Biology subjects

Mayer, F.

Publications and source records attributed to Mayer, F..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2018

Proximity sensors reveal social information transfer in maternity colonies of Greater noctule bats

O_LIBats are a highly gregarious taxon suggesting that social information should be readily available for making decision. Social information transfer in maternity colonies might be a particularly efficient mechanism for naive pups to acquire information on resources from informed adults. However, such behaviour is difficult to study in the wild, in particular in elusive and small-bodied animals such as bats.\nC_LIO_LIThe goal of this study was to investigate the role of social information in acquiring access to two types of resources, which are crucial in the life of a juvenile bat: suitable roosting sites and fruitful feeding grounds. We hypothesized that fledging offspring will make use of social information by following informed members of the social groups to unknown roosts or foraging sites.\nC_LIO_LIIn the present study we applied for the first time the newly developed miniaturized proximity sensor system BATS, a fully automated system for documenting associations among individual bats both while roosting and while on the wing. We quantified associations among juveniles and other group member while switching roosts and during foraging.\nC_LIO_LIWe found clear evidence for information transfer while switching roosts, mainly among juveniles and their genetically identified mothers. Anecdotal observations suggest intentional guidance behaviour by mothers, indicated by repeated commuting flights among the pup and the target roost. Infrequent, short meetings with colony members other than the mother indicate local enhancement at foraging sites, but no intentional information transfer.\nC_LIO_LIOur study illustrates how advances in technology enable researchers to solve long-standing puzzles. Miniaturized proximity sensors facilitate the automated collection of continuous data sets and represent an ideal tool to gain novel insights into the sociobiology of elusive and small-bodied species.\nC_LI

animal behavior and cognition↗

bioRxiv2018

Reticulate Evolutionary History of a Western Palaearctic Bat Complex Explained by Multiple mtDNA Introgressions in Secondary Contacts

AimThere is increasing evidence showing that species within various taxonomic groups have reticulate evolutionary histories with several cases of introgression events. Investigating the phylogeography of species complexes can provide insight about the introgressions, when and where these hybridizations occurred. In this study, we investigate the biogeography of a widely distributed Western Palaearctic bat species complex, namely Myotis nattereri sensu lato. This complex exhibits high genetic diversity and in its western distribution range is composed of deeply diverged genetical lineages. However, little is known about the genetic structure of the eastern populations. We also infer the conservation and taxonomical implications of the identified genetic divergences.\n\nLocationWestern Palaearctic\n\nMethodsWe analyzed 175 specimens collected from 67 locations and sequenced one mitochondrial and four nuclear DNA markers, and combined these with the available Gen-Bank sequences. We used haplotype networks, PCA, t-SNE, and Bayesian clustering algorithms to investigate the population structure and Bayesian trees to infer the phylogenetic relationship of the lineages.\n\nMain conclusionsWe identified deeply divergent genetical lineages. In some cases, nuclear and mitochondrial markers were discordant, which we interpret are caused by hybridization between lineages. We identified three such introgression events. Our findings suggest that the M. nattereri complex has a reticulate evolutionary history with multiple cases of hybridizations between some of the identified lineages. We also suggest a revision in the taxonomy of this species group, with two possible new taxa: M. hoveli and M. tschuliensis.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2017

Demography and selection shape transcriptomic divergence in field crickets

Gene flow, demography, and selection can result in similar patterns of genomic variation and disentangling their effects is key to understanding speciation. Here, we assess transcriptomic variation to unravel the evolutionary history of Gryllus rubens and Gryllus texensis, cryptic field cricket species with highly divergent mating behavior. We infer their demographic history and screen their transcriptomes for footprints of selection in the context of the inferred demography. We find strong support for a long history of bidirectional gene flow, which ceased during the late Pleistocene, and a bottleneck in G. rubens consistent with a peripatric origin of this species. Importantly, the demographic history has likely strongly shaped patterns of neutral genetic differentiation (empirical FST distribution). Concordantly, FST based selection detection uncovers a large number of outliers, likely comprising many false positives, echoing recent theoretical insights. Alternative genetic signatures of positive selection, informed by the demographic history of the sibling species, highlighted a smaller set of loci; many of these are candidates for controlling variation in mating behavior. Our results underscore the importance of demography in shaping overall patterns of genetic divergence and highlight that examining both demography and selection facilitates a more complete understanding of genetic divergence during speciation.

evolutionary biology↗