Prey use contemporary information to update their risk estimation, and accordingly, optimize their anti-predator reactions. Conceptualization of this process is largely focused on information that reflects predator activity. We aimed to complement this unilateral view by testing whether prey also use cues of non-predatory species to update their risk perception. We focused our investigation on the desert isopod Hemilepistus reaumuri that reacts defensively to excavated soil mounds, even in the absence of direct predator cues....

Abstract Background Perennity of giant rosette species in combination with a single “big bang“ reproduction followed by death of the genetic individual is relatively rare among plants. Such long-lived monocarpic plants are usually slow growing and can be found in deserts, bogs or in alpine regions of the tropics or subtropics. Due to their longevity monocarpic perennials risk to lose everything before reproduction, which make them particularly susceptible to disturbances. Because of the inherent difficulties...

Absence of genetic differentiation is usually taken as an evidence of panmixia, but can also reflect other situations including even nearly complete demographic independence among large-sized populations. Deciphering which situation applies has major practical implications (e.g., in conservation biology). The endangered harbor porpoises in the Black Sea illustrates well this point. While morphological heterogeneity suggested that population differentiation may exist between individuals from the Black and Azov seas, no genetic study provided conclusive evidence or...

Shell decollation is a growth strategy that has been adopted by a number of invertebrate taxa to offset the metabolic and ecological disadvantages of shell growth. However, little is known about the origin and evolution of this process. We here describe well-preserved specimens of the hyolith, Cupitheca decollata sp. nov., preserving the decollation process from the early Cambrian Yu’anshan Formation (ca. 518 million years ago) of South China. Based on a large number of specimens...