Mycophagous beetle females do not behave competitively during intrasexual interactions in presence of a fungal resource.

Intrasexual interactions can determine which individuals within a population have access to limited resources. Despite their potential importance on fitness generally and mating success especially, female-female interactions are not often measured in the same species where male-male interactions are well-defined. In this study, we characterized female-female interactions in , a mycophagous beetle species native to Northeastern North America.

Male competition reverses female preference for male chemical cues.

Females must choose among potential mates with different phenotypes in a variety of social contexts. Many male traits are inherent and unchanging, but others are labile to social context. Competition, for example, can cause physiological changes that reflect recent wins and losses that fluctuate throughout time.

Multiple signaling functions of song in a polymorphic species with alternative reproductive strategies.

Vocal traits can be sexually selected to reflect male quality, but may also evolve to serve additional signaling functions. We used a long-term dataset to examine the signaling potential of song in dimorphic white-throated sparrows (). We investigated whether song conveys multifaceted information about the vocalizing individual, including fitness, species identity, individual identity, and morph.

Multitrophic diversity effects of network degradation.

Predicting the functional consequences of biodiversity loss in realistic, multitrophic communities remains a challenge. No existing biodiversity-ecosystem function study to date has simultaneously incorporated information on species traits, network topology, and extinction across multiple trophic levels, while all three factors are independently understood as critical drivers of post-extinction network structure and function. We fill this gap by comparing the functional consequences of simulated species loss both within (monotrophic) and across (bitrophic) trophic levels, in an ecological interaction network estimated from spatially explicit field data on tropical fecal detritus producer and consumers (mammals and dung beetles).