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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...
Increases in temperature variability associated with climate change have critical implications for the phenology of wildlife across the globe. For example, warmer winter temperatures can induce forward shifts ...
Comparative cognition has historically focused on a few taxa such as primates, birds or rodents. However, a broader perspective is essential to understand how different selective pressures affect cognition in ...
Gelatinous zooplankton can be difficult to preserve morphologically due to unique physical properties of their cellular and acellular components. The relatively large volume of mesoglea leads to distortion of ...
Signal detection is crucial to survival and successful reproduction, and animals often modify behavioral decisions based on information they obtained from the social context. Undeniably, the decision-making in...
In syllids (Annelida, Syllidae), the regenerative blastema was subject of many studies in the mid and late XXth century. This work on syllid regeneration showed that the blastema is developed by a process of dedi...
Trophic interactions are key processes, which determine the ecological function and performance of organisms. Many decapod crustaceans feed on plant material as a source for essential nutrients, e.g. polyunsat...
Animal communities have complex patterns of ecological segregation at different levels according to food resources, habitats, behavior, and activity patterns. Understanding these patterns among the community i...
Interannual variation in resource abundance has become more unpredictable, and food shortages have increasingly occurred in the recent decades. However, compared to seasonal fluctuations in resource abundance,...
For diurnal animals that heavily rely on vision, a nocturnal resting strategy that offers protection when vision is compromised, is crucial. We found a population of a common European jumping spider (Evarcha arcu...
Corticosteroid-binding globulin (CBG) is a high-affinity plasma protein that binds glucocorticoids (GCs) and regulates their biological activities. The structural and functional properties of CBG are crucial t...
Birds exhibit an enormous diversity in adult skull shape (disparity), while their embryonic chondrocrania are considered to be conserved across species. However, there may be chondrocranial features that are d...
The caudal fin of teleosts is a highly diverse morphological structure and a valuable source of information for comparative analyses. Within the Atherinomorpha a high variation of conditions of the caudal-fin ...
Mating generally occurs after individuals reach adulthood. In many arthropods including spiders, the adult stage is marked by a final moult after which the genitalia are fully developed and functional. In seve...
Postzygote isolation is an important part of species isolation, especially for fish, and it can be divided into two aspects: genetic isolation and ecological isolation. With the increase in parental genetic di...
The jointed appendage is a key novelty in arthropod evolution and arthropod legs are known to vary enormously in relation to function. Among centipedes, the ultimate legs always are distinctly different from l...
We tested the hypothesis that deep-sea fishes have poorly mineralized bone relative to shallower-dwelling species using data from a single family that spans a large depth range. The family Liparidae (snailfish...
Anhydrobiosis can be described as an adaptation to lack of water that enables some organisms, including tardigrades, to survive extreme conditions, even some that do not exist on Earth. The cellular mechanisms...
Understanding the impacts of past and contemporary climate change on biodiversity is critical for effective conservation. Amphibians have weak dispersal abilities, putting them at risk of habitat fragmentation...
Worker reproduction has an important influence on the social cohesion and efficiency of social insect colonies, but its role in the success of invasive ants has been neglected. We used observations of 233 capt...
Competition is considered to rely on the value attributed to resources by animals, but the influence of extrinsic stressors on this value remains unexplored. Although natural or anthropogenic environmental str...
The theory of delayed life history effects assumes that phenotype of adult individual results from environmental conditions experienced at birth and as juvenile. In seasonal environments, being born late in th...
Frontiers in Zoology