Journal of Animal Ecology

Genetic admixture propels invasions of Callosobruchus maculatus across experimental landscapes.

Quantitative genetic ‘animal models’ are central to studies of adaptive evolution in wild populations. The authors show that unknown parents are ubiquitous in wild population pedigrees and can substantially bias animal model parameter estimates. The authors comprehensively demonstrate ‘how to’ implement ‘genetic group’ methods, which minimize bias and estimate key biological parameters.

Genetic mixture of multiple source populations can catapult the spread of biological invasions.

The authors explored detailed spatiotemporal effects of male hunting on juvenile survival in brown bears, a species with sexually selected infanticide. The distribution of kills might be more important for juvenile survival than the number of males killed. Thus, reducing harvest intensity might not always increase population growth.

Few estimates of pair bond duration are available for social species, especially for carnivores. The authors found that wolf pair bond duration in Scandinavia was short (half of the dissolution events occurred after three consecutive winters), and dissolutions were mostly caused by humans. This shows the impact of extrinsic factors (i.e. humans) on the social unit of this large carnivore population.

The authors tested for an ecological trap (ET) in south-east British Columbia where human settlement and rich grizzly bear habitat overlap. Bears occupying the ET faced survival consequences, which produced source–sink dynamics with far-reaching effects. To date, this is the most rigorous test of an ET for a large mammal.

In this paper, the authors show that in stark opposition to common wisdom, tail autotomy, a well-known antipredator defence mechanism in lizards, is more strongly driven by intraspecific aggression and is negatively associated with predation across insular and mainland populations of Mediterranean geckos.

In many populations, not all adults breed every year. The authors analyze models incorporating different forms of nonbreeding, life-history and negative frequency-dependence to quantify effects of nonbreeders on realized and estimated deterministic and stochastic population growth rates, and show that failing to account for nonbreeders can severely bias population dynamic projections.

Light-level geolocators revealed that African departure rather than migration speed determines variation in spring arrival in Dutch pied flycatchers. This implies that advancements in spring arrival to respond to environmental change at the breeding grounds require changes in spring departure from Africa, with little opportunity for faster migration.

American kestrels, inhabiting a mosaic of habitats, nested earlier in response to earlier prey availability in agriculture, but not wildlands. Prey in agriculture were earlier because farmers planted crops earlier following warmer winters. This suggests an association between human adaptation to climate change and shifts in breeding phenology of wildlife.

This paper tackles a previously understudied field, addressing the impacts of extreme weather on biodiversity specifically butterflies in this study. It has used novel and dynamic approaches to identify extreme weather events which vary according to the life stage for each species and has identified some very interesting results.

Choosy females and males with bright or loud displays can change how a population responds to environmental stress. Large populations are made more resilient to stress, but small populations are more vulnerable.

The study shows the complexities of ecological interactions in a scenario of climate change, using amphibians as study models.

The unprecedented rates of defaunation, that is the loss of medium and large animals from ecosystems, are among the main features distinguishing the Anthropocene. With the fading of their populations, all their trophic interactions are also vanishing with unanticipated effects on the coexistence of other non-target species.

Shrub cover has increased throughout Earth's rangelands. The authors propose a novel model accounting for this ‘shrub encroachment’: trophic cascades induced by apex predator extirpation facilitate shrub recruitment and success. GIS tools, field data and statistical techniques are used to test this model in arid Australia.

It is currently unknown how green and brown food web diversity patterns are interlinked. Here, the authors demonstrate changes in species richness in green and brown trophic groups during 100 years of primary succession. The results show that along succession, green (vegetation-driven diversity) becomes uncoupled from brown (organic matter-driven) diversity.