Flexing the abdominals: do bigger muscles make better fighters?

abstract：:In cooperative animal societies, dominant females typically show higher breeding success than subordinates, and are commonly believed to control the extent of reproductive sharing. However, studies of social insect societies reveal that subordinates too can interfere with the breeding attempts of others, with importan...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Young AJ,Clutton-Brock T

更新日期：2006-09-22 00:00:00

abstract：:The carboxy-terminal domain (CTD) of the largest subunit of RNA polymerase II (Pol II) consists of 26 and 52 heptad-repeats in yeast and mammals, respectively. Studies in yeast showed that the strong periodicity of the YSPTSPS heptads is dispensable for cell growth and that di-heptads interspersed by spacers can act a...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Shah N,Decker TM,Eick D

更新日期：2019-05-31 00:00:00

abstract：:The rapid decline in Arctic sea ice (ASI) extent, area and volume during recent decades is occurring before we can understand many of the mechanisms through which ASI interacts with biological processes both at sea and on land. As a consequence, our ability to predict and manage the effects of this enormous environmen...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Macias-Fauria M,Post E

更新日期：2018-03-01 00:00:00

abstract：:The mid-domain effect (MDE), a bias in species richness towards the midpoint of a given geographical dimension, has been used as a null model in macro-ecological studies. Departures from a MDE are often thought of as interesting. The MDE is a product of the interaction between geometric boundaries and range locations,...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Davies TJ,Grenyer R,Gittleman JL

更新日期：2005-06-22 00:00:00

abstract：:The present erratum is in regards to our article entitled ‘Ancient DNA and the tropics: a rodent's tale’. We were made aware of problems with some of the ancient sequences submitted to GenBank and conducted a systematic review of all the files used in our study. We discovered that, unfortunately, an incorrect file was...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Gutiérrez-García TA,Vázquez-Domínguez E,Arroyo-Cabrales J,Kuch M,Enk J,King C,Poinar HN

更新日期：2015-03-01 00:00:00

abstract：:Impulsivity, the widespread preference for a smaller and more immediate reward over a larger and more delayed reward, is known to vary across species, and the metabolic and social hypotheses present contrasting explanations for this variation. However, this presents a paradox for an animal such as the honeybee, which ...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Mayack C,Naug D

更新日期：2015-01-01 00:00:00

abstract：:A challenge in animal ecology is to link animal movement to demography. In general, reproducing and non-reproducing animals may show different movement patterns. Dramatic changes in reproductive status, such as the loss of an offspring during the course of migration, might also affect movement. Studies linking movemen...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Singh NJ,Ericsson G

更新日期：2014-06-01 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：: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：:Male sand lizards (Lacerta agilis) with a specific restriction fragment length polymorphism fragment in their major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genotype ('O-males') are more resistant to ectoparasites (a tick, Ixodes ricinus) than are males that lack this fragment ('NO-males'). However, emerging evidence suggests...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Olsson M,Wapstra E,Madsen T,Ujvari B,Rugfelt C

更新日期：2005-09-22 00:00:00

abstract：:Males of a variety of taxa occasionally steal food secured by their mates. In some spiders and insects, males rely entirely on this form of intraspecific kleptoparasitism for their subsistence. However, this male strategy may be costly for females and a variety of different female counteradaptations have been proposed...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Arnqvist G,Jones TM,Elgar MA

更新日期：2006-12-22 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：:Since its discovery in the winter of 2005-2006, white-nose syndrome (WNS) has killed over one million little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus) in the American northeast. Although many studies have reported die-offs of bats at winter hibernacula, it is important to understand how bat mortality linked to WNS at winter hiber...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Dzal Y,McGuire LP,Veselka N,Fenton MB

更新日期：2011-06-23 00:00:00

abstract：:Sexual conflict occurs when selection to maximize fitness in one sex does so at the expense of the other sex. In the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides, repeated mating provides assurance of paternity at a direct cost to female reproductive productivity. To reduce this cost, females could choose males with low re...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Hopwood PE,Mazué GP,Carter MJ,Head ML,Moore AJ,Royle NJ

更新日期：2016-03-01 00:00:00

abstract：:The evolutionary stability of honest signalling by offspring is thought to require that begging displays be costly, so the costs and benefits of begging--and whether they are experienced individually or by the whole brood--are crucial to understanding the evolution of begging behaviour. Begging is known to have immedi...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Lessells CK,Riebel K,Draganoiu TI

更新日期：2011-06-23 00:00:00

abstract：:Understanding the relationship between disease transmission and host density is essential for predicting disease spread and control. Using long-term data on sarcoptic mange in a red fox Vulpes vulpes population, we tested long-held assumptions of density- and frequency-dependent direct disease transmission. We also as...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Devenish-Nelson ES,Richards SA,Harris S,Soulsbury C,Stephens PA

更新日期：2014-10-01 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：:Many studies have focused on the effects of anthropogenic noise on animal communication, but only a few have looked at its effect on other behavioural systems. We designed a playback experiment to test the effect of noise on predation risk assessment. We found that in response to boat motor playback, Caribbean hermit ...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Chan AA,Giraldo-Perez P,Smith S,Blumstein DT

更新日期：2010-08-23 00:00:00

abstract：:Here, we use 30 long-term, high-resolution palaeoecological records from Mexico, Central and South America to address two hypotheses regarding possible drivers of resilience in tropical forests as measured in terms of recovery rates from previous disturbances. First, we hypothesize that faster recovery rates are assoc...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Adolf C,Tovar C,Kühn N,Behling H,Berrío JC,Dominguez-Vázquez G,Figueroa-Rangel B,Gonzalez-Carranza Z,Islebe GA,Hooghiemstra H,Neff H,Olvera-Vargas M,Whitney B,Wooller MJ,Willis KJ

更新日期：2020-04-01 00:00:00

abstract：:One of the contemporary hypotheses concerning the evolution of human altruism is the cooperative breeding hypothesis (CBH) which has recently been tested in non-human primates. Using a similar paradigm, we investigated prosociality in a cooperatively breeding corvid, the azure-winged magpie. We found that the magpies ...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Horn L,Scheer C,Bugnyar T,Massen JJ

更新日期：2016-10-01 00:00:00

abstract：:The dynamics of leaf nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) have been intensively explored in short-term experiments, but rarely at longer timescales. Here, we investigated leaf N : P stoichiometry over a 27-year interval in an Inner Mongolia grassland by comparing leaf N : P concentration of 2006 with that of 1979. Across 8...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Mi Z,Huang Y,Gan H,Zhou W,Flynn DF,He JS

更新日期：2015-01-01 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：:Understanding the pressures of fisheries on the ecosystem is crucial for effective management. Fishery removals, or catch, are composed of both landings and discards. However, the use of discards data in studies investigating the effect of the fishing pressures is sparse. Here, we explore the individual contribution o...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Viana M,McNally L,Graham N,Reid DG,Jackson AL

更新日期：2013-12-04 00:00:00

abstract：:Plants under attack by pathogens and pests can mount a range of inducible defences, encompassing both chemical and structural changes. Although few reports exist, it appears that plants responding to pathogen or herbivore attack, or chemical defence elicitors, may produce progeny that are better able to defend themsel...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Walters DR,Paterson L

更新日期：2012-10-23 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：:A long-standing but controversial hypothesis assumes that carnivorous plants employ aggressive mimicry to increase their prey capture success. A possible mechanism is that pitcher plants use aggressive mimicry to deceive prey about the location of the pitcher's exit. Specifically, species from unrelated families sport...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Schaefer HM,Ruxton GD

更新日期：2014-04-30 00:00:00

abstract：:While learning to avoid toxic food is common in mammals and occurs in some insects, learning to avoid cues associated with infectious pathogens has received little attention. We demonstrate that Drosophila melanogaster show olfactory learning in response to infection with their virulent intestinal pathogen Pseudomonas...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Babin A,Kolly S,Schneider F,Dolivo V,Zini M,Kawecki TJ

更新日期：2014-03-05 00:00:00

abstract：:General models of plant vascular architecture, based on scaling of pipe diameters to remove the length dependence of hydraulic resistance within the xylem, have attracted strong interest. However, these models have neglected to consider the leaf, an important hydraulic component; they assume all leaves to have similar...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Coomes DA,Heathcote S,Godfrey ER,Shepherd JJ,Sack L

更新日期：2008-06-23 00:00:00

abstract：:Conventional row crop agriculture for both food and fuel is a source of carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrous oxide (N2O) to the atmosphere, and intensifying production on agricultural land increases the potential for soil C loss and soil acidification due to fertilizer use. Enhanced weathering (EW) in agricultural soils-a...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Kantola IB,Masters MD,Beerling DJ,Long SP,DeLucia EH

更新日期：2017-04-01 00:00:00

abstract：:Research on reproductive isolation in African cichlid fishes has largely focused on the role of nuptial colours, but other sensory modes may play an important role in mate choice. Here, we compare the relative importance of visual and olfactory cues in mate recognition by females of a Lake Malawi cichlid species. Fema...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Plenderleith M,van Oosterhout C,Robinson RL,Turner GF

更新日期：2005-12-22 00:00:00