Floodplain forests drive fruit-eating fish diversity at the Amazon Basin-scale.

Unlike most rivers globally, nearly all lowland Amazonian rivers have unregulated flow, supporting seasonally flooded floodplain forests. Floodplain forests harbor a unique tree species assemblage adapted to flooding and specialized fauna, including fruit-eating fish that migrate seasonally into floodplains, favoring expansive floodplain areas. Frugivorous fish are forest-dependent fauna critical to forest regeneration via seed dispersal and support commercial and artisanal fisheries.

Genomic exploration of the journey of Plasmodium vivax in Latin America.

Plasmodium vivax is the predominant malaria parasite in Latin America. Its colonization history in the region is rich and complex, and is still highly debated, especially about its origin(s). Our study employed cutting-edge population genomic techniques to analyze whole genome variation from 620 P.

The Amphibian Major Histocompatibility Complex-A Review and Future Outlook.

The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) is a cluster of functionally related genes encoding proteins which, among other functions, mediate immune system activation. While the MHC of many vertebrates has been extensively studied, less is known about the amphibian MHC. This represents an important knowledge gap because amphibians mark the evolutionary transition from an aquatic to a terrestrial lifestyle and often maintain a biphasic lifestyle.

Large-scale sampling of potential breeding sites in male ruffs.

The traditional narrative of the life cycle of migratory birds is that individuals perform long-distance movements between a breeding and a wintering site, but are largely resident at those sites. Although this pattern may apply to socially monogamous species with biparental care, in polygamous systems, the sex that only provides gametes may benefit from continuing to move and sample several potential breeding sites during a single breeding season. Such behaviour would blur the distinction between migration and breeding.

Inheritance of Material Wealth in a Natural Population.

Evolutionary adaptation occurs when individuals vary in access to fitness-relevant resources and these differences in 'material wealth' are heritable. It is typically assumed that the inheritance of material wealth reflects heritable variation in the phenotypic abilities needed to acquire material wealth. We scrutinise this assumption by investigating additional mechanisms underlying the inheritance of material wealth in collared flycatchers.

Re-scoping ultradian rhythms in the context of metabolism.

Rapid, ultradian biological rhythms are only partly comparable to circadian (24-h) rhythms. Often, the ensuing expectations from this comparison are that 1) ultradian rhythms should be driven by discrete oscillators, 2) they are biochemically buffered, and 3) they must be functionally linked to extrinsic events and cycles. These three expectations are not always met, but perhaps there is an adaptive benefit to ultradian rhythms not meeting these expectations, which sets them functionally apart from circadian rhythms.

Early midlife ovarian removal is associated with lower posterior hippocampal function.

Introduction: Women with early bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy (BSO) have greater Alzheimer's disease (AD) risk than women with spontaneous menopause (SM), but the pathway toward this risk is understudied. Considering associative memory deficits may reflect early signs of AD, we studied how BSO affected brain activity underlying associative memory.

Methods: Early midlife women with BSO (with and without 17β-estradiol therapy [ET]) and age-matched controls (AMCs) with intact ovaries completed a face-name associative memory task during functional magnetic resonance imaging.

Increased sea level rise accelerates carbon sequestration in a macro-tidal salt marsh.

Salt marshes are known as key ecosystems for nature-based climate mitigation through organic carbon sequestration into their sediment beds, but at the same time they are affected by accelerating sea level rise induced by climate warming. Consequently, an important question is how organic carbon accumulation rates (OCAR) of salt marshes will respond to future accelerating rates of relative sea level rise (RSLR). To date, existing insights are either based on (1) comparison of geographically distant marsh sites, differing in local RSLR rates but also in other environmental conditions that additionally can affect OCAR, or (2) experiments in given marsh sites, in which proxies for RSLR are manipulated, but run over periods of years instead of decades, the latter being the relevant time scale of marsh responses to RSLR.

Morphological . molecular identification of trematode species infecting the edible cockle across Europe.

Identifying marine trematode parasites in host tissue can be complicated when there is limited morphological differentiation between species infecting the same host species. This poses a challenge for regular surveys of the parasite communities in species of socio-economic and ecological importance. Our study focused on identifying digenean trematode species infecting the marine bivalve across Europe by comparing morphological and molecular species identification methods.

Endogenous viral elements: insights into data availability and accessibility.

Endogenous viral elements (EVEs) are remnants of viral genetic material endogenized into the host genome. They have, in the last decades, attracted attention for their role as potential contributors to pathogenesis, drivers of selective advantage for the host, and genomic remnants of ancient viruses. EVEs have a nuanced and complex influence on both host health and evolution, and can offer insights on the deep evolutionary history of viruses.

A new species of coral-dwelling crab (Decapoda: Brachyura: Cryptochiridae: Opecarcinus) from the West Pacific.

Based on material acquired from Green Island, Taiwan, using a combined approach of traditional morphology-based taxonomy and molecular barcoding, we describe a new species of coral-dwelling crab, Opecarcinus ngankeeae sp. nov., from the scleractinian hosts Pavona decussata and P.

The acute effects of whole-body vibration exercise on cortical activation in young adults: An fNIRS study.

Background: Whole-body vibration (WBV) training has emerged as an alternative exercise modality for individuals unable to participate in regular physical activity. While previous studies demonstrated positive effects of WBV on physical outcomes, its impact on cognition remains relatively unexplored, despite studies suggesting cognitive benefits. This study aims to investigate the cortical activation patterns in the primary somatosensory cortex (S1) and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) during WBV and a subsequent cognitive task.

Effects of virus-induced immunogenic cues on oncolytic virotherapy.

Oncolytic virotherapy is a promising form of cancer treatment that uses viruses to infect and kill cancer cells. In addition to their direct effects on cancer cells, the viruses stimulate various immune responses partly directed against the tumour. Efforts are made to genetically engineer oncolytic viruses to enhance their immunogenic potential.

Impact of evolutionary relatedness on species diversification and tree shape.

Slowdowns in lineage accumulation are often observed in phylogenies of extant species. One explanation is the presence of ecological limits to diversity and hence to diversification. Previous research has examined whether and how species richness (SR) impacts diversification rates, but rarely considered the evolutionary relatedness (ER) between species, although ER can affect the degree of interaction between species, which likely sets these limits.

Understanding human-commensalism through an ecological and evolutionary framework.

Human-commensalism has been intuitively characterised as an interspecific interaction whereby non-human individuals benefit from tight associations with anthropogenic environments. However, a clear definition of human-commensalism, rooted within an ecological and evolutionary framework, has yet to be proposed. Here, we define human-commensalism as a population-level dependence on anthropogenic resources, associated with genetic differentiation from the ancestral, non-commensal form.

Urban sensory conditions alter rival interactions and mate choice in urban and forest túngara frogs.

Sexual communication often takes place in networks with multiple competing signalers being simultaneously assessed by mate choosers. Altered sensory conditions, such as noise and light pollution, can affect communication by altering signal production and perception. While evidence of sensory pollution affecting sexual signaling is widespread, few studies assess impacts on sexual signaling during rival interactions as well as mate choice, let alone whether urban and non-urban populations have diverged in their response.

butterfly flashiness crucially depends on wing scale curvature.

butterflies are widely known for their brilliant blue and flashy colours, which are produced by intricate wing scale structures. Not all species display a vibrant structural coloration; some are whitish or even brown. This suggests that there is considerable interspecific variation in wing scale anatomy, pigmentation and flashiness.

Spread of yellow-bill-color alleles favored by selection in the long-tailed finch hybrid system.

Carotenoid pigments produce the yellow and red colors of birds and other vertebrates. Despite their importance in social signaling and sexual selection, our understanding of how carotenoid ornamentation evolves in nature remains limited. Here, we examine the long-tailed finch Poephila acuticauda, an Australian songbird with a yellow-billed western subspecies acuticauda and a red-billed eastern subspecies hecki, which hybridize where their ranges overlap.