Biology Letters最新文献_第2页

Speed from fossil trackways: calculations not validated by extant birds on compliant substrates. 来自化石足迹的速度：未被现有鸟类在柔顺基质上验证的计算。

IF 2.8 2区生物学

Biology Letters Pub Date : 2025-06-01 Epub Date: 2025-06-25 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2025.0191

Tash L Prescott, Benjamin W Griffin, Oliver E Demuth, Stephen M Gatesy, Jens N Lallensack, Peter L Falkingham

{"title":"Speed from fossil trackways: calculations not validated by extant birds on compliant substrates.","authors":"Tash L Prescott, Benjamin W Griffin, Oliver E Demuth, Stephen M Gatesy, Jens N Lallensack, Peter L Falkingham","doi":"10.1098/rsbl.2025.0191","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rsbl.2025.0191","url":null,"abstract":"Fossil trackways serve as a valuable tool in understanding the behaviour and locomotion of extinct animals. Calculating speeds from trackways has become a standard approach, particularly for dinosaurs. However, the original equation was derived from predominantly mammalian data. There have been few validation studies using modern birds, the descendants of theropod dinosaurs. We used high-speed video recordings of two helmeted guineafowl (Numida meleagris) traversing mud of varying consistency. Associated trackways were digitized using photogrammetry, and stride and track lengths were measured to calculate speed. The speed calculated from trackways was higher than the measured speed for multiple speed formulae. Within-trackway stride lengths were variable, even when speed was relatively constant, but there were cases where two identical stride lengths were produced by birds moving at very different speeds. Prior work of guineafowl locomoting on a treadmill found good correspondence between measured speed and speed calculated from stride length. We attribute the discrepancy seen in our data between measured and calculated speed as resulting from non-steady state locomotion on compliant substrates. Given that tracks require compliant substrates to form, and are made by free-moving individuals, our data indicate that speed estimates from trackways are inaccurate, if not outright misleading.","PeriodicalId":9005,"journal":{"name":"Biology Letters","volume":"21 6","pages":"20250191"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12187409/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144483108","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

Temperature amplifies the effect of anthropogenic light on foraging common pipistrelle bats. 温度放大了人为光对觅食的普通蝙蝠的影响。

IF 2.8 2区生物学

Biology Letters Pub Date : 2025-06-01 Epub Date: 2025-06-04 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2025.0049

Sander W J Buddendorf, Marcel E Visser, Kamiel Spoelstra

{"title":"Temperature amplifies the effect of anthropogenic light on foraging common pipistrelle bats.","authors":"Sander W J Buddendorf, Marcel E Visser, Kamiel Spoelstra","doi":"10.1098/rsbl.2025.0049","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rsbl.2025.0049","url":null,"abstract":"Anthropogenic light affects the presence and behaviour of many species. Bats are generally repelled by light, but some fast-flying and agile species opportunistically forage on insects attracted to light sources. As insect activity is dependent on ambient temperature, prey abundance around light sources likely varies between cold and warm nights. Little is known on how the interacting effects of ambient temperature and anthropogenic light influence bat activity. We recorded activity of bats foraging around experimental light posts emitting different light spectra (white, green and red light) during 6 years for 2726 full nights to test how ambient temperature affects foraging activity of the abundant common pipistrelle (Pipistrellus pipistrellus). We found a strong interaction between light treatment and ambient temperature on the amount and timing of foraging activity. In warm nights, the total foraging activity increased near light posts, and the centre of foraging activity shifted towards the middle of the night. The interactive effect of ambient temperature on common pipistrelle bats foraging around anthropogenic light may contribute to shifts in food web interactions in warmer environments. This suggests that the ecological impact of anthropogenic light on bat biodiversity could be greater in warmer urban areas and warming climates.","PeriodicalId":9005,"journal":{"name":"Biology Letters","volume":"21 6","pages":"20250049"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12133343/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144214826","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

Small-scale variation in tropical tidepool fish assemblages. 热带潮塘鱼类群落的小尺度变化。

IF 2.8 2区生物学

Biology Letters Pub Date : 2025-06-01 Epub Date: 2025-06-04 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2024.0690

Ryan Andrades, Helder C Guabiroba, Tommaso Giarrizzo, Jean-Christophe Joyeux

{"title":"Small-scale variation in tropical tidepool fish assemblages.","authors":"Ryan Andrades, Helder C Guabiroba, Tommaso Giarrizzo, Jean-Christophe Joyeux","doi":"10.1098/rsbl.2024.0690","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rsbl.2024.0690","url":null,"abstract":"Habitat heterogeneity is known to promote species diversity and other effects in communities by increasing structural complexity, access to food resources and to refuge spaces. However, the influence of environmental heterogeneity at small spatial scale settings is challenging to detect and to measure. In tropical intertidal rocky shores, the low tidal zones are sometimes encrusted by reef-building organisms forming complex biogenic flat reefs below rocky outcrops that appear at mid-to-upper intertidal level. Here, we investigated a tidepool community situated on an intertidal shore with marked variation in structure and texture within metres to test whether tidepool fauna would differ between biogenic and rocky reefs in regard to their composition, diversity and trophic structure. Our findings revealed that tidepool fish assemblages differed significantly between reef types. Trophic structure exhibited variations in resource use, food web hierarchy and trophic roles of species occurring in both biogenic and rocky tidepools. Our results imply that tropical intertidal reefs show pronounced taxonomic and trophic distinctiveness at small spatial scales.","PeriodicalId":9005,"journal":{"name":"Biology Letters","volume":"21 6","pages":"20240690"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12133339/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144214825","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

Night lizards survived the Cretaceous-Palaeogene mass extinction near the asteroid impact. 夜蜥蜴在小行星撞击附近的白垩纪-古近纪大灭绝中幸存下来。

IF 2.8 2区生物学

Biology Letters Pub Date : 2025-06-01 Epub Date: 2025-06-25 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2025.0157

Chase D Brownstein, Saúl F Domínguez-Guerrero, José D L Tufiño, Martha M Muñoz, Thomas J Near

{"title":"Night lizards survived the Cretaceous-Palaeogene mass extinction near the asteroid impact.","authors":"Chase D Brownstein, Saúl F Domínguez-Guerrero, José D L Tufiño, Martha M Muñoz, Thomas J Near","doi":"10.1098/rsbl.2025.0157","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rsbl.2025.0157","url":null,"abstract":"Discovering traits that facilitate survival through mass extinctions is of great interest to scholars of macroevolution. Here, we show that the common ancestry of xantusiid night lizards, a species-poor lineage with conserved anatomy, precedes the Cretaceous-Palaeogene boundary. We reconstruct the geographic distribution of the stem lineages of three living genera, Lepidophyma, Xantusia, and the monospecific Cricosaura, as surrounding the Gulf of Mexico, identifying Xantusiidae as the only tetrapod crown clade currently known to have survived the Cretaceous-Palaeogene mass extinction proximal to the site of the bolide impact on the Yucatan Peninsula. By integrating data from living species, we show that the night lizard lineages that witnessed the bolide impact likely possessed low litter or clutch sizes of 1-2 individuals, challenging prevailing hypotheses derived from studies focused on species-rich clades such as birds and mammals about what traits are necessary to survive a terrestrial mass extinction.","PeriodicalId":9005,"journal":{"name":"Biology Letters","volume":"21 6","pages":"20250157"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12188324/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144483107","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

A bacterial toxin-antitoxin system as a native defence element against RNA phages. 一种细菌毒素-抗毒素系统，作为抵抗RNA噬菌体的天然防御元素。

IF 2.8 2区生物学

Biology Letters Pub Date : 2025-06-01 Epub Date: 2025-06-11 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2025.0080

Nela Nikolic, Maroš Pleška, Tobias Bergmiller, Călin C Guet

{"title":"A bacterial toxin-antitoxin system as a native defence element against RNA phages.","authors":"Nela Nikolic, Maroš Pleška, Tobias Bergmiller, Călin C Guet","doi":"10.1098/rsbl.2025.0080","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rsbl.2025.0080","url":null,"abstract":"Bacteria have evolved a wide range of defence strategies to protect themselves against bacterial viruses (phages). Most known bacterial antiphage defence systems target phages with DNA genomes, which raises the question of how bacteria defend against phages with RNA genomes. Bacterial toxin-antitoxin systems that cleave intracellular RNA could potentially protect bacteria against RNA phages, but this has not been explored experimentally. In this study, we investigated the role of a model toxin-antitoxin system, MazEF, in protecting Escherichia coli against two RNA phage species. When challenged with these phages, the native presence of mazEF moderately reduced population susceptibility and increased the survival of individual E. coli cells. Genomic analysis further revealed an underrepresentation of the MazF cleavage site in genomes of RNA phages infecting E. coli, indicating selection against cleavage. These results show that, in addition to other physiological roles, RNA-degrading toxin-antitoxin systems may also help defend against RNA phages.","PeriodicalId":9005,"journal":{"name":"Biology Letters","volume":"21 6","pages":"20250080"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12151602/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144265203","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

Photoperiodic and intrinsic circadian regulation of heart rate in Daphnia pulex. 水蚤心率的光周期和内在昼夜节律调节。

IF 2.8 2区生物学

Biology Letters Pub Date : 2025-06-01 Epub Date: 2025-06-18 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2025.0142

Timothy J Hearn, Millicenta Ampiah, Linda King, David Whitmore

引用次数: 0

Adult predation shapes the evolution of swimming performance in guppies (Poecilia reticulata). 孔雀鱼（Poecilia reticulata）的成虫捕食决定了其游泳行为的进化。

IF 2.8 2区生物学

Biology Letters Pub Date : 2025-06-01 Epub Date: 2025-06-25 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2025.0139

Mingfang Yang, Hannah De Waele, Arjan P Palstra, Alexander Kotrschal

{"title":"Adult predation shapes the evolution of swimming performance in guppies (Poecilia reticulata).","authors":"Mingfang Yang, Hannah De Waele, Arjan P Palstra, Alexander Kotrschal","doi":"10.1098/rsbl.2025.0139","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rsbl.2025.0139","url":null,"abstract":"Predation pressure plays an important role in shaping animal behaviour and physiology, driving prey species to evolve stronger escape strategies. Swimming performance is a key trait for many aquatic organisms to evade predation. It is therefore intuitive that increased predation pressure should select for faster swimming abilities when outswimming predators is a viable option for prey. However, experimental evidence allowing for a causal link between predation and the evolution of swimming performance is currently lacking. Here, we used artificial selection lines of guppies (Poecilia reticulata) based on predation survival to test the evolutionary relationship between predation pressure and swimming speed. We used a swim tunnel with incremental increase in water flow to test critical swimming speed. Our results show that predation-line females, but not males, outperformed those of the control-lines in critical swimming speed. We also found that in predation-line females the variance in critical swimming speed was reduced in comparison with control-line females, which is congruent with directional selection against slow swimming genotypes. This study provides experimental evidence for the evolutionary role of predation pressure in enhancing swimming performance and shaping behavioural adaptations in prey species.","PeriodicalId":9005,"journal":{"name":"Biology Letters","volume":"21 6","pages":"20250139"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12187427/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144483105","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

Fiddler crab claws work as a deflection antipredator defence. 招潮蟹的爪子是一种防掠食者的偏转防御。

IF 2.8 2区生物学

Biology Letters Pub Date : 2025-06-01 Epub Date: 2025-06-18 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2024.0694

Diogo Jackson Aquino Silva, Samuel Bear Powell, Marilia Fernandes Erickson, Fabio Cortesi, Daniel Marques Almeida Pessoa, Karen Louise Cheney

{"title":"Fiddler crab claws work as a deflection antipredator defence.","authors":"Diogo Jackson Aquino Silva, Samuel Bear Powell, Marilia Fernandes Erickson, Fabio Cortesi, Daniel Marques Almeida Pessoa, Karen Louise Cheney","doi":"10.1098/rsbl.2024.0694","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rsbl.2024.0694","url":null,"abstract":"Conspicuous coloration in body parts that can be autotomized, diverting predator attacks from vital to non-vital regions, is called deflection. Fiddler crabs typically have a cryptic or conspicuous carapace (vital area), while the claw (non-vital) is often conspicuous and used for social communication. Here, we tested whether the conspicuous claws of fiddler crabs divert predator attacks away from their carapaces, enhancing survival. To do this, we used a robotic crab model that replicated the colours and reproductive waving display of the two-toned fiddler crab, Gelasimus vomeris. Models were placed in the field to be attacked by Australian brush-turkeys, Alectura lathami. We analysed whether the first attack was directed at the claw or the carapace with differently coloured models. Our results show that robot crab models with conspicuous claws drew half of the attacks to the claw, whereas models with non-conspicuous claws were attacked predominately on the carapace. This suggests that the claws of the fiddler crabs effectively attract attacks away from the carapace, functioning as a deflection mechanism. This is the first study demonstrating a claw-deflection strategy in crustaceans, indicating that the claw not only plays a role in intraspecific signalling but also mitigates associated predation risks.","PeriodicalId":9005,"journal":{"name":"Biology Letters","volume":"21 6","pages":"20240694"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12173484/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144315862","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

Lactation at hot temperature: a test of heat dissipation limitation in mice divergently selected for basal metabolic rate. 高温哺乳：基础代谢率发散选择小鼠的散热限制试验。

IF 2.8 2区生物学

Biology Letters Pub Date : 2025-06-01 Epub Date: 2025-06-04 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2025.0048

Sylwia Buczyńska, Aneta Książek, Sebastian Maciak, Paweł Brzęk, Catherine Hambly, John R Speakman, Marek Konarzewski

{"title":"Lactation at hot temperature: a test of heat dissipation limitation in mice divergently selected for basal metabolic rate.","authors":"Sylwia Buczyńska, Aneta Książek, Sebastian Maciak, Paweł Brzęk, Catherine Hambly, John R Speakman, Marek Konarzewski","doi":"10.1098/rsbl.2025.0048","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rsbl.2025.0048","url":null,"abstract":"The HDL (heat dissipation limitation) hypothesis posits that mammalian energy budgets (SuSMR, sustained metabolic rate) are limited by the ability to dissipate metabolic heat. The HDL hypothesis has been tested in lactating mice but rarely systematically differs in SuSMR. Here, we used lines of laboratory mice divergently selected for basal metabolic rate (BMR) and effectively co-selected for SuSMR. We exposed lactating females to 23 and 30°C and manipulated their heat dissipation abilities by fur shaving. Exposure to 30°C did not affect the high BMR mice's litter mass but increased litter mass in the low BMR mice. Fur shaving did not affect litter mass. However, it decreased body temperature (Tb) by 0.2°C in the shaved mice, independent of line affiliation and ambient temperature. In both lines exposed to 30°C, the Tb increased by 0.2°C, while daily energy expenditure (a proxy of SuSMR) decreased by 20% and still was higher in the high BMR mice. These results do not support the HDL hypothesis. Low SuSMR individuals may benefit from higher ambient temperatures because of reduced costs of thermoregulation. It may change the course of natural selection towards reducing SuSMR and BMR.","PeriodicalId":9005,"journal":{"name":"Biology Letters","volume":"21 6","pages":"20250048"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12133350/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144214823","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

Rebuilding the critically endangered Yangtze finless porpoise population: successful release from an ex situ conservation programme. 重建极度濒危的长江江豚种群：从迁地保护计划中成功释放。

IF 2.8 2区生物学

Biology Letters Pub Date : 2025-06-01 Epub Date: 2025-06-04 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2024.0719

Jiansong Qiu, Yang Zheng, Fei Fan, Jinsong Zheng, Qiang Zeng, Zijia Xu, Qiang Gao, Kexiong Wang, Songhai Li, Ding Wang, Zhigang Mei

{"title":"Rebuilding the critically endangered Yangtze finless porpoise population: successful release from an ex situ conservation programme.","authors":"Jiansong Qiu, Yang Zheng, Fei Fan, Jinsong Zheng, Qiang Zeng, Zijia Xu, Qiang Gao, Kexiong Wang, Songhai Li, Ding Wang, Zhigang Mei","doi":"10.1098/rsbl.2024.0719","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rsbl.2024.0719","url":null,"abstract":"Ex situ conservation and population reinforcements or reintroductions are vital strategies for protecting endangered species, yet efforts for cetaceans have been notably limited. Through post-release monitoring based on wearable radio tag and passive acoustic methods, we report the first successful release of a critically endangered small toothed whale, the Yangtze finless porpoise (Neophocaena asiaeorientalis asiaeorientalis), into the wild. Our monitoring results indicate that, by the third day after release, the two porpoises from the ex situ population had joined a local individual and gradually integrated into the core distribution area of the local population. Continuous monitoring by the Yangtze Cetacean Protection Network revealed no recorded deaths among the released porpoises. This successful release demonstrates the potential of this approach as a supplementary measure for the restoration of the Yangtze finless porpoise wild population.","PeriodicalId":9005,"journal":{"name":"Biology Letters","volume":"21 6","pages":"20240719"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12133335/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144214824","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