Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Biology
Mitochondria as the powerhouses of sexual selection: testing mechanistic links between development, cellular respiration, and bird song
Published: 2021-12-04
Subjects: Biology, Integrative Biology, Life Sciences
Although the influence of developmental conditions on the expression of sexually selected traits is established, the physiological mechanisms that modulate such effects remain a matter of intense debate. Here, we test the role of the developmental environment in shaping adult mitochondrial function and link mitochondrial function to expression of a sexually selected trait in males (bird song). We [...]
Early diversifications of angiosperms and their insect pollinators: Were they unlinked?
Published: 2021-11-19
Subjects: Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
The present-day ubiquity of angiosperm-insect pollination has led to the hypothesis that these two groups coevolved early in their evolutionary history. However, recent fossil discoveries and fossil-calibrated molecular dating analyses challenge the notion that early diversifications of angiosperms and insects were inextricably linked. In this article we examine (i) the discrepancies between [...]
The role of sexual isolation during rapid ecological divergence: evidence for a new dimension of isolation in Rhagoletis pomonella
Published: 2021-11-16
Subjects: Biology, Integrative Biology, Life Sciences
The pace of divergence and likelihood of complete speciation may depend how and when different types of reproductive barriers evolve. After initial reproductive barriers evolve, questions remain about how subsequently evolving barriers may facilitate additional divergence and potential speciation. We tested for the presence of sexual isolation (reduced mating between populations due to divergent [...]
Maternal and paternal age effects on male antler flies: a field experiment
Published: 2021-11-11
Subjects: Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Entomology, Life Sciences
In many species, parental age at reproduction can influence offspring performance and lifespan, but the direction of these effects and the traits affected vary among studies. Data on parental age effects are still scarce in non-captive populations, especially insects, despite species such as fruit flies being models in laboratory-based aging research. We performed a biologically relevant [...]
Potential survival of some, but not all, diversification methods
Published: 2021-11-06
Subjects: Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences
Models have long been used for understanding changing diversification patterns over time. The rediscovery that models with very different rates through time can fit a phylogeny equally well has led to great concern about the use of these models. We share and add to these concerns: even with time heterogeneous models without these issues, the distribution of the data means that estimates will be [...]
Inferring the history of hybridization: A case study in Iochrominae (Solanaceae)
Published: 2021-10-31
Subjects: Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences
This paper tests multiple methods for detecting and localizing hybrids in the genus Iochroma (Solanaceae). We created a series of datasets varying in the amount of expected hybridization, and we included both natural hybrids and a positive control (an artificial hybrid). We found that adding hybrids to the dataset markedly increased discordance and decreased tree certainty, as predicted. [...]
Mobbing in animals: a thorough review and proposed future directions
Published: 2021-10-26
Subjects: Animal Sciences, Animal Studies, Behavior and Ethology, Biology, Communication, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Mobbing is an important anti-predator behavior where prey harass and attack a predator to lower the immediate and long-term risk posed by predators, warn others, and communicate about the predator’s threat. While this behavior has been of interest to humans since antiquity, and aspects of it have been well researched for the past 50 years, we still know little about its ecology and the [...]
A force competition of predator on urban ecosystem
Published: 2021-10-25
Subjects: Animal Sciences, Animal Studies, Biodiversity, Biology, Life Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Urban Studies and Planning
Definitely the fact, is an undeniable impact of habitat change and fragmentation in the urban ecosystem take effect to species loss causes population decline into local extinction. The results that emerged from habitat selection in ecology in this case study may suggest possible opportunistic of population turnover are caused by behaviour adaptive in the life-history of predators. And provides [...]
Arboreal locomotion and trophic security at the dawn of Euprimate vision
Published: 2021-10-23
Subjects: Animal Sciences, Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences, Zoology
Primate vision is thought to have evolved in connection with life in the trees. However, several inter-related origins theories—those addressing possible co-evolution with size, predation, diet, daylight, locomotion, and groups—also provide reasonable explanations of their distinct cranial-visual morphology. We hypothesized that demand for high-speed landings in arboreal environments facilitated [...]
Ecology and conservation of a living fossil: Australias Wollemi Pine (Wollemia nobilis)
Published: 2021-10-22
Subjects: Biodiversity, Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Genetics and Genomics, Horticulture, Life Sciences, Plant Biology, Plant Pathology, Plant Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
The iconic Wollemi Pine (Wollemia nobilis) is a critically endangered Australian conifer and one of the world’s rarest trees with only 46 mature individuals remaining in the wild. The species is regarded as a ‘living fossil’ and was discovered on the brink of extinction following a natural historical decline. While its discovery has enabled crucial intervention for its long-term conservation, it [...]
Causes and consequences of variation in early-life telomere length in a bird metapopulation
Published: 2021-10-17
Subjects: Animal Sciences, Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Ornithology, Physiology
1. Environmental conditions during early-life development can have lasting effects on individual quality and fitness. Telomere length (TL) may correlate with early-life conditions and may be an important mediator or biomarker of individual quality or pace-of-life, as periods of increased energy demands can increase telomere attrition due to oxidative stress. Thus, knowledge of the mechanisms that [...]
Orchid fruiting success is unrelated to surrounding floral resources in South Australian plant communities
Published: 2021-10-11
Subjects: Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
To maintain recruitment in orchid populations in an ecosystem setting, we must understand how surrounding floral resources affect fruiting success. We studied fruiting success in two endemic Australian species, Diruis pardina and Glossodia major, in relation to surrounding floral resources. Diuris pardina has a visually deceptive pollination strategy via mimicry of pea flowers, attracting [...]
Predation impacts brain allometry and offspring production in female guppies (Poecilia reticulata)
Published: 2021-10-08
Subjects: Animal Sciences, Biology, Life Sciences, Zoology
Survivorship under predation exerts strong selection on reproductive traits as well as on brain anatomy of prey. However, how exactly predation and brain evolution are linked has not been resolved as current empirical evidence is inconclusive. This may be due to predation pressure having different effects across life stages and/or due to confounding factors in ecological comparisons of predation [...]
Sea ice and substratum shape extensive kelp forests in the Canadian Arctic
Published: 2021-09-23
Subjects: Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Marine Biology
The coastal zone of the Canadian Arctic represents 10% of the world’s coastline and is one of the most rapidly changing marine regions on the planet. To predict the consequences of these environmental changes, a better understanding of how environmental gradients shape coastal habitat structure in this area is required. We quantified the abundance and diversity of canopy forming seaweeds [...]
Comment on “Information arms race explains plant-herbivore chemical communication in ecological communities”
Published: 2021-09-23
Subjects: Biodiversity, Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Entomology, Life Sciences, Plant Biology, Plant Sciences
Zu et al (Science, 19 Jun 2020, p. 1377) propose that an ‘information arms-race’ between plants and herbivores explains plant-herbivore communication at the community level. However, our analysis shows that key assumptions of the proposed model either a) conflict with standard evolutionary theory or b) are not supported by the available evidence. We also show that the presented statistical [...]