Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences This is an RSS file. You can use it to subscribe to this data in your favourite RSS reader or to display this data on your own website or blog.

Adaptive evolution of synchronous egg-hatching in compensation for the loss of parental care
Interactions among siblings are finely balanced between rivalry and cooperation, but the factors that tip the balance towards cooperation are incompletely understood. Previous observations of insect species suggest that (i) sibling cooperation is more likely when siblings hatch at the same time, and (ii) this is more common when parents provide little to no care. In this paper, we tested these ideas experimentally with the burying beetle, Nicrophorus vespilloides. Burying beetles convert the body of a small dead vertebrate into an edible nest for their larvae, and provision and guard their young after hatching. In our firs...
Source: Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences - August 29, 2018 Category: Biology Authors: Jarrett, B. J. M., Rebar, D., Haynes, H. B., Leaf, M. R., Halliwell, C., Kemp, R., Kilner, R. M. Tags: behaviour, evolution Source Type: research

Species diversity rises exponentially with the number of available resources in a multi-trait competition model
Theoretical studies of ecosystem models have generally concluded that large numbers of species will not stably coexist if the species are all competing for the same limited set of resources. Here, we describe a simple multi-trait model of competition where the presence of N resources will lead to the stable coexistence of up to 2N species. Our model also predicts that the long-term dynamics of the population will lie on a neutral attractor hyperplane. When the population shifts within the hyperplane, its dynamics will behave neutrally, while shifts which occur perpendicular to the hyperplane will be subject to restoring fo...
Source: Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences - August 29, 2018 Category: Biology Authors: Laan, A., de Polavieja, G. G. Tags: ecology Source Type: research

Rapid aggregation of biofilm-covered microplastics with marine biogenic particles
Ocean plastic pollution has resulted in a substantial accumulation of microplastics in the marine environment. Today, this plastic litter is ubiquitous in the oceans, including even remote habitats such as deep-sea sediments and polar sea ice, and it is believed to pose a threat to ecosystem health. However, the concentration of microplastics in the surface layer of the oceans is considerably lower than expected, given the ongoing replenishment of microplastics and the tendency of many plastic types to float. It has been hypothesized that microplastics leave the upper ocean by aggregation and subsequent sedimentation. We t...
Source: Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences - August 29, 2018 Category: Biology Authors: Michels, J., Stippkugel, A., Lenz, M., Wirtz, K., Engel, A. Tags: environmental science Global change and conservation Source Type: research

Evolutionary and food supply implications of ongoing maize domestication by Mexican campesinos
Maize evolution under domestication is a process that continues today. Case studies suggest that Mexican smallholder family farmers, known as campesinos, contribute importantly to this, but their significance has not been explicitly quantified and analysed as a whole. Here, we examine the evolutionary and food security implications of the scale and scope under which campesinos produce maize. We gathered official municipal-level data on maize production under rainfed conditions and identified campesino agriculture as occurring in municipalities with average yields of less than or equal to 3 t ha–1. Environmental condi...
Source: Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences - August 29, 2018 Category: Biology Authors: Bellon, M. R., Mastretta-Yanes, A., Ponce-Mendoza, A., Ortiz-Santamaria, D., Oliveros-Galindo, O., Perales, H., Acevedo, F., Sarukhan, J. Tags: environmental science, evolution Global change and conservation Source Type: research

Origin and macroevolution of micro-moths on sunken Hawaiian Islands
The origins and evolution of Hawaiian biodiversity are a matter of controversy, and the mechanisms of lineage diversification for many organisms on this remote archipelago remain unclear. Here we focus on the poorly known endemic leaf-mining moth genus Philodoria (Lepidoptera, Gracillariidae), whose species feed on a diversity of Hawaiian plant lineages, many of which are critically endangered. We use anchored hybrid enrichment to assemble the first phylogenomic dataset (507 loci) for any Hawaiian animal taxon. To uncover the timing and pattern of diversification of these moths, we apply two frequently used dating calibrat...
Source: Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences - August 29, 2018 Category: Biology Authors: Johns, C. A., Toussaint, E. F. A., Breinholt, J. W., Kawahara, A. Y. Tags: taxonomy and systematics, genetics, evolution Source Type: research

High resolution of colour vision, but low contrast sensitivity in a diurnal raptor
Animals are thought to use achromatic signals to detect small (or distant) objects and chromatic signals for large (or nearby) objects. While the spatial resolution of the achromatic channel has been widely studied, the spatial resolution of the chromatic channel has rarely been estimated. Using an operant conditioning method, we determined (i) the achromatic contrast sensitivity function and (ii) the spatial resolution of the chromatic channel of a diurnal raptor, the Harris's hawk Parabuteo unicinctus. The maximal spatial resolution for achromatic gratings was 62.3 c deg–1, but the contrast sensitivity was relative...
Source: Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences - August 29, 2018 Category: Biology Authors: Potier, S., Mitkus, M., Kelber, A. Tags: neuroscience, behaviour Neuroscience and cognition Source Type: research

Foraging bumblebees acquire a preference for neonicotinoid-treated food with prolonged exposure
Social bees represent an important group of pollinating insects that can be exposed to potentially harmful pesticides when foraging on treated or contaminated flowering plants. To investigate if such exposure is detrimental to bees, many studies have exclusively fed individuals with pesticide-spiked food, informing us about the hazard but not necessarily the risk of exposure. While such studies are important to establish the physiological and behavioural effects on individuals, they do not consider the possibility that the risk of exposure may change over time. For example, many pesticide assays exclude potential behaviour...
Source: Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences - August 29, 2018 Category: Biology Authors: Arce, A. N., Ramos Rodrigues, A., Yu, J., Colgan, T. J., Wurm, Y., Gill, R. J. Tags: behaviour, ecology Source Type: research

Scaling of sensorimotor delays in terrestrial mammals
Whether an animal is trying to escape from a predator, avoid a fall or perform a more mundane task, the effectiveness of its sensory feedback is constrained by sensorimotor delays. Here, we combine electrophysiological experiments, systematic reviews of the literature and biophysical models to determine how delays associated with the fastest locomotor reflex scale with size in terrestrial mammals. Nerve conduction delay is one contributor, and increases strongly with animal size. Sensing, synaptic and neuromuscular junction delays also contribute, and we approximate each as a constant value independent of animal size. Musc...
Source: Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences - August 29, 2018 Category: Biology Authors: More, H. L., Donelan, J. M. Tags: neuroscience, physiology, biomechanics Neuroscience and cognition Source Type: research

Tetraconatan phylogeny with special focus on Malacostraca and Branchiopoda: highlighting the strength of taxon-specific matrices in phylogenomics
Understanding the evolution of Tetraconata or Pancrustacea—the clade that includes crustaceans and insects—requires a well-resolved hypothesis regarding the relationships within and among its constituent taxa. Here, we assembled a taxon-rich phylogenomic dataset focusing on crustacean lineages based solely on genomes and new-generation Illumina-generated transcriptomes, including 89 representatives of Tetraconata. This constitutes, to our knowledge, the first phylogenomic study specifically addressing internal relationships of Malacostraca (with 26 species included) and Branchiopoda (36 species). Seven matrices...
Source: Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences - August 22, 2018 Category: Biology Authors: Schwentner, M., Richter, S., Rogers, D. C., Giribet, G. Tags: taxonomy and systematics, evolution Source Type: research

A morphological novelty evolved by co-option of a reduced gene regulatory network and gene recruitment in a beetle
The mechanisms underlying the evolution of morphological novelties have remained enigmatic but co-option of existing gene regulatory networks (GRNs), recruitment of genes and the evolution of orphan genes have all been suggested to contribute. Here, we study a morphological novelty of beetle pupae called gin-trap. By combining the classical candidate gene approach with unbiased screening in the beetle Tribolium castaneum, we find that 70% of the tested components of the wing network were required for gin-trap development. However, many downstream and even upstream components were not included in the co-opted network. Only ...
Source: Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences - August 22, 2018 Category: Biology Authors: Hu, Y., Schmitt-Engel, C., Schwirz, J., Stroehlein, N., Richter, T., Majumdar, U., Bucher, G. Tags: developmental biology, evolution Source Type: research

The 'Woman in Red effect: pipefish males curb pregnancies at the sight of an attractive female
In an old Gene Wilder movie, an attractive woman dressed in red devastated a man's current relationship. We have found a similar ‘Woman in Red’ effect in pipefish, a group of fish where pregnancy occurs in males. We tested for the existence of pregnancy blocks in pregnant male black-striped pipefish (Syngnathus abaster). We allowed pregnant males to see females that were larger and even more attractive than their original high-quality mates and monitored the survival and growth of developing offspring. After exposure to these extremely attractive females, males produced smaller offspring in more heterogeneous b...
Source: Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences - August 22, 2018 Category: Biology Authors: Cunha, M., Berglund, A., Mendes, S., Monteiro, N. Tags: behaviour, developmental biology, evolution Development and physiology Source Type: research

Direct and indirect effects of chemical contaminants on the behaviour, ecology and evolution of wildlife
Chemical contaminants (e.g. metals, pesticides, pharmaceuticals) are changing ecosystems via effects on wildlife. Indeed, recent work explicitly performed under environmentally realistic conditions reveals that chemical contaminants can have both direct and indirect effects at multiple levels of organization by influencing animal behaviour. Altered behaviour reflects multiple physiological changes and links individual- to population-level processes, thereby representing a sensitive tool for holistically assessing impacts of environmentally relevant contaminant concentrations. Here, we show that even if direct effects of co...
Source: Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences - August 22, 2018 Category: Biology Authors: Saaristo, M., Brodin, T., Balshine, S., Bertram, M. G., Brooks, B. W., Ehlman, S. M., McCallum, E. S., Sih, A., Sundin, J., Wong, B. B. M., Arnold, K. E. Tags: behaviour, ecology, environmental science Global change and conservation Source Type: research

Metabolic rates, climate and macroevolution: a case study using Neogene molluscs
Basal metabolic rate (BMR) is posited to be a fundamental control on the structure and dynamics of ecological networks, influencing organism resource use and rates of senescence. Differences in the maintenance energy requirements of individual species therefore potentially predict extinction likelihood. If validated, this would comprise an important link between organismic ecology and macroevolutionary dynamics. To test this hypothesis, the BMRs of organisms within fossil species were determined using body size and temperature data, and considered in the light of species' survival and extinction through time. Our analysis ...
Source: Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences - August 22, 2018 Category: Biology Authors: Strotz, L. C., Saupe, E. E., Kimmig, J., Lieberman, B. S. Tags: palaeontology, physiology, evolution Palaeobiology Source Type: research

Tree species richness increases ecosystem carbon storage in subtropical forests
Forest ecosystems are an integral component of the global carbon cycle as they take up and release large amounts of C over short time periods (C flux) or accumulate it over longer time periods (C stock). However, there remains uncertainty about whether and in which direction C fluxes and in particular C stocks may differ between forests of high versus low species richness. Based on a comprehensive dataset derived from field-based measurements, we tested the effect of species richness (3–20 tree species) and stand age (22–116 years) on six compartments of above- and below-ground C stocks and four components of C...
Source: Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences - August 22, 2018 Category: Biology Authors: Liu, X., Trogisch, S., He, J.-S., Niklaus, P. A., Bruelheide, H., Tang, Z., Erfmeier, A., Scherer-Lorenzen, M., Pietsch, K. A., Yang, B., Kühn, P., Scholten, T., Huang, Y., Wang, C., Staab, M., Leppert, K. N., Wirth, C., Schmid, B., Ma, K. Tags: plant science, ecology, environmental science Source Type: research

Trait-dependent tolerance of bats to urbanization: a global meta-analysis
Urbanization is a severe threat to global biodiversity, often leading to taxonomic and functional homogenization. However, current urban ecology research has focused mostly on urban birds and plants, limiting our ability to make generalizations about the drivers of urban biodiversity globally. To address this gap, we conducted a global meta-analysis of 87 studies, including 180 bat species (Chiroptera) from urban areas in Asia, Australia, Europe, North and South America. We aimed to (i) understand the importance of functional traits and phylogeny in driving changes in urban bat assemblages, and (ii) assess the capacity of ...
Source: Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences - August 22, 2018 Category: Biology Authors: Jung, K., Threlfall, C. G. Tags: ecology, environmental science, evolution Source Type: research