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Environmental temperature during early life affects the personality of mosquitofish in adulthood Curr. Zool. (IF 2.351) Pub Date : 2021-01-20 Haifeng Li; Xinyu ZHANG; Yi WU; Feng ZHANG; Chunlin LI
Personality has been observed in a variety of animal taxa with important implications in ecology and evolution. Exploring the influence of environmental temperature during early life on personality could help to understand the ontogeny of this phenotypic trait in animals. In this study, we reared newborn mosquitofish Gambusia affinis at high (30 °C) and low (25 °C) water temperatures and measured their
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Behavioral evidence for the origin of Chinese Kunming dog Curr. Zool. (IF 2.351) Pub Date : 2021-01-11 Jin-Xiu Li; Qing-Guo Huang; Shi-Zhi Wang; Qi-Jun Zhou; Xu Gao; Ya-Ping Zhang; Guo-Dong Wang
AbstractSelective pressures favor morphologies that are adapted to distinct ecologies, resulting in trait partitioning among ecomorphotypes. However, the effects of these selective pressures vary across taxa, especially because morphology is also influenced by factors such as phylogeny, body size, and functional trade-offs. In this study, we examine how these factors impact functional diversification
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Multilayer network analyses as a toolkit for measuring social structure Curr. Zool. (IF 2.351) Pub Date : 2021-01-11 Kelly R Finn
The formalization of multilayer networks allows for new ways to measure sociality in complex social systems, including groups of animals. The same mathematical representation and methods are widely applicable across fields and study systems, and a network can represent drastically different types of data. As such, in order to apply analyses and interpret the results in a meaningful way the researcher
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Spatial dynamics of chinese muntjac related to past and future climate fluctuations Curr. Zool. (IF 2.351) Pub Date : 2021-01-11 Zhonglou Sun; Pablo Orozco-terWengel; Guotao Chen; Ruolei Sun; Lu Sun; Hui Wang; Wenbo Shi; Baowei Zhang
Climate fluctuations in the past and in the future are likely to result in population expansions, shifts, or the contraction of the ecological niche of many species, and potentially leading to the changes in their geographical distributions. Prediction of suitable habitats has developed as a useful tool for the assessment of habitat suitability and resource conservation to protect wildlife. Here we
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Does divergence from normal patterns of integration increase as chromosomal fusions increase in number? A test on a house mouse hybrid zone Curr. Zool. (IF 2.351) Pub Date : 2020-09-11 Carmelo Fruciano; Paolo Colangelo; Riccardo Castiglia; Paolo Franchini
Chromosomal evolution is widely considered an important driver of speciation because it can promote the establishment of reproductive barriers. Karyotypic reorganization is also expected to affect the mean phenotype, as well as its development and patterns of phenotypic integration, through processes such as variation in genetic linkage between quantitative trait loci or between regulatory regions
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Elevation as a selective force on mitochondrial respiratory chain complexes of the Phrynocephalus lizards in the Tibetan plateau Curr. Zool. (IF 2.351) Pub Date : 2020-09-22 Yuanting Jin; Debora Y C Brandt; Jiasheng Li; Yubin Wo; Haojie Tong; Vladimir Shchur
Animals living in extremely high elevations have to adapt to low temperatures and low oxygen availability (hypoxia), but the underlying genetic mechanisms associated with these adaptations are still unclear. The mitochondrial respiratory chain can provide over 95% of the ATP in animal cells, and its efficiency is influenced by temperature and oxygen availability. Therefore, the respiratory chain complexes
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Facial expression recognition in golden snub-nosed monkeys Curr. Zool. (IF 2.351) Pub Date : 2020-09-22 Haitao Zhao; Jiaxuan Li; Xiaowei Wang; Ruliang Pan; Chengliang Wang; Yi Ren; Yan Wang; Baoguo Li
For social primates, fast and accurate recognition of facial expressions in other individuals is crucial for regulating social interactions and group cohesion. However, the adaptive function of facial expression recognition remains largely unknown. Here, we tested whether golden snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus roxellana) can discriminate facial expressions in different contexts, and how they respond
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Functional diversity of small-mammal postcrania is linked to both substrate preference and body size Curr. Zool. (IF 2.351) Pub Date : 2020-09-22 Weaver L, Grossnickle D, Muñoz M.
AbstractSelective pressures favor morphologies that are adapted to distinct ecologies, resulting in trait partitioning among ecomorphotypes. However, the effects of these selective pressures vary across taxa, especially because morphology is also influenced by factors such as phylogeny, body size, and functional trade-offs. In this study, we examine how these factors impact functional diversification
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Identifying female phenotypes that promote behavioral isolation in a sexually dimorphic species of fish (Etheostoma zonale) Curr. Zool. (IF 2.351) Pub Date : 2020-09-18 Natalie S Roberts; Tamra C Mendelson
In sexually dimorphic species characterized by exaggerated male ornamentation, behavioral isolation is often attributed to female preferences for conspecific male signals. Yet, in a number of sexually dimorphic species, male mate choice also results in behavioral isolation. In many of these cases, the female traits that mediate species boundaries are unclear. Females in sexually dimorphic species typically
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Influence of ‘protective’ symbionts throughout the different steps of an aphid-parasitoid interaction Curr. Zool. (IF 2.351) Pub Date : 2020-09-04 Corentin Sochard; Laura Bellec; Jean-Christophe Simon; Yannick Outreman
Microbial associates are widespread in insects, some conferring a protection to their hosts against natural enemies like parasitoids. These protective symbionts may affect the infection success of the parasitoid by modifying behavioral defenses of their hosts, the development success of the parasitoid by conferring a resistance against it or by altering life-history traits of the emerging parasitoids
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Asymmetric reinforcement in Lucania killifish: assessing reproductive isolation when both sexes choose Curr. Zool. (IF 2.351) Pub Date : 2020-09-03 Michelle E St. John; Rebecca C Fuller
Reinforcement can occur when maladaptive hybridization in sympatry favors the evolution of conspecific preferences and target traits that promote behavioral isolation. In many systems, enhanced behavioral isolation is due to increased female preference for conspecifics. In others, behavioral isolation is driven by male preference, and in other systems both sexes exert preferences. Some of these patterns
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The effect of white noise on behavioral and flight responses of blue-tailed skinks Curr. Zool. (IF 2.351) Pub Date : 2020-09-02 Connor Kelligrew; Sarah Tian; Marcus Weiss; Dana M Williams; Daniel T Blumstein
AbstractRapid advances in Ribonucleic Acid sequencing (or RNA-seq) technology for analyzing entire transcriptomes of desired tissue samples, or even of single cells at scale, have revolutionized biology in the past decade. Increasing accessibility and falling costs are making it possible to address many problems in biology that were once considered intractable, including the study of various social
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Continuous growth through winter correlates with increased resting metabolic rate but does not affect daily energy budgets due to torpor use Curr. Zool. (IF 2.351) Pub Date : 2020-09-02 Jan S Boratyński; Karolina Iwińska; Paulina A Szafrańska; Piotr Chibowski; Wiesław Bogdanowicz
Small mammals that are specialists in homeothermic thermoregulation reduce their self-maintenance costs of normothermy to survive the winter. By contrast, heterothermic ones that are considered generalists in thermoregulation can lower energy expenditure by entering torpor. It is well known that different species vary the use of their strategies to cope with harsh winters in temperate zones; however
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Using multilayer network analysis to explore the temporal dynamics of collective behaviour Curr. Zool. (IF 2.351) Pub Date : 2020-09-02 David N Fisher; Noa Pinter-Wollman
Social organisms often show collective behaviours such as group foraging or movement. Collective behaviours can emerge from interactions between group members and may depend on the behaviour of key individuals. When social interactions change over time, collective behaviours may change because these behaviours emerge from interactions among individuals. Despite the importance of, and growing interest
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Olfactory receptor gene evolution is unusually rapid across Tetrapoda and outpaces chemosensory phenotypic change Curr. Zool. (IF 2.351) Pub Date : 2020-09-03 Laurel R Yohe; Matteo Fabbri; Michael Hanson; Bhart-Anjan S Bhullar
Chemosensation is the most ubiquitous sense in animals, enacted by the products of complex gene families that detect environmental chemical cues and larger-scale sensory structures that process these cues. While there is a general conception that olfactory receptor (OR) genes evolve rapidly, the universality of this phenomenon across vertebrates, and its magnitude, are unclear. The supposed correlation
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Do key innovations unlock diversification? A case-study on the morphological and ecological impact of pharyngognathy in acanthomorph fishes Curr. Zool. (IF 2.351) Pub Date : 2020-09-02 Olivier Larouche; Jennifer R Hodge; Laura R V Alencar; Benjamin Camper; Danielle S Adams; Katerina Zapfe; Sarah T Friedman; Peter C Wainwright; Samantha A Price
Key innovations may allow lineages access to new resources and facilitate the invasion of new adaptive zones, potentially influencing diversification patterns. Many studies have focused on the impact of key innovations on speciation rates, but far less is known about how they influence phenotypic rates and patterns of ecomorphological diversification. We use the repeated evolution of pharyngognathy
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Are dogs good at spotting movement? Velocity thresholds of motion detection in Canis familiaris Curr. Zool. (IF 2.351) Pub Date : 2020-08-24 Miina Lõoke; Orsolya Kanizsar; Luca Battaglini; Cécile Guerineau; Paolo Mongillo; Lieta Marinelli
AbstractRapid advances in Ribonucleic Acid sequencing (or RNA-seq) technology for analyzing entire transcriptomes of desired tissue samples, or even of single cells at scale, have revolutionized biology in the past decade. Increasing accessibility and falling costs are making it possible to address many problems in biology that were once considered intractable, including the study of various social
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Are our phylomorphospace plots so terribly tangled? An investigation of disorder in data simulated under adaptive and nonadaptive models Curr. Zool. (IF 2.351) Pub Date : 2020-08-24 C Tristan Stayton
Contemporary methods for visualizing phenotypic evolution, such as phylomorphospaces, often reveal patterns which depart strongly from a naïve expectation of consistently divergent branching and expansion. Instead, branches regularly crisscross as convergence, reversals, or other forms of homoplasy occur, forming patterns described as “birds’ nests”, “flies in vials”, or less elegantly, “a mess”. In
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Fecal consumption by adults of altricial birds in relation to the temporal change in nestling gut microbiota Curr. Zool. (IF 2.351) Pub Date : 2020-08-13 Li-Fang Gao; Wen Zhang; Hai-Yang Zhang; Zhen-Qin Zhu; Xiao-Dan Zhang; Jian-Chuan Li; Li-Qing Fan; Bo Du
AbstractRapid advances in Ribonucleic Acid sequencing (or RNA-seq) technology for analyzing entire transcriptomes of desired tissue samples, or even of single cells at scale, have revolutionized biology in the past decade. Increasing accessibility and falling costs are making it possible to address many problems in biology that were once considered intractable, including the study of various social
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Polyphony of domestic dog whines and vocal cues to body size Curr. Zool. (IF 2.351) Pub Date : 2020-08-13 Olga V Sibiryakova; Ilya A Volodin; Elena V Volodina
In domestic dogs Canis familiaris, vocal traits have been investigated for barks and growls, and the relationship between individual body size and vocal traits investigated for growls, with less corresponding information for whines. In this study, we examined frequency and temporal traits of whines of 20 adult companion dogs (9 males, 11 females), ranging in body weight from 3.5 to 70.0 kg and belonging
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Formidable females redux: male social integration into female networks and the value of dynamic multilayer networks Curr. Zool. (IF 2.351) Pub Date : 2020-07-29 Tyler R Bonnell; Chloé Vilette; Christopher Young; S Peter Henzi; Louise Barrett
The development of multi-layer network techniques is a boon for researchers who wish to understand how different interaction layers might influence each other, and how these in turn might influence group dynamics. Here, we investigate how integration between male and female grooming and aggression interaction networks influences male power trajectories in vervet monkeys Chlorocebus pygerythrus. Our
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Divergence and constraint in the thermal sensitivity of aquatic insect swimming performance Curr. Zool. (IF 2.351) Pub Date : 2020-07-21 Alisha A Shah; Eva M S Bacmeister; Juan G Rubalcaba; Cameron K Ghalambor
Environmental temperature variation may play a significant role in the adaptive evolutionary divergence of ectotherm thermal performance curves (TPCs). However, divergence in TPCs may also be constrained due to various causes. Here, we measured TPCs for swimming velocity of temperate and tropical mayflies (Family: Baetidae) and their stonefly predators (Family: Perlidae) from different elevations.
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Does reproductive mode affect sexually selected colouration? Evaluating UV-blue spots in parthenogenetic and bisexual lizards of the genus Darevskia Curr. Zool. (IF 2.351) Pub Date : 2020-07-17 Andran Abramjan; Marine Arakelyan; Daniel Frynta
Sexual selection often leads to evolution of conspicuous signals, raising the chances of attracting not only potential mates, but also predators. In lacertid lizards, ultraviolet-blue spots on flanks and shoulders represent such a trait. Some level of correlation between male and female ornamentation is also known to exist. Therefore, the phenotype of females may change in the absence of sexual selection
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Exploring the Adjustment to Parasite Pressure hypothesis: differences in uropygial gland volume and haemosporidian infection in Palearctic and Neotropical birds Curr. Zool. (IF 2.351) Pub Date : 2020-07-16 Sergio Magallanes; Anders Pape Møller; Charlene Luján-Vega; Esteban Fong; Daniel Vecco; Wendy Flores-Saavedra; Luz García-Longoria; Florentino de Lope; José A Iannacone; Alfonso Marzal
Parasites are globally widespread pathogenic organisms, which impose important selective forces upon their hosts. Thus, in accordance with the Adjustment to parasite pressure hypothesis, it is expected that defences among hosts vary relative to the selective pressure imposed by parasites. According to the latitudinal gradient in diversity, species richness and abundance of parasites peak near the equator
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Measuring disturbance at a swift breeding colonies due to the visual aspects of a drone: a quasi-experiment study Curr. Zool. (IF 2.351) Pub Date : 2020-07-15 Geison P Mesquita; José D Rodríguez-Teijeiro; Serge A Wich; Margarita Mulero-Pázmány
There is a growing body of research indicating that drones can disturb animals. However, it is usually unclear whether the disturbance is due to visual or auditory cues. Here, we examined the effect of drone flights on the behaviour of great dusky swifts Cypseloides senex and white-collared swifts Streptoprocne zonaris in two breeding sites where drone noise was obscured by environmental noise from
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Risk-taking behaviour of bull-headed shrikes that recently colonized islands Curr. Zool. (IF 2.351) Pub Date : 2020-07-13 Shoji Hamao; Hisahiro Torikai; Midori YOSHIKAWA; Yutaka Yamamoto; Tugeru Ijichi
Individuals which have invaded urbanized environments are reported to engage in riskier behaviours, possibly influenced by the scarcity of predators in urbanized areas. Here, we studied the risk-taking behaviour of birds which had invaded a new natural environment, rather than an artificial urban environment, using recently established populations of the bull-headed shrike Lanius bucephalus, which
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Insular effect on sexual size dimorphism in the clouded anole Anolis nebulosus: when Rensch meets Van Valen Curr. Zool. (IF 2.351) Pub Date : 2020-07-06 Zarem A Anaya-Meraz; Armando H Escobedo-Galván
insular gigantismlizardPacific islandssexual size dimorphism
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From micro- to macroevolution: brood parasitism as a driver of phenotypic diversity in birds Curr. Zool. (IF 2.351) Pub Date : 2020-07-03 Iliana Medina; Rebecca M Kilner; Naomi E Langmore
A fundamental question in biology is how diversity evolves and why some clades are more diverse than others. Phenotypic diversity has often been shown to result from morphological adaptation to different habitats. The role of behavioral interactions as a driver of broadscale phenotypic diversity has received comparatively less attention. Behavioral interactions, however, are a key agent of natural
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Colour variation in signal crayfish Pacifastacus leniusculus Curr. Zool. (IF 2.351) Pub Date : 2020-06-30 Roberto Sacchi; Stefania Cancian; Daniela Ghia; Gianluca Fea; Alan Coladonato
External colouration in animals depends on the interaction of several different factors including the genetics and epigenetics processes that underlie the colour expression, the mechanisms of colour perception, and the general mechanisms controlling colour evolution and function. Among all, camouflage from predators and conspicuousness are of particular interest since pose animal to choose between
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Nonlinear maternal effects on personality in a rodent species with fluctuating densities Curr. Zool. (IF 2.351) Pub Date : 2020-06-26 Bram Vanden Broecke; Aurelia Bongers; Ladslaus Mnyone; Erik Matthysen; Herwig Leirs
Consistent among-individual variation in behaviour, or animal personality, is present in a wide variety of species. This behavioural variation is maintained by both genetic and environmental factors. Parental effects are a special case of environmental variation and are expected to evolve in populations experiencing large fluctuations in their environment. They represent a non-genetic pathway by which
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Long-term overlap of social and genetic structure in free-ranging house mice reveals dynamic seasonal and group size effects Curr. Zool. (IF 2.351) Pub Date : 2020-06-18 Julian C Evans; Anna K Lindholm; Barbara König
Associating with relatives in social groups can bring benefits such as reduced risk of aggression and increased likelihood of cooperation. Competition among relatives over limited resources, on the other hand, can induce individuals to alter their patterns of association. Population density might further affect the costs and benefits of associating with relatives by altering resource competition or
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Complex relationships between physiological stress and endoparasite infections in natural populations Curr. Zool. (IF 2.351) Pub Date : 2020-06-16 Claudia Romeo; Lucas A Wauters; Francesca Santicchia; Ben Dantzer; Rupert Palme; Adriano Martinoli; Nicola Ferrari
Short-term elevation of glucocorticoids (GCs) is one of the major physiological mechanisms by which vertebrates cope with challenging environmental or social factors (stressors). However, when exposure to stressors occurs repeatedly or over a prolonged period of time, animals may experience chronic elevation of GCs, which reduces the immune response efficiency and can lead to higher intensity of parasitic
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Infant attraction: why social bridging matters for female leadership in Tibetan macaques Curr. Zool. (IF 2.351) Pub Date : 2020-06-13 Xi Wang; Dong-Po Xia; Lixing Sun; Paul A Garber; Randall C Kyes; Lori K Sheeran; Bing-Hua Sun; Bo-Wen Li; Jin-Hua Li
Leadership is a key issue in the study of collective behavior in social animals. Affiliation-leadership models predict that dyadic partner preferences based on grooming relationships or alliance formation positively affect an individual’s decision to follow or support a conspecific. In the case of many primate species, females without young infants are attracted to mother-infant dyads. However, the
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Behavioral snake mimicry in breeding tits Curr. Zool. (IF 2.351) Pub Date : 2020-06-11 Anders Pape Møller; Einar Flensted-Jensen; Wei Liang
Many animals mimic the behavior or the appearance of venomous snakes. When humans or other potential predators place their hand near the nest of tits belonging to the family Paridae (and a few other species), the incubating female performs a hissing display that mimics the inhalation hiss of a viper or another snake. They hiss vigorously while lunging their head forward and shaking their wings and
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Genetic boundary and gene flow between two parapatric subspecies of brown rats Curr. Zool. (IF 2.351) Pub Date : 2020-06-09 Lei ZHao; Jian-Xu ZHang; Yao-Hua ZHang
Two parapatric Rattus norvegicus subspecies, R. n. humiliatus (RNH) and R. n. caraco (RNC), are classified according to morphological divergence and are mainly distributed in North and NE China. Here, we aimed to explore the population genetic structure, genetic boundary and gene flow in these rats using 16 microsatellite loci. Structure analysis and PCA revealed three ancestral clusters. We found
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Effects of landscape heterogeneity and breeding habitat diversity on rice frog abundance and body condition in agricultural landscapes of Yangtze River Delta, China Curr. Zool. (IF 2.351) Pub Date : 2020-05-27 Ben Li; Wei ZHang; Zhenghuan Wang; Hanbin Xie; Xiao Yuan; Enle Pei; Tianhou Wang
Amphibians play a key role in structuring biological assemblages of agricultural landscapes, but they are threatened by global agricultural intensification. Landscape structure is an important variable influencing biodiversity in agricultural landscapes. However, in the Yangtze River Delta, where a ‘farmland-orchard-fishpond’ agricultural pattern is common, the effects of landscape construction on
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Thermophilic response to feeding in adult female velvet geckos Curr. Zool. (IF 2.351) Pub Date : 2020-05-27 Buddhi Dayananda; Jonathan K Webb
AbstractRapid advances in Ribonucleic Acid sequencing (or RNA-seq) technology for analyzing entire transcriptomes of desired tissue samples, or even of single cells at scale, have revolutionized biology in the past decade. Increasing accessibility and falling costs are making it possible to address many problems in biology that were once considered intractable, including the study of various social
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The group size effect and synchronization of vigilance in Tibetan wild ass Curr. Zool. (IF 2.351) Pub Date : 2020-05-27 Xinxin Wang; Le Yang; Yumeng ZHao; Cong Yu; Zhongqiu Li
Vigilance behavior is considered as an effective strategy for prey species to detect predators. An individual benefits from living in a group by reducing the time spent being vigilant without affecting the probability of detecting a predator. However, the mechanism producing a decrease in vigilance with increasing group size is unclear. Many models of vigilance assume that group members scan independently
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From mainland to islands: colonization history in the tree frog Kurixalus (Anura: Rhacophoridae) Curr. Zool. (IF 2.351) Pub Date : 2020-05-20 Guo-Hua Yu; Li-Na Du; Ji-Shan Wang; Ding-Qi Rao; Zheng-Jun Wu; Jun-Xing Yang
The origin and colonization history of Kurixalus, a genus of small arboreal tree frogs breeding exclusively in shallow swamps, is under disputed. On the basis of comprehensive sampling programme, the evolutionary history of Kurixalus is investigated based on three mitochondrial genes. Our results indicate that the genus Kurixalus originated in the Asian mainland and subsequently arrived at its current
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Specific responses of cuckoo hosts to different alarm signals according to breeding stage: a test of the offspring value hypothesis Curr. Zool. (IF 2.351) Pub Date : 2020-05-16 Jiaojiao Wang; Canchao Yang
The selective pressure exerted by avian brood parasites forces their hosts to evolve specific defense strategies. When subject to brood parasite attack, avian hosts will often emit alarm calls. To date, few studies have examined whether and how host responses to different alarm calls indicative of different enemies vary with the host’s breeding stage. We carried out alarm call playback experiments
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Is the propensity to emit alarm calls associated with health status? Curr. Zool. (IF 2.351) Pub Date : 2020-05-08 Austin L Nash; Alexandra H M Jebb; Daniel T Blumstein
The production and structure of animal signals may depend on an individual’s health status and may provide more than one type of information to receivers. While alarm calls are not typically viewed as health condition dependent, recent studies have suggested that their structure, and possibly their propensity to be emitted, depends on an individual’s health condition and state. We asked whether the
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Bachelor groups in primate multilevel society facilitate gene flow across fragmented habitats. Curr. Zool. (IF 2.351) Pub Date : 2020-02-20 Yu-Li Li,Lu Wang,Jin-Wei Wu,Xin-Ping Ye,Paul A Garber,Ying Yan,Jia-Hui Liu,Bao-Guo Li,Xiao-Guang Qi
In the face of ongoing habitat fragmentation, many primate species have experienced reduced gene flow resulting in a reduction of genetic diversity, population bottlenecks, and inbreeding depression, including golden snub-nosed monkeys Rhinopithecus roxellana. Golden snub-nosed monkeys live in a multilevel society composed of several 1 male harem units that aggregate to form a cohesive breeding band
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Absence of anti-parasitic defenses in an Asian population of the magpie, a regular host of the great spotted cuckoo in Europe Curr. Zool. (IF 2.351) Pub Date : 2020-04-09 Canchao Yang; Jialiang Huang; Wei Liang; Anders P Møller
Antagonistic coevolution such as that between obligate brood parasites and their hosts promotes the evolution of a variety of trickeries that enhance successful rearing of their offspring. They do that by using host parental care to enhance their reproductive success, which in turn selects for host nest defenses or egg rejection. Studying these adaptations and counter-adaptations in different populations
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Parental dependence on the nest’s spatial cues in offspring recognition decreases with nestling growth in the azure-winged magpie Curr. Zool. (IF 2.351) Pub Date : 2020-04-08 Li-Fang Gao; Wen ZHang; Hai-Yang ZHang; Zhen-Qin ZHu; Xiao-Dan ZHang; Bo Du
In altricial birds, to address which cues are used by parents to recognize their offspring, and when they switch between cues during reproduction, has not been well determined. In this study, we address this question in a Tibetan population of the azure-winged magpie Cyanopica cyanus, by examining the dependence of parents on a nest’s spatial position in offspring recognition. During the egg and nestling
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The geographical diversification in varanid lizards: the role of mainland versus island in driving species evolution. Curr. Zool. (IF 2.351) Pub Date : 2020-01-27 Xia-Ming Zhu,Yu Du,Yan-Fu Qu,Hong Li,Jian-Fang Gao,Chi-Xian Lin,Xiang Ji,Long-Hui Lin
Monitor lizards (Varanidae) inhabit both the mainland and islands of all geological types and have diversified into an exceptionally wide range of body sizes, thus providing an ideal model for examining the role of mainland versus island in driving species evolution. Here we use phylogenetic comparative methods to examine whether a link exists between body size-driven diversification and body size-frequency
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Second-growth and small forest clearings have little effect on the temporal activity patterns of Amazonian phyllostomid bats. Curr. Zool. (IF 2.351) Pub Date : 2019-09-05 Ricardo Rocha,Adrià López-Baucells,Fábio Z Farneda,Diogo F Ferreira,Inês Silva,Marta Acácio,Jorge M Palmeirim,Christoph F J Meyer
Secondary forests and human-made forest gaps are conspicuous features of tropical landscapes. Yet, behavioral responses to these aspects of anthropogenically modified forests remain poorly investigated. Here, we analyze the effects of small human-made clearings and secondary forests on tropical bats by examining the guild- and species-level activity patterns of phyllostomids sampled in the Central
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Perception of the Müller-Lyer illusion in guppies. Curr. Zool. (IF 2.351) Pub Date : 2019-09-03 Maria Santacà,Christian Agrillo
The Müller-Lyer illusion is a well-known distortion illusion that occurs when the spatial arrangement of inducers (i.e., inwards- or outwards-pointing arrowheads) influences a line's perceived relative length. To date, this illusion has been reported in several animal species but only in 1 teleost fish (i.e., redtail splitfins Xenotoca eiseni), although teleost fish represent approximately 50% of vertebrate
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Relationships between personality traits and the physiological stress response in a wild mammal. Curr. Zool. (IF 2.351) Pub Date : 2019-08-16 Francesca Santicchia,Lucas A Wauters,Ben Dantzer,Sarah E Westrick,Nicola Ferrari,Claudia Romeo,Rupert Palme,Damiano G Preatoni,Adriano Martinoli
Glucocorticoids (GCs) are involved in the regulation of an animal's energetic state. Under stressful situations, they are part of the neuroendocrine response to cope with environmental challenges. Animals react to aversive stimuli also through behavioral responses, defined as coping styles. Both in captive and wild populations, individuals differ in their behavior along a proactive-reactive continuum
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Personality traits covary with individual differences in inhibitory abilities in 2 species of fish. Curr. Zool. (IF 2.351) Pub Date : 2019-08-08 Tyrone Lucon-Xiccato,Giulia Montalbano,Cristiano Bertolucci
In a number of animal species, individuals differ in their ability to solve cognitive tasks. However, the mechanisms underlying this variability remain unclear. It has been proposed that individual differences in cognition may be related to individual differences in behavior (i.e., personality); a hypothesis that has received mixed support. In this study, we investigated whether personality correlates
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Interindividual variation and consistency of migratory behavior in the Eurasian woodcock. Curr. Zool. (IF 2.351) Pub Date : 2019-08-06 Alessandro Tedeschi,Michele Sorrenti,Michele Bottazzo,Mario Spagnesi,Ibon Telletxea,Ruben Ibàñez,Nicola Tormen,Federico De Pascalis,Laura Guidolin,Diego Rubolini
Diverse spatio-temporal aspects of avian migration rely on relatively rigid endogenous programs. However, flexibility in migratory behavior may allow effective coping with unpredictable variation in ecological conditions that can occur during migration. We aimed at characterizing inter- and intraindividual variation of migratory behavior in a forest-dwelling wader species, the Eurasian woodcock Scolopax
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Habitat productivity is a poor predictor of body size in rodents. Curr. Zool. (IF 2.351) Pub Date : 2019-07-26 Bader H Alhajeri,Lucas M V Porto,Renan Maestri
The "resource availability hypothesis" predicts occurrence of larger rodents in more productive habitats. This prediction was tested in a dataset of 1,301 rodent species. We used adult body mass as a measure of body size and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) as a measure of habitat productivity. We utilized a cross-species approach to investigate the association between these variables
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Vocal individuality and rhythm in male and female duet contributions of a nonhuman primate. Curr. Zool. (IF 2.351) Pub Date : 2019-06-20 Dena J Clink,Johny S Tasirin,Holger Klinck
Duetting, or the stereotypical, repeated and often coordinated vocalizations between 2 individuals arose independently multiple times in the Order Primates. Across primate species, there exists substantial variation in terms of timing, degree of overlap, and sex-specificity of duet contributions. There is increasing evidence that primates can modify the timing of their duet contributions relative to
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The onset in spring and the end in autumn of the thermal and vegetative growing season affect calving time and reproductive success in reindeer. Curr. Zool. (IF 2.351) Pub Date : 2019-06-20 Amélie Paoli,Robert B Weladji,Øystein Holand,Jouko Kumpula
A developing trophic mismatch between the peak of energy demands by reproducing animals and the peak of forage availability has caused many species' reproductive success to decrease. The match-mismatch hypothesis (MMH) is an appealing concept that can be used to assess such fitness consequences. However, concerns have been raised on applying the MMH on capital breeders such as reindeer because the
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Demonstrating mate choice copying in spiders requires further research. Curr. Zool. (IF 2.351) Pub Date : 2019-06-13 R Tucker Gilman,Kasey Fowler-Finn,Eileen A Hebets
invertebratesmate choice copyingSchizocosasexual selectionspeciationspiders
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The loss of sexual size dimorphism in urban populations of a widespread reptile, the European grass snake Natrix natrix. Curr. Zool. (IF 2.351) Pub Date : 2017-06-20 Stanisław Bury,Bartłomiej ZajĄc
body sizeNatrixsexual dimorphismsnakeurban ecology
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Size-related effects and the influence of metabolic traits and morphology on swimming performance in fish Curr. Zool. (IF 2.351) Pub Date : 2020-03-18 Francesc Rubio-Gracia; Emili García-Berthou; Helena Guasch; Lluís Zamora; Anna Vila-Gispert
Energy metabolism fuels swimming and other biological processes. We compared the swimming performance and energy metabolism within and across eight freshwater fish species. Using swim tunnel respirometers, we measured the standard metabolic rate (SMR) and maximum metabolic rate (MMR) and calculated the critical swimming speed (Ucrit). We accounted for body size, metabolic traits, and some morphometric
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Effect of environmental enrichment on the body shape of the pumpkinseed Curr. Zool. (IF 2.351) Pub Date : 2020-03-17 Noëlle Fabre; Anna Vila-Gispert; Cristina Galobart; Dolors Vinyoles
How the morphology of captive-reared fish is affected by structural enrichment in their rearing tanks is not well understood. Some studies have suggested that deficiencies in rearing environments could produce inappropriate body shape in salmonids (Vehanen and Huusko 2011). Garduño-Paz et al. (2010) have found significant differences in body and head shapes of 3-spine stickleback Gasterosteus aculeatus
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Spatial variation in egg polymorphism among cuckoo hosts across 4 continents Curr. Zool. (IF 2.351) Pub Date : 2020-03-17 Canchao Yang; Xingfeng Si; Wei Liang; Anders Pape Møller
Although egg color polymorphism has evolved as an effective defensive adaptation to brood parasitism, spatial variations in egg color polymorphism remain poorly characterized. Here, we investigated egg polymorphism in 647 host species (68 families and 231 genera) parasitized by 41 species of Old Word cuckoos (1 family and 11 genera) across Asia, Europe, Africa, and Australia. The diversity of parasitic
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Divergent male and female mate preferences do not explain incipient speciation between lizard lineages Curr. Zool. (IF 2.351) Pub Date : 2020-03-12 Claire A McLean; Richard A Bartle; Caroline M Dong; Katrina J Rankin; Devi Stuart-Fox
Diversification in sexual signals is often taken as evidence for the importance of sexual selection in speciation. However, in order for sexual selection to generate reproductive isolation between populations, both signals and mate preferences must diverge together. Furthermore, assortative mating may result from multiple behavioral mechanisms, including female mate preferences, male mate preferences
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Pellet egestion in modern carnivorous snakes Curr. Zool. (IF 2.351) Pub Date : 2020-03-07 Stanisław Bury; Agnieszka Drohobycka-Wawryka
Food resources vary in terms of digestibility and constraints in food processing are an essential factor driving the evolution of adaptations to cope with them, for example, a complex morphology of gastric tract, symbiosis with microorganisms, enzymatic specialization (McNab 2002). Pellet egestion is another important adaptation that enables to remove indigestible food particles and is observed in
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