Influence of ambient water coloration on habitat and conspecific choice in the female Lake Malawi cichlid, .

Female cichlid fish living in African great lakes are known to have sensory systems that are adapted to ambient light environments. These sensory system adaptations are hypothesized to have influenced the evolution of the diverse male nuptial coloration. In rock-dwelling Lake Malawi cichlids, however, the extent to which ambient light environments influence female sensory systems and potentially associated male nuptial coloration remains unknown.

Vibroscape analysis reveals acoustic niche overlap and plastic alteration of vibratory courtship signals in ground-dwelling wolf spiders.

To expand the scope of soundscape ecology to encompass substrate-borne vibrations (i.e. vibroscapes), we analyzed the vibroscape of a deciduous forest floor using contact microphone arrays followed by automated processing of large audio datasets.

Increased signal complexity is associated with increased mating success.

The evolution of complex signals has often been explored by testing multiple functional hypotheses regarding how independent signal components provide selective benefits to offset the costs of their production. In the present study, we take a different approach by exploring the function of complexity . We test the hypothesis that increased vibratory signal complexity-based on both proportional and temporal patterning-provides selective benefits to courting male wolf spiders.

Group association and vocal behaviour during foraging trips in Gentoo penguins.

In contrast to their terrestrial call, the offshore call of penguins during their foraging trips has been poorly studied due to the inaccessibility of the foraging site-the open ocean-to researchers. Here, we present the first description of the vocal behaviour of penguins in the open ocean and discuss the function of their vocal communication. We deployed an animal-borne camera on gentoo penguins (Pygoscelis papua) and recorded their foraging behaviour during chick guarding.

Lysozyme-mediated biomineralization of titanium-tungsten oxide hybrid nanoparticles with high photocatalytic activity.

Titanium-tungsten oxide composites with greatly enhanced photocatalytic activity were synthesized by lysozyme-mediated biomineralization. It was shown for the first time that simple control of the onset of biomineralization could enable fine tuning of the composition and crystallinity of the composites to determine their photocatalytic performance.

Background matching by means of dorsal color change in treefrog populations (Hyla japonica).

Treefrogs change dorsal coloration to match background colors, presumably for predator avoidance. Dorsal coloration in treefrogs results from rearrangement of pigment granules in dermal chromatophores. This physiological basis for color change suggests that brightness and chroma are the color components that may change in response to background color.

The interplay of peptide sequence and local structure in TiO2 biomineralization.

Using cyclic constrained TiO(2) binding peptides STB1 (CHKKPSKSC), RSTB1 (CHRRPSRSC) and linear peptide LSTB1 (AHKKPSKSA), it was shown that while affinity of the peptide to TiO(2) is essential to enable TiO(2) biomineralization, other factors such as biomineralization kinetics and peptide local structure need to be considered to predict biomineralization efficacy. Cyclic and linear TiO(2) binding peptides show significantly different biomineralization activities. Cyclic STB1 and RSTB1 could induce TiO(2) precipitation in the presence of titanium(IV)-bis-ammonium-lactato-dihydroxide (TiBALDH) precursor in water or tris buffer at pH 8.