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Division of labour (DOL) is ubiquitous across biological hierarchies. In eusocial insects, DOL is often characterized by age-related task allocation, but workers can flexibly change their tasks, allowing for D...
The radula, a chitinous membrane with embedded teeth, is one important molluscan autapomorphy. In some taxa (Polyplacophora and Patellogastropoda) one tooth type (the dominant lateral tooth) was studied intens...
Due to their cost effectiveness, ease of use, and unlimited supply, immortalized cell lines are used in place of primary cells for a wide range of research purposes, including gene function studies, CRISPR-bas...
The craniofacial skeleton is an evolutionary innovation of vertebrates. Due to its complexity and importance to protect the brain and aid in essential functions (e.g., feeding), its development requires a prec...
Intracellular sequestration requires specialized cellular and molecular mechanisms allowing a predator to retain and use specific organelles that once belonged to its prey. Little is known about how common cel...
Echinoderms are a phylum of marine invertebrates with close phylogenetic relationships to chordates. Many members of the phylum Echinodermata are capable of extensive post-traumatic regeneration and life-long ...
Pycnogonida (sea spiders) is the sister group of all other extant chelicerates (spiders, scorpions and relatives) and thus represents an important taxon to inform early chelicerate evolution. Notably, phylogen...
Sexual selection has driven sexual dimorphism in agonistic behaviour in many species. Agonistic behaviour is fundamentally altered by domestication and captivity, but it is unclear whether ancestral sex differ...
Ectoparasites inhabit the body surface or outgrowths of hosts and are usually detrimental to host health and wellbeing. Hosts, however, vary in quality and may lead ectoparasites to aggregate on preferred host...
The comparative embryology of Chelicerata has greatly advanced in recent years with the integration of classical studies and genetics, prominently spearheaded by developmental genetic works in spiders. Nonethe...
Separation of biotic and abiotic impacts on species diversity distribution patterns across a significant climatic gradient is a challenge in the study of diversity maintenance mechanisms. The basic task is to ...
Relatively few studies have examined the interactive effects of ecological factors on physiological responses in wild animals. Nearly all of them have been short-term investigations that did not include experi...
The diversity of biological and ecological characteristics of organisms, and the underlying genetic patterns and processes of speciation, makes the development of universally applicable genetic species delimit...
The onset of morphological differences between related groups can be tracked at early stages during embryological development. This is expressed in functional traits that start with minor variations, but event...
Sea turtle hatchlings must avoid numerous predators during dispersal from their nesting beaches to foraging grounds. Hatchlings minimise time spent in predator-dense neritic waters by swimming almost continuou...
Despite its important implications in behavioural and evolutionary ecology, male mate choice has been poorly studied, and the relative contribution of personality and morphological traits remains largely unkno...
Glucocorticoids (e.g. cortisol) are associated with variation in social behavior, and previous studies have linked baseline as well as challenge-induced glucocorticoid concentrations to dominance status. It is...
Local mate competition (LMC) favours female biased clutch sex ratios because it reduces competition between brothers and provides extra mating opportunities for sons. Fig wasps seem to fit LMC model assumption...
The original article was published in Frontiers in Zoology 2021 18:46
Temperature stress is one of the crucial factors determining geographical distribution of insect species. Most of them are active in moderate temperatures, however some are capable of surviving in extremely hi...
Foraging in group living animals such as social insects, is collectively performed by individuals. However, our understanding on foraging behavior of subterranean termites is extremely limited, as the process ...
RNA interference (RNAi) has emerged as a powerful tool for knocking-down gene function in diverse taxa including arthropods for both basic biological research and application in pest control. The conservation ...
Efficient transfer of chemical signals is important for successful mating in many animal species. Multiple evolutionary lineages of animals evolved direct sex pheromone transmission during traumatic mating—the...
A basal spicule of the hexactinellid sponge Monorhaphis chuni may reach up to 3 m in length and 10 mm in diameter, an extreme case of large spicule size. Generally, sponge spicules are of scales from micrometers ...
Centipedes are terrestrial, predatory arthropods with specialized sensory organs. However, many aspects of their sensory biology are still unknown. This also concerns hygroreception, which is especially import...
Density-dependent change in aggressive behavior contributes to the population regulation of many small rodents, but the underlying neurological mechanisms have not been examined in field conditions. We hypothe...
Mammalian mandible and cranium are well-established model systems for studying canalization and developmental stability (DS) as two elements of developmental homeostasis. Nematode infections are usually acquir...
Kinorhynch segmentation differs from the patterns found in Chordata, Arthropoda and Annelida which have coeloms and circulatory systems. Due to these differences and their obsolete status as ‘Aschelminthes’, t...
Mixed-species groups in animals have been shown to confer antipredator, foraging and other benefits to their members that may provide selective advantages. In most cases, however, it is unclear whether functio...
Most living marine organisms have a biphasic life cycle dependent on metamorphosis and settlement. These critical life-history events mean that a developmentally competent larva undergoes a range of coordinate...
Sexual selection has been considered to promote diversification and speciation. Sexually dimorphic species have been used to explore the supposed effect, however, with mixed results. In dwarf spiders (Erigonin...
The Yarkand hare (Lepus yarkandensis Günther, 1875) is endemic to oasis and desert areas around the Tarim Basin in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of northwest China; however, genome-wide information for th...
Quantity discrimination, the ability to discriminate a magnitude of difference or discrete numerical information, plays a key role in animal behavior. While quantitative ability has been well documented in fis...
Temperate bat species use extended torpor to conserve energy when ambient temperatures are low and food resources are scarce. Previous research suggests that migratory bat species and species known to roost in...
In many mammalian species, once the permanent teeth have erupted, the only change to dentition is a gradual loss of tooth surface/height through wear. The crown of the teeth cannot be repaired once worn. When ...
Ant colonies are plagued by a diversity of arthropod guests, which adopt various strategies to avoid or to withstand host attacks. Chemical mimicry of host recognition cues is, for example, a common integratio...
The Correction to this article has been published in Frontiers in Zoology 2022 19:2
One of the most prominent life-history trade-offs involves the cost of reproduction. Oxidative stress has been proposed to be involved in this trade-off and has been associated with reduced life span. There is...
Many annelids, including well-studied species such as Platynereis, show similar structured segments along their body axis (homonomous segmentation). However, numerous annelid species diverge from this pattern and...
Interspecific interactions within ecological networks can influence animal fitness and behaviour, including nest-site selection of birds and ants. Previous studies revealed that nesting birds and ants may bene...
Mitochondrial function involves the interplay between mitochondrial and nuclear genomes. Such mitonuclear interactions can be disrupted by the introgression of mitochondrial DNA between taxa or divergent popul...
Many animals lower their metabolic rate in response to low temperatures and scarcity of food in the winter in phenomena called hibernation or overwintering. Living at high altitude on the Tibetan Plateau where...
Amphibian biodiversity is declining globally, with over 40% of species being considered threatened to become extinct. Crucial to the success of conservation initiatives are a comprehensive understanding of lif...
Poison frogs are known for the outstanding diversity of alkaloid-based chemical defences with promising therapeutic applications. However, current knowledge about chemical defences in Dendrobatoidea superfamil...
In egg-laying animals, mothers can influence the developmental environment and thus the phenotype of their offspring by secreting various substances into the egg yolk. In birds, recent studies have demonstrate...
The acoustic adaptation hypothesis (AAH) states that signals should evolve towards an optimal transmission of the intended information from senders to intended receivers given the environmental constraints of ...
Primate colour vision depends on a matrix of photoreceptors, a neuronal post receptoral structure and a combination of genes that culminate in different sensitivity through the visual spectrum. Along with a co...
The endless struggle to survive has driven harmless species to evolve elaborate strategies of deceiving predators. Batesian mimicry involves imitations of noxious species’ warning signals by palatable mimics. ...
Warm-adapted species survived the cold stages of the past glacial-interglacial cycles in southern European peninsulas and recolonized major parts of Central and Northern Europe in the wake of postglacial warmi...
Human actions have altered natural ecosystems worldwide. Among the many pollutants released to the environment, ionizing radiation can cause severe damage at different molecular and functional levels. The acci...
Parity mode (oviparity/viviparity) importantly affects the ecology, morphology, physiology, biogeography and evolution of organisms. The main hypotheses explaining the evolution and maintenance of viviparity a...
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