Tick attachment cement – reviewing the mysteries of a biological skin plug system
ABSTRACT
The majority of ticks in the family Ixodidae secrete a substance anchoring their mouthparts to the host skin. This substance is termed cement. It has adhesive properties and seals the lesion during feeding. The particular chemical composition and the curing process of the cement are unclear. This review summarizes the literature, starting with a historical overview, briefly introducing the different hypotheses on the origin of the adhesive and how the tick salivary glands have been identified as its source. Details on the sequence of cement deposition, the curing process and detachment are provided. Other possible...
Source: Biological Reviews - November 1, 2017 Category: Biology Authors: Johannes Suppan, Benedikt Engel, Martina Marchetti ‐Deschmann, Sylvia Nürnberger Tags: Original Article Source Type: research
Scaling biodiversity responses to hydrological regimes
We present a conceptual model to unite the effects of different ecohydrological mechanisms on freshwater biodiversity across spatial scales, and develop four principles for applying a multi‐scaled understanding of freshwater biodiversity responses to hydrological regimes. The protection and restoration of freshwater biodiversity is both a fundamental justification and a central goal of environmental water allocation worldwide. Clearer integration of concepts of spatial scaling in the context of understanding impacts of hydrological regimes on biodiversity will increase uptake of evidence into environmental flow implement...
Source: Biological Reviews - November 1, 2017 Category: Biology Authors: Robert J. Rolls, Jani Heino, Darren S. Ryder, Bruce C. Chessman, Ivor O. Growns, Ross M. Thompson, Keith B. Gido Tags: Original Article Source Type: research
The function and mechanism of vocal accommodation in humans and other primates
ABSTRACT
The study of non‐human animals, in particular primates, can provide essential insights into language evolution. A critical element of language is vocal production learning, i.e. learning how to produce calls. In contrast to other lineages such as songbirds, vocal production learning of completely new signals is strikingly rare in non‐human primates. An increasing body of research, however, suggests that various species of non‐human primates engage in vocal accommodation and adjust the structure of their calls in response to environmental noise or conspecific vocalizations. To date it is unclear what role voc...
Source: Biological Reviews - November 1, 2017 Category: Biology Authors: Hanna Ruch, Yvonne Z ürcher, Judith M. Burkart Tags: Original Article Source Type: research
Ediacaran developmental biology
ABSTRACT
Rocks of the Ediacaran System (635–541 Ma) preserve fossil evidence of some of the earliest complex macroscopic organisms, many of which have been interpreted as animals. However, the unusual morphologies of some of these organisms have made it difficult to resolve their biological relationships to modern metazoan groups. Alternative competing phylogenetic interpretations have been proposed for Ediacaran taxa, including algae, fungi, lichens, rhizoid protists, and even an extinct higher‐order group (Vendobionta). If a metazoan affinity can be demonstrated for these organisms, as advocated by many researchers,...
Source: Biological Reviews - November 1, 2017 Category: Biology Authors: Frances S. Dunn, Alexander G. Liu, Philip C. J. Donoghue Tags: Original Article Source Type: research
Structure, function, and regulation of mitofusin ‐2 in health and disease
ABSTRACT
Mitochondria are highly dynamic organelles that constantly migrate, fuse, and divide to regulate their shape, size, number, and bioenergetic function. Mitofusins (Mfn1/2), optic atrophy 1 (OPA1), and dynamin‐related protein 1 (Drp1), are key regulators of mitochondrial fusion and fission. Mutations in these molecules are associated with severe neurodegenerative and non‐neurological diseases pointing to the importance of functional mitochondrial dynamics in normal cell physiology. In recent years, significant progress has been made in our understanding of mitochondrial dynamics, which has raised interest in def...
Source: Biological Reviews - October 25, 2017 Category: Biology Authors: Gursimran Chandhok, Michael Lazarou, Brent Neumann Tags: Original Article Source Type: research
Structure, function, and regulation of mitofusin ‐2 in health and disease
Biological Reviews, EarlyView. (Source: Biological Reviews)
Source: Biological Reviews - October 25, 2017 Category: Biology Source Type: research
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Biological Reviews, Ahead of Print. (Source: Biological Reviews)
Source: Biological Reviews - October 25, 2017 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Innovation not recovery: dynamic redox promotes metazoan radiations
ABSTRACT
Environmental fluctuations in redox may reinforce rather than hinder evolutionary transitions, such that variability in near‐surface oceanic oxygenation can promote morphological evolution and novelty. Modern, low‐oxygen regions are heterogeneous and dynamic habitats that support low diversity and are inhabited by opportunistic and non‐skeletal metazoans. We note that several major radiation episodes follow protracted or repeating intervals (>1 million years) of persistent and dynamic shallow marine redox (oceanic anoxic events). These are also often associated with short‐lived mass‐extinction events...
Source: Biological Reviews - October 16, 2017 Category: Biology Authors: Rachel Wood, Douglas H. Erwin Tags: Original Article Source Type: research
Innovation not recovery: dynamic redox promotes metazoan radiations
Biological Reviews, EarlyView. (Source: Biological Reviews)
Source: Biological Reviews - October 16, 2017 Category: Biology Source Type: research
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Biological Reviews, Ahead of Print. (Source: Biological Reviews)
Source: Biological Reviews - October 16, 2017 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Tethyan changes shaped aquatic diversification
ABSTRACT
The Tethys Ocean existed between the continents of Gondwana and Laurasia from the Triassic to the Pliocene. Analyses of multiple biogeographic and phylogenetic histories reveal that the subsequent breakup of the Tethys greatly influenced the distributions of many species. The ancestral Tethyan realm broke into five biogeographic provinces, including the present‐day East Pacific, West Atlantic, East Atlantic, Mediterranean Sea, and Indo‐West Pacific. Palaeogeographic maps illustrate the Mesozoic Atlantic opening, the Cenozoic closure of the Tethys, the Messinian Salinity Crisis, the mid‐Miocene closure of the...
Source: Biological Reviews - October 12, 2017 Category: Biology Authors: Zhonge Hou, Shuqiang Li Tags: Original Article Source Type: research
Tethyan changes shaped aquatic diversification
Biological Reviews, EarlyView. (Source: Biological Reviews)
Source: Biological Reviews - October 12, 2017 Category: Biology Source Type: research
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Biological Reviews, Ahead of Print. (Source: Biological Reviews)
Source: Biological Reviews - October 12, 2017 Category: Biology Source Type: research
How intraspecific variation in seed ‐dispersing animals matters for plants
In conclusion, focusing on variation among foraging animals rather than on species averages might bring new, mechanistic insights to the phenomenon of seed dispersal. While this shift in perspective is unlikely to replace the traditional approach (based on the assumption that all important variation occurs among species), it provides a complementary alternative to decipher the enormous variation observed in animal‐mediated seed dispersal. (Source: Biological Reviews)
Source: Biological Reviews - October 11, 2017 Category: Biology Authors: Rafa ł Zwolak Tags: Original Article Source Type: research
How intraspecific variation in seed ‐dispersing animals matters for plants
Biological Reviews, EarlyView. (Source: Biological Reviews)
Source: Biological Reviews - October 10, 2017 Category: Biology Source Type: research
