Sexual selection predicts the persistence of populations within altered environments

Parrett, Jonathan M.; Mann, Darren J.; Chung, Arthur Y. C.; Slade, Eleanor M.; Knell, Robert J.

doi:10.1111/ele.13358

Cited by 44 publications

(54 citation statements)

References 88 publications

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“…As we have pointed out above, temperature effects on sexual selection may feed back to impact population viability and evolvability. The evidence that populations where sexual selection is present or intense adapt faster and are more effective in tracking the environment keeps accumulating (Parrett et al ., 2019). A step forward would be to provide evidence that temperature effects on sexual selection can be strong enough to impact population viability and/or evolvability in a meaningful way.…”

Section: The Path Ahead: Studying the Interplay Between Temperature mentioning

confidence: 99%

Temperature as a modulator of sexual selection

et al. 2020

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A central question in ecology and evolution is to understand why sexual selection varies so much in strength across taxa; it has long been known that ecological factors are crucial to this. Temperature is a particularly salient abiotic ecological factor that modulates a wide range of physiological, morphological and behavioural traits, impacting individuals and populations at a global taxonomic scale. Furthermore, temperature exhibits substantial temporal variation (e.g. daily, seasonally and inter‐seasonally), and hence for most species in the wild sexual selection will regularly unfold in a dynamic thermal environment. Unfortunately, studies have so far almost completely neglected the role of temperature as a modulator of sexual selection. Here, we outline the main pathways through which temperature can affect the intensity and form (i.e. mechanisms) of sexual selection, via: (i) direct effects on secondary sexual traits and preferences (i.e. trait variance, opportunity for selection and trait–fitness covariance), and (ii) indirect effects on key mating parameters, sex‐specific reproductive costs/benefits, trade‐offs, demography and correlated abiotic factors. Building upon this framework, we show that, by focusing exclusively on the first‐order effects that environmental temperature has on traits linked with individual fitness and population viability, current global warming studies may be ignoring eco‐evolutionary feedbacks mediated by sexual selection. Finally, we tested the general prediction that temperature modulates sexual selection by conducting a meta‐analysis of available studies experimentally manipulating temperature and reporting effects on the variance of male/female reproductive success and/or traits under sexual selection. Our results show a clear association between temperature and sexual selection measures in both sexes. In short, we suggest that studying the feedback between temperature and sexual selection processes may be vital to developing a better understanding of variation in the strength of sexual selection in nature, and its consequences for population viability in response to environmental change (e.g. global warming).

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Section: The Path Ahead: Studying the Interplay Between Temperature mentioning

confidence: 99%

Temperature as a modulator of sexual selection

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…As we have pointed out above, temperature effects on sexual selection may feedback to impact population viability and evolvability. The evidence that populations where sexual selection is present or intense adapt faster and are more effective in tracking the environment keeps accumulating (Parrett et al, 2019). A step forward would be to provide evidence that temperature effects on sexual selection can be strong enough to impact population viability and/or evolvability in a meaningful way.…”

Section: (2) Considering Eco-evolutionary Feedbackmentioning

confidence: 99%

Temperature as a modulator of sexual selection

García‐Roa¹,

Garcia-Gonzalez²,

Noble³

et al. 2018

Preprint

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A central question in ecology and evolution is to understand why sexual selection varies so much in strength across taxa, and it has long been known that ecological factors are crucial to this respect. Temperature is a particularly critical abiotic ecological factor that can drastically modulate a wide range of physiological, morphological and behavioural traits, impacting individuals and populations at a global taxonomic scale. Furthermore, temperature exhibits substantial temporal variation (e.g. daily, seasonally and inter-seasonally), and hence for most species in the wild sexual selection will regularly unfold in a dynamic thermal environment. Unfortunately, studies have so far almost completely neglected the role of temperature as a modulator of sexual selection. Here, we outline the main pathways via which temperature can affect the intensity and form (i.e. mechanisms) of sexual selection, via: a) direct effects on secondary sexual traits and preferences (i.e. trait variance, opportunity for selection and trait-fitness covariance), and b) indirect effects on key mating parameters, sex-specific reproductive costs/benefits, trade-offs, demography and correlated abiotic factors. Building upon this framework, we show that, by focusing exclusively on the first order effects that environmental temperature has on traits linked with individual fitness and population viability, current global warming studies may be ignoring important eco-evolutionary feedbacks mediated by sexual selection. Finally, we tested the general prediction that temperature modulates sexual selection by conducting a meta-analysis of available studies experimentally manipulating temperature and reporting effects on the variance of male/female reproductive success and/or traits under sexual selection. Our results show a clear association between temperature and sexual selection measures in both sexes. In short, we suggest that studying the feedback between temperature and sexual selection processes can be vital to better understand variation in the strength of sexual selection in nature, and its consequences for population viability in response to environmental change (e.g. global warming).

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“…To measure the window of detection of mammal DNA within dung beetle guts, we constructed a controlled feeding experiment using individuals of the largest dung beetle species commonly occurring in our study area, Catharsius renaudpauliani . We collected 60 C. renaudpauliani individuals from standard human dung baited live pitfall traps, which were deployed for 24 hours at multiple locations as part of another study (see Parrett et al . 2019 for collection details).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dung beetles as vertebrate samplers – a test of high throughput analysis of dung beetle iDNA

Drinkwater

Clare

Chung

et al. 2021

Preprint

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The application of environmental DNA (eDNA) sampling in biodiversity surveys has gained widespread acceptance, especially in aquatic systems where free eDNA can be readily collected by filtering water. In terrestrial systems, eDNA-based approaches for assaying vertebrate biodiversity have tended to rely on blood-feeding invertebrates, including leeches and mosquitoes (termed invertebrate-derived DNA or iDNA). However, a key limitation of using blood-feeding taxa as samplers is that they are difficult to trap, and, in the case of leeches, are highly restricted to humid forest ecosystems. Dung beetles (superfamily Scarabaeoidea) feed on the faecal matter of terrestrial vertebrates and offer several potential benefits over blood-feeding invertebrates as samplers of vertebrate DNA. Importantly, these beetles can be easily captured in large numbers using simple, inexpensive baited traps; are globally distributed; and also occur in a wide range of biomes, allowing mammal diversity to be compared across habitats. In this exploratory study, we test the potential utility of dung beetles as vertebrate samplers by sequencing the mammal DNA contained within their guts. First, using a controlled feeding experiment, we show that mammalian DNA can be retrieved from the guts of large dung beetles (Catharsius renaudpauliani) for up to 10 hours after feeding. Second, by combining high-throughput sequencing of a multi-species assemblage of dung beetles with PCR replicates, we show that multiple mammal taxa can be identified with high confidence. By providing preliminary evidence that dung beetles can be used as a source of mammal DNA, our study highlights the potential for this widespread group to be used in future biodiversity monitoring surveys.

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Sexual selection predicts the persistence of populations within altered environments

Cited by 44 publications

References 88 publications

Temperature as a modulator of sexual selection

Temperature as a modulator of sexual selection

Temperature as a modulator of sexual selection

Dung beetles as vertebrate samplers – a test of high throughput analysis of dung beetle iDNA

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