Article
Ecology
Jose Alexandre F. Diniz-Filho, Shai Meiri, Joaquin Hortal, Ana M. C. Santos, Pasquale Raia
Summary: Biddick & Burns (2021) proposed a null/neutral model to explain the island rule without assuming adaptive processes driving dwarfism or gigantism, but their approach has several flaws that make it unrealistic and unsuitable as a stochastic model for evolutionary size changes.
Editorial Material
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Thomas J. Matthews
Summary: Islands serve as platforms for various remarkable evolutionary phenomena, such as the island rule - the tendency for animals to either shrink or enlarge in size. A recent study on insular mammals reveals that these size shifts make these evolutionary marvels more susceptible to extinction.
Article
Ecology
Mariah C. Schlis-Elias, Jason L. Malaney
Summary: The study found significant signals of gigantism in Atlantic island populations, with the ecological release hypothesis explaining 63% of cranial size differences. Island area has a significant total effect on size by influencing the number of mammalian predators, resulting in a predicted 0.9% change in size for every 100 km² decrease in island area. These results suggest that the island rule is a latent evolutionary process dependent on nuanced biogeographic and ecological contexts with important conservation and taxonomic implications.
Article
Biology
Raquel Ponti, Claire Doutrelant, Rita Covas
Summary: Island environments have similar characteristics that lead to common patterns of adaptations in island species, known as the 'insularity syndrome'. The island rule is an example of this syndrome, where large species become smaller and small species become larger on islands. Our study shows that predation has a strong effect on body mass evolution of island species, while competition does not have an effect on this pattern.
Article
Ecology
Gabor L. Lovei, Tibor Magura
Summary: Body size is a key trait that influences various characteristics, processes, functions, and services at individual, community, and ecosystem levels. While temperature-size relationships have been widely studied for individual species along thermal geographic gradients, the relationship for community-wide body size is still largely unknown.
JOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY
(2022)
Article
Ecology
John Terborgh
Summary: Predation plays a decisive role in structuring island consumer communities. The island syndrome, characterized by low predation and intense competition, distinguishes low-predation island communities from high-predation mainland counterparts. Strong mainland predation regimes prevent island colonization while invasion-resistant, size-structured island communities prevent mainland species from colonizing islands.
JOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY
(2023)
Article
Zoology
T. Liang, W. Dai, Z. Zhang, G. Bempah, L. Shi, C. Lu
Summary: Spatial patterns of body size are influenced by environmental factors such as temperature, seasonality, precipitation, resources, and altitude. However, there has been limited research on altitudinal gradients of body size and the variations in the relationship between environmental factors and body size within different altitudes. This study examined 211 lizard species in China and found that body size decreases with increasing altitude. Additionally, the altitudinal gradients and drivers of body size vary within different terrain stages.
JOURNAL OF ZOOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Ecology
K. C. Burns
Summary: This study investigates the paradox of island evolution by comparing the evolution of endemic floras on four oceanic archipelagos. The results suggest that solitary endemics evolve more slowly and converge on intermediate morphology, while co-occurring endemics evolve more rapidly and exhibit highly differentiated morphology.
JOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY
(2022)
Letter
Medicine, General & Internal
David A. Gorelick
Summary: This comprehensive review of human adipose tissue fails to mention the role of the endocannabinoid system in fat metabolism. The endogenous cannabinoids and their receptors, found in both white and brown fat, have been recognized as key players in adipose tissue metabolism. Rimonabant, an inverse agonist of cannabinoid receptor type 1, has shown promising effects as a therapeutic target for obesity, dyslipidemia, and insulin resistance, although its clinical use was discontinued due to neuropsychiatric side effects.
NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE
(2022)
Article
Evolutionary Biology
Jeffrey M. Stibel
Summary: This study examines the impact of climate change on human body size and scaling across a period of 700,000 years. The results demonstrate a relationship between climate change and body size and shape in humans, driven by natural selection in response to thermoregulatory demands. This suggests that early human populations adapted physically to climate change, potentially impacting cultural adaptations in later periods.
EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Oscar Sanisidro, Matthew C. Mihlbachler, Juan L. Cantalapiedra
Summary: Several hypotheses have been proposed to explain the rapid increase in size in early Cenozoic mammalian lineages, including sustained and gradual directional change, successive occupation of adaptive zones associated with larger body sizes, and non-directional evolution associated with branching events and higher diversification potential. This study examines these hypotheses in brontotheres, one of the first mammalian radiations to consistently evolve large sizes. The results show that body mass evolution in brontotheres primarily occurred during speciation and did not exhibit a preferred direction. Long-term directional change was a result of the higher survival rate of larger lineages in less competitive herbivore communities. This study highlights the importance of differential species proliferation in explaining long-term phenotypic trends observed in the fossil record.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Michele Marina N. Kameni, Felix Landry Yuan, LeGrand N. Gonwouo, Walter Paulin N. Tapondjou, Kaitlin E. Allen, Abraham Fomena, Toby Pak Nok Tsang
Summary: The vulnerability of montane species to environmental change has been recognized. This study focuses on montane endemic skinks of the Cameroon Volcanic Line (CVL), which face threats due to their restricted distributions and body mass variations with altitude. By combining occurrence records with species trait information, the study reveals patterns of persistence and vulnerability under current and future climates.
DIVERSITY AND DISTRIBUTIONS
(2023)
Article
Health Care Sciences & Services
Pum-Jun Kim, Chulho Kim, Sang-Hwa Lee, Jong-Hee Shon, Youngsuk Kwon, Jong-Ho Kim, Dong-Kyu Kim, Hyunjae Yu, Hyo-Jeong Ahn, Jin-Pyeong Jeon, Youngmi Kim, Jae-Jun Lee
Summary: This study examined the obesity paradox in patients with acute ischemic stroke using binary logistic regression and association rule mining. The results showed that obesity had a beneficial effect on stroke outcome in the logistic regression analysis, and obese patients with good outcomes were also associated with younger age and mild stroke severity according to the association rule mining analysis.
JOURNAL OF PERSONALIZED MEDICINE
(2022)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Kasun B. Ekanayake, Jonathan Jebamaithran Gnanapragasam, Kithsiri Ranawana, Dulan Ranga Vidanapathirana, U. Tiran Abeyawardhana, Chandima Fernando, Alexandra McQueen, Michael A. Weston, Matthew R. E. Symonds
Summary: Ecological and environmental traits can influence avian escape behaviour, but there is limited understanding of tropical areas and species. A study on Sri Lankan birds showed that body mass, human population density, and group presence were associated with flight-initiation distance (FID). However, other ecological variables did not significantly impact FID. Further research on tropical avifaunas is needed to confirm universal associations between environmental attributes and escape distances in birds.
BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY AND SOCIOBIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Joshua M. Miller, Dany Garant, Charles Perrier, Tristan Juette, Joel W. Jameson, Eric Normandeau, Louis Bernatchez, Denis Reale
Summary: The island syndrome hypothesis predicts that island populations should differ from mainland populations, with individuals on islands being larger, less aggressive, more sociable, and investing more in their offspring. Using genome-wide SNP markers, this study found clear genomic differentiation between island and mainland populations, with moderate to high marker-based heritability estimates for traits thought to underlie the ISH. Further analysis identified 12 loci associated with differentiation between mainland and island populations, suggesting independent evolutionary trajectories and a genetic basis for the traits considered.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Teresa Calderon, Walter Arnold, Gabrielle Stalder, Johanna Painer, Meike Kohler
Summary: The study investigated the relationship between bone tissue growth rates and daily weight gain curve in red deer, revealing distinct disruptions in bone growth rates during birth and weaning periods. This correlation suggests a general pattern for juvenile bone growth rates and validates the bone growth model for ruminants in general.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2021)
Article
Geography, Physical
Blanca Moncunill-Sole, Caterinella Tuveri, Marisa Arca, Chiara Angelone
Summary: Body size is a valuable trait for understanding the biology of fossil taxa and their paleoenvironment. In this study, statistical models were used to evaluate teeth and long bone scaling as well as dentition size evolutionary dynamics in the anagenetic lineage Prolagus figaro-P. sardus from Sardinia. Results suggest that postcranial bones are reliable predictors of body mass in Prolagus, while the occlusal surface of their teeth indicates a resistance to tooth wear and a durable dentition. Both food habit and life history hypotheses may explain the evolution of megalodontia in Sardinian Prolagus.
PALAEOGEOGRAPHY PALAEOCLIMATOLOGY PALAEOECOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Meike Kohler, Victoria Herridge, Carmen Nacarino-Meneses, Josep Fortuny, Blanca Moncunill-Sole, Antonietta Rosso, Rossana Sanfilippo, Maria Rita Palombo, Salvador Moya-Sola
Summary: The 1-m-tall dwarf elephant Palaeoloxodon falconeri from Sicily exemplifies insular dwarfism, with slow growth rates and longevity, reaching maturity at 15 years and living for at least 68 years. This contradicts the 'r-selection' theory and surpasses both its giant sister taxon and its large mainland cousin.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2021)
Article
Medicine, Legal
Karin Korgesaar, Xavier Jordana, Geli Gallego, Javier Defez, Ignasi Galtes
Summary: This study analyzes the influence of intrinsic and extrinsic factors on the decomposition pattern and rate of bodies in the province of Barcelona. The results show that temperature and post-mortem interval are the most significant factors. Additionally, machine learning algorithms were developed to estimate the post-mortem interval.
Article
Medicine, Legal
Michelle Winter-Buchwalder, Nathalie Schwab, Ignasi Galtes, Marisa Ortega-Sanchez, Sarah Scheirs, Xavier Jordana
Summary: Timing bone fractures is an important task for forensic anthropologists, but it remains uncertain. This study investigated the microcracking pattern of fractures in fresh and dry bones to optimize fracture timing. Histological analysis of human humerus fractures revealed different microcracking patterns, with dry fractures showing higher density and length of microcracks compared to fresh fractures. The results suggest that changes in intrinsic bone factors can be used as markers for determining the timing of fractures.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LEGAL MEDICINE
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Domingo C. Salazar-Garcia, Lidia Colominas, Xabier Jordana
Summary: Ancient Roman funerary rituals were important for protecting deities and commemorating the deceased. The study of faunal remains in the necropolis of Vila de Madrid suggests that funerary meals did not involve different food compared to everyday dietary habits. However, differences were observed in terms of age, sex, offerings, and diet, indicating that inequalities in life may have also been present in funerary rituals.
Article
Anthropology
T. Sotiriadou, C. Tornero, A. Malgosa, P. Sureda, X. Jordana
Summary: This study explores the nutritional patterns of individuals buried in the Cova des Pas site in Minorca Island, Spain, during the Late Bronze Age-Early Iron Age. The results indicate that the human diet at that time mainly consisted of C-3 plants with a significant consumption of animal protein. The isotopic data also suggest that weaning occurred around the age of 4.
ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND ANTHROPOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Nathalie Schwab, Xavier Jordana, Joan Soler, Xavier Garrido, Pedro Brillas, Andres Savio, Santiago Lavin, Marisa Ortega-Sanchez, Ignasi Galtes
Summary: While there is ample research on gunshot injuries in human craniums, there is a lack of reliable data on fracture patterns in ballistic long bone trauma. Experimental research using human specimens is not ideal, thus finding alternative models to reproduce ballistic fracture patterns of human long bones is of great interest. In this study, human femurs and humeri, polyurethane cylinders, and deer femurs were shot to compare their fracture patterns with those of human long bones. Neither of the alternative models fully replicated the fracture patterns of human long bones, with the surrogate model showing more significant differences than the animal model. This highlights the challenge in finding an accurate analog due to the different failure mechanisms of polyurethane material compared to real bone.
JOURNAL OF MATERIALS SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Biology
Juan Manuel Lopez-Garcia, Pedro Pinero, Jordi Agusti, Marc Furio, Julia Galan, Blanca Moncunill-Sole, Francisco Javier Ruiz-Sanchez, Hugues-Alexandre Blain, Montserrat Sanz, Joan Daura
Summary: This study presents the findings of a small mammal assemblage discovered in a vanished karstic fissure at the 'Pedrera del Corral d'en Bruach' quarry. The remains of 15 different species were identified from the collected faunal remains and sediment. The results indicate that the surrounding environment of the area was characterized by open forest landscape and more humid conditions than the present, contributing to our understanding of the Iberian small mammals during this time period.
HISTORICAL BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biology
Nathalie Schwab, Ignasi Galtes, Michelle Winter-Buchwalder, Marisa Ortega-Sanchez, Xavier Jordana
Summary: Determining the timing of trauma is a major challenge in forensic anthropology, especially when fractures are related to death. While macroscopic criteria can determine fractures in fresh or dry bone, it is not always easy to determine whether fresh bone fractures are vital fractures. This study aims to use histological assessment of microcracking patterns to determine the vitality of fresh fractures, and the results support the hypothesis that vital fractures exhibit a different microcracking pattern than non-vital fractures. This finding has the potential to improve the probative value of forensic investigations.
Article
Zoology
Eva Fernandez-Bejarano, Alejandro Blanco, Chiara Angelone, Zhaoqun Zhang, Blanca Moncunill-Sole
Summary: This study examined the life-history traits and strategies of the extinct insular giant Prolagus sardus through analyzing its fossilized bone tissues. The results reveal that P. sardus had large-sized pups at weaning, delayed maturation, and longer lifespan than expected. This suggests that the giant P. sardus had a slow pace of life influenced by low levels of extrinsic mortality in the insular habitat, providing new empirical evidence for the phenomenon of "insular gigantism" in small-sized mammals.
ZOOLOGICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY
(2023)
Article
Paleontology
Chiara Angelone, Stanislav Cermak, Blanca Moncunill-Sole, Lorenzo Rook
Summary: Paludotona is an insular lagomorph genus that existed from approximately 8.3 to 6.7 million years ago. It is considered a living fossil and thrived as a ghost lineage in an insular refugium for at least 14 million years. Paludotona acquired a much larger body size compared to its continental ancestors, possibly due to synecological factors, lower mortality rate, changes in the insular palaeobioprovince, and successive climate changes.
BOLLETTINO DELLA SOCIETA PALEONTOLOGICA ITALIANA
(2022)
Article
Evolutionary Biology
Blanca Moncunill-Sole
Summary: This study examines the impact of climate change on the distribution of lagomorphs and discusses the adaptations of extinct species to insular pressures. The assessment of body mass and locomotion in ancient lagomorphs from the Gargano archipelago provides insights into the ecological evolution of these species, pointing to convergent patterns in response to insular selective pressures. Extinct insular lagomorphs, such as the Prolagus species from Gargano, can serve as reference taxa for managing extant rocky lagomorphs.
BIOLOGICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY
(2021)
Article
Paleontology
Stanislav Cermak, Chiara Angelone, Blanca Moncunill-Sole
Summary: The study identified two phenotypic entities of Prolagus in Pliocene central Europe, which might have originated from southeast Europe rather than from the western European Glade. This dispersal is likely related to Pliocene global environmental changes, especially near the early/late Pliocene boundary.
COMPTES RENDUS PALEVOL
(2021)