The dung beetle, Onthophagus taurus, was introduced <50 years ago from its native Mediterranean range into Western Australia (WA) and the Eastern United States (EUS). The intensity of intra- and interspecific competition for dung as a breeding resource is substantially higher in WA. First, we tested whether differential resource competition in the two exotic ranges is associated with divergence...

The limited number of studies reporting emotional memory impairments in adults with psychopathic traits has not yet been replicated in conduct disordered adolescents with callous unemotional (CU) traits. This study aimed to test the developmental hypothesis that emotional memory will also be impaired in conduct disordered adolescents with CU traits on similar memory tasks. Eighty-four conduct d...

Little is known about the importance of trade-offs between ageing and other life history traits, or the effects of ageing on sexual selection, particularly in wild populations suffering high extrinsic mortality rates. Life history theory suggests that trade-offs between reproduction and somatic maintenance may constrain individuals with higher initial reproductive rates to deteriorate more rapi...

A primary goal of polygenic scores, which aggregate the effects of thousands of trait-associated DNA variants discovered in genome-wide association studies (GWASs), is to estimate individual-specific genetic propensities and predict outcomes. This is typically achieved using a single polygenic score, but here we use a multi-polygenic score (MPS) approach to increase predictive power by exploiti...

Anurans (frogs and toads) are unique among land vertebrates in possessing a free-living larval stage that, parallel to adult frogs, diversified into an impressive range of ecomorphs. The tempo and mode at which tadpole morphology evolved through anuran history as well as its relationship to lineage diversification remain elusive. We used a molecular phylogenetic framework to examine patterns of...

Historical geological events and climatic changes are believed to have played important roles in shaping the current distribution of species. However, sympatric species may have responded in different ways to such climatic fluctuations. Here we compared genetic structures of two corvid species, the Azure-winged Magpie Cyanopica cyanus and the Eurasian Magpie Pica pica, both widespread but with ...

the present study aimed to evaluate the effect of dipping time and temperature of hot water and type of packaging on qualitative traits of orlando tangelo variety of tangerine. this study was conducted as a factorial experiment in a completely randomized design with three repeats. the treatments consisted of dipping in hot water at seven water levels at 53°c and 58°c each for 1, 2 and 4 minutes...

Researchers are using a variety of sophisticated approaches to identify genes that contribute to the development of alcoholism in humans or influence other alcohol-related traits. These strategies include linkage approaches, which can identify broad chromosomal regions that are likely to contain genes predisposing to the disorder, and association approaches, which test the association between a...

Parasite life history traits influence the rate of gene flow between populations and the effective population size, both of which determine the levels of genetic variability and the geographic distribution of such variability. In this short review targeted to parasitologists, we summarise how life history traits influence the population genetic structure of parasitic helminths. These organisms ...

Smallholder agriculture involves millions of farmers worldwide. A methodical utilization of their traditional knowledge in modern breeding efforts may help the production of locally adapted varieties better addressing their needs. In this study, a combination of participatory approaches, genomics, and quantitative genetics is used to trace the genetic basis of smallholder farmer preferences of ...