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Ambient light influences the evolution of colour signals
March 18, 2004In light-contrasted ecosystems, ambient light and background colours influence the evolution of animal coloration. Because maximal conspicuousness is achieved for signals which are rich in the colours of ambient light but poorly reflected by background, different signals will be cryptic or conspicuous at different heights in tropical rainforest.
In the forthcoming issue of Ecology Letters, Gomez and Théry compare plumages of 40 species living in French Guiana. They demonstrate that predators exert an important pressure on coloration: birds are well camouflaged with colours similar to their habitat, light green in canopy and dark brown in understorey. On the contrary, ultraviolet is more likely used in conspicuous signals to select mates. Both sexes present similar coloration at each height, but males display more conspicuous sexually selected patterns than females.
Colours of light and background are also likely to influence the evolution of visual signals in other light-contrasted ecosystems.
Blackwell Publishing Ltd
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There's no magic bullet for wiping out malaria, but a new study offers strong support for a method that effectively delays the evolution of drug resistance in malaria parasites, a University of Florida researcher says.
New evidence on the robustness of metabolic networks
Biological systems are constantly evolving in ways that increase their fitness for survival amidst environmental fluctuations and internal errors.
Gene enhancer in evolution of human opposable thumb
Scientists have discovered a gene enhancer, known as HACNS1, that may have contributed to the evolution of the uniquely opposable human thumb, and possibly also modifications in the ankle or foot that allow humans to walk on two legs.
Thumbs up -- a tiny ancestral remnant lends developmental edge to humans
Subtle genetic changes that confer an evolutionary advantage upon a species, such as the dexterity characteristic of the human hand, while difficult to detect and even harder to reproduce in a model system, have nevertheless generated keen interest amongst evolutionary biologists.
Molecular evolution is echoed in bat ears
Bats' ability to echolocate may have evolved more than once, according to research published this week by Queen Mary, University of London scientists.
New research challenges long-held assumptions of flightless bird evolution
Large flightless birds of the southern continents - African ostriches, Australian emus and cassowaries, South American rheas and the New Zealand kiwi - do not share a common flightless ancestor as once believed.
Closest Look Ever at the Edge of a Black Hole
Astronomers have taken the closest look ever at the giant black hole in the center of the Milky Way. By combining telescopes in Hawaii, Arizona, and California, they detected structure at a tiny angular scale of 37 micro-arcseconds - the equivalent of a baseball seen on the surface of the moon, 240,000 miles distant.
Trichoplax genome sequenced -- 'rosetta stone' for understanding evolution
Yale molecular and evolutionary biologists in collaboration with Department of Energy scientists produced the full genome sequence of Trichoplax, one of nature's most primitive multicellular organisms, providing a new insight into the evolution of all higher animals.
Characterization of grapevine transposons furthers understanding of in vino variety
The grapevine (Vitis vinifera) is a widely cultivated crop that has been subjected to intensive breeding since the Neolithic period (from ~10,500 to ~6,000 years ago). The domestication of grapevine has undergone a selection for traits important for its cultivation and usage.
Scientists develop new method to investigate origin of life
Scientists at Penn State have developed a new computational method that they say will help them to understand how life began on Earth.
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