Inferring microevolution from museum collections and resampling: lessons learned from<i>Cepaea</i>

Ożgo, Małgorzata; Liew, Thor‐Seng; Webster, Nicole B.

doi:10.7717/peerj.3938

Cited by 12 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…In C. nemoralis , lighter‐colored shells absorb less heat and allow snails to maintain a lower body temperature (Heath, 1975) and higher water content (Chang, 1991). Many studies have shown that lighter (vs. darker) snails have a selective advantage in hotter/sunnier (vs. colder/shaded) environments, whether one looks at continental‐scale latitudinal clines (Jones et al, 1977; Silvertown et al, 2011), local‐scale habitat comparisons (Kerstes et al, 2019; Ozgo & Kinnison, 2008; Schilthuizen, 2013), or historical comparisons in the context of climate change (Ożgo et al, 2017; Ożgo & Schilthuizen, 2012). Local variations in morph frequencies have also been linked to predation pressure, generally in the context of visual selection (frequency‐dependent selection and/or crypsis; Jones et al, 1977; Surmacki et al, 2013, and references therein; but see Cook, 2008), but morph differences in shell resistance to crushing have also been described (Rosin et al, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Boldness and exploration vary between shell morphs but not environmental contexts in the snail Cepaea nemoralis

2021

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Understanding the maintenance of among‐individual behavioral variation in populations and predicting its consequences are key challenges in behavioral ecology. Studying the association between repeatable behaviors and other traits under selection may shed light on the underlying selective pressures. We used the model snail Cepaea nemoralis to examine whether individual behavior is associated with shell morph, a key trait that has been extensively studied in the context of thermal tolerance and predator avoidance, and which is known to be under strict genetic control in this species. We quantified proxies of boldness and exploration in snails of three morphs coming from two habitats with different thermal contexts. We show that both behaviors were repeatable at the among‐individual level (within‐state Rboldness = 0.22 [95% credible interval: 0.15; 0.29]; Rexploration = 0.20 [0.15; 0.25]). Behavior was associated with shell morph, with the darker morph (five‐banded) being consistently shyer and slower to explore. There was no evidence that thermal environment of origin influenced behavior. Snails became faster when test temperature increased; we found no evidence morphs differed in their thermal response. Boldness and exploration were correlated among individuals, forming a syndrome (r = 0.28 [0.10; 0.46]). The link we find between morph and boldness is compatible with visual selection by avian predators, assuming a positive association between boldness and morphological defense (phenotypic compensation hypothesis). The fact morph‐behaviors associations are consistent across environments, despite selection on morph, hint to a possible underlying genetic origin. Finally, we discuss how our findings combined with decades of evolutionary research make C. nemoralis a very valuable model to study the evolution of behavior in response to environmental changes.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Boldness and exploration vary between shell morphs but not environmental contexts in the snail Cepaea nemoralis

2021

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“…In C. nemoralis , lighter colored shells absorb less heat and allow snails to maintain a lower body temperature (Heath, 1975) and higher water content (Chang, 1991). Many studies have shown that lighter (darker) snails are as a consequence selectively advantaged in hotter/sunnier (colder/shaded) environments, whether one looks at continental-scale latitudinal clines (Jones et al, 1977; Silvertown et al, 2011), local-scale habitat comparisons (Kerstes, Breeschoten, Kalkman, & Schilthuizen, 2019; Ozgo & Kinnison, 2008; Schilthuizen, 2013), or historical comparisons in the context of climate change (Ożgo, Liew, Webster, & Schilthuizen, 2017; Ożgo & Schilthuizen, 2012). Local variations in morph frequencies have also been tied to predation pressure, with both frequency-dependent and crypsis-based visual selection thought to play a role (Jones et al, 1977; Surmacki, Ożarowska-Nowicka, & Rosin, 2013, and references therein; but see Cook, 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Boldness and exploration vary between shell morphs but not environmental contexts in the snailCepaea nemoralis

Dahirel

Gaudu

Ansart

2019

Preprint

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Understanding the maintenance of individual behavioural variation (or animal personalities) in populations, and predicting its consequences, are key challenges in behavioural ecology. As individuals vary in their phenotype and experienced environment, they may experience different selective pressures favouring different optimal behaviours. Studying the (genetic) association between repeatable behaviour and other traits under selection may shed light on these selective pressures. We used the model snail Cepaea nemoralis to examine whether individual behavioural variation is associated with variation in shell morph, a key trait that has been extensively studied in relation to thermal tolerance and predator avoidance, and which is known to be under strict genetic control in this species. We quantified proxies of boldness and exploration in snails of three morphs coming from two contrasted thermal environments. We show that there are animal personalities in C. nemoralis, as both behaviours were repeatable at the individual level. Behavioural variation was associated with shell morph, with the darker morph (five-banded) being consistently shyer and slower to explore. There was no evidence that experienced thermal environment influenced behaviour at the individual level, whether we considered past environment or experimental temperature. Boldness and exploration were correlated at the individual level in a common syndrome. We discuss how these results are compatible with (but do not confirm) the pace of life syndrome hypothesis, and what they tell us about the type of selection exerted by predators. We also detail how our results hint to a genetic link between shell morph and behaviour, and the evolutionary implications of such a link. Finally, we discuss how our results combined with decades of evolutionary research make C. nemoralis a very valuable model to study the evolution of behaviour in response to environmental changes.

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“…In Cepaea , we now have some understanding of the pigments and shell proteome (Mann and Jackson 2014; Williams 2017), and have begun to use new genomic methods to identify the genes involved (Kerkvliet et al 2017; Richards et al 2013). However, while ongoing studies on these animals continue to provide evidence for the relative role of various forms of natural selection and random drift in promoting and maintaining variation (Cameron and Cook 2012; Cameron et al 2013; Cook 2014; Cook et al 1999; Davison and Clarke 2000; Ożgo et al 2017; Ożgo and Schilthuizen 2012; Schilthuizen 2013; Silvertown et al 2011), progress in understanding the patterns of shell variation in Cepaea has largely stalled since the 1970s.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Discrete or indiscrete? Redefining the colour polymorphism of the land snail Cepaea nemoralis

et al. 2019

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Biologists have long tried to describe and name the different phenotypes that make up the shell polymorphism of the land snail Cepaea nemoralis . Traditionally, the view is that the ground colour of the shell is one of a few major colour classes, either yellow, pink or brown, but in practise it is frequently difficult to distinguish the colours, and define different shades of the same colour. To understand whether colour variation is in reality continuous, and to investigate how the variation may be perceived by an avian predator, we applied psychophysical models of colour vision to shell reflectance measures. We found that both achromatic and chromatic variation are indiscrete in Cepaea nemoralis , being continuously distributed over many perceptual units. Nonetheless, clustering analysis based on the density of the distribution did reveal three groups, roughly corresponding to human-perceived yellow, pink and brown shells. We also found large-scale geographic variation in the frequency of these groups across Europe, and some covariance between shell colour and banding patterns. Although further studies are necessary, the observation of continuous variation in colour is intriguing because the traditional theory is that the underlying supergene that determines colour has evolved to prevent phenotypes from “dissolving” into continuous trait distributions. The findings thus have significance for understanding the Cepaea polymorphism, and the nature of the selection that acts upon it, as well as more generally highlighting the need to measure colour objectively in other systems.

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Inferring microevolution from museum collections and resampling: lessons learned fromCepaea

Cited by 12 publications

References 42 publications

Boldness and exploration vary between shell morphs but not environmental contexts in the snail Cepaea nemoralis

Boldness and exploration vary between shell morphs but not environmental contexts in the snail Cepaea nemoralis

Boldness and exploration vary between shell morphs but not environmental contexts in the snailCepaea nemoralis

Discrete or indiscrete? Redefining the colour polymorphism of the land snail Cepaea nemoralis

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