Double cones are used for colour discrimination in the reef fish, Rhinecanthus aculeatus.

abstract：:The fauna of ancient lakes frequently contains taxa with highly derived morphologies that resulted from in situ radiation of lacustrine lineages with high antiquity. We employed a molecular mtDNA phylogeny to investigate this claim for corbiculid freshwater bivalves in two ancient lake systems on the Indonesian island...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： von Rintelen T,Glaubrecht M

更新日期：2006-03-22 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：:The lesser kestrel (Falco naumanni) suffered a sharp population decline over much of its European distribution range in the middle of the twentieth century. Still declining in some areas, the species has recently experienced a notable population recovery in certain regions. We examined the genetic diversity variation ...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Ortego J,Aparicio JM,Calabuig G,Cordero PJ

更新日期：2007-10-22 00:00:00

abstract：:Drug resistance is a long-standing economic, veterinary and human health concern in human and animal populations. Efficacy of prophylactic drug treatments targeting a particular pathogen is often short-lived, as drug-resistant pathogens evolve and reach high frequency in a treated population. Methods to combat drug re...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Park AW,Haven J,Kaplan R,Gandon S

更新日期：2015-11-01 00:00:00

abstract：:This study reports the first experimental exploration of possible contagious yawning in monkeys. Twenty-two stumptail macaques (Macaca arctoides) were presented with video clips of either yawns or control mouth movements by conspecifics. At a group level, monkeys yawned significantly more often during and just after t...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Paukner A,Anderson JR

更新日期：2006-03-22 00:00:00

abstract：:Flight feather moult in small passerines is realized in several ways. Some species moult once after breeding or once on their wintering grounds; others even moult twice. The adaptive significance of this diversity is still largely unknown. We compared the resistance to mechanical fatigue of flight feathers from the ch...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Weber TP,Borgudd J,Hedenström A,Persson K,Sandberg G

更新日期：2005-03-22 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：:Anthropogenic impacts are believed to be the primary threats to the eastern Australian population of grey nurse sharks (Carcharias taurus), which is listed as critically endangered, and the most threatened population globally. Analyses of 235 polymorphic amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLP) loci and 700 base...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Stow A,Zenger K,Briscoe D,Gillings M,Peddemors V,Otway N,Harcourt R

更新日期：2006-06-22 00:00:00

abstract：:Males of many vertebrate species aggressively defend their reproductive interests by monopolizing females, and the 'challenge hypothesis' predicts that testosterone levels in reproductive contexts rise to facilitate males' competitive behaviours necessary for meeting social challenges. The hypothesis is successful in ...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Klose SM,Welbergen JA,Kalko EK

更新日期：2009-12-23 00:00:00

abstract：:Prolific polyembryony is reported in few major taxa, but its occurrence has generated theoretical debate on potential conflict between sexual and asexual reproduction. It is, therefore, important to genetically confirm a widely cited inference, based on microscopy, that polyembryony characterizes marine bryozoans of t...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Hughes RN,D'Amato ME,Bishop JD,Carvalho GR,Craig SF,Hansson LJ,Harley MA,Pemberton AJ

更新日期：2005-06-22 00:00:00

abstract：:Bahamas mosquitofish (Gambusia hubbsi) colonized blue holes during the past approximately 15 000 years and exhibit relatively larger caudal regions in blue holes that contain piscivorous fish. It is hypothesized that larger caudal regions enhance fast-start escape performance and thus reflect an adaptation for avoidin...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Langerhans RB

更新日期：2009-08-23 00:00:00

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：:Evenness is a key measure of community structure. Here, we examine the relationship between evenness and size-abundance distributions for both individuals and species using data gathered from Amazonian fish assemblages. We show that evenness increases as the fraction of numerically abundant species in larger body-size...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Magurran AE,Queiroz HL,Hercos AP

更新日期：2013-12-11 00:00:00

abstract：:The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) plays a key role in vertebrate immunity, and pathogen-mediated selection often favours certain allelic combinations. Assessing potential mates' MHC profiles may provide receivers with genetic benefits (identifying MHC-compatible mates and producing optimally diverse offspring...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Slade JWG,Watson MJ,MacDougall-Shackleton EA

更新日期：2017-11-01 00:00:00

abstract：:The hormone fluctuations that an animal experiences during ovulation can have lifelong effects on developing offspring. These hormones may act as an adaptive mechanism, allowing offspring to be 'pre-programmed' to survive in an unstable environment. Here, we used a transgenerational approach to examine the effects of ...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Khan N,Peters RA,Richardson E,Robert KA

更新日期：2016-11-01 00:00:00

abstract：:The study of birds, especially the Galapagos finches, was important to Darwin in the development of the theory of evolution by natural selection. Birds have also been at the centre of a recent reformulation in understanding cerebral evolution and the substrates for higher cognition. While it was once thought that bird...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Reiner A

更新日期：2009-02-23 00:00:00

abstract：:Ecosystem dynamics are driven by both biotic and abiotic processes, and perturbations can push ecosystems into novel dynamical regimes. Plant-plant, plant-soil and mycorrhizal associations all affect plant ecosystem dynamics; however, the direction and magnitude of these effects vary by context and their contribution ...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Bonsall MB,Froyd CA,Jeffers ES

更新日期：2020-01-01 00:00:00

abstract：:Historically, bird song has been regarded as a sex-specific signalling trait; males sing to attract females and females drive the evolution of signal exaggeration by preferring males with ever more complex songs. This view provides no functional role for female song. Historic geographical research biases generalized p...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Riebel K,Odom KJ,Langmore NE,Hall ML

更新日期：2019-04-26 00:00:00

abstract：:Cognitive bias has become a popular way to access non-human animal mood, though inconsistent results have been found. In humans, mood and personality interact to determine cognitive bias, but to date, this has not been investigated in non-human animals. Here, we demonstrate for the first time, to the best of our knowl...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Asher L,Friel M,Griffin K,Collins LM

更新日期：2016-11-01 00:00:00

abstract：:Loss of Arctic sea ice owing to climate change is the primary threat to polar bears throughout their range. We evaluated the potential response of polar bears to sea-ice declines by (i) calculating generation length (GL) for the species, which determines the timeframe for conservation assessments; (ii) developing a st...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Regehr EV,Laidre KL,Akçakaya HR,Amstrup SC,Atwood TC,Lunn NJ,Obbard M,Stern H,Thiemann GW,Wiig Ø

更新日期：2016-12-01 00:00:00

abstract：:Many studies during the past 50 years have found an association between father absence and earlier menarche. In connection with these findings, several evolutionary theories assume that father absence is a causal factor accelerating reproductive development. However, a recent study analysing data from the Avon Longitu...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Lenárt P,Zlámal F,Kukla L,Jarkovský J,Bienertová-Vašků J

更新日期：2019-06-28 00:00:00

abstract：:Unrelated same-sex individuals pairing together and cooperating to raise offspring over many years is a rare occurrence in the animal kingdom. Cooperative breeding, in which animals help raise offspring that are not their own, is often attributed to kin selection when individuals are related, or altruism when individu...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Young LC,Zaun BJ,Vanderwerf EA

更新日期：2008-08-23 00:00:00

abstract：:The phenotypic effect of mutations can depend on their genetic background, a phenomenon known as epistasis. Many experimental studies have found that epistasis is pervasive, and some indicate that it may follow a general pattern dependent on the fitness effect of the interacting mutations. These studies have, however,...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Wang Y,Arenas CD,Stoebel DM,Cooper TF

更新日期：2013-02-23 00:00:00

abstract：:With an increasing amount of data becoming available, comparative analyses have called attention to the associations between cooperative breeding, monogamy and relatedness. We focus here upon the association between allomaternal care and relatedness among females within a social unit. Previous studies found a positive...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Briga M,Pen I,Wright J

更新日期：2012-08-23 00:00:00

abstract：:The past population dynamics of four domestic and one wild species of bovine were estimated using Bayesian skyline plots, a coalescent Markov chain Monte Carlo method that does not require an assumed parametric model of demographic history. Four domestic species share a recent rapid population expansion not visible in...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Finlay EK,Gaillard C,Vahidi SM,Mirhoseini SZ,Jianlin H,Qi XB,El-Barody MA,Baird JF,Healy BC,Bradley DG

更新日期：2007-08-22 00:00:00

abstract：:The aerodynamic force on flying insects results from the vortical flow structures that vary both spatially and temporally throughout flight. Due to these complexities and the inherent difficulties in studying flying insects in a natural setting, a complete picture of the vortical flow has been difficult to obtain expe...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Liu Y,Roll J,Van Kooten S,Deng X

更新日期：2018-05-01 00:00:00

abstract：:The use of fluctuating asymmetry (FA) for biomonitoring environmental stress is limited by the lack of work on how FA in particular traits responds to specific stresses. Here, by manipulating the number of individuals in an enclosed fallow deer (Dama dama) population, we describe, for the first time, clear density dep...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Serrano E,Angibault JM,Cargnelutti B,Hewison AJ

更新日期：2008-10-23 00:00:00

abstract：:Soil oxygen availability may influence blue carbon, which is carbon stored in coastal wetlands, by controlling the decomposition of soil organic matter. We are beginning to quantify soil oxygen availability in wetlands, but we lack a precise understanding of how oxygen controls soil carbon dynamics. In this paper, we ...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Chapman SK,Hayes MA,Kelly B,Langley JA

更新日期：2019-01-31 00:00:00

abstract：:Sperm whales use their gigantic nose to produce the most powerful sounds in the animal kingdom, presumably to echolocate deep-sea prey at long ranges and possibly to debilitate prey. To test these hypotheses, we deployed sound recording tags (DTAG-4) on the tip of the nose of three sperm whales. One of these recording...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Tønnesen P,Oliveira C,Johnson M,Madsen PT

更新日期：2020-08-01 00:00:00

abstract：:Locomotion and feeding in marine animals are intimately linked to the flow dynamics created by specialized body parts. This interaction is of particular importance during ontogeny, when changes in behaviour and scale challenge the organism with shifts in fluid regimes and altered functionality. Previous studies have i...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Nawroth JC,Feitl KE,Colin SP,Costello JH,Dabiri JO

更新日期：2010-06-23 00:00:00