Project description:We modified the stable isotope mixing model MixSIR to infer primary producer contributions to consumer diets based on their fatty acid composition. To parameterize the algorithm, we generated a 'consumer-resource library' of FA signatures of Daphnia fed different algal diets, using 34 feeding trials representing diverse phytoplankton lineages. This library corresponds to the resource or producer file in classic Bayesian mixing models such as MixSIR or SIAR. Because this library is based on the FA profiles of zooplankton consuming known diets, and not the FA profiles of algae directly, trophic modification of consumer lipids is directly accounted for. To test the model, we simulated hypothetical Daphnia comprised of 80% diatoms, 10% green algae, and 10% cryptophytes and compared the FA signatures of these known pseudo-mixtures to outputs generated by the mixing model. The algorithm inferred these simulated consumers were comprised of 82% (63-92%) [median (2.5th to 97.5th percentile credible interval)] diatoms, 11% (4-22%) green algae, and 6% (0-25%) cryptophytes. We used the same model with published phytoplankton stable isotope (SI) data for δ13C and δ15N to examine how a SI based approach resolved a similar scenario. With SI, the algorithm inferred that the simulated consumer assimilated 52% (4-91%) diatoms, 23% (1-78%) green algae, and 18% (1-73%) cyanobacteria. The accuracy and precision of SI based estimates was extremely sensitive to both resource and consumer uncertainty, as well as the trophic fractionation assumption. These results indicate that when using only two tracers with substantial uncertainty for the putative resources, as is often the case in this class of analyses, the underdetermined constraint in consumer-resource SI analyses may be intractable. The FA based approach alleviated the underdetermined constraint because many more FA biomarkers were utilized (n < 20), different primary producers (e.g., diatoms, green algae, and cryptophytes) have very characteristic FA compositions, and the FA profiles of many aquatic primary consumers are strongly influenced by their diets.
Project description:We present a Bayesian method for characterizing the mating system of populations reproducing through a mixture of self-fertilization and random outcrossing. Our method uses patterns of genetic variation across the genome as a basis for inference about reproduction under pure hermaphroditism, gynodioecy, and a model developed to describe the self-fertilizing killifish Kryptolebias marmoratus. We extend the standard coalescence model to accommodate these mating systems, accounting explicitly for multilocus identity disequilibrium, inbreeding depression, and variation in fertility among mating types. We incorporate the Ewens sampling formula (ESF) under the infinite-alleles model of mutation to obtain a novel expression for the likelihood of mating system parameters. Our Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithm assigns locus-specific mutation rates, drawn from a common mutation rate distribution that is itself estimated from the data using a Dirichlet process prior model. Our sampler is designed to accommodate additional information, including observations pertaining to the sex ratio, the intensity of inbreeding depression, and other aspects of reproduction. It can provide joint posterior distributions for the population-wide proportion of uniparental individuals, locus-specific mutation rates, and the number of generations since the most recent outcrossing event for each sampled individual. Further, estimation of all basic parameters of a given model permits estimation of functions of those parameters, including the proportion of the gene pool contributed by each sex and relative effective numbers.
Project description:We test the performance of the Bayesian mixing model, MixSIAR, to quantitatively predict diets of consumers based on their fatty acids (FAs). The known diets of six species, undergoing controlled-feeding experiments, were compared with dietary predictions modelled from their FAs. Test subjects included fish, birds and mammals, and represent consumers with disparate FA compositions. We show that MixSIAR with FA data accurately identifies a consumer's diet, the contribution of major prey items, when they change their diet (diet switching) and can detect an absent prey. Results were impacted if the consumer had a low-fat diet due to physiological constraints. Incorporating prior information on the potential prey species into the model improves model performance. Dietary predictions were reasonable even when using trophic modification values (calibration coefficients, CCs) derived from different prey. Models performed well when using CCs derived from consumers fed a varied diet or when using CC values averaged across diets. We demonstrate that MixSIAR with FAs is a powerful approach to correctly estimate diet, in particular if used to complement other methods.
Project description:Predator-prey dynamics are a fundamental part of ecology, but directly studying interactions has proven difficult. The proliferation of camera trapping has enabled the collection of large datasets on wildlife, but researchers face hurdles inferring interactions from observational data. Recent advances in hierarchical co-abundance models infer species interactions while accounting for two species' detection probabilities, shared responses to environmental covariates, and propagate uncertainty throughout the entire modeling process. However, current approaches remain unsuitable for interacting species whose natural densities differ by an order of magnitude and have contrasting detection probabilities, such as predator-prey interactions, which introduce zero inflation and overdispersion in count histories. Here, we developed a Bayesian hierarchical N-mixture co-abundance model that is suitable for inferring predator-prey interactions. We accounted for excessive zeros in count histories using an informed zero-inflated Poisson distribution in the abundance formula and accounted for overdispersion in count histories by including a random effect per sampling unit and sampling occasion in the detection probability formula. We demonstrate that models with these modifications outperform alternative approaches, improve model goodness-of-fit, and overcome parameter convergence failures. We highlight its utility using 20 camera trapping datasets from 10 tropical forest landscapes in Southeast Asia and estimate four predator-prey relationships between tigers, clouded leopards, and muntjac and sambar deer. Tigers had a negative effect on muntjac abundance, providing support for top-down regulation, while clouded leopards had a positive effect on muntjac and sambar deer, likely driven by shared responses to unmodelled covariates like hunting. This Bayesian co-abundance modeling approach to quantify predator-prey relationships is widely applicable across species, ecosystems, and sampling approaches and may be useful in forecasting cascading impacts following widespread predator declines. Taken together, this approach facilitates a nuanced and mechanistic understanding of food-web ecology.
Project description:Metagenomics provides a powerful new tool set for investigating evolutionary interactions with the environment. However, an absence of model-based statistical methods means that researchers are often not able to make full use of this complex information. We present a Bayesian method for inferring the phylogenetic relationship among related organisms found within metagenomic samples. Our approach exploits variation in the frequency of taxa among samples to simultaneously infer each lineage haplotype, the phylogenetic tree connecting them, and their frequency within each sample. Applications of the algorithm to simulated data show that our method can recover a substantial fraction of the phylogenetic structure even in the presence of high rates of migration among sample sites. We provide examples of the method applied to data from green sulfur bacteria recovered from an Antarctic lake, plastids from mixed Plasmodium falciparum infections, and virulent Neisseria meningitidis samples.
Project description:ObjectiveThe WHO encourages the virtual elimination of artificial trans-fatty acids (TFA), which increase CHD risk. Our UK analysis explores whether voluntary reformulation results in differential TFA intakes among socio-economic groups by determining characteristics of high TFA consumers before and after product reformulation.DesignFood intake was collected by 7d weighed records pre-reformulation and 4d diaries post-reformulation. Sociodemographic characteristics of TFA consumers above the WHO limit, and of the top 10 % of TFA consumers as a percentage food energy, were compared with those of lower TFA consumers. Multivariate logistic regression determined independent socio-economic predictors of being a top 10 % consumer.SubjectsUK National Diet and Nutrition Surveys (NDNS) for adults aged 19-64 years pre-reformulation (2000/01; N 1724) and post-reformulation (2010/11-2011/12; N 848).ResultsPost-reformulation 2·5 % of adults exceeded the WHO limit, v. 57 % pre-reformulation. In unadjusted analyses, high TFA consumption was associated with lower income, lower education and long-term illness/disability pre- but not post-reformulation. In adjusted pre-reformulation analyses, degree holders were half as likely as those without qualifications to be top 10 % consumers (OR=0·51; 95 % CI 0·28, 0·92). In adjusted post-reformulation analyses, those with higher income were 2·5-3·3 times more likely to be top 10 % consumers than lowest income households. Pre-reformulation, high consumers consumed more foods containing artificial TFA, whereas ruminant TFA were more prominent post-reformulation.ConclusionsHigh TFA consumption was associated with socio-economic disadvantage pre-reformulation, but evidence of this is less clear post-reformulation. Voluntary reformulation appeared effective in reducing TFA content in many UK products with mixed effects on dietary inequalities relating to income and education.
Project description:UnlabelledGenetic data obtained on population samples convey information about their evolutionary history. Inference methods can extract part of this information but they require sophisticated statistical techniques that have been made available to the biologist community (through computer programs) only for simple and standard situations typically involving a small number of samples. We propose here a computer program (DIY ABC) for inference based on approximate Bayesian computation (ABC), in which scenarios can be customized by the user to fit many complex situations involving any number of populations and samples. Such scenarios involve any combination of population divergences, admixtures and population size changes. DIY ABC can be used to compare competing scenarios, estimate parameters for one or more scenarios and compute bias and precision measures for a given scenario and known values of parameters (the current version applies to unlinked microsatellite data). This article describes key methods used in the program and provides its main features. The analysis of one simulated and one real dataset, both with complex evolutionary scenarios, illustrates the main possibilities of DIY ABC.AvailabilityThe software DIY ABC is freely available at http://www.montpellier.inra.fr/CBGP/diyabc.
Project description:In this study, we present a novel methodology to infer indel parameters from multiple sequence alignments (MSAs) based on simulations. Our algorithm searches for the set of evolutionary parameters describing indel dynamics which best fits a given input MSA. In each step of the search, we use parametric bootstraps and the Mahalanobis distance to estimate how well a proposed set of parameters fits input data. Using simulations, we demonstrate that our methodology can accurately infer the indel parameters for a large variety of plausible settings. Moreover, using our methodology, we show that indel parameters substantially vary between three genomic data sets: Mammals, bacteria, and retroviruses. Finally, we demonstrate how our methodology can be used to simulate MSAs based on indel parameters inferred from real data sets.
Project description:Quantitative analysis of stable isotopes (SI) and, more recently, fatty acid profiles (FAP) are useful and complementary tools for estimating the relative contribution of different prey items in the diet of a predator. The combination of these two approaches, however, has thus far been limited and qualitative. We propose a mixing model for FAP that follows the Bayesian machinery employed in state-of-the-art mixing models for SI. This framework provides both point estimates and probability distributions for individual and population level diet proportions. Where fat content and conversion coefficients are available, they can be used to improve diet estimates. This model can be explicitly integrated with analogous models for SI to increase resolution and clarify predator-prey relationships. We apply our model to simulated data and an experimental dataset that allows us to illustrate modeling strategies and demonstrate model performance. Our methods are provided as an open source software package for the statistical computing environment R.