Article
Evolutionary Biology
Michela Corsini, Eva Maria Schoell, Irene Di Lecce, Marion Chatelain, Anna Dubiec, Marta Szulkin
Summary: Rapid urbanization has a significant impact on offspring development, body mass, and survival, with high impervious surface area exacerbating selection pressure on avian mass at hatching.
EVOLUTIONARY APPLICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Aida Nitsch, Charlotte Faurie, Virpi Lummaa
Summary: Using demographic data on pre-industrial humans from Finland, this study finds no support for the differential fitness benefits of dispersal based on sibling competition. The results contradict previous hypotheses that family members may have different fitness strategies based on birth rank and that dispersal may be driven by indirect fitness benefits for philopatric family members. This study highlights the importance of studying the relative outcomes of dispersal at the family level for understanding the evolution of family living and dispersal behavior.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2023)
Article
Endocrinology & Metabolism
Matthew Ridenour, Leon J. Spicer, Jennifer L. Grindstaff
Summary: In altricial animals, the ability to outcompete siblings for parental provisioning has clear fitness benefits, and this may be influenced by hormones such as insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1). In a study on eastern bluebirds, the effects of IGF-1 on body size, growth, and sibling rivalry were analyzed. The results suggest that IGF-1 can influence the growth of bluebird nestlings.
GENERAL AND COMPARATIVE ENDOCRINOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Scott C. Burgess, Jackson Powell, Marilia Bueno
Summary: Dispersal has significant implications for sessile organisms. Escaping competition and kinship are believed to be key factors leading to dispersal. In a marine bryozoan, researchers found that larvae neither preferred nor avoided conspecifics or kin during settlement. Manipulative experiments showed that settler density reduced maternal fitness when neighbors were siblings. Limited kinship was also observed among adult neighbors in the natural population.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
J. David Wiens, Katie M. Dugger, J. Mark Higley, Damon B. Lesmeister, Alan B. Franklin, Keith A. Hamm, Gary C. White, Krista E. Dilione, David C. Simon, Robin R. Bown, Peter C. Carlson, Charles B. Yackulic, James D. Nichols, James E. Hines, Raymond J. Davis, David W. Lamphear, Christopher McCafferty, Trent L. McDonald, Stan G. Sovern
Summary: The removal of barred owls had positive effects on the survival, dispersal, and recruitment of northern spotted owls, stabilizing their population dynamics in areas with removals while continuing to decline in areas without removals. The invasion, population expansion, and subsequent removal of the barred owls were found to be the most substantial changes in the population dynamics of northern spotted owls over the past two decades, providing evidence of competitive release.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2021)
Article
Biology
Matthew Fuirst, Dan Strickland, Nikole E. Freeman, Alex O. Sutton, D. Ryan Norris
Summary: Sibling expulsion in Canada jays has negative effects on the expelled siblings' reproductive success and survival, while the dominant siblings have higher first-year survival and produce more offspring, resulting in higher direct and inclusive fitness.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Zoology
Juan Jose Soler, Manuel Martin-Vivaldi, Sona Nuhlickova, Cristina Ruiz-Castellano, Monica Mazorra-Alonso, Ester Martinez-Renau, Manfred Eckenfellner, Jan Svetlik, Herbert Hoi
Summary: Sibling cannibalism is found to be common in the Eurasian hoopoe, with a higher incidence in the Spanish population compared to the Austrian population. The higher occurrence of sibling cannibalism in the southern population may be due to more nestlings condemned to die. Factors such as hatching failure, food scarcity, and hatching asynchrony influence the likelihood and intensity of sibling cannibalism.
ZOOLOGICAL RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Forestry
P. W. West
Summary: In even-aged, monoculture eucalypt forests, symmetric inter-tree competition is more important in determining tree growth rates than asymmetric competition. Tree size primarily determines competitive ability and growth rate.
TREES-STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Huiwen Guan, Xibin Dong, Guohua Yan, Tyler Searls, Charles P-A Bourque, Fan-Rui Meng
Summary: This study utilized CTREE model to model tree mortality rates using data from New Brunswick, Canada. High cumulative annual growing degree-days were found to lead to increased mortality in some tree species, while precipitation and solar radiation also influenced mortality rates in other species. The results have significant implications for forest management and considering the impact of climate change.
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Andrea Romano, Michelangelo Morganti, Giacomo Assandri, Gaia Bazzi, Alejandro Corregidor-Castro, Jennifer Morinay, Jacopo G. Cecere, Andrea Pilastro, Diego Rubolini
Summary: This study tested the kin selection theory in nestlings of the lesser kestrel and found that nestlings stole prey more frequently when competing with unrelated, unfamiliar competitors than when competing with siblings. This suggests that relatedness may influence within-brood competition and implies that kin recognition and kin selection play important roles in determining individual competitive strategies and care allocation in multiparous species.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Yuriy Pichugin, Arne Traulsen
Summary: Multiple modes of asexual reproduction are observed in microbial organisms, and the transition between these modes, such as from unicellularity to multicellularity, can directly affect population growth rates. Mass conservation can limit the number of possible reproduction modes, while the interplay between cell shape and growth kinetics explains the characteristics of cell size and shape, as well as the evolution of reproductive strategies in multicellular species.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Alannah Filer, Lara S. Burchardt, Berndt J. van Rensburg
Summary: Male frog advertisement calls are species-specific vocalizations used to attract females for breeding, but environmental or biological sounds could overlap these calls causing signal confusion and affecting female decision-making. This study found that wallum sedgefrogs and eastern sedgefrogs significantly altered their calling behavior when exposed to each other, indicating acoustic competition in shared habitats.
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2021)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Liqiong Zhou, Erhao Ge, Alberto J. C. Micheletti, Yuan Chen, Juan Du, Ruth Mace
Summary: In a Tibetan population, parents send a son to a monastery to decrease competition between brothers over resources. Men with monk brothers are wealthier than men with non-celibate brothers. This suggests that religious celibacy and new economic opportunities work together to limit the negative effects of brother competition.
BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Forestry
P. W. West
Summary: The growth rate of a tree is dependent on its size and competition from neighboring trees for resources. In the case of Eucalyptus pilularis trees in subtropical eastern Australia, the maximum growth rate in stem diameter increases with size until reaching a certain diameter, then decreases as the tree continues to grow. This maximum growth rate is independent of tree age, stand stocking density, or productive capacity of the site.
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Xi Chen, Jing Dong, Qian Jiao, Xixun Du, Mingxia Bi, Hong Jiang
Summary: Ghrelin and nesfatin-1 are peptides secreted by the same type of endocrine cells in the stomach, with opposite effects on energy and glucose metabolism, but similar effects on inflammation and neuroprotection. Nesfatin-1's effects depend on the receptor of ghrelin.
CELLULAR AND MOLECULAR LIFE SCIENCES
(2022)