The Infona portal uses cookies, i.e. strings of text saved by a browser on the user's device. The portal can access those files and use them to remember the user's data, such as their chosen settings (screen view, interface language, etc.), or their login data. By using the Infona portal the user accepts automatic saving and using this information for portal operation purposes. More information on the subject can be found in the Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. By closing this window the user confirms that they have read the information on cookie usage, and they accept the privacy policy and the way cookies are used by the portal. You can change the cookie settings in your browser.
Females of many animal species mate several times with different males (polyandry), whereas females of some species mate with a single male (monandry) only once. Little is known about the mechanisms by which these different mating systems evolve. Females of Drosophila prolongata mate serially, unlike Drosophila melanogaster females that refuse to remate for several days after their first mating (remating...
Can divergence in a mating trait increase local adaption by increasing ecological divergence? Servedio and Bürger propose that “pseudomagic traits,” tightly linked complexes consisting of an ecological locus under divergent selection and a locus acting as a mating cue, can effectively mimic pleiotropy. Such pseudomagic traits can form even when linkage between ecological and mating loci is limited.
Acoustic signals show immense variation among passerines, and several hypotheses have been proposed to explain this diversity. In this study, we tested, for the first time, the relationships of song structure to phylogeny, habitat type, and morphology in the vireos and allies (Vireonidae). Every measure of song structure considered in this study had moderate and significant phylogenetic signal. Furthermore,...
A tenet of evolutionary theory is that phenotypic variation of a trait is inversely related to the intensity of stabilizing selection pressure. Among homologous bones, such as metapodials, a rudimentary, “nonfunctional” bone is expected to be more variable in length than nonrudimentary bones. This study compares variation and association in length among metapodials using 277 adult skeletons of Canis latrans...
Mimicry can directly affect the evolutionary history of models, mimics, and signal receivers. Mimics often use multimodal signaling to deceive receivers. Jamie et al. showed that brood parasitic birds display multimodal signaling of mimetic traits triggered by sexual and filial imprinting on host species. These resulting adaptations can interact with premating isolation barriers to strengthen reproductive...
Metabolic disorders have a large heritable component, and have increased markedly in human populations over the past few generations. Genome‐wide association studies of metabolic traits typically find a substantial unexplained fraction of total heritability, suggesting an important role of spontaneous mutation. An alternative explanation is that epigenetic effects contribute significantly to the heritable...
How species evolve reproductive isolation in the species‐rich Amazon basin is poorly understood in vertebrates. Here, we sequenced a reference genome and used a genome‐wide sample of SNPs to analyze a hybrid zone between two highly cryptic species of Hypocnemis warbling‐antbirds—the Rondonia warbling‐antbird (H. ochrogyna) and Spix's warbling‐antbird (H. striata)—in a headwater region of southern...
“Magic traits,” in which the same trait is both under divergent ecological selection and forms the basis of assortative mating, have been sought after due to their supposed unique ability to promote divergence with gene flow. Here, we ask how unique magic traits are, by exploring whether a tightly linked complex of a locus under divergent selection and a locus that acts as a mating cue can mimic a...
Brood parasites use the parental care of others to raise their young and sometimes employ mimicry to dupe their hosts. The brood‐parasitic finches of the genus Vidua are a textbook example of the role of imprinting in sympatric speciation. Sympatric speciation is thought to occur in Vidua because their mating traits and host preferences are strongly influenced by their early host environment. However,...
Set the date range to filter the displayed results. You can set a starting date, ending date or both. You can enter the dates manually or choose them from the calendar.