Age-related tooth wear differs between forest and savanna primates.

Tooth wear in primates is caused by aging and ecological factors. However, comparative data that would allow us to delineate the contribution of each of these factors are lacking. Here, we contrast age-dependent molar tooth wear by scoring percent of dentine exposure (PDE) in two wild African primate populations from Gabonese forest and Kenyan savanna habitats.

Inclusion of vein traits improves predictive power for the leaf economic spectrum: a response to Sack et al. (2013).

Our model for the worldwide leaf economics spectrum (LES) based on venation networks (Blonder et al., 2011, 2013) was strongly criticized by Sack et al. (2013) in this journal.

Assessing multivariate constraints to evolution across ten long-term avian studies.

Background: In a rapidly changing world, it is of fundamental importance to understand processes constraining or facilitating adaptation through microevolution. As different traits of an organism covary, genetic correlations are expected to affect evolutionary trajectories. However, only limited empirical data are available.

Kinetic response of a genotoxicity biomarker in the three-spined stickleback and implication for environmental monitoring.

The ultimate sink for the majority of anthropogenic compounds are the aquatic ecosystems, either through direct discharges or indirectly through hydrologic or atmospheric processes, possibly leading to long-term adverse effects in aquatic living resources. In order to assess exposure, fate and effects of chemical contaminants, aquatic ecotoxicologists have developed a large array of early-warning biomarkers proving that toxicants have entered organisms, have been distributed between organs and have triggered toxic effects regarding critical targets. However, optimal use of biomarkers in environmental studies previously requires in-depth knowledge of the kinetics of response of biomarkers.

Differential allelopathic effects of Japanese knotweed on willow and cottonwood cuttings used in riverbank restoration techniques.

Using bioengineering techniques to restore areas invaded by Fallopia japonica shows promising results. Planting tree cuttings could allow both rapidly re-establishing a competitive native plant community and reducing F. japonica performance.

Transmission of pathogens by Stomoxys flies (Diptera, Muscidae): a review.

Stomoxys flies are mechanical vectors of pathogens present in the blood and skin of their animal hosts, especially livestock, but occasionally humans. In livestock, their direct effects are disturbance, skin lesions, reduction of food intake, stress, blood loss, and a global immunosuppressive effect. They also induce the gathering of animals for mutual protection; meanwhile they favor development of pathogens in the hosts and their transmission.

Variation in habitat connectivity generates positive correlations between species and genetic diversity in a metacommunity.

An increasing number of studies are simultaneously investigating species diversity (SD) and genetic diversity (GD) in the same systems, looking for 'species- genetic diversity correlations' (SGDCs). From negative to positive SGDCs have been reported, but studies have generally not quantified the processes underlying these correlations. They were also mostly conducted at large biogeographical scales or in recently degraded habitats.

Why join groups? Lessons from parasite-manipulated Artemia.

Grouping behaviours (e.g. schooling, shoaling and swarming) are commonly explicated through adaptive hypotheses such as protection against predation, access to mates or improved foraging.

Phenotypic plasticity in evolutionary rescue experiments.

Population persistence in a new and stressful environment can be influenced by the plastic phenotypic responses of individuals to this environment, and by the genetic evolution of plasticity itself. This process has recently been investigated theoretically, but testing the quantitative predictions in the wild is challenging because (i) there are usually not enough population replicates to deal with the stochasticity of the evolutionary process, (ii) environmental conditions are not controlled, and (iii) measuring selection and the inheritance of traits affecting fitness is difficult in natural populations. As an alternative, predictions from theory can be tested in the laboratory with controlled experiments.

Gene flow among wild and domesticated almond species: insights from chloroplast and nuclear markers.

Hybridization has played a central role in the evolutionary history of domesticated plants. Notably, several breeding programs relying on gene introgression from the wild compartment have been performed in fruit tree species within the genus Prunus but few studies investigated spontaneous gene flow among wild and domesticated Prunus species. Consequently, a comprehensive understanding of genetic relationships and levels of gene flow between domesticated and wild Prunus species is needed.

How do genetic correlations affect species range shifts in a changing environment?

Species may be able to respond to changing environments by a combination of adaptation and migration. We study how adaptation affects range shifts when it involves multiple quantitative traits evolving in response to local selection pressures and gene flow. All traits develop clines shifting in space, some of which may be in a direction opposite to univariate predictions, and the species tracks its environmental optimum with a constant lag.

Floral volatiles, pollinator sharing and diversification in the fig-wasp mutualism: insights from Ficus natalensis, and its two wasp pollinators (South Africa).

Combining biogeographic, ecological, morphological, molecular and chemical data, we document departure from strict specialization in the fig-pollinating wasp mutualism. We show that the pollinating wasps Elisabethiella stuckenbergi and Elisabethiella socotrensis form a species complex of five lineages in East and Southern Africa. Up to two morphologically distinct lineages were found to co-occur locally in the southern African region.

Phylogenetic analyses of mitochondrial and nuclear data in haematophagous flies support the paraphyly of the genus Stomoxys (Diptera: Muscidae).

The genus Stomoxys Geoffroy (Diptera; Muscidae) contains species of parasitic flies that are of medical and economic importance. We conducted a phylogenetic analysis including 10 representative species of the genus including multiple exemplars, together with the closely related genera Prostomoxys Zumpt, Haematobosca Bezzi, and Haematobia Lepeletier & Serville. Phylogenetic relationships were inferred using maximum likelihood and Bayesian methods from DNA fragments from the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI, 753bp) and cytochrome b (CytB, 587bp) mitochondrial genes, and the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2, 426bp).

Global population structure of the stable fly (Stomoxys calcitrans) inferred by mitochondrial and nuclear sequence data.

Stomoxys calcitrans (Diptera: Muscidae: Stomoxyini), a synanthropic fly with a worldwide distribution, is recognized to have an important medical and veterinary impact. We conducted a phylogeographic analysis based on several populations from five major zoogeographic regions of the world in order to analyse population genetic structure of S. calcitrans and to trace its global dispersion.

Asymmetric patch size distribution leads to disruptive selection on dispersal.

Numerous models have been designed to understand how dispersal ability evolves when organisms live in a fragmented landscape. Most of them predict a single dispersal rate at evolutionary equilibrium, and when diversification of dispersal rates has been predicted, it occurs as a response to perturbation or environmental fluctuation regimes. Yet abundant variation in dispersal ability is observed in natural populations and communities, even in relatively stable environments.

Suites of plant traits in species from different stages of a Mediterranean secondary succession.

The aim of this study was to detect suites of traits related to whole plant and seed morphology, phenology and resource use--including water--in species differing in successional status. Twenty traits were measured on 55 species representative of 5 successional stages in Mediterranean southern France, including eight pertaining to phenology and five to water economy. Suites of traits that changed along succession in agreement with the acquisition/conservation trade-off were completed by continuous changes in phenology.

Litter quality and decomposability of species from a Mediterranean succession depend on leaf traits but not on nitrogen supply.

Background And Aims: The rate of plant decomposition depends on both the decomposition environment and the functional traits of the individual species (e.g. leaf and litter quality), but their relative importance in determining interspecific differences in litter decomposition remains unclear.

Correlated evolution of mating strategy and inbreeding depression within and among populations of the hermaphroditic snail Physa acuta.

Inbreeding depression is one of the main forces opposing the evolution of self-fertilization. Of central importance is the hypothesis that inbreeding depression and selfing coevolve antagonistically, generating either low selfing rate and high inbreeding depression or vice versa. However, there is limited evidence for this coevolution within species.

Range expansion drives dispersal evolution in an equatorial three-species symbiosis.

Background: Recurrent climatic oscillations have produced dramatic changes in species distributions. This process has been proposed to be a major evolutionary force, shaping many life history traits of species, and to govern global patterns of biodiversity at different scales. During range expansions selection may favor the evolution of higher dispersal, and symbiotic interactions may be affected.

Local individual preferences for nest materials in a passerine bird.

Background: Variation in the behavioural repertoire of animals is acquired by learning in a range of animal species. In nest-building birds, the assemblage of nest materials in an appropriate structure is often typical of a bird genus or species. Yet plasticity in the selection of nest materials may be beneficial because the nature and abundance of nest materials vary across habitats.

Differential impacts of plant interactions on herbaceous species recruitment: disentangling factors controlling emergence, survival and growth of seedlings.

Recruitment is a crucial event in the plant life cycle that is very sensitive to interaction with established vegetation. Based on a large comparative experiment, we tested the hypothesis that the components of recruitment--emergence time and rate, seedling survival and biomass--differ in response to plant-plant interactions during recruitment. The consequences for the population are predicted with a simple demographic model assessing the response of seed production.

The different sources of variation in inbreeding depression, heterosis and outbreeding depression in a metapopulation of Physa acuta.

Understanding how parental distance affects offspring fitness, i.e., the effects of inbreeding and outbreeding in natural populations, is a major goal in evolutionary biology.

Contribution of leaf life span and nutrient resorption to mean residence time: elasticity analysis.

We tested the relative contribution of leaf life span (LLS) and nutrient resorption efficiency (RE) to nutrient mean residence time (MRT) in plants. To do so, we introduced the use of elasticity analysis, which aims to measure the impact on MRT of a small change in one component, relative to the impact of equal changes in the other element. We also quantified the joint effect of LLS and RE on MRT, which required the calculation of the second derivatives of MRT with respect to LLS and RE.