The Journal Of Animal Ecology[JOURNAL]
Sun
200 papers
Developmental plasticity of butterflies: A meta-analysis of temperature effects.
Coradini Schirmer S, Malheiros Gawryszewski F
J Anim Ecol · 2026 Apr · PMID 41622694 · Publisher ↗
Temperature is a key ecological factor influencing biological processes across various levels of biological organization. At the individual level, temperature changes often impact life-history traits. The Temperature-Siz...
Temperature is a key ecological factor influencing biological processes across various levels of biological organization. At the individual level, temperature changes often impact life-history traits. The Temperature-Size Rule predicts lower body mass at higher temperatures, whereas the Metabolic Theory of Ecology predicts faster growth rates and shorter development times with rising temperature via its effects on metabolism. Butterflies, a highly diverse group distributed worldwide, often exhibit plastic responses to differences in ambient temperature. As such, climate change may potentially impact their life history traits, population dynamics and interactions. We conducted a Bayesian multilevel meta-regression of 71 studies published between 1960 and 2024, encompassing 673 effect sizes, to assess the impact of temperature variation on butterfly growth rate, development time and body mass across ontogenetic stages and sexes. Our meta-analysis reveals that rising temperatures markedly accelerate growth and shorten development time in butterflies at a rate of ca. 10%/Δ°C, while body mass is comparatively only weakly affected. These temperature effects on growth and development are consistent across sexes and life stages and are largely independent of evolutionary history, suggesting a basis in fundamental biochemical constraints. These patterns highlight the potential for climate change to reshape butterfly life cycles, population dynamics and ecological interactions.
Should you use data integration for your distribution model?
Goldstein BR, Doser JW, Pease BS … +1 more , Pacifici K
J Anim Ecol · 2026 Apr · PMID 41607001 · Full text
Data integration-the analysis of two or more observational datasets in a single statistical model-is on the rise in species distribution modelling. Recent papers showcase the usefulness of data integration, but few highl...
Data integration-the analysis of two or more observational datasets in a single statistical model-is on the rise in species distribution modelling. Recent papers showcase the usefulness of data integration, but few highlight cases where data integration produces equal or worse outcomes compared to single-dataset modelling. Here, we offer a decision-making framework to assess whether data integration may provide improvements over simpler modelling approaches. We focus on joint likelihood data integration, in which two or more datasets are linked to a single shared process model. We highlight three considerations for analysts deciding whether to use data integration: (1) the practical costs associated with developing and validating an integrated model; (2) the marginal benefits to model performance, which vary depending on data volume and coverage; and (3) the concordance (or compatibility) of the two datasets. Using a simulation study, we illustrate modelling outcomes under a variety of conditions of data volume and bias, showing consistent patterns across three distinct formulations of joint likelihood models. We explore a priori and a posteriori tests of data concordance, but we find that such tests fail to usefully differentiate between cases where joint modelling produces better or worse outcomes. Ultimately, we outline a decision-making workflow and illustrate its application to the joint modelling of real data.
Early-life stasis in partial seasonal migration is underpinned by among-cohort variation in migratory plasticity and selective disappearance.
Ugland CR, Acker P, Burthe SJ … +11 more , Fortuna R, Gunn C, Harris MP, Hewitt JH, Morley TI, Newell MA, Swann RL, Taylor EA, Wanless S, Daunt F, Reid JM
J Anim Ecol · 2026 Mar · PMID 41606994 · Full text
Life-history traits expressed in early life can exhibit considerable among-cohort variation, which could substantially affect population age-structure and dynamics if initial variation persists into later life-stages. Ye...
Life-history traits expressed in early life can exhibit considerable among-cohort variation, which could substantially affect population age-structure and dynamics if initial variation persists into later life-stages. Yet, initial among-cohort variation could be reinforced, rapidly dissipated, or else completely reshaped by dynamic combinations of age-specific phenotypic plasticity and selective disappearance acting within and among cohorts. However, such effects have not been comprehensively quantified for any trait, precluding full prediction of the form and implications of phenotypic dynamics, and emerging age-specific life-history variation, in varying environments. We provide a framework for conceptualising phenotypic change resulting from joint and interacting effects of cohort-specific and age-specific plasticity and selective disappearance. We implement this framework by quantifying overall early-life age-specific phenotypic change (or stasis), and dissecting underlying dynamics of plasticity and selection, for the ecologically critical life-history trait of seasonal migration versus residence. We achieve this by fitting multi-state models to extensive multi-year ring-resighting data from 9358 colour-ringed European shags (Gulosus aristotelis) from 11 cohorts in a partially migratory population. The overall cross-cohort mean proportion of migrants versus residents remained approximately constant across the four winters following fledging, implying no overall change in the degree of seasonal migration with age. This stasis was underlain by consistently high cross-year individual phenotypic repeatability, and by average plasticity towards residence that was counter-acted by average selective disappearance of sub-adult residents. However, these cross-cohort means obscured substantial among-cohort variation in the initial degree of partial migration, and in subsequent joint effects of plasticity and selective disappearance. Here, plasticity and selection were not systematically associated within or across cohorts or ages, but rather reinforced versus counter-acted each other at different times, thereby reshaping the pattern of among-cohort variation in partial migration across ages. These results demonstrate that an absence of overall age-specific change in a key life-history trait, seasonal migration versus residence, obscures substantial underlying variation in both early-life plasticity and selective disappearance, generating complex phenotypic dynamics within individual cohorts. Standard cross-cohort analyses may therefore inadequately predict future spatio-seasonal dynamics, since novel age-specific life-histories could readily emerge given changing environmental drivers of plasticity and selection.
Energetics link long-term environmental variations to breeding success in a wild penguin population.
Dupuis B, Chimienti M, Angelier F … +5 more , Raclot T, Delord K, Barbraud C, Ropert-Coudert Y, Kato A
J Anim Ecol · 2026 Apr · PMID 41603226 · Publisher ↗
Environmental variability shapes species' population dynamics. Yet, the mechanisms linking environmental changes to individual-level metrics (e.g. foraging behaviour, body condition) and reproductive outcomes in the wild...
Environmental variability shapes species' population dynamics. Yet, the mechanisms linking environmental changes to individual-level metrics (e.g. foraging behaviour, body condition) and reproductive outcomes in the wild remain poorly understood. Energetics play a central role in mediating trade-offs between self-maintenance and reproduction under fluctuating environmental conditions. As such, it provides a powerful framework for identifying how individual responses to environmental variation scale up to influence population dynamics. Using a unique long-term monitoring and bio-logging dataset spanning over 25 years providing continuous measures of diving behaviour, feeding activity and daily energy expenditure, this study investigates how individual responses to environmental variation affect population dynamics. Focusing on Adélie penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae) during the energetically demanding chick-rearing phase, we integrated individual-level foraging and energetics data with colony-wide reproductive metrics to elucidate how environmental cues lead to life-history trade-offs. Winter sea-ice conditions exhibited a quadratic relationship with key individual behavioural and energetic parameters. Specifically, increased sea-ice concentration and delayed ice retreat led to longer foraging trips, reduced time spent diving and poorer body condition. At the population level, while energy expenditure was not associated with changes in reproductive outcome, increased foraging effort (time spent feeding per day) led to enhanced fledging success. Adverse on-land conditions, such as higher snowfall, had negative impacts on reproductive outcomes. These findings support the central role of energy as a common currency of maintenance and reproduction. By linking individual energetics to demographic performance, our work advances our understanding of how energy allocation strategies in response to environmental stressors shape population dynamics. These insights are crucial for improving predictive models of population trajectories and offer valuable guidance for conservation strategies aimed at mitigating the impacts of global change on ecosystems.
Mammalian herbivory indirectly shapes savanna arthropod communities but only at very low or high levels.
Matthies BE, Stevens N, Hill JK … +8 more , Leturuka B, Njuguna M, Smyth LK, Rogan MS, Machungo CW, Baillie JEM, Rithaa JN, Parr CL
J Anim Ecol · 2026 Apr · PMID 41603192 · Full text
Savanna ecosystems support unique biodiversity and provide livelihoods for millions of people. Yet, wild herbivores are in decline due to poaching and land-use change while livestock numbers are increasing. These changes...
Savanna ecosystems support unique biodiversity and provide livelihoods for millions of people. Yet, wild herbivores are in decline due to poaching and land-use change while livestock numbers are increasing. These changes in density and composition alter savanna vegetation. There are likely indirect cascading effects of altered vegetation on savanna arthropods, but our understanding is limited despite their pivotal role in ecosystem functioning. We evaluate how differences in mammalian herbivory affect terrestrial arthropods in a semiarid Kenyan savanna. We sampled ground-active arthropods (focusing on ants) in six herbivory treatments ranging from high-intensity herbivory to complete exclusion of large herbivores. Ant abundance and richness were not affected by herbivory treatments, but the community composition of ants and arthropods differed at extremely high and low levels of herbivory due to indirect impacts on vegetation. Community composition changes occurred under extremely high levels of herbivory because the resulting short-grass communities and patches of bare ground led to high species turnover in ants. By contrast, extremely low herbivory promoted woody encroachment that led to the loss of savanna specialists via both species turnover and nestedness. We conclude that cascading effects of mammalian herbivory play only a relatively small role in shaping savanna arthropod communities, except at extreme levels of herbivory. However, the occurrence of savannas with these extreme levels of herbivory, both high and low, is likely to increase in the future, which may lead to more widespread changes in ecosystem functioning as a consequence of shifts in arthropod community composition.
Trematode infection buffers heat stress in blue mussels Mytilus edulis: The role of heat shock proteins.
Greve A, Sørensen JG, Sejr MK … +1 more , Thyrring J
J Anim Ecol · 2026 Apr · PMID 41588998 · Full text
The influence of parasite infection on host thermal tolerance remains poorly understood. To address this, we investigated how infection with the trematode Himasthla elongata affects survival and heat shock protein expres...
The influence of parasite infection on host thermal tolerance remains poorly understood. To address this, we investigated how infection with the trematode Himasthla elongata affects survival and heat shock protein expression in the blue mussel Mytilus edulis following repeated exposure to heat stress in a simulated intertidal environment. Two groups of mussels with experimentally induced low (55.3 35.6 metacercariae per mussel) and high (148.6 78.2 metacercariae per mussel) infection levels were exposed to air (31°C, 33°C or 35°C) for 2 h over 10 days to simulate a tidal cycle. Survival was assessed daily. In addition, the mRNA expression level of three heat shock genes (hsp24, hsp70 and hsp90) was assessed in mussels exposed to 17°C and 33°C for 2 h over a three-day period. Dissection confirmed clear differences in infection levels between groups. Survival decreased significantly with increasing air temperature, but in the 35°C treatment, mussels with high infection levels exhibited a near-significant increase in survival. Expression of hsp24, hsp70 and hsp90 increased with rising air temperatures, and high infection levels significantly upregulated hsp90. Although trematode infection did not significantly increase survival, our results suggest that trematode infection can protect against thermal stress by upregulating specific heat shock proteins in M. edulis. The hsp responses point to a parasite-induced tolerance mechanism, potentially through stress priming or frontloading, and highlight an overlooked role of parasitism in mediating thermal resilience in intertidal ecosystems.
Social information about others' affective states in a human-altered world.
Hahn LG, McDowall J, Vanhussel M … +2 more , Mendl M, Thornton A
J Anim Ecol · 2026 Jan · PMID 41560466 · Publisher ↗
As a result of human-induced environmental change, animals increasingly face challenges that differ from those encountered throughout their evolutionary history. While this has caused dramatic declines for many species,...
As a result of human-induced environmental change, animals increasingly face challenges that differ from those encountered throughout their evolutionary history. While this has caused dramatic declines for many species, some can persist by gathering information to reduce uncertainty, thereby minimising risks and exploiting new opportunities. The strategic use of social information can be particularly useful in enabling such uncertainty reduction. Here, we argue that the behavioural and affective states of others provide vital social information for animals to guide evaluations of risks and opportunities. Specifically, attending and responding to indicators of others' affective states through processes such as emotional contagion may facilitate information transmission. For instance, when exposed to a novel, ambiguous anthropogenic stimulus that could indicate either an opportunity or a threat, animals may use social information about others' affective states to decide whether to approach or avoid the stimulus. To increase immediate and long-term benefits, individuals might also alter their social behaviour and information use flexibly based on critical early-life experiences, the socio-ecological context or the behaviour and states of associates in the social network. Finally, given that an individual's affective state can influence how it copes with changing environments and makes appropriate decisions, we argue that there is a need for greater synergy between animal welfare and conservation efforts. Bridging the gap between ensuring individual-level welfare and population-level resilience will be crucial for ethical policies to protect wild animals responsibly in the face of human-induced rapid environmental change.
Do large carnivores fare better in savannas when they get drier?
Valeix M
J Anim Ecol · 2026 May · PMID 41556333 · Publisher ↗
Research Highlight: Journal of Animal Ecology, 00, 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.70182. Beyond rising temperatures, several parts of Africa are affected by aridification (more frequent and worsening droughts, l...
Research Highlight: Journal of Animal Ecology, 00, 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.70182. Beyond rising temperatures, several parts of Africa are affected by aridification (more frequent and worsening droughts, lengthening dry seasons). Such drier conditions are likely to affect in several ways not only the many large herbivore species but also the rich carnivore guild that characterise African savannas, with consequences on the behavioural ecology of predator-prey interactions. Using data sets of exceptional quality on the feeding behaviour and the reproduction of leopards and lions covering 4 years of contrasting environmental conditions in a semi-arid African savanna, Balme et al. analysed the effect of drought conditions on the carnivores' diet composition, kill rates, prey biomass acquisition but also cub production and survival. They showed that droughts led to a higher prey biomass consumption for the two carnivore species although the underlying mechanisms differed (higher kill rate for leopards and larger consumed prey for lionesses). Additionally, they revealed that the probability of cub survival was driven by factors other than drought-driven food acquisition (such as intraguild predation by hyaenas for leopards and sarcoptic mange for lions). Balme et al. (2025) convincingly showed that droughts influence not only predator-prey interactions through several pathways, but also carnivore intraguild interactions. Altogether, their findings illustrate the difficulty to predict the impact of drier conditions on carnivore populations if we do not better unravel the mechanisms through which climate change affects both predator-prey and predator-predator interactions. Overall, this inspiring study invites us to conceptualise a larger framework to study interspecific interactions in African mammals in a context of a drier (and hotter) climate.
Record phenological responses to climate change in three sympatric penguin species.
Juarez Martinez I, Kacelnik A, Jones FM … +6 more , Hinke JT, Dunn MJ, Raya Rey A, Lynch HJ, Owen K, Hart T
J Anim Ecol · 2026 Mar · PMID 41555508 · Full text
The timing of breeding is an important aspect of any species' realised niche, reflecting adaptations to synchronise with food supplies, dilute predation, avoid competition and exploit seasonal fluctuations in resources....
The timing of breeding is an important aspect of any species' realised niche, reflecting adaptations to synchronise with food supplies, dilute predation, avoid competition and exploit seasonal fluctuations in resources. Breeding phenology is typically studied either through long-term monitoring of focal populations (limiting the strength of inferences about species-wide traits and trends) or, when conducted at a landscape level, using remotely visible traits (restricting most studies to plants). For the first time, this study demonstrates landscape-scale measurement of vertebrate breeding phenology using a network of 77 time-lapse cameras to monitor three sympatric penguin species across 37 colonies in the Antarctic Peninsula and Sub-Antarctic islands. Camera temperature loggers showed penguin colony locations are warming up four times faster (0.3°C/year) than the continental average (0.07°C/year), already the second fastest-warming area in the world. We analysed the start of the breeding season of Adélie, Chinstrap and Gentoo penguins at a sub-continental scale between 2012 and 2022. The phenology of all three species advanced at record rates (10.2 ± 2, 10.4 ± 1.5 and 13 ± 4 days/decade, respectively). Different demographic trends as well as intra- and inter-species differences in response to environmental change suggest niche-based response differences between species. Phenological advances are causing niche separation to reduce. In this context, the Gentoo penguins' generalist and resident nature seems better suited to compete for space and resources than krill-specialist Chinstraps and ice-specialist Adélies. Synthesis: A decade of observation of the three pygoscelid penguins shows they are advancing their settlement phenology at record speeds in relation to climate change across the Antarctic Peninsula. These changes are species-dependent, reflecting different vulnerabilities and opportunities depending on their niche and life-history traits. In the long term, the trend towards earlier settlement risks increasing inter-species competition, causing trophic and temporal mismatch, and reshaping community assemblages.
Preservation of stable isotope niche dynamics in squamate museum specimens.
Grundler MR, Rosenblum EB
J Anim Ecol · 2026 Mar · PMID 41549740 · Full text
Natural history museums are invaluable resources for large-scale ecological and evolutionary studies, but certain ecological traits can be challenging to recover, particularly from fluid-preserved specimens. Stable isoto...
Natural history museums are invaluable resources for large-scale ecological and evolutionary studies, but certain ecological traits can be challenging to recover, particularly from fluid-preserved specimens. Stable isotope analysis is an elegant method for reconstructing the dietary niche over integrated timescales, and recovering this information from museum specimens can provide a critical axis of ecological information for studies of population dynamics through time and space. However, isotope ratios of tissues are known to be altered by extended contact with formalin and ethanol. Here, we assess whether intra- and interspecific variation in isotopic signature, which represent critical data used to assess metrics of niche diversity, can be reliably recovered following fluid preservation. We use a broad taxonomic distribution of squamates to compare niche metrics prior to and 8 weeks following a standard museum preservation process We could not recover intraindividual metrics of niche diversity but found that between-individual variation was not significantly altered, allowing for the reconstruction of community niche characteristics We present an example isotopic analysis from museum specimens representing generalist and specialist Thamnophis garter snake populations that aligns with empirical estimates of niche width We also present several additional analyses on tissue-specific effects, delipification and buffer storage, with useful insights for field collection and downstream analysis decisions.
From trees to bees: Linking forest composition with pollinator diversity for monitoring upscaling.
González-Chaves AD, Machida WS
J Anim Ecol · 2026 Feb · PMID 41521469 · Publisher ↗
Research Highlight: Monitoring the restoration process can help us understand the relationships between plants and animals. By manipulating the habitat, researchers can evaluate how changes in plant community influence t...
Research Highlight: Monitoring the restoration process can help us understand the relationships between plants and animals. By manipulating the habitat, researchers can evaluate how changes in plant community influence the diversity and distribution of associated fauna. Yet, the mechanisms shaping pollinators' diversity in response to forest attributes remain poorly understood. The study by Xie et al. (2025) demonstrates how tree richness and forest canopy cover influence pollinator communities by mediating floral resource availability in the understory and modifying microclimatic conditions within the forest. The authors found that tree richness increases canopy cover and consequently changes the microclimatic conditions within the forest, which, in turn, reshapes the niche space available for bee communities. Such findings are fundamental because they reveal how changes in one component of biodiversity cascade into others. Such mechanistic insights are also crucial for scaling up biodiversity assessments using remote sensing and for guiding restoration strategies that move beyond vegetation recovery to the restoration of ecosystem functions.
Tree species richness drives multiple facets of bee diversity via understorey microenvironment.
Xie TT, Li Y, Wang MQ … +12 more , Staab M, Chen JT, Liu XW, Shi XY, Zhou QS, Niu ZQ, Ma KP, Bruelheide H, Luo A, Chesters D, Hao JS, Zhu CD
J Anim Ecol · 2026 Feb · PMID 41482744 · Publisher ↗
Wild bees are widely distributed and effective pollinators, yet they face significant threats such as degradation of forests. Forest restoration has been advocated as a strategy to mitigate these threats and stabilize bi...
Wild bees are widely distributed and effective pollinators, yet they face significant threats such as degradation of forests. Forest restoration has been advocated as a strategy to mitigate these threats and stabilize biodiversity. However, there is a lack of understanding of the ecological consequences of forest restoration on bee diversity, particularly regarding interactions with tree diversity and microenvironment. Using data from the world's largest tree diversity experiment (BEF-China), this study examines how tree species richness, canopy cover, understorey vegetation, and microclimatic conditions affect bee diversity in the context of forest restoration. Our analysis of bee diversity data (8341 individuals from 79 species) revealed that these biotic factors had distinct effects on three dimensions of bee diversity. Specifically, canopy cover had a negative effect on bee taxonomic diversity but a positive effect on phylogenetic and functional diversity. However, these patterns were reversed when the cover of understorey vegetation was accounted for. Moreover, tree species richness exerted an indirect influence on bee diversity through understorey microenvironment. Our findings provide nuance into how tree species richness shapes bee communities via vegetation cover and microclimate, which is informative on habitat characteristics in forest restoration and conservation that better enable the safeguarding of pollinators.
The acoustic niche hypothesis meets habitat fragmentation and isolation.
Ríos-Chelén AA
J Anim Ecol · 2026 Apr · PMID 41445400 · Publisher ↗
Research Highlight: Han P, Yang Y, Kajanus MH, Lu W, Chen Q, Ding P, Si X. (2025). Community composition coupled with habitat fragmentation drives acoustic divergence in bird assemblages. Journal of Animal Ecology doi: 1...
Research Highlight: Han P, Yang Y, Kajanus MH, Lu W, Chen Q, Ding P, Si X. (2025). Community composition coupled with habitat fragmentation drives acoustic divergence in bird assemblages. Journal of Animal Ecology doi: 10.1111/1365-2656.70185. Animals that communicate acoustically have to deal with the problem of getting their message through environments often crowded by acoustic signals from other individuals (from the same and different species). This poses the problem that the signal of interest may be masked by these other sounds, lowering the probability that it will be detected/discriminated by targeted receivers. The acoustic niche hypothesis (ANH; Krause 1993) predicts that acoustic signals will occupy different acoustic niches (e.g. different frequencies, Hz) to lower competition for the acoustic space. Han et al. (2025) put this idea to the test. While various studies have tested the acoustic niche hypothesis in relation to biotic factors (e.g. species richness and abundance), Han et al. (2025) went one step further by also considering habitat fragmentation and isolation. To do so, they recorded the songs of 51 bird species in 12 islands differing in size (as a measure of habitat fragmentation) and distance to nearest island and mainland (as a measure of isolation). Han et al. (2025) also took into account body mass and evolutionary history. As expected, they found that biotic factors (body mass and species richness) and phylogenetic relationships were associated with the degree of competition and acoustic partitioning. Interestingly, the authors also found that island size and isolation played an important role (acoustic partitioning increased in more isolated islands and in smaller islands). These results confirm the ANH and provide evidence that habitat fragmentation and isolation can also play a role influencing acoustic partitioning in birds.
New tools-Surprising findings: A new study shows human impacts cause relatively little changes in energy flow on coral reefs.
Allgeier J
J Anim Ecol · 2026 Jan · PMID 41410081 · Publisher ↗
Quantifying how energy moves through ecosystems has been a central objective for ecologists since the early development of the field because it helps to understand how and why food webs are structured the way they are. Y...
Quantifying how energy moves through ecosystems has been a central objective for ecologists since the early development of the field because it helps to understand how and why food webs are structured the way they are. Yet, for as long as it has been of intellectual interest, it has also been a logistical challenge. Ramirez and colleagues employ cutting-edge stable isotope techniques to show that, in contrast to expectations, human impacts do not strongly alter energy pathways in coral reef ecosystems.
Rabbits buffer dung beetle declines following the abandonment of traditional agropastoral practices in a semi-arid Iberian region.
Lobo JM
J Anim Ecol · 2026 Mar · PMID 41403083 · Publisher ↗
Although difficult to carry out, long-term studies are essential for understanding the trajectories of biological systems and organisms in response to environmental change. Despite becoming more common, studies providing...
Although difficult to carry out, long-term studies are essential for understanding the trajectories of biological systems and organisms in response to environmental change. Despite becoming more common, studies providing interannual data on insect populations remain rare, although they have confirmed widespread insect declines. In the case of dung beetles-a key group among decomposers-no existing studies provide continuous annual data over a period exceeding 20 years. This study describes changes in species richness, abundance, biomass and assemblage composition of dung beetle assemblages across 16 sites in a semi-arid region of central Spain, sampled on 9 occasions over 26 years. The results reveal a marked regional decline in these metrics, evident in two-thirds of the sites, three-quarters of the recorded species and the main functional groups. This decline coincided with the disappearance of traditional sheep grazing in the region and involved a 50% reduction in species richness and a 65% decrease in both abundance and biomass. Despite interannual fluctuations, a slight rebound in the populations of some species was observed approximately 17 years after the decline in trophic resources. The presence of rabbit dung and the distance from urban centres emerged as key factors that may help to mitigate biodiversity loss in these assemblages following the abandonment of traditional livestock grazing. It is suggested that, after rural depopulation, wild mammals-particularly rabbits-may act as a reservoir, facilitating the recovery of dung beetle populations and preventing local extinction.
Co-BreeD: A milestone resource for studies on cooperative breeding.
Culina A
J Anim Ecol · 2026 Jan · PMID 41399279 · Publisher ↗
Research Highlight: Ben Mocha, Y., Woith, M., Scemama de Gialluly, S., Bruscagnin, L., Kestel, N., Markman, S., Drobniak, S. M., Baglione, V., Boersma, J., Cousseau, L., Covas, R., Braga de Miranda, G. H., Dey, C. J., Do...
Research Highlight: Ben Mocha, Y., Woith, M., Scemama de Gialluly, S., Bruscagnin, L., Kestel, N., Markman, S., Drobniak, S. M., Baglione, V., Boersma, J., Cousseau, L., Covas, R., Braga de Miranda, G. H., Dey, C. J., Doutrelant, C., Gula, R., Heinsohn, R., Keynan, O., Kingma, S. A., Leitão, A. V., … Griesser, M. (2025). An integrative, peer-reviewed open-source cooperative-breeding database (Co-BreeD). Journal of Animal Ecology. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.70154. The Cooperative-Breeding Database (Co-BreeD) is an open, peer-reviewed resource that collects data on cooperative breeding across birds and mammals, including humans. As such, it serves as a valuable resource for studies on sociality and cooperation. Currently, Co-BreeD provides population-level data on nearly 40,000 breeding events from 316 species and is growing. The database allows for cooperative breeding to be treated as a continuous rather than binary trait, and at finer spatial and temporal scales, enabling detailed exploration of the ecological and evolutionary drivers of cooperation. This novel approach revealed that alloparental care, and hence cooperative breeding, is likely more widespread than previously recognised. The importance of curated, high-quality, and accessible data across ecology and evolution is becoming evident; Co-BreeD has great potential to contribute to such collaborative, reproducible, and robust research.
Dietary resilience of coral reef fishes to habitat degradation.
Clever F, Preziosi RF, Nguyen B … +7 more , De Gracia B, Quintero Arrieta H, McMillan WO, Altieri AH, O'Dea A, Knowlton N, Leray M
J Anim Ecol · 2026 Mar · PMID 41392487 · Full text
The ability of consumers to adjust their diet in response to resource shifts is a key mechanism allowing the persistence of populations and underlying species' adaptive capacity. Yet on coral reefs, one of the marine hab...
The ability of consumers to adjust their diet in response to resource shifts is a key mechanism allowing the persistence of populations and underlying species' adaptive capacity. Yet on coral reefs, one of the marine habitats most vulnerable to global change, the extent to which species alter their diet and the consequences of dietary shifts for consumer performance and ecosystem functioning remain poorly understood. Here, we tested how dietary versatility can mediate the effects of habitat degradation on two invertivorous reef fishes-Chaetodon capistratus, a browser, and Hypoplectrus puella, an active predator-and whether diet shifts relate to variation in body condition and growth. We integrated DNA-based gut content analyses (metabarcoding), otolith analysis, body condition and field surveys to link diet profiles to growth and relative body condition across reefs differing in coral cover. Metabarcoding revealed significant dietary variation in both species across reefs with different levels of coral cover. However, the response was more pronounced in the browser, whose diet was anthozoan-dominated on healthier reefs, whereas it was annelid-dominated on degraded reefs. We found significantly more variable body condition on degraded reefs in the browser, while the body condition of the active predator decreased in larger individuals on degraded reefs. Our results suggest that while dietary versatility serves as a mechanism to cope with degraded environments, the degree to which dietary shifts can buffer against the effects of habitat degradation varies between species. Overall, the variation in trophic niche across sites suggests that food webs and energy flow differ at relatively small scales between healthy and degraded reefs.
Habitat imprinting in breeding territory selection of a long-lived bird of prey.
Penttinen I, Nebel C, Laaksonen T
J Anim Ecol · 2026 Mar · PMID 41388570 · Full text
Habitat imprinting is the phenomenon where exposure to cues in the natal habitat increases the probability of choosing a habitat with similar cues later in life. It is considered a key behavioural mechanism that decrease...
Habitat imprinting is the phenomenon where exposure to cues in the natal habitat increases the probability of choosing a habitat with similar cues later in life. It is considered a key behavioural mechanism that decreases the costs associated with habitat selection. The similarity of breeding to natal habitats can be especially beneficial when choosing the first breeding site and when the choice has long-term consequences due to high site fidelity. Habitat imprinting in breeding habitat selection has rarely been documented in wild animals living in unmanipulated environments and is challenging to study in long-lived species with delayed maturity. We used a combination of genetic and visual identification to identify 354 white-tailed eagles Haliaeetus albicilla hatched between 1991 and 2015 that were subsequently documented breeding between 2001 and 2023 along the Baltic Sea coast or in the inland environments. We examined (a) the similarity of natal and breeding habitats and (b) the effects of natal dispersal distance on this similarity. Furthermore, (c) we were interested in breeding habitat selection and tested whether eagles showed a preference for natal-like habitats among suitable territories that were at the time still unoccupied. We found that breeding habitats were similar to natal habitats, independent of natal dispersal distance. Eagles were also more likely to choose a natal-like breeding site among available alternative sites. These results indicate that habitat imprinting is a possible driving mechanism in the habitat selection of long-lived animals with delayed maturity and has important implications for conservation actions such as eagle reintroduction programmes.
The ecology of gestational growth in a wild cooperative mammal.
Thorley J, Clutton-Brock T, Spence-Jones HC … +6 more , Turner Z, Sharp SP, Manser MB, Boner W, Gillespie R, Cram DL
J Anim Ecol · 2026 Feb · PMID 41388355 · Full text
In wild mammals, early postnatal growth strongly affects offspring survival and fitness, but little is known about the causes and consequences of variation in prenatal growth. We investigated whether gestational weight g...
In wild mammals, early postnatal growth strongly affects offspring survival and fitness, but little is known about the causes and consequences of variation in prenatal growth. We investigated whether gestational weight gains vary according to maternal traits and social and environmental conditions, and how prenatal growth affects the fates of the resulting offspring, using an exceptionally large sample of repeated pregnant body weight records from individually recognizable wild meerkats (Suricata suricatta). Pregnant meerkats' body weights remained stable during the first half of gestation and then increased linearly until they gave birth. Gestational weight gains were more rapid under favourable environmental conditions and when mothers were experimentally food-supplemented, suggesting that nutrition strongly determines prenatal growth. While social conditions and reproductive competition shape postnatal growth in many social vertebrates (including meerkats), these factors had a limited effect on prenatal growth, and adjustment to gestation lengths were modest and unrelated to social factors. Pups that grew faster in utero were heavier when they emerged from the birth burrow yet this rapid growth was not associated with shortened leukocyte telomeres, and they were consequently more likely to survive to adulthood. Broadly, we identified pronounced variation in gestational weight gains, which is largely driven by food availability and strongly predicts offspring birth weights and survival. Our findings also highlight constraints in the flexibility of prenatal growth and gestation lengths in this species, which may limit adjustments in response to prevailing social conditions, and enhance selection for flexibility in postnatal growth.
Half a century of echinoid population decline in the northern Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea.
Eviatar G, Bronstein O
J Anim Ecol · 2026 Mar · PMID 41387092 · Full text
In the face of global coral decline, coral reefs in the Gulf of Aqaba (GOA), northern Red Sea are considered a coral reef refuge from global warming and acidification, with echinoid herbivory playing a fundamental role i...
In the face of global coral decline, coral reefs in the Gulf of Aqaba (GOA), northern Red Sea are considered a coral reef refuge from global warming and acidification, with echinoid herbivory playing a fundamental role in maintaining their balance. Like many echinoderms, echinoids are known for their 'boom-and-bust' population fluctuations. However, as population fluctuations are influenced by multiple, complex and non-linear processes that operate at various temporal scales, short-term studies may fail to capture the true trajectories of population trends. We explored echinoid population dynamics in the GOA, spanning 15 years (2007-2022), complemented by historical data dating back to the 90s and 70s. We show that while some species oscillated around a steady mean, others collapsed by up to 98%. Consequently, the once most common herbivores on these reefs currently account for only a fraction of their population size from half a century ago. Increased anthropogenic stress attributed to the accelerated regional urbanization, rather than the direct effect of a single environmental variable, is suggested as a key facilitating driver of the observed declines. This study reveals ongoing, alarming declines of key echinoid species, calling for rapid, species-aware management. We highlight the necessity to transition from year-long to decades-long monitoring to facilitate the detection of ongoing, long-term trends.
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