Elena Albertsen
Research Scientist
(+47) 451 99 047
elena.albertsen@nibio.no
Place
Trondheim
Visiting address
Klæbuveien 153, bygg C 1.etasje, 7031 Trondheim
Authors
Ivar Herfindal Marie Vestergaard Henriksen Elena Albertsen Bert van der Veen Annette Bär Line JohansenAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Svenja B. Kroeger Hans Martin Hanslin Tommy Lennartsson Marcello D'Amico Johannes Kollmann Christina Fischer Elena Albertsen James David Mervyn SpeedAbstract
Roadsides can harbour remarkable biodiversity; thus, they are increasingly considered as habitats with potential for conservation value. To improve construction and management of roadside habitats with positive effects on biodiversity, we require a quantitative understanding of important influential factors that drive both positive and negative effects of roads. We conducted meta-analyses to assess road effects on bird communities. We specifically tested how the relationship between roads and bird richness varies when considering road type, habitat characteristics and feeding guild association. Overall, bird richness was similar in road habitats compared to non-road habitats, however, the two apparently differ in species composition. Bird richness was lowered by road presence in areas with denser tree cover but did not differ according to road type. Richness differences between habitats with and without roads further depended on primary diet of species, and richness of omnivores was positively affected by road presence. We conclude that impacts of roads on bird richness are highly context-dependent, and planners should carefully evaluate road habitats on a case by case basis. This emphasizes the need for further studies that explicitly test for differences in species composition and abundance, to disentangle contexts where a road will negatively affect bird communities, and where it will not.
Authors
Christophe Pelabon Elena Albertsen Arnaud Le Rouzic Cyril Firmat Geir Hysing Bolstad W. Scott Armbruster Thomas Fredrik HansenAbstract
Although artificial-selection experiments seem well suited to testing our ability to predict evolution, the correspondence between predicted and observed responses is often ambiguous due to the lack of uncertainty estimates. We present equations for assessing prediction error in direct and indirect responses to selection that integrate uncertainty in genetic parameters used for prediction and sampling effects during selection. Using these, we analyzed a selection experiment on floral traits replicated in two taxa of the Dalechampia scandens (Euphorbiaceae) species complex for which G-matrices were obtained from a diallel breeding design. After four episodes of bidirectional selection, direct and indirect responses remained within wide prediction intervals, but appeared different from the predictions. Combined analyses with structural-equation models confirmed that responses were asymmetrical and lower than predicted in both species. We show that genetic drift is likely to be a dominant source of uncertainty in typically-dimensioned selection experiments in plants and a major obstacle to predicting short-term evolutionary trajectories.
Authors
Elena Albertsen Øystein H. Opedal Geir Hysing Bolstad Rocio Perez-Barrales Thomas F Hansen Christophe Pelabon William Scott ArmbrusterAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Elena Albertsen Øystein Hjorthol Opedal Geir Hysing Bolstad Rocío Pérez-Barrales Thomas F Hansen Christophe Pelabon William Scott ArmbrusterAbstract
Spatiotemporal variation in natural selection is expected, but difficult to estimate. Pollinator‐mediated selection on floral traits provides a good system for understanding and linking variation in selection to differences in ecological context. We studied pollinator‐mediated selection in five populations of Dalechampia scandens (Euphorbiaceae) in Costa Rica and Mexico. Using a nonlinear path‐analytical approach, we assessed several functional components of selection, and linked variation in pollinator‐mediated selection across time and space to variation in pollinator assemblages. After correcting for estimation error, we detected moderate variation in net selection on two out of four blossom traits. Both the opportunity for selection and the mean strength of selection decreased with increasing reliability of cross‐pollination. Selection for pollinator attraction was consistently positive and stronger on advertisement than reward traits. Selection on traits affecting pollen transfer from the pollinator to the stigmas was strong only when cross‐pollination was unreliable and there was a mismatch between pollinator and blossom size. These results illustrate how consideration of trait function and ecological context can facilitate both the detection and the causal understanding of spatiotemporal variation in natural selection.
