In many animal species, males direct more intense courtship towards females they have not previously encountered,
than towards females with which they have previously mated. To test the factors responsible for this "Coolidge Effect", we need
studies on a wide range of taxa – including those with mating systems in...
We examined terrestrial amphibians in managed headwater forest stands in western Oregon from 1998 to 2009. We assessed: (1) temporal and spatial patterns of species capture rates, and movement patterns with distance from streams and forest management treatments of alternative riparian buffer widths and upland thinning; (2) species survival and...
RNA silencing is an evolutionarily conserved system that
functions as an antiviral mechanism in higher plants and
insects. To counteract RNA silencing, viruses express
silencing suppressors that interfere with both siRNA- and
microRNA-guided silencing pathways. We used comparative
in vitro and in vivo approaches to analyse the molecular
mechanism of...
Morphologically divergent ecotypes arise in fish populations on postglacial time scales, and resource polymorphisms
are often invoked to explain their origin. However, genetic recombination can constrain the ability of divergent selection to produce
reproductive isolation in sympatry. Recombination breaks up favorable combinations of traits (”adaptive suites”) if individual
traits are...
Nassau grouper Epinephelus striatus are a large bodied, top level predator that is ecologically important throughout
the Caribbean. Although typically solitary, Nassau grouper form large annual spawning aggregations at predictable times in specific
locations. In 2003, The Cayman Islands Marine Conservation Board established protection for a newly rediscovered Nassau
grouper...
Recent reform initiatives in undergraduate biology call for curricula that prepare students for dealing with real-world issues and making important links between science and society. In response to this call, we have developed an issues-based laboratory module that uses guided inquiry to integrate the concepts of animal behavior and population...
Quantitative literacy is essential to biological literacy (and is one of the core concepts in Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education: A Call to Action; AAAS 2009). Building quantitative literacy is a challenging endeavor for biology instructors. Integrating mathematical skills into biological investigations can help build quantitative literacy. In...
Excess fatty acids and sterols are stored as triacylglycerols and sterol esters in
specialized cellular organelles, called lipid droplets. Understanding what determines the cellular
amount of neutral lipids and their packaging into lipid droplets is of fundamental and
applied interest. Using two species of fission yeast, we show that cycling...
As resource management efforts move towards more comprehensive approaches that spin multiple sectors and stakeholder groups, decision makers are faced with the challenge of deciding how important each group is, and how much weight their concerns should have, when making decisions. These decisions must be made transparently if they are...
Tropical dry forests are the most threatened forest type in the world yet a paucity of research about them stymies development of appropriate
conservation actions. The Paran~a River Basin has the most significant dry forest formations in the Cerrado biome of central Brazil
and is threatened by intense land conversion...