The relationship between tree height and diameter is fundamental in determining community and ecosystem structure as well as estimates of biomass and carbon storage. Yet our understanding of how tree allometry relates to climate and whole organismal function is limited. We used the Forest Inventory and Analysis National Program database to determine height-diameter allometries of 2,976,937 indi...

Although the evolution and function of "exaggerated" bony projections in ornithischian dinosaurs has been subject to significant debate recently, our understanding of the structure and morphology of their epidermal keratinized coverings is greatly limited. The holotype of Borealopelta, a new nodosaurid ankylosaur, preserves osteoderms and extensive epidermal structures (dark organic residues), ...

The design of living beings is not only a matter of molecular biology but also of geometry and physics. This was once more demonstrated with a biophysical model by G. B. West et al. (1) that had been fine-tuned to predict the famous scaling law of metabolism (2), namely a 3/4 power relation between body mass and energy consumption. While properties and predictions of the model are remarkable, a...

Traditional classifications of the Old World monkey tribe Papionini (Primates: Cercopithecinae) recognized the mangabey genera Cercocebus and Lophocebus as sister taxa. However, molecular studies have consistently found the mangabeys to be diphyletic, with Cercocebus and Mandrillus forming a clade to the exclusion of all other papionins. Recent studies have identified cranial and postcranial fe...

BACKGROUND To optimize antimicrobial dosing in different animal species, pharmacokinetic information is necessary. Due to the plethora of cephalosporin antimicrobials and animal species in which they are used, assessment of pharmacokinetics in all species is unfeasible. In this study we aimed to describe pharmacokinetic data of cephalosporins by reviewing the available literature for food produ...

The predominance of molar teeth in fossil hominin assemblages makes the patterning of molar shape variation a topic of bioanthropological interest. Extant models are the principal basis for understanding dental variation in the fossil record. As the sister taxon to the hominin clade, Pan is one such model and the only widely accepted extant hominid model for both interspecific and intraspecific...

The allometric equations developed by Whittaker et al. (1974) at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest have been used to estimate biomass and productivity in northern hardwood forest systems for over three decades. Few other species-specific allometric estimates of belowground biomass are available, because of the difficulty of collecting the data, and such equations are rarely validated. Using...

Intraspecific competition and food shortage due to high population density during early life can have a profound effect on adult fitness. Organisms often mitigate negative effects of by adjusting resource allocation morphological life-history traits. In Lepidoptera with short-lived adults that do not feed, it is predicted females developed from dense larval aggregations invest more in reproduct...

Abstract The evolution of male-male aggression is interest because at its extreme it can be very energetically costly, leave males vulnerable to preadtors, and give rise weaponry such as exaggerated traits. In grasshoppers (Acrididae), one group stands out exceptionally aggressive, the skyhoppers ( Kosciuscola ) in which bite, kick, mandible flare, wrestle each other for access females or when ...

Acoustic signaling is key in mediating mate choice, which directly impacts individual fitness. Because background noise and habitat structure can impair signal transmission, the acoustic space of mixed-species assemblages has long been hypothesized to reflect selective pressures against interference degradation. However, other potential drivers that received far less attention drive similar out...