Animal Behavior and Reproduction

This study shows that morphological traits, not socio-cognitive demands, are key predictors of brain size evolution in birds.

The paper identifies pseudo-tail spots in barn swallows as a potential early stage of deceptive ornamentation, with low frequency and slow evolutionary change.

This study examines phylogenetic patterns in nest type and other traits of Icteridae birds to assess if they evolved to avoid parasitism by Molothrus species.

This study quantifies phenotypic plasticity and genetic variation in Wahlenbergia ceracea, finding strong plastic responses to growth temperature over parental effects and genetic variation.

The paper shows that metabolic division of labour in burying beetles changes plastically and evolves when post-hatching care is removed, with larvae from populations without care being more successful in carrion consumption and survival.

The paper investigates the relationship between forceps length and six behavioural and physiological traits in European earwig males, finding no main association between forceps length and the traits measured.

The paper investigates capelin mating strategies, finding that males can regenerate semen, supporting the endurance rivalry hypothesis despite small testes and unique sperm physiology.

This study shows that social environment influences sex-biased aggression in Julidochromis marlieri, with larger fish in pairs being more aggressive and male-larger pairs showing sex-specific responses to intruder sex.

The paper uses a spatially explicit model to show spatial structure enables coexistence of alternative reproductive tactics in tree crickets by equalizing mating benefits.

The paper investigates the role of climate and habitat in the evolution of social grouping in lizards, finding that sociality is linked to cool, dry climates through indirect ecological adaptations.

The paper models how seminal fluid peptides synchronize sperm and egg release in Drosophila, showing SP exhaustion as a key signal and limiting sexual conflict over remating behavior.

The paper investigates sexual antagonistic coevolution in Panopeus meridionalis, finding that extreme male-biased size dimorphism is driven by coercive mating strategies and limited female control over paternity.

The paper partitions lifetime reproductive output skewness into contributions from fixed traits and various forms of luck, finding lifespan variation is key to reproductive skew and exceptional success.

The paper decomposes population ecological life histories of 11,187 bird species to show how selection on mass explains most inter-specific variation in body mass, demography, and ecological traits.

The paper models how ornamental traits evolve as a defense against mimicry at the monogamy-polygyny interface, showing that increased female preference variation leads to unpredictable male phenotypes that are hard to mimic.

The paper examines guppy male phenotypes associated with coercive mating success, finding traits that partially overlap with those advantageous in cooperative mating.

The paper investigates whether DNA methylation changes mediate developmental plasticity in cane toad tadpoles exposed to cannibal or alarm cues, finding distinct methylation patterns for each cue type.

The paper critiques a previous study claiming menopause is widespread in mammals, showing its methodology is flawed and concluding menopause is rare.

The paper examines display evolution in leaf warblers, finding that core aggressive display features are conserved across species, with variations arising from discrete modifications.

The paper examines how larval and adult diet interactions affect lifespan and fecundity in Drosophila melanogaster, finding no consistent support for environmental matching or silver spoon models.

The paper discovers a new shell color polymorphism in Lymnaea stagnalis and shows it follows simple Mendelian inheritance.

The paper finds that in guppies, telomere length is negatively correlated with sperm production, suggesting a trade-off between reproduction and maintenance rather than aging.

The paper shows that a regime shift in Atlantic salmon populations led to a plastic response bypassing genetic influences on maturation age, despite unchanged allele frequencies.

The paper investigates maternal age effects on offspring longevity and male production in Daphnia magna, finding a reverse Lansing effect and linking it to lipid provisioning and mitochondrial quality.

The paper finds that inbred house sparrows have shorter telomeres in early life, with some evidence of stronger effects in males.

This study investigates the heritability of fetal testosterone in wild nutrias, finding sex-specific genetic architecture and low cross-sex genetic correlation.

The paper compares brain transcriptomes of invasive cane toads from different populations to identify gene expression differences linked to dispersal behaviour during range expansion.

The paper shows that POT1 gene expression predicts performance in tree swallows and responds to stress, suggesting it modulates life history strategies more than telomere length itself.

The paper identifies 30 genetic variants associated with offspring number and weight in Drosophila melanogaster under laboratory conditions, supporting a polygenic model with small-effect variants.