-024-02207-4","url":null,"abstract":"Describing geographical variation in morphology of organisms in combination with data on genetic differentiation and biogeography can provide important information on how natural selection shapes such variation. Here we study genetic structure using ddRAD seq and wing shape variation using geometric morphometrics in 14 populations of the damselfly Lestes sponsa along its latitudinal range in Europe. The genetic analysis showed a significant, yet relatively weak population structure with high genetic heterozygosity and low inbreeding coefficients, indicating that neutral processes contributed very little to the observed wing shape differences. The genetic analysis also showed that some regions of the genome (about 10%) are putatively shaped by selection. The phylogenetic analysis showed that the Spanish and French populations were the ancestral ones with northern Swedish and Finnish populations being the most derived ones. We found that wing shape differed significantly among populations and showed a significant quadratic (but weak) relationship with latitude. This latitudinal relationship was largely attributed to allometric effects of wing size, but non-allometric variation also explained a portion of this relationship. However, wing shape showed no phylogenetic signal suggesting that lineage-specific variation did not contribute to the variation along the latitudinal gradient. In contrast, wing size, which is correlated with body size in L. sponsa, had a strong negative correlation with latitude. Our results suggest a relatively weak population structure among the sampled populations across Europe, but a clear differentiation between south and north populations. The observed geographic phenotypic variation in wing shape may have been affected by different local selection pressures or environmental effects.","PeriodicalId":9111,"journal":{"name":"BMC Evolutionary Biology","volume":"10 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2024-02-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139665334","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Marion Mittmannsgruber, Zenia Kavassilas, Bernhard Spangl, Edith Gruber, Elias Jagg, Johann G. Zaller
{"title":"Artificial light at night reduces earthworm activity but increases growth of invasive ragweed","authors":"Marion Mittmannsgruber, Zenia Kavassilas, Bernhard Spangl, Edith Gruber, Elias Jagg, Johann G. Zaller","doi":"10.1186/s12862-024-02200-x","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-024-02200-x","url":null,"abstract":"Artificial light at night, also referred to as light pollution (LP), has been shown to affect many organisms. However, little is known about the extent to which ecological interactions between earthworms and plants are altered by LP. We investigated the effects of LP on anecic earthworms (Lumbricus terrestris) that come to the surface at night to forage and mate, and on the germination and growth of the invasive and allergenic ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia). In a full factorial pot experiment in the greenhouse, we tested four factors and their interactions: LP (5 lux vs. 0 lux at night), earthworms (two individuals vs. none), plant species (seeding of ragweed only vs. mixed with Phacelia seeds) and sowing depth (seed placed at the surface vs. in 5 cm depth). Data were analysed using Generalized Linear (Mixed) Models and multifactorial ANOVAs with soil parameters as covariates. Light pollution reduced earthworm surface activity by 76% as measured by casting activity and toothpick index; 85% of mating earthworms were observed in the absence of LP. Light pollution in interaction with earthworms reduced ragweed germination by 33%. However, LP increased ragweed height growth by 104%. Earthworms reduced ragweed germination especially when seeds were placed on the soil surface, suggesting seed consumption by earthworms. Our data suggest that anecic earthworms are negatively affected by LP because reduced surface activity limits their ability to forage and mate. The extent to which earthworm-induced ecosystem services or community interactions are also affected by LP remains to be investigated. If the increased height growth of ragweed leads to increased pollen and seed production, it is likely that the competition of ragweed with field crops and the risks to human health will also increase under LP.","PeriodicalId":9111,"journal":{"name":"BMC Evolutionary Biology","volume":"20 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2024-01-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139495124","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}