Testosterone is associated with harem maintenance ability in free-ranging grey-headed flying-foxes, Pteropus poliocephalus.

abstract：:Postzygotic isolation may be important for maintaining species boundaries, particularly when premating barriers are incomplete. Little is known about the course of events leading from minor environmental mismatches affecting hybrid fitness to severe genetic incompatibilities causing sterility or inviability. We invest...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Alund M,Immler S,Rice AM,Qvarnström A

更新日期：2013-04-10 00:00:00

abstract：:Research on social behaviour has largely concentrated on birds and mammals in visually active, cooperatively breeding groups (although such systems are relatively rare) and focused much less on species that rarely interact other than for mating and parental care. We used microsatellite markers to characterize relatedn...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Clark RW,Brown WS,Stechert R,Greene HW

更新日期：2012-08-23 00:00:00

abstract：:Although plant-arthropod relationships underpin the dramatic rise in diversity and ecological dominance of flowering plants and their associated arthropods, direct observations of such interactions in the fossil record are rare, as these ephemeral moments are difficult to preserve. Three-dimensionally preserved charre...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Hartkopf-Fröder C,Rust J,Wappler T,Friis EM,Viehofen A

更新日期：2012-04-23 00:00:00

abstract：:Placoderms are a diverse group of armoured fishes that dominated the aquatic ecosystems of the Devonian Period, 415-360 million years ago. The bladed jaws of predators such as Dunkleosteus suggest that these animals were the first vertebrates to use rapid mouth opening and a powerful bite to capture and fragment evasi...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Anderson PS,Westneat MW

更新日期：2007-02-22 00:00:00

abstract：:The risk of parasitism is considered to be a general cost of sociality and individuals living in larger groups are typically considered to be more likely to be infected with parasites. However, contradictory results have been reported for the relationship between group size and infection by directly transmitted parasi...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Bordes F,Blumstein DT,Morand S

更新日期：2007-12-22 00:00:00

abstract：:Strong social bonds can make an important contribution to individual fitness, but we still have only a limited understanding of the temporal period relevant to the adjustment of social relationships. While there is growing recognition of the importance of strong bonds that persist for years, social relationships can a...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Sick C,Carter AJ,Marshall HH,Knapp LA,Dabelsteen T,Cowlishaw G

更新日期：2014-07-01 00:00:00

abstract：:Our study examines how the mutualism between Atta colombica leaf-cutting ants and their cultivated fungus is influenced by the presence of diverse foliar endophytic fungi (endophytes) at high densities in tropical leaf tissues. We conducted laboratory choice trials in which ant colonies chose between Cordia alliodora ...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Bittleston LS,Brockmann F,Wcislo W,Van Bael SA

更新日期：2011-02-23 00:00:00

abstract：:Bitterness perception in mammals is mostly directed at natural toxins that induce innate avoidance behaviours. Bitter taste is mediated by the G protein-coupled receptor TAS2R, which is located in taste cell membranes. One of the best-studied bitter taste receptors is TAS2R38, which recognizes phenylthiocarbamide (PTC...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Purba LH,Widayati KA,Tsutsui K,Suzuki-Hashido N,Hayakawa T,Nila S,Suryobroto B,Imai H

更新日期：2017-01-01 00:00:00

abstract：:A number of previous studies reported that gene expression, tissue specificity, gene essentiality and the number of protein-protein interactions influence the rate of protein evolution. Here we investigated the influence of effective population size (Ne) on these determinants of protein evolution. For this purpose, we...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Subramanian S

更新日期：2018-07-01 00:00:00

abstract：:Learning is an important form of phenotypic plasticity that allows organisms to adjust their behaviour to the environment. An individual's learning performance can be affected by its mother's environment. For example, mothers exposed to stressors, such as restraint and forced swimming, often produce offspring with imp...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Roche DP,McGhee KE,Bell AM

更新日期：2012-12-23 00:00:00

abstract：:Carotenoid-based ornaments are common signalling features in animals. It has long been proposed that such ornaments communicate information about foraging abilities to potential mates. However, evidence linking foraging with ornamentation is largely missing from unmanipulated, free-ranging populations. To investigate ...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Michael NP,Torres R,Welch AJ,Adams J,Bonillas-Monge ME,Felis J,Lopez-Marquez L,Martínez-Flores A,Wiley AE

更新日期：2018-09-26 00:00:00

abstract：:Anthropogenic salinization of rivers is an emerging issue of global concern, with significant adverse effects on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Impacts of freshwater salinization on biota are strongly mediated by evolutionary history, as this is a major factor determining species physiological salinity tolera...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Kefford BJ,Buchwalter D,Cañedo-Argüelles M,Davis J,Duncan RP,Hoffmann A,Thompson R

更新日期：2016-03-01 00:00:00

abstract：:Correct decision making is crucial for animals to maximize foraging success and minimize predation risk. Group-living animals can make such decisions by using their own personal information or by pooling information with other group members (i.e. social information). Here, we investigate how individuals might best bal...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： King AJ,Cowlishaw G

更新日期：2007-04-22 00:00:00

abstract：:Association and linkage mapping have become important tools in understanding the genetics of complex traits, including diseases in humans. As the success of association mapping is reduced by small effect sizes and limited power, linkage studies in laboratory-based model systems are still heavily used. But whether the ...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Wilfert L,Jiggins FM

更新日期：2010-10-23 00:00:00

abstract：:Urban alteration of neutral and adaptive evolutionary processes is still underexplored. Using a genome-wide SNP dataset, we investigated (i) urban-induced modifications of population demography, genetic diversity and population structure and (ii) signature of divergent selection between urban and forest populations in...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Khimoun A,Doums C,Molet M,Kaufmann B,Peronnet R,Eyer PA,Mona S

更新日期：2020-01-01 00:00:00

abstract：:The birth sex ratio of vertebrates with chromosomal sex determination has been shown to respond to environmental variability, such as temperature. However, in humans the few previous studies on environmental temperature and birth sex ratios have produced mixed results. We examined whether reconstructed annual mean tem...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Helle S,Helama S,Jokela J

更新日期：2008-02-23 00:00:00

abstract：:Coevolution with parasites is thought to maintain genetic diversity in host populations. However, while there are sound theoretical reasons to expect heterozygosity and parasite resistance to be related, this pattern has generally been shown only in inbred laboratory and island populations. This leaves doubt as to whe...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： MacDougall-Shackleton EA,Derryberry EP,Foufopoulos J,Dobson AP,Hahn TP

更新日期：2005-03-22 00:00:00

abstract：:Evidence of altered primary sex ratios in birds shows that mothers can manipulate the sex of their offspring before oviposition. In birds, females are the heterogametic sex (ZW) and males are homogametic (ZZ). Sex is determined in the first meiotic division, when one sex chromosome is retained in the oocyte and the ot...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Correa SM,Adkins-Regan E,Johnson PA

更新日期：2005-06-22 00:00:00

abstract：:A large number of episodes of forest mortality associated with drought and heat stress have been detected worldwide in recent decades, suggesting that some of the world's forested ecosystems may be already responding to climate change. Here, we summarize a special session titled 'Drought-induced forest decline: causes...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Martínez-Vilalta J,Lloret F,Breshears DD

更新日期：2012-10-23 00:00:00

abstract：:The direct effects of CO2 level changes on plant water availability are usually ignored in plant habitat models. We compare traditional proxies for water availability with changes in soil water (fAWC) predicted by a process-based ecosystem model, which simulates changes in vegetation structure and functioning, includi...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Rickebusch S,Thuiller W,Hickler T,Arau Jo MB,Sykes MT,Schweiger O,Lafourcade B

更新日期：2008-10-23 00:00:00

abstract：:A recent study showed that a critically endangered migratory predator species, the Balearic shearwater Puffinus mauretanicus, rapidly expanded northwards in northeast Atlantic waters after the mid-1990s. As a significant positive correlation was found between the long-term changes in the abundance of this seabird and ...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Luczak C,Beaugrand G,Jaffré M,Lenoir S

更新日期：2011-10-23 00:00:00

abstract：:Lack of information is a constraint but ignorance can sometimes assist the evolution of cooperation by constraining selfishness. We discuss examples involving both ignorance of role or pay-off and ignorance of relatedness. Ignorance can favour cooperative traits like grouping and warning coloration and reduce conflict...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Queller DC,Strassmann JE

更新日期：2013-10-16 00:00:00

abstract：:Group choruses of marine animals can produce extraordinarily loud sounds that markedly elevate levels of the ambient soundscape. We investigated sound production in the Gulf corvina (Cynoscion othonopterus), a soniferous marine fish with a unique reproductive behaviour threatened by overfishing, to compare with sounds...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Erisman BE,Rowell TJ

更新日期：2017-12-01 00:00:00

abstract：:The songs of oscine passerine birds vary on many spatial scales, reflecting the actions of diverse evolutionary pressures. Here we examine the songs of Cisticola erythrops, which effectively signal species identity across a geographical area spanning 6500 km in sub-Saharan Africa. Selection for species identification ...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Benedict L,Bowie RC

更新日期：2009-08-23 00:00:00

abstract：:Twenty years ago, the field of ancient DNA was launched with the publication of two short mitochondrial (mt) DNA sequences from a single quagga (Equus quagga) museum skin, an extinct South African equid (Higuchi et al. 1984 Nature312, 282-284). This was the first extinct species from which genetic information was retr...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Leonard JA,Rohland N,Glaberman S,Fleischer RC,Caccone A,Hofreiter M

更新日期：2005-09-22 00:00:00

abstract：:Humans shift their attention to follow another person's gaze direction, a phenomenon called gaze cueing. This study examined whether a particular social factor, intergroup threat, modulates gaze cueing. As expected, stronger responses of a particular in-group to a threatening out-group were observed when the in-group,...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Chen Y,Zhao Y

更新日期：2015-02-01 00:00:00

abstract：:The interaction between neuromuscular systems and body mechanics plays an important role in the production of coordinated movements in animals. Lepidopteran insects move their wings by distortion of the thorax structure via the indirect flight muscles (IFMs), which are activated by neural signals at every stroke. Howe...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Ando N,Kanzaki R

更新日期：2016-01-01 00:00:00

abstract：:The sex ratio of the local population influences mating-related behaviours in many species. Recent experiments show that male-biased sex ratios increase the amount of financial resources men will invest in potential mates, suggesting that sex ratios influence allocation of mating effort in humans. To investigate this ...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Hahn AC,Fisher CI,DeBruine LM,Jones BC

更新日期：2014-06-01 00:00:00

abstract：:The response to intradermally injected phytohaemagglutinin (PHA-response) is a commonly used quantification of avian immunocompetence (the ability to resist pathogens). Parasite-mediated sexual selection requires heritable immunocompetence, but evidence for heritability of PHA-response in birds largely stems from full...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Pitala N,Gustafsson L,Sendecka J,Brommer JE

更新日期：2007-08-22 00:00:00

abstract：:The genetic status of wolves in the western Great Lakes region has received increased attention following the decision to remove them from protection under the US Endangered Species Act. A recent study of mitochondrial DNA has suggested that the recovered wolf population is not genetically representative of the histor...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Wheeldon T,White BN

更新日期：2009-02-23 00:00:00