Biological Reviews最新文献

Understanding the factors that determine the occurrence and strength of ecological interactions under specific abiotic and biotic conditions is fundamental since many aspects of ecological community stability and ecosystem functioning depend on patterns of interactions among species. Current approaches to mapping food webs are mostly based on traits, expert knowledge, experiments, and/or statistical inference. However, they do not offer clear mechanisms explaining how trophic interactions are affected by the interplay between organism characteristics and aspects of the physical environment, such as temperature, light intensity or viscosity. Hence, they cannot yet predict accurately how local food webs will respond to anthropogenic pressures, notably to climate change and species invasions. Herein, we propose a framework that synthesises recent developments in food-web theory, integrating body size and metabolism with the physical properties of ecosystems. We advocate for combination of the movement paradigm with a modular definition of the predation sequence, because movement is central to predator–prey interactions, and a generic, modular model is needed to describe all the possible variation in predator–prey interactions. Pending sufficient empirical and theoretical knowledge, our framework will help predict the food-web impacts of well-studied physical factors, such as temperature and oxygen availability, as well as less commonly considered variables such as wind, turbidity or electrical conductivity. An improved predictive capability will facilitate a better understanding of ecosystem responses to a changing world.

The Social Intelligence Hypothesis (SIH) is one of the leading explanations for the evolution of cognition. Since its inception a vast body of literature investigating the predictions of the SIH has accumulated, using a variety of methodologies and species. However, the generalisability of the hypothesis remains unclear. To gain an understanding of the robustness of the SIH as an explanation for the evolution of cognition, we systematically searched the literature for studies investigating the predictions of the SIH. Accordingly, we compiled 103 studies with 584 effect sizes from 17 taxonomic orders. We present the results of four meta-analyses which reveal support for the SIH across interspecific, intraspecific and developmental studies. However, effect sizes did not differ significantly between the cognitive or sociality metrics used, taxonomy or testing conditions. Thus, support for the SIH is similar across studies using neuroanatomy and cognitive performance, those using broad categories of sociality, group size and social interactions, across taxonomic groups, and for tests conducted in captivity or the wild. Overall, our meta-analyses support the SIH as an evolutionary and developmental explanation for cognitive variation.

The biodiversity crisis is exacerbated by a growing human population modifying nearly three-quarters of the Earth's land surface area for anthropogenic uses. Habitat loss and modification represent the largest threat to biodiversity and finding ways to offset species decline has been a significant undertaking for conservation. Landscape planning and conservation strategies can enhance habitat suitability for biodiversity in human-modified landscapes. Artificial habitat structures such as artificial reefs, nest boxes, chainsaw hollows, artificial burrows, and artificial hibernacula have all been successfully implemented to improve species survival in human-modified and fragmented landscapes. As the global shift towards renewable energy sources continues to rise, the development of photovoltaic systems is growing exponentially. Large-scale renewable projects, such as photovoltaic solar farms have large space requirements and thus have the potential to displace local wildlife. We discuss the feasibility of ‘conservoltaic systems’ – photovoltaic systems that incorporate elements tailored specifically to enhance wildlife habitat suitability and species conservation. Artificial habitat structures can potentially lessen the impacts of industrial development (e.g., photovoltaic solar farms) through strategic landscape planning and an understanding of local biodiversity requirements to facilitate recolonization.

In the dark, expansive habitat of the deep sea, the production of light through bioluminescence is commonly used among a wide range of taxa. In decapod crustaceans, bioluminescence is only known in shrimps (Dendrobranchiata and Caridea) and may occur in different modes, including luminous secretions that are used to deter predators and/or from specialised light organs called photophores that function by providing camouflage against downwelling light. Photophores exhibit an extensive amount of morphological variation across decapod families: they may be internal (of hepatic origin) or embedded in surface tissues (dermal), and may possess an external lens, suggesting independent origins and multiple functions. Within Dendrobranchiata, we report bioluminescence in Sergestidae, Aristeidae, and Solenoceridae, and speculate that it may also be found in Acetidae, Luciferidae, Sicyonellidae, Benthesicymidae, and Penaeidae. Within Caridea, we report bioluminescence in Acanthephyridae, Oplophoridae, Pandalidae, and new observations for Pasiphaeidae. This comprehensive review includes historic taxonomic literature and recent studies investigating bioluminescence in all midwater and deep benthic shrimp families. Overall, we report known or suspected bioluminescence in 157 species across 12 families of decapod shrimps, increasing previous records of bioluminescent species by 65%. Mounting evidence from personal observations and the literature allow us to speculate the presence of light organs in several families thought to lack bioluminescence, making this phenomenon much more common than previously reported. We provide a detailed discussion of light organ morphology and function within each group and indicate future directions that will contribute to a better understanding of how deep-sea decapods use the language of light.

Plant–hummingbird interactions are considered a classic example of coevolution, a process in which mutually dependent species influence each other's evolution. Plants depend on hummingbirds for pollination, whereas hummingbirds rely on nectar for food. As a step towards understanding coevolution, this review focuses on the macroevolutionary consequences of plant–hummingbird interactions, a relatively underexplored area in the current literature. We synthesize prior studies, illustrating the origins and dynamics of hummingbird pollination across different angiosperm clades previously pollinated by insects (mostly bees), bats, and passerine birds. In some cases, the crown age of hummingbirds pre-dates the plants they pollinate. In other cases, plant groups transitioned to hummingbird pollination early in the establishment of this bird group in the Americas, with the build-up of both diversities coinciding temporally, and hence suggesting co-diversification. Determining what triggers shifts to and away from hummingbird pollination remains a major open challenge. The impact of hummingbirds on plant diversification is complex, with many tropical plant lineages experiencing increased diversification after acquiring flowers that attract hummingbirds, and others experiencing no change or even a decrease in diversification rates. This mixed evidence suggests that other extrinsic or intrinsic factors, such as local climate and isolation, are important covariables driving the diversification of plants adapted to hummingbird pollination. To guide future studies, we discuss the mechanisms and contexts under which hummingbirds, as a clade and as individual species (e.g. traits, foraging behaviour, degree of specialization), could influence plant evolution. We conclude by commenting on how macroevolutionary signals of the mutualism could relate to coevolution, highlighting the unbalanced focus on the plant side of the interaction, and advocating for the use of species-level interaction data in macroevolutionary studies.

What do seabirds perceive about the world? How do they do so? And how do they use the information available to them to make foraging decisions? Social cues provide seabirds with information about the location of prey. This can, of course, be passive and not involve higher-order cognitive processes (e.g. simple conspecific or heterospecific attraction). However, seabirds display many behaviours that promote learning and the transmission of information between individuals: the vast majority of seabirds are colonial living, have an extended juvenile phase that affords them time to learn, routinely form intra- and interspecific associations, and can flexibly deploy a combination of foraging tactics. It is worth evaluating their foraging interactions in light of this. This review describes how seabirds use social information both at the colony and at sea to forage, and discusses the variation that exists both across species and amongst individuals. It is clear that social interactions are a critical and beneficial component of seabird foraging, with most of the variation concerning the way and extent to which social information is used, rather than whether it is used. While it may seem counterintuitive that large groups of potential competitors congregating at a patch can result in foraging gains, such aggregations can alter species dynamics in ways that promote coexistence. This review explores how competitive interference at a patch can be mitigated by behavioural modifications and niche segregation. Utilising others for foraging success (e.g. via social cues and facilitation at a patch) is likely to make population declines particularly damaging to seabirds if the quantity or quality of their social foraging interactions is reduced. Environmental changes have the potential to disrupt their social networks and thus, how these species obtain food and transfer information.