Vukašin Bjelica, Marko Maričić, Marko Anđelković, Ljiljana Tomović, Dragan Arsovski, Ana Golubović
{"title":"The Slithering Dead: Does locomotor performance affect post-capture death feigning in dice snakes (Natrix tessellata, Laurenti 1768)?","authors":"Vukašin Bjelica, Marko Maričić, Marko Anđelković, Ljiljana Tomović, Dragan Arsovski, Ana Golubović","doi":"10.1093/cz/zoae054","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/cz/zoae054","url":null,"abstract":"Functional constraints between different types of antipredator behavior should be common, especially if they are on the opposite sides of the behavioral spectrum such as flight and post-capture immobility. We examined a potential compromise between post-capture immobility displays and sprint speed in dice snakes (Natrix tessellata), using a field-based approach. We sampled snakes (N=238) from two populations: from a dense island population free of mammal predators, and from a less dense mainland population, preyed upon by both bird and mammal predators. We explored the effects of sexual maturity, temperature, body size, presence of palpable food in the gut and injuries on the occurrence and duration of post-capture immobility as well as sprint speed. Our results confirm the existence of functional constraints between locomotor performance and post-capture immobility in dice snakes. Faster dice snakes start escaping promptly after release, while slower individuals utilize more passive antipredator behaviors such as death feigning. Local adaptations seem to have great influence on behavioral compromise, since the mammal-free island population exhibited a higher incidence of post-capture immobility and a significantly lower sprint speed, compared to the less dense mainland population. Additionally, immature individuals tended to avoid death feigning and their post-capture immobility lasted shorter compared to adult individuals. It remains to be seen how individuals adjust their behavior to accomodate locomotor constraints, and in which specific phases of the predator-prey interaction these adjustments occur.","PeriodicalId":50599,"journal":{"name":"Current Zoology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2024-09-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142257104","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Early life food-intake modulates effects of diet restriction on lifespan and fecundity in later life in a predatory mite (Acari: Phytoseiidae)","authors":"Yun Xu, Keshi Zhang, Xiao Han, Zhi-Qiang Zhang","doi":"10.1093/cz/zoae047","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/cz/zoae047","url":null,"abstract":"The nutritional status of an individual can significantly influence its life history traits, including development, growth, reproduction, and survival. In the predatory mite Phytoseiulus persimilis Athias-Henriot (Acari: Phytoseiidae), the plasticity of life history traits, such as developmental time and size at maturity, is influenced by the quality and quantity of food. This study aimed to investigate the effects of dietary restriction at different life stages (i.e., juvenile, early adulthood, and later adulthood) on the lifespan and fecundity of P. persimilis. We found that reduced dietary intake during early adulthood resulted in a shorter lifespan for both male and female P. persimilis. Furthermore, this study demonstrated a sex-specific response to dietary restriction: it extended the lifespan of males but reduced that of females during later adulthood. Diet restriction during the post-ovipositional period of females showed the most variable life history trait response. Our results showed that the impact of diet restriction at different life stages can have combined influences on the post-ovipositional duration of P. persimilis, where the individuals receiving diet restriction during immature development and early adulthood had a greater reduction in ovipositional duration as those experiencing diet restriction during late adulthood. Additionally, we observed a positive correlation between the lifespan and fecundity of females, with higher prey availability increasing both. The insights obtained from our research contribute to a better understanding of the aging process and dietary requirements of P. persimilis, which can facilitate the development of more effective biological control strategies using this predator for spider mites in agriculture.","PeriodicalId":50599,"journal":{"name":"Current Zoology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2024-09-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142269158","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Alice Galotti, Martina Romano, Paolo Baragli, Elisabetta Palagi
{"title":"Yawning In Sync: Implications For Social Cohesion In Horses","authors":"Alice Galotti, Martina Romano, Paolo Baragli, Elisabetta Palagi","doi":"10.1093/cz/zoae052","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/cz/zoae052","url":null,"abstract":"The increasing interest in the study of spontaneous (SY) and contagious yawning (CY) was so far focussed on several taxa, especially primates. Here, we focused on SY and CY in horses, a suitable species due to their complex social dynamics that has been largely overlooked in research on these phenomena. By analysing videos of 48 horses on pasture, we identified two yawning morphologies: Covered (YCT) and Uncovered Teeth (YUCT). Using EquiFACS, we quantitatively demonstrated that YCT and YUCT differ in terms of muscle recruitment. Moreover, we provide the first evidence for the presence of CY by comparing two different conditions: chewing-yawn-chewing versus chewing-chewing-chewing. Supporting the Social Modulation hypothesis, in our mares, CY was more prominent among subjects sharing good relationships. Moreover, subjects responded more rapidly to kin compared to non-kin and kin frequently grooming each other responded even more rapidly to each other yawns. The high familiar yawn sensitivity can provide selective advantages increasing behavioural synchronization and group cohesion.","PeriodicalId":50599,"journal":{"name":"Current Zoology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2024-09-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142257105","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Vladimir V Streltsov, Olga G Ilchenko, Elena V Kotenkova
{"title":"Long-term effect of inbreeding in the yellow steppe lemming (Eolagurus luteus) captive colony","authors":"Vladimir V Streltsov, Olga G Ilchenko, Elena V Kotenkova","doi":"10.1093/cz/zoae051","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/cz/zoae051","url":null,"abstract":"In the current research, we investigated the impact of gradually increasing inbreeding on the life span and reproductive rate of yellow steppe lemmings (Eolagurus luteus) that reproduced in the Moscow Zoo. The focal captive colony existed during 2017–2021. The studied animals belonged to the second–tenth generations. The founders of the colony were five females and five males originated from three females and four males live-trapped in the Zaisan basin (Kazakhstan). The degree of their descendant relatedness progressively increased. The animals intended to be used for reproduction were distributed to the pairs with unfamiliar partners. We constructed the pedigree of 177 individuals and calculated their inbreeding coefficients. This parameter varied from 0 to 0.29, the maximum values were registered in the lemmings of seventh–tenth generations. We measured the life span of 61 individuals and used information about the reproduction or its absence in 45 pairs. A substantial decline in the individual life span and reproductive parameters in the breeding pairs with a progressive increase of the inbreeding coefficients was registered. The number of delivered litters, born pups, and young lived up to the age of puberty significantly depended on the level of mother inbreeding. The noticeable traits of inbreeding depression in the colony appeared in 2019–2020, when the offspring inbreeding coefficients reached approximately 0.2. Therefore, we assume that if the E. luteus population originates from a relatively small number of non-inbred and unfamiliar individuals, then the successful reproduction without significant inbreeding depression will continue for several generations of offspring.","PeriodicalId":50599,"journal":{"name":"Current Zoology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2024-09-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142269377","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Tracking toads from dusk till dawn: Linking inter- and intra-individual variation in movement behavior","authors":"Nathalie Jreidini, David M Green","doi":"10.1093/cz/zoae050","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/cz/zoae050","url":null,"abstract":"Animals can differ in their individual movement behaviors during their daily displacements. Studies of animal movement patterns often disregard the need to understand individual variation in these patterns and the role of this variation in shaping population distributions of movements. To assess the link between individual movements and population distributions, we radio tracked 13 Fowler’s Toads (Anaxyrus fowleri) in Long Point, Ontario, Canada, after their breeding season. We recorded individual coordinates every 30 minutes, from the moment they emerged from their burrows around dusk until they burrowed in the morning, and obtained a total of 157 movements. We used the resulting series of step lengths and turning angles in a Hidden Markov Model to estimate movement type as ‘directed’ or ‘non-directed’. We also assigned to each encounter one of three space-dependent movement states: ‘foraging’, ‘in transit’, or ‘searching’, and found that movement type and state switched within individuals irrespective of time during a single night. We find that switching between movement types varied throughout the night, leading to stochastic within-individual variation in movements, and the distribution of movement distances differed significantly among individuals. Movement states, however, were time dependent, suggesting displacement routines were similar across individuals. Variation in movement behavior within individuals scales up to result in variation among individuals which, in turn, was found to shape the distribution of sampled individuals in the population. Our findings therefore underline the importance of a multi-scale approach in the study of movement.","PeriodicalId":50599,"journal":{"name":"Current Zoology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2024-09-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142257106","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Structural characteristics of the epidermis in marine and freshwater finless porpoises adapted to distinct osmotic environments","authors":"Haojie Zhou, Changqun Zhang, Bin Tang, Haobo Zhang, Jinsong Zheng, Kexiong Wang, Dekui He, Yujiang Hao","doi":"10.1093/cz/zoae049","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/cz/zoae049","url":null,"abstract":"The Yangtze finless porpoise (Neophocaena asiaeorientalis asiaeorientalis, Pilleri & Gihr, 1972; YFP) is an exclusively freshwater cetacean species inhabiting the Yangtze River and its connecting large lakes. As the primary line of defense in maintaining physiological equilibrium, the epidermis of the porpoise is expected to have undergone structural adaptations due to the shift from the marine to the freshwater environment. This study compared the microstructural and ultrastructural features of the epidermis of YFP and its marine counterpart, the East Asian finless porpoise (Neophocaena asiaeorientalis sunameri, Pilleri & Gihr, 1975; EAFP). Microscopic structural observations and statistical analyses of the epidermal thickness demonstrated no significant differences in the cell structure or distribution between the two porpoise species. However, the epidermis of the YFP contained more abundant stratum basale cells. The outermost lipid stratum corneum exhibited a thinner cell layer with wider neutral lipid droplets to resist the passive entry of water molecules in the hypotonic environment. In contrast, for the EAFP, a more uniformly arranged stratum basale in the epidermis led to denser keratin fibers and robust desmosomes within each epidermal layer at the ultrastructural level. This tight arrangement of cells can reduce transepidermal water loss (TEWL) in an environment with higher osmotic pressure. In conclusion, the two finless porpoise species appear to employ different epidermal mechanisms to adapt to their distinct osmotic environments. The YFP appears to possess a \"lipid waterproofing\" epidermal structure, while the EAFP possesses a \"thick and compact water-retaining\" epidermal structure to cope with potential water loss.","PeriodicalId":50599,"journal":{"name":"Current Zoology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2024-09-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142186614","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Intrapopulation variability in coloration is associated with reproductive season in the crayfish Faxonius virilis","authors":"Lauren Mathews","doi":"10.1093/cz/zoae046","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/cz/zoae046","url":null,"abstract":"Animal coloration has a wide range of biological functions and may be subject to different, sometimes conflicting, selective pressures. In crustaceans, the evolution of coloration is relatively unstudied, despite the broad range of colors and color patterns, which includes variability at multiple levels. Freshwater crayfish are known to show color variability within species and populations, as well as intra-individual variability, but the function, if any, of crayfish coloration is largely unknown. Here, I report on an experiment to understand patterns of color variability in the crayfish Faxonius virilis and show that variation is strongly correlated to ontogenetic changes from a summer non-reproductive form to a fall reproductive form. Crayfish showed comparatively little inter- and intra-individual color variation in their non-reproductive form, but substantial variation at both levels in the reproductive form. Transition to the reproductive form was associated with the development of greener or bluer coloration localized to the chelae on a subset of individuals, but these changes showed no clear correlation with sex or body size. Future investigations should focus on determining whether differences in color between individuals in the mating season are associated with any physiological or behavioral differences, or with differential susceptibility to predation.","PeriodicalId":50599,"journal":{"name":"Current Zoology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2024-08-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142186615","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Yangyang Jing, Rui Long, Juanzhu Meng, Ya Yang, Xinyi Li, Boru Du, Ayesha Naeem, Yiping Luo
{"title":"Influence of life-history traits on mitochondrial DNA substitution rates exceeds that of metabolic rates in teleost fishes","authors":"Yangyang Jing, Rui Long, Juanzhu Meng, Ya Yang, Xinyi Li, Boru Du, Ayesha Naeem, Yiping Luo","doi":"10.1093/cz/zoae045","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/cz/zoae045","url":null,"abstract":"Understanding the molecular relevance of metabolic rate is crucial for unveiling the mechanisms driving the evolution of animals. In this study, we investigated the association between mitochondrial DNA characteristics and both resting and maximal metabolic rates in conjunction with life-history traits among 139 species of teleost fish. We gathered fish MR data from various sources and procured sequences of 13 mitochondrial protein-encoding genes. We calculated the absolute substitution rate for entire nucleotide sequences and four-fold degenerate sites of each gene, along with encoding amino acid sequences. Using the phylogenetic comparative method, we then explored the associations between metabolic rate and mitochondrial DNA absolute substitution rate. Additionally, we screened metabolic rate-associated single nucleotide variants in mitochondrial DNA. The findings indicate no positive correlation between metabolic rates and any substitution rate values of both combined sequences and individual mitochondrial protein-coding genes, refuting the metabolic rate hypothesis. Instead, both maximum body size and longevity correlated negatively with molecular substitution rates, suggesting their influences on both mutation and fixation within mitochondrial genes in fish. Results also revealed significant correlations between base variation at ATP6_169 and both resting metabolic rate and maximum metabolic rate, identifying the unique ATP6_169G in Scombridae fish, which results in an extremely low pI value of the ATP6 protein. Considering its functional significance, the ATP6_169G in Scombridae fish might link to their lifestyle characterized by fast locomotion and high metabolic demands alongside a slower molecular evolutionary rate.","PeriodicalId":50599,"journal":{"name":"Current Zoology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2024-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142186616","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Adoptions of unrelated infants in wild Taihangshan macaques (Macaca mulatta tcheliensis), Jiyuan, north China","authors":"Mengya Han, Yanyan Zhou, Yuwei Wang, Tongtong Luo, Jundong Tian, Jiqi Lu","doi":"10.1093/cz/zoae044","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/cz/zoae044","url":null,"abstract":"Infant-care behavior, a range of caring behaviors by parental or alloparental individuals towards infants unable to live independently, plays a significant role in the survival of infants and the continuation of the species in non-human primates. During a behavioral ecological study of Taihangshan macaques, we observed two cases of infant adoptions by unrelated adult females. In case 1, a multiparous female adopted a lost infant from a neighboring group, with the infant being snatched back by her biological mother 35 days after the adoption. This is the first report of cross-group adoption in Macaca. In case 2, a nulliparous adult female, who had been once adopted by her elder sister, adopted an orphan from her group for 36 days. We describe the details of adoptions in Taihangshan macaques and explore possible reasons for adoptions to contribute to understanding the evolution of infant-care behavior and altruistic behavior of adoption in primates.","PeriodicalId":50599,"journal":{"name":"Current Zoology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2024-08-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142186617","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Longhui Zhao, Ke Deng, Tongliang Wang, Rui Guo, Jianguo Cui, Jichao Wang
{"title":"Anuran communities increase aggregations of conspecific calls in response to aircraft noise","authors":"Longhui Zhao, Ke Deng, Tongliang Wang, Rui Guo, Jianguo Cui, Jichao Wang","doi":"10.1093/cz/zoae042","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/cz/zoae042","url":null,"abstract":"Noise pollution has been shown to affect wild animals in various ways, but little is known about its consequences at the community level. Investigating animals’ overall vocal responses to noise across multiple sympatric species can reveal the complex nature of noise impacts but is challenging. In this study, we employed social network analysis (SNA) to evaluate how anuran communities and populations vary their calling behaviours in response to aircraft noise. SNA of anuran communities revealed that conspecific individuals increase the aggregation of their spectral (i.e., minimum frequency, maximum frequency, and dominant frequency), temporal (call duration, call rate, and call effort), and overall spectral‒temporal features as an airplane passes through. SNA of populations also revealed that anurans could increase the interindividual similarity of multiple call characteristics in response to airplane noise. Furthermore, our network analysis of multiple species and multiple call traits revealed an effect of noise in species whose calling behaviour did not change in previous separate analyses of each species and single traits. This study suggests that noise pollution may change the pattern of combined acoustic properties at the community level. Our findings highlight the importance of integrated methods and theories for understanding the ecological consequences of noise pollution in future studies.","PeriodicalId":50599,"journal":{"name":"Current Zoology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2024-08-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142186618","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}