Sexual selection and its evolutionary consequences in female animals
ABSTRACTFor sexual selection to act on a given sex, there must exist variation in the reproductive success of that sex as a result of differential access to mates or fertilisations. The mechanisms and consequences of sexual selection acting on male animals are well documented, but research on sexual selection acting on females has only recently received attention. Controversy still exists over whether sexual selection acts on females in the traditional sense, and over whether to modify the existing definition of sexual selection (to include resource competition) or to invoke alternative mechanisms (usually social selection...
Source: Biological Reviews - November 28, 2018 Category: Biology Authors: Robin M. Hare,
Leigh W. Simmons Tags: Original Article Source Type: research
Evolutionary history of fire ‐stimulated resprouting, flowering, seed release and germination
ABSTRACTFire has shaped the evolution of many plant traits in fire ‐prone environments: fire‐resistant tissues with heat‐insulated meristems, post‐fire resprouting or fire‐killed but regenerating from stored seeds, fire‐stimulated flowering, release of on‐plant‐stored seeds, and germination of soil‐stored seeds. Flowering, seed release and germina tion fit into three categories of response to intensifying fire: fire not required, weakly fire‐adapted or strongly fire‐adapted. Resprouting also has three categories but survival is always reduced by increasing fire intensity. We collated 286 records for 2...
Source: Biological Reviews - November 28, 2018 Category: Biology Authors: Byron B. Lamont,
Tianhua He,
Zhaogui Yan Tags: Original Article Source Type: research
Persistence and stochasticity are key determinants of genetic diversity in plants associated with banded iron formation inselbergs
AbstractThe high species endemism characteristic of many of the world's terrestrial island systems provides a model for studying evolutionary patterns and processes, yet there has been no synthesis of studies to provide a systematic evaluation of terrestrial island systems in this context. The banded iron formations (BIFs) of south ‐western Australia are ancient terrestrial island formations occurring within a mosaic of alluvial clay soils, sandplains and occasional granite outcropping, across an old, gently undulating, highly weathered, plateau. Notably, these BIFs display exceptionally high beta plant diversity. Here, ...
Source: Biological Reviews - November 26, 2018 Category: Biology Authors: Margaret Byrne,
Siegfried L. Krauss,
Melissa A. Millar,
Carole P. Elliott,
David J. Coates,
Colin Yates,
Rachel M. Binks,
Paul Nevill,
Heidi Nistelberger,
Grant Wardell ‐Johnson,
Todd Robinson,
Ryonen Butcher,
Matthew Barrett,
Neil Gibson Tags: Original Article Source Type: research
Emerging threats and persistent conservation challenges for freshwater biodiversity
ABSTRACTIn the 12 years since Dudgeonet al. (2006) reviewed major pressures on freshwater ecosystems, the biodiversity crisis in the world's lakes, reservoirs, rivers, streams and wetlands has deepened. While lakes, reservoirs and rivers cover only 2.3% of the Earth's surface, these ecosystems host at least 9.5% of the Earth's described animal species. Furthermore, using the World Wide Fund for Nature's Living Planet Index, freshwater population declines (83% between 1970 and 2014) continue to outpace contemporaneous declines in marine or terrestrial systems. The Anthropocene has brought multiple new and varied threats tha...
Source: Biological Reviews - November 22, 2018 Category: Biology Authors: Andrea J. Reid,
Andrew K. Carlson,
Irena F. Creed,
Erika J. Eliason,
Peter A. Gell,
Pieter T. J. Johnson,
Karen A. Kidd,
Tyson J. MacCormack,
Julian D. Olden,
Steve J. Ormerod,
John P. Smol,
William W. Taylor,
Klement Tockner,
Jesse C. Vermai Tags: Original Article Source Type: research
Synzoochory: the ecological and evolutionary relevance of a dual interaction
ABSTRACTSynzoochory is the dispersal of seeds by seed ‐caching animals. The animal partner in this interaction plays a dual role, acting both as seed disperser and seed predator. We propose that this duality gives to synzoochory two distinctive features that have crucial ecological and evolutionary consequences. First, because plants attract animals that have not only positive (seed dispersal) but also negative (seed predation) impacts on their fitness, the evolution of adaptations to synzoochory is strongly constrained. Consequently, it is not easy to identify traits that define a synzoochorous dispersal syndrome. The a...
Source: Biological Reviews - November 22, 2018 Category: Biology Authors: Jos é María Gómez,
Eugene W. Schupp,
Pedro Jordano Tags: Original Article Source Type: research
Biophysical factors in the regulation of asymmetric division of stem cells
ABSTRACTStem cells are a promising cell source for regenerative medicine due to their characteristics of self ‐renewal and differentiation. The intricate balance between these two cell fates is maintained by precisely controlled symmetric and asymmetric cell divisions. Asymmetric division has a fundamental importance in maintaining tissue homeostasis and in the development of multi‐cellular organisms. F or example, during development, asymmetric cell divisions are responsible for the formation of the body axis. Mechanistically, mitotic spindle dynamics determine the assembly and separation of chromosomes and regulate t...
Source: Biological Reviews - November 22, 2018 Category: Biology Authors: Ananya Barui,
Pallab Datta Tags: Original Article Source Type: research
Evolutionary significance of the microbial assemblages of large benthic Foraminifera
We examined recent advances in molecular identification of prokaryotic (i.e. bacteria) and eukaryotic (i.e. microalgae) associates, and palaeoecology, and place the partnership with bacteria and algae in the context of climate change. In critically reviewing the available fossil and modern data on symbiosis, we reveal a crucial role of microalgae in the response of LBF to ocean warming, and their capacity to colonise a variety of habitats, across both latitudes and broad depth ranges. Symbiont identity is a key factor enabling LBF to expand their geographic ranges when the sea‐surface tempe rature increases. Our analyses...
Source: Biological Reviews - November 18, 2018 Category: Biology Authors: Martina Prazeres,
Willem Renema Tags: Original Article Source Type: research
Modularity is the mother of invention: a review of polymorphism in bryozoans
AbstractModularity is a fundamental concept in biology. Most taxa within the colonial invertebrate phylum Bryozoa have achieved division of labour through the development of specialized modules (polymorphs), and this group is perhaps the most outstanding exemplar of the phenomenon. We provide a comprehensive description of the diversity, morphology and function of these polymorphs and the significance of modularity to the evolutionary success of the phylum, which has>21000 described fossil and living species. Modular diversity likely arose from heterogeneous microenvironmental conditions, and cormidia (repeated clusters...
Source: Biological Reviews - November 18, 2018 Category: Biology Authors: Carolann R. Schack,
Dennis P. Gordon,
Ken G. Ryan Tags: Original Article Source Type: research
A long winter for the Red Queen: rethinking the evolution of seasonal migration
Biological Reviews, EarlyView. (Source: Biological Reviews)
Source: Biological Reviews - November 5, 2018 Category: Biology Authors: Benjamin M. Winger,
Giorgia G. Auteri,
Teresa M. Pegan,
Brian C. Weeks Source Type: research
Sex ‐biased dispersal: a review of the theory
Biological Reviews, EarlyView. (Source: Biological Reviews)
Source: Biological Reviews - October 24, 2018 Category: Biology Authors: Xiang ‐Yi Li,
Hanna Kokko Source Type: research
Vicariance and dispersal in southern hemisphere freshwater fish clades: a palaeontological perspective
Biological Reviews, EarlyView. (Source: Biological Reviews)
Source: Biological Reviews - October 19, 2018 Category: Biology Authors: Alessio Capobianco,
Matt Friedman Source Type: research
The enigmatic ATP supply of the endoplasmic reticulum
Biological Reviews, EarlyView. (Source: Biological Reviews)
Source: Biological Reviews - October 19, 2018 Category: Biology Authors: Maria R. Depaoli,
Jesse C. Hay,
Wolfgang F. Graier,
Roland Malli Source Type: research
The effects of long ‐distance migration on the evolution of moult strategies in Western‐Palearctic passerines
Biological Reviews, EarlyView. (Source: Biological Reviews)
Source: Biological Reviews - October 18, 2018 Category: Biology Authors: Yosef Kiat,
Ido Izhaki,
Nir Sapir Source Type: research
Dropping to escape: a review of an under ‐appreciated antipredator defence
Biological Reviews, EarlyView. (Source: Biological Reviews)
Source: Biological Reviews - October 9, 2018 Category: Biology Authors: Rosalind K. Humphreys,
Graeme D. Ruxton Source Type: research
