Biology LettersPub Date : 2026-10-14DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2026.0313
Luke Mander, Peng Sun, Surangi W Punyasena, Carlos Jaramillo, Francisca Oboh-Ikuenobe
{"title":"Quantifying pollen and spore morphology using a language model.","authors":"Luke Mander, Peng Sun, Surangi W Punyasena, Carlos Jaramillo, Francisca Oboh-Ikuenobe","doi":"10.1098/rsbl.2026.0313","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2026.0313","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In a typical systematic paper, specimen morphology is described with natural language, and taxonomic specialists use glossaries of technical terminology to establish and communicate taxon concepts, using morphology to delimit species. Textual descriptions of specimen morphology are therefore foundational to biological systematics, but they also serve as a primary data source for studies of morphological evolution. Typically, researchers extract attributes of taxon morphology from descriptions and analyse them to quantify how organismal form has evolved. Focussing on fossil pollen and spores as records of plant evolution, we outline a potential approach to quantifying and comparing morphology that involves using a language model (LM) to transform textual descriptions of specimen morphology into numerical embeddings and then analysing the embeddings statistically. Our results show how an LM can be used to quantitatively analyse the morphological information contained within the text of taxonomic descriptions, illustrating that first-order botanical groupings such as pollen versus spores can be distinguished in the text of a single monograph and potentially from multiple texts by different authors. Although our dataset is small, we tentatively suggest that the spore-plant dominated tropical vegetation of the Carboniferous was comparable in morphological diversity to the angiosperm dominated tropical rainforests of the Palaeogene.</p>","PeriodicalId":9005,"journal":{"name":"Biology Letters","volume":"22 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2026-10-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149179288","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}
Biology LettersPub Date : 2026-10-14DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2026.0327
Rodney P Eyles, Waldan K Kwong
{"title":"Discovery and characterization of outer membrane vesicles produced by the bee gut microbiota.","authors":"Rodney P Eyles, Waldan K Kwong","doi":"10.1098/rsbl.2026.0327","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2026.0327","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Bacteria use diverse mechanisms to interact with each other and with eukaryotic hosts, thereby shaping microbiome composition and influencing host health. One of these mechanisms is the production of outer membrane vesicles (OMVs), nanoscale structures that bud off from bacterial cells into the extracellular space. OMVs can deliver bioactive cargoes, including enzymes, RNA and DNA, enabling functions such as cell-to-cell communication, nutrient acquisition and immunomodulation. However, the role of OMVs in beneficial host-associated microbiomes remains unclear. Here, we investigated OMV production in the gut bacteria of the western honeybee (Apis mellifera), which forms a highly conserved and stable microbial community. Using electron microscopy, fluorescence labelling and nanoparticle tracking analysis, we detected OMV production in every Gram-negative species of the bee gut microbiota that we investigated. Vesicles were observed in gut contents of wild and laboratory-inoculated bees, but absent in bees lacking a microbiota. OMVs contained nucleic acids, with more RNA than DNA. Bacterial strains varied in OMV properties, including abundance, size and zeta potential. These findings indicate that OMVs are likely significant mediators of interbacterial and host-microbe interactions in the bee gut.</p>","PeriodicalId":9005,"journal":{"name":"Biology Letters","volume":"22 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2026-10-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149178878","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":"Ploidy is associated with multielemental reorganization across soft and mineralized body compartments.","authors":"Punidan Jeyasingh, Marissa Roseman, Josh Bliss, Yetkin Ipek, Maurine Neiman","doi":"10.1098/rsbl.2026.0316","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2026.0316","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Polyploidy alters nuclear DNA content, gene dosage and cellular organization, but its consequences for organismal chemistry remain poorly resolved, particularly in animals. Because nucleic acids and associated cellular machinery require coordinated allocation of multiple elements, ploidy-associated differences may extend beyond the well-established consequences for body phosphorus content to broader multielemental organization. We tested this hypothesis in the New Zealand mudsnail (Potamopyrgus antipodarum), which features within-population ploidy polymorphism, and exhibits strong compartmentalization between metabolically active soft tissue and mineralized shell. We quantified multielemental composition of soft tissue and shell and analysed allocation using additive log-ratios anchored to the measured elemental pool. Most multielemental variance was harboured in tissue versus shell, confirming distinct ionomic regimes for these two fundamental components of the molluscan body. Across both soft tissue and shell, ploidy was associated with significant redistribution of relative elemental allocation despite weak single-element effects. Ploidy-associated imbalances differed between shell and soft tissue, consistent with elemental physiology in inert and active tissues. Together, these results are consistent with a scenario where ploidy level is associated with subtle but coordinated redistribution of elemental allocation across biological compartments.</p>","PeriodicalId":9005,"journal":{"name":"Biology Letters","volume":"22 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2026-10-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149179260","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}
Biology LettersPub Date : 2026-10-14DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2026.0079
Stephanie Avery-Gomm, Nia Potapova, Chrissie Potter, Alexander L Bond, Stephanie B Borrelle, Jennifer L Lavers, Steven J Portugal, Hugh Possingham, Jennifer Provencher, Natalie Cooper
{"title":"Frequency of plastic occurrence varies across phylogeny but not ecology in seabirds.","authors":"Stephanie Avery-Gomm, Nia Potapova, Chrissie Potter, Alexander L Bond, Stephanie B Borrelle, Jennifer L Lavers, Steven J Portugal, Hugh Possingham, Jennifer Provencher, Natalie Cooper","doi":"10.1098/rsbl.2026.0079","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2026.0079","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Seabirds are especially vulnerable to ingesting plastic pollution. However, we have a limited understanding of which traits might increase their risk of plastic ingestion. Here, we use a dataset of seabird plastic occurrence records (93 281 birds from 240 species) to investigate which species accumulate plastic and whether this is related to diet, foraging method, pelagic specialism, body mass or phylogenetic position. In our dataset, 182 of the 240 species (76%) contained plastic. Within orders, the highest levels were in pelicans (Pelecaniformes; 67%) and the lowest in penguins (Sphenisciformes; 5%). In our phylogenetically informed analysis, accounting for artefacts of study design (e.g. sample size, year, ocean, source, age class and sampling method), none of the ecological traits we tested had a consistent effect on plastic occurrence. Instead, phylogenetic relatedness was the best predictor in our models, reflecting the tight correlation between seabird phylogenetic groupings and their traits. This suggests that phylogenetic position may serve as a rapid way to identify species likely to accumulate plastic. Future research should focus on developing predictions of plastic accumulation risk for understudied species, implementing standardized methodologies and investigating species-specific morphological and environmental variables that may affect their risk of plastic accumulation.</p>","PeriodicalId":9005,"journal":{"name":"Biology Letters","volume":"22 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2026-10-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149179203","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}
Biology LettersPub Date : 2026-10-14DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2026.0256
Maria Gallagher, Matthew R Longo, Elisa R Ferrè
{"title":"Visually simulated altered gravity modulates perceived object weight.","authors":"Maria Gallagher, Matthew R Longo, Elisa R Ferrè","doi":"10.1098/rsbl.2026.0256","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2026.0256","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Gravity is a fundamental force acting on all objects on Earth. It is therefore unsurprising that the brain has internalized regularities associated with terrestrial gravity. An internal model of gravity is thought to arise from the integration of vestibular, visual, proprioceptive and visceral sensory cues. However, it remains unclear whether this internal representation of gravity contributes to the perception of physical object properties. Object weight is determined by the product of its mass and gravitational acceleration. Although previous studies have examined how an object's visual properties, such as its size, shape and texture, influence perceived weight, no study has investigated the effect of altered visual-gravitational information. Here, participants judged the weight of physical objects while they experienced virtual reality environments in which virtual objects accelerated according to either terrestrial gravity (Earth: 9.81 m s‒2) or partial terrestrial gravity (Mars: 3.71 m s‒2). Participants perceived the objects as lighter when viewing Mars gravity relative to Earth gravity. Our results suggest that participants incorporate visual-gravitational information when perceiving object weight, and that the internal model of gravity adapts to altered visually simulated gravitational environments.</p>","PeriodicalId":9005,"journal":{"name":"Biology Letters","volume":"22 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2026-10-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149179304","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}
Biology LettersPub Date : 2026-10-14DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2026.0416
George B Brown, Dómhnall J Jennings
{"title":"Early-life cortisol exposure modulates habituation to human disturbance in fallow deer fawns.","authors":"George B Brown, Dómhnall J Jennings","doi":"10.1098/rsbl.2026.0416","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2026.0416","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The survival of vulnerable juveniles depends on how they respond to threat, yet the escape behaviour of individuals often differs despite similar exposure to stimuli. These differences may arise from interactions between experience, early-life physiology and developing behaviours such as play. Using flight initiation distance (FID) trials from fallow deer fawns (Dama dama) in an urban parkland, we investigated whether FID was associated with pedestrian exposure, locomotor play and cortisol extracted from neonatal hair. Fawns with lower cortisol showed shorter FIDs as prior pedestrian exposure increased, consistent with habituation to repeated low-risk human presence. By contrast, fawns with higher neonatal hair cortisol showed longer FIDs with increasing pedestrian exposure, suggesting maintained or increased sensitivity to disturbance. Accumulated locomotor play was not associated with FID, indicating that any benefits of play may be expressed in escape performance rather than the decision of when to flee. These results indicate that early-life physiological state influences how juveniles respond to repeated human exposure, with consequences for individual development of tolerance and escape behaviour. Understanding the physiological basis of habituation in young animals may help predict which individuals are most vulnerable to disturbance in human-dominated landscapes.</p>","PeriodicalId":9005,"journal":{"name":"Biology Letters","volume":"22 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2026-10-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149178884","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}
Biology LettersPub Date : 2026-10-14DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2026.0427
François Druelle, Jean-Pascal Guéry, Victor Narat
{"title":"Energy expenditure of bonobos across their locomotor repertoire.","authors":"François Druelle, Jean-Pascal Guéry, Victor Narat","doi":"10.1098/rsbl.2026.0427","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2026.0427","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Unlike quadrupedal mammals, primates use diverse locomotor modes adapted to arboreal environments. Such diversity of movements challenges allometric models, which underestimate energetic costs by focusing on steady-state walking. To address this, we combined ethological and biomechanical approaches to estimate the net metabolic cost of transport in bonobos (Pan paniscus). Using three-dimensional tracking and a point-mass model, we derived this estimate from net mechanical power and muscle efficiency across locomotor modes. Our results show that quadrupedalism in bonobos (10-12 J kg⁻¹ m⁻¹) exceeds mammalian predictions (approx. 3 J kg⁻¹ m⁻¹), whereas vertical ascent (26-32 J kg⁻¹ m⁻¹) is the most costly mode. However, arboreal locomotion incurs no major energetic penalty, given the high potential for energy recovery via kinetic/potential energy exchange during vertical descent and suspensory locomotion. By integrating these data with field-derived locomotor repertoires, we estimate that daily travel distances (0.4-6 km) account for 3-53% of bonobos' daily energy expenditure. Reversing quadrupedal/bipedal proportions in this model shifts costs to 4-62%. Notably, even with 35% bipedalism, 2 km daily travel remains energetically feasible for bonobos. This suggests that early hominins could have incorporated bipedalism into diverse repertoires without facing energetic constraints, and that increased travel distance may have driven selective pressure for greater bipedal efficiency.</p>","PeriodicalId":9005,"journal":{"name":"Biology Letters","volume":"22 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2026-10-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149179035","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}
Biology LettersPub Date : 2026-10-07DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2026.0444
Emma B Gruntz, Tess N Grainger
{"title":"Persistent effects of experimental heatwave duration on population dynamics.","authors":"Emma B Gruntz, Tess N Grainger","doi":"10.1098/rsbl.2026.0444","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2026.0444","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Heatwaves are becoming longer, more frequent and more intense under climate change. However, we still have a limited understanding of the longer term (multi-generational) impacts of heatwaves, and of the demographic mechanisms that underly these effects. To address these gaps, we conducted an experiment using a model system of flour beetles (Tribolium castaneum) that tested the effects of heatwave duration on population dynamics. We subjected replicate beetle populations to a single 38°C heatwave event of one of four durations (0, 5, 10 or 15 days) and then tracked population sizes, birth rates and mortality rates for 7 months (approx. 7 generations). We found that, initially, heatwaves reduced population growth rates by temporarily lowering birth rates (via reduced fecundity), but that later in the experiment, the impact of heatwaves on population dynamics occurred via increased mortality rates. Together, these demographic effects resulted in a sustained suppression of population sizes throughout the experiment, as populations exposed to longer heatwaves (10-day and 15-day) experienced reduced carrying capacities for the duration of the experiment. Our findings indicate that heatwaves can have persistent negative impacts on population dynamics that could be underestimated by focusing solely on short-term responses.</p>","PeriodicalId":9005,"journal":{"name":"Biology Letters","volume":"22 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2026-10-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149227152","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}
Biology LettersPub Date : 2026-10-07DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2026.0220
Anaïs Beauvieux, Jeremy Werner, F Stephen Dobson, Lauriane Kuhn, Samuel Laporte, Ashley Olson, Claire Saraux, Meagan Dewar, Vincent A Viblanc
{"title":"Memory on ice: spatial memory is retained over a 9-month hibernation period in Columbian ground squirrels.","authors":"Anaïs Beauvieux, Jeremy Werner, F Stephen Dobson, Lauriane Kuhn, Samuel Laporte, Ashley Olson, Claire Saraux, Meagan Dewar, Vincent A Viblanc","doi":"10.1098/rsbl.2026.0220","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rsbl.2026.0220","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Memory allows animals to utilize ecologically relevant information, yet whether it endures through prolonged metabolic shutdown is poorly understood. We tested spatial memory retention in a long-term, free-living hibernator, the Columbian ground squirrel (Urocitellus columbianus), using a field-based spatial maze over two consecutive active seasons. Ten individuals were tested before and after a 9-month hibernation period and compared with eight naive individuals. Maze-solving performances-time to exit, path sinuosity and navigational errors-were analysed over 10 consecutive trials using Bayesian nonlinear learning curves to separate retained memory from relearning. Strikingly, post-hibernation individuals with prior exposure to the task significantly outperformed naive individuals by 41-98% across all metrics, with initial performance after hibernation approaching pre-hibernation asymptotes. We show that spatial memory survives prolonged hibernation in the wild, supporting the hypothesis that neural plasticity during hibernation reflects adaptive retention rather than memory loss.</p>","PeriodicalId":9005,"journal":{"name":"Biology Letters","volume":"22 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2026-10-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13641912/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149103527","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}
Biology LettersPub Date : 2026-10-07DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2026.0224
Jacques Brodeur, Josée Doyon, Gabriele Rondoni, Simon Legault
{"title":"Exploitation of host mating behaviour by a parasitoid fly.","authors":"Jacques Brodeur, Josée Doyon, Gabriele Rondoni, Simon Legault","doi":"10.1098/rsbl.2026.0224","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2026.0224","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Egg-laying decisions are crucial in insect parasitoids because the host constitutes the only resource available for immature development. We estimated the extent to which host sex, size and mating behaviour are involved and interact in shaping host selection in the association between the Japanese beetle, Popillia japonica, and a parasitoid fly, Istocheta aldrichi. Under field conditions, we found that females and larger individuals of the Japanese beetle, both males and females, are associated with the highest levels of parasitism, regardless of seasonal variations in host size and sex ratio. Furthermore, we propose that foraging I. aldrichi females exploit the sexual selection behaviour of the host to their own advantage. The increased vulnerability to parasitism of Japanese beetle females during mating when immobilized by males, the extended duration of mating and the preference of males for larger females contribute to the strong bias towards large females being the most parasitized. This leads to the hypothesis that I. aldrichi females have evolved to 'merely' rely on Japanese beetle males to select the most suitable hosts for reproduction. Finally, we discuss the possible impact on both seasonal and long-term demographics of the Japanese beetle populations and biological control.</p>","PeriodicalId":9005,"journal":{"name":"Biology Letters","volume":"22 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2026-10-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149227108","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}