The shape of the cranium varies widely among members of the order Carnivora, but the factors that drive the evolution of differences in shape remain unclear. Selection for increased bite force, bite speed or skull strength may all affect cranial morphology. We investigated the relationship between cranial form and function in the trophically diverse dog family, Canidae, using linear morphometri...

Top predators that forage in a purely exploitative manner on smaller stages of a size-structured prey population have been shown to exhibit an Allee effect. This Allee effect emerges from the changes that predators induce in the prey-population size distribution and represents a feedback of predator density on its own performance, in which the feedback operates through and is modified by the li...

Geographical heterogeneity in the composition of biotic interactions can create a mosaic of selection regimes that may drive the differentiation of phenotypes that operate at the interface of these interactions. Nonetheless, little is known about effects of these geographical mosaics on the evolution of genes encoding traits associated with species interactions. Predatory marine snails of the f...

in this paper, we introduce fractional order of a planar fractional prey-predator system with a nonmonotonic functional response and anti-predator behaviour such that the adult preys can attack vulnerable predators. we analyze the existence and stability of all possibleequilibria. numerical simulations reveal that anti-predator behaviour notonly makes the coexistence of the prey and predator po...

The predator-prey model with stage structure for predator is generalized in the context of ecoepidemiology, where the prey population is infected by a microparasite and the predator completely avoids consuming the infected prey. The intraspecific competition of infected prey is considered. All the equilibria are characterized and the existence of a Hopf bifurcation at the coexistence equilibriu...

Spider orb-webs are the ultimate anti-ballistic devices, capable of dissipating the relatively massive kinetic energy of flying prey. Increased web size and prey stopping capacity have co-evolved in a number orb-web taxa, but the selective forces driving web size and performance increases are under debate. The rare, large prey hypothesis maintains that the energetic benefits of rare, very large...

Speciation with gene flow may be driven by a combination of positive assortative mating and disruptive selection, particularly if selection and assortative mating act on the same trait, eliminating recombination between ecotype and mating type. Phenotypically unimodal populations of threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) are commonly subject to disruptive selection due to competition f...

Alarm-calling behaviour is common in many species that suffer from predation. While kin selection or reciprocal altruism are typically invoked to explain such behaviours, several authors have conjectured that some alarm calls may instead be costly signals sent by prey to inform approaching predators that they have been detected. We develop a general game-theoretical model, the watchful babbler ...

Differential habitat selection is a central component in the evolution of species, but it has been quantified rarely for sympatric species in relation to the multiple impacts of resources at the spatial scales at which animals operate. Our main goal was to quantify the selection of terrestrial summer habitats in a natural floodplain in Italy by two sympatric amphibians (Bufo bufo spinosus and B...

Although we often focus on the causes of geographic variation, understanding processes that act to reduce geographic variation is also important. Here, we consider a process whereby adaptive foraging across the landscape and directional selection exerted by a conifer seed predator, the common crossbill (Loxia curvirostra), potentially act to homogenize geographic variation in the defensive trai...