Silas E Fischer, Joshua G Otten, Andrea M Lindsay, Donald Miles, Henry Streby
{"title":"Six-decade research bias towards fancy and familiar bird species.","authors":"Silas E Fischer, Joshua G Otten, Andrea M Lindsay, Donald Miles, Henry Streby","doi":"10.1098/rspb.2024.2846","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rspb.2024.2846","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Human implicit biases towards visually appealing and familiar stimuli are well documented and rooted in our brains' reward systems. For example, humans are drawn to charismatic, familiar organisms, but less is known about whether such biases permeate research choices among biologists, who strive for objectivity. The factors driving research effort, such as aesthetics, logistics and species' names, are poorly understood. We report that, from 1965 to 2020, nearly half of the variation in publication trends among 293 North American male passerine and near-passerine birds was explained by three factors subject to human bias: aesthetic salience (visual appeal), range size (familiarity) and the number of universities within ranges (accessibility). We also demonstrate that endangered birds and birds featured on journal covers had higher aesthetic salience, and birds with eponymous names were studied about half as much as those not named after humans. Thus, ornithological knowledge, and decisions based thereon, is heavily skewed towards fancy, familiar species. This knowledge disparity feeds a cycle of public interest, environmental policy, conservation, funding opportunities and scientific narratives, shrouding potentially important information in the proverbial plumage of drab, distant, disregarded species. The unintended consequences of biologists' choices may exacerbate organismal inequalities amid biodiversity declines and limit opportunities for scientific inquiry.</p>","PeriodicalId":20589,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences","volume":"292 2044","pages":"20242846"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11961255/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143764965","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Logan S James, M Teague O'Mara, Justin C Touchon, Michael J Ryan, Ximena E Bernal, Rachel A Page
{"title":"The ontogeny of decision-making in an eavesdropping predator.","authors":"Logan S James, M Teague O'Mara, Justin C Touchon, Michael J Ryan, Ximena E Bernal, Rachel A Page","doi":"10.1098/rspb.2025.0450","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rspb.2025.0450","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Predators use prey-emitted cues to assess and localize potential food sources. Sexual advertisement calls offer conspicuous cues for eavesdropping predators. While the ontogeny of predatory behaviour is key for survival and can determine adult responses, our understanding of the development of the responses to prey-emitted cues is limited. Here, we measured the responses of juvenile and adult fringe-lipped bats (<i>Trachops cirrhosus</i>) to the acoustic advertisement calls of co-occurring anurans. We confirmed that adult bats modulate their foraging behaviour based on their prey's acoustic cues associated with prey palatability. The responses of juvenile bats revealed that ontogeny plays an important role in bat predatory responses. In contrast to adults, prey palatability did not predict predatory behaviour in juveniles, which responded strongly to poisonous toads and little to some palatable frog species, suggesting that avoidance of poisonous species is learned through experience. Despite these differences, both juveniles and adults appeared to attend to acoustic cues related to body size. Our results support the hypothesis that, over development, acoustic preferences of eavesdropping predators become more closely aligned with advantageous foraging outcomes. Overall, these results offer the first evidence of developmental changes refining decision-making in an eavesdropping predator in the wild.</p>","PeriodicalId":20589,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences","volume":"292 2045","pages":"20250450"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12040447/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143977048","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Evan A Eskew, Kevin J Olival, Jonna A K Mazet, Peter Daszak
{"title":"A global-scale dataset of bat viral detection suggests that pregnancy reduces viral shedding.","authors":"Evan A Eskew, Kevin J Olival, Jonna A K Mazet, Peter Daszak","doi":"10.1098/rspb.2024.2381","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rspb.2024.2381","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Understanding viral infection dynamics in wildlife hosts can help forecast zoonotic pathogen spillover and human disease risk. Bats are important reservoirs of zoonotic viruses, and bat metapopulation dynamics, seasonal reproductive patterns and other life-history characteristics might explain temporal variation in the spillover of bat-associated viruses. Here, we analyse reproductive effects on viral dynamics in free-ranging bat hosts, leveraging a multi-year, global-scale viral detection dataset that spans eight viral families and 96 bat species from 14 countries. Bayesian models revealed that pregnancy had a negative effect on viral shedding across multiple data subsets, and this effect was robust to different model formulations. By contrast, lactation had a weaker influence that was inconsistent across models. These results are unusual for mammalian hosts, but given recent findings that bats may have high individual viral loads and population-level prevalence due to dampening of antiviral immunity, we propose that it would be evolutionarily advantageous for pregnancy to either not further reduce immunity or actually increase the immune response, reducing viral load, shedding and risk of fetal infection. This novel hypothesis would be valuable to test given its potential to help monitor, predict and manage viral spillover from bats.</p>","PeriodicalId":20589,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences","volume":"292 2045","pages":"20242381"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12001080/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144042298","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jyotsna Hosakere Mathada, Lena Romrig, Laure-Anne Poissonnier
{"title":"Single-trial learning leads to mid-term memory formation in ants during an appetitive, but not an aversive, task.","authors":"Jyotsna Hosakere Mathada, Lena Romrig, Laure-Anne Poissonnier","doi":"10.1098/rspb.2024.3054","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rspb.2024.3054","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Insects have been models of associative learning and its underlying memory mechanisms. Research on the fruit fly <i>Drosophila melanogaster</i> and the honeybee <i>Apis mellifera</i> yielded deep insights into the different memory types and their formation dynamics following repeated stimulus exposure. However, less is understood about the ability of insects to learn from a single exposure. Accumulating evidence reveals that several insect species are able to learn from a single trial. Studies have largely focused on odour appetitive learning. In this study, we investigated the ability of the ant <i>Lasius niger</i> to learn from a single trial to associate a reward or a punishment with one side of a Y-maze. The ants successfully demonstrated appetitive learning but no aversive learning. This appetitive learning led to the rapid formation of mid-term memory, remaining sensitive to anaesthesia for at least 15 min post-training. Contrary to single-trial appetitive odour learning described in other species, this learning did not induce the formation of long-term memory, calling for further comparison between learning types.</p>","PeriodicalId":20589,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences","volume":"292 2045","pages":"20243054"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12014227/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144050888","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Akiko Matsumoto-Oda, Daisuke Utsumi, Kenzo Takahashi, Satoshi Hirata, Atunga Nyachieo, Daniel Chai, Ngalla Jillani, Michel Raymond
{"title":"Inter-species differences in wound-healing rate: a comparative study involving primates and rodents.","authors":"Akiko Matsumoto-Oda, Daisuke Utsumi, Kenzo Takahashi, Satoshi Hirata, Atunga Nyachieo, Daniel Chai, Ngalla Jillani, Michel Raymond","doi":"10.1098/rspb.2025.0233","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2025.0233","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Injuries, which affect survival and biological functioning, are common in the animal kingdom. This study systematically investigated whether the slow wound healing observed in humans is a unique characteristic within the primate order. First, we found no significant difference in wound-healing rates between baboons under experimental conditions and those in their natural environment (0.613 mm d<sup>-1</sup>). Second, comparisons among four non-human primates (velvet monkeys, Sykes' monkeys, baboons and chimpanzees) revealed no significant differences in wound-healing rates. Furthermore, these rates showed no significant differences compared to those observed in rodents, suggesting a potential commonality in wound-healing rates across diverse animal species. In contrast, human wound-healing rates were found to be markedly slower (0.25 mm d<sup>-1</sup>), approximately three times slower than those observed in non-human primates. This finding indicates that the slow wound healing observed in humans is not a common characteristic among primate order and highlights the possibility of evolutionary adaptations in humans. Understanding these inter-species differences in wound-healing rates may provide valuable insights into the evolutionary implications of wound healing. This study also underscores the need for further research into the biological processes underlying wound healing in various species.</p>","PeriodicalId":20589,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences","volume":"292 2045","pages":"20250233"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12040475/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144020225","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Cranial kinematics and prey-type effects in <i>Amia ocellicauda</i> feeding strikes.","authors":"Katrina R Whitlow, Callum F Ross, Mark W Westneat","doi":"10.1098/rspb.2024.2542","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rspb.2024.2542","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Variability in the biomechanics and kinematics of prey capture in vertebrates has been studied extensively, with evidence of multiple strategies for successful feeding in many taxa. Early research into suction-feeding strikes in fishes hypothesized that fish utilize a set of pre-programmed strike kinematics that cannot be altered once initiated. However, more recent evidence has demonstrated that teleost fishes not only deploy unique strike kinematics for different prey types, but they also alter their kinematics in response to a prey item attempting to escape. It has not yet been explicitly investigated whether non-teleost actinopterygians can also modulate the strike in response to different prey types. Here, we examined the kinematics of suction strikes in bowfin, <i>Amia ocellicauda</i>, a holostean fish most closely related to gars. We recorded <i>Amia</i> feeding on both feeder fish and worms, two types of live prey differing in evasiveness, using X-ray reconstruction of moving morphology. We found significant prey-type effects on the magnitude, timing and velocity of jaw opening, hyoid arch depression and pectoral girdle motions. These prey-type effects demonstrate that the ability to modulate feeding strikes evolved early in actinopterygian fishes and is possibly the ancestral state for jawed vertebrates.</p>","PeriodicalId":20589,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences","volume":"292 2045","pages":"20242542"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12015573/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144022078","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Adriana Aranda-Rickert, Guadalupe Peralta, Mary E R Diniz, Andrés Tálamo, Mariana Allasino, Franco Andrada, Andrea E Arcángel, Luciano Cagnolo, María Victoria Campanella, Natacha P Chacoff, María Virginia Chirilá, Antonella Y Díaz Casas, Stella Giannoni, Silvia B Lomáscolo, Nancy V Marinero, Hugo J Marrero, Lucía C Martínez, M Florencia Miguel, María Paula Pascual Tudanca, Patricio J Pereyra, Leandro D Rojo, Micaela Santos, Maria Schulze-Sylvester, Juan Pablo Torreta, Diego P Vázquez
{"title":"Environmental drivers of wild bee reproductive performance across a South American dryland ecoregion.","authors":"Adriana Aranda-Rickert, Guadalupe Peralta, Mary E R Diniz, Andrés Tálamo, Mariana Allasino, Franco Andrada, Andrea E Arcángel, Luciano Cagnolo, María Victoria Campanella, Natacha P Chacoff, María Virginia Chirilá, Antonella Y Díaz Casas, Stella Giannoni, Silvia B Lomáscolo, Nancy V Marinero, Hugo J Marrero, Lucía C Martínez, M Florencia Miguel, María Paula Pascual Tudanca, Patricio J Pereyra, Leandro D Rojo, Micaela Santos, Maria Schulze-Sylvester, Juan Pablo Torreta, Diego P Vázquez","doi":"10.1098/rspb.2025.0064","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rspb.2025.0064","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The reproductive performance of wild bees is a key determinant of their population persistence. However, few studies have directly examined the environmental drivers of demographic processes using a geographically broad approach. In this study, we explored how biotic and abiotic factors influence the reproduction of solitary, cavity-nesting bees across the Monte Desert ecoregion in Argentina. Using artificial nests and a standardized sampling spanning 2000 km and 20° of latitude, we related key reproductive metrics-nest establishment, offspring production and offspring survival-to latitude, climate and biotic factors (flower abundance, vegetation cover and brood parasitism). Climate was the strongest predictor of bee reproductive performance: warm, humid conditions during the nesting period were associated with reduced nest establishment and offspring survival. Brood parasitism further reduced offspring survival. Across the Monte Desert's latitudinal gradient, nest establishment peaked at mid-latitudes, while offspring production and survival increased towards higher latitudes. These general patterns matched those of <i>M. leucografa,</i> the most abundant bee species. These findings highlight the sensitivity of wild bee reproduction to climatic conditions, particularly during the nesting period. Our study advances our understanding of the potential impacts of climate change on Neotropical wild bees, where extensive areas are experiencing dramatic land-use changes.</p>","PeriodicalId":20589,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences","volume":"292 2045","pages":"20250064"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12040455/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144042019","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The development and evolution of arthropod tagmata.","authors":"Ariel D Chipman","doi":"10.1098/rspb.2024.2950","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2024.2950","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The segmented body is a hallmark of the arthropod body plan. Morphological segments are formed during embryogenesis, through a complex procedure involving the activation of a series of gene regulatory networks. The segments of the arthropod body are organized into functional units known as tagmata, and these tagmata are different among the arthropod classes (e.g. head, thorax and abdomen in insects). Based on embryological work on segment generation in a number of arthropod species, coupled with a survey of classical descriptions of arthropod development, I suggest a new framework for the evolution of arthropod tagmata. The ancestral condition involves three developmental tagmata: the pre-gnathal segments, a tagma that is formed within a pre-existing developmental field and a tagma that is formed through the activity of a segment-addition zone that may be embryonic or post-embryonic. These embryonic tagmata may fuse post-embryonically to generate more complex adult tagmata. This framework is consistent with the evolution of tagmosis seen in the early arthropod fossil record. It also calls for a re-thinking of the decades-old division of arthropod development into short-germ versus long-germ development, a re-thinking of questions of segment identity determination and the role of Hox genes in tagma differentiation.</p>","PeriodicalId":20589,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences","volume":"292 2045","pages":"20242950"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12001983/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144050447","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Distortions of lip size bias perceived facial attractiveness.","authors":"David Alais, Jacqueline Stephens, Jessica Taubert","doi":"10.1098/rspb.2025.0202","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rspb.2025.0202","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Perceiving faces as attractive or not guides decisions to approach or date a person and can sway opinions in recruiting and legal proceedings. However, the mechanisms underlying facial attractiveness are not fully understood. While popular models of face recognition emphasize holistic processing, individuals often attempt to enhance their own attractiveness in feature-centric ways (cosmetic surgery, make-up, injectables). Here, we use a local feature manipulation (lip expansion/contraction) and show that it alters the perceived attractiveness of male and female faces. Females showed peak preference for expanded lips when viewing female faces; males showed peak preference for contracted lips when viewing male faces. Distortions of lip size therefore mostly influence own-gender attractiveness ratings. Next, we tested whether visual adaptation to expanded or contracted lips would bias subsequent attractiveness judgements, and found peak attractiveness shifted towards the adapted lip size (e.g. expanded lips were preferred following exposure to expanded lips). Viewing faces with artificially altered lip size therefore powerfully influences attractiveness judgements. Outside the laboratory, cosmetic procedures to increase lip size are popular. Our findings indicate that (i) lip plumping will mostly appeal to women rather than men (who prefer thinner lips), and (ii) exposure to expanded lips renormalizes attractiveness to a larger baseline and may lead to lip dysmorphia.</p>","PeriodicalId":20589,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences","volume":"292 2044","pages":"20250202"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11978441/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143812153","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Marius Grabow, Conny Landgraf, Juergen Niedballa, Carolin Scholz, Jan Pufelski, Ran Nathan, Sivan Toledo, Florian Jeltsch, Niels Blaum, Viktoriia Radchuk, Ralph Tiedemann, Stephanie Kramer-Schadt
{"title":"Pathogen-induced alterations in fine-scale movement behaviour predict impaired reproductive success.","authors":"Marius Grabow, Conny Landgraf, Juergen Niedballa, Carolin Scholz, Jan Pufelski, Ran Nathan, Sivan Toledo, Florian Jeltsch, Niels Blaum, Viktoriia Radchuk, Ralph Tiedemann, Stephanie Kramer-Schadt","doi":"10.1098/rspb.2025.0238","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rspb.2025.0238","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Pathogens play an important role in ecosystems and may impair fitness-enhancing activities such as foraging. However, the sublethal effects of pathogens on host movement behaviour and their subsequent impacts on reproductive success are poorly understood. In this study, we used high-resolution tracking to examine the movements of free-ranging European starlings (<i>Sturnus vulgaris</i>) associated with sublethal avian blood parasite infections. We found that naturally infected individuals displayed reduced foraging behaviour, remained closer to their breeding location, and selected lower-quality habitats. These patterns were associated with poorer body condition of adults and less favourable development for their offspring. These behavioural changes suggest physiological limitations imposed by infection, reducing parental care and reproductive output. Our results provide compelling evidence that pathogen-induced changes in fine-scale movement behaviour are linked to impaired reproductive success, further emphasizing the need for a movement ecology perspective in local host-pathogen dynamics.</p>","PeriodicalId":20589,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences","volume":"292 2044","pages":"20250238"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11978449/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143812084","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}