Biological Reviews最新文献

{"title":"Biodiversity in mountain soils above the treeline.","authors":"Nadine Praeg, Michael Steinwandter, Davnah Urbach, Mark A Snethlage, Rodrigo P Alves, Martha E Apple, Peter Bilovitz, Andrea J Britton, Estelle P Bruni, Ting-Wen Chen, Kenneth Dumack, Fernando Fernandez-Mendoza, Michele Freppaz, Beat Frey, Nathalie Fromin, Stefan Geisen, Martin Grube, Elia Guariento, Antoine Guisan, Qiao-Qiao Ji, Juan J Jiménez, Stefanie Maier, Lucie A Malard, Maria A Minor, Cowan C Mc Lean, Edward A D Mitchell, Thomas Peham, Roberto Pizzolotto, Andy F S Taylor, Philippe Vernon, Johan J van Tol, Donghui Wu, Yunga Wu, Zhijing Xie, Bettina Weber, Paul Illmer, Julia Seeber","doi":"10.1111/brv.70028","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.70028","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Biological diversity in mountain ecosystems has been increasingly studied over the last decade. This is also the case for mountain soils, but no study to date has provided an overall synthesis of the current state of knowledge. Here we fill this gap with a first global analysis of published research on cryptogams, microorganisms, and fauna in mountain soils above the treeline, and a structured synthesis of current knowledge. Based on a corpus of almost 1400 publications and the expertise of 37 mountain soil scientists worldwide, we summarise what is known about the diversity and distribution patterns of each of these organismal groups, specifically along elevation, and provide an overview of available knowledge on the drivers explaining these patterns and their changes. In particular, we document an elevation-dependent decrease in faunal diversity above the treeline, while for cryptogams there is an initial increase above the treeline, followed by a decrease towards the nival belt. Thus, our data confirm the key role that elevation plays in shaping the biodiversity and distribution of these organisms in mountain soils. The response of prokaryote diversity to elevation, in turn, was more diverse, whereas fungal diversity appeared to be substantially influenced by plants. As far as available, we describe key characteristics, adaptations, and functions of mountain soil species, and despite a lack of ecological information about the uncultivated majority of prokaryotes, fungi, and protists, we illustrate the remarkable and unique diversity of life forms and life histories encountered in alpine mountain soils. By applying rule- as well as pattern-based literature-mining approaches and semi-quantitative analyses, we identified hotspots of mountain soil research in the European Alps and Central Asia and revealed significant gaps in taxonomic coverage, particularly among biocrusts, soil protists, and soil fauna. We further report thematic priorities for research on mountain soil biodiversity above the treeline and identify unanswered research questions. Building upon the outcomes of this synthesis, we conclude with a set of research opportunities for mountain soil biodiversity research worldwide. Soils in mountain ecosystems above the treeline fulfil critical functions and make essential contributions to life on land. Accordingly, seizing these opportunities and closing knowledge gaps appears crucial to enable science-based decision making in mountain regions and formulating laws and guidelines in support of mountain soil biodiversity conservation targets.</p>","PeriodicalId":133,"journal":{"name":"Biological Reviews","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":11.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144075053","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"How do parasites and predators choose their victim? A trade-off between quality and vulnerability across antagonistic interactions.","authors":"Mairenn C Attwood","doi":"10.1111/brv.70037","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.70037","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>From blood-sucking lice and food-stealing gulls to pandemic-inducing viruses and egg-eating snakes: parasites and predators are ubiquitous in shaping ecology and evolution. Fundamental to these interactions is the way in which parasites and predators choose their victim. Here, I argue that a trade-off between host quality and vulnerability can be generalised across systems to understand parasites' choice of hosts. This principle defines quality as the value of resources a host has, and vulnerability as the ease with which a parasite can obtain those resources. A parasite can choose a low-quality host, which is easier to attack but offers limited resources, or a high-quality host, which is more challenging to attack but offers more resources if the parasite is successful. The optimal decision for a parasite will depend on its ecology and the shape of the trade-off in a given system. The trade-off applies equally to predator-prey systems. Many studies of different types of parasitism and predation across taxa have investigated traits pertaining to quality or vulnerability, but their findings have not previously been integrated. Doing so makes it possible to draw out broad principles that determine whether quality or vulnerability has the greater impact on victim choice. It can also help explain contradictory findings, such as why the same antagonists choose high-quality victims in some studies, and low-quality victims in others. Further applications include predicting the effects of global change on host-parasite and predator-prey dynamics, and providing an integrated perspective on coevolutionary adaptations.</p>","PeriodicalId":133,"journal":{"name":"Biological Reviews","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":11.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144075055","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Critical insights into the potential risks of antipsychotic drugs to fish, including through effects on behaviour.","authors":"Gabrielle Wasser-Bennett, A Ross Brown, Samuel K Maynard, Stewart F Owen, Charles R Tyler","doi":"10.1111/brv.70031","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.70031","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Antipsychotic drugs (APDs) are a diverse class of neuroactive pharmaceuticals increasingly detected in surface and ground waters globally. Some APDs are classified as posing a high environmental risk, due, in part, to their tendency to bioaccumulate in wildlife, including fish. Additional risk drivers for APDs relate to their behavioural effects, potentially impacting fitness outcomes. However, standard ecotoxicological tests used in environmental risk assessment (ERA) do not currently account for these mechanisms. In this review, we critically appraise the environmental risks of APDs to fish. We begin by reading-across from human and mammalian effects data to standard ecotoxicological effects endpoints in fish. We then explore the wide range of behaviours suitable for ecotoxicological assessment of APDs (and other neuroactive) pharmaceuticals, principally through laboratory studies with zebrafish, and assess the potential for using these behavioural phenotypes to predict adverse individual- and population-level outcomes in wild fish, taking into account phenotypic plasticity. Next, we illustrate the advantages and challenges of measuring and applying behavioural endpoints for fish, including within current regulatory risk assessments. In our final analysis, the implications of relying on apical endpoints for ERA of neuroactive drugs (including APDs) are assessed and recommendations provided for the development of a more refined and tailored mechanistic approach, which would enable more robust assessment of their environmental risk(s).</p>","PeriodicalId":133,"journal":{"name":"Biological Reviews","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":11.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143957611","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Ecology needs a causal overhaul.","authors":"Daniel W Franks, Graeme D Ruxton, Tom Sherratt","doi":"10.1111/brv.70029","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.70029","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Ecology has yet to embrace causal inference, yet most questions in ecology are causal. Despite the common use of terms that imply causation, such as \"shapes\", \"drives\", or \"impacts\", many studies shy away from directly acknowledging their causal ambitions. This avoidance not only obscures the true intent of research but also underpins a broader challenge within the field's approach to science. Ecology relies heavily on observational data, and so the necessity for robust causal inference becomes paramount. However, causal methods are also needed for non-randomised experiments. We critique the predominance in ecology of scientifically empty statistical procedures that lack scientific clarity and value. We advocate for a shift towards explicit causal inference, arguing that understanding causality is not confined to randomised controlled trials but can also be enriched through observational data when paired with rigorous causal inference methodologies. This paper elucidates the common pitfalls in ecological studies, such as throwing all variables into an analysis, use of the Akaike information criterion (AIC) for model selection, the \"Table 2 fallacy\" and the misuse of controls: all of which can lead to misleading scientific understanding. The good news is that causal inference is not primarily a statistical problem, but rather a scientific one that is accessible to all ecologists. We can achieve reasonable progress by continuing to use the standard statistical toolbox based around regression models, familiar to many ecologists, paired with causal diagrams. For regression, causal inference is about understanding what we should condition on (good controls) and what we should not condition on (bad controls). We provide not only a critique but a constructive guide, aiming to demystify causal inference and encourage its adoption in ecological studies using familiar approaches. By doing so, we seek to elevate the quality and impact of ecological research, moving beyond routine convenient statistical procedures and towards a more scientifically sound and insightful understanding of ecology.</p>","PeriodicalId":133,"journal":{"name":"Biological Reviews","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":11.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143957488","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"New perspectives on body size and shape evolution in dinosaurs.","authors":"Matthew Dempsey, Samuel R R Cross, Susannah C R Maidment, John R Hutchinson, Karl T Bates","doi":"10.1111/brv.70026","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.70026","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Diversity in the body shapes and sizes of dinosaurs was foundational to their widespread success during the Mesozoic era. The ability to quantify body size and form reliably is therefore critical to the study of dinosaur biology and evolution. Body mass estimates for any given fossil animal are, in theory, most informative when derived from volumetric models that account for the three-dimensional shapes of the entire body. In addition to providing estimates of total body mass, volumetric approaches can be used to determine the inertial properties of specific body segments and the overall distribution of mass throughout the body, each of which are essential for the modelling and interpretation of form-function relationships and their associations with ecology. However, the determination of body volumes in fossil taxa is often subjective, and may be sensitive to varied artistic inference. This highlights the need for an approach to body mass estimation in which body segment volumes are systematically constrained by quantitative scaling relationships between the hard tissues that fossilise and the soft tissues only observable in extant taxa. To this end, we used recently published skeletal to soft tissue volumetric scaling factors derived from CT data of extant sauropsids to estimate body segment mass properties from skeletal models of 52 non-avian dinosaurs representing the majority of major clades and body plans. The body masses estimated by this study range from less than 200 g in the tiny avialan Yixianornis to over 60 tonnes in the giant sauropod Patagotitan, which is currently the largest dinosaur known from mostly complete skeletal remains. From our models, we infer that many previous reconstructions of soft tissue envelopes may be too small, and that many dinosaurs were therefore heavier than previous estimates. Our models generally overlap with the range of body mass estimates derived from limb bone shaft dimensions, but with considerable quantitative variability among major clades. This suggests that different taxa either differed in skeletal to soft tissue volume ratios, or that their limb bone dimensions varied relative to body mass, perhaps related to differences in locomotor dynamics and postural evolution. Our models also allowed us to investigate variation in mass distribution and body proportions across different dinosaurs from a perspective grounded in extant anatomical data, framing long-standing hypotheses about their form, function, and behaviour in a quantitative context. For example, reconstructed disparity in whole-body centres of mass reflects a broad array of postures in different dinosaur clades, while the lack of strong positive allometry in the dimensions of the weight-bearing limb segments relative to total body mass corroborates previous studies suggesting an overall decrease in dinosaur locomotor performance as body size increased.</p>","PeriodicalId":133,"journal":{"name":"Biological Reviews","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":11.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143954073","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Global consequences of dam-induced river fragmentation on diadromous migrants: a systematic review and meta-analysis.","authors":"Jeffery C F Chan, Billy Y K Lam, David Dudgeon, Jia Huan Liew","doi":"10.1111/brv.70032","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.70032","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The global proliferation of dams has altered flow and sediment regimes in rivers, presenting a major threat to freshwater biodiversity. Diadromous species, such as fishes, decapod crustaceans and gastropods, are particularly susceptible to fragmentation because dams obstruct their breeding migrations between coastal waters and rivers. Although dams have contributed to significant declines in abundance of some commercially important diadromous fishes (salmonids and anguillids) and Macrobrachium shrimps, understanding of the impacts of fragmentation on the majority of diadromous animals is limited. Moreover, the number of species known to have diadromous life cycles has risen substantially during the last four decades, from ~250 to more than 800. This synthesis aims to consolidate the global impacts of fragmentation on diadromous animals and highlight potential knowledge gaps. We identified 338 publications documenting the impacts of dams on diadromous fishes and decapods, but this was reduced to 65 publications after application of our strict selection criteria. Specifically, we only included studies that compared unfragmented (e.g. undammed) or restored (e.g. dams with fish passes) with fragmented (e.g. site above dams) rivers. To assess statistical significance, the results of studies that were replicated sufficiently to enable calculation of standardised effect sizes were also subject to meta-analysis focusing on three topics: impacts of dam-induced fragmentation; efficacy of fish passes; and the mitigative potential of dam removal. Study outcomes were evaluated from five key variables: abundance; species richness; assemblage composition; population genetic diversity; and population genetic structure. We found that fragmentation led to net negative effects across all key variables for diadromous fishes. Fishes with limited jumping or climbing ability and obligate diadromous migrants that cannot persist as landlocked populations were more threatened by fragmentation. However, fishes that were capable climbers or jumpers and facultatively diadromous were nonetheless susceptible to impacts, particularly in their abundance and gene flow between fragmented populations. Installation of fish passes did not lead to positive outcomes, whereas dam removal was effective in restoring connectivity for fishes, suggesting that it is a more effective, albeit potentially contentious, approach (e.g. the dam may serve an important societal need), for restoring habitat connectivity. A smaller number of publications investigated diadromous decapods (seven versus 61 on fishes), and our synthesis of their findings suggests that decapods were vulnerable to habitat alteration by dams, but were less sensitive to their barrier effects because they were better climbers than fishes. Gastropods were the least studied diadromous taxon, and none met our criteria for systematic review or meta-analysis. The imbalance in information about diadromous taxa was compounded by ","PeriodicalId":133,"journal":{"name":"Biological Reviews","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":11.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143956014","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Grasping at water: a gap-oriented approach to bridging shortfalls in freshwater biodiversity conservation.","authors":"Charles B van Rees, Juergen Geist, Angela H Arthington","doi":"10.1111/brv.70030","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.70030","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Freshwater biodiversity is the fastest declining part of the global biota, threatened by multiple stressors including habitat loss and fragmentation, climate change, invasive species, water pollution, and abstraction by humans. A multitude of recent agenda-setting publications have pointed out key objectives and goals for addressing this freshwater biodiversity crisis, but important gaps must be overcome to reach ambitious conservation targets. In this perspective, we complement these high-level papers in freshwater conservation by highlighting important gaps in knowledge, governance, and implementation. This gap-oriented approach is designed to facilitate meaningful action by highlighting missing 'pieces' in the conservation process, and their connection to existing and emerging solutions in the literature. We derive 13 overarching gaps from a conference session and informal synthesis of recent literature in freshwater biodiversity conservation to catalyse research, advocacy, and action to meet freshwater goals for the post-2020 Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). Key gaps include inventory data on global freshwater biodiversity, collating and mobilizing conservation evidence in practice, improving coordination of ecological governance at scale -including within and across catchments-and navigating trade-offs between economic development, resource consumption, and priorities for freshwater biodiversity. Finally, we apply this gap-oriented approach to key language describing GBF goals for freshwater biodiversity conservation, and point out existing and emerging solutions which may help address important gaps. Major themes that address multiple gaps include the use of Nature-based Solutions and Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures (OECMs), navigation of water management trade-offs between human and environmental needs, co-production of knowledge with Indigenous and local people and other stakeholders, integration of conservation research and action between aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, and funding and policy mechanisms to facilitate conservation action and support meaningful monitoring of conservation evidence across hydrological scales.</p>","PeriodicalId":133,"journal":{"name":"Biological Reviews","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":11.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143951914","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Strategies, costs and counter-strategies to sexual coercion.","authors":"Nikolaos Smit","doi":"10.1111/brv.70013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.70013","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Sexual conflict, the conflict between the evolutionary interests of females and males over mating, occasionally results in the evolution of traits favourable for one sex and adverse for the other. In this context, males can use sexual coercion to increase their mating success, at the expense of their female targets' mate choice. An increasing number of studies highlight a great diversity of male and female behaviours that serve as strategies and counter-strategies, respectively, to sexual coercion. Previous studies have reviewed the literature on infanticide but not the literature on forced copulation, sexual harassment, intimidation or punishment. This qualitative review synthesises the empirical evidence and draws a unified framework of the ecology of sexual coercion across animals, presenting male sexually coercive strategies and co-evolved female counter-strategies that can reduce coercion and its fitness costs. Using examples from insects to humans, it shows that different strategies of sexual coercion can lead to the evolution of similar counter-strategies. These counter-strategies include female promiscuity, deception of males (e.g. concealed ovulation or pseudo-oestrus), avoidance of certain males and association with others for protection, female aggregation to dilute coercion and ultimately physical resistance by single or allied females. Extending previous work, this review provides compelling evidence of sexually antagonistic coevolution amid sexual coercion. It also calls for future work to clarify, first, which individual traits are linked to greater coercion rates in males and a higher likelihood of receiving coercion in females and, second, any causal relationships between different strategies of sexual coercion and the evolution of different social and mating systems.</p>","PeriodicalId":133,"journal":{"name":"Biological Reviews","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":11.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143953703","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A call for increased integration of experimental approaches in movement ecology.","authors":"K Whitney Hansen, Jack A Brand, Cassandre Aimon, Tal Avgar, Michael G Bertram, Iris D Bontekoe, Tomas Brodin, Arne Hegemann, Benjamin Koger, Emmaneul Lourie, Jorge F S Menezes, Mitchell Serota, Nina Attias, Ellen Aikens","doi":"10.1111/brv.70025","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.70025","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Rapid developments in animal-tracking technology have enabled major advances in the field of movement ecology, which seeks to understand the drivers and consequences of movement across scales, taxa, and ecosystems. The field has made ground-breaking discoveries, yet the majority of studies in movement ecology remain reliant on observational approaches. While important, observational studies are limited compared to experimental methods that can reveal causal relationships and underlying mechanisms. As such, we advocate for a renewed focus on experimental approaches in animal movement ecology. We illustrate a way forward in experimental movement ecology across two fundamental levels of biological organisation: individuals and social groups. We then explore the application of experiments in movement ecology to study anthropogenic influences on wildlife movement, and enhance our mechanistic understanding of conservation interventions. In each of these examples, we draw upon previous research that has effectively employed experimental approaches, while highlighting outstanding questions that could be answered by further experimentation. We conclude by highlighting the ways experimental manipulations in both laboratory and natural settings provide a promising way forward to generate mechanistic understandings of the drivers, consequences, and conservation of animal movement.</p>","PeriodicalId":133,"journal":{"name":"Biological Reviews","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":11.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143957406","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Multiparasitism: why do interspecific brood parasites lay eggs so frequently in already parasitized host nests?","authors":"Manuel Soler","doi":"10.1111/brv.70018","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.70018","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Obligate avian brood parasites delegate parental care to unrelated foster parents. Therefore, the main way a brood parasite female can increase the probability of her offspring surviving until independence is to select the most appropriate nests, particularly those without a previously laid parasitic egg so as to minimize competition with another parasitic nestling. Brood parasitic females usually lay one egg per host nest. However, evidence of parasitic females avoiding laying in previously parasitized nests is lacking. In this context, \"multiparasitism\" can be defined as parasitic eggs laid in a nest by different females or by the same female (with the latter known as \"repeated parasitism\"). Repeated parasitism has been well documented in only two parasite species, the cuckoo finch (Anomalospiza imberbis) and the great spotted cuckoo (Clamator glandarius). Usually, multiparasitism and a high number of parasitic eggs per nest results from a high density of brood parasites, mainly in non-evictor, but also in some evictor brood parasites. Multiparasitism is widespread, having been reported in all well-studied nest-sharing brood parasites and in all except one well-studied nestmate-killing species. Both multiparasitism and number of parasitic eggs per nest vary widely depending on various factors, specifically the brood parasite species, the host species, the area or habitat, and the year. Given that, in multiparasitized nests of nestmate-killing species, only one parasitic nestling can survive per nest, multiparasitism should be scarcer and number of parasitic eggs per nest lower in these species than in nest-sharing ones, a prediction that receives support from data included in this review. Multiparasitism exerts a strong negative effect on the reproductive success both of brood parasites and of hosts in most brood parasite-host systems. The size of the host relative to parasite is a crucial factor affecting the survival of both the brood parasite and the host nestlings. That is, nestling mortality of both is higher in smaller than in larger host species because the latter can provide a greater amount of food to the nest. Three different hypotheses have been proposed to explain why multiparasitism is much more frequent than might be expected from the negative effect it exerts on brood parasite success: first, multiparasitized nests are less concealed than singly parasitized nests; second, competition is strong for host nests because of scarcity of available host nests at the appropriate stage and/or a very high abundance of brood parasites; and third, multiparasitism is an adaptation that results from an active decision by the parasitic female. The second explanation is the most widely accepted, but a female laying in a previously parasitized nest has frequently been interpreted as the parasite making \"the best of a bad job\", given the scarcity of unparasitized host nests. The third explanation (multiparasitism as an adaptive strategy) has ","PeriodicalId":133,"journal":{"name":"Biological Reviews","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":11.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143959075","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}