Cannibalism occurs in a majority of both carnivorous and noncarnivorous animal taxa from invertebrates to mammals. Similarly, infectious parasites are ubiquitous in nature. Thus, interactions between cannibalism and disease occur regularly. While some adaptive benefits of cannibalism are clear, the prevailing view is that the risk of parasite transmission due to cannibalism would increase disea...

The propensity for cannibalism varies considerably both within and between species. Currently we have little understanding of both the causes of this variation and its evolutionary consequences for other life-history traits. We examine how different levels of spatial structure affect the evolution of cannibalism and how cannibalism in turn drives the evolution of dispersal. Using pair approxima...

Sexual cannibalism is often set apart from other forms of cannibalism; however, no studies have directly compared the fitness consequences of these 2 types of cannibalism. Here, we compared the consequences of cannibalism of a male by a female outside the context of mating (referred to as nonsexual cannibalism) and within the context of mating (referred to as sexual cannibalism) for the propens...

Cannibalism has been documented as a possible disease transmission route in several species, including humans. However, the dynamics resulting from this type of disease transmission are not well understood. Using a theoretical model, we explore how cannibalism (i.e. killing and consumption of dead conspecifics) and intraspecific necrophagy (i.e. consumption of dead conspecifics) affect host-pat...

A cannibal has to weigh the benefits of the consumption and removal of competing conspecifics against the potential loss of fitness through filial cannibalism. We examined the role of the presence of conspecific females in informing adaptive cannibalism decisions. Females of the hemipteran bug Geocoris pallens express low egg cannibalism when alone but become much more cannibalistic in the pres...

Cannibalism, which functions as a life history trait in at least 1,300 species of both invertebrates and vertebrates, plays important ecological and evolutionary roles in populations. During times of low resource availability, cannibalism of juveniles by adults can redirect reproductive energy to times of higher resource availability. For example, prolonged increases in sea surface temperature ...

Cell cannibalism is believed to be an indicator of high-grade aggressive cancers with increased metastatic potential. It denotes both anaplastic grade and invasiveness and is valuable in assessing tumor behavior. The present study was a 2-year retrospective and 1-year prospective study conducted in the Department of Pathology, Government Medical College, Jammu. PAP and MGG stained smears of eff...

Sibling cannibalism is commonly observed in marine species. For instance, intrabrood cannibalism has been documented in marine gastropods with direct development, suggesting a relationship between embryo behavior and the evolution of life history strategies. However, there has been little effort to document the factors driving sibling cannibalism in marine species. The kin selection theory sugg...

Population regulation results from an interplay of numerous intrinsic and external factors, and for many insects cannibalism is such a factor. This study confirms a previously-reported observation that sublethal exposure to the fossilized remains of diatoms (i.e. diatomaceous earth) increases net fecundity (eggs produced minus eggs destroyed/day) of flour beetles, Tribolium confusum. The aim wa...

Cannibalism of small numbers of offspring by a parent has been proposed as an adaptive parental strategy, by providing energy to support parental care. However, there are few empirical studies to support this hypothesis. We conducted field and laboratory experiments to investigate partial filial cannibalism in Stegastes leucostictus, a coral reef fish with paternal care. Partial cannibalism was...