ORCID Profile
0000-0003-0327-9580
Current Organisations
University of St Andrews
,
University of Aveiro
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Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 29-01-2021
DOI: 10.1038/S41597-020-00793-8
Abstract: The discovery of multi-species synchronous spawning of scleractinian corals on the Great Barrier Reef in the 1980s stimulated an extraordinary effort to document spawning times in other parts of the globe. Unfortunately, most of these data remain unpublished which limits our understanding of regional and global reproductive patterns. The Coral Spawning Database (CSD) collates much of these disparate data into a single place. The CSD includes 6178 observations (3085 of which were unpublished) of the time or day of spawning for over 300 scleractinian species in 61 genera from 101 sites in the Indo-Pacific. The goal of the CSD is to provide open access to coral spawning data to accelerate our understanding of coral reproductive biology and to provide a baseline against which to evaluate any future changes in reproductive phenology.
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 15-10-2021
DOI: 10.1101/2021.10.14.464352
Abstract: Niche construction is the process through which organisms modify environmental states in ways favourable to their own fitness. Here, we test experimentally whether scleractinian corals can be considered niche constructors. In particular, we demonstrate a positive feedback involved in corals building structures which facilitate recruitment. Coral larval recruitment is a key process for coral reef persistence. Larvae require low flow conditions to settle from the plankton, and hence the presence of colony structures that can break the flow is expected to facilitate coral recruitment. Here, we show an increase in settler presence on artificial tiles deployed in the field along a gradient of coral-built structural complexity. Structural complexity had a positive effect on settlement, with an increase of 15,71% of settler presence probability along the range of structural complexity considered. This result provides evidence that coral built structural complexity creates conditions that facilitate coral settlement, while demonstrating that corals meet the criteria for ecological niche construction.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 06-01-2016
DOI: 10.1111/ETH.12455
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 22-03-2019
DOI: 10.1111/ETH.12864
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2017
DOI: 10.1016/J.AQUATOX.2017.10.017
Abstract: Increased variability in water temperature is predicted to impose disproportionally greater fitness costs than mean increase in temperature. Additionally, water contaminants are currently a major source of human-induced stress likely to produce fitness costs. Global change models forecast an increase in these two human-induced stressors. Yet, in spite the growing interest in understanding how organisms respond to global change, the joint fitness effects of water pollution and increased variability in temperature remain unclear. Here, using a multigenerational design, we test the hypothesis that exposure to high concentrations of fluoxetine, a human medicine commonly found in freshwater systems, causes increased lifetime fitness costs, when associated with increased variability in temperature. Although fluoxetine and variability in temperature elicited some fitness cost when tested alone, when both stressors acted together the costs were disproportionally greater. The combined effect of fluoxetine and variability in temperature led to a reduction of 37% in lifetime reproductive success and a 17.9% decrease in population growth rate. Interestingly, fluoxetine and variability in temperature had no effect on the probability of survival. Freshwater systems are among the most imperilled ecosystems, often exposed to multiple human-induced stressors. Our results indicate that organisms face greater fitness risk when exposed to multiple stressors at the same time than when each stress acts alone. Our study highlights the importance of using a multi-generational approach to fully understand in idual environmental tolerance and its responses to a global change scenario in aquatic systems.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-2021
Publisher: PeerJ
Date: 11-10-2017
DOI: 10.7717/PEERJ.3899
Abstract: Predation is the main cause of mortality during early life stages. The ability to avoid and evade potential threats is, therefore, favoured to evolve during the early stages of life. It is also during these early stages that the process of familiarization occurs. It has long been recognized that associating with familiar in iduals confers antipredator benefits. Yet gaps in our knowledge remain about how predator evasion is affected by social experience during early stages. In this study, we test the hypothesis that familiarization acquired during early life stages improves escape responses. Using the guppy Poecilia reticulata , we examine the effect of different recent social conditions in the three main components of predator evasion. Using high-speed motion analysis, we compared the number of in iduals in each test group that responded to a visual stimulus, their reactive distance and magnitude of their response (maximum speed, maximum acceleration and distance) in groups composed either of familiar or non-familiar in iduals. Contrary to the prediction, groups composed of familiar in iduals were less responsive than groups of unfamiliar in iduals. Reactive distance and magnitude of response were more dependent on in idual size rather than on familiarity. Larger in iduals reached higher maximum speeds and total distances in their escape response. Our result indicates that familiarity is likely to affect behaviour earlier in a predator-prey interaction, which then affects the behavioural component of the response. Taken together, our study contributes to previous ones by distinguishing which components of an escape response are modulated by familiarity.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 2014
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 15-09-2010
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 10-01-2018
Abstract: Variation in predation risk is a major driver of ecological and evolutionary change, and, in turn, of geographical variation in behaviour. While predation risk is rarely constant in natural populations, the extent to which variation in predation risk shapes in idual behaviour in wild populations remains unclear. Here, we investigated in idual differences in reproductive behaviour in 16 Trinidadian guppy populations and related it to the observed variation in predator biomass each population experienced. Our results show that high heterogeneity in predator biomass is linked to in idual behavioural ersification. Increased within-population heterogeneity in predator biomass is also associated with behavioural polymorphism. Some in iduals adjust the frequency of consensual mating behaviour in response to differences in sex ratio context, while others display constantly at elevated frequencies. This pattern is analogous to a ‘live fast, die young’ pace-of-life syndrome. Notably, both high and low mean differences in predator biomass led to a homogenization of in idual frequency of consensual mating displays. Overall, our results demonstrate that in idual behavioural variation is associated with heterogeneity in predator biomass, but not necessarily with changes in mean values of predator biomass. We suggest that heterogeneity in predator biomass is an informative predictor of adaptive responses to changes in biotic conditions.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 28-03-2023
DOI: 10.1002/ECY.4017
Abstract: Scleractinian corals are colonial animals with a range of life‐history strategies, making up erse species assemblages that define coral reefs. We tagged and tracked ~30 colonies from each of 11 species during seven trips spanning 6 years (2009–2015) to measure their vital rates and competitive interactions on the reef crest at Trimodal Reef, Lizard Island, Australia. Pairs of species were chosen from five growth forms in which one species of the pair was locally rare (R) and the other common (C). The s led growth forms were massive ( Goniastrea pectinata [R] and G. retiformis [C]), digitate ( Acropora humilis [R] and A. cf. digitifera [C]), corymbose ( A. millepora [R] and A. nasuta [C]), tabular ( A. cytherea [R] and A. hyacinthus [C]) and arborescent ( A. robusta [R] and A. intermedia [C]). An extra corymbose species with intermediate abundance, A. spathulata was included when it became apparent that A. millepora was too rare on the reef crest, making the 11 species in total. The tagged colonies were visited each year in the weeks prior to spawning. During visits, two or more observers each took two or three photographs of each tagged colony from directly above and on the horizontal plane with a scale plate to track planar area. Dead or missing colonies were recorded and new colonies tagged to maintain ~30 colonies per species throughout the 6 years of the study. In addition to tracking tagged corals, 30 fragments were collected from neighboring untagged colonies of each species for counting numbers of eggs per polyp (fecundity) and fragments of untagged colonies were brought into the laboratory where spawned eggs were collected for biomass and energy measurements. We also conducted surveys at the study site to generate size structure data for each species in several of the years. Each tagged colony photograph was digitized by at least two people. Therefore, we could examine sources of error in planar area for both photographers and outliners. Competitive interactions were recorded for a subset of species by measuring the margins of tagged colony outlines interacting with neighboring corals. The study was abruptly ended by Tropical Cyclone Nathan (Category 4) that killed all but nine of the more than 300 tagged colonies in early 2015. Nonetheless, these data will be of use to other researchers interested in coral demography and coexistence, functional ecology, and parametrizing population, community, and ecosystem models. The data set is not copyright restricted, and users should cite this paper when using the data.
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 21-10-2021
DOI: 10.1101/2021.10.19.464984
Abstract: The process of coral recruitment is crucial to the functioning of coral reef ecosystems, as well as recovery of coral assemblages following disturbances. Fishes can be key mediators of this process by removing benthic competitors like algae, but their foraging impacts are capable of being facilitative or harmful to coral recruits depending on species traits. Reef fish assemblages are highly erse in foraging strategies and the relationship between this ersity with coral settlement and recruitment success remains poorly understood. Here, we investigate how foraging trait ersity of reef fish assemblages covaries with coral settlement and recruitment success across multiple sites at Lizard Island, Great Barrier Reef. Using a multi-model inference approach incorporating six metrics of fish assemblage foraging ersity (foraging rates, trait richness, trait evenness, trait ergence, herbivore abundance, and sessile invertivore abundance), we found that herbivore abundance was positively related to both coral settlement and recruitment success. However, the correlation with herbivore abundance was not as strong in comparison with foraging trait ersity metrics. Coral settlement and recruitment exhibited a negative relationship with foraging trait ersity, especially with trait ergence and richness in settlement. Our findings provide further evidence that fish play a role in making benthic habitats more conducive for coral settlement and recruitment. Because of their ability to shape the reef benthos, the variation of fish bio ersity is likely to contribute to spatially uneven patterns of coral recruitment and reef recovery.
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 24-09-2014
Publisher: PeerJ
Date: 02-02-2023
DOI: 10.7717/PEERJ.14638
Abstract: Evidence of male-male courtship display is widespread across the animal kingdom. Yet, its function and evolutionary origin remain unclear. Here, we hypothesise that male-male courtship display evolved in response to selection pressure exerted by intrasexual competition during male-female courtship interactions. Intrasexual competition can be caused by bystander male pressure through eavesdropping and exploiting on displayer male’s courtship interactions with females. This bystander pressure can lead to an audience effect by the displayer, who will change their courtship behaviour in the presence of bystanders and display directly towards them, even in the absence of females, as an intimidation strategy. In species where this selection pressure has taken place, we predict that the male courtship display will have a dual function: attract females and deter competitors. Therefore, we expected to find more evidence of bystander-related behaviours in species for which male-male courtship display is linked to intrasexual competition compared to species for which other explanatory hypotheses are more plausible ( e.g ., mistaken identity or courtship practice). We conducted two systematic reviews to test this hypothesis. First, we conducted a search for studies of species with courtship display between males and of the hypotheses provided to explain this behaviour. Our goal was to identify the species with male-male courtship display and evidence of intrasexual competition. Second, among the species with male-male courtship display, we searched for evidence of bystander-related behaviours, i.e ., articles referring to eavesdropping, exploitation, and audience effect during male-female courtship interactions. Our goal was to test whether species with intrasexual competition are also more likely to show bystander-related behaviours. Although most studies reporting male courtship display towards other males do not suggest any explanatory hypothesis for this behaviour, the intrasexual competition hypothesis was largely mentioned and supported by some studies reviewed. Additionally, there is more evidence of eavesdropping and of all three bystander-related behaviours combined in species for which the intrasexual competition hypothesis was suggested. Overall, our review supports the hypothesis that intrasexual competition can play a key role in male courtship display evolution, namely that male-male courtship display may have evolved as a secondary function of male-female courtship interactions via bystander male pressure. However, our review also shows that despite the increasing interest in same-sex sexual behaviours, and male-male courtship display in particular, most studies were found to be merely descriptive, and the hypotheses they suggested to explain courtship display between males mostly speculative. This highlights an important gap in the literature. To clarify both the evolution and the function of male-male courtship display, this behaviour needs to be empirically studied more often. Our review can help advancing this research area, as it makes the 20 species with male-male courtship display for which the intrasexual competition hypothesis was suggested excellent candidates for empirical research.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 28-09-2010
DOI: 10.1111/J.1420-9101.2010.02105.X
Abstract: Polyandry has the potential to affect the distribution of phenotypes and to shape the direction of sexual selection. Here, we explore this potential using Trinidadian guppies as a model system and ask whether polyandry leads to directional and/or ersifying selection of male phenotypic traits. In this study, we compare the phenotypic ersity of offspring from multiply and singly sired broods. To quantify phenotypic ersity, we first combine phenotypic traits using multivariate methods, and then take the dispersion of in iduals in multivariate space as our measure of ersity. We show that, when each trait is examined separately, polyandry generates offspring with a higher proportion of bright coloration, indicating directional selection. However, our multivariate approach reveals that this directionality is accompanied by an increase in phenotypic ersity. These results suggest that polyandry (i) selects for the production of sons with the preferred brighter colour phenotypes whereas (ii) enhancing the ersity of male sexual traits. Promoting phenotypic ersity may be advantageous in coping with environmental and reproductive variability by increasing long-term fitness.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 2012
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 06-2006
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 05-04-2013
DOI: 10.1111/ETH.12087
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 19-08-2021
DOI: 10.1101/2021.08.19.456946
Abstract: The structure of ecosystems is usually determined by the shape of the organisms that build it, commonly known as ecosystem engineers. Understanding to what extent plasticity and environmental filtering determine variation in ecosystem engineer physical structure is necessary to predict how ecosystem structure may change. Here, we explored coral survival and the plasticity of morphological traits that are critical for habitat provision in coral reefs. We conducted a reciprocal clonal transplant experiment in which branching corals from the genus Porites and Acropora were moved to and from a deep and a shallow site within a lagoon in the Mal es. Survival and trait analyses showed that transplant destination consistently induced the strongest changes, particularly among Acropora spp. The origin of the corals only marginally affected some of the traits. We also detected variation in the way in iduals from the same species and site differentiate their shape, showing that traits linked to habitat provision are phenotypically plastic. The results suggest coral phenotypic plasticity plays a stronger role than environmental filtering, in determining zonation of coral morphologies, and consequently the habitats they provide for other taxa.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 06-03-2023
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 02-01-2023
DOI: 10.1111/ETH.13356
Abstract: While most introduced species fail to become invasive, those that succeed are a major threat to global bio ersity. To improve the management of invasive species, a predictive understanding of invasion risk is needed. There is strong evidence that invasive success is linked to specific traits of the introduced species, and it is well recognised that phenotypic trait heterogeneity is linked to population viability. However, the effects of population‐level traits, and the contribution of trait heterogeneity to invasive success, remain poorly addressed in invasion biology. Here, we address this gap by quantifying the contribution of founding population phenotypic heterogeneity to reproductive success (a proxy for invasion success). Namely, we use the Trinidadian guppy ( Poecilia reticulata ) to test the prediction that founding populations composed of phenotypically heterogeneous males produce larger broods of more viable offspring than founding populations of reduced male heterogeneity. We found that founding populations of greater male phenotypic heterogeneity produced larger broods. Furthermore, whilst male sexual behaviour was an important predictor of brood size for all groups of reduced male heterogeneity, this was not observed for phenotypically heterogeneous populations. Taken together, our results provide strong support for the key role phenotypic heterogeneity plays in the invasion process.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 03-2002
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 10-2015
DOI: 10.1002/ECE3.1723
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 19-05-2010
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 07-2018
DOI: 10.1111/GEB.12729
Publisher: Inter-Research Science Center
Date: 30-06-2022
DOI: 10.3354/MEPS14080
Abstract: The structure of an ecosystem is usually determined by the shape of the organisms that build it, commonly known as ecosystem engineers. Understanding to what extent plasticity and environmental filtering determine variation in the physical structure of ecosystem engineers is necessary to predict how ecosystem structure may change. Here, we explored coral survival and the plasticity of morphological traits that are critical for habitat provision in coral reefs. We conducted a reciprocal clonal transplant experiment in which branching corals from the genera Porites and Acropora were moved to and from a deep and a shallow site within a lagoon in the Mal es. Survival and trait analyses revealed that transplant destination consistently induced the strongest changes, particularly among Acropora spp. The origin of the corals had only marginal effects on some of the traits. We also detected variation in the way in iduals from the same species and site differentiate in their shape, showing that traits linked to habitat provision are phenotypically plastic. The results suggest that in the quite common lagoonal conditions studied here, coral phenotypic plasticity plays a stronger role than environmental filtering, in determining the zonation of coral morphologies, and consequently the habitats they provide for other organisms.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2018
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
No related grants have been discovered for Miguel Barbosa.