We present a very cheap method for estimating body temperature of small terrestrial vertebrate ectotherms and demonstrate a nifty method for calibration.

We developed tools and methodologies for pedigree analysis to better manage group-living species and populations that are usually kept in groups. Such analyses of the pedigree of groups can improve the management of group-living species in ex situ breeding programs.

Inclusion of forbs (Plantago lanceolata and Chicorium intybus) in ryegrass-based mixtures increased productivity while their inclusion in tall fescue-based mixtures decreased productivity. This is most likely due to a lack of seasonal complementarity between the forbs and tall fescue.

To assess the influence of Quaternary climate change on cross-continental variation in phylogenetic structure, we modeled phylogenetic structures of North American trees in 50-km grid cells as a function of current climate, paleoclimate and topography, comparing angiosperms and gymnosperms. We found current climate had the most influence on the overall patterns, but glacial-interglacial climate change variability determined phylogenetic clustering and endemism, with a greater effect on gymnosperms than angiosperms.

We test whether sampling blood or inducing an immune response affects the survival of study subjects. Analysis of over 20,000 birds reveals no effect of bleeding or immunostimulation on survival.

Our results show the intraspecific differences in morphometric traits, physiology, and performance between populations of widespread European frog, inhabiting environments differing in thermal conditions. The differences in traits persistent in the common environments indicate the genetic background as a source of variation. This provides a valuable contribution to the understanding of differences in mechanisms of local thermal adaptations.

Different integrative methods appear to impact C storage estimates at large scale. C storage in China's forest ecosystems was 30.99–34.96 Pg C by the six integrative methods. Soil C density and storage in the 0–100 cm soil layer were estimated to be 136.07–153.17 Mg C·ha⁻¹ and 20.62–23.21 Pg C, 0.68–0.82. The dead biomass C density and storage were estimated to 3.66–5.41 Mg C·ha⁻¹ and 0.68–0.82 Pg C, respectively. This first evaluation demonstrates the importance of multimethodological approaches to accurately estimate C storage in the large-scale forest ecosystems.

We investigate for the first time the change in the genetic constitution of a natural red deer population over two centuries, using up to 200-year-old antlers (30 generations) stored in trophy collections. To the best of our knowledge, this is the oldest DNA source ever used for microsatellite population genetic analyses. We demonstrate that the political situation and hunting laws may have strong impacts on populations that can lead to unexpectedly rapid changes in the genetic constitution of a large mammal population.

In this study, we estimate heritability of and plasticity in lateral plate number of the threespine stickleback, a model species in evolutionary biology. Our results indicate that plate number is highly heritable and that there is an additional small plastic component in response to salinity.

Here we investigate the far extreme of the plate number continuum, the plateless stickleback, an understudied phenotype that has been found in only a few lakes and streams across the world. We use a dense single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) dataset to analyze samples from three freshwater populations containing plateless individuals. Using a variety of analyses we searched for genomic differences between the low plated and plateless phenotypes both within and among the three lakes finding least 18 genomic regions that may contribute to within-morph plate number in the low plated stickleback populations.

Here, we present empirical analysis of a recently published pedigree-based census method. From two fractions of the Swedish brown bear population, we derived estimates that fall within the 95% CI of the official population estimates. This method, in combination with noninvasive genetic sampling, expands the toolbox of population census methods, particularly for rare and elusive species.

We aimed to investigate the mating behavior and consequences of mating with siblings versus nonsiblings on lifetime reproduction, using five families of a chrysomelid beetle. Additionally, we analyzed the cuticular hydrocarbon profiles, which could serve as potential cues for mate recognition. Although cuticular hydrocarbon profiles differed between families, we could not find a precopulatory inbreeding avoidance behavior, but clear indications for inbreeding depression.

Adult Helicoverpa zea moths captured in pheromone traps in two locations in Pennsylvania were genotyped for microsatellite loci. Statistical genetic analysis of microsatellite data indicated that high genetic diversity within migrant populations and low genetic differentiation among migrant populations of H. zea are the result of asymmetrical immigration due to the high dispersal and reproductive behavior of H. zea.

Carapace lengths of wild, mark-recaptured green sea turtles in Hawaii, USA were compared with carapace lengths estimated from growth mark diameters retained in their humerus bones. We found no significant difference, which supports using skeletochronology to convert successive growth mark diameters to prior carapace lengths and rapidly access a record of prior growth rates for this species.

Camera traps are heralded as nonintrusive survey tools. We evaluated animal responses to infrared camera traps proving that behavioral responses may effect detection. Therefore introducing an as yet unmeasured bias in abundance surveys.

We investigated whether genetic polymorphism at two migration-linked candidate genes, Clock and Adcyap1, predicted phenotypic variation in timing of spring migration and breeding latitude in western populations of a Nearctic migratory songbird, the Wilson's warbler (Cardellina pusilla). While Clock was monomorphic, Adcyap1 allele size strongly (r = 0.69) predicted latitude of the breeding destination, inferred from stable isotope ratios of feathers, of long-distance, northern breeding populations (western Canada), while this was not the case (r = 0.12) among southern breeding birds (coastal California). We also found that Adcyap1 significantly covaried with inferred breeding latitude of males but not of females. No association was found between Adcyap1 allele size and spring migration timing. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that Adcyap1 is involved in the regulation of migratory behavior.

Differentiation in flowering time and in native environmental conditions contributes to reproductive isolation between Coffea species. We investigated the impact of Coffea species introduction to New Caledonia in new environmental conditions on their flowering phenologies and on the hybridization potential in this secondary contact zone. Using a combination of population genetics and niche modeling, together with flowering and climate monitoring, we showed that the presence of a precipitation regime different from those in Africa generated partial flowering overlap between species and promoted hybridization and gene flow.

Many specialists herbivores can subvert host plant defensive chemistry, allowing them to “feed with impunity” on plant tissues. But despite being a specialist herbivore, Scaptomyza nigrita lacks a specialized means of overcoming the toxic mustard oils of its Brassicacea host. Here, we show that this herbivore exhibits a behavioral strategy for mitigating host plant toxicity by avoiding high concentrations of mustard oil precursors where possible, even though these compounds themselves may be important for initiating host feeding.

We investigated whether pre- and/or posthatching investment of blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus) parents was related to ornamental plumage traits (UV crown coloration and carotenoid-based plumage coloration) expressed by either the individual itself or its partner. Most traits were not linked to plumage coloration, except for a consistent positive relationship between offspring begging intensity and maternal carotenoid-based plumage coloration. This is likely to represent a maternal effect mediated via maternally derived egg substances.

Our study couples stable isotope analysis with genetic sequence data to examine sex-specific introgression and trophic differentiation in two hybridizing turtle species. We found that introgression occurs through males but is halted in females. Trophic differences in females may provide a mechanism that can contribute to reduced hybrid female fitness.

Call divergence, geographic distance and genetic distance between M. fissipes populations were positively correlated. These results, combined with the P_st − F_st test, suggested a role of drift. We concluded that genetic drift, rather than ecological processes, is the more likely driver for the geographic variation in the advertisement calls of M. fissipes.

Although functional traits are growing in popularity in modern ecology, feeding studies remain firmly rooted in a taxonomic-based perspective. Our study shows that morphological and behavioral traits may explain prey vulnerability to predation and, consequently, suggests that the adoption of a trait-based perspective in feeding ecology studies can improve our mechanistic understanding of prey–consumer relationships.

We evaluated whether two coexisting Eleutherococcus species had similar demographic history based on chloroplast fragment sequencing. Our study found extremely contrasting genetic patterns between the two coexisting close relatives, with E. sessiliflorus found only one haplotype, whereas E. senticosus found considerably high genetic variation in both North China and Northeast China (total 15 haplotypes). We speculated that a recent severe bottleneck might have resulted in the extremely low genetic diversity in E. sessiliflorus; for E. senticosus, we inferred that both North China and Northeast China could sustain populations during last glacial maximum, and lineage admixture between multiple glacial refugia might elevate the genetic diversity in Northeast China.

We investigated functional traits related to growth and decomposition (and hence decisive for carbon sequestration) in 15 globally important Sphagnum species representing a range of peatland habitats. By including a wide range of species and habitats, we found that the trade-off between measures of growth and decomposition was weaker than indicated by previous studies. We also show that the assumed strong link between phylogeny and trait is an oversimplification, and we discuss trait differences among species representing different habitats and phylogeny.

We used nuclear microsatellites to investigate the evolution of contemporary population genetic structure among groves of the Californian paleoendemic giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum). Populations north of the Kings Canyon watershed were found to be genetically divergent from the more continuous groves further south. Our data supported a demographic contraction just prior to the last glacial maximum as the most likely scenario for the current disjunct range of the species, superimposed upon a long term decline of giant sequoia over the last 2 million years, associated with increasing aridity due to the Mediterranean climate.

We evaluated the influence of grazing of native plant community resilience to fire and resistance to exotic annual grass invasion for more than 20 years postfire. Grazing prefire compared to long-term grazing exclusion increased native plant community recovery and decreased exotic annual grass dominance postfire.

The highly selfing annual legume Amphicarpaea bracteata consists of three strongly divergent, extremely homozygous cryptic lineages. Genotyping-by-sequencing shows that these lineages maintain islands of genetic divergence that likely underlie hybrid incompatibility, restricting gene flow despite widespread sympatric distributions. Furthermore, although genetic diversity is very low, each lineages nevertheless displays substantial phenotypic variation, complicating identification in the field.

The clam Ruditapes decussatus is a commercial species from the northwestern Atlantic and the Mediterranean that is facing population decline and hybridization with the introduced Manila clam. To help in genetic population management, we have conducted a population survey with microsatellites and intron RFLP markers. A regional pattern of population subdivision in the Atlantic has been found.

Our results show that geographic patterns in current functional diversity across Europe exhibit prominent Quaternary glacial–interglacial climate change imprints, even though the end of the last glaciation occurred ~11,500 years ago.

Survival after fire of different forest tree seedling species was associated to trade-offs between growth and resource capture ability and ability to recover from fire. Therefore, other factors than fire confer different acclimation strategies that determine the survival of forest tree seedlings in each vegetation type.

The wolves of Natural Trap Cave, WY have been a mystery for 30 years. In this study we show that these wolves show the same morphology as the Beringian wolves from Alaska, which has implications for wolf movement and speciation across North America during the late Pleistocene and early Holocene.