The influence of diet on gut microbiome and body mass dynamics in a...
Gut-associated microbial communities are known to play a vital role in the health and fitness of their hosts. Though studies investigating the factors associated with among-individual variation in...
View ArticleA closer look at the taxonomic and genetic diversity of endemic South African...
The current study investigates the final unresolved cosmopolitan species of Marphysa in South Africa, Marphysa corallina, collected from KwaZulu Natal, Eastern and Western Cape provinces, together with...
View ArticleKeep the ball rolling: sexual differences in conglobation behavior of a...
Background Antipredator behaviors are theoretically subjected to a balance by which their display should be minimized when their benefits do not outweigh their costs. Such costs may be not only...
View ArticleA review of sebum in mammals in relation to skin diseases, skin function, and...
Diseases vary among and within species but the causes of this variation can be unclear. Immune responses are an important driver of disease variation, but mechanisms on how the body resists pathogen...
View ArticleMalformed trilobites from the Cambrian, Ordovician, and Silurian of Australia
Biomineralised remains of trilobites provide important insight into the evolutionary history of a diverse, extinct group of arthropods. Their exoskeletons are also ideal for recording malformations,...
View ArticleSpatial ecology of the Giant Sea Bass, Stereolepis gigas, in a southern...
The fisheries history of the Giant Sea Bass, Stereolepis gigas (Telostei: Polyprionidae), is closely linked to its spatial ecology. Its overharvest is directly associated with formation of spatially...
View ArticleImpacts of tilapia aquaculture on native fish diversity at an ecologically...
Background The Temengor Reservoir is the second largest reservoir in Peninsular Malaysia. Located in the northwestern state of Perak, it was selected to develop a large-scale tilapia (Oreochromis...
View ArticleShedding light on the Ophel biome: the trans-Tethyan phylogeography of the...
Background Tethysbaena are small peracarid crustaceans inhabiting extreme environments such as subterranean lakes and thermal springs, represented by endemic species found around the ancient Tethys,...
View ArticleUneven demographic consequences of the 2022 disease outbreak for the sea...
Pervasive epizootic events have had a significant impact on marine invertebrates throughout the Caribbean, leading to severe population declines and consequential ecological implications. One such...
View ArticleValidating osteological correlates for the hepatic piston in the American...
Unlike the majority of sauropsids, which breathe primarily through costal and abdominal muscle contractions, extant crocodilians have evolved the hepatic piston pump, a unique additional ventilatory...
View ArticleNiche conservatism and convergence in birds of three cenocrons in the Mexican...
Background The niche conservatism hypothesis postulates that physiological and phylogenetic factors constrain species distributions, creating richness hotspots with older lineages in ancestral...
View ArticleExperimental trials of species-specific bat flight responses to an ultrasonic...
Unintended consequences of increasing wind energy production include bat mortalities from wind turbine blade strikes. Ultrasonic deterrents (UDs) have been developed to reduce bat mortalities at wind...
View ArticleSystematic review of residual toxicity studies of pesticides to bees and...
Residues of pesticides on crops can result in mortality to foraging bees. Pesticide applicators in the U.S. encounter a statement on pesticide labels, which coarsely indicate which products dissipate...
View ArticleDescription of a new fossil Thelyphonida (Arachnida, Uropygi) and further...
Background A new fossil species of whipscorpion, Mesoproctus rayolin. sp., is described. The specimen originates from the Crato Formation, dating to the Lower Cretaceous (Aptian/Albian) period within...
View ArticleTemporal trends of land-use favourability for the strongly declining little...
The little bustard (Tetrax tetrax) is a steppe bird strongly and negatively influenced by agricultural intensification in Europe. Here, we use the little bustard as a model species to examine how...
View ArticleGeographical distribution of two major quarantine fruit flies (Bactrocera...
Both Bactrocera minax and Bactrocera dorsalis are phytophagous insects, and their larvae are latent feeders, which cause great damage and economic losses to agriculture production and trade. This study...
View ArticlePerformance of tree-building methods using a morphological dataset and a...
Recently, many studies have addressed the performance of phylogenetic tree-building methods (maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood, and Bayesian inference), focusing primarily on simulated data....
View ArticleA new perspective on the taxonomy and systematics of Arvicolinae (Gray, 1821)...
Background Arvicoline rodents are one of the most speciose and rapidly evolving mammalian lineages. Fossil arvicolines are also among the most common vertebrate fossils found in sites of Pliocene and...
View ArticleThe distribution and conservation of areas with microendemic species in a...
Background Microendemic species are species with very small geographic distributions (ranges). Their presence delimitates areas with microendemic species (AMs), denoting a spatial unit comprising at...
View ArticleA simulation study evaluating how population survival and genetic diversity...
The introduction and establishment of invasive species in regions outside their native range, is one of the major threats for the conservation of ecosystems, affecting native organisms and the habitat...
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