Biology Letters最新文献

Evolution of cellular architecture and function of the hippocampus: insights from the artificial selection experiment.

IF 2.8 2区生物学

Biology Letters Pub Date : 2025-04-01 Epub Date: 2025-04-02 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2024.0617

Anna Goncerzewicz, Elzbieta Bonda-Ostaszewska, Marcin Lipiec, Ewelina Knapska, Marek Konarzewski

{"title":"Evolution of cellular architecture and function of the hippocampus: insights from the artificial selection experiment.","authors":"Anna Goncerzewicz, Elzbieta Bonda-Ostaszewska, Marcin Lipiec, Ewelina Knapska, Marek Konarzewski","doi":"10.1098/rsbl.2024.0617","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rsbl.2024.0617","url":null,"abstract":"Inter-specifically, mammalian species with larger brains built of numerous neurons have higher cognitive abilities (CA) but at the expense of higher metabolic costs. It is unclear, however, how this pattern emerged since evolutionary mechanisms act intra-specifically, not inter-specifically. Here, we tested the existence of the above pattern at the species level in the hippocampus-the brain structure underlying CA. We used an artificial selection experiment consisting of lines of laboratory mice divergently selected for basal metabolic rate (BMR)-a trait implicated in brain size evolution, its metabolic costs and CA. Selection on BMR did not affect hippocampus size as a correlated response to this selection. However, the high BMR mice had superior CA and manifested increased neuronal density, higher cytochrome c oxidase density (indexing metabolic costs of neuronal activity) and dendritic spine density (indexing connectivity between neurons). Thus, our study calls into question the generality of patterns of the evolution of CA apparent interspecifically. At the species level, increased CA may arise through the rearrangement of the architecture and function of neurons without a conspicuous increase in their size but increase metabolism.","PeriodicalId":9005,"journal":{"name":"Biology Letters","volume":"21 4","pages":"20240617"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11961263/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143762961","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}

引用次数: 0

Turning the tables: a tiny bird uses alarm calls and mimicry to deceive its nest predator. 扭转局面：一只小鸟利用警报声和模仿来欺骗巢中的捕食者。

IF 2.8 2区生物学

Biology Letters Pub Date : 2025-03-01 Epub Date: 2025-03-12 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2024.0710

Lauren Ascah, Branislav Igic, Robert Magrath

{"title":"Turning the tables: a tiny bird uses alarm calls and mimicry to deceive its nest predator.","authors":"Lauren Ascah, Branislav Igic, Robert Magrath","doi":"10.1098/rsbl.2024.0710","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rsbl.2024.0710","url":null,"abstract":"Animals often eavesdrop on other species' alarm calls to gain information about danger, but this can allow for deception by callers. Such deception often uses 'aerial' alarm calls, which normally warn of airborne predators and prompt immediate fleeing. The calls are deceptive if they are given when no flying predator is present and the caller benefits from the victim's response, typically by gaining food dropped when the listener flees. We studied deceptive alarm calling by brown thornbills, Acanthiza pusilla, defending offspring against predatory pied currawongs, Strepera graculina. Thornbills give their own and mimetic aerial alarm calls when defending nestlings against currawongs, who are fooled into scanning for danger or flying away. We tested whether deception works by exploiting the predator's response to aerial alarm calls, and what role mimicry plays. Currawongs were more likely to flee, and delayed feeding longer, after playback of purely aerial compared with purely mobbing alarm choruses. They responded the same regardless of what type of mimetic alarm followed the thornbill's aerial alarm. We conclude that vocal deception is effective because it exploits currawong response according to call meaning, while mimicry likely creates an illusion of a multi-species alarm chorus.","PeriodicalId":9005,"journal":{"name":"Biology Letters","volume":"21 3","pages":"20240710"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11896708/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143603522","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}

引用次数: 0

Guided by the northern star coral: a research synthesis and roadmap for Astrangia poculata.

IF 2.8 2区生物学

Biology Letters Pub Date : 2025-03-01 Epub Date: 2025-03-19 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2024.0469

Jill Ashey, Hollie M Putnam, M Conor McManus

{"title":"Guided by the northern star coral: a research synthesis and roadmap for Astrangia poculata.","authors":"Jill Ashey, Hollie M Putnam, M Conor McManus","doi":"10.1098/rsbl.2024.0469","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rsbl.2024.0469","url":null,"abstract":"The northern star coral, Astrangia poculata, is a temperate, facultatively symbiotic, scleractinian coral spanning the coastal western Atlantic. This calcifying species is mixotrophic with a broad geographical range, and therefore has high utility in addressing questions related to community ecology, symbiosis, population genetics, biomineralization and resilience to environmental perturbations. Here, we review the current A. poculata peer-reviewed literature, which is primarily found in six focal areas: geographic range, habitat and ecology, symbiosis, life history, microbiome and genomics and transcriptomics. A cross-cutting theme of these studies emerges as the value of an experimental system that is facultatively symbiotic. Yet, the historic overgeneralization of symbiotic versus 'aposymbiotic' A. poculata has constrained the interpretation of the basic biology and generalizability of conclusions. Emergent from our review, and timely with respect to climate change, is the value that A. poculata brings as an experimental system with the potential to test questions on range adaptability and environmental resilience. We identify future avenues of research for A. poculata studies that include integration of population genetics with organismal-molecular-cellular biology across the geographical range, while leveraging the power of the facultative symbiosis context.","PeriodicalId":9005,"journal":{"name":"Biology Letters","volume":"21 3","pages":"20240469"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11919497/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143655593","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}

引用次数: 0

International disparities in conservation priorities are more complicated than Global North-Global South divisions.

IF 2.8 2区生物学

Biology Letters Pub Date : 2025-03-01 Epub Date: 2025-03-19 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2024.0571

Yolanda Mutinhima, Lovemore Sibanda, Betty J Rono, Salum Kulunge, David Kimaili, Amy J Dickman, Emily Madsen, Lessah Mandoloma, Jessica Tacey, Shorna Allred, Darragh Hare

{"title":"International disparities in conservation priorities are more complicated than Global North-Global South divisions.","authors":"Yolanda Mutinhima, Lovemore Sibanda, Betty J Rono, Salum Kulunge, David Kimaili, Amy J Dickman, Emily Madsen, Lessah Mandoloma, Jessica Tacey, Shorna Allred, Darragh Hare","doi":"10.1098/rsbl.2024.0571","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rsbl.2024.0571","url":null,"abstract":"Two enduring ideological divisions in biodiversity conservation concern whether conservation should prioritize (i) the interests of people or wild animals and (ii) the interests of individual animals or groups of animals. Public debates suggest that people living in the Global North more strongly prioritize the interests of wild animals over people and the interests of individual animals over groups of animals. To examine this possibility, we measured and compared conservation priorities across 10 international publics living in rural and urban areas of sub-Saharan Africa, the United States of America (USA) and the United Kingdom (UK). Overall, distant respondents (i.e. living in the UK, USA and urban sub-Saharan Africa) more strongly prioritized the interests of wild animals over people and the interests of individual animals over groups of animals. Moreover, variation among local publics (i.e. living in high-biodiversity areas of rural sub-Saharan Africa) was greater than among distant publics. Our findings illuminate how ideological divisions may complicate international biodiversity conservation, especially around controversial topics such as culling, hunting, transloaction and protected-areas management. Policies and programmes more acceptable to distant people may be less acceptable to local people, creating difficulties for decision-makers charged with balancing biodiversity conservation alongside the values, needs, interests and concerns of multiple publics.","PeriodicalId":9005,"journal":{"name":"Biology Letters","volume":"21 3","pages":"20240571"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11919524/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143655614","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}

引用次数: 0

Neuropeptide receptor distributions in male and female Eulemur vary between female-dominant and egalitarian species.

IF 2.8 2区生物学

Biology Letters Pub Date : 2025-03-01 Epub Date: 2025-03-19 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2024.0647

Allie E Schrock, Mia R Grossman, Nicholas M Grebe, Annika Sharma, Sara M Freeman, Michelle C Palumbo, Karen L Bales, Heather B Patisaul, Christine M Drea

{"title":"Neuropeptide receptor distributions in male and female Eulemur vary between female-dominant and egalitarian species.","authors":"Allie E Schrock, Mia R Grossman, Nicholas M Grebe, Annika Sharma, Sara M Freeman, Michelle C Palumbo, Karen L Bales, Heather B Patisaul, Christine M Drea","doi":"10.1098/rsbl.2024.0647","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rsbl.2024.0647","url":null,"abstract":"Aggression and its neurochemical modulators are typically studied in males, leaving the mechanisms of female competitive aggression or dominance largely unexplored. To better understand how competitive aggression is regulated in the primate brain, we used receptor autoradiography to compare the neural distributions of oxytocin and vasopressin receptors in male and female members of female-dominant versus egalitarian/codominant species within the Eulemur genus, wherein dominance structure is a reliable proxy of aggression in both sexes. We found that oxytocin receptor binding in the central amygdala (CeA) was predicted by dominance structure, with the members of three codominant species showing more oxytocin receptor binding in this region than their peers in four female-dominant species. Thus, both sexes in female-dominant Eulemur show a pattern consistent with the regulation of aggression in male rodents. We suggest that derived pacifism in Eulemur stems from selective suppression of ancestral female aggression over evolutionary time via a mechanism of increased oxytocin receptor binding in the CeA, rather than from augmented male aggression. This interpretation implies fitness costs to female aggression and/or benefits to its inhibition. These data establish Eulemur as a robust model for examining neural correlates of male and female competitive aggression, potentially providing novel insights into female dominance.","PeriodicalId":9005,"journal":{"name":"Biology Letters","volume":"21 3","pages":"20240647"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11921807/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143655622","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}

引用次数: 0

Gregarious behaviour in Carboniferous cyclidan crustaceans. 石炭纪环纹类甲壳动物的嬉戏行为。

IF 2.8 2区生物学

Biology Letters Pub Date : 2025-03-01 Epub Date: 2025-03-19 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2024.0734

Russell D C Bicknell, Adiël A Klompmaker, Gregory D Edgecombe, Victoria E McCoy, Andrew Young, Bruce Lauer, René Lauer, Carmela Cuomo

{"title":"Gregarious behaviour in Carboniferous cyclidan crustaceans.","authors":"Russell D C Bicknell, Adiël A Klompmaker, Gregory D Edgecombe, Victoria E McCoy, Andrew Young, Bruce Lauer, René Lauer, Carmela Cuomo","doi":"10.1098/rsbl.2024.0734","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rsbl.2024.0734","url":null,"abstract":"Gregarious behaviours in modern and fossil arthropods are commonly associated with defensive strategies, mass moulting and synchronous reproduction. Such behaviour is scarcely documented in the crustacean fossil record. Identifying clusters in extinct Pancrustacea is, therefore, important for understanding the evolutionary history and origin of crustacean gregariousness. Cyclida, an order of extinct, enigmatic pancrustaceans that have been subject to limited palaeoecological examination, represents an ideal group for testing the presence of gregarious behaviour. Here, we report a cluster of 50 Schramine montanaensis individuals from the Serpukhovian-aged Bear Gulch Limestone of Montana, USA, expanding the exceptionally rare record of cyclidan aggregations. The presence of articulated specimens with appendages and possible gill preservation supports the interpretation of carcasses that were preserved during a rapid burial event. We propose that this cluster records either a mass moulting event or clustering for shelter, representing one of the oldest records of crustacean gregariousness. These findings provide important insights into cyclidan life modes and ecological interactions in Carboniferous marine environments.","PeriodicalId":9005,"journal":{"name":"Biology Letters","volume":"21 3","pages":"20240734"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11919491/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143656113","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}

引用次数: 0

Island size shapes genomic diversity in a great speciator (Aves: Zosterops).

IF 2.8 2区生物学

Biology Letters Pub Date : 2025-03-01 Epub Date: 2025-03-05 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2024.0692

Ethan F Gyllenhaal, Michael J Andersen, Robert G Moyle, Joseph D Manthey

{"title":"Island size shapes genomic diversity in a great speciator (Aves: Zosterops).","authors":"Ethan F Gyllenhaal, Michael J Andersen, Robert G Moyle, Joseph D Manthey","doi":"10.1098/rsbl.2024.0692","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rsbl.2024.0692","url":null,"abstract":"Islands have long represented natural laboratories for studying many aspects of ecology and evolutionary biology, from speciation to community assembly. One aspect that has been well documented is the correlation between island size and taxonomic diversity, likely due to decreased complexity and population size on small islands. This same logic can apply to genetic diversity, which should predictably decrease with effective population size. The island size-diversity correlation has received support over the years but often focuses on single metrics of genetic diversity. Here, we use Zosterops white-eyes in the Solomon Islands to study the correlation between island size and various metrics related to genetic diversity, including runs of homozygosity and fixation of transposable elements. We find that almost all these metrics strongly correlate with island size, and in turn with each other. We infer that island size is independently correlated with these different variables, demonstrating that population size impacts genomic metrics of diversity in a variety of ways across temporal and hierarchical scales.","PeriodicalId":9005,"journal":{"name":"Biology Letters","volume":"21 3","pages":"20240692"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11879625/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143555764","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}

引用次数: 0

Hosts eject conspecific parasitic eggs according to the egg size in a passerine.

IF 2.8 2区生物学

Biology Letters Pub Date : 2025-03-01 Epub Date: 2025-03-12 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2024.0655

Alaïs Liénard, Diego Gil, Chantal Poteaux, Raquel Monclús

{"title":"Hosts eject conspecific parasitic eggs according to the egg size in a passerine.","authors":"Alaïs Liénard, Diego Gil, Chantal Poteaux, Raquel Monclús","doi":"10.1098/rsbl.2024.0655","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rsbl.2024.0655","url":null,"abstract":"Conspecific brood parasitism (CBP) is an alternative reproductive tactic in egg-laying species, where a female lays her eggs in the nest of a conspecific. In a population of spotless starlings (Sturnus unicolor), we observed that some eggs are ejected from the nest during CBP events. It is unclear whether this ejection is a parasitic strategy (a host egg is ejected) or an anti-parasitism strategy (the parasitic egg is ejected). To clarify this, we genotyped the eggs ejected on the ground and found that 100% of them were parasitic. Egg discrimination might be based on tactile or visual cues, and we hypothesized that egg size could be used by hosts to eject parasitic eggs. We conducted experiments in the field using dummy eggs of varying sizes. The results showed that starlings were more likely to eject eggs if they were smaller than their own eggs. In contrast, no significant pattern of egg ejection was observed for larger eggs. Our results suggest that starlings use egg volume recognition as an anti-parasitism strategy to avoid the costs of parasitism. Whether this is a frequency-dependent strategy is worth further studies.","PeriodicalId":9005,"journal":{"name":"Biology Letters","volume":"21 3","pages":"20240655"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11896707/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143603513","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}

引用次数: 0

Homing through ecological barriers in Balkan pond turtles.

IF 2.8 2区生物学

Biology Letters Pub Date : 2025-03-01 Epub Date: 2025-03-26 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2024.0442

Anat Levi, Omri Meir, Ohad Vilk, Ran Nathan, Sivan Toledo, Oren Kolodny, Yoni Vortman

{"title":"Homing through ecological barriers in Balkan pond turtles.","authors":"Anat Levi, Omri Meir, Ohad Vilk, Ran Nathan, Sivan Toledo, Oren Kolodny, Yoni Vortman","doi":"10.1098/rsbl.2024.0442","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rsbl.2024.0442","url":null,"abstract":"Homing behaviour, the tendency to return home from a place outside an individual's home, requires an ability to navigate by integrating inputs from natural cues. While navigation has been extensively studied, it remains taxonomically biased, mainly focusing on birds. We used the ATLAS tracking system to test homing behaviour of the Balkan pond turtle (Mauremys rivulata), a semi-aquatic reptile. Thirty-six turtles were displaced up to 2.5 km from their capture location and tracked to test for homing behaviour. Another five individuals were released in their capture location as a baseline for local movement. A correlated random-walk model was developed, simulating movement patterns fitted to match turtle movements. Most displaced turtles successfully returned or headed towards their home range within 1-3 days, travelling significantly greater daily distances within those days. Homing turtles showed a more direct and shorter delay than simulated or undisplaced turtles. Our high-resolution tracking revealed that water conduits served as eco-hydrological barriers, causing substantial delays or preventing turtles from passing through the water. Taken together, we demonstrate the navigation capability of the Balkan pond turtle, placing this species as a potential model system for navigation research and conservation biology, specifically as an indicator of wetland connectivity.","PeriodicalId":9005,"journal":{"name":"Biology Letters","volume":"21 3","pages":"20240442"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11936673/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143708294","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}

引用次数: 0

Old but attuned: the ability to decode babies' cries does not decline with age.

IF 2.8 2区生物学

Biology Letters Pub Date : 2025-02-01 Epub Date: 2025-02-26 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2024.0667

Siloé Corvin, Clément Cornec, Roland Peyron, David Reby, Camille Fauchon, Nicolas Mathevon

引用次数: 0