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

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.

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

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

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

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

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 QTL regions or between regulatory regions and their targets

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

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 behavioural interactions as a driver of broad scale phenotypic diversity has received comparatively less attention. Behavioural interactions, however, are a key agent of natural

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

invertebratesmate choice copyingSchizocosasexual selectionspeciationspiders

body sizeNatrixsexual dimorphismsnakeurban ecology

Rapid 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 behaviors

Social epigenomics is a new field of research that studies how the social environment shapes the epigenome and how in turn the epigenome modulates behavior. We focus on describing known gene-environment interactions (GEIs) and epigenetic mechanisms in different mammalian social systems. To illustrate how epigenetic mechanisms integrate GEIs, we highlight examples where epigenetic mechanisms are associated

For the last 40 years, the study of cooperative breeding (CB) in birds has proceeded primarily in the context of discovering the ecological, geographical, and behavioral drivers of helping. The advent of molecular tools in the early 1990s assisted in clarifying the relatedness of helpers to those helped, in some cases, confirming predictions of kin selection theory. Methods for genome-wide analysis

The interaction between organisms and their environment is central in functional morphology. Differences in habitat usage may imply divergent morphology of locomotor systems; thus, detecting which morphological traits are conservative across lineages and which ones vary under environmental pressure is important in evolutionary studies. We studied internal and external morphology in 28 species of Neotropical

Incomplete lineage sorting and introgression are 2 major and nonexclusive causes of species-level non-monophyly. Distinguishing between these 2 processes is notoriously difficult because they can generate similar genetic signatures. Previous studies have suggested that 2 closely related duck species, the Chinese spot-billed duck Anas zonorhyncha and the mallard A. platyrhynchos were polyphyletically

Among mammalian phylogenies, those characterized by rapid radiations are particularly problematic. The New World monkeys (NWMs, Platyrrhini) comprise 3 families and 7 subfamilies, which radiated within a relatively short time period. Accordingly, their phylogenetic relationships are still largely disputed. In the present study, 56 nuclear non-coding loci, including 33 introns (INs) and 23 intergenic

Copulatory plugs (CP) are substances produced during copulation that block the genital openings of the female. In several species of Nematoda, males produce CP that are thought to impede female remating and thus sperm competition. The relatively large size of the CP in several nematodes, and its evolutionary loss in self-fertilizing populations of Caenorhabditis elegans, suggests that CP are costly

Color polymorphisms have been traditionally attributed to apostatic selection. The perception of color depends on the visual system of the observer. Theoretical models predict that differently perceived degrees of conspicuousness by two predator and prey species may cause the evolution of polymorphisms in the presence of anti-apostatic and apostatic selection. The spider Gasteracantha cancriformis

Animal individuality is challenging to explain because individual differences are regulated by multiple selective forces that lead to unique combinations of characteristics. For instance, the study of personality, a core aspect of individuality, may benefit from integrating other factors underlying individual differences, such as lateralized cerebral processing. Indeed, the approach-withdrawal hypothesis

Sexual differences in morphology can evolve by sexual selection and/or natural selection. In some species, only males have morphological structures that are used as weapons. Since some weapons may also be used for defensive purposes, males and females may behave differently towards predators. In some species of harvestmen (Arachnida and Opiliones), males have sharp apophyses ("spines") on their 4th

Camouflage is widespread throughout the animal kingdom allowing individuals to avoid detection and hence save time and energy rather than escape from an approaching predator. Thus, camouflage is likely to have co-evolved with antipredator behavior. Here, we propose that camouflage results in dichotomous escape behavior within and among species with classes of individuals and species with cryptic coloration

Kin selection theory predicts that individuals should generally behave less aggressively or more amicably towards relatives than nonkin. However, how individuals treat conspecifics depends on genetic relatedness but also on the ecological context, which influences the benefits and costs of their interactions. In this study, we used microsatellite DNA markers and behavioral tests to examine the influence

Understanding how key parameters (e.g., density, range-size, and configuration) can affect animal movement remains a major goal of population ecology. This is particularly important for wildlife disease hosts, such as the European badger Meles meles, a reservoir of Mycobacterium bovis. Here we show how movements of 463 individuals among 223 inferred group territories across 755 km2 in Ireland were

The perinatal period is critical to survival and performance of many organisms. In birds, rapid postnatal growth and sudden exposure to aerial oxygen around hatching markedly affect the chick redox status, with potentially negative consequences on physiology mediated by oxidative stress. In addition, telomere length (TL) undergoes reduction during birds' early life, partly depending on oxidative status

Escaping the control of natural enemies is thought to heavily influence the establishment success and impact of non-native species. Here, we examined how the profitability of alternative prey in combination with the presence of a competitor and predator aggressive behavior explain individual differences in diet specialization and the consumption of the invasive green porcelain crab Petrolisthes armatus

Attributing biological explanations to observed ecogeographical and ecological patterns require eliminating potential statistical and sampling artifacts as alternative explanations of the observed patterns. Here, we assess the role of sample size, statistical power, and geographic inclusivity on the general validity and statistical significance of relationships between body size and latitude for 3

Animals have evolved foraging strategies to acquire blends of nutrients that maximize fitness traits. In social insects, nutrient regulation is complicated by the fact that few individuals, the foragers, must address the divergent nutritional needs of all colony members simultaneously, including other workers, the reproductives, and the brood. Here we used 3D nutritional geometry design to examine

There is increasing interest in flies as potentially important pollinators. Flies are known to have a complex visual system, including 4 spectral classes of photoreceptors that contribute to the perception of color. Our current understanding of how color signals are perceived by flies is based on data for the blowfly Lucilia sp., which after being conditioned to rewarded monochromatic light stimuli

Angle dependent colors, such as iridescence, are produced by structures present on flower petals changing their visual appearance. These colors have been proposed to act as signals for plant-insect communication. However, there is a paucity of behavioral data to allow for interpretations of how to classify these colors either as a signal or a cue when considering the natural conditions under which

Plant-pollinator interactions have a fundamental influence on flower evolution. Flower color signals are frequently tuned to the visual capabilities of important pollinators such as either bees or birds, but far less is known about whether flower shape influences the choices of pollinators. We tested European honeybee Apis mellifera preferences using novel achromatic (gray-scale) images of 12 insect-pollinated

Pollinators use multiple cues whilst foraging including direct cues from flowers and indirect cues from other pollinators. The use of indirect social cues is common in social insects, such as honeybees and bumblebees, where a social environment facilitates the ability to use such cues. Bumblebees use cues to forage on flowers according to previous foraging experiences. Flowers are an essential food

Exercise performance depends on both physiological abilities (e.g., muscle strength) and behavioral characteristics (e.g., motivation). We tested the hypothesis that evolution of increased aerobic exercise performance can be facilitated by evolution of neuropsychological mechanisms responsible for motivation to undertake physical activity. We used a unique model system: lines of bank voles Myodes glareolus

Predators have both direct, consumptive effects on their prey and non-lethal effects on physiology and behavior, including reproductive decisions, with cascading effects on prey ecology and evolution. Here, we experimentally tested such non-lethal effects of exposure to increased predation risk on clutch size, egg mass, and the concentration of yolk steroid hormones in the yellow-legged gull Larus