Zoology articles within Nature Communications

Featured

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Parental care involves shifts in numerous behaviours related to mating, feeding, aggression and social interaction. Here, the authors show that, in burying beetles, parenting is associated with increased levels of neuropeptides known to mediate these precursor behaviours, suggesting co-option of existing genetic pathways.

    • Christopher B. Cunningham
    • , Majors J. Badgett
    •  & Allen J. Moore

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A characteristic of rational behaviour is that it is transitive, such that preferences are ranked in a strict linear order. Here, Arbuthnott and colleagues show that mate choice in the fruit fly,Drosophila melanogaster, is transitive at the population level and that preferred mates produce more offspring.

    • Devin Arbuthnott
    • , Tatyana Y. Fedina
    •  & Daniel E. L. Promislow

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The development of mature vocal patterns is shaped by parental influence in many animals. Here, Gultekin and Hage show that parental feedback not only influences vocal development, but is indeed necessary for juvenile marmosets to acquire normal vocal behaviour.

    • Yasemin B. Gultekin
    •  & Steffen R. Hage

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Social insects are commonly parasitized by beetles that live inside colonies and consume nest resources or even the brood. Here, Yamamotoet al. present fossil evidence that social parasitism by beetles dates back at least 99 million years—contemporaneous with the earliest fossil indications of ant and termite eusociality.

    • Shûhei Yamamoto
    • , Munetoshi Maruyama
    •  & Joseph Parker

  • Article
    | Open Access

    How water striders escape from danger by jumping vertically from the water surface without sinking is an open question in biomechanics. Yanget al. show that water strider species with varying leg lengths and body masses tune their leg movements to maximize jump speeds without breaking the surface of the water.

    • Eunjin Yang
    • , Jae Hak Son
    •  & Ho-Young Kim

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The stress-reducing effects of social bonds have been hypothesized to accrue either during stressful events or across daily affiliations. Here, Wittiget al. show that the presence of social partners reduces levels of stress hormones in wild chimpanzees beyond stressful contexts, supporting the latter hypothesis.

    • Roman M. Wittig
    • , Catherine Crockford
    •  & Klaus Zuberbühler

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Invasive insects impose many economic costs, for example by consuming crops and spreading disease. Here, Bradshaw et al. compile a database of the costs of invasive insects and conservatively estimate that the yearly global cost (in 2014-equivalent US dollars) is at least $70 billion for goods and services and $6.9 billion for human health.

    • Corey J. A. Bradshaw
    • , Boris Leroy
    •  & Franck Courchamp

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Mosquitoes use olfactory cues to locate their host. Here, Riabinina et al. use genetic labelling of olfactory receptor neurons in the malaria vector Anopheles gambiaeto show that these neurons project to the antennal lobe, a known insect olfactory centre, and the subesophageal zone, a region previously linked to gustatory processing.

    • Olena Riabinina
    • , Darya Task
    •  & Christopher J. Potter

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Tardigrades are resistant to extreme environmental conditions including dehydration, radiation and the vacuum of space. Here the authors present a high-quality genome which displays minimal horizontal gene transfer, and identify the unique tardigrade protein Dsup which suppresses DNA damage.

    • Takuma Hashimoto
    • , Daiki D. Horikawa
    •  & Takekazu Kunieda

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The acoustic properties of vocal signals generally depend on body size, but in some species males have traits that exaggerate the size conveyed by their vocal signals. Here, Charlton and Reby show that among terrestrial mammals, species with sexual selection for large male body size also have more exaggerated vocal signals for their size.

    • Benjamin D. Charlton
    •  & David Reby

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Songbirds originated in Australia and have now diversified into approximately 5,000 species found across the world. Here, Moyle et al. combine phylogenomic and biogeographic analyses to show that songbird diversification was associated with the formation of islands providing a route out of Australia.

    • Robert G. Moyle
    • , Carl H. Oliveros
    •  & Brant C. Faircloth

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Antarctic bottom water (AABW) production is critical to the global ocean overturning circulation. Here, the authors show new observations of AABW formation from seal CTD data in Prydz Bay, East Antarctica that highlights its susceptibility to increased freshwater input from the melting of ice shelves.

    • G. D. Williams
    • , L. Herraiz-Borreguero
    •  & M. Hindell

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In some species with internal fertilization, females can mate with multiple males and then manipulate which sperm fertilize the eggs. Here, Alonzo et al.find that by releasing ovarian fluid along with their eggs, female ocellated wrasse are able to influence paternity despite having external fertilization.

    • Suzanne H. Alonzo
    • , Kelly A. Stiver
    •  & Susan E. Marsh-Rollo

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In the nematode Pristionchus pacificus, a developmental switch, the sulfatase eud-1, controls mouth-form plasticity. Here, the authors show that mutations in two conserved histone modifying enzymes mimic the eud-1 phenotype, in part mediated by an antisense eud-1RNA, resulting in the absence of one mouth-form

    • Vahan Serobyan
    • , Hua Xiao
    •  & Ralf J. Sommer

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In honeybees, pheromones produced by the queen inhibit reproduction by workers and enforce a eusocial division of labour. Here, Duncan, Hyink and Dearden show that this inhibition is mediated by the Notch signalling pathway in the workers' ovaries.

    • Elizabeth J. Duncan
    • , Otto Hyink
    •  & Peter K. Dearden

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Sharks’ dorsal fins are thought to assist propulsion and turns while pectoral fins are thought to oppose sharks’ negative buoyancy. Here, Payne and colleagues show that hammerhead sharks use an exaggerated dorsal fin to generate lift by swimming on their side.

    • Nicholas L. Payne
    • , Gil Iosilevskii
    •  & Yuuki Y. Watanabe

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Mantis shrimps are known to display large pitch, yaw and torsional eye rotations. Here, the authors show that these eye movements allow mantis shrimp to orientate particular photoreceptors in order to better discriminate the polarization of light.

    • Ilse M. Daly
    • , Martin J. How
    •  & Nicholas W. Roberts

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Males help care for offspring in about 10% of mammal species. Here, West and Capellini perform phylogenetic comparative analyses on a sample of 529 mammal species and find that male care is associated with shorter lactation periods by females, larger litters of offspring, and more frequent breeding events.

    • Hannah E. R. West
    •  & Isabella Capellini

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Wolbachia bacteria infect insects and could potentially be used to control populations of malaria-transmitting mosquitoes. Here, the authors provide evidence that natural Wolbachia infections affect the rate of egg laying and are associated with reduced presence of malaria parasites in Anophelesmosquitoes.

    • W. Robert Shaw
    • , Perrine Marcenac
    •  & Flaminia Catteruccia

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Circadian rhythms synchronize important biological processes, and are thought to primarily be entrained by environmental cycles in light and temperature, with little or no role for social interactions. Here, Fuchikawa et al. show that social cues among honeybees can entrain these rhythms even in the presence of conflicting light-dark cycles.

    • Taro Fuchikawa
    • , Ada Eban-Rothschild
    •  & Guy Bloch

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Within species, there tends to be a tight relationship between genital size and body size, suggesting strong stabilizing selection. Here, Booksmythe et al.artificially select relative genital size in mosquitofish and find that novel genital size-body size combinations do not lead to expected fitness reductions.

    • Isobel Booksmythe
    • , Megan L. Head
    •  & Michael D. Jennions

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Understanding climatic adaptation in fish is limited by a lack of large-scale, long term acclimation studies. Here, Sandblom et al. show that fish exposed to a 5-10 °C increase in water temperature next to a nuclear power plant display contrasting upper and lower cardiorespiratory thermal compensation limits.

    • Erik Sandblom
    • , Timothy D. Clark
    •  & Fredrik Jutfelt

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Giraffe’s unique anatomy and physiology include its stature and associated cardiovascular adaptation. Here, Douglas Cavener and colleagues provide de novogenome assemblies of giraffe and its closest relative okapi and provide comparative analyses to infer insights into evolution and adaptation.

    • Morris Agaba
    • , Edson Ishengoma
    •  & Douglas R. Cavener

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Foraging is energetically demanding for animals like hawkmoths that feed while flying. Here, Haverkamp et al. show that Manduca sexta has an innate preference for feeding on species of Nicotianawhose flower corolla length best matches the length of their proboscis, which allowed more efficient foraging and yielded the highest caloric gain.

    • Alexander Haverkamp
    • , Julia Bing
    •  & Markus Knaden

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Toxic and venomous species often have conspicuous warning colouration that is mimicked by harmless species. Here, Davis Rabosky et al. combine phylogenetic and biogeographic analyses to reveal that mimicry of venomous coral snakes has been a major driver of snake colour evolution in the New World.

    • Alison R. Davis Rabosky
    • , Christian L. Cox
    •  & Jimmy A. McGuire

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Adverse early life experiences can have negative consequences for health and survival in later life. Here, Tung et al. show that in female baboons, the cumulative number of adverse experiences can be a strong predictor of lifespan.

    • Jenny Tung
    • , Elizabeth A. Archie
    •  & Susan C. Alberts

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Live birth and an annual life cycle potentially enable access to new ecological niches and subsequent species diversification. Here, Helmstetter et al.build the phylogeny for fish in the order Cyprinodontiformes and find that, though live birth and annualism have each evolved multiple times, only live birth is associated with increased diversification.

    • Andrew J. Helmstetter
    • , Alexander S. T. Papadopulos
    •  & Vincent Savolainen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Suspension-feeding fish, such as goldfish and whale sharks, retain prey without clogging their oral filter. Using a cross-step filtration model based on fish morphology, Sanderson et al. show how vortices generated by this design could trap and transport particles even smaller than the filter pores.

    • S. Laurie Sanderson
    • , Erin Roberts
    •  & Hannah Brooks

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The long-distance hunting behaviour of African wild dogs is thought to be energetically costly. Here, Hubel et al. show that multiple opportunistic short-distance hunts and group feeding make African wild dogs in mixed woodland savannah energetically robust.

    • Tatjana Y. Hubel
    • , Julia P. Myatt
    •  & Alan M. Wilson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The response of parents to offspring begging behaviour is hugely variable in birds, but what mediates this response is not known. In a meta-analysis across 143 species, Caro et al. show that variation in offspring begging and parental care is a function of environmental quality and predictability.

    • Shana M. Caro
    • , Ashleigh S. Griffin
    •  & Stuart A. West

  • Article
    | Open Access

    African wild dogs hunt collaboratively over long distances in grassland plains. Hubel et al. use high-resolution GPS to show that in their remaining habitat of mixed woodland savannah, African wild dogs use multiple opportunistic short-distance hunts, with no evidence of cooperative chasing.

    • Tatjana Y. Hubel
    • , Julia P. Myatt
    •  & Alan M. Wilson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Head movements of swimming fishes are thought to exist only because of recoil of the oscillating tail. Here, Akanyeti et al. show that by controlling the timing of head movements, fish can improve their swimming efficiency while simultaneously optimizing sensing and respiration.

    • O. Akanyeti
    • , P. J. M. Thornycroft
    •  & J. C. Liao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Parents are faced with the dilemma whether to invest in their current offspring, or potential future young. Here, Engel et al. show that nutritionally-dependent young induce temporary infertility in female burying beetles, which in turn is signalled to the male partner via a hormone-related anti-aphrodisiac.

    • Katharina C. Engel
    • , Johannes Stökl
    •  & Sandra Steiger

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Animal vocalizations contain distinct elements, but it is not clear whether they convey combined meanings in the same way as human speech. Here, Suzuki et al.show that Japanese great tits can combine different elements of vocal signals so that they have compositional syntax.

    • Toshitaka N. Suzuki
    • , David Wheatcroft
    •  & Michael Griesser

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Insect wings are under multiple competing selection pressures, but which are important in natural populations is not clear. Using RNAi to modify wing shape, Ray et al. show that aerial agility can be significantly enhanced in Drosophila, suggesting that natural variation does not reflect an optimization solely for flight agility.

    • Robert P. Ray
    • , Toshiyuki Nakata
    •  & Richard J. Bomphrey

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Little evidence exists on whether human-generated noise directly affects survival of wildlife. Here, Simpson et al. show that damselfish exposed to motorboat noise have elevated metabolic rates, reduced responses to predatory attacks, and suffer increased predation compared to fish in ambient conditions.

    • Stephen D. Simpson
    • , Andrew N. Radford
    •  & Mark G. Meekan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Little is known about the microbiota of marine mammals, despite the crucial ecological roles played by these animals. Here, Bik et al. describe the bacterial communities associated with various body sites in dolphins and sea lions, as well as the microbiota of their dietary fish and adjacent seawater.

    • Elisabeth M. Bik
    • , Elizabeth K. Costello
    •  & David A. Relman

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Theory of Mind experiments in animals have not previously discounted the possibility that individuals follow their competitors′ behavioural cues. Here, Bugnyar et al.show that ravens consider the possibility that they are being watched when caching food, even when they cannot see a conspecific competitor.

    • Thomas Bugnyar
    • , Stephan A. Reber
    •  & Cameron Buckner

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The common bedbug is a pest for humans, yet its molecular biology is poorly understood. Here, the authors sequence the common bedbug genome and profile gene expression across all life stages to show major changes in gene expression after feeding on human blood.

    • Jeffrey A. Rosenfeld
    • , Darryl Reeves
    •  & Christopher E. Mason

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The common cuckoo lays its eggs in nests of a variety of species and their eggs mimic the ones of their hosts. Here, the authors show that blue egg colouration in the common cuckoo is maternally inherited, originated in Asia and then expanded to Europe.

    • Frode Fossøy
    • , Michael D Sorenson
    •  & Bård G Stokke

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Based on whole genome resequencing of more than 80 wild and domestic yaks from high-altitude Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, this study recovers demographic and genetic processes underlying the domestication of this animal. Qiu et al.also identify genes and associated pathways as candidates for selection during the domestication process.

    • Qiang Qiu
    • , Lizhong Wang
    •  & Jianquan Liu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Honeybee olfactory systems may experience conflicting cues from communication- and foraging-related odours. Here, Nouvian et al.find that appetitive signals from floral compounds can reduce aggression by blocking the recruitment to defence triggered by alarm pheromones, and that this is not due to odourant masking.

    • Morgane Nouvian
    • , Lucie Hotier
    •  & Judith Reinhard

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ex situ conservation breeding programmes for endangered species are expensive, and not always guaranteed to succeed. Here, Martin-Wintle et al.show that when captive giant pandas are given the opportunity to choose their preferred mate, copulation and birth rates increase significantly.

    • Meghan S. Martin-Wintle
    • , David Shepherdson
    •  & Ronald R. Swaisgood

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In contrast to the larynx of mammals, birds produce sound using a unique vocal organ called the syrinx. Using ex vivo preparations, Elemans et al.show that, despite large anatomical differences, sound production across a range of avian taxa is via the myoelastic-aerodynamic mechanism, the same mechanism involved in human speech.

    • C.P.H Elemans
    • , J.H. Rasmussen
    •  & J.G. Švec

Browse broader subjects

Browse narrower subjects

Browse Zoology across other nature.com journals