Article
Ecology
Susumu Chiba, Aya Iwamoto, Seina Shimabukuro, Hiroyuki Matsumoto, Karin Inoue
Summary: Adult sex ratio (ASR) is crucial for population management, but its impact on population dynamics is still not well understood. This study investigated the effect of biased ASR on reproductive success in a decapod crustacean. The results showed that an increase in the proportion of males in mating groups led to a decrease in the number of eggs carried by females. This negative effect of ASR was observed at the population level when considering spawning success. Additionally, a male-biased ASR was found to reduce genetic diversity in the population. These findings highlight the importance of considering ASR in population management strategies.
JOURNAL OF ANIMAL ECOLOGY
(2023)
Review
Agriculture, Multidisciplinary
M. Meneguz, C. D. Miranda, J. A. Cammack, J. K. Tomberlin
Summary: The black soldier fly is a highly valued insect in the feed industry. While research on its larval development and uses has been abundant, there is little knowledge about the adult biology. This lack of information hampers the industry's ability to mass produce the fly effectively for feed production. The aim of this review is to provide a foundation for future research, enabling comparable and optimized breeding systems.
JOURNAL OF INSECTS AS FOOD AND FEED
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Nathan W. Burke, Gregory Holwell
Summary: Mating with multiple males can benefit female fitness but also carry risks of injury and death. The costs of mating increase with the number of matings, but the overall net payoff is not well understood.
JOURNAL OF EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Pramod Dhakal, Monica Strawn, Ananya Samal, Susanta K. Behura
Summary: The study reveals that uterine Foxa2 has significant effects on gene expression in the fetal brain compared to placenta, with its absence leading to sexually-conflicting transcriptional responses. Genes related to vascular endothelial cells show opposite expression patterns in the fetal brain and placenta of male and female mice lacking uterine Foxa2. This suggests that uterine Foxa2 plays a crucial role in regulating the brain-placental axis by influencing fetoplacental vascular changes.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
E. V(Ginny) Greenway, Jennifer A. Hamel, Christine W. Miller
Summary: Multiple mating by females can alter male selection through sperm competition. The most promiscuous males mated with less polyandrous females, resulting in lower levels of sperm competition. Females with more mating partners produced more offspring.
BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Biology
Jon Richardson, Marlene Zuk
Summary: Same-sex sexual behavior is not an anomaly and should not be treated as such. It is similar to other misdirected behaviors in animals and can be better understood by considering an individual's mating filter. Male Pacific field crickets engage in same-sex behavior and also misdirect courtship towards juveniles, suggesting that same-sex behavior should be considered alongside other misdirected behaviors. By reframing misdirected behaviors as a product of mating filters, we can gain a more nuanced understanding of reproductive behavior and its advantages.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Zoology
S. -c. Frank, K. Christensen, R. Lourenco, D. Harms, B. A. Buzatto
Summary: Spiders, especially Araneomorphae, have been extensively studied for their courtship behaviors, while the understanding of courtship in Mygalomorphae is limited. This study focuses on the courtship behaviors of a mygalomorph, the Sydney funnel-web spider, and describes new behaviors not previously observed in this group. The mating positions and behaviors of males and females are also detailed. The research provides valuable insights into the evolutionary aspects of sexual selection in Mygalomorphae, which has been understudied and biased towards tarantulas.
JOURNAL OF ZOOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biology
Nathan W. Burke, Gregory I. Holwell
Summary: Male springbok mantises overcome the threat of female cannibalism by coercively wrestling females, increasing their chances of mating. However, this behavior may result in injuries and scar tissue formation in females, representing a potential negative pleiotropic side-effect.
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Jia Zheng, Jan Komdeur, Tamas Szekely, Maaike A. Versteegh, Donglai Li, Hui Wang, Zhengwang Zhang
Summary: The study explores Chinese penduline tits and shows that male parenting behavior changes based on mating opportunities during the breeding season, while female behavior remains consistent. This suggests a more complex relationship between mating opportunities and parental care in the species and calls for further investigation.
BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY AND SOCIOBIOLOGY
(2021)
Editorial Material
Biology
Xiaodan Lin, Dong Ren
Summary: Fossils provide insights into the mating strategies of scorpionflies.
Article
Evolutionary Biology
Gabriele Sorci, Loic Lesobre, Pauline Vuarin, Gwenaelle Leveque, Michel Saint Jalme, Frederic Lacroix, Yves Hingrat
Summary: Research has shown that in captive populations of endangered species, females in a polyandrous mating system invest more in reproduction, and removing sexual selection can alter reproductive investment, potentially impacting population fitness and the success of conservation breeding programs.
EVOLUTIONARY APPLICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Zoology
Sophie Bunch, Dustin J. Wilgers
Summary: Males and females have conflicting interests in mating interactions, resulting in different mating tactics and outcomes. Already-mated females are less receptive to males, but still remate, with a preference for males using a direct mount tactic. Males can choose different mating tactics based on the mating status of the female.
Article
Biology
Wolfgang Goymann
Summary: In some species, sexual selection is stronger in females than males. Testosterone has been suggested to regulate the behaviors of 'role-reversed' females and males, but comparative studies did not find evidence for a role of testosterone in relation to sex roles. However, a study comparing two closely related species with different mating systems found that elevated testosterone is associated with sex-role-reversed traits in females, whereas low levels of testosterone may not be necessary to facilitate sex-role reversal in males.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Inga Kujala, Hannu Poysa, Erkki Korpimaki
Summary: Social polygyny benefits males by increasing offspring numbers, but is detrimental for females due to resource sharing. In bird species with bi-parental care, like Eurasian kestrels, polygyny occurs more frequently during years with abundant prey, impacting secondary females' reproductive success negatively. Males space out their nests to deceive secondary partners, leading to poor reproductive outcomes, highlighting deceptive behavior during courtship as a key factor in maladaptive mate choice.
BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY AND SOCIOBIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Zoology
Tomas Bartonicka, Jana Kremenova, Ondrej Balvin, Zdenek Simek, Oliver Otti
Summary: Understanding the number of mates an animal has in its lifetime is crucial for sexual selection. Differences in an organism's ecology can affect mating rates. Mating rate significantly impacts female fitness, but laboratory measurements might not accurately reflect the situation in the wild.
FRONTIERS IN ZOOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Infectious Diseases
Mackenzie L. Kwak, Erica S. Neves, Sophie A. Borthwick, Gavin J. D. Smith, Rudolf Meier, Ian H. Mendenhall
Summary: The study found that old secondary forests in Singapore have a significant impact on both the abundance and structure of tick communities on small mammals, and are the preferred habitat of the zoonotic tick Ixodes granulatus. Therefore, future disease spillover is likely to emerge from small mammal-tick communities in old secondary forests.
TICKS AND TICK-BORNE DISEASES
(2021)
Article
Biology
Keith M. Bayless, Michelle D. Trautwein, Karen Meusemann, Seunggwan Shin, Malte Petersen, Alexander Donath, Lars Podsiadlowski, Christoph Mayer, Oliver Niehuis, Ralph S. Peters, Rudolf Meier, Sujatha Narayanan Kutty, Shanlin Liu, Xin Zhou, Bernhard Misof, David K. Yeates, Brian M. Wiegmann
Summary: This study utilized transcriptome data to investigate the phylogenetic relationships of schizophoran flies, supporting the division of most acalyptrate fly groups into four major lineages consistently across analyses. The research revealed the primary branching patterns and highlighted important sister group relationships, laying a foundation for future comparative research.
Article
Biology
Cengiz Kaya, Tomas N. Generalovic, Gunilla Stahls, Martin Hauser, Ana C. Samayoa, Carlos G. Nunes-Silva, Heather Roxburgh, Jens Wohlfahrt, Ebenezer A. Ewusie, Marc Kenis, Yupa Hanboonsong, Jesus Orozco, Nancy Carrejo, Satoshi Nakamura, Laura Gasco, Santos Rojo, Chrysantus M. Tanga, Rudolf Meier, Clint Rhode, Christine J. Picard, Chris D. Jiggins, Florian Leiber, Jeffery K. Tomberlin, Martin Hasselmann, Wolf U. Blanckenhorn, Martin Kapun, Christoph Sandrock
Summary: The study provides the first comprehensive genetic characterization of black soldier fly populations, revealing 16 well-distinguished genetic clusters with significant global population structure. It highlights the dynamic population genetic history and ongoing domestication of black soldier flies, with implications for future research on this emerging insect-livestock model.
Article
Biology
Darren Yeo, Amrita Srivathsan, Jayanthi Puniamoorthy, Foo Maosheng, Patrick Grootaert, Lena Chan, Benoit Guenard, Claas Damken, Rodzay A. Wahab, Ang Yuchen, Rudolf Meier
Summary: The study reveals that mangroves are an overlooked hotspot for insect diversity, with a highly distinct and species-rich insect fauna. Despite a comparatively low number of phytophagous and fungivorous insect species, mangroves compensate by supporting a rich community of predators. The diversity patterns of insect communities in other tropical habitats are largely congruent across guilds.
Article
Evolutionary Biology
Rudolf Meier, Bonnie B. Blaimer, Eliana Buenaventura, Emily Hartop, Thomas Rintelen, Amrita Srivathsan, Darren Yeo
Summary: Halting biodiversity decline is crucial but hindered by taxonomic impediments, including undescribed and superficially described species. A recent study attempted to address the issue by using COI barcode clusters for braconid wasps in Costa Rica, but the accuracy of the descriptions is questionable.
Article
Biology
Liping Yan, Thomas Pape, Karen Meusemann, Sujatha Narayanan Kutty, Rudolf Meier, Keith M. Bayless, Dong Zhang
Summary: This study provides the first phylogeny of oestroid calyptrates including all blowfly subfamilies, settling a long-lasting controversy in Diptera by redefining blowflies as a well-supported monophylum. The archetypical blowfly trait of carrion-feeding maggots most likely evolved twice, and the metallic color may not belong to the blowfly ground plan.
Article
Biology
Amrita Srivathsan, Leshon Lee, Kazutaka Katoh, Emily Hartop, Sujatha Narayanan Kutty, Johnathan Wong, Darren Yeo, Rudolf Meier
Summary: This study introduces a cost-effective and simple DNA barcoding method that can be used in various settings. The research provides amplicon coverage recommendations based on multiple runs of the latest generation of MinION flow cells, and introduces a novel software to address bioinformatics challenges related to MinION reads. Additionally, the study suggests that MinION barcodes are highly similar to Sanger and Illumina barcodes, and that MinION technology has improved rapidly since 2018.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Lorenz Wuehrl, Christian Pylatiuk, Matthias Giersch, Florian Lapp, Thomas von Rintelen, Michael Balke, Stefan Schmidt, Pierfilippo Cerretti, Rudolf Meier
Summary: Invertebrate biodiversity remains poorly understood, with challenges in sampling and classification. A sorting robot is proposed in this study to prepare specimens for DNA barcoding and train neural networks to assign specimens to common taxa.
MOLECULAR ECOLOGY RESOURCES
(2022)
Article
Evolutionary Biology
Leshon Lee, David J. X. Tan, Jozef Obona, Daniel R. Gustafsson, Yuchen Ang, Rudolf Meier
Summary: This study illustrates how new natural history data on phoretic relationships can be obtained quickly using modern and cost-effective barcoding techniques. The authors developed a protocol based on screening bird carcasses to generate new records of avian lice riding on hippoboscid flies. They argue that large-scale NGS barcoding can help resolve many phoretic relationships between arthropods.
SYSTEMATIC ENTOMOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Evolutionary Biology
Emily Hartop, Amrita Srivathsan, Fredrik Ronquist, Rudolf Meier
Summary: New method called large-scale integrative taxonomy (LIT) is proposed for tackling dark taxa, which are groups with a low percentage of described species and a high estimated diversity. LIT generates preliminary species hypotheses based on inexpensive data, which are then evaluated using more expensive validation data. In this study, LIT was used to sort scuttle flies into preliminary species hypotheses based on DNA barcodes, which were then validated using morphological data. Quantitative indicators for predicting incongruence between barcodes and morphology were developed. The results showed that LIT can effectively and efficiently delimit species.
SYSTEMATIC BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Yin Cheong Aden Ip, Jia Jin Marc Chang, Karenne Phyu Phyu Tun, Rudolf Meier, Danwei Huang
Summary: This study uses environmental DNA metabarcoding to monitor two tropical reef sites and shows that during coral spawning, there is an increase in eDNA coral signals, which can detect a large number of coral and fish species.
Editorial Material
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Brent C. Emerson, Paulo A. V. Borges, Pedro Cardoso, Peter Convey, Jeremy R. deWaard, Evan P. Economo, Rosemary G. Gillespie, Susan Kennedy, Henrik Krehenwinkel, Rudolf Meier, George K. Roderick, Dominique Strasberg, Christophe Thebaud, Anna Traveset, Thomas J. Creedy, Emmanouil Meramveliotakis, Victor Noguerales, Isaac Overcast, Helene Morlon, Anna Papadopoulou, Alfried P. Vogler, Paula Arribas, Carmelo Andujar
Summary: The current understanding of the ecological and evolutionary processes underlying island biodiversity is largely based on empirical data from plants and birds, overlooking the fact that arthropods constitute the majority of known animal species and can offer crucial insights into biodiversity processes. High throughput sequencing approaches are emerging as powerful tools for overcoming limitations in arthropod biodiversity data, and can provide valuable insights into these processes. This article explores the effective utilization of these tools for comprehensive and comparable inventory and monitoring of arthropod biodiversity on islands.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Amrita Srivathsan, Rebecca Ker Loh, Elliott James Ong, Leshon Lee, Yuchen Ang, Sujatha Narayanan Kutty, Rudolf Meier
Summary: DNA obtained from invertebrates can be used to survey vertebrate communities, but the interaction between the two groups is not well understood. This study found that there was no specialization in the interactions between the dung and carrion fly community and the vertebrate species. However, uncommon fly species can carry the DNA signal for vertebrate species that are difficult to detect using iDNA. The fly community sourced for iDNA was unexpectedly rich and carried DNA for a variety of rare and common vertebrate species.
Article
Ecology
Amrita Srivathsan, Yuchen Ang, John M. M. Heraty, Wei Song Hwang, Wan F. A. Jusoh, Sujatha Narayanan Kutty, Jayanthi Puniamoorthy, Darren Yeo, Tomas Roslin, Rudolf Meier
Summary: Using DNA barcoding, the authors analyzed the diversity of flying insects and found that more than half of the local species diversity is represented by only 20 insect families, most of which have been neglected in terms of taxonomy. The dominance of these families in insect diversity remains consistent across various factors such as clade age, continent, climatic region, and habitat type. These families, however, suffer from taxonomic neglect and urgent measures are needed to address this issue in biodiversity science.
NATURE ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Connor M. French, Laura D. Bertola, Ana C. Carnaval, Evan P. Economo, Jamie M. Kass, David J. Lohman, Katharine A. Marske, Rudolf Meier, Isaac Overcast, Andrew J. Rominger, Phillip P. A. Staniczenko, Michael J. Hickerson
Summary: Understanding global patterns of genetic diversity is crucial for studying and preserving biodiversity. This study creates a global map of predicted insect mitochondrial genetic diversity and identifies the environmental factors associated with genetic diversity. The findings contribute to our understanding of global biodiversity patterns in the most diverse animal group and have important implications for conservation efforts.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)