The influence of weather on the population dynamics of common mosquito vector species in the Canadian Prairies.

Background: Mosquito seasonal activity is largely driven by weather conditions, most notably temperature, precipitation, and relative humidity. The extent by which these weather variables influence activity is intertwined with the animal's biology and may differ by species. For mosquito vectors, changes in weather can also alter host-pathogen interactions thereby increasing or decreasing the burden of disease.

Continent-wide Shifts in Song Dialects of White-Throated Sparrows.

Hypotheses on regional song variation ("dialects") assume that dialects remain stable within regions, are distinct between regions, and persist within populations over extensive periods [1-3]. Theories to explain dialects focus on mechanisms that promote persistence of regional song variants despite gene flow between regions [4-6], such as juveniles settling in non-natal populations retaining only those songs from their repertoires that match neighbors [7, 8]. It would be considered atypical for a novel song variant to invade and replace the established regional variant.

Functional ecology of congeneric variation in the leaf economics spectrum.

Variation in resource availability can lead to phenotypic plasticity in the traits comprising the world-wide leaf economics spectrum (LES), potentially impairing plant function and complicating the use of tabulated values for LES traits in ecological studies. We compared 14 Carex (Cyperaceae) species in a factorial experiment (unshaded/shaded × sufficient/insufficient P) to analyze how changes in the network of allometric scaling relationships among LES traits influenced growth under favorable and resource-limited conditions. Changes in leaf mass per area (LMA) shifted the scaling relationships among LES traits expressed per unit area vs mass in ways that helped to sustain growth under resource limitation.

feedr and animalnexus.ca: A paired R package and user-friendly Web application for transforming and visualizing animal movement data from static stations.

Radio frequency identification (RFID) provides a simple and inexpensive approach for examining the movements of tagged animals, which can provide information on species behavior and ecology, such as habitat/resource use and social interactions. In addition, tracking animal movements is appealing to naturalists, citizen scientists, and the general public and thus represents a tool for public engagement in science and science education. Although a useful tool, the large amount of data collected using RFID may quickly become overwhelming.

Territorial black-capped chickadee males respond faster to high- than to low-frequency songs in experimentally elevated noise conditions.

Low-frequency urban noise can interfere with avian communication through masking. Some species are able to shift the frequency of their vocalizations upwards in noisy conditions, which may reduce the effects of masking. However, results from playback studies investigating whether or not such vocal changes improve audibility in noisy conditions are not clear; the responses of free-ranging individuals to shifted signals are potentially confounded by functional trade-offs between masking-related audibility and frequency-dependent signal quality.