Examining the mechanisms underlying the acquisition of animal tool behaviour.

abstract：:Lateralization of the brain has traditionally been considered a specialization that is confined to the vertebrates, but recent studies have revealed that a range of invertebrates also have a brain that is structurally asymmetric and/or each side performs a different set of functions. Here, we show that the precopulato...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Davison A,Frend HT,Moray C,Wheatley H,Searle LJ,Eichhorn MP

更新日期：2009-02-23 00:00:00

abstract：:Telomeres are regarded as markers of biological or cellular ageing because they shorten with the degree of stress exposure. Accordingly, telomere lengths should show different rates of change when animals are faced with different intensities of environmental challenges. However, a relationship between telomere length ...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Mizutani Y,Tomita N,Niizuma Y,Yoda K

更新日期：2013-08-14 00:00:00

abstract：:In many host populations, one of the most striking differences among hosts is their age. While parasite prevalence differences in relation to host age are well known, little is known on how host age impacts ecological and evolutionary dynamics of diseases. Using two clones of the water flea Daphnia magna and two clone...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Izhar R,Routtu J,Ben-Ami F

更新日期：2015-05-01 00:00:00

abstract：:Fire is the most frequent disturbance in the Ericaceous Belt (ca 3000-4300 m.a.s.l.), one of the most important plant communities of tropical African mountains. Through resprouting after fire, Erica establishes a positive fire feedback under certain burning regimes. However, present-day human activity in the Bale Moun...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Gil-Romera G,Adolf C,Benito BM,Bittner L,Johansson MU,Grady DA,Lamb HF,Lemma B,Fekadu M,Glaser B,Mekonnen B,Sevilla-Callejo M,Zech M,Zech W,Miehe G

更新日期：2019-07-26 00:00:00

abstract：:Studies often show that paternal age affects offspring fitness. However, such effects could be due either to age, or to a male's previous mating effort (which is necessarily confounded with age). We experimentally tested whether differences in the mating history of old males affect offspring performance in the mosquit...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Aich U,Jennions MD,Fox RJ

更新日期：2020-02-01 00:00:00

abstract：:In April 2006, a dedicated survey of bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) was conducted on the former whaling ground in West Greenland to determine the current wintering population abundance. This effort included a double platform aerial survey design, satellite tracking of the movements of nine whales, and estimation ...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Heide-Jørgensen MP,Laidre K,Borchers D,Samarra F,Stern H

更新日期：2007-10-22 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 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：: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：: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：:Mechanisms leading to variation in diversity over energetic gradients continue to challenge ecologists. Changes in diversity may reflect the environmental capacity to support species' coexistence through increased niche packing or niche space expansion. Current ecological theory predicts that increases in energy may l...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： McClain CR,Nunnally C,Chapman ASA,Barry JP

更新日期：2018-09-12 00:00:00

abstract：:Anti-predator benefits associated with living in groups are multiple and taxonomically widespread. In fish shoals, individuals can exploit the confusion effect, whereby predators struggle to target a single individual among several individuals. Theory predicts that the confusion effect could be aided by homogeneity in...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Cattelan S,Griggio M

更新日期：2018-08-01 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：:Group-living animals can develop social bonds. Social bonds can be considered a type of social relationship characterized by frequent and consistent affiliative (non-reproductive) interactions. Social bonds with conspecifics bring many advantages, also in terms of direct fitness. A characteristic of social bonds is th...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Busia L,Griggio M

更新日期：2020-07-01 00:00:00

abstract：:Understanding the effects of parasites on host behaviour, of host behaviour on parasite infection, and the reciprocal interactions between these processes is vital to improving our understanding of animal behaviour and disease dynamics. However, behaviour and parasite infection are both highly variable within and betw...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Stephenson JF

更新日期：2019-11-29 00:00:00

abstract：:Social insect cuticular hydrocarbon (CHC) mixtures are among the most complex chemical cues known and are important in nest-mate, caste and species recognition. Despite our growing knowledge of the nature of these cues, we have very little insight into how social insects actually perceive and discriminate among these ...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： van Wilgenburg E,Felden A,Choe DH,Sulc R,Luo J,Shea KJ,Elgar MA,Tsutsui ND

更新日期：2012-02-23 00:00:00

abstract：:Climate change is already affecting species worldwide, yet existing methods of risk assessment have not considered interactions between demography and climate and their simultaneous effect on habitat distribution and population viability. To address this issue, an international workshop was held at the University of A...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Brook BW,Akçakaya HR,Keith DA,Mace GM,Pearson RG,Araújo MB

更新日期：2009-12-23 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：:Biodiversity affects ecosystem function, and how this relationship will change in a warming world is a major and well-examined question in ecology. Yet, it remains understudied for pico-phytoplankton communities, which contribute to carbon cycles and aquatic food webs year-round. Observational studies show a link betw...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Zhong D,Listmann L,Santelia ME,Schaum CE

更新日期：2020-08-01 00:00:00

abstract：:While competition for limited breeding positions is a common feature of group life, species vary widely in the extent to which reproduction is shared among females ('reproductive skew'). In recent years, there has been considerable debate over the mechanisms that generate variation in reproductive skew, with most evid...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Raihani NJ,Clutton-Brock TH

更新日期：2010-10-23 00:00:00

abstract：:Seeking out extra-pair paternity (EPP) is a viable reproductive strategy for females in many pair-bonded species. Across human societies, women commonly engage in extra-marital affairs, suggesting this strategy may also be an important part of women's reproductive decision-making. Here, I show that among the Himba 17 ...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Scelza BA

更新日期：2011-12-23 00:00:00

abstract：:Waterfowl undergo an annual simultaneous flight-feather moult that renders them flightless for the duration of the regrowth of the flight feathers. In the wild, this period of flightlessness could restrict the capacity of moulting birds to forage and escape predation. Selection might therefore favour a short moult, bu...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Portugal SJ,White CR,Green JA,Butler PJ

更新日期：2018-11-28 00:00:00

abstract：:At species' range edges, individuals often face novel environmental conditions that may limit range expansion until populations adapt. The potential to adapt depends on genetic variation upon which selection can act. However, populations at species' range edges are often genetically depauperate. One mechanism increasi...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Moerman F,Fronhofer EA,Wagner A,Altermatt F

更新日期：2020-06-01 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：: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：:Valuing sedimentary 'blue carbon' stocks of seagrass meadows requires exclusion of allochthonous recalcitrant forms of carbon, such as black carbon (BC). Regression models constructed across a Southeast Asian tropical estuary predicted that carbon stocks within the sandy meadows of coastal embayments would support a m...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Gallagher JB,Chuan CH,Yap TK,Fredelina Dona WF

更新日期：2019-05-31 00:00:00

abstract：:The role of niche specialization and narrowing in the evolution and extinction of the ichthyosaurs has been widely discussed in the literature. However, previous studies have concentrated on a qualitative discussion of these variables only. Here, we use the recently developed approach of quantitative ecospace modellin...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Dick DG,Maxwell EE

更新日期：2015-07-01 00:00:00

abstract：:The associations between habitat and other factors that lead to the risk of bovine tuberculosis (bTB) in diary cattle were examined in an unmatched case-control study. Data from 60 herds with recent history of bTB and 60 controls were analysed using logistic regression. The predictors included farmland habitat, topogr...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Mathews F,Lovett L,Rushton S,Macdonald DW

更新日期：2006-06-22 00:00:00

abstract：:In social insects, group behaviour can increase disease resistance among nest-mates and generate social prophylaxis. Stomodeal trophallaxis, or mutual feeding through regurgitation, may boost colony-level immunocompetence. We provide evidence for increased trophallactic behaviour among immunized workers of the carpent...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Hamilton C,Lejeune BT,Rosengaus RB

更新日期：2011-02-23 00:00:00

abstract：:Nutritional ecological theory predicts that predators should adjust prey capture and consumption rates depending on the prey's nutritional composition. This would affect the predator's functional response, at least at high prey densities, i.e. near predator satiation. Using a simple fruitfly-wolf spider laboratory sys...

journal_title：Biology letters

authors： Bressendorff BB,Toft S

更新日期：2011-08-23 00:00:00