Size-selective harvesting is assumed to alter life histories of exploited fish populations, thereby negatively affecting population productivity, recovery, and yield. However, demonstrating that fisheries-induced phenotypic changes in the wild are at least partly genetically determined has proved notoriously difficult. Moreover, the population-level consequences of fisheries-induced evolution are still being controversially discussed. Using an experimental approach, we found that five generations of size-selective harvesting altered the life histories and behavior, but not the metabolic rate, of...

By combining high-throughput sequencing with target-enrichment (“hybridization capture”), researchers are able to obtain molecular data from genomic regions of interest for projects that are otherwise constrained by sample quality (e.g. degraded and contamination-rich samples) or a lack of a priori sequence information (e.g. studies on non-model species). Despite the use of hybridization capture in various fields of research for many years, the impact of enrichment conditions on capture success are not yet thoroughly understood. We...

We characterized the nucleic acid sensing Toll-like receptors (TLR) of a New World bat species, the common vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus), and through a comparative molecular evolutionary approach searched for general adaptation patterns among the nucleic acid sensing TLRs of eight different bats species belonging to three families (Pteropodidae, Vespertilionidae and Phyllostomidae). We found that the bat TLRs are evolving slowly and mostly under purifying selection and that the divergence pattern of such receptors is...

Unlike the annual bi-directional movements of over 200 bird species within the Palaearctic–Afrotropical region, irregular movements such as irruptive migration with a low degree of philopatry are reported for a variety of species depending on highly seasonal and unpredictable resources. These flexible movements allow for itinerant breeding – consecutive breeding attempts in two or more geographically different regions during the same annual reproductive cycle. In order to illuminate migratory and breeding strategies of the erratic...

Background: Complex communities of bacteria inhabit the feathers of all birds. Under normal conditions, individuals maintain a healthy state by defending themselves against these potential invaders by preening. The immune system is only triggered when bacteria gain access into the body. Preening is, however, costly and may trade-off with investment in the immune system. To shed light on how birds balance the trade-off between immunity and preen secretions when facing high or low feather bacterial...

Epigenetic modifications, of which DNA methylation is the best studied one, can convey environmental information through generations via parental germ lines. Past studies have focused on the maternal transmission of epigenetic information to the offspring of isogenic mice and rats in response to external changes, whereas heterogeneous wild mammals as well as paternal epigenetic effects have been widely neglected. In most wild mammal species, males are the dispersing sex and have to cope with differing...