The importance of trophic ecology in adaptation and evolution is well known, yet direct evidence that feeding controls microevolution over extended evolutionary time scales, available only from the fossil record, is conspicuously lacking. Through quantitative analysis of tooth microwear, we show that rapid evolutionary change in Miocene stickleback was associated with shifts in feeding, providi...

Feeding ecology is central to an understanding of the ecology and life-history strategies of species. The abundance and distribution of food can affect a range of life-history traits, including body size, spatial organization or mating system (Partridge & Green, 1985; Vezina, 1985; Gittleman, 1986; Dayan & Simberloff, 1996; Geffen et al., 1996). Feeding Escuela Superior de Ciencias Experimental...

Abstract Rivers are important components of animal habitats worldwide. The area near riparian edge (?100 m from the river) has different abiotic characteristics and vegetation than both forest interior areas bordering human development, which may lead to differences in feeding behaviour. To better contextualize impact human-caused habitat destruction on ecology, it is study natural anthropogeni...

Studies of food relations are important to our understanding of ecology at the individual, population and community levels. Detailed documentation of the diet of large-bodied, widespread snakes allows us to assess size-dependent and geographical variation in feeding preferences of gape-limited predators. Furthermore, with knowledge of the food habits of sympatric taxa we can explore possible ca...

Fruit fly larvae occur as either 'rovers', which move a long way to find food, or 'sitters', which stay within a more restricted area. This polymorphism is determined by alleles of a cyclic GMP-dependent protein kinase gene; rovers are at an advantage in crowded populations, while sitters have the edge at low population density.

We identified the diet of brown hyaenas (Hyaena brunnea) on the farmlands of north-central Namibia based on scat analysis, den site orts, and evidence of scavenging at leopard (Panthera pardus) kills. In the absence of larger carnivores, which have been credited with providing larger food items for brown hyaenas elsewhere, we compared interspecific dietary overlap and activity patterns with the...

Gaps in our knowledge of basic fish ecology have provided impetus for development of novel “ecology tags” to detect and quantify hard to observe behaviors such as spawning, schooling and feeding. The acoustic environment is one source of potentially useful information about these behaviors. We implanted an acoustic recording tag (Bioacoustic Probe) into the gut cavity of a blacktip reef shark t...

Humpback whales Megaptera novaeangliae have adopted unique feeding strategies to take advantage of behavioral changes in their prey. However, logistical constraints have largely limited ecological analyses of these interactions. Our objectives were to (1) link humpback whale feeding behaviors to concurrent measurements of prey using scientific echo-sounders, and (2) quantify how sand lance beha...

................................................................................................................2 INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................3 EVOLUTIONARY DOMAINS OF ATTRACTION ..................................................5 Gradual evolution................................................................