Temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD) is widespread in reptiles, yet its adaptive significance and mechanisms for its maintenance remain obscure and controversial. Comparative analyses identify an ancient origin of TSD in turtles, crocodiles and tuatara, suggesting that this trait should be advantageous in order to persist. Based on this assumption, researchers primarily, and with minim...

Diapause is an actively induced dormancy that has evolved in Metazoa to resist environmental stresses. In temperate regions, many diapausing insects overwinter at low temperatures by blocking embryonic, larval or adult development. Despite its Afro-tropical origin, Drosophila melanogaster migrated to temperate regions of Asia and Europe where females overwinter as adults by arresting gonadal de...

LEE, J., PILGRIM, W., MCLAUGHLIN, J. D., and BURT, M. D. B. 1992. Effects of temperature on the oncospheres of the cestode Microsomacanthus hopkinsi and its implication for their over-winter survival. Can. J. Zool. 70: 935 940. In an attempt to determine whether hymenolepidid oncospheres may overwinter and contribute to the pool of cysticercoids in the intermediate host population the following...

Although assessments of winter carryover effects on fitness-related breeding parameters are vital for determining the links between environmental variation and fitness, direct methods of determining overwintering distributions (e.g., electronic tracking) can be expensive, limiting the number of individuals studied. Alternatively, stable isotope analysis in specific tissues can be used as an ind...

The citrus leafminer, Phyllocnistis citrella Stainton (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae), is an important pest of citrus that has spread around the world. The citrus leafminer invaded Florida in 1993 and rapidly colonized all citrus-growing areas. Despite the fact that the citrus leafminer has been studied extensively, gaps in our knowledge of its biology remain. One issue is how the citrus leafmine...

The beet armyworm, Spodoptera exigua (Hübner) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), is a serious polyphagous insect pest worldwide. This species is known as a long-distance migrant, and previous studies on its migration have been mostly carried out in regions where it can overwinter. However, what pattern of seasonal migration this species exhibits in regions where it cannot overwinter (i.e., the 'summer b...

Understanding the fundamental niche of invasive species facilitates our ability to predict both dispersal patterns and invasion success and therefore provides the basis for better-informed conservation and management policies. Here we focus on Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus Linnaeus, 1758), one of the most widely cultured fish worldwide and a species that has escaped local aquaculture faci...