Article
Behavioral Sciences
Guy Beauchamp, Zhongqiu Li, Cong Yu, Peter A. Bednekoff, Daniel T. Blumstein
Summary: Research shows that group size can affect animals' vigilance towards predators, but not all studies demonstrate this relationship. It was found that the percentage of time spent vigilant is one of the most effective ways to measure the size of the effect.
BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Biology
John S. McAlister, Ian M. Hamilton
Summary: In group foraging animals, vigilance tends to decrease as group size increases. However, changes in safety resulting from the vigilance benefit conferred by group mates can change the decision to join or leave a group, leading to changes in group size and vigilance.
JOURNAL OF THEORETICAL BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Zoology
Xinxin Wang, Le Yang, Yumeng Zhao, Cong Yu, Zhongqiu Li
Summary: Individuals in groups reduce vigilance time and increase foraging time. Group members more frequently coordinate and synchronize their observation behaviors.
Article
Mathematics, Applied
J. Menezes, S. Batista, M. Tenorio, E. Triaca, B. Moura
Summary: Antipredator behavior is a self-preservation strategy observed in many biological systems. By studying a nonhierarchical tritrophic system, researchers found that the reaction between predators and prey is localized, affecting species coexistence and dominance. Local unevenness can jeopardize biodiversity, particularly for highly mobile species.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Federico Morelli, Lucas M. Leveau, Peter Mikula, Ian MacGregor-Fors, M. Lucia Bocelli, Sergio Gabriel Quesada-Acuna, Cesar Gonzalez-Lagos, Pablo Gutierrez-Tapia, Gabriela Franzoi Dri, Carlos A. Delgado-V., Alvaro Garitano Zavala, Jackeline Campos, Ruben Ortega-Alvarez, A. Isain Contreras-Rodriguez, Daniela Souza Lopez, Maria Cecilia B. Toledo, Andres Sarquis, Alejandro Giraudo, Ada Lilian Echevarria, Maria Elisa Fanjul, Maria Valeria Martinez, Josefina Haedo, Luis Gonzalo Cano Sanz, Yuri Adais Pena Dominguez, Viviana Fernandez, Veronica Marinero, Vinicius Abilhoa, Rafael Amorin, Carla Suertegaray Fontana, Thaiane Weinert da Silva, Sarah Sandri Zalewski Vargas, Juan F. Escobar Ibanez, Maria Dolores Juri, Sergio R. Camin, Luis Marone, Augusto Joao Piratelli, Alexandre Gabriel Franchin, Larissa Crispim, Julieta Benitez, Yanina Benedetti
Summary: The escape behavior, measured as flight initiation distance (FID), is widely used to study fearfulness and risk-taking in animals. This study found that birds in Latin American cemeteries escape earlier than birds in urban parks, in contrast to previous findings in Europe. These differences may be associated with the evolutionary history and urbanization process of bird species in different regions.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Justin W. Baldwin, Joan Garcia-Porta, Carlos A. Botero
Summary: Anthropogenic climate change is threatening biodiversity worldwide, but avian responses are influenced by behavioral flexibility and relative brain size, with species having larger brains showing weaker responses to climate warming.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Mylswamy Mahendiran, Mylswamy Parthiban, Parappurath Abdul Azeez
Summary: Researchers recognize the importance of cost-effective, non-invasive techniques for in-situ morphological measurements. We successfully measured the body sizes of wild Painted Storks in two different regions using a non-invasive digital method. Our study demonstrates the effectiveness of this method in classifying and predicting species characteristics and identifying eco-geographic patterns.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Anne Y. Polyakov, Thomas P. Quinn, Katherine W. Myers, Andrew M. Berdahl
Summary: Grouping is a common phenomenon in the animal kingdom and various environments, mainly for safety and competition trade-offs. Research has found that individuals in larger groups have lower predation risk, while size outliers within groups increase predation risk. The impact of grouping on foraging success also varies among different species.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Juan C. Opazo, Michael W. Vandewege, Javier Gutierrez, Kattina Zavala, Luis Vargas-Chacoff, Francisco J. Morera, Gonzalo A. Mardones
Summary: GOLPH3, the first reported oncoprotein of the Golgi apparatus, has been puzzling in its function in normal and cancer cells since its discovery about 20 years ago. Studying the evolution of the GOLPH3 gene family in birds provides insights into its evolutionary history and importance in structural and functional attributes.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Wei Jing, Yang Xia, Min Li, Yan Cui, Mingming Chen, Miaomiao Xue, Daqing Guo, Bharat B. Biswal, Dezhong Yao
Summary: Resting-state studies have traditionally assumed constant functional connectivity between brain regions, but recent evidence suggests dynamic fluctuations in higher-order regions such as the default mode network. The neural activities underlying this dynamic connectivity are not well understood, but factor analysis can reveal hidden patterns within the brain. Different spatial functional connectivity patterns have been identified based on temporal dynamics, some state-dependent and others state-independent. These spatial patterns with dynamic temporal contributions offer a flexible framework for integrating information to support cognition and behavior.
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Rima Wilkes, Aryan Karimi
Summary: Empirical evidence shows a persistent racial disparity between Black and White individuals in police-caused homicides. While some scholars attribute this gap to their involvement in crime or living in high-crime areas, health scholars emphasize the role of racism and its institutional practices. However, the Black-White racial contrast overlooks the existence of Native Americans, Latinos, and Asians, raising questions about how these groups should be organized and compared.
SOCIAL SCIENCE & MEDICINE
(2023)
Article
Neurosciences
Yujiang Wang, Karoline Leiberg, Tobias Ludwig, Bethany Little, Joe H. Necus, Gavin Winston, Sjoerd B. Vos, Jane de Tisi, John S. Duncan, Peter N. Taylor, Bruno Mota
Summary: Research has shown covariance between cortical morphology measures and introduced new independent measures. Applying these measures can provide new insights, revealing distinct morphological alterations underlying healthy aging and temporal lobe epilepsy.
Article
Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science
Guy Beauchamp, Sahas Barve
Summary: Sentinels in a group of Florida scrub jays can detect predators and rivals early by monitoring their surroundings. Multiple sentinels reduce predation risk and increase collective detection, but gaze synchronization reduces the efficiency of collective detection by limiting visual coverage. Despite the benefits of sentinel presence, there are limits to collective detection when multiple individuals are vigilant at the same time.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Justin W. Baldwin, Joan Garcia-Porta, Carlos A. Botero
Summary: Biologists have observed that endotherms tend to have larger bodies and shorter appendages in colder environments, but some taxa do not conform to these patterns. This study suggests that lineages can respond to thermal gradients through complementary changes in body and extremity size, resulting in smaller changes in either trait than predicted by Bergmann's or Allen's rule alone. By analyzing data on 6,974 non-migratory terrestrial bird species, the authors demonstrate that most bird families exhibit subtle and complementary changes in bill and body size, supporting the idea of complementarity in Bergmann's and Allen's rules. The study also finds that families with significant gradients in bill or body size tend to be more speciose, widely distributed, or ecologically constrained.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)
Article
Communication
Andrew Chadwick, Natalie-Anne Hall, Cristian Vaccari
Summary: Personal messaging platforms are used by many people and often contribute to the spread of misinformation. In this study, we explore the practice of creating group rules to prevent misinformation in everyday interactions. Through interviews and qualitative research, we find that some users create these rules to mitigate the harmful effects of messaging and reduce vulnerability. This group rulemaking can foster collective reflection and vigilance against misinformation, potentially reducing its spread.
NEW MEDIA & SOCIETY
(2023)