Research Highlights: genetic diversity in populations were compared among related shrub species with different reproductive systems. Background and Objectives: Lindera species are dioecious trees or shrubs that produce seeds by mating of males and females. To evaluate the importance of genetic diversity for the persistence of natural populations, we compared genetic information among four Lindera species in Japan. Three are dioecious shrubs (Lindera praecox, Lindera umbellata, and Lindera obtusiloba) that produce seeds by sexual reproduction. The remaining species, Lindera glauca, reproduces by apomixis; only female plants are found in Japan. Materials and Methods: all four species were sampled across a wide geographic area, from Tohoku to Kyushu, Japan. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were detected by multiplexed ISSR genotyping by sequencing (MIG-seq) and the resulting genetic diversity parameters were compared among populations. Results: in all sexually reproducing species, the values of observed heterozygosity were close to the expected ones and the inbreeding coefficients were nearly 0. These results were supposed to be caused by their obligate outcrossing. The genetic difference increased, in ascending order, between a mother plant and its seeds, within populations, and across geographic space. We observed a substantial geographic component in the genetic structure of these species. For L. glauca, the genetic difference between a mother and its seeds, within populations, and across space were not significantly different from what would be expected from PCR errors. Genetic diversity within and among populations of L. glauca was extremely low. Conclusions: apomixis has the advantage of being able to found populations from a single individual, without mating, which may outweigh the disadvantages associated with the extremely low genetic diversity of L. glauca. This may explain why this species is so widely distributed in Japan. Provided that the current genotypes remain suited to environmental conditions, L. glauca may not be constrained by its limited genetic diversity.

Fertilization mode may affect sperm characteristics, such as morphology, velocity, and motility. However, there is little information on how fertilization mode affects sperm evolution because several factors (e.g., sperm competition) are intricately intertwined when phylogenetically distant species are compared. Here, we investigated sperm characteristics by comparing seven externally and four internally fertilizing marine fishes from three different groups containing close relatives, considering sperm competition levels. The sperm head was significantly slenderer in internal fertilizers than in external fertilizers, suggesting that a slender head is advantageous for swimming in viscous ovarian fluid or in narrow spaces of the ovary. In addition, sperm motility differed between external and internal fertilizers; sperm of external fertilizers were only motile in seawater, whereas sperm of internal fertilizers were only motile in an isotonic solution. These results suggest that sperm motility was adapted according to fertilization mode. By contrast, total sperm length and sperm velocity were not associated with fertilization mode, perhaps because of the different levels of sperm competition. Relative testis mass (an index of sperm competition level) was positively correlated with sperm velocity and negatively correlated with the ratio of sperm head length to total sperm length. These findings suggest that species with higher levels of sperm competition have faster sperm with longer flagella relative to the head length. These results contradict the previous assumption that the evolution of internal fertilization increases the total sperm length. In addition, copulatory behavior with internal insemination may involve a large genital morphology, but this is not essential in fish, suggesting the existence of various sperm transfer methods. Although the power of our analyses is not strong because of the limited number of species, we propose a new scenario of sperm evolution in which internal fertilization would increase sperm head length, but not total sperm length, and change sperm motility.

Community phylogenetic analysis is an effective approach to understanding the process of community formation. The phylogenetic tree of the species pool is reconstructed in the first step, and the phylogenetic tree obtained in the second step is used to analyze phylogenetic diversity. Sythetic trees have often been used in the construction of phylogenentic trees; however, in tropical rainforests with many closely related species, synthetic trees contain many unresolved nodes, which may affect the results of phylogenetic structure analysis. Here, we constructed a phylogenetic tree using DNA barcode sequences (rbcL,matK,trnH‐psbA) for 737 tree species from the rainforests of Borneo, which have a high‐species diversity and many closely related species. The phylogenetic tree had fewer polytomies and more branch length variations than the Phylocom synthetic trees. Comparison of community phylogenetic analyses indicated that values of the standardized effect size of mean pairwise distance (SES–MPD) were highly correlated between Phylocom and DNA barcode trees, but less so for the standardized effect size of mean nearest taxon distance (SES–MNTD), suggesting that caution is needed when using synthetic trees for communities containing many congeneric species, especially when using SES–MNTD. Simulation analysis suggested that spatial dependence on phylogenetic diversity is related to the phylogenetic signal of the species' habitat niche and the spatial structure of habitat, indicating the importance of detailed phylogeny in understanding community assembly processes.

Cooperative breeding is a social system where offspring receive care not only from their parents but also from other group members. The life history traits related to the evolutionary transition towards such complex systems are still poorly understood. This study investigated the evolutionary transition from non-cooperative to cooperative breeding in lamprologine cichlid fishes endemic to Lake Tanganyika using phylogenetic comparative methods. Ancestral state reconstruction revealed that the evolutionary transition from non-cooperative to cooperative breeding occurred at least seven times independently. Comparative analyses using life history data obtained from field observations and from published literature revealed an evolutionary link between cooperative breeding and clutch and body size, but not egg size: cooperative breeders were smaller and laid fewer eggs than non-cooperative breeders. These findings suggest an evolutionary scenario where cooperative breeding evolved in smaller species, most likely because of ecological factors, such as an increased predation risk, driving the evolution of complex social systems. This was followed by a reduction in clutch size. These results shed light on the role of ecological settings in life history trait evolution and how they mediate the transition towards a complex social organization.

Here, we observed the reproductive behavior of marble-mouth frogfish (Lophiocharon lithinostomus) and the morphology of newly hatched juveniles under captive conditions. Adult males showed pursuit behavior towards females approximately seven days before spawning; spawning and ejaculation took place almost simultaneously. An adult female cared for a fertilized egg mass adhered to their right of the left side of the flank. The position of the adhered eggs on the flank was left-biased (3 on the right and 25 on the left). The females exhibited a proactive fanning behavior towards the egg masses using their dorsal fins; the fanning frequency increased over time after spawning. Meanwhile, the males did not display any form of parental care behavior. The eggs had hook-like structures that might enable the eggs to attach to the flank of the parent. Hatching occurred between 22 and 28 days after spawning. Newly hatched juveniles already had a full set of fin rays; their morphology was similar to that of adult fish. Moreover, we reviewed the evolution of parental care behaviors and egg types among frogfish family.