Biology Letters最新文献_第4页

Flowers as fungal extended phenotypes: nectar yeasts obfuscate among-plant differences in nectar sugar concentration. 花作为真菌扩展表型：花蜜酵母在花蜜糖浓度的植物差异中混淆。

IF 2.8 2区生物学

Biology Letters Pub Date : 2025-05-01 Epub Date: 2025-05-28 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2025.0095

Carlos M Herrera, Conchita Alonso

{"title":"Flowers as fungal extended phenotypes: nectar yeasts obfuscate among-plant differences in nectar sugar concentration.","authors":"Carlos M Herrera, Conchita Alonso","doi":"10.1098/rsbl.2025.0095","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rsbl.2025.0095","url":null,"abstract":"Nectar-dwelling yeasts modulate the ecology of interactions between flowers and pollinators. We assess here the hypothesis that floral nectar traits, which are a central element in most plant-pollinator relationships, can largely represent the extended fungal phenotypes of nectar-dwelling yeasts. The following specific question is addressed: do local genotypes of the specialist nectar yeast Metschnikowia reukaufii have the ability to obfuscate intrinsic individual variation among Helleborus foetidus plants in nectar sugar concentration? An array of paired plant-yeast genotypes mimicking a natural field situation was created in the laboratory by inoculating field-collected nectar from different plant individuals with distinct yeast genotypes following a factorial design. Chemical analyses of nectar sugars before and after exposure to yeasts were performed using ion-exchange high-performance liquid chromatography. Plant individual, yeast genotype and their interaction all had strong, significant effects on sucrose concentration of H. foetidus nectar. Yeasts abolished 79% of intrinsic variance among plants in nectar sucrose concentration and profoundly reshaped patterns of intrinsic among-plant variation. Our results support the hypothesis that among-plant variation in nectar sugar concentration found by pollinators in the field can sometimes reflect the extended phenotypes of nectar yeasts more closely than intrinsic differences among the plants themselves.","PeriodicalId":9005,"journal":{"name":"Biology Letters","volume":"21 5","pages":"20250095"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12115797/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144156724","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

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

The living dinosaur: accomplishments and challenges of reconstructing dinosaur physiology. 活恐龙：重建恐龙生理的成就与挑战。

IF 2.8 2区生物学

Biology Letters Pub Date : 2025-05-01 Epub Date: 2025-05-29 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2025.0126

Stephanie L Baumgart, Clinton A Grand Pré, Jason M Bourke, Emma R Schachner

引用次数: 0

A Holocene bat colony collapse highlights the importance of hot caves in the Caribbean. 全新世蝙蝠种群的崩溃凸显了加勒比海热洞穴的重要性。

IF 2.8 2区生物学

Biology Letters Pub Date : 2025-05-01 Epub Date: 2025-05-21 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2024.0700

J Angel Soto-Centeno, Reniel Rodríguez Ramos, Pedro Ivo Mônico, Camilo A Calderón-Acevedo, Justin Bernstein, Lázaro W Viñola López

{"title":"A Holocene bat colony collapse highlights the importance of hot caves in the Caribbean.","authors":"J Angel Soto-Centeno, Reniel Rodríguez Ramos, Pedro Ivo Mônico, Camilo A Calderón-Acevedo, Justin Bernstein, Lázaro W Viñola López","doi":"10.1098/rsbl.2024.0700","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rsbl.2024.0700","url":null,"abstract":"Species loss in fragile insular communities can alter the composition and stability of local assemblages. Climate change or anthropogenic pressures are sometimes attributed to the loss of Caribbean bats, but other factors are elusive to document. We studied time-scaled changes in bat assemblage composition from a palaeontological excavation in Cueva Matos, Puerto Rico. Over 800 individual fossils were identified to species, and charcoal was used to develop an AMS 14C chronology. Although three bat species live in the cave today, fossils comprise 10 species. These included five extirpated species from the cave and three no longer present on the island. Losses centred around 2460-4470 kya. Notably, we document the first record of Mormoops megalophylla as extirpated from Puerto Rico. Nearly 90% of the extirpated bats in Cueva Matos prefer to roost in hot caves where temperatures may reach 40℃. However, these temperatures are currently not held in any cave chamber. Our findings suggest that structural changes in the cave resulted in the loss of heat traps and likely led to a sudden shift in the bat assemblage composition at this cave, which is now void of hot cave specialist bats.","PeriodicalId":9005,"journal":{"name":"Biology Letters","volume":"21 5","pages":"20240700"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12092102/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144109691","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

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":"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":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12162096/pdf/","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":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Heterochrony leads to evolutionary novelty: the catfish pectoral-fin spine (Teleostei: Siluriformes). 异时性导致了进化的新颖性：鲶鱼的胸鳍脊柱（远骨目：志龙形目）。

IF 2.8 2区生物学

Biology Letters Pub Date : 2025-05-01 Epub Date: 2025-05-21 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2025.0038

Kole M Kubicek, Ralf Britz, Kevin W Conway

{"title":"Heterochrony leads to evolutionary novelty: the catfish pectoral-fin spine (Teleostei: Siluriformes).","authors":"Kole M Kubicek, Ralf Britz, Kevin W Conway","doi":"10.1098/rsbl.2025.0038","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rsbl.2025.0038","url":null,"abstract":"Studies of sequence heterochrony have revealed changes in developmental timing during skeletogenesis, which are widespread among major groups of tetrapods and may be associated with major changes in morphology, life history and function. Despite the greater potential for heterochronic shifts to occur in actinopterygian fishes due to their more complex and morphologically diverse skeletons, similar studies within this major vertebrate group are rare. In this study, we provide an example of an association between heterochrony and the appearance of an evolutionary novelty: the pectoral-fin spine of catfishes, the highly modified anteriormost pectoral-fin ray. Using both Sequence ANOVA and PGi analyses, we show that the developmental onset of the pectoral-fin spine of catfishes is greatly pre-displaced in the sequence of ossification compared to the anteriormost pectoral-fin ray of non-siluriform otophysans. The catfish pectoral-fin spine represents a case of peramorphosis linked with a morphological and functional innovation of a highly diverse evolutionary lineage of actinopterygian fishes.","PeriodicalId":9005,"journal":{"name":"Biology Letters","volume":"21 5","pages":"20250038"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12092128/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144109694","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

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

Spider venom potency exhibits phylogenetic prey specificity but does not trade-off with body size or silk use in prey capture. 蜘蛛毒液的效力在系统发育上表现出猎物的特异性，但与身体大小或猎物捕获时使用的丝无关。

IF 2.8 2区生物学

Biology Letters Pub Date : 2025-05-01 Epub Date: 2025-05-21 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2025.0133

Keith Lyons, M M Dugon, Kevin Healy

{"title":"Spider venom potency exhibits phylogenetic prey specificity but does not trade-off with body size or silk use in prey capture.","authors":"Keith Lyons, M M Dugon, Kevin Healy","doi":"10.1098/rsbl.2025.0133","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rsbl.2025.0133","url":null,"abstract":"Spiders employ a diverse range of predator traits, including potent venoms, complex silk-hunting strategies and mechanical strength coupled with larger body sizes to capture prey. This trait diversity, along with the quantifiable nature of venom potency, makes spiders an excellent group to study evolutionary trade-offs. Yet, comparative approaches have been historically confounded by the use of atypical prey models to measure venom potency. Here, we account for such confounding issues by incorporating the phylogenetic similarity between a spider's diet and the species used to measure its venom potency. Using a phylogenetic comparative analysis of 75 spider species to test how diet, silk use in prey capture and body size drive venom yield and potency (LD50), we show that spider venoms are generally more potent against models more closely related to their natural prey, reflecting prey-specific patterns. Despite predictions, we find no trade-offs among body size, silk use and venom potency. We find that venom yield scales sublinearly with size, reflecting the 0.75 allometric scaling predicted by metabolic theory, suggesting that venom is metabolically expensive in spiders. Our approach demonstrates how contemporary comparative approaches can be applied to historic venom potency measures to test fundamental evolutionary patterns in predator traits.","PeriodicalId":9005,"journal":{"name":"Biology Letters","volume":"21 5","pages":"20250133"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12092123/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144109712","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

River dolphin cochlea has not evolved convergently. 河豚的耳蜗没有趋同进化。

IF 2.8 2区生物学

Biology Letters Pub Date : 2025-05-01 Epub Date: 2025-05-21 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2025.0035

Mariana Viglino, Travis Park

{"title":"River dolphin cochlea has not evolved convergently.","authors":"Mariana Viglino, Travis Park","doi":"10.1098/rsbl.2025.0035","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rsbl.2025.0035","url":null,"abstract":"Convergence is often invoked to explain some common morphological features in the crania and postcrania of river dolphins (Cetacea, Odontoceti). Rivers are a challenging, complex and increasingly threatened habitat, and echolocation is a critical tool for their survival. Cochlear morphology can be indicative of hearing and echolocation abilities in toothed whales. Previous analyses of river dolphin cochleae have not included all extant riverine taxa, potentially obscuring their patterns of evolution. Based on three-dimensional models obtained from micro-CT scans and using a more inclusive definition of river dolphins, we tested for convergent evolution in cochlear morphology, including extant and extinct species in a broader evolutionary framework. Results showed that the cochlea of river dolphins is not significantly disparate from marine forms, and there is more interspecific morphological variability than expected. Statistical analyses also revealed the lack of convergence in the cochlea and that other ecological variables shaped the intricate evolutionary landscape of this structure. We hypothesize that river dolphins solved the challenges imposed by the environment via their sound production apparatus (e.g. skull shape, melon, etc.) rather than the cochlea.","PeriodicalId":9005,"journal":{"name":"Biology Letters","volume":"21 5","pages":"20250035"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12092098/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144109697","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