Aqueous calcium (Ca) decline is threatening freshwater ecosystems worldwide. There are great concerns about the possible ecological consequences of Ca limitation combined with biological pressures ...like predation. Here we investigated the interactions between Ca restriction and fish predation risk on the phenotypic plasticity in the keystone herbivore Daphnia, together with physiological responses underlying the plastic trait changes. Fish predation risk induced D. pulex to mature earlier and produce more but smaller offspring at adequate Ca. Declining Ca inhibited the expression of defensive traits, with the inhibitive degree showing a linear or threshold-limited dynamic. The presence of predation risk mitigated the negative effect of declining Ca on reducing body size but exacerbated the delay in maturity, indicating a life history trade-off for larger body size rather than the current reproduction in multi-stressed Daphnia. Actin 3-mediated cytoskeleton and AMPK β-mediated energy metabolism were highly correlated with these plastic trait changes. Altered phenotypic plasticity in planktonic animals is expected to trigger many ecological impacts from individual fitness to community structure, thus providing new insights into the mechanisms underlying decreased Ca affecting lake ecosystems.
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•Declining Ca inhibits predation-induced trait expression in Daphnia.•Predation mitigates the reducing effect of declining Ca on body size.•Predation exacerbates the delay in maturity caused by declining Ca.•Daphnia showed life history trade-offs for larger body size rather than reproduction.•Trait responses are correlated with changes in cytoskeleton and energy metabolism.
Photosynthetic pigment composition has been a major study target in plant ecophysiology during the last three decades. Although more than 2000 papers have been published, a comprehensive evaluation ...of the responses of photosynthetic pigment composition to environmental conditions is not yet available. After an extensive survey, we compiled data from 525 papers including 809 species (subkingdom Viridiplantae) in which pigment composition was described. A meta‐analysis was then conducted to assess the ranges of photosynthetic pigment content. Calculated frequency distributions of pigments were compared with those expected from the theoretical pigment composition. Responses to environmental factors were also analysed. The results revealed that lutein and xanthophyll cycle pigments (VAZ) were highly responsive to the environment, emphasizing the high phenotypic plasticity of VAZ, whereas neoxanthin was very stable. The present meta‐analysis supports the existence of relatively narrow limits for pigment ratios and also supports the presence of a pool of free ‘unbound’ VAZ. Results from this study provide highly reliable ranges of photosynthetic pigment contents as a framework for future research on plant pigments.
Adult gliomas are aggressive brain tumours associated with low patient survival rates and limited life expectancy. The most important hallmark of this type of tumour is its invasive behaviour, ...characterized by a markedly phenotypic plasticity, infiltrative tumour morphologies and the ability of malignant progression from low- to high-grade tumour types. Indeed, the widespread infiltration of healthy brain tissue by glioma cells is largely responsible for poor prognosis and the difficulty of finding curative therapies. Meanwhile, mathematical models have been established to analyse potential mechanisms of glioma invasion. In this review, we start with a brief introduction to current biological knowledge about glioma invasion, and then critically review and highlight future challenges for mathematical models of glioma invasion.
Forest trees facing climate change may persist in a short term through acclimation within the limits of their phenotypic plasticity. In the longer term, however, evolutionary adaptation would be ...needed for populations to thrive in the changed climate, or species may migrate to new areas as climate becomes favorable there. European beech is one of the most important tree species in western and central Europe, and projections indicate that it may contract its southern range and migrate towards northern and north-eastern Europe in the future climates. It is therefore important to recognize the level of variation in climatic adaptation and climatic responsiveness of populations which are likely the source of genetic material for expanding the species range. In this study we examined variation in growth and productivity among 39 European beech populations, which represent the north-eastern margin of the species distribution range. We employed the transfer function and the Universal Response Function approaches to analyze populations’ performance in response to the climatic transfer across five provenance test sites and in relationship to climate at the populations’ origin and planting sites. We found significant but low variation among tested populations in tree diameter (DBH; cm) and Volume index (m3 ha−1) and significant population × site interaction at age 30 years. That variation, however, was only weakly related to gradients of climatic variables represented by the set of sampled populations. The variable performance of populations across planting sites, and the importance of planting sites’ climate in explaining traits’ variation in this experiment confirm the plastic response of examined populations to climate change. Our findings indicate that beech populations from the analyzed region have a high acclimation potential to the projected changes in climate, although for high-altitude populations (from > 600 m a.s.l) the negative effect of transfers to warmer and drier conditions was observed. Detailed knowledge of the plasticity of response and adaptive potential of marginal beech populations in the longer term would be needed to guide management decisions to help future forests to cope with climate change.
•Beech populations at species north-east margin would contribute to range expansion.•Those populations vary in diameter growth and productivity across planting sites.•Variation was related more to the climate of planting site than population origin.•The pattern on variation reflects plastic response to climate change.•Beech populations from analyzed region have overall a high acclimation potential.
•We exposed 15 amphibian populations to 3 common insecticides.•We examined their tolerance and inducible tolerance.•We found high variation among the populations for all three insecticides.
Human ...impacts on ecological communities are pervasive and species must either move or adapt to changing environmental conditions. For environments polluted by contaminants, researchers have found hundreds of target pest species evolving increased tolerance, but we have substantially fewer cases of evolved tolerance in non-target species. When species do evolve increased tolerance, inducible tolerance can provide immediate protection and favor the evolution of increased tolerance over generations via genetic assimilation. Using a model larval amphibian (wood frogs, Rana sylvatica), we examined the tolerance of 15 populations from western Pennsylvania and eastern New York (USA), when first exposed to no pesticide or sublethal concentrations and subsequently exposed to lethal concentrations of three common insecticides (carbaryl, chlorpyrifos, and diazinon). We found high variation in naïve tolerance among the populations for all three insecticides. We also discovered that nearly half of the populations exhibited inducible tolerance, though the degree of inducible tolerance (magnitude of tolerance plasticity; MoTP) varied. We observed a cross-tolerance pattern of the populations between chlorpyrifos and diazinon, but no pattern of similar MoTP among the pesticides. With populations combined from two regions, increased tolerance was not associated with proximity to agricultural fields, but there were correlations between proximity to agriculture and MoTP. Collectively, these results suggests that amphibian populations possess a wide range of naïve tolerance to common pesticides, with many also being able to rapidly induce increased tolerance. Future research should examine inducible tolerance in a wide variety of other taxa and contaminants to determine the ubiquity of these responses to anthropogenic factors.
Inflammation predisposes to the development of cancer and promotes all stages of tumorigenesis. Cancer cells, as well as surrounding stromal and inflammatory cells, engage in well-orchestrated ...reciprocal interactions to form an inflammatory tumor microenvironment (TME). Cells within the TME are highly plastic, continuously changing their phenotypic and functional characteristics. Here, we review the origins of inflammation in tumors, and the mechanisms whereby inflammation drives tumor initiation, growth, progression, and metastasis. We discuss how tumor-promoting inflammation closely resembles inflammatory processes typically found during development, immunity, maintenance of tissue homeostasis, or tissue repair and illuminate the distinctions between tissue-protective and pro-tumorigenic inflammation, including spatiotemporal considerations. Defining the cornerstone rules of engagement governing molecular and cellular mechanisms of tumor-promoting inflammation will be essential for further development of anti-cancer therapies.
Inflammation predisposes to the development of cancer and promotes all stages of tumorigenesis. Cancer cells, as well as surrounding stromal and inflammatory cells, engage in well-orchestrated reciprocal interactions to form an inflammatory tumor microenvironment (TME). Cells within the TME are highly plastic, continuously changing their phenotypic and functional characteristics. Here, we review the origins of inflammation in tumors, and the mechanisms whereby inflammation drives tumor initiation, growth, progression, and metastasis. We discuss how tumor-promoting inflammation closely resembles inflammatory processes typically found during development, immunity, maintenance of tissue homeostasis, or tissue repair and illuminate the distinctions between tissue-protective and pro-tumorigenic inflammation, including spatiotemporal considerations. Defining the cornerstone rules of engagement governing molecular and cellular mechanisms of tumor-promoting inflammation will be essential for further development of anti-cancer therapies.
Seasonal changes in environmental conditions require substantial physiological responses for population persistence. Phenotypic plasticity is a common mechanism to tolerate these changes, but for ...organisms with short generation times rapid adaptation may also be a contributing factor. Here, we used a common garden design (11 °C and 18 °C) to disentangle the impacts of adaptation from phenotypic plasticity on thermal tolerance of the calanoid copepod Acartia hudsonica collected throughout spring and summer of a single year. Acartia hudsonica were collected from five time points across the season and thermal tolerance was determined using critical thermal maximum CTmax followed by additional measurements after one generation of common garden. As sea surface temperature increased through the season, field collected individuals showed corresponding increases in thermal tolerance but decreases in body size. Despite different thermal tolerances of wild collections, after one generation of common garden animals did not differ in CTmax within thermal treatments. Instead, there was evidence of phenotypic plasticity where higher temperatures were tolerated by the 18 °C versus the 11 °C treatment animals across all collections. Despite persisting differences between collections due to either adaptation or parental effects, acclimation also had significant effects on body size, with the warm treatment resulting in smaller individuals, consistent with the temperature size rule. Therefore, the differences in thermal tolerance and body size observed in field collected A. hudsonica were predominantly driven by plasticity rather than adaptation. However, the observed decrease in body size suggests that nutrient availability for higher trophic levels and ecosystem functioning could be impacted if temperatures consistently increase with no change in copepod abundance. This is the first record of A. hudsonica in the Baltic Sea known to the authors.
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•Acartia hudsonica shows strong seasonality in thermal tolerance.•The observed seasonal differences in CTmax are consistent with pheno-typic plasticity not adaptation.•Body size in A. hudsonica is negatively correlated to environmental and developmental temperature.
Fritillaria cirrhosa is a high-altitude species that grows at elevations below the furthest extent of the snowline and it is vulnerable to global climate change. During the process of artificial ...cultivation, F. cirrhosa has suffered from the loss of flowers and fruits, and even stems, a phenotype referred to as abnormal. We hypothesize that significant differences exist between the rhizosphere microbial communities, photosynthesis systems, and bulb metabolic profiles for F. cirrhosa plants with normal and abnormal phenotypes. In this study, we have conducted comparative research based on high-throughput sequencing, portable photosynthesis systems, and UPLC-MS/MS platforms. Significant variation was observed between the rhizosphere microbial communities of normal (SY) and abnormal (ASY) plant phenotype groups. Observed variation included fungal diversity, sucrase activity and alkaline phosphatase activity. There was no significant variation seen in the diversity of endophytic fungi and bacteria. The leaves of F. cirrhosa with phenotypic changes adapted the unshaded environment by adjusting their structure and photosynthetic system, such as adaptive change of stroma lamellae. Metabolomics analysis showed that the bulbs of F. cirrhosa after phenotypic plasticity, generated decreased contents of cytokinins, nucleosides and cordyline/hupebenizine, as well as increased contents of auxin/jasmonic acid/salicylic acid. These results suggest that phenotypic plasticity phenotypic plasticity is an effective strategy for F. cirrhosa to survive stress conditions by adaptation of leaf traits and increased bulb alkaloid content, which ultimately lead to a decrease in yield. Comprehensive research will be able to provide novel insights into the phenotypic plasticity of endangered plants with abnormal stem and provide an in-depth analysis of the leading influencing factors.
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•Phenotypic plasticity of F. cirrhosa was correlated with fungal variation.•The photosynthesis variation was an adaption strategy after phenotypic plasticity.•The soil enzyme occurred variation after the phenotypic plasticity.•Nucleoside decreased after phenotypic plasticity in bulbs of F. cirrhosa.•Cordyline and hupebenizine decreased after phenotypic plasticity in bulbs.
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