Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Wen Bo Liao, Ying Jiang, Da Yong Li, Long Jin, Mao Jun Zhong, Yin Qi, Stefan Lupold, Alexander Kotrschal
Summary: While crypsis is a prominent antipredator adaptation, the role of the brain in predator-driven evolution remains controversial. This study provides comparative evidence across 102 Chinese frog species, suggesting that reduced predation risk through crypsis can relax predation-driven selection on the brain, allowing frogs to use their large brain for cognitive predator evasion.
Review
Ecology
Antoine M. Dujon, Justine Boutry, Sophie Tissot, Jean-Francois Lemaitre, Amy M. Boddy, Anne-Lise Gerard, Alexandra Alvergne, Audrey Arnal, Orsolya Vincze, Delphine Nicolas, Mathieu Giraudeau, Marina Telonis-Scott, Aaron Schultz, Pascal Pujol, Peter A. Biro, Christa Beckmann, Rodrigo Hamede, Benjamin Roche, Beata Ujvari, Frederic Thomas
Summary: In this article, the authors review the trade-offs in energy allocation between reproductive activities and maintenance, as well as the associations between reproductive activities, energy expenditure, and malignant cell dynamics. They argue that studying the interactions between host-oncogenic processes and life-history theory will be of significant importance for future research.
FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2022)
Review
Fisheries
Lauren A. Koenig, Jason R. Gallant
Summary: Osteoglossiformes, considered the most primitive living order of teleosts, exhibit a variety of unusual reproductive traits indicating low levels of sperm competition. This group presents an effective study system for understanding how sperm competition and sexual selection have shaped the evolution of teleost reproductive behavior, morphology, and strategies. The patterns seen in osteoglossiform reproduction may signify the genetic plasticity that contributed to the adaptive radiation of teleost fishes.
JOURNAL OF FISH BIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Roeland Heerema, Pablo Carrillo, Jean Daunizeau, Fabien Vinckier, Mathias Pessiglione
Summary: The effects of mood on economic choices may stem from mechanisms adapted to natural environments, biasing the expected value of actions. A study found that in positive mood, economic choices tended to favor options with higher rewards but higher costs.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2023)
Review
Behavioral Sciences
David M. Shuker, Charlotta Kvarnemo
Summary: Sexual selection is a key component in evolutionary biology, but there has been controversy surrounding its nature and extent since Darwin first introduced the concept. Recently, there has been a renewed debate over the fundamental question of what sexual selection truly is. The definition of sexual selection presented in this review focuses on fitness differences associated with competition for access to gametes, while also addressing the role of female reproductive competition and challenging the definition with various scenarios.
BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Xinming Lei, Chengyue Liu, Yuyang Zhang, Xiaolei Yu, Jianhui Yang, Yong Luo, Guowei Zhou, Hui Huang
Summary: Global climate change has caused extensive loss of biodiversity and ecosystem function, particularly in coral reefs. The corallivorous snails, such as Drupella species, pose threats to coral health and recovery in Hainan Island, South China Sea. However, there is still limited knowledge about their spatial distribution, prey preferences, and the influencing factors. This study investigates the abundance distribution of Drupella spp. and their prey selection behavior, providing preliminary evidence of their significant impact on coral reefs in Hainan Island.
FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Kamil S. Jaron, Darren J. Parker, Yoann Anselmetti, Patrick Tran Van, Jens Bast, Zoe Dumas, Emeric Figuet, Clementine M. Francois, Keith Hayward, Victor Rossier, Paul Simion, Marc Robinson-Rechavi, Nicolas Galtier, Tanja Schwander
Summary: This study investigated the genome evolution of parthenogenetic species in the stick insect genus Timema and found that parthenogenesis leads to a significant reduction in heterozygosity and often results in genetically uniform populations. Additionally, the study revealed that parthenogenetic species experience less effective positive selection, indicating that sex is prevalent in natural populations due to its facilitation of rapid adaptation. The study also observed no increased accumulation of transposable elements in parthenogenetic species, likely due to the low TE activity in the genus. Overall, these findings provide empirical support for the negative consequences of parthenogenesis as predicted by theory.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Jeanne Tonnabel, Etienne K. Klein, Ophelie Ronce, Sylvie Oddou-Muratorio, Francois Rousset, Isabelle Olivieri, Alexandre Courtiol, Agnes Mignot
Summary: The study investigates sexual dimorphism in plants, specifically in the dioecious wind-pollinated shrub Leucadendron rubrum, and suggests that sexual differences exist in selection of traits and effective fecundity. While males exhibit stronger spatial autocorrelation in effective fecundity at a smaller scale, higher plant density is associated with lower effective fecundity in males but not in females. Despite these sex-specific sensitivities to environmental heterogeneity, directional selection for certain traits is observed in both sexes without sexually antagonistic selection on strongly dimorphic traits.
Article
Biology
Zachary T. Wood, Eric P. Palkovacs, Michael T. Kinnison
Summary: This study investigates the evolutionary contributions to growth and survival in western mosquitofish and finds that while the evolution of growth is consistent, the evolution of survival is inconsistent, resulting in an absence of growth-survival tradeoffs across populations.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Daniel Pincheira-Donoso, Lilly P. Harvey, Florencia Grattarola, Manuel Jara, Sheena C. Cotter, Tom Tregenza, Dave J. Hodgson
Summary: Body size is a crucial factor that impacts fitness within animal populations, with ecological and reproductive pressures driving the evolution of sexual size dimorphism (SSD). Various hypotheses have been proposed to explain the diversity of SSD across species, focusing on mate competition, fecundity benefits, niche divergence, and geographical variation. A global-scale study on amphibians reveals that SSD evolution differs between anurans and salamanders, with anuran SSD influenced by climate and nesting site, while salamander SSD is consistent across species occupying similar microhabitats. Ecological and climatic pressures play a key role in driving amphibian SSD, with no significant effects from sexual or fecundity selection detected.
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND BIOGEOGRAPHY
(2021)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Allison M. Roth, Sarah M. Kent, Elizabeth A. Hobson, Gene Kritsky, Shinichi Nakagawa
Summary: There is growing evidence that animal personality can influence an individual's fitness and cause trade-offs between speed and accuracy in decision-making. In this study on Pharaoh cicadas, faster-exploring males attempted higher rates of copulation but also made more mate choice errors. However, despite these errors, faster explorers were more likely to successfully mate with females, indicating a preference for speed over accuracy in this system.
BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Melissa Lewallen, Warren Burggren
Summary: This study investigated the metabolic costs of regeneration in asexual and sexual strains of the planaria Schmidtea mediterranea. The results showed that the metabolic costs were higher in asexual planaria compared to sexual planaria, with the highest costs occurring during the initial 1-6 days of regeneration.
COMPARATIVE BIOCHEMISTRY AND PHYSIOLOGY A-MOLECULAR & INTEGRATIVE PHYSIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Maria Cristina Lorenzi, Franco G. Robles-Guerrero, David Costantini
Summary: Measuring reproductive costs is crucial to understanding sexual conflict and its evolutionary outcomes. In this study, hermaphroditic worms were exposed to different social conditions to measure reproductive costs. It was found that hermaphrodites that invested relatively more in the female function produced fewer eggs but had higher levels of antioxidant protection. This suggests that in the short-term, male competition might be costlier than egg production in terms of regulation of oxidative status.
Article
Ecology
Alessandro Devigili, Erika Fernlund Isaksson, Nalini Puniamoorthy, John L. Fitzpatrick
Summary: Variation in biotic and abiotic factors among populations can affect socio-sexual and locomotor behaviors in the pygmy halfbeak fish, with differences observed in sexual interactions and locomotion across environments. Male fish exhibit more aggressive behaviors and less time stationary compared to females, while environmental factors such as canopy cover and water flow also play a role in shaping behaviors.
FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Caitlin R. Hawley, Sam K. Patterson, Joan B. Silk
Summary: By studying male olive baboons, it is found that individuals who are more involved in parenting effort invest less in mating effort. These individuals also have lower proximity to their primary associates, indicating temporal constraints. There is also evidence that involvement in parenting effort negatively affects paternity success. In summary, males face tradeoffs between mating effort and parenting effort.