Social competition as a driver of phenotype-environment correlations: implications for ecology and evolution.

While it is universally recognised that environmental factors can cause phenotypic trait variation via phenotypic plasticity, the extent to which causal processes operate in the reverse direction has received less consideration. In fact individuals are often active agents in determining the environments, and hence the selective regimes, they experience. There are several important mechanisms by which this can occur, including habitat selection and niche construction, that are expected to result in phenotype-environment correlations (i.

Differentiated Social Relationships and the Pace-of-Life-History.

When selection is imposed by both social and ecological environments, the costs and benefits of social relationships can depend on life-history strategy. We argue that the formation and maintenance of differentiated social relationships will prevail in species and individuals with slow life histories. Social behaviours that benefit survival can promote slower life histories.

Performance Studies of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells with Different Flow Field Designs - Review.

Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) is majorly used for power generation without producing any emission. In PEMFC, the water generated in the cathode heavily affects the performance of fuel cell which needs better water management. The flow channel designs, dimensions, shape and size of the rib/channel, effective area of the flow channel and material properties are considered for better water management and performance enhancement of the PEMFC in addition to the inlet reactant's mass flow rate, flow directions, relative humidity, pressure and temperature.

Quantifying selection on standard metabolic rate and body mass in Drosophila melanogaster.

Standard metabolic rate (SMR), defined as the minimal energy expenditure required for self-maintenance, is a key physiological trait. Few studies have estimated its relationship with fitness, most notably in insects. This is presumably due to the difficulty of measuring SMR in a large number of very small individuals.

Multilayer and Multiplex Networks: An Introduction to Their Use in Veterinary Epidemiology.

Contact network analysis has become a vital tool for conceptualizing the spread of pathogens in animal populations and is particularly useful for understanding the implications of heterogeneity in contact patterns for transmission. However, the transmission of most pathogens cannot be simplified to a single mode of transmission and, thus, a single definition of contact. In addition, host-pathogen interactions occur in a community context, with many pathogens infecting multiple host species and most hosts being infected by multiple pathogens.

Finding a signal hidden among noise: how can predators overcome camouflage strategies?

Substantial progress has been made in the past 15 years regarding how prey use a variety of visual camouflage types to exploit both predator visual processing and cognition, including background matching, disruptive coloration, countershading and masquerade. By contrast, much less attention has been paid to how predators might overcome these defences. Such strategies include the evolution of more acute senses, the co-opting of other senses not targeted by camouflage, changes in cognition such as forming search images, and using behaviours that change the relationship between the cryptic individual and the environment or disturb prey and cause movement.

Consistent measures of oxidative balance predict survival but not reproduction in a long-distance migrant.

Physiological processes, including those that disrupt oxidative balance, have been proposed as key to understanding fundamental life-history trade-offs. Yet, examination of changes in oxidative balance within wild animals across time, space and major life-history challenges remains uncommon. For example, migration presents substantial physiological challenges for individuals, and data on migratory individuals would provide crucial context for exposing the importance of relationships between oxidative balance and fitness outcomes.

Analysis of direct and indirect genetic effects in fighting sea anemones.

Theoretical models of animal contests such as the Hawk-Dove game predict that variation in fighting behavior will persist due to mixed evolutionarily stable strategies (ESS) under certain conditions. However, the genetic basis for this variation is poorly understood and a mixed ESS for fighting can be interpreted in more than one way. Specifically, we do not know whether variation in aggression within a population arises from among-individual differences in fixed strategy (determined by an individual's genotype-direct genetic effects [DGEs]), or from within-individual variation in strategy across contests.

Ship noise inhibits colour change, camouflage, and anti-predator behaviour in shore crabs.

Ship noise is a prominent source of underwater sound pollution. Carter et al. demonstrate that ship noise has multiple negative effects on animal traits that do not primarily rely on acoustics.

Choice consequences: salinity preferences and hatchling survival in the mangrove rivulus ().

In heterogeneous environments, mobile species should occupy habitats in which their fitness is maximized. Mangrove rivulus fish inhabit mangrove ecosystems where salinities range from 0 to 65 ppt, but are most often collected from areas with salinities of ∼25 ppt. We examined the salinity preference of mangrove rivulus in a lateral salinity gradient, in the absence of predators and competitors.

Mineral processing simulation based-environmental life cycle assessment for rare earth project development: A case study on the Songwe Hill project.

Rare earth elements (REE), including neodymium, praseodymium, and dysprosium are used in a range of low-carbon technologies, such as electric vehicles and wind turbines, and demand for these REE is forecast to grow. This study demonstrates that a process simulation-based life cycle assessment (LCA) carried out at the early stages of a REE project, such as at the pre-feasibility stage, can inform subsequent decision making during the development of the project and help reduce its environmental impacts. As new REE supply chains are established and new mines are opened.

Optical Modelling and Phylogenetic Analysis Provide Clues to the Likely Function of Corneal Nipple Arrays in Butterflies and Moths.

The lenses in compound eyes of butterflies and moths contain an array of nipple-shaped protuberances, or corneal nipples. Previous work has suggested that these nipples increase light transmittance and reduce the eye glare of moths that are inactive during the day. This work builds on but goes further than earlier analyses suggesting a functional role for these structures including, for the first time, an explanation of why moths are attracted to UV light.

Colour change and behavioural choice facilitate chameleon prawn camouflage against different seaweed backgrounds.

Camouflage is driven by matching the visual environment, yet natural habitats are rarely uniform and comprise many backgrounds. Therefore, species often exhibit adaptive traits to maintain crypsis, including colour change and behavioural choice of substrates. However, previous work largely considered these solutions in isolation, whereas many species may use a combination of behaviour and appearance to facilitate concealment.

Host-pathogen coevolution increases genetic variation in susceptibility to infection.

It is common to find considerable genetic variation in susceptibility to infection in natural populations. We have investigated whether natural selection increases this variation by testing whether host populations show more genetic variation in susceptibility to pathogens that they naturally encounter than novel pathogens. In a large cross-infection experiment involving four species of and four host-specific viruses, we always found greater genetic variation in susceptibility to viruses that had coevolved with their host.

Measures of oxidative state are primarily driven by extrinsic factors in a long-distance migrant.

Oxidative stress is a likely consequence of hard physical exertion and thus a potential mediator of life-history trade-offs in migratory animals. However, little is known about the relative importance of intrinsic and extrinsic stressors on the oxidative state of individuals in wild populations. We quantified the relationships between air temperature, sex, body condition and three markers of oxidative state (malondialdehyde, superoxide dismutase and total antioxidant capacity) across hundreds of individuals of a long-distance migrant (the brent goose Branta bernicla hrota) during wintering and spring staging.

Correction: Development of G: a test in an amphibious fish.

Figure 3 legend has been corrected to state: "Difference matrices for pairwise-trait phenotypic correlations (rP, below diagonal) and pairwise-trait genetic correlations (rG, above diagonal) from 1, 15, and 100 DPH. Differences are color coded by strength and direction. Differences shown in gray are positive and differences shown in black are negative.

Habituation and individual variation in the endocrine stress response in the Trinidadian guppy (Poecilia reticulata).

The vertebrate stress response enables individuals to react to and cope with environmental challenges. A crucial aspect of the stress response is the elevation of circulating glucocorticoids. However, continued activation of the stress response under repeated exposure to stressors can be damaging to fitness.

How should we interpret estimates of individual repeatability?

Individual repeatability (), defined as the proportion of observed variance attributable to among-individual differences, is a widely used summary statistic in evolutionarily motivated studies of morphology, life history, physiology and, especially, behaviour. Although statistical methods to estimate are well known and widely available, there is a growing tendency for researchers to interpret in ways that are subtly, but importantly, different. Some view as a property of a dataset and a statistic to be interpreted agnostically with respect to mechanism.

Evolutionary genetics of personality in the Trinidadian guppy II: sexual dimorphism and genotype-by-sex interactions.

Sexual dimorphism in behaviour and personality has been identified in a number of species, but few studies have assessed the extent of shared genetic architecture across the sexes. Under sexually antagonistic selection, mechanisms are expected to evolve that reduce evolutionary conflict, resulting in genotype-by-sex (GxS) interactions. Here we assess the extent of sexual dimorphism in four risk-taking behaviour traits in the Trinidadian guppy, Poecilia reticulata, and apply a multivariate approach to test for GxS interactions.

Evolutionary genetics of personality in the Trinidadian guppy I: maternal and additive genetic effects across ontogeny.

Among-individual variation in behaviour is a widespread phenomenon, with several frameworks developed to explain its existence. Maternal effects, which can have significant influence over evolutionary processes, are an understudied source of behavioural variation. Maternal effects are not necessarily static, however, since their importance can change over offspring ontogeny, typically declining with age relative to additive genetic effects.

Ontogeny of the morphology-performance axis in an amphibious fish (Kryptolebias marmoratus).

Establishing links between morphology and performance is important for understanding the functional, ecological, and evolutionary implications of morphological diversity. Relationships between morphology and performance are expected to be age dependent if, at different points during ontogeny, animals must perform in different capacities to achieve high fitness returns. Few studies have examined how the relationship between form and function changes across ontogeny.