Biology Letters最新文献_第6页

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":"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

New frontiers in dinosaur exploration. 恐龙探索的新领域。

IF 2.8 2区生物学

Biology Letters Pub Date : 2025-04-01 Epub Date: 2025-04-30 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2025.0045

Susannah Maidment, Richard J Butler

{"title":"New frontiers in dinosaur exploration.","authors":"Susannah Maidment, Richard J Butler","doi":"10.1098/rsbl.2025.0045","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2025.0045","url":null,"abstract":"Two hundred years after the naming of the first dinosaur, taxonomic studies remain an important component of dinosaur research. Around 50 new dinosaurs are named each year and are discovered from across the globe. The rate of new dinosaur discovery shows no signs of slowing, but not all geographical areas and temporal windows have been equally investigated. The potential for new dinosaur discoveries in India and Africa seems particularly high, while the Carnian, when dinosaurs probably originated, and the Middle Jurassic, when the major clades diversified, offer the best opportunities to make discoveries that will fundamentally change our understanding of dinosaur evolution. A major challenge to the discovery of new dinosaurs is funding. Frontier fieldwork is sometimes viewed as too risky to fund, while basic taxonomic work is considered to lack impact. As a consequence, we risk an 'extinction of experience', where researchers have limited training in the basic field- and specimen-based research that underpins our discipline. Going forward, new remote sensing techniques may help to find prospective areas, while three-dimensional scanning apps on smartphones will allow us to quickly record field data. Artificial intelligence is likely to be used increasingly for computed tomography segmentation and identification of problematic fossils.","PeriodicalId":9005,"journal":{"name":"Biology Letters","volume":"21 4","pages":"20250045"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12042219/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143958043","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

Reassessing niche partitioning in MacArthur's warblers: foraging behaviour, morphology and diet differentiation in a phylogenetic context. 重新评估生态位划分在麦克阿瑟莺：觅食行为，形态和饮食分化在系统发育的背景下。

IF 2.8 2区生物学

Biology Letters Pub Date : 2025-04-01 Epub Date: 2025-04-16 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2025.0001

Eliot T Miller, Andrew W Wood, Marcella Baiz, Andreanna J Welch, Robert C Fleischer, Adrienne S Dale, David P L Toews

{"title":"Reassessing niche partitioning in MacArthur's warblers: foraging behaviour, morphology and diet differentiation in a phylogenetic context.","authors":"Eliot T Miller, Andrew W Wood, Marcella Baiz, Andreanna J Welch, Robert C Fleischer, Adrienne S Dale, David P L Toews","doi":"10.1098/rsbl.2025.0001","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rsbl.2025.0001","url":null,"abstract":"Owing in large part to Robert MacArthur's classic research, wood warblers in the family Parulidae are textbook exemplars of species competition and niche partitioning. Conventional wisdom suggests that subtle differences in foraging behaviour are the principal means by which these nearly morphologically indistinguishable species are able to co-occur and avoid extinction. Yet, MacArthur's study was in fact quite limited in scale, and he said little about the relevance of evolution to the study system. Here, we reassess MacArthur's conclusions across an expanded set of syntopic warbler species in a forest in northern New York. We combine morphometrics, quantitative foraging data and faecal metabarcoding-a direct measure of warbler diet-to study competition and niche partitioning in an evolutionary framework. We find close relationships between morphology and foraging behaviour, but little connection between warbler ecomorphology and the 2237 invertebrate taxa detected in their diets. Instead, diet remains phylogenetically conserved-closely related warblers eat similar suites of invertebrates, regardless of where they forage. Finally, we present evidence that these species not only partition niche space in the present day but also that competition has shaped their behaviours over evolutionary time.","PeriodicalId":9005,"journal":{"name":"Biology Letters","volume":"21 4","pages":"20250001"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11999737/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143972211","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

Latitude shapes diel patterns in insect biodiversity. 纬度决定了昆虫生物多样性的变化模式。

IF 2.8 2区生物学

Biology Letters Pub Date : 2025-04-01 Epub Date: 2025-04-30 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2024.0622

Mark K L Wong

{"title":"Latitude shapes diel patterns in insect biodiversity.","authors":"Mark K L Wong","doi":"10.1098/rsbl.2024.0622","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2024.0622","url":null,"abstract":"The writings of naturalists from two centuries past are brimming with accounts of the stark differences in the kinds and numbers of organisms encountered during the day and night as well as between the tropical and temperate zones. However, only recently have ecologists begun to systematically explore the geographic variation in the diel activity patterns of species on Earth. Examining data from 60 insect communities distributed globally, I find that the proportion of nocturnal species in a community declines from a peak of 36% at the equator to 8% at 60° latitude, while the proportion of diurnal species shows no significant trend. By contrast, the proportion of cathemeral (day- and night-active) species in a community increases poleward from 18% to 68% along the same gradient. These latitudinal trends in the partitioning of diel activity time among co-occurring insect species in communities broadly reflect previously documented biogeographic patterns in the global distributions of vertebrate species occupying different temporal niches. Since diel activity patterns shape insect community dynamics, uncovering their mechanistic basis and the roles of factors such as temperature, light and biotic interactions is vital for curbing insect declines in the Anthropocene.","PeriodicalId":9005,"journal":{"name":"Biology Letters","volume":"21 4","pages":"20240622"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12040444/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143969480","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

Prior mating without fertilization increases subsequent litter size in mice. 事先交配而不受精会增加小鼠随后的产仔数。

IF 2.8 2区生物学

Biology Letters Pub Date : 2025-04-01 Epub Date: 2025-04-09 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2024.0659

Laura R B Wilkinson, Heather Try, Sarah A Robertson, Robert C Brooks, Michael Garratt

{"title":"Prior mating without fertilization increases subsequent litter size in mice.","authors":"Laura R B Wilkinson, Heather Try, Sarah A Robertson, Robert C Brooks, Michael Garratt","doi":"10.1098/rsbl.2024.0659","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rsbl.2024.0659","url":null,"abstract":"Female exposure to seminal fluid influences multiple aspects of reproductive physiology. We tested the hypothesis that extended exposure to seminal fluid prior to pregnancy provides fertility benefits, as predicted from human studies linking seminal fluid exposure to a reduced incidence of pregnancy disorders. Female mice were co-housed for five months with either vasectomized males (producing seminal plasma but not sperm), vasectomized males without seminal vesicles (producing neither seminal plasma nor sperm), intact males or other females, before mating all females with intact males to assess pregnancy outcomes. We found an increase in litter size at birth in females previously exposed to vasectomized males that was not evident after mating with seminal vesicle-excised males, although the latter comparison had less power. However, postnatal loss of offspring led to similar litter sizes between groups at weaning. In a second study, we observed that females previously housed with vasectomized males and later mated to intact males maintained more fetuses compared with naive females in late pregnancy. Placental morphology was also altered with a significant decrease in the size of the labyrinthine zone, a sign of increased placental efficiency. These results provide experimental evidence that preconception seminal fluid exposure in the absence of conception can improve later pregnancy outcomes in mice.","PeriodicalId":9005,"journal":{"name":"Biology Letters","volume":"21 4","pages":"20240659"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11978440/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143810427","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

Soma-germ contact across the basement membrane in the ovary. 通过卵巢基底膜与胚芽接触。

IF 2.8 2区生物学

Biology Letters Pub Date : 2025-04-01 Epub Date: 2025-04-23 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2025.0056

Yasuhiko Chikami, Kensuke Yahata

{"title":"Soma-germ contact across the basement membrane in the ovary.","authors":"Yasuhiko Chikami, Kensuke Yahata","doi":"10.1098/rsbl.2025.0056","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rsbl.2025.0056","url":null,"abstract":"Epithelial cells interact with other cells and environments at their apical side, while the basement membrane typically impedes such interaction at the basal surface. One notable instance is communication between soma and germ cells within the ovary across numerous bilaterian taxa. This contact underlies proper oogenesis and subsequent embryogenesis. Throughout the history of morphology and cell biology, there has been an emphasis on this heterocellular interaction primarily occurring at the apical side of epithelial cells. Contrary to this long-standing understanding, we uncover that ovarian follicle cells in two myriapod species belonging to phylogenetically basal myriapod clades extend their cytoplasmic processes, penetrating the basement membrane to establish direct contact with oocytes. These discoveries demonstrate that the ovarian soma-germ interaction transverses the basement membrane, suggesting that the basal matrix is not always a physical barrier to soma-germ communication. Furthermore, we find that the ovarian somatic cells in a myriapod directly connect with the oogonia or young oocyte before forming their basement membrane. These results encourage reconsidering the conventional view of soma-germ interaction and suggest an overlooked construction manner of heterocellular communication in epithelial cells.","PeriodicalId":9005,"journal":{"name":"Biology Letters","volume":"21 4","pages":"20250056"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12014236/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143953676","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

Correction: 'Risk-sensitive foraging in a tropical lizard' (2024), by Banerjee and Thaker. 更正：Banerjee和Thaker的《热带蜥蜴的风险敏感觅食》（2024）。

IF 2.8 2区生物学

Biology Letters Pub Date : 2025-04-01 Epub Date: 2025-04-09 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2025.0106

Avik Banerjee, Maria Thaker

引用次数: 0

Brood-parasitic female cowbirds have better numerical abilities than males on a task resembling nest prospecting behaviour. 寄生于巢内的雌牛郎鸟比雄牛郎鸟有更好的计算能力，比如寻找巢穴的行为。

IF 2.8 2区生物学

Biology Letters Pub Date : 2025-04-01 Epub Date: 2025-04-09 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2024.0670

Mélanie F Guigueno, Marco Alexander Coto, David F Sherry

{"title":"Brood-parasitic female cowbirds have better numerical abilities than males on a task resembling nest prospecting behaviour.","authors":"Mélanie F Guigueno, Marco Alexander Coto, David F Sherry","doi":"10.1098/rsbl.2024.0670","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rsbl.2024.0670","url":null,"abstract":"Selection can act in a sex-specific manner on cognitive abilities, including numerosity, especially when ecological roles differ between sexes. However, few systems exist in which numerical abilities would be expected to differ between the sexes, and even fewer focus on systems in which females are predicted to outperform males. In obligate brood-parasitic brown-headed cowbirds (Molothrus ater), only females select and parasitize host nests, and would benefit from enhanced numerical abilities to distinguish suitable host nests in the process of egg laying from unsuitable nests that have begun incubation. To test this hypothesis, we trained cowbirds to use touchscreens and discriminate between sets of images differing in number. Cowbirds distinguished images based on number alone (i.e. without using non-numerical cues), and females outperformed males across combinations of objects ranging from one to six (range in host egg numbers), but this difference disappeared across higher numbered combinations. In addition, males spent less time deciding on the correct stimulus than females, but made less accurate decisions overall, suggesting they 'guessed' correct answers more than females. We add to the growing evidence for complex numerical abilities in diverse taxa, and show these abilities can be shaped by ecology in a sex-specific way.","PeriodicalId":9005,"journal":{"name":"Biology Letters","volume":"21 4","pages":"20240670"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12001982/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143810420","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

Male inbreeding reduces fertility, but does not accelerate in vivo sperm senescence: an experimental approach in a polyandrous bird. 雄性近亲繁殖降低生育力，但不加速体内精子衰老：一种实验方法在一妻多夫制鸟类。

IF 2.8 2区生物学

Biology Letters Pub Date : 2025-04-01 Epub Date: 2025-04-30 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2025.0083

Matteo Beccardi, Barbara Tschirren, Oscar Vedder

引用次数: 0

Guided by the northern star coral: a research synthesis and roadmap for Astrangia poculata. 以北星珊瑚为指导：亚洲珊瑚的研究综合和路线图。

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