Several patterns of sexual shape dimorphism, such as male body elongation, eye stalks, or extensions of the exoskeleton, have evolved repeatedly in the true flies (Diptera). Although these dimorphisms may have evolved in response to sexual selection on male body shape, conserved genetic factors may have contributed to this convergent evolution, resulting in stronger phenotypic convergence than ...

carbon sequestration into plants biomass, especially in fast growing trees is an easier and economically way for dropping off co2 from atmosphere. this study was carried out in order to investigate above-ground biomass of white poplar (populous alba, l.) plantations that was planted in fourdifferent plant spacing (0.5 × 0.5, 1×1, 2×2 and 4×4 m.) in chaharmahal and bakhtiari province in west of ...

Premise Photosynthetic light-response (PLR) curves for leaves are important components of models related to carbon fixation in forest ecosystems, linking the Mitscherlich equation and Michaelis–Menten traits leaf economics spectrum (LES). However, do not consider changes habits (i.e., evergreen deciduous) within-canopy shading variation these PLR curves. Methods Here, we measured sun shade 44 3...

Across taxa, many life-history traits vary as a function of differences in body size. Among primates, including humans, allometric relationships explain many trends in metabolic, growth, reproductive, and mortality rates. But humans also deviate from nonhuman primates with respect to other developmental, reproductive, and parenting characteristics. Broad relationships between life-history trait...

Space use is an important aspect of animal ecology, yet our understanding is limited by a lack of synthesis between interspecific and intraspecific studies. We present analyses of a dataset of 286 estimates of home range overlap from 100 primate species, with comparable samples for other space-use traits. To the best of our knowledge, this represents the first multispecies study using overlap d...

The developmental independence of alternative phenotypes is key to evolutionary theories of phenotypic plasticity and the origins of diversity. Male dimorphisms associated with alternative reproductive tactics are widely cited examples of such facultative expression of divergent fitness optima. Current models for the evolution of male dimorphisms invoke a size-dependent threshold at which the p...

This is the first comparative study of correlated evolution between figs (Ficus species, Moraceae) and their pollinators (Hymenoptera: Agaoninae) based on molecular phylogenies of both lineages. Fig relationships based on the internal transcribed spacer region (ITS) of nuclear ribosomal DNA and pollinator relationships inferred from mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (COI) sequences enabled the...

Ratios often lead to biased conclusions concerning the actual relationships between examined traits and comparisons of the relative size of traits among groups. Therefore, the use of ratios has been abandoned in most comparative studies. However, ratios such as body mass index and waist-to-hip ratio are widely used in evolutionary biology and medicine. One such, the ratio of the 2nd to the 4th ...

It is well known that predators can induce morphological changes in some fish: individuals exposed to predation cues increase body depth and the length of spines. We hypothesize that these structures may evolve synergistically, as together, these traits will further enlarge the body dimensions of the fish that gape-limited predators must overcome. We therefore expect that the orientation of the...