1. Despite the intensive use of immune indices in immunoecology, whether to interpret the results of immune indices in terms of actual immune competence (i.e., ability to control and clear parasite infections as indicated by high values of immune indices associated with low parasite loads) or current immune activation (pathogenic infection being associated with high parasite load and high values of immune indices) is still an open question. Most studies to date have produced contrasting...

While uncovering the costs and benefits of polyandry has attracted considerable attention, assessing the net effect of sexual selection on population fitness requires the experimental manipulation of female mating over generations, which is usually only achievable in laboratory populations of arthropods. However, knowing if sexual selection improves or impairs the expression of life history traits is key for the management of captive populations of endangered species, which are mostly long-lived birds and mammals. It might...

Parental age has profound consequences for offspring’s phenotype. However, whether patrilineal age affects offspring sperm production is unknown, despite the importance of sperm production for male reproductive success in species facing post-copulatory sexual selection. Using a longitudinal dataset on ejaculate attributes of the houbara bustard, we showed that offspring sired by old fathers had different age-dependent trajectories of sperm production compared to offspring sired by young fathers. Specifically, they produced less sperm (-48%) in their...

Terrestrial palaeo-environmental proxy data has been collected to examine orbital changes in wildfire activity in the Early Jurassic of the Mochras Borehole, Cardigan Bay Basin, Wales. To do this a high resolution charcoal abundance dataset was created and quantified in two size fractions, microscopic charcoal (10-125 µ) and macroscopic charcoal (>125 µ). To take potential changes in riverine influx and/or organic preservation in account on the charcoal abundance, palynofacies were analysed to document all terrestrial...

Molluscan shells are among the most fascinating research objects because of their diverse morphologies and textures. The formation of these delicate biomineralized structures is a matrix-mediated process. A question that arises is what are the essential components required to build these exoskeletons. In order to understand the molecular mechanisms of molluscan shell formation, it is crucial to identify organic macromolecules in different shells from diverse taxa. In the case of bivalves, however, taxon sampling in...

Rapid environmental change forces long-lived plants like trees to immigrate into zones still occupied by phylogenetically distantly related species. Does such phylogenetic isolation (PI) change the trees’ ecosystem functioning such as litter decomposition? We studied oaks (Quercus petraea) of low and high PI, reciprocally transplanting their litters to identify effect of aboveground litter quality and belowground decomposer biota. Across 8 and 14 months we quantified decomposition (mass loss, C-loss and N-loss), decomposer biota (Acari, Collembola,...