Evolutionary trade-offs between heat and cold tolerance limit responses to fluctuating climates

Schou, Mads Fristrup; Engelbrecht, Anel; Brand, Z.; Svensson, Erik I.; Cloete, S.W.P.; Cornwallis, Charlie K.

doi:10.1126/sciadv.abn9580

Cited by 18 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 74 publications

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“…This suggests that adaptations to favor either cold or heat tolerance in stingless bees are costly, which might limit their potential for adaptation to changes in temperature (e.g. Schou et al, 2022). The two warmadapted species are common in tropical dry forests while the single cold adapted species in our study is among the few stingless bees that are restricted to montane environments in South America.…”

Section: Critical Thermal Limits and Morphological Traitsmentioning

confidence: 82%

Neotropical stingless bees display a strong response in cold tolerance with changes in elevation

Gonzalez

Oyen

Vitale

et al. 2022

Conservation Physiology

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Tropical pollinators are expected to experience substantial effects due to climate change, but aspects of their thermal biology remain largely unknown. We investigated the thermal tolerance of stingless honey-making bees, the most ecologically, economically and culturally important group of tropical pollinators. We assessed changes in the lower (CTMin) and upper (CTMax) critical thermal limits of 17 species (12 genera) at two elevations (200 and 1500 m) in the Colombian Andes. In addition, we examined the influence of body size (intertegular distance, ITD), hairiness (thoracic hair length) and coloration (lightness value) on bees’ thermal tolerance. Because stingless beekeepers often relocate their colonies across the altitudinal gradient, as an initial attempt to explore potential social responses to climatic variability, we also tracked for several weeks brood temperature and humidity in nests of three species at both elevations. We found that CTMin decreased with elevation while CTMax was similar between elevations. CTMin and CTMax increased (low cold tolerance and high heat tolerance) with increasing ITD, hair length and lightness value, but these relationships were weak and explained at most 10% of the variance. Neither CTMin nor CTMax displayed significant phylogenetic signal. Brood nest temperature tracked ambient diel variations more closely in the low-elevation site, but it was constant and higher at the high-elevation site. In contrast, brood nest humidity was uniform throughout the day regardless of elevation. The stronger response in CTMin, and a similar CTMax between elevations, follows a pattern of variation documented across a wide range of taxa that is commonly known as the Brett’s heat-invariant hypothesis. Our results indicate differential thermal sensitivities and potential thermal adaptations to local climate, which support ongoing conservation policies to restrict the long-distance relocations of colonies. They also shed light on how malleable nest thermoregulation can be across elevations.

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Section: Critical Thermal Limits and Morphological Traitsmentioning

confidence: 82%

Neotropical stingless bees display a strong response in cold tolerance with changes in elevation

Gonzalez

Oyen

Vitale

et al. 2022

Conservation Physiology

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“…domesticus , S. c. massaicus, and S. c. australis ) kept at the Oudtshoorn Research Farm (total individuals = 30). We used pedMine version 1.0.0 ( Douglas and Sandefur, 2008 ) to identify the individuals with the most distant links in the population pedigree ( Schou et al, 2022 ), allowing the maximum amount of genetic diversity in populations to be sampled. Samples were sequenced at Science for Life Laboratory, the National Genomics Infrastructure, using Illumina HiSeq 2500, following the manufacturer’s protocol.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Finally, we verified that our analyses of group size effects on individual measures of reproductive success (Specific analyses section ‘Testing how group size and the need for parental care influences male and female reproductive success’) were not influenced by levels of relatedness within groups. Average relatedness between same sex individuals was calculated from a nine-generation pedigree generated from pair breeding adults (see Schou et al, 2022 , for details). Average relatedness was logit transformed prior to analyses due to being bounded between 0 and 1.…”

Section: Supplementary Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental evidence that group size generates divergent benefits of cooperative breeding for male and female ostriches

Melgar

Schou

Bonato

et al. 2022

eLife

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Cooperative breeding allows the costs of parental care to be shared, but as groups become larger, such benefits often decline as competition increases and group cohesion breaks down. The counteracting forces of cooperation and competition are predicted to select for an optimal group size, but variation in groups is ubiquitous across cooperative breeding animals. Here, we experimentally test if group sizes vary because of sex differences in the costs and benefits of cooperative breeding in captive ostriches, Struthio camelus, and compare this to the distribution of group sizes in the wild. We established 96 groups with different numbers of males (1 or 3) and females (1, 3, 4, or 6) and manipulated opportunities for cooperation over incubation. There was a clear optimal group size for males (one male with four or more females) that was explained by high costs of competition and negligible benefits of cooperation. Conversely, female reproductive success was maximised across a range of group sizes due to the benefits of cooperation with male and female group members. Reproductive success in intermediate sized groups was low for both males and females due to sexual conflict over the timing of mating and incubation. Our experiments show that sex differences in cooperation and competition can explain group size variation in cooperative breeders.

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“…For instance, elevated CO 2 both raises global temperatures and acidifies the oceans, yet antagonistic selection on physiological responses to warming and acidification prevents simultaneous adaptation to both threats (Dam et al, 2021; see also Kelly et al, 2016). Similarly, a two-decade study of wild ostriches revealed a genetic trade-off between cold-tolerance and heat-tolerance (Schou et al, 2022). As a result, the capacity for adaptation to more variable temperatures under climate change will be precluded because individuals who perform well under the increasingly frequent cold snaps will also perform much worse during the increasingly frequent heat waves, and vice versa.…”

Section: Misalignment Between Genetic Covariation and Direction Of Se...mentioning

confidence: 99%

When will a changing climate outpace adaptive evolution?

Martin

Silva

Moore

et al. 2023

WIREs Climate Change

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Decades of research have illuminated the underlying ingredients that determine the scope of evolutionary responses to climate change. The field of evolutionary biology therefore stands ready to take what it has learned about influences upon the rate of adaptive evolution—such as population demography, generation time, and standing genetic variation—and apply it to assess if and how populations can evolve fast enough to “keep pace” with climate change. Here, our review highlights what the field of evolutionary biology can contribute and what it still needs to learn to provide more mechanistic predictions of the winners and losers of climate change. We begin by developing broad predictions for contemporary evolution to climate change based on theory. We then discuss methods for assessing climate‐driven contemporary evolution, including quantitative genetic studies, experimental evolution, and space‐for‐time substitutions. After providing this mechanism‐focused overview of both the evidence for evolutionary responses to climate change and more specifically, evolving to keep pace with climate change, we next consider the factors that limit actual evolutionary responses. In this context, we consider the dual role of phenotypic plasticity in facilitating but also impeding evolutionary change. Finally, we detail how a deeper consideration of evolutionary constraints can improve forecasts of responses to climate change and therefore also inform conservation and management decisions.This article is categorized under: Climate, Ecology, and Conservation > Observed Ecological Changes Climate, Ecology, and Conservation > Extinction Risk Assessing Impacts of Climate Change > Evaluating Future Impacts of Climate Change

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Evolutionary trade-offs between heat and cold tolerance limit responses to fluctuating climates

Cited by 18 publications

References 74 publications

Neotropical stingless bees display a strong response in cold tolerance with changes in elevation

Neotropical stingless bees display a strong response in cold tolerance with changes in elevation

Experimental evidence that group size generates divergent benefits of cooperative breeding for male and female ostriches

When will a changing climate outpace adaptive evolution?

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