Animal Behavior and Reproduction

The paper examines how increased yolk testosterone affects DNA methylation and phenotypes in wild great tit nestlings, finding sex-specific methylation changes at 763 CpG sites linked to growth, oxidative stress, and reproduction.

This study shows that turquoise killifish males experience reproductive aging despite being short-lived, with declining sperm quality and reduced embryo survival as they age.

This study shows that in male mice, competition amplifies the impact of early life contingency, leading to divergent life trajectories, while this effect is absent in females.

This study examines sexual reproduction in the Japanese stick insect Ramulus mikado, finding that rare males lack sperm and offspring show no paternal alleles, supporting irreversible asexual reproduction.

This study develops an agent-based model to explore how costs of acquiring private and social information influence dispersal strategies in butterflies across stable and variable environments.

This study examines how socio-ecological factors influence sexual selection and mating strategies in Drosophila prolongata, showing context-dependent shifts in competition modes and trait significance.

This study shows that genetic rescue effectiveness depends on rescuer sexual selection background, but its benefits decline over generations in Red Flour Beetle populations.

The paper examines challenges in reaction norm predictions for wild populations, focusing on errors-in-variables, reference value uncertainty, and validation difficulties, and proposes a validation method using split data and prediction error analysis.

The paper tests for heritable genetic variation in male mate choice for large females in Drosophila melanogaster and finds additive genetic variation in both pre- and post-copulatory components.

This study identifies genetic, natal, and spatial factors influencing social behaviors in wild great tits, finding small genetic effects and significant non-genetic influences.

This study tracks activity variation in ruffs from early life to maturity, finding strong sex differences but inconsistent morph-specific activity differences.

This study shows Drosophila melanogaster females prefer longer sperm regardless of mating order and can adjust this preference based on factors like pheromones, indicating female-mediated cryptic choice.

The paper examines how exposure to novel females affects testis mass and sperm production in male prairie voles, showing increased reproductive output in socially monogamous males.

The study examines nest construction repeatability in House Wrens, finding that cup composition is repeatable but nest dimensions are cavity-driven and not linked to fitness.

This study shows that reproductive decline in old polygynous males is due to seminal fluid limitations, not sperm number, using Drosophila melanogaster.

This study shows that social information from conspecific rivals influences oviposition decisions in Aedes aegypti, with effects varying by spatial scale and ecological context.

This study models how individual task specialization influences division of labor in vertebrates, finding that direct survival benefits drive cooperation, while harsh environments favor division of labor.

This study quantifies male African elephant personality durability across social contexts, finding consistent behaviors and social influences on individual character.

This study tracks 128 plants over 38 years to show that lifetime fecundity schedules vary among individuals and are subject to selection.

The paper compares sperm swimming speed and morphology among three genetic morphs of ruff sandpipers and finds Faeder sperm are slowest, but Independent sperm do not show expected higher quality.

This paper conducts a meta-analysis of experimental studies to assess the role of pleiotropy in the evolution of animal color and behavior, finding a positive association between aggression and coloration across species.

The paper investigates breeding coloration in male cardinalfish, finding that inconspicuous white structures in the lower jaw help conceal eggs during mouthbrooding, suggesting a functional shift from attracting mates to increasing survival.

The paper investigates whether personality homophily drives friendships in female water buffalo, finding that lower differences in social tension and dominance traits correlate with closer spatial associations.

This study investigates how disturbance and social environment affect background colour choice in rock-pool mosquitoes, finding significant social influence and individual variation.

The paper examines sex-specific changes in boldness and exploration in midday gerbils, finding that female colonists retain bold traits over generations while male traits decline.

The paper examines how social rank in African cichlid fish affects courtship and mating success in a controlled social experiment.

This study uses experimental evolution in C. elegans to show sex-specific gene expression changes driven by sexual selection, revealing transcriptomic sexual conflict over short evolutionary timescales.

The paper models optimal immunity investment under varying parasite pressure and sexual selection, showing resistance futility at high parasite abundance and tolerance futility at high virulence, but joint resistance-tolerance traits remain profitable.

The paper shows that environmental similarity between relatives reduces heritability estimates of reproductive timing in great tits by accounting for shared environments.

The paper identifies genetic loci underlying bill color variation in long-tailed finches, showing that yellow alleles arose and introgressed into a red subspecies under natural selection.