Article
Behavioral Sciences
Canchao Yang, William E. Feeney
Summary: Social learning plays an important role in the egg rejection behaviors of avian brood parasite hosts, facilitating rapid dissemination of behaviors throughout the population. This study demonstrates that access to social information influences the likelihood of egg rejection in barn swallows, with swallows having access to a neighbor that recently rejected an egg being more likely to reject foreign eggs. The study highlights the dynamic nature of host defenses against brood parasitism in the absence of parasites.
Article
Biology
Canchao Yang, Ping Ye, Neng Wu, Xiaogang Yao, Wei Liang
Summary: The escalating interactions between parasitic cuckoos and their hosts in terms of egg mimicry and recognition have long been a topic of interest in the field of coevolution. However, the reasons behind the absence of mimicry and recognition in some cuckoo-host systems have remained unclear. This study provides clear evidence that both egg darkness and nest similarity of cryptic eggs affect host recognition, with egg darkness playing a more influential role.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Ignacio Crudele, Mark E. Hauber, Juan C. Reboreda, Vanina D. Fiorini
Summary: Eggs are important for avian reproduction and birds can recognize and care for their own eggs. Some avian obligate brood parasites reduce competition by pecking and destroying host eggs. A study using 3D printed models found that natural egg-shaped models were pecked more often compared to thinner models, suggesting that parasitic cowbirds respond to natural variability in egg shape.
ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE
(2023)
Review
Ecology
Andrew G. Fulmer, Mark E. Hauber
Summary: Avian brood parasitism is costly for hosts and selects for cognitive features enabling anti-parasitic resistance. This study focuses on the mechanisms of egg recognition and rejection in Eurasian blackbirds, finding that visual cues play a key role in distinguishing between own and foreign eggs. Other factors such as predator exposure and individual experience also influence rejection. Blackbirds can recognize and reject highly mimetic eggs, relying on similar sensory cues. The findings suggest that the egg rejection mechanism in blackbirds may be adaptive to both nonmimetic cuckoo parasitism and the evolutionary ghost of an extinct, mimetic cuckoo host-race.
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2022)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Jinggang Zhang, Peter Santema, Jianqiang Li, William E. Feeney, Wenhong Deng, Bart Kempenaers
Summary: Brood parasitic cuckoos and their hosts serve as model systems for studying host-parasite coevolution. This study found that the mere presence of cuckoos in the environment is sufficient to provoke egg-ejection behavior in Daurian redstarts, even before the arrival of cuckoos. Redstarts exposed to cuckoos were both more likely to eject a foreign egg and to eject it more quickly than redstarts exposed to hoopoes.
BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Ecology
David C. Lahti
Summary: The study found that the appearance of Ruppell's weaver eggs varies between individuals but remains consistent within a clutch, with distinctive features. Females typically reject foreign eggs based on differences in brightness and spotting distribution compared to their own eggs.
FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Yasuyuki Choh, Arne Janssen
Summary: Many animal species protect their eggs against predators, and some species take advantage of this by adding their eggs to those of the protecting species. We studied two tiny predatory mite species that share a food source and face intraguild predation, and found that one species acts as a brood parasite by adding its eggs to the eggs of the other species. The brood parasite prefers to add its eggs to the eggs of the protecting host species rather than another non-protecting mite species, and this behavior only occurs in the presence of egg predators.
FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biology
Jess Lund, Tanmay Dixit, Mairenn C. Attwood, Silky Hamama, Collins Moya, Martin Stevens, Gabriel A. Jamie, Claire N. Spottiswoode
Summary: Most mimicry systems involve imperfect mimicry, whereas perfect and high-fidelity mimicry are rare. The study investigates high-fidelity mimicry in the African cuckoo and fork-tailed drongo system and shows that model diversification is a highly effective defense against mimics, even when mimicry is highly accurate.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Biology
Eleanor M. Caves, Tanmay Dixit, John F. R. Colebrook-Robjent, Lazaro Hamusikili, Martin Stevens, Rose Thorogood, Claire N. Spottiswoode
Summary: This study investigates the relationship between consistency and different types of distinctiveness in bird species experiencing mimetic brood parasitism. Contrary to predictions, parasitized species showed a negative correlation between consistency and combinatorial distinctiveness, while regardless of parasitism status, consistency was negatively correlated with absolute distinctiveness across species. These findings suggest that selection from parasites may act on how traits combine rather than the absolute variation in traits, and that consistency and distinctiveness are alternative rather than complementary elements of signatures across species.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Jianping Liu, Laikun Ma, Xiwen Yang, Bin Li, Xingyu Wang, Wei Liang
Summary: It is common for incubating female ground- or cavity-nesting birds to accidentally roll their own eggs out of the nest cup. A study found that green-backed tits and Japanese tits in China have a strong egg recognition ability and are able to reject nonmimetic eggs in the nest.
Review
Ecology
Peter Samas, Mark E. Hauber, Marcel Honza
Summary: Research shows that hosts mainly rely on eggshell color traits and maculation patterns when rejecting foreign eggs, with similar rates of rejection for both natural and model eggs in different nest types.
FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2021)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Hee-Jin Noh, Ros Gloag, Naomi E. Langmore
Summary: Many hosts of brood-parasitic cuckoos reject foreign eggs from the nest. However, if nests commonly receive more than one cuckoo egg, hosts might benefit by accepting parasite eggs. This study tested the clutch dilution hypothesis in large-billed gerygones, which accept cuckoo eggs. The results confirmed a clutch dilution effect in gerygones and suggested that hosts accept or reject cuckoo eggs depending on clutch composition.
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Jia Zheng, Emiel Zuidema, Zhengwang Zhang, Mei Guo, Tamas Szekely, Jan Komdeur
Summary: This study investigated the function of egg burial behavior in Chinese penduline tits and experimentally tested four hypothesized functions. The results showed that egg burial does not play a role in sexual conflict resolution or nest parasitism prevention, and does not support the temperature regulation hypothesis. However, it does support the hypothesis that egg burial protects the eggs from wind.
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Derya Akkaynak, Mary Caswell Stoddard
Summary: In this study, the researchers investigated whether cuckoo eggs are well matched to host eggs in size and shape. They found that while host bird species showed some variation in egg size and shape, different cuckoo host-races laid eggs that were similar in size and shape. The researchers concluded that cuckoo females have not evolved egg size or shape mimicry, and alternative explanations for egg shape similarity include biophysical constraints and selection for incubation efficiency.
BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Abbigail M. Turner, Alexander J. Di Giovanni, Nicholas D. Antonson, Hannah M. Scharf, Mikus Abolins-Abols, Mark E. Hauber
Summary: Avian obligate brood parasites rely on other species to raise their offspring. In turn, many brood parasite hosts have evolved defensive behaviors to reduce the costs of brood parasitism, yet the proximate bases underlying these defenses remain poorly understood. Recent studies suggest that corticosterone may play a key role in mediating anti-parasitic defenses in birds, as elevated levels of this hormone are associated with increased rejection of foreign eggs. Future research is needed to further investigate the sensory and cognitive effects of corticosterone and other hormones on defense behaviors against avian brood parasitism.
HORMONES AND BEHAVIOR
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
U. Pulliainen, C. Morandin, N. Bos, L. Sundstrom, E. Schultner
Summary: Through RNAseq analysis, it was found that social stimulation led to higher expression of sensory-related genes in larvae of the ant Formica fusca. These larvae expressed similar sensory-related genes as adult ants and larvae of other insects, including genes belonging to major insect chemosensory gene families. This study provides insights into the molecular changes associated with social information perception in social insect larvae.
INSECT MOLECULAR BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Andrej Cernansky, Edward L. Stanley, Juan D. Daza, Arnau Bolet, J. Salvador Arias, Aaron M. Bauer, Marta Vidal-Garcia, Joseph J. Bevitt, Adolf M. Peretti, Nyi Nyi Aung, Susan E. Evans
Summary: In this study, a well-preserved juvenile lizard specimen from Myanmar is reported. The specimen, dating back to the Early Cretaceous, includes an articulated skull, the anterior portion of the trunk, and exhibits pristine detail of the integument. Through molecular and morphological analysis, it was identified as a scincoid lizard and potentially represents a new taxon. However, caution is advised due to the immature nature of the specimen.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2022)
Article
Anatomy & Morphology
Christopher J. Percival, Jay Devine, Chaudhry Raza Hassan, Marta Vidal-Garcia, Christopher J. O'Connor-Coates, Eva Zaffarini, Charles Roseman, David Katz, Benedikt Hallgrimsson
Summary: Brain and skull tissues interact during head development, leading to a correlation between the neurocranium and external brain surface. The genetic basis of endocast variation in laboratory mice was quantified, indicating high heritability and a primary determination by additive genetic factors. Furthermore, a specific locus on mouse chromosome 1 was found to be associated with endocast size variation, primarily impacting brain development and leading to secondary changes in neurocranial morphology.
JOURNAL OF ANATOMY
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Jay Devine, Marta Vidal-Garcia, Wei Liu, Amanda Neves, Lucas D. Lo Vercio, Rebecca M. Green, Heather A. Richbourg, Marta Marchini, Colton M. Unger, Audrey C. Nickle, Bethany Radford, Nathan M. Young, Paula N. Gonzalez, Robert E. Schuler, Alejandro Bugacov, Campbell Rolian, Christopher J. Percival, Trevor Williams, Lee Niswander, Anne L. Calof, Arthur D. Lander, Axel Visel, Frank R. Jirik, James M. Cheverud, Ophir D. Klein, Ramon Y. Birnbaum, Amy E. Merrill, Rebecca R. Ackermann, Daniel Graf, Myriam Hemberger, Wendy Dean, Nils D. Forkert, Stephen A. Murray, Henrik Westerberg, Ralph S. Marcucio, Benedikt Hallgrimsson
Summary: Complex morphological traits are the result of gene interactions in the anatomical environment. We created the MusMorph database to collect standardized mouse morphology data, enabling meta-analyses and standardized data collection.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Naama Hirsch, Idit Dahan, Eva D'haene, Matan Avni, Sarah Vergult, Marta Vidal-Garcia, Pamela Magini, Claudio Graziano, Giulia Severi, Elena Bonora, Anna Maria Nardone, Francesco Brancati, Alberto Fernandez-Jaen, Olson J. Rory, Benedikt Hallgrimsson, Ramon Y. Birnbaum
Summary: Structural variants (SVs) can disrupt protein-coding sequences and gene regulatory elements. This study shows that disruption of TWIST1 regulatory elements within the HDAC9 protein-coding sequence is associated with craniosynostosis. These regulatory elements play a critical role in the transcriptional regulation of TWIST1. Additionally, SVs within protein-coding sequences can lead to phenotype changes that are not attributed to the protein function.
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Heikki Helantera, Martina Ozan, Liselotte Sundstrom
Summary: In ant societies, multiple queens may compete over reproduction. The study shows that in Formica fusca ants, queens adjust their egg laying rate based on the kinship of their nestmates. When exposed to odor of a highly fecund non-kin queen, queens increase their egg laying rate, while if the queen is a close relative, queens decrease their egg laying rate to reduce competition. This demonstrates that cooperative breeding behaviors in Formica fusca queens are influenced by kinship and fecundity of others.
BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Soil Science
Stafva Lindstrom, Sari S. Timonen, Liselotte Sundstrom
Summary: In this study, the bacterial and fungal microbiomes of the ant Formica exsecta were investigated, finding that the microbial communities inside the ants differ from those in their nest material. The bacterial species diversity, species richness, ? diversity, evenness, and fungal species richness were found to be lower in ants compared to the nest material. The fungal communities in the ants were also found to be less stable than the bacterial ones.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF SOIL SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
I. Satokangas, P. Nouhaud, B. Seifert, P. Punttila, R. Schultz, M. M. Jones, J. Siren, H. Helantera, J. Kulmuni
Summary: The study reveals extensive hybridization between five wood ant species in Finland, with hybrids occupying warmer microhabitats. This suggests that extensive hybridization may promote wood ant persistence in a changing climate.
Review
Biology
Topi K. Lehtonen, Heikki Helantera, Cwyn Solvi, Bob B. M. Wong, Olli J. Loukola
Summary: Nests are crucial for the reproductive success of many animals, and cognitive abilities play a significant role in various nesting behaviors. This review examines the evidence linking cognition to nesting behaviors across different taxa and discusses how cognitive abilities can enhance nesting success. The review also emphasizes the importance of combining experimental and comparative research to understand the evolutionary pathways underlying the associations between cognitive abilities and nesting behaviors.
PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Biology
Martina Ozan, Heikki Helantera, Patrizia d'Ettorre, Liselotte Sundstrom
Summary: Cooperative breeding in ants involves conflicts over reproductive shares, which can be resolved in different ways. This study examined how the reproductive success of queens in the ant Formica fusca is influenced by the size of their worker entourage, their fecundity, and their cuticular hydrocarbon profile. The results showed that queen fecundity and egg hatching success increased with the size of their entourage, and newly hatched larvae from highly fecund queens were smaller. Additionally, higher relatedness among workers was found to increase queen fecundity, and queens with a large worker entourage had different cuticular chemistry compared to those with a small worker entourage. These findings highlight the important role of workers in determining queen fitness and the impact of relatedness on colony reproductive output.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2023)
Correction
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Jay Devine, Marta Vidal-Garcia, Wei Liu, Amanda Neves, Lucas D. Lo Vercio, Rebecca M. Green, Heather A. Richbourg, Marta Marchini, Colton M. Unger, Audrey C. Nickle, Bethany Radford, Nathan M. Young, Paula N. Gonzalez, Robert E. Schuler, Alejandro Bugacov, Campbell Rolian, Christopher J. Percival, Trevor Williams, Lee Niswander, Anne L. Calof, Arthur D. Lander, Axel Visel, Frank R. Jirik, James M. Cheverud, Ophir D. Klein, Ramon Y. Birnbaum, Amy E. Merrill, Rebecca R. Ackermann, Daniel Graf, Myriam Hemberger, Wendy Dean, Nils D. Forkert, Stephen A. Murray, Henrik Westerberg, Ralph S. Marcucio, Benedikt Hallgrimsson
Article
Biology
Jason Rissanen, Danae Nyckees, Torsten Will, Heikki Helanterae, Dalial Freitak
Summary: Animals modulate their nutritional intake to combat pathogens. Formica fusca ants adjust their diet to include more aphid-supplemented foods when exposed to a fungal pathogen, reducing mortality. However, a varied diet is necessary for this benefit.
Article
Computer Science, Information Systems
Lucas D. Lo Vercio, Rebecca M. Green, Samuel Robertson, Sienna Guo, Andreas Dauter, Marta Marchini, Marta Vidal-Garcia, Xiang Zhao, Anandita Mahika, Ralph S. Marcucio, Benedikt Hallgrimsson, Nils D. Forkert
Summary: Various genetic mutations affecting cell proliferation during organism development have been found to cause structural birth defects. This study developed and evaluated automatic methods based on convolutional neural networks (CNNs) for accurate segmentation of tissue and cells in mouse embryos using Light-Sheet Microscopy (LSM) imaging. The proposed methods achieved high accuracy and consistency compared to manual segmentations, providing a useful tool for LSM image analysis.
Review
Entomology
Liselotte Sundstrom, Emma Vitikainen
Summary: This study summarizes a 28-year research on monogyne colonies of the narrow-headed ant and discusses the ecological and genetic consequences arising from fragmented landscapes and conflicting selection pressures.
MYRMECOLOGICAL NEWS
(2022)