RSS 1.0Biological Sciences
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Data for: Ecologically relevant thermal fluctuations enhance offspring fitness: biological and methodological implications for studies of thermal developmental plasticity
(2020-08-03)
Natural thermal environments are notably complex and challenging to mimic in controlled studies. Consequently, our understanding of the ecological relevance and underlying mechanisms of organismal responses to thermal ...
Rapid evolution of disease resistance is accompanied by functional changes in gene expression in a wild bird
(2020-06-03)
Wild organisms are under increasing pressure to adapt rapidly to environmental changes. Predicting the impact of these changes on natural populations requires an understanding of the speed with which adaptive phenotypes ...
Reproductive Value and the Stochastic Demography of Age-Structured Populations
(2020-06-03)
The dynamics of an age-structured population in a fluctuating environment is determined by the stochastic individual contributions from annual survival and fecundity to the total reproductive value of the population the ...
Longitudinal Analysis of a Diversity Support Program in Biology: A National Call for Further Assessment
(2020-05-26)
National calls to improve the performance and persistence of students from historically underrepresented backgrounds in science have led to a surge of research on inclusive, evidence-based teaching methods. Less work has ...
With Big Data Comes Big Responsibilities for Science Equity Research
(2020-05-26)
Our ability to collect and access large quantities of data over the last decade has been revolutionary for many social sciences. Suddenly, it is possible to measure human behavior, performance, and activity on an unprecedented ...
Discovery and broad relevance may be insignificant components of course-based 1 undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) for non-biology majors
(2020-05-26)
Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) are a type of laboratory learning environment associated with a science course in which undergraduates participate in novel research. According to Auchinchloss et ...
Contrasting evolution of virulence and replication rate in an emerging bacterial pathogen
(2020-05-26)
Host resistance through immune clearance is predicted to favor pathogens that are able to transmit faster and are hence more virulent. Increasing pathogen virulence is, in turn, typically assumed to be mediated by increasing ...
Evolution of life histories along elevational gradients: Trade-off between parental care and fecundity
(2020-04-20)
Life history responses to environmental conditions include a combination of fecundity-survival schedules and behavioral strategies that yield the highest fitness in a given environment. In this study, we examined the pattern ...
Direct and indirect genetic and fine-scale location effects on breeding date in song sparrows
(2020-04-02)
1. Quantifying direct and indirect genetic effects of interacting females and males on variation in jointly expressed life-history traits is central to predicting microevolutionary dynamics. However, accurately estimating ...
Functional Characterization of Neuroendocrine Regulation of Branchial Carbonic Anhydrase Induction in the Euryhaline Crab Callinectes sapidus
(2020-04-02)
Carbonic anhydrase (CA) plays an essential role as a provider of counterions for Na+/H+ and Cl-/HCO3- exchange in branchial ionic uptake processes in euryhaline crustaceans. CA activity and gene expression are low in crabs ...
Landscape-level influences of terrestrial snake occupancy within the southeastern United States
(2020-04-02)
Habitat loss and degradation are thought to be the primary drivers of species
extirpations, but for many species we have little information regarding specific habitats that
influence occupancy. Snakes are of conservation ...
Fitness implications of seasonal climate variation in Columbian ground squirrels
(2020-04-01)
The influence of climate change on the fitness of wild populations is often studied in the context of the spring onset of the reproductive season. This focus is relevant for climate influences on reproductive success, but ...
Severe mammal declines coincide with proliferation of invasive Burmese pythons in Everglades National Park
(2020-04-01)
Invasive species represent a significant threat to global biodiversity
and a substantial economic burden. Burmese pythons, giant
constricting snakes native to Asia, now are found throughout
much of southern Florida, ...
Hard and Soft Anatomy in Two Genera of Dondersiidae (Mollusca, Aplacophora, Solenogastres)
(2020-02-26)
Phylogenetic relationships and identifications
in the aplacophoran taxon Solenogastres (Neomeniomorpha)
are in flux largely because descriptions of hard parts––
sclerites, radulae, copulatory spicules––and body shape
have ...
High-Throughput Sequencing Characterizes Intertidal Meiofaunal Communities in Northern Gulf of Mexico (Dauphin Island and Mobile Bay, Alabama)
(2019-12-20)
Abstract. Meiofauna are important components of food webs and for nutrient exchange between the benthos and water column. Recent studies have focused on these communities in the Gulf of Mexico due to potential impacts of ...
Data for: Adaptive seasonal shift towards investment in fewer, larger offspring: Evidence from field and laboratory studies
(2019-12-20)
1. Seasonal changes in reproduction have been described for many taxa. As reproductive seasons progress, females often shift from greater energetic investment in many small offspring towards investing less total energy ...
Interspecific combat observed among viperid snakes
(2019-10-22)
nadiv: an R package to create relatedness matrices for estimating non-additive genetic variances in animal models
(2019-09-15)
1. The Non-Additive InVerses (nadiv) R software package contains functions to create and use non-additive genetic relationship matrices in the animal model of quantitative genetics.
2. This study discusses the concepts ...
Thermal Spikes Caused by the Urban Heat Island Effect Result in Differential Egg Survival of a Non-native Lizard (Anolis cristatellus)
(2019-09-15)
Embryonic development in ectotherms is very sensitive to abiotic nest conditions. In reptiles, high incubation temperatures often result in relatively short incubation periods and large hatching size, but extremely high ...
Thermal Spikes Caused by the Urban Heat Island Effect Result in Differential Egg Survival of a Non-native Lizard (Anolis cristatellus)
(2019-09-15)
Embryonic development in ectotherms is very sensitive to abiotic nest conditions. In reptiles, high incubation temperatures often result in relatively short incubation periods and large hatching size, but extremely high ...