The genome sequence of the scarce swallowtail, Iphiclides podalirius.

The scarce swallowtail, Iphiclides podalirius (Linnaeus, 1758), is a species of butterfly in the family Papilionidae. Here, we present a chromosome-level genome assembly for Iphiclides podalirius as well as gene and transposable element annotations. We investigate how the density of genomic features differs between the 30 Iphiclides podalirius chromosomes.

MHC class II genotype-by-pathogen genotype interaction for infection prevalence in a natural rodent-Borrelia system.

MHC genes are extraordinarily polymorphic in most taxa. Host-pathogen coevolution driven by negative frequency-dependent selection (NFDS) is one of the main hypotheses for the maintenance of such immunogenetic variation. Here, we test a critical but rarely tested assumption of this hypothesis-that MHC alleles affect resistance/susceptibility to a pathogen in a strain-specific way, that is, there is a host genotype-by-pathogen genotype interaction.

Problems with using comparative analyses of avian brain size to test hypotheses of cognitive evolution.

There are multiple hypotheses for the evolution of cognition. The most prominent hypotheses are the Social Intelligence Hypothesis (SIH) and the Ecological Intelligence Hypothesis (EIH), which are often pitted against one another. These hypotheses tend to be tested using broad-scale comparative studies of brain size, where brain size is used as a proxy of cognitive ability, and various social and/or ecological variables are included as predictors.

Spatial variation of plastic debris on important turtle nesting beaches of the remote Chagos Archipelago, Indian Ocean.

We report Anthropogenic Marine Debris (AMD) in Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, globally amongst the most isolated island groups. AMD on 14 island beaches in five atolls were surveyed in 2019 using two techniques: Marine Debris Tracker (MDT) along littoral vegetation and photoquadrats in open beach. Over 60 % of AMD in both beach zones was composed of plastics, especially bottles and fragments (mean = 44.

Increase in protandry over time in a long-distance migratory bird.

Protandry is a widespread life-history phenomenon describing how males precede females at the site or state of reproduction. In migratory birds, protandry has an important influence on individual fitness, the migratory syndrome, and phenological response to climate change. Despite its significance, accurate analyses on the dynamics of protandry using data sets collected at the breeding site, are lacking.

Genome-wide transcriptomic changes reveal the genetic pathways involved in insect migration.

Insects are capable of extraordinary feats of long-distance movement that have profound impacts on the function of terrestrial ecosystems. The ability to undertake these movements arose multiple times through the evolution of a suite of traits that make up the migratory syndrome, however the underlying genetic pathways involved remain poorly understood. Migratory hoverflies (Diptera: Syrphidae) are an emerging model group for studies of migration.

A global horizon scan of issues impacting marine and coastal biodiversity conservation.

The biodiversity of marine and coastal habitats is experiencing unprecedented change. While there are well-known drivers of these changes, such as overexploitation, climate change and pollution, there are also relatively unknown emerging issues that are poorly understood or recognized that have potentially positive or negative impacts on marine and coastal ecosystems. In this inaugural Marine and Coastal Horizon Scan, we brought together 30 scientists, policymakers and practitioners with transdisciplinary expertise in marine and coastal systems to identify new issues that are likely to have a significant impact on the functioning and conservation of marine and coastal biodiversity over the next 5-10 years.

Familiarity, personality, and foraging performance in three-spined sticklebacks.

Animals can gain large benefits from living in groups but must coordinate with their groupmates in order to do so. Social interactions between groupmates drive overall group coordination and are influenced by the characteristics of individual group members. In particular, consistent inter-individual differences in behaviour (e.

Digest: Brain or brawn: Trade-offs between brain size and flight mode in birds.

Brain size is extremely variable across species, and its evolution depends upon the calorific trade-offs between it and other organs and activities. Shiomi investigated potential brain size trade-offs with different flight modes in birds. Flight can be energetically expensive, and costs are especially high with powered flight.

Priorities to inform research on marine plastic pollution in Southeast Asia.

Southeast Asia is considered to have some of the highest levels of marine plastic pollution in the world. It is therefore vitally important to increase our understanding of the impacts and risks of plastic pollution to marine ecosystems and the essential services they provide to support the development of mitigation measures in the region. An interdisciplinary, international network of experts (Australia, Indonesia, Ireland, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and Vietnam) set a research agenda for marine plastic pollution in the region, synthesizing current knowledge and highlighting areas for further research in Southeast Asia.

Captive Asian short-clawed otters () learn to exploit unfamiliar natural prey.

Foraging plays a vital role in animal life histories, and learning whether unfamiliar food items are palatable is a key part of this process. Animals that engage in extractive foraging must also learn how to overcome the protective measures of their prey. While otters (subfamily Lutrinae) are a taxon known for their extractive foraging behaviour, how they learn about prey palatability and acquire extractive foraging techniques remains poorly understood.

Whiskers as hydrodynamic prey sensors in foraging seals.

The darkness of the deep ocean limits the vision of diving predators, except when prey emit bioluminescence. It is hypothesized that deep-diving seals rely on highly developed whiskers to locate their prey. However, if and how seals use their whiskers while foraging in natural conditions remains unknown.

Stepwise evolution of a butterfly supergene via duplication and inversion.

Supergenes maintain adaptive clusters of alleles in the face of genetic mixing. Although usually attributed to inversions, supergenes can be complex, and reconstructing the precise processes that led to recombination suppression and their timing is challenging. We investigated the origin of the BC supergene, which controls variation in warning coloration in the African monarch butterfly, .

Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) gaze is conspicuous at ecologically-relevant distances.

Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) sclera appear much darker than the white sclera of human eyes, to such a degree that the direction of chimpanzee gaze may be concealed from conspecifics. Recent debate surrounding this topic has produced mixed results, with some evidence suggesting that (1) primate gaze is indeed concealed from their conspecifics, and (2) gaze colouration is among the suite of traits that distinguish uniquely social and cooperative humans from other primates (the cooperative eye hypothesis). Using a visual modelling approach that properly accounts for specific-specific vision, we reexamined this topic to estimate the extent to which chimpanzee eye coloration is discriminable.

The gaze of a social monkey is perceptible to conspecifics and predators but not prey.

Eye gaze is an important source of information for animals, implicated in communication, cooperation, hunting and antipredator behaviour. Gaze perception and its cognitive underpinnings are much studied in primates, but the specific features that are used to estimate gaze can be difficult to isolate behaviourally. We photographed 13 laboratory-housed tufted capuchin monkeys () to quantify chromatic and achromatic contrasts between their iris, pupil, sclera and skin.

House sparrows use learned information selectively based on whether reward is hidden or visible.

Based on past experience, food-related-cues can help foragers to predict the presence and the expected quality of food. However, when the food is already visible there is no need to predict its presence or its other visible attributes, but only those that are still cryptic, such as expected handling time or taste. Optimal foragers should therefore use only knowledge that is relevant to the current setting.

Flight Capability and the Low Temperature Threshold of a Chinese Field Population of the Fall Armyworm .

The fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (J. E. Smith), is capable of long-distance migration; thus, evaluation of its flight capability is relevant to the design of monitoring and control strategies for this pest.

Long-term repeatability of cognitive performance.

Measures of cognitive performance, derived from psychometric tasks, have yielded important insights into the factors governing cognitive variation. However, concerns remain over the robustness of these measures, which may be susceptible to non-cognitive factors such as motivation and persistence. Efforts to quantify short-term repeatability of cognitive performance have gone some way to address this, but crucially the long-term repeatability of cognitive performance has been largely overlooked.

Genetic variance in fitness indicates rapid contemporary adaptive evolution in wild animals.

The rate of adaptive evolution, the contribution of selection to genetic changes that increase mean fitness, is determined by the additive genetic variance in individual relative fitness. To date, there are few robust estimates of this parameter for natural populations, and it is therefore unclear whether adaptive evolution can play a meaningful role in short-term population dynamics. We developed and applied quantitative genetic methods to long-term datasets from 19 wild bird and mammal populations and found that, while estimates vary between populations, additive genetic variance in relative fitness is often substantial and, on average, twice that of previous estimates.

Fitness effects of plasmids shape the structure of bacteria-plasmid interaction networks.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes are often carried on broad host range plasmids, and the spread of AMR within microbial communities will therefore depend on the structure of bacteria–plasmid networks. Empirical and theoretical studies of ecological interaction networks suggest that network structure differs between communities that are predominantly mutualistic versus antagonistic, with the former showing more generalized interactions (i.e.

Vocally mediated consensus decisions govern mass departures from jackdaw roosts.

In the early morning, large groups of up to hundreds or even thousands of roosting birds, sometimes comprising the entire roost population, often take off together in sudden mass departures. These departures commonly occur in low-light conditions and structurally complex habitats where access to visual cues is likely to be restricted. Roosting birds are often highly vocal, leading us to hypothesise that vocalisations, which can propagate over large distances, could provide a means of enabling individuals to agree on when to depart - that is to establish a consensus - and thus coordinate the timing of mass movements.

An evolutionary perspective on stress responses, damage and repair.

Variation in stress responses has been investigated in relation to environmental factors, species ecology, life history and fitness. Moreover, mechanistic studies have unravelled molecular mechanisms of how acute and chronic stress responses cause physiological impacts ('damage'), and how this damage can be repaired. However, it is not yet understood how the fitness effects of damage and repair influence stress response evolution.

Genomic erosion in a demographically recovered bird species during conservation rescue.

The pink pigeon (Nesoenas mayeri) is an endemic species of Mauritius that has made a remarkable recovery after a severe population bottleneck in the 1970s to early 1990s. Prior to this bottleneck, an ex situ population was established from which captive-bred individuals were released into free-living subpopulations to increase population size and genetic variation. This conservation rescue led to rapid population recovery to 400-480 individuals, and the species was twice downlisted on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.