Hybrid zones are regions where individuals from genetically differentiated populations meet and mate, resulting in at least some offspring of mixed ancestry. Patterns of gene flow (introgression) in hybrid zones vary across the genome, allowing assessment of the role of individual genes or genome regions in reproductive isolation. Here, we document patterns of introgression between two recently diverged species of field crickets. We sample at a very fine spatial scale and genotype crickets for 110...

Plants often recruit frugivorous animals to transport their seeds, however gut passage can have varying effects on plant fitness depending on the physical and chemical treatment of the seed, the distance seeds are transported, and the specific site of deposition. One way in which plants can mediate the effects of gut passage on fitness is by producing fruit secondary compounds that influence gut retention time. Using frugivorous bats (Carollia perspicillata: Phyllostomidae) and Neotropical plants in...

Unisexual Ambystoma salamander egg masses have often been observed to exhibit very high rates of embryo mortality. The ecological consequences and underlying mechanisms are of great concern to researchers and managers studying these and other members of the species complex, all of which are listed as rare species throughout much of their range. Substantial embryo mortality is commonly used by field ecologists as an indicator that unisexual salamanders are present in a pond; egg masses...