Browsing by Author "Skelton, James"

Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
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    The dilution effect in a freshwater mutualism: Impacts of introduced host species on native symbionts
    Creed, Robert P.; Bailey, Gretchen L.; Skelton, James; Brown, Bryan L. (Wiley, 2022-01-18)
    The dilution effect was originally proposed to describe the negative effect of increased host diversity on parasite or pathogen abundance; with greater host diversity, parasite or pathogen levels per host are predicted to be lower due to a higher probability of dispersing parasites or pathogens encountering noncompetent hosts. Dilution effects could occur in many mutualisms if dispersing symbionts encounter hosts that vary in their competence. Introduced, non-native hosts can change the community competence of a local group of host species. Crayfish introductions are occurring world-wide and these introductions are likely disrupting native crayfish-symbiont systems. Branchiobdellidan symbionts declined on native Cambarus crayfish co-occurring with non-native Faxonius crayfish in the New River watershed, USA. We performed an experiment investigating the effect of host density (1 vs. 2 native hosts) and host diversity (1 native host and 1 introduced host) on branchiobdellidan abundance. The introduced Faxonius cristavarius is a noncompetent host for these worms. Six C. ingens were stocked on a Cambarus chasmodactylus in each treatment and worm numbers were followed over 34 days. Worm numbers decreased over time on C. chasmodactylus alone and in the treatment in which a C. chasmodactylus was paired with an F. cristavarius. Worm numbers remained highest in the 2 C. chasmodactylus treatment. There was no effect of host diversity on worm reproduction. Crayfish invasions may have negative effects on mutualistic symbionts depending on the competence of introduced hosts. Loss of native symbionts is one of the potential hidden, negative effects of invasions on native freshwater diversity.
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    Ectosymbionts alter spontaneous responses to the Earth’s magnetic field in a crustacean
    Landler, Lukas; Skelton, James; Painter, Michael Scott; Youmans, Paul W.; Muheim, Rachel; Creed, Robert P.; Brown, Bryan L.; Phillips, John B. (Nature Publishing Group, 2019-02-28)
    Magnetic sensing is used to structure every-day, non-migratory behaviours in many animals. We show that crayfish exhibit robust spontaneous magnetic alignment responses. These magnetic behaviours are altered by interactions with Branchiobdellidan worms, which are obligate ectosymbionts. Branchiobdellidan worms have previously been shown to have positive effects on host growth when present at moderate densities, and negative effects at relatively high densities. Here we show that crayfish with moderate densities of symbionts aligned bimodally along the magnetic northeast-southwest axis, similar to passive magnetic alignment responses observed across a range of stationary vertebrates. In contrast, crayfish with high symbiont densities failed to exhibit consistent alignment relative to the magnetic field. Crayfish without symbionts shifted exhibited quadramodal magnetic alignment and were more active. These behavioural changes suggest a change in the organization of spatial behaviour with increasing ectosymbiont densities. We propose that the increased activity and a switch to quadramodal magnetic alignment may be associated with the use of systematic search strategies. Such a strategy could increase contact-rates with conspecifics in order to replenish the beneficial ectosymbionts that only disperse between hosts during direct contact. Our results demonstrate that crayfish perceive and respond to magnetic fields, and that symbionts influence magnetically structured spatial behaviour of their hosts. © 2019, The Author(s).
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    Effects of cavity orientation on nesting success inferred from long-term monitoring of the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker
    Landler, Lukas; Skelton, James; Jusino, Michelle A.; Van Lanen, Andy; Walters, Jeffrey R. (Nature Portfolio, 2022-07-08)
    Animals that create structures often display non-random patterns in the direction of their constructions. This tendency of oriented construction is widely presumed to be an adaptive trait of the constructor's extended phenotype, but there is little empirical support for this hypothesis. Particularly, for cavity nesting-birds there is a lack of studies examining this issue. In this study of a primary cavity excavator, the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker (Dryobates borealis), we show that cavity entrances exhibited a strong westward bias in all 11 of the populations examined throughout the geographic range of the species in the southeastern United States. This species requires cavities in living pine trees for roosting and nesting that often take many years to complete, resulting in many incomplete excavations on the landscape. We used population monitoring data to show that orientation was stronger among completed cavities than incomplete cavities. There was a significant correlation between latitude and average cavity direction among populations, turning northward with increasing latitude, suggesting adaptation to local conditions. Long-term monitoring data showed that cavity orientation and breeding group size are correlated with egg hatching rates, fledging rates, and the total number of fledglings produced per nest. Our results provide empirical evidence from extensive long-term data that directional orientation in animal constructions is an important feature of the extended animal phenotype and have immediate implications for animal ecology and the conservation of endangered species.
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    The potential impacts of invasions on native symbionts
    Creed, Robert P.; Brown, Bryan L.; Skelton, James (Wiley, 2022-08)
    Symbionts, including parasites, pathogens, and mutualists, can play important roles in determining whether or not invasions by host species will be successful. Loss of enemies from the native habitat, such as parasites and pathogens, can allow for higher invader fitness in the invaded habitat. The presence of mutualists (e.g., pollinators, seed dispersers, mycorrhizae, and rhizobial bacteria) in the invaded habitat can facilitate invasion success. Although there has been a great deal of research focusing on how invading hosts may benefit from enemy losses or mutualist gains, far less attention has focused on how native symbiont populations and communities respond to invasion by non-indigenous hosts and symbionts. In this paper, we present a conceptual framework examining how symbionts such as parasites, pathogens, commensals, and mutualists can influence invader success and whether these native symbionts will benefit or decline during invasion. The first major factor in this framework is the competence of the invading host relative to the native hosts. Low- or non-competent hosts that support few if any native symbionts could cause declines in native symbiont taxa. Competent invading hosts could potentially support native parasites, pathogens, commensals, and mutualists, especially if there is a closely related or similar host in the invaded range. These symbionts could inhibit or facilitate invasion or have no discernible effect on the invading host. An understanding of how native symbionts interact with competent versus non-competent invading hosts as well as various invading symbionts is critical to our understanding of invasion success, its consequences for invaded communities and how native symbionts in these communities will fare in the face of invasion.
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    Towards an understanding of symbiont natural history through studies of crayfish and their annelid associates
    Skelton, James (Virginia Tech, 2015-03-31)
    Crayfish throughout North America, Europe, and Asia host assemblages of obligate ectosymbiotic annelid worms called branchiobdellidans. The work presented here is a detailed experimental and observational study of the ecological interactions between crayfish and their worms. In a comprehensive literature review, I show that branchiobdellidans have complex and context-dependent effects on their hosts, serving as both beneficial cleaners and tissue-consuming parasites. Using a field survey and laboratory experiments, I provide novel evidence for age-specific resistance as an adaptation to maximize life-long benefits of a mutualism. Specifically, I show that Cambarus crayfish display a consistent ontogenetic shift in resistance to the colonization of branchiobdellidans and this shift likely reflects underlying changes in the costs and benefits of symbiosis. I then show that this change in host resistance creates predictable patterns of symbiont diversity and composition throughout host ontogeny. Host resistance limits within-host symbiont communities to a few weakly interacting species, whereas relaxed resistance leads to more diverse symbiont communities that have strong interactions among symbiont taxa. Thus, host resistance has direct effects on within-host symbiont community structure by selectively filtering colonizing species, and indirect effects by moderating the strength of interactions among symbionts. Lastly, in a detailed study of the worm Cambarincola ingens, I depict a symbiont dispersal strategy that yields highly predictable transmission dynamics during pairwise host-host encounters and shows that variation in transmission dynamics can be explained by the fitness outcomes for dispersing symbionts. Field observations revealed that worm reproduction is contingent on host size and intraspecific competition for preferred microhabitats. Using a predictive model that assumes transmission of symbionts only when current conditions yield fitness below a minimum threshold, I was able to predict individual transmission events much more accurately than a comparable null model that assumed a fixed probability of transmission. My work provides empirical support for the emerging trend among researchers that advocates the adaptation of general ecological frameworks to understand symbiont population structure and diversity, but my work also emphasizes the value of detailed natural history studies to uncover system-specific ecological and co-evolutionary processes such as partner control mechanisms, symbiont microhabitat selections, and symbiont dispersal strategies.
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    Trends in Stream Biodiversity Research since the River Continuum Concept
    Tornwall, Brett M.; Sokol, Eric R.; Skelton, James; Brown, Bryan L. (MDPI, 2015-02-09)
    Lotic environments contain a disproportionate amount of biodiversity given their relatively small proportion of the worldwide landscape. We conducted a systematic literature search of research directed towards understanding factors that influence biodiversity in lotic habitats, published in 31 major ecological and freshwater science journals from 1981 to 2014. Our goal was to characterize emergent themes in research successes and identify important areas in need of study. We show an overwhelming taxonomic bias favoring studies of macroinvertebrates and fish, and a paucity in studies of other important groups such as bacteria and fungi. While most studies assessed habitat variables that affect diversity at a local scale, there has been a recent push to investigate regional drivers of beta and gamma diversity. Several factors were consistently found to be important drivers of diversity including local habitat type, hydrologic variables, disturbance, and stream morphometry. Others such as nutrients and chemical variables showed mixed support. Species interactions, dispersal, and evolutionary processes were rarely considered but show promise as fruitful areas for future study. We suggest that researchers should give increased attention to diversity drivers at different scales as well as take advantage of new molecular techniques to address questions regarding organismal diversity in streams.