{"title":"Time and place affect the acoustic structure of frog advertisement calls","authors":"Logan S James, Michael J Ryan","doi":"10.1093/cz/zoae039","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/cz/zoae039","url":null,"abstract":"Acoustic communication signals are important for species recognition and mate attraction across numerous taxa. For instance, most of the thousands of species of frogs have a species-specific advertisement call that females use to localize and discriminate among potential mates. Thus, the acoustic structure of the advertisement call is critical for reproductive success. The acoustic structure of calls will generally diverge over evolutionary time and can be influenced by the calls of sympatric species. While many studies have shown the influence of geography on contemporary call variation in populations of frogs, no study has compared the acoustic structure of frog calls across many species to ask whether we can detect an influence of divergence time and overall geographic overlap on the differences in acoustic structure of species-typical calls that we observe now. To this end, we compared acoustic features of the calls of 225 species of frogs within 4 families. Furthermore, we used a behavioral assay from one species of frog to determine which acoustic features to prioritize in our large-scale analyses. We found evidence that both phylogeny (time) and geography (place) relate to advertisement call acoustics albeit with large variation in these relationships across the four families in the analysis. Overall, these results suggest that, despite the many ecological and evolutionary forces that influence call structure, the broad forces of time and place can shape aspects of advertisement call acoustics.","PeriodicalId":50599,"journal":{"name":"Current Zoology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2024-07-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141772081","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}
Current ZoologyPub Date : 2024-07-18Epub Date: 2023-09-15DOI: 10.1093/cz/zoad042/7274628
Mélissa Peignier, Max Ringler, Eva Ringler
{"title":"Odor cues rather than personality affect tadpole deposition in a neotropical poison frog.","authors":"Mélissa Peignier, Max Ringler, Eva Ringler","doi":"10.1093/cz/zoad042/7274628","DOIUrl":"10.1093/cz/zoad042/7274628","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Animals constantly need to evaluate available external and internal information to make appropriate decisions. Identifying, assessing, and acting on relevant cues in contexts such as mate choice, intra-sexual competition, and parental care is particularly important for optimizing individual reproductive success. Several factors can influence decision-making, such as external environmental cues and the animal's own internal state, yet, we have limited knowledge on how animals integrate available information. Here, we used an entire island population (57 males, 53 females, and 1,109 tadpoles) of the neotropical brilliant-thighed poison frog <i>Allobates femoralis</i> to investigate how 2 factors (olfactory cues and personality traits) influence the ability of males to find and use new resources for tadpole deposition. We experimentally manipulated the location of tadpole deposition sites and their associated olfactory cues, and repeatedly measured exploration and boldness in adult males. We further reconstructed tadpole deposition choices via inferred parent-offspring relationships of adult frogs and tadpoles deposited in our experimental pools using molecular parentage analysis. We found that the discovery and use of new rearing sites were heavily influenced by olfactory cues; however, we did not find an effect of the measured behavioral traits on resource discovery and use. We conclude that in highly dynamic environments such as tropical rainforests, reliable external cues likely take priority over personality traits, helping individuals to discover and make use of reproductive resources.</p>","PeriodicalId":50599,"journal":{"name":"Current Zoology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2024-07-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7616257/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141724974","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Precocious maturation and semi-multivoltine lifecycle in a subtropical grass lizard, Takydromus toyamai","authors":"Hitomi Asato, Mamoru Toda","doi":"10.1093/cz/zoae038","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/cz/zoae038","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 There are many short-lived animals, but those displaying a lifecycle with more than one generation per year (multivoltine lifecycle) are rare among terrestrial vertebrates. The multivoltine lifecycle requires rapid growth and maturation, and a long active season. Thus, small lizards in humid tropical or subtropical areas are candidates for multivoltine lifecycles. To test this prediction, we conducted a capture-mark-recapture study of a subtropical grass lizard, Takydromus toyamai, endemic to Miyako Islands, Japan. Juveniles grew very quickly, averaging 0.3 mm/day in the warm season, and attained sexual maturity at 2.5 months post-hatching. The breeding season was very long, and hatchlings emerged from May–November. The prolonged breeding season and rapid growth to maturity allowed some individuals to produce a second generation in their first year. Estimates of hatching date from growth rates indicated that many females that hatched in May–June became gravid 76–120 days after hatching and 122–165 days after oviposition of the eggs from which they hatched. Analyses of juvenile survivorship and month of hatching suggest that nearly half of breeding adults were members of multivoltine generations, although the two generations were not discrete. The species is short-lived, with only 16% of individuals surviving beyond 12 months, and few individuals reproduced in a second year. We refer to this condition as a \"semi-multivoltine lifecycle.” Individuals that hatch late in the season defer reproduction until the following year, and become founders of the next season’s cohort. This putative advantage of late-hatching individuals may have driven the evolution of this lifecycle.","PeriodicalId":50599,"journal":{"name":"Current Zoology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2024-07-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141642777","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":"Spatial, social and environmental factors influencing natal dispersal in the colonial griffon vulture","authors":"Félix Martínez, Martina Carrete, Guillermo Blanco","doi":"10.1093/cz/zoae037","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/cz/zoae037","url":null,"abstract":"Natal dispersal is a critical trait for individual fitness and the viability, structure and genetic identity of populations. However, there is a pronounced information gap for large and long-lived species due to the difficulty of monitoring individuals at appropriate spatio-temporal scales. Here we study how individual traits and social and environmental characteristics influence natal dispersal decisions of griffon vultures (Gyps fulvus) using long-term (30 years) monitoring of a large number of individuals marked as nestlings in Spain. Our results show a strong philopatry in both sexes, with some individuals recruiting as breeders on the same cliffs, and even the same nests, where they were born. This philopatric tendency was modulated by the effect of conspecific density on individual parameters, and emphasize the importance of conspecific attraction and changes in food availability that may have influenced the increment in colony size and the colonization of new areas. Although further research is needed considering smaller colonies and more isolated population nuclei, our results highlight the importance of long-term studies on long-lived species to understand the factors that determine their population dynamics and their relationship with anthropogenic activities, whose effects should be predicted and managed using conservation criteria.","PeriodicalId":50599,"journal":{"name":"Current Zoology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2024-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141570814","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}
Qin Zhu, Jian Guan, Tianya Lei, Xuan Kun, Sile Guo, Yumeng Zhao, Changjian Fu, Le Yang, Zhongqiu Li
{"title":"Sexually differentiated decision-making involves faster recruitment in the early stages for the Tibetan antelopes Pantholops hodgsonii","authors":"Qin Zhu, Jian Guan, Tianya Lei, Xuan Kun, Sile Guo, Yumeng Zhao, Changjian Fu, Le Yang, Zhongqiu Li","doi":"10.1093/cz/zoae036","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/cz/zoae036","url":null,"abstract":"Group-living is widespread across diverse taxa, the mechanisms underlying collective decision-making in contexts of variable role division are critical for understanding the dynamics of group stability. While studies on collective behaviour in small animals such as fish and insects are well-established, similar research on large wild animals remains challenging due to the limited availability of sufficient and systematic field data. Here, we aimed to explore the collective decision-making pattern and its sexual difference for the dimorphic Tibetan antelopes Pantholops hodgsonii (chiru) in Xizang Autonomous Region, China, by analysing individual leadership distribution, as well as the joining process, considering factors such as calving stages and joining ranks. The distinct correlations of decision participants’ ratio with group size and decision duration underscore the trade-off between accuracy and speed in decision-making. Male antelopes display a more democratic decision-making pattern, while females exhibit more prompt responses after calving at early stage. This study uncovers a partially shared decision-making strategy among Tibetan antelopes, suggesting flexible self-organization in group decision processes aligned with animal life cycle progression.","PeriodicalId":50599,"journal":{"name":"Current Zoology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2024-06-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141552301","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}
Breno Mellado, Lucas de O Carneiro, Marcelo R Nogueira, L Gerardo Herrera M, Ariovaldo P Cruz-Neto, Leandro R Monteiro
{"title":"Developmental instability, body mass, and reproduction predict immunological response in short-tailed bats","authors":"Breno Mellado, Lucas de O Carneiro, Marcelo R Nogueira, L Gerardo Herrera M, Ariovaldo P Cruz-Neto, Leandro R Monteiro","doi":"10.1093/cz/zoae034","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/cz/zoae034","url":null,"abstract":"Developmental instability (DI) is a phenomenon whereby organisms are unable to buffer developmental disturbances, resulting in asymmetric variation of paired traits. Previous research has demonstrated a negative relationship between DI, measured as forearm asymmetry, and survival in the bat Carollia perspicillata. This study aims to test the hypothesis that individuals with higher DI exhibit a lower immune response. We measured a delayed-type hypersensitivity to the antigen phytohemagglutinin (PHA) on 74 males and 65 females of C. perspicillata before and after the breeding season. Linear models were used to predict the immunological response based on body mass, forearm asymmetry, sex, breeding season, and testicle length. The best-fitting model accounted for 29% of the variation in immune response and included asymmetry, body mass, sex, and breeding season as predictors. The immune response was negatively associated with asymmetry and testicle length in males, but positively related to asymmetry in females. Both sexes showed a reduced immune response in the late breeding season. Additionally, the association between immune response and body mass changed direction seasonally, with heavier individuals showing weaker responses early in the breeding season and stronger responses later. Individual variation in male immunity was predicted by individual attributes, whereas variation in immune response in females was mostly seasonal. Our results support the link between DI, survival, and immune response in short-tailed bats, and suggest that the immunological component measured by the PHA response may be under finer selection in males due to its stronger correlation with individual traits.","PeriodicalId":50599,"journal":{"name":"Current Zoology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2024-06-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141552241","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}
Zackary A Graham, Jônatas de Jesus Florentino, Samuel P Smithers, João C T Menezes, José Eduardo de Carvalho, Alexandre V Palaoro
{"title":"Claw coloration in the fiddler crab Leptuca uruguayensis has no correlation with male quality","authors":"Zackary A Graham, Jônatas de Jesus Florentino, Samuel P Smithers, João C T Menezes, José Eduardo de Carvalho, Alexandre V Palaoro","doi":"10.1093/cz/zoae035","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/cz/zoae035","url":null,"abstract":"Sexual selection is thought to play a major role in the evolution of color due to the correlation between a signaler’s physiological state and the displayed color. As such, researchers often investigate how color correlates to the quality of the signaler, like size or body condition. However, research on the relationship between color and individual quality is often taxonomically limited and researchers typically investigate how color phenotypes relate to one index of quality, such as a linear measure of body size. Here, we investigated the relationship between body size, claw size, claw muscle mass, lipid content, and the color of the claw in male fiddler crabs (Leptuca uruguayensis) which wield an exaggerated claw that varies in color from brown to red. We hypothesized that if color was correlated to one or more indices of male quality, the color displayed on the claws of male L. uruguayensis could be under sexual selection. We found Leptuca uruguayensis claw color varies substantially among the individuals we photographed. However, we did not find a correlation between claw color and indices of quality; neither brightness nor hue correlated to the indices of quality we measured. Our findings suggest that claw color in L. uruguayensis is unlikely to have evolved to signal quality, but may instead function as a species identity or as a non-indicator sexual signal.","PeriodicalId":50599,"journal":{"name":"Current Zoology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2024-06-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141552302","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}
A. J. Tiongson, J. Utzurrum, Denzyl G Divinagracia, Jo Marie Acebes
{"title":"First record of twin fetuses in a stranded Cuvier’s beaked whale or goose-beaked whale (Ziphius cavirostris)","authors":"A. J. Tiongson, J. Utzurrum, Denzyl G Divinagracia, Jo Marie Acebes","doi":"10.1093/cz/zoae030","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/cz/zoae030","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":50599,"journal":{"name":"Current Zoology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2024-06-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141352341","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":"Altitudinal variation in thermal vulnerability of Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau lizards under climate warming","authors":"Zeyu Zhu, Weiguo Du, Cong Zhang, Wei Yu, Xiaolong Zhao, Zhensheng Liu, Zhigao Zeng","doi":"10.1093/cz/zoae031","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/cz/zoae031","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 The survival of ectotherms worldwide is threatened by climate change. Whether increasing temperatures increase the vulnerability of ectotherms inhabiting temperate plateau areas remains unclear. To understand altitudinal variation in the vulnerability of plateau ectotherms to climate warming, Qinghai toad-headed lizards (Phrynocephalus vlangalii) were subjected to semi-natural enclosure experiments with simulated warming at high (2,600 m) and superhigh (3,600 m) elevations of the Dangjin Mountain, China. Our results revealed that the thermoregulatory effectiveness and warming tolerance (WT) of the toad-headed lizards were significantly affected by climate warming at both elevations, but their thermal sensitivity remained unchanged. After warming, the thermoregulatory effectiveness of lizards at superhigh elevations decreased because of the improved environmental thermal quality, whereas that of lizards at high-elevation conditions increased. Although the body temperature selected by high-elevation lizards was also significantly increased, the proportion of their active body temperature falling within the set-point temperature range decreased. This indicates that it is difficult for high-elevation lizards to adjust their body temperatures within a comfortable range under climate warming. Variations in the WT and thermal safety margin (TSM) under climate warming revealed that lizards at the superhigh elevation benefited from improved environmental thermal quality, whereas those at the high elevation originally on the edge of the TSM faced more severe threats and became more vulnerable. Our study highlights the importance of thermal biological traits in evaluating the vulnerability of ectotherms in temperate plateau regions.","PeriodicalId":50599,"journal":{"name":"Current Zoology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2024-06-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141349774","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}
A. Macali, Sara Ferretti, Serena Scozzafava, Elia Gatto, Claudio Carere
{"title":"Different behavioural profiles between invasive and native nudibranchs: means for invasion success?","authors":"A. Macali, Sara Ferretti, Serena Scozzafava, Elia Gatto, Claudio Carere","doi":"10.1093/cz/zoae028","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/cz/zoae028","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Behaviour is predicted to be a primary determinant of the success of the invasion process during the early phases of colonization. Comparing invaders with sympatric native species may provide a good approach to unravel behavioural traits involved in an invasion process. In this study, we carried out an experimental simulation of the introduction and the acclimatization phase into a new environment and assessed the expression of activity, alertness, and habituation in an invasive Mediterranean population of the South African nudibranch Godiva quadricolor comparing its profiles with those of the sympatric Mediterranean native nudibranchs Cratena peregrina and Caloria quatrefagesi. Individuals of these three species were subjected to three behavioural tests: spontaneous activity, carried out in the introduction phase (immediately after sampling) and after a week of acclimatization; alert test, in which a potential threat was simulated by means of a tactile stimulus, and habituation test, in which the same alert test stimulus was repeated five times at thirty-minute intervals. The invasive G. quadricolor showed higher levels of exploration activity, thigmotaxis, alertness, and sensitization than the native species. These behavioural traits may represent pivotal drivers of the ongoing invasion process.","PeriodicalId":50599,"journal":{"name":"Current Zoology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2024-06-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141355542","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}