A novel accessory respiratory muscle in the American alligator ( Alligator mississippiensis).

abstract：:Recurrent cycles of climatic change during the Quaternary period have dramatically affected the population genetic structure of many species. We reconstruct the recent demographic history of the coyote (Canis latrans) through the use of Bayesian techniques to examine the effects of Late Quaternary climatic perturbatio...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Koblmüller S,Wayne RK,Leonard JA

更新日期：2012-08-23 00:00:00

abstract：:Malpighian tubules play an essential role in excretion, osmoregulation and immunity of most insects. Exceptionally, aphids lack Malpighian tubules, providing the opportunity to investigate the fate of genes expressed in an organ that has undergone evolutionary reduction and loss. Making use of the sequenced genomes of...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Jing X,White TA,Yang X,Douglas AE

更新日期：2015-05-01 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：: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：:We modelled the present and future sub-Saharan winter distributions of 64 trans-Saharan migrant passerines to predict the potential impacts of climate change. These predictions used the recent ensemble modelling developments and the latest IPCC climatic simulations to account for possible methodological uncertainties....

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Barbet-Massin M,Walther BA,Thuiller W,Rahbek C,Jiguet F

更新日期：2009-04-23 00:00:00

abstract：:The temporal stability of plant reproductive features on islands has rarely been tested. Using flowers, fruits/cones and seeds from a well-dated (23 Ma) Miocene Lagerstätte in New Zealand, we show that across 23 families and 30 genera of forest angiosperms and conifers, reproductive features have remained constant for...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Conran JG,Lee WG,Lee DE,Bannister JM,Kaulfuss U

更新日期：2014-10-01 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：:Parasites represent ideal models for unravelling biogeographic patterns and mechanisms of diversification on islands. Both host-mediated dispersal and within-island adaptation can shape parasite island assemblages. In this study, we examined patterns of genetic diversity and structure of Ornithodoros seabird ticks wit...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Gómez-Díaz E,Morris-Pocock JA,González-Solís J,McCoy KD

更新日期：2012-08-23 00:00:00

abstract：:The workshop 'Species distribution models: applications, challenges and perspectives' held at Belo Horizonte (Brazil), 29-30 August 2011, aimed to review the state-of-the-art in species distribution modelling (SDM) in the neotropical realm. It brought together researchers in ecology, evolution, biogeography and conser...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Kamino LH,Stehmann JR,Amaral S,De Marco P Jr,Rangel TF,de Siqueira MF,De Giovanni R,Hortal J

更新日期：2012-06-23 00:00:00

abstract：:Nursery areas are fundamental for the success of many marine species, particularly for large, slow-growing taxa with low fecundity and high age of maturity. Here, we examine the population size-class structure of the extinct gigantic shark Otodus megalodon in a newly described middle Miocene locality from Northeastern...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Herraiz JL,Ribé J,Botella H,Martínez-Pérez C,Ferrón HG

更新日期：2020-11-01 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：: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：:An often underappreciated function of signals is to notify receivers of the presence and position of senders. The colours that ornament the mouthparts of nestling birds, for example, have been hypothesized to evolve via selective pressure generated by parents' inability to efficiently detect and feed nestlings without...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Dugas MB

更新日期：2015-11-01 00:00:00

abstract：:Despite widespread interest in the interplay between evolutionary and developmental processes, we still know relatively little about the evolutionary history of larval development. Many clades exhibit multiple shifts from planktotrophic (feeding) to non-planktotrophic (non-feeding) larval development. An important que...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Cunningham JA,Jeffery Abt CH

更新日期：2009-10-23 00:00:00

abstract：:Two non-coding DNA classes, introns and intergenic regions, of Drosophila melanogaster exhibit contrasting evolutionary patterns. GC content is significantly higher in intergenic regions and affects their degree of nucleotide variability. Divergence is positively correlated with recombination rate in intergenic region...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Ometto L,De Lorenzo D,Stephan W

更新日期：2006-12-22 00:00:00

abstract：:Hunter-gatherer Pygmies from Central Africa are described as being extremely mobile. Using neutral genetic markers and population genetics theory, we explored the dispersal behaviour of the Baka Pygmies from Cameroon, one of the largest Pygmy populations in Central Africa. We found a strong correlation between genetic...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Verdu P,Leblois R,Froment A,Théry S,Bahuchet S,Rousset F,Heyer E,Vitalis R

更新日期：2010-12-23 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：:Regressive evolution of structures associated with vision in cave-dwelling organisms is the focus of intense research. Most work has focused on differences between extreme visual phenotypes: sighted, surface animals and their completely blind, cave-dwelling counterparts. We suggest that troglodytic systems, comprising...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Tobler M,Coleman SW,Perkins BD,Rosenthal GG

更新日期：2010-02-23 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：:The comb jelly Mertensia ovum, widely distributed in Arctic regions, has recently been discovered in the northern Baltic Sea. We show that M. ovum also exists in the central Baltic but that the population consists solely of small-sized larvae (less than 1.6 mm). Despite the absence of adults, eggs were abundant. Exper...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Jaspers C,Haraldsson M,Bolte S,Reusch TB,Thygesen UH,Kiørboe T

更新日期：2012-10-23 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

abstract：:Quantifying how key life-history traits respond to climatic change is fundamental in understanding and predicting long-term population prospects. Age at first reproduction (AFR), which affects fitness and population dynamics, may be influenced by environmental stochasticity but has rarely been directly linked to clima...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Fjelldal MA,Layton-Matthews K,Lee AM,Grøtan V,Loonen MJJE,Hansen BB

更新日期：2020-04-01 00:00:00

abstract：:Odours that accumulate from roosting can attract predators and increase predation risk. Consequently, selection should favour strategies that allow prey to evade detection by predators, including changing roosts. Insectivorous bats that roost in tree hollows regularly switch roosts and roost in different sized groups,...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Threlfall C,Law B,Banks PB

更新日期：2013-05-01 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：:Although the presence of feathers in the nest is widespread among birds, it has not been previously suggested that feathers can be used as sexual signals. Females of the spotless starling (Sturnus unicolor) regularly carry feathers to their nest, mostly during laying and incubation. We show that the arrangement of the...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Veiga JP,Polo V

更新日期：2005-09-22 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：:Disentangling the relative contribution of predation avoidance and increased foraging efficiency in the evolution of sociality in animals has proven difficult given that the two types of benefits often operate concurrently. I identified different types of refuges from predation in birds related to morphological and ec...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Beauchamp G

更新日期：2010-08-23 00:00:00

abstract：:Of more than 800 species of eels of the order Anguilliformes, only freshwater eels (genus Anguilla with 16 species plus three subspecies) spend most of their lives in freshwater during their catadromous life cycle. Nevertheless, because their spawning areas are located offshore in the open ocean, they migrate back to ...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Inoue JG,Miya M,Miller MJ,Sado T,Hanel R,Hatooka K,Aoyama J,Minegishi Y,Nishida M,Tsukamoto K

更新日期：2010-06-23 00:00:00

abstract：:Interference coloration, in which the perceived colour varies predictably with the angle of illumination or observation, is extremely widespread across animal groups. However, despite considerable advances in our understanding of the mechanistic basis of interference coloration in animals, we still have a poor underst...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Pike TW

更新日期：2015-04-01 00:00:00

abstract：:Mycobacterium bovis is the causative agent of bovine tuberculosis (bTB) in cattle and wildlife. Direct aerosol contact is thought to be the primary route of infection between conspecifics, whereas indirect transmission via an environmental reservoir of M. bovis is generally perceived not to be a significant source for...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Courtenay O,Reilly LA,Sweeney FP,Hibberd V,Bryan S,Ul-Hassan A,Newman C,Macdonald DW,Delahay RJ,Wilson GJ,Wellington EM

更新日期：2006-09-22 00:00:00