Biology Letters最新文献

Recognition of predator cues hinders social communication. 对捕食者线索的识别阻碍了社会交流。

IF 2.8 2区生物学

Biology Letters Pub Date : 2025-05-01 Epub Date: 2025-05-14 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2025.0042

Melquisedec Gamba-Rios, Gary F McCracken, Gloriana Chaverri

引用次数: 0

Macroevolutionary integration underlies limb modularity in the origin of avian flight. 宏观进化整合是鸟类飞行起源中肢体模块化的基础。

IF 2.8 2区生物学

Biology Letters Pub Date : 2025-05-01 Epub Date: 2025-05-07 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2024.0685

Sergio M Nebreda, Manuel Hernández Fernández, Jesús Marugán-Lobón

{"title":"Macroevolutionary integration underlies limb modularity in the origin of avian flight.","authors":"Sergio M Nebreda, Manuel Hernández Fernández, Jesús Marugán-Lobón","doi":"10.1098/rsbl.2024.0685","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2024.0685","url":null,"abstract":"The origin of flight in avian dinosaurs has been historically an ideal framework for proposing the evolutionary relationship between form and function in limb proportions under the hypothesis of specialized locomotor modules. However, other hypotheses suggest that the evolution of the forelimb and the hindlimb is strongly influenced by shared developmental constraints, entailing that limbs evolve in an integrated manner and keeping the scientific debate open. To assess this, we used an alternative morphometric approach to compare and statistically analyse limb morphological covariation in a phylogenetically broad context across non-avian maniraptoran theropods and modern birds. Our results show that the maniraptoran lineage shares a strong covariation between limb proportions, a pattern indicating that consistent morphological integration has constrained the forelimb and hindlimb evolutionary transformation. Different evolutionary grades within Maniraptora, both volant and non-volant lineages, display distinct and weaker covariation patterns, suggesting the emergence of independent evolutionary trends within such underlying patterns of integration. These findings are consistent with a developmental hypothesis in which the evolutionary transformation of limbs in maniraptoran dinosaurs was influenced by its serial homology, underscored by shared developmental programmes. Thus, limb evolution was not solely driven by modular (functional) specialization for flight.","PeriodicalId":9005,"journal":{"name":"Biology Letters","volume":"21 5","pages":"20240685"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143969917","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}

引用次数: 0

When dinosaurs hear like barn owls: pitfalls and caveats in assessing hearing in dinosaurs. 当恐龙听起来像仓鸮：评估恐龙听力的陷阱和警告。

IF 2.8 2区生物学

Biology Letters Pub Date : 2025-05-01 Epub Date: 2025-05-07 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2024.0680

Geoffrey A Manley, Christine Köppl

{"title":"When dinosaurs hear like barn owls: pitfalls and caveats in assessing hearing in dinosaurs.","authors":"Geoffrey A Manley, Christine Köppl","doi":"10.1098/rsbl.2024.0680","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2024.0680","url":null,"abstract":"Computer tomographic scanning is now a standard technique for studying the internal features of fossil structures. This enables comparisons with related modern species and speculation concerning function and even behaviour. We express here a concern that inferences about dinosaur hearing and further implications about, e.g. communication or hunting skills, are sometimes stretched beyond what can reasonably be gleaned from fossil data. We summarize current knowledge about structure-function relationships in the avian auditory inner ear and provide guidance for evidence-based inference of hearing capabilities from bony features. In particular, we point out limitations and caveats regarding inferences that are based on one isolated feature alone, typically cochlear length. As an example illustrating some of these pitfalls, we use a recent analysis (Choiniere et al. 2021 Science 372, 610-613 (doi:10.1126/science.abe7941)) that concluded that Shuvuuia deserti, a theropod dinosaur, showed pronounced sensory specializations, including 'specialized hearing acuity, rivalling that of today's barn owl'. We re-analysed the skeletal features of Shuvuuia's inner ear and argue that the analogy between hearing in Shuvuuia and the extant barn owl was based on an ill-chosen metric in assessing the relative length of the cochlear duct and a questionable assumption concerning inner-ear structure.","PeriodicalId":9005,"journal":{"name":"Biology Letters","volume":"21 5","pages":"20240680"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12055281/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143965129","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

Nanopores in the ventral scales of Bitis rubida and Bitis armata cause white venters. 红颊双翅虫和阿玛双翅虫腹部鳞片上的纳米孔导致白色的气孔。

IF 2.8 2区生物学

Biology Letters Pub Date : 2025-05-01 Epub Date: 2025-05-14 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2025.0141

K M Samaun Reza, Luisa Maren Borgmann, Dmitry Busko, Junchi Chen, Hans Gunstheimer, Richard Thelen, Guillaume Gomard, Uli Lemmer, Hendrik Hölscher

{"title":"Nanopores in the ventral scales of Bitis rubida and Bitis armata cause white venters.","authors":"K M Samaun Reza, Luisa Maren Borgmann, Dmitry Busko, Junchi Chen, Hans Gunstheimer, Richard Thelen, Guillaume Gomard, Uli Lemmer, Hendrik Hölscher","doi":"10.1098/rsbl.2025.0141","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rsbl.2025.0141","url":null,"abstract":"Recent studies have speculated that some snakes developed white venters to avoid overheating caused by highly radiative soil and rocks. Here, we present the scale-embedded porous nanostructures through which some snake species of the genus Bitis achieve such whiteness. Our analysis reveals nanopores causing scattering underneath the external surface of the white ventral scales of Bitis rubida and Bitis armata. Such nanopores are not present in the scales of Bitis parviocula, Bitis arietans and Bitis rhinoceros that appear transparent or translucent to the naked eye. White ventral scales with nanopores reflect up to 40% of light in the visible regime. The reflection, however, decreases for longer wavelengths and drastically reduces in the infrared. In contrast, a much lower, almost constant reflection around 8% between 250 and 2500 nm is observed for the transparent or translucent ventral scales without nanopores. Our study demonstrates that some snake species of the genus Bitis utilize a light-scattering network of nanopores underneath their external surfaces to create white ventral scales.","PeriodicalId":9005,"journal":{"name":"Biology Letters","volume":"21 5","pages":"20250141"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12076164/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143967350","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

Stone-assisted drumming in Western chimpanzees and its implications for communication and cultural transmission. 西方黑猩猩的石头辅助击鼓及其对交流和文化传播的影响。

IF 2.8 2区生物学

Biology Letters Pub Date : 2025-05-01 Epub Date: 2025-05-07 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2025.0053

Sem van Loon, Ignas M A Heitkönig, Annemarie Goedmakers, Roger Mundry, Marc Naguib

{"title":"Stone-assisted drumming in Western chimpanzees and its implications for communication and cultural transmission.","authors":"Sem van Loon, Ignas M A Heitkönig, Annemarie Goedmakers, Roger Mundry, Marc Naguib","doi":"10.1098/rsbl.2025.0053","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2025.0053","url":null,"abstract":"Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) communicate in complex ways, including sounds produced by hand and foot drumming on trees, often combined with loud vocalizations. Recently, a puzzling stone throwing behaviour at trees was observed, resulting in stone piles at tree buttresses. It is a rare case of tool used for communication in animals and suggested to function like buttress drumming in long-distance communication and male displays. We tested this hypothesis by determining the behavioural dynamics in comparison to hand and foot tree buttress drumming in Western chimpanzees in Boé, Guinea Bissau. Using camera traps, we show that in 78% of cases, stones were picked up at trees, not leading to further stone accumulation beyond the already existing stone piles. Stone-assisted and hand and foot drumming occurred separately or were combined in similar behavioural contexts in apparent long-distance communication and highly aroused behavioural contexts. Yet, immediately before stone drumming, chimpanzees swayed less and pant-hooted more while afterwards pant-hooting less compared to the other contexts, suggesting a separate motivation and/or function for stone-assisted drumming. It suggests this unique stone-based activity has its own signal value, separate from hand/foot buttress drumming and, considering the spatial variation, might be culturally transmitted.","PeriodicalId":9005,"journal":{"name":"Biology Letters","volume":"21 5","pages":"20250053"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12055282/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143959000","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

Phylogenetic history of the acquisition of molluscan hosts in acotylean flatworms. 无肢扁形虫获得软体动物寄主的系统发育历史。

IF 2.8 2区生物学

Biology Letters Pub Date : 2025-04-01 Epub Date: 2025-04-09 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2024.0721

Osamu Kagawa, Hajime Itoh, Nobuyoshi Nakajima, Hiroaki Fukumori

{"title":"Phylogenetic history of the acquisition of molluscan hosts in acotylean flatworms.","authors":"Osamu Kagawa, Hajime Itoh, Nobuyoshi Nakajima, Hiroaki Fukumori","doi":"10.1098/rsbl.2024.0721","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rsbl.2024.0721","url":null,"abstract":"How symbionts acquired hosts and diversified phylogenetically during their evolutionary history is a focus of attention in many symbiotic taxa. Marine polyclad flatworms are usually free-living, but some are symbiotic, using animals as hosts. However, the history of their acquisition of symbiotic systems is not well understood. Therefore, we focused on mollusc symbiotic flatworms in the suborder Acotylea and investigated the host specificity and phylogenetic history of the acquisition of symbiosis. Field surveys revealed that symbiotic flatworms utilized certain molluscs as hosts. In particular, Stylochoplana pusilla and Stylochoplana parasitica utilized different molluscan species as hosts sympatrically. The phylogenetic analysis and the ancestral state reconstruction indicate that the mollusc symbiotic flatworms formed a monophyletic group and that their common ancestor shifted from free-living to mollusc symbiosis. These results suggest that each of the flatworms did not independently acquire a symbiotic system with molluscan hosts during its phylogenetic history, but that their common ancestor acquired a mollusc symbiotic system, which then underwent acquisition of host specificity and speciation. This study emphasizes that multiple host use can be a driving force for niche advancement and speciation in the symbionts.","PeriodicalId":9005,"journal":{"name":"Biology Letters","volume":"21 4","pages":"20240721"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11978461/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143810424","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

Undescribed and imperiled vertebrate biodiversity near an American urban center. 美国城市中心附近未被描述和濒危的脊椎动物生物多样性。

IF 2.8 2区生物学

Biology Letters Pub Date : 2025-04-01 Epub Date: 2025-04-23 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2024.0652

Chase D Brownstein, Daemin Kim, Julia E Wood, Zachariah D Alley, Maya F Stokes, Thomas J Near

引用次数: 0

Out of the blue carbon box: toward investable blue natural capital. 走出蓝色碳盒子：走向可投资的蓝色自然资本。

IF 2.8 2区生物学

Biology Letters Pub Date : 2025-04-01 Epub Date: 2025-04-16 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2024.0648

Catherine E Lovelock, Carlos M Duarte

{"title":"Out of the blue carbon box: toward investable blue natural capital.","authors":"Catherine E Lovelock, Carlos M Duarte","doi":"10.1098/rsbl.2024.0648","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2024.0648","url":null,"abstract":"In 2019, we found that the concept of blue carbon had begun to solidify in the preceding decade around activities that could achieve mitigation through conservation and restoration and on ecosystems with high levels of data. Five years later, the available data have increased, and so too have the ecosystems that are included in national carbon markets and carbon market methodologies (e.g. seaweed and supratidal forests). While the implementation of blue carbon strategies continues to advance in both the carbon and emerging biodiversity markets, the scale of investment is inadequate for the action needed to meet global targets of the Paris Agreement and Kunming-Global Biodiversity Framework. The developing finance mechanisms for investment in blue natural capital offer additional potential for action on conservation and restoration of blue carbon ecosystems at large scales, although governance systems are challenged to deliver just and equitable outcomes. Blue carbon research and implementation is characterized by deep collaboration among diverse disciplines and actors, which continues to be crucial to achieving conservation and restoration goals.","PeriodicalId":9005,"journal":{"name":"Biology Letters","volume":"21 4","pages":"20240648"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12000827/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143978098","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

Ambient temperature and toxic diets constrain snake venom resistance in a desert rodent. 环境温度和有毒饮食限制了沙漠啮齿动物对蛇毒的抵抗力。

IF 2.8 2区生物学

Biology Letters Pub Date : 2025-04-01 Epub Date: 2025-04-16 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2025.0068

Matthew L Holding, Alexandra Coconis, Patrice K Connors, Marjorie D Matocq, M Denise Dearing

{"title":"Ambient temperature and toxic diets constrain snake venom resistance in a desert rodent.","authors":"Matthew L Holding, Alexandra Coconis, Patrice K Connors, Marjorie D Matocq, M Denise Dearing","doi":"10.1098/rsbl.2025.0068","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2025.0068","url":null,"abstract":"Variation in ambient temperature and food availability is commonplace in nature and likely exerts several types of eco-evolutionary pressures that mediate species' interactions. In predator-prey interactions between snakes and rodents, the molecular interface is formed by snake venom and mammalian venom resistance proteins. However, the abiotic factors modulating resistance are poorly understood. Here, we measured serum-based venom resistance of desert woodrats (Neotoma lepida) maintained at either cool or warm ambient temperatures and fed creosote bush resin (native diet) or a control diet. Woodrat serum was collected and tested for its ability to inhibit the activity of rattlesnake venom metalloproteinases. Woodrats raised at cooler temperatures, as well as those consuming diets with creosote resin, were significantly less able to inhibit snake venom, suggesting that they would be more susceptible to snakebite. These results suggest that temperature and dietary variation across the distribution over which these rattlesnakes and woodrats interact could structure the outcomes of these predator-prey interactions. Additionally, these results may help explain why ambient temperatures, rather than dietary differences, predict the presence of neurotoxic versus proteolytic venom phenotypes in some rattlesnake species.","PeriodicalId":9005,"journal":{"name":"Biology Letters","volume":"21 4","pages":"20250068"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11999734/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143972971","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

Macaque mothers' responses to the deaths of their infants. 猕猴母亲对婴儿死亡的反应。

IF 2.8 2区生物学

Biology Letters Pub Date : 2025-04-01 Epub Date: 2025-04-16 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2024.0484

Emily A Johnson, Flóra Talyigás, Alecia Carter

{"title":"Macaque mothers' responses to the deaths of their infants.","authors":"Emily A Johnson, Flóra Talyigás, Alecia Carter","doi":"10.1098/rsbl.2024.0484","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2024.0484","url":null,"abstract":"Although it is understood that all humans grieve the death of close social partners, little empirical research has addressed animals' responses to death. In this study, we collected quantitative data on the behaviour of 11 bereaved rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) mothers at Cayo Santiago to the natural deaths of their infants and matched, non-bereaved controls. Our research focused on behavioural signs of grief, including loss of appetite, lethargy, increased stress and social withdrawal, highlighting that such responses are documented in the human literature, but could be found in mammalian taxa. Using mixed models, we found that, contrary to prediction, bereaved mothers spent less time resting than the non-bereaved control females in the first two weeks after their infants' deaths. There were no other behavioural markers of grief. We conclude that mothers showed a short-term behavioural response to their bereavement that does not match human's prolonged 'despair' grief. We propose that mothers' behavioural responses might be a form of 'protest' grief, as is seen in primate infants when separated from mothers and in humans, or do not grieve. We hope to advance the field of comparative thanatology by providing a framework and novel predictions for future studies in this area.","PeriodicalId":9005,"journal":{"name":"Biology Letters","volume":"21 4","pages":"20240484"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12000825/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143962956","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