The worldwide use of neonicotinoid pesticides has caused concern on account of their involvement in the decline of bee populations, which are key pollinators in most ecosystems. Here we describe a role of non-neuronal acetylcholine (ACh) for breeding of Apis mellifera carnica and a so far unknown effect of neonicotinoids on non-target insects. Royal jelly or larval food are produced by the hypo...

Avian interspecific brood parasites differ considerably in their commitment to parasitism; 87 species are obligate brood parasites, whereas 35 species are known to be facultative brood parasites. This variation is strongly related to mode of development. Obligate parasitism is found almost exclusively in altricial species, whereas facultative interspecific parasitism is predominant in precocial...

Male seahorses and pipefishes of the family Syngnathidae are heralded for their unique brood pouch structures for incubating embryos. There are three general types of brood pouch with increasing complexity: simple ventral gluing, two pouch flaps and a completely sealed sac. The diversity of functional roles within a type in providing nutrition, aeration and protection to offspring is unknown. H...

-Several lines of evidence suggest that the 13-year life cycle is genetically dominant over the 17-year life cycle in periodical cicadas. They are: (1) 13-year dominance best predicts the decline of 17 -year Brood X, and concomitant increase in Brood XIX in the midwest, following a hypothesized 1868 hybridization with 13-year Brood XIX through assimilation of heterozygotes into Brood XIX; (2) t...

Following nest destruction, the laying of physiologically committed eggs (eggs that are ovulated, yolked, and making their way through the oviduct) in the nests of other birds is considered a viable pathway for the evolution of obligate interspecific brood parasitism. While intraspecific brood parasitism in response to nest predation has been experimentally demonstrated, this pathway has yet to...

Parents and their offspring may come into conflict over both the level of food provisioning to the brood and the distribution of food among nestlings within a brood. Sibling competition within a brood favours nestlings whose rapid development increases their competitive status. This may in turn reduce the overall fitness of parents by increasing the food requirements of individual nestlings. Pa...

Life in a social group increases the risk of disease transmission. To counteract this threat, social insects have evolved manifold antiparasite defenses, ranging from social exclusion of infected group members to intensive care. It is generally assumed that individuals performing hygienic behaviors risk infecting themselves, suggesting a high direct cost of helping. Our work instead indicates t...

Reproduction of the isopod Cubaris murina was studied in the laboratory in order to observe the offspring number per brood, the number and duration of the incubation periods, and the influence of repeated mating on number of young per brood. An experiment was conducted with two different groups: female/male pairs and females that were isolated after mating. No significant difference was found b...

Avian brood parasites reduce the reproductive output of their hosts and thereby select for defence mechanisms such as ejection of parasitic eggs. Such defence mechanisms simultaneously select for counter-defences in brood parasites, causing a coevolutionary arms race. Although coevolutionary models assume that defences and counter-defences are genetically influenced, this has never been demonst...

Premature convergence is one of the important issues while using Genetic Programming for data modeling. It can be avoided by improving population diversity. Intelligent genetic operators can help to improve the population diversity. Crossover is an important operator in Genetic Programming. So, we have analyzed number of intelligent crossover operators and proposed an algorithm with the modific...