Predicting the growth of the amphibian chytrid fungus in varying temperature environments.

Environmental temperature is a crucial abiotic factor that influences the success of ectothermic organisms, including hosts and pathogens in disease systems. One example is the amphibian chytrid fungus, (), which has led to widespread amphibian population declines. Understanding its thermal ecology is essential to effectively predict outbreaks.

Evolutionary innovations in Antarctic brittle stars linked to glacial refugia.

The drivers behind evolutionary innovations such as contrasting life histories and morphological change are central questions of evolutionary biology. However, the environmental and ecological contexts linked to evolutionary innovations are generally unclear. During the Pleistocene glacial cycles, grounded ice sheets expanded across the Southern Ocean continental shelf.

Will fencing floodplain and riverine wetlands from feral pig damage conserve fish community values?

Installation of feral pig () exclusion fences to conserve and rehabilitate coastal floodplain habitat for fish production and water quality services remains untested. Twenty-one floodplain and riverine wetlands in the Archer River catchment (north Queensland) were surveyed during postwet (June-August) and late-dry season (November-December) in 2016, 2017, and 2018, using a fyke net soaked overnight (~14-15 hr) to test: (a) whether the fish assemblage are similar in wetlands with and without fences; and (b) whether specific environmental conditions influence fish composition between fenced and unfenced wetlands. A total of 6,353 fish representing twenty-six species from 15 families were captured.

Functional groups in piscivorous fishes.

Piscivory is a key ecological function in aquatic ecosystems, mediating energy flow within trophic networks. However, our understanding of the nature of piscivory is limited; we currently lack an empirical assessment of the dynamics of prey capture and how this differs between piscivores. We therefore conducted aquarium-based performance experiments, to test the feeding abilities of 19 piscivorous fish species.

Leech removal is not the primary driver of basking behavior in a freshwater turtle.

Leaving the water to bask (usually in the sun) is a common behavior for many freshwater turtles, with some species also engaging in "nocturnal basking." Ectoparasite removal is an obvious hypothesis to explain nocturnal basking and has also been proposed as a key driver of diurnal basking. However, the efficacy of basking, day or night, to remove leeches has not been experimentally tested.

Fine-scale foraging behavior reveals differences in the functional roles of herbivorous reef fishes.

Efforts to understand and protect ecosystem functioning have put considerable emphasis on classifying species according to the functions they perform. However, coarse classifications based on diet or feeding mode often oversimplify species' contributions to ecological processes. Behavioral variation among superficially similar species is easily missed but could indicate important differences in competitive interactions and the spatial scale at which species deliver their functions.

Non-reef habitats in a tropical seascape affect density and biomass of fishes on coral reefs.

Nonreef habitats such as mangroves, seagrass, and macroalgal beds are important for foraging, spawning, and as nursery habitat for some coral reef fishes. The spatial configuration of nonreef habitats adjacent to coral reefs can therefore have a substantial influence on the distribution and composition of reef fish. We investigate how different habitats in a tropical seascape in the Philippines influence the presence, density, and biomass of coral reef fishes to understand the relative importance of different habitats across various spatial scales.

Ranking buffel: Comparative risk and mitigation costs of key environmental and socio-cultural threats in central Australia.

Changed fire regimes and the introduction of rabbits, cats, foxes, and large exotic herbivores have driven widespread ecological catastrophe in Australian arid and semi-arid zones, which encompass over two-thirds of the continent. These threats have caused the highest global mammal extinction rates in the last 200 years, as well as significantly undermining social, economic, and cultural practices of Aboriginal peoples of this region. However, a new and potentially more serious threat is emerging.

Body size determines eyespot size and presence in coral reef fishes.

Numerous organisms display conspicuous eyespots. These eye-like patterns have been shown to effectively reduce predation by either deflecting strikes away from nonvital organs or by intimidating potential predators. While investigated extensively in terrestrial systems, determining what factors shape eyespot form in colorful coral reef fishes remains less well known.

Skin hydrophobicity as an adaptation for self-cleaning in geckos.

Hydrophobicity is common in plants and animals, typically caused by high relief microtexture functioning to keep the surface clean. Although the occurrence and physical causes of hydrophobicity are well understood, ecological factors promoting its evolution are unclear. Geckos have highly hydrophobic integuments.

Nonlinear variation in clinging performance with surface roughness in geckos.

Understanding the challenges faced by organisms moving within their environment is essential to comprehending the evolution of locomotor morphology and habitat use. Geckos have developed adhesive toe pads that enable exploitation of a wide range of microhabitats. These toe pads, and their adhesive mechanisms, have typically been studied using a range of artificial substrates, usually significantly smoother than those available in nature.

Giant coral reef fishes display markedly different susceptibility to night spearfishing.

The humphead wrasse () and bumphead parrotfish () are two of the largest, most iconic fishes of Indo-Pacific coral reefs. Both species form prized components of subsistence and commercial fisheries and are vulnerable to overfishing. is listed as Endangered and as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

Parallel evolution and adaptation to environmental factors in a marine flatfish: Implications for fisheries and aquaculture management of the turbot ().

Unraveling adaptive genetic variation represents, in addition to the estimate of population demographic parameters, a cornerstone for the management of aquatic natural living resources, which, in turn, represent the raw material for breeding programs. The turbot () is a marine flatfish of high commercial value living on the European continental shelf. While wild populations are declining, aquaculture is flourishing in southern Europe.

Genome-wide comparisons reveal a clinal species pattern within a holobenthic octopod-the Australian Southern blue-ringed octopus, (Cephalopoda: Octopodidae).

The southern blue-ringed octopus, (Hoyle, 1883) lacks a planktonic dispersal phase, yet ranges across Australia's southern coastline. This species' brief and holobenthic life history suggests gene flow might be limited, leaving distant populations prone to strong genetic divergence. This study used 17,523 genome-wide SNP loci to investigate genetic structuring and local adaptation patterns of among eight sampling sites along its reported range.

Resource-allocation tradeoffs in caddisflies facing multiple stressors.

The replacement of native forests by exotic tree monocultures, such as those of , decreases the quality of leaf litter inputs to streams and often reduces riparian cover, which can elevate water temperature. The combined effects of these stressors on the survival and performance of detritivores may be important, as detritivore species loss leads to reduced litter breakdown, a key ecosystem process. Potential loss of cased caddisfly larvae is of particular concern because they are the predominant detritivores in many streams, they are sensitive to warming, and they expend energy on building and carrying their cases, which may be an added burden under times of stress.