Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences

Abstract Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) in plant mitochondria is frequent, yet acquired genes are rarely functional due to expression barriers. The holoparasitic plant Lophophytum mirabile (Balanophoraceae) is an exceptional case, having functionally replaced numerous native mitochondrial genes with host-derived xenologues. This system provides a unique opportunity to investigate the mechanisms o…

Abstract Amphisbaenians are fossorial squamates characterized by extreme cranial specialization, particularly in snout morphology. Whether variation in external rostral form predicts internal cranial anatomy remains poorly understood. We present the first large-scale comparative analysis of amphisbaenian endocranial morphology, using three-dimensional landmark data from endocasts of 50 species re…

Abstract Widely regarded today as a world-leading centre for conservation science, the Institute of Zoology (IoZ) was, until surprisingly recently, best known for its contributions to comparative medicine and reproductive physiology—research foci which it inherited from two precursor institutes. Funded by private foundations and endowed with cutting-edge laboratory facilities, these institutes qu…

Abstract Aquatic ecosystems face increasingly frequent heatwaves and cyanobacterial blooms, which reduce the nutritional quality of resources available to primary consumers. This raises the question of how the nutritional quality of resources modulates aquatic ectotherm heat-induced injury accumulation and repair capacity. We address this question using Daphnia magna raised on diets of contrastin…

Abstract Balancing current reproductive investment with survival and future fecundity is a central challenge for long-lived animals, shaping life-history evolution. Although carry-over effects are well documented, the underlying energetic mechanisms remain unclear. Herein, we introduce the energetic flexibility concept, i.e. the ability of individuals to dynamically reallocate energy among compet…

Abstract Here, we report on inheritance and intra-individual variation in gene copy number associated with the rapid evolution of herbicide resistance in the dioecious, agricultural weed Amaranthus palmeri. Copy number variation for the glyphosate resistance gene EPSPS was quantified using digital droplet polymerase chain reaction within individuals and for parents and offspring of controlled cro…

Abstract Substrate-borne vibration sensing is an important sensory modality in arthropods, which use externally generated vibration sources to gather information about their environment. Vibrations are subject to mechanical filtering by the legs and body, which implicates a role for morphology in modulating information flow due to the distributed and embedded nature of arthropod mechanosensors. A…

Abstract Disentangling mechanisms shaping species richness is fundamental to understanding how biodiversity is structured across geography. The latitudinal diversity gradient (LDG) is a classic pattern in which the tropics harbour the greatest number of species. Patterns deviating from the classic LDG, such as an inverse gradient in which diversity is higher towards the poles, have been considere…

Abstract Comparative oncology investigates variation in cancer risk across species by analysing relationships between observed tumour prevalence and factors such as body mass, longevity, life-history traits and mutation rates. These patterns underpin hypotheses on cancer defences, conservation strategies and the evolution of multicellularity, so their robustness is critical. Here, we show that sp…

Abstract Colonial animals are theoretically expected to use social information to reduce uncertainty regarding food location and quality; however, few empirical studies have investigated how they acquire and when they rely on such information. Here, we simultaneously tracked 96–116 breeding Adélie penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae), corresponding to 35.6–43.0% of active breeders in a colony, across 65…

Abstract When females mate with multiple males, ejaculates from different partners compete within the female reproductive tract. Males gain a competitive advantage by transferring seminal fluid proteins (Sfps) that manipulate female post-mating responses, such as reducing female propensity to remate. But in monandrous species, where females typically mate only once, post-mating sexual selection i…

Abstract A ‘human shield’ effect occurs when a species associates with humans to avoid predators or competitors. Understanding how this effect shapes species interactions is critical as anthropogenic pressures increase globally. Despite broad theoretical support for this effect, its context-dependency remains unclear, especially in urban systems. We used the COVID-19 lockdowns as a natural experi…

Abstract Hydrological alteration, eutrophication and macrophyte invasion generate novel ecological states and biotic homogenization in shallow lakes. As these stressors increasingly co-occur and unfold over decades to centuries, disentangling their combined effects on invertebrate assemblages remains however challenging. To assess their long-term (decades-centuries) interactions on driving aquati…

Abstract Biome conservatism is prevalent during the evolution of plant lineages. However, studies assessing biome lability, i.e. the capacity to shift biomes and its impact on tropical tree species diversification is currently limited. To address this, we analysed an endemic lineage of African tropical trees to investigate phylogenetic patterns of biome conservatism and lability and their impact …

Abstract Extreme climatic events are reshaping ecosystems worldwide as individual organisms vary markedly in their ability to withstand these disturbances. Deciphering patterns of persistence on local scales is therefore critical for predicting biodiversity trajectories under intensifying climate extremes. In this study, we examined variation in thermal stress responses among individuals of the c…

Abstract Global changes (e.g. climate warming, nitrogen deposition) are known to alter bacterial diversity in soil and the rhizosphere, but their effects on phyllosphere microbes and above–belowground community linkages remain unclear. Using an 18-year temperate desert steppe experiment, we assessed the impacts of warming and nitrogen addition on bacterial communities occupying plant leaves (both…

Abstract Naturally selected adaptations are often thought to impair the elaboration of conspicuous sexual signals. In katydids, males produce acoustic signals by rubbing together structures on their forewings; specialized forewing cells then radiate this sound. These dedicated sound-producing structures are found on a physically distinct basal area of the forewing, but in many species, the remain…

Abstract Local adaptation is often portrayed as uniform fitness disadvantages of immigrants relative to locals. Yet dispersal costs vary with origin, sex and life-history traits, shaping the balance between gene flow and adaptation. We quantified these heterogeneous costs by comparing the reproductive success (RS) of local and immigrant individuals using a 15-year genetic pedigree of Atlantic sal…