Warm temperature impedes the spread of a heritable manipulative symbiont community in spider populations

White, J. R.; Robinson, J. D.; Doremus, M. R.

doi:10.64898/2026.08.31.747884

Home/Archive/bioRxiv

bioRxiv · 10.64898/2026.08.31.747884

Warm temperature impedes the spread of a heritable manipulative symbiont community in spider populations

White, J. R.·Robinson, J. D.·Doremus, M. R.

View original source ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

Heritable bacterial symbionts are pervasive in terrestrial arthropods, often imposing reproductive manipulations to promote their own spread within host populations. Co-infections are common, potentially allowing symbiont co-infectors to hitchhike through a host population. However, adverse thermal conditions can disrupt these communities, particularly when co-infectors vary in their thermal sensitivity. We used a multi-generation experiment to test whether warm (29 {degrees}C) conditions disrupted spread of heritable symbionts through uninfected populations of the spider, Mermessus fradeorum. We tested two common infection combinations: a single infection with a cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI) inducing Rickettsiella or a feminizing co-infection that included a feminizing Wolbachia, the same Rickettsiella, and up to three apparent hitchhikers (two additional Wolbachia strains and Tisiphia). We initiated replicate populations with 1/3 of one infection type and 2/3 uninfected spiders, evaluating population infection rate over 5 spider generations under different temperature regimes. Under cool (21{degrees}C) conditions, Wolbachia feminization drove co-infection to 88% and Rickettsiella CI drove single infection to 83% of host populations. Vertical transmission for all symbionts was high (97-99%) and hitchhiking symbionts also spread effectively. Under warm conditions, feminization and CI efficacy were reduced, and symbionts suffered variably reduced vertical transmission. Warm conditions ultimately destroyed the co-infecting symbiont consortium and impeded symbiont spread. On its own, though, Rickettsiella was still able to increase, despite reduced strength of CI. We hypothesize that contrasting tensions between feminizing spread of the symbiont consortium versus environmentally driven loss of function and transmission may explain observed patterns of mixed infections in field populations of this spider.

Explore related subjects

ecology Preprint

Keep this discovery

BibTeX RIS

White, J. R., Robinson, J. D., Doremus, M. R.. 2026-09-01. Warm temperature impedes the spread of a heritable manipulative symbiont community in spider populations. https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.08.31.747884

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

Discover connections

Preprint resource Preprint subject ecology subject

Connections use source metadata and explicit phrase matches, not verified experimental comparisons.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related preprints

bioRxiv2026

Environmental sensing capacity predicts bacterial ecological strategies and environmental preferences

The ability to sense environmental variation is a prerequisite for ecological success. Sensor domains enable bacteria to detect nutrients, neighboring organisms, and physicochemical conditions, but whether variation in these sensing systems reflects ecological specialization remains unresolved. Here, we analyzed sensor domains across 51,343 bacterial genomes and 255 soil metagenomes spanning a climatic gradient to determine whether sensory repertoires encode bacterial ecological strategies and environmental preferences. Sensory repertoires exhibited strong phylogenetic conservatism and revealed signatures of genome streamlining, indicating that environmental sensing reflects trade-offs associated with maintaining sensory complexity. Taxa occupying environmentally heterogeneous habitats, particularly free-living aerobic generalists, encoded the largest sensory repertoires, consistent with selection for expanded environmental information processing. To link sensory function with ecological adaptation, we mapped experimentally-characterized ligand-binding motifs (LBMs) across genomes and metagenomes. Distinct LBM profiles discriminated host-associated and free-living taxa, aerobic and anaerobic lineages, and generalists and non-generalists, revealing a tight coupling between sensory capacity and ecological strategy. Across soil communities, motifs associated with osmoprotection and oxygen sensing were consistently enriched under increasing aridity, linking sensory function to environmental filtering in natural ecosystems. These findings identify environmental sensing as an important organizational axis of bacterial trait-based ecology that integrates evolutionary history, ecological lifestyle, and adaptation to local conditions. Environmental sensing should be considered for predicting microbial niches and responses to environmental change.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2026

An ecological model of masting reproduction matches empirical dynamics

Masting, characterized by highly variable, synchronized, and intermittent seed or fruit production, represents a common reproductive strategy among perennial plants and has profound ecological consequences. Resource provisioning and pollen limitation have long been viewed as central physiological mechanisms underlying this strategy, recent empirical evidence also highlights the role of weather cues in initiating and synchronizing reproductive effort. Drawing on mechanisms that drive periodicity in disease dynamics, this study proposes an alternative proximate mechanism for masting. We develop and analyze a stage-structured population growth model in which developmental delays create population-level cycles, and demographic stochasticity adds individual-level variation; together, yielding masting-like patterns. We compare the behaviour of this novel model with that of the widely used resource budget model and empirically observed patterns of masting in perennial plants. To quantify and compare model outputs and empirical observations, we employ three continuous metrics of masting that capture volatility, synchrony, and periodicity. Our study provides an alternative proximate mechanism for masting. Comparison of this novel mechanism and the established resource-budget model to empirical time-series reveals that both represent realistic yet distinct forms of masting reproduction. Together, these models provide a foundation for further exploration of the conditions under which this reproductive strategy can evolve. Beyond masting, our results highlight the general importance of life-history timing and demographic stochasticity in shaping population ecology.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2026

Convergent stochastic assembly governs reef biofilm microbiomes across ecologically distinct benthic substrates

Understanding the processes that shape microbial biodiversity and community structure is a key objective of the field of microbial ecology. The processes driving assembly of benthic biofilm bacteria on functionally important reef substrates, such as crustose coralline algae (CCA) and calcium carbonate, are not well understood, despite their critical contributions to the maintenance of biodiversity and ecosystem function on reefs. To characterize the patterns of community assembly and biogeography on these substrates, climax biofilm bacterial communities from 11 reef sites were collected, and full 16S small subunit rRNA genes were sequenced. Though CCA- and carbonate-associated communities demonstrated different diversity, composition, and correlations with environmental conditions, communities on both substrates were assembled according to similar processes. Stochastic processes dominated assembly on both substrates, primarily drift with moderate influence from dispersal limitation and selection. Sub-communities of habitat generalists and specialists, as well as rare and abundant taxa, experienced disparate patterns of assembly that remained consistent between substrates, highlighting the importance of individual taxa traits in shaping community assembly. These results provide insight into the factors shaping benthic biofilm bacterial assembly and biogeography in a tropical reef ecosystem and contribute to understanding of reef resilience in the face of environmental change.

ecology↗