The trait compensation and cospecialization hypotheses make contrasting predictions on how boldness is co-adapted with antipredator defences. If trait compensation occurs, then bold individuals should be equipped with better antipredator defences to compensate for their increased risk exposure. By contrast...
Although many fish are captured and released following hook removal by recreational anglers, some fish break the line and are confronted by the potential impediment of a lure lodged in the jaw, buccal cavity, or throat. We simulated break-off events...
Although locomotor performance and behaviour are closely linked to survival in many wild animals, our understanding of the potentially important co-adaptations between locomotor performance and behaviour is still limited. Our objective was to quantify the among-individual correlation (rind...
Recent technological advancements in next generation sequencing techniques, enabling the use of thousands of genetic markers across an individual’s genome, and continued improvements to the spatial resolution and information content of remote sensing data, present a unique opportunity to investigate...
Employing science-based best angling practices is important for sustainable catch-and-release fisheries. In situations where fish lose equilibrium (unable to maintain upright posture to swim in a coordinated manner), anglers often provide assisted ventilation by hand, which typically involves maneuvering fish to...
We tracked 20 males and 2 females breeding in four regions of Canada using geolocators. Wintering locations ranged from the gulf coast of central Mexico to Costa Rica. Individuals from the northern-most breeding site and females tended to winter furthest...
Freshwater ecosystems are threatened by a wide range of anthropogenic infrastructure related to hydropower, irrigation, municipal withdrawals, and industrial cooling. Technology can be used to mitigate the loss of fish associated with such infrastructure by exploiting the sensory physiology of...
Studies of community structure and co-occurrence patterns rely on the premise that community data reflect where species successfully grow and which species they grow with. However, plant censuses generally do not distinguish between species with reproductive individuals and those...
The North American invasion of a non-native mysid, Hemimysis anomala, has been expanding since 2006, with the first inland lake invasions detected for Oneida Lake in 2009 and Seneca Lake in 2010. Although we know that Hemimysis primarily consumes...
Stable isotope analysis is frequently used to examine resource use in wild populations, but it often involves invasive or lethal methods of collecting tissue samples. The development of less invasive or nonlethal sampling techniques will expand the possible uses of...
Release of fish captured by recreational anglers is a common practice due to angler conservation ethics or compliance with fisheries regulations. As such, there is a need to understand the factors that influence mortality and sub-lethal impairments to ensure that...
In most natural plant populations, there is a strong right-skewed distribution of body sizes for reproductive plants—i.e. the vast majority are relatively small, suppressed weaklings that manage not just to survive effects of crowding/competition and other hazards but also to...
Background and aims – The leaf size/number trade-off has been recently established as a wide-spread and highly predictable relationship associated with between-species leaf size variation. In this study, we examine whether this trade-off relationship also applies at the between-plant (within-species)...
Little is known about the acarofauna associated with wood-boring beetles in Canada, including long-horned beetles (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae). Herein, we assessed the prevalence, abundance, diversity, phenology, and attachment location of mesostigmatic mites (Acari: Mesostigmata) associated with Monochamus scutellatus (Say), and tested...
In this study, we explored the growth, survival, and potential population-level effects of short-term experimentally induced stress in largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides). Cortisol implants [50 mg·(kg body mass)–1] were used to increase circulating stress hormones in a...
Habitat connectivity and regional heterogeneity represent two factors likely to affect biodiversity across different spatial scales. We performed a 3 × 2 factorial design experiment to investigate the effects of connectivity, heterogeneity, and their interaction on artificial pond communities of freshwater invertebrates...
In this study, the effects of abrupt temperature change on the hatching success and larval survival of eggs, yolk‐sac larvae (YSL) and larvae above nest (LAN), for both largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides and smallmouth bass Micropterus dolomieu were quantified. Temperature...
We investigated whether circulating glucocorticoids and androgens are correlated with reproductive investment in smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu), a teleost fish with sole paternal care. Circulating cortisol and androgens prior to and 25 min following a standardized 3 min emersion stressor...
Variation in baseline glucocorticoid (cort) levels can be attributed, at least in part, to differences in energetic demands confronting individuals. Elevated baseline cort levels are routinely interpreted as indicating individuals in poor condition, with low relative fitness. However, when greater...
Animal communication signals can be highly elaborate, and researchers have long sought explanations for their evolutionary origins. For example, how did signals such as the tail-fan display of a peacock, a fi refl y fl ash or a wolf howl...
In this study, we examined the extent to which between-species leaf size variation relates to variation in the intensity of leaf production in herbaceous angiosperms. Leaf size variation has been most commonly interpreted in terms of biomechanical constraints (e.g...
Large plant species self-thin to disproportionately lower densities than smaller plant species, and therefore may leave more patches of unused space suitable for invasion. Using experimental monocultures of 11 old-field perennial plant species differing in maximum size, as well as...
Birdsong is among the most well-studied communication systems in vertebrates and provides many textbook examples in animal behaviour, ecology and evolution. Owing to the substantial body of research dealing with this topic, and the numerous research groups focusing on different...
An ongoing debate in ecology concerns the relative importance of competition in driving community patterns, especially along gradients of disturbance and productivity. We used a null model to address this question by testing for non‐random organization of forest species according...
Previous work suggests that early learning plays a role in auditory preferences of female songbirds. We explored whether early experience shapes preferences for local geographic song in female song sparrows (Melospiza melodia), a species that prefers local geographic...
In this study, field biotelemetry and laboratory physiology approaches were coupled to allow understanding of the behavioral and physiological responses of fish to winter hypoxia. The biotelemetry study compared dissolved oxygen levels measured throughout the winter period with continually tracked...
Glucocorticoid (cort) hormones are increasingly applied in studies of free-ranging animals, with elevated baseline cort levels generally assumed to indicate individuals or populations in worse condition and with lower fitness (the Cort-Fitness Hypothesis). The relationship between cort and fitness...
Animal signals are often complex, raising the possibility that different aspects of a signal may convey different types of information. Birdsong, for example, may simultaneously advertise the singer's condition during early life (through song complexity), location of song learning (through...
Echolocating bats and eared moths are a model system of predator–prey interaction within an almost exclusively auditory world. Through selective pressures from aerial-hawking bats, noctuoid moths have evolved simple ears that contain one to two auditory neurons and function to...
Male alternative reproductive tactics have been described in many mating systems. In fishes, these tactics typically involve a territorial male that defends a spawning site or nest and a parasitic male that uses sneaking or female mimicry to steal fertilizations...
Parasites are thought to play a role(s) in the evolution of host traits. Evidence for their roles comes from studies examining parasite-mediated selection. Odonates are model insects and water mites and gregarine protozoans model parasites, for such investigations. These parasites...
According to the maternal manipulation hypothesis, females manipulate the phenotypes of their offspring by selecting favourable incubation conditions. In oviparous black ratsnakes (Elaphe obsoleta Say in James, 1823), females manipulate offspring phenotype through nest-site selection. This study aimed to determine whether...
Recreational boating continues to grow in popularity, yet little is known about the effects of noise disturbance from boating on fish. Therefore, this study evaluated the organism‐level cardiovascular disturbance associated with different recreational boating activities using largemouth bass (Micropterus...
We investigated whether the use of primary or secondary behavioural defences is related to prey sensory thresholds using two species of North American katydids, Neoconocephalus ensiger and Amblycorypha oblongifolia. Male katydids produce intense calling songs to attract mates, and...
Sexually dimorphic traits often reflect factors limiting the reproductive success of animals. Thus, most sexually dimorphic traits can be directly linked to the reproductive role of each sex. Sexual dimorphism in trophic structures (e.g. beak, jaws, teeth), however, often lacks...
The decline of Golden-winged Warblers (Vermivora chrysoptera) has been attributed in part to hybridization with a sister species, the Blue-winged Warbler (V. pinus), which lacks the black throat patch typical of the Golden-winged Warbler. Understanding the signal function...
Male songbirds typically mate-guard by closely following the female during her fertile period. At dawn, males may sing near the nest or roost to direct their chorus at mates. Recent evidence suggests males may also be involved in singing interactions with...
Elemental concentrations in tree-rings from red and white oak trees at six sites across Southern Ontario, Canada, were assessed to determine whether they passively record changes in geochemical cycling in the presence of environmental stress. Periods of stress were defined...
Elemental concentrations in tree-rings from red and white oak trees at six sites across Southern Ontario, Canada, were assessed to determine whether they passively record changes in geochemical cycling in the presence of environmental stress. Periods of stress were defined...
We tested the prediction that the main stems of four common deciduous tree species grow phototropically as saplings in the forest understory in response to variable canopy structure. Our predictions were confirmed for Fraxinus americana, Acer saccharum, and ...
Using a sample of 24 common deciduous angiosperm trees of the Eastern Deciduous Forest region of North America, we tested the hypothesis that leaf size variation across species can be interpreted in terms of a trade‐off between individual leaf mass...
Body temperature affects nearly all processes of ectotherms. Reptiles do not generate sufficient body heat to regulate their body temperature internally and therefore use behavioural thermoregulation. We determined whether thermoregulatory effort varied among seasons in an environment where large temporal...
It is well established that extra‐pair young are present to varying degrees in nests of most avian species. However, the timing of extra‐pair copulations during a female's fertile cycle is not well known, nor is how these copulations translate into...
Parental investment theory states that an individual will trade‐off present and future reproductive potential to maximize lifetime reproductive success. Only when parental care is costly in terms of reduced future reproductive potential should individuals be sensitive to changes in the...
The impact of variation in water temperature and dissolved oxygen on recovery of largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides from exercise was examined. For this, largemouth bass were first exercised and recovered for either 1, 2 or 4 h at ambient water temperatures...
We investigated the link between thermal quality and the effectiveness of thermoregulation in milk snakes in a thermally challenging environment. We defined thermoregulatory effectiveness as the extent to which an individual maintains its body temperature (Tb)...
Factors influencing habitat selection may be scale dependent, leading to different selection patterns at different spatial scales. By limiting habitat-selection studies to a single scale, important selection patterns could be missed. Despite this danger, many studies investigate habitat selection at...
We studied the efficiency and effects of the multiple sensory cues of tiger moths on echolocating bats. We used the northern long-eared bat, Myotis septentrionalis, a purported moth specialist that takes surface-bound prey (gleaning) and airborne prey (aerial hawking)...
The relationship between gregariousness and warning signals in defended species has been the subject of much debate. While previous researchers have found that predators learn to avoid conspicuous unpalatable prey faster when they are in aggregations, they have not presented...
The risk of extinction of populations has not previously been empirically related to parameters characterizing their population dynamics. To analyze this relationship, we simulated how the distribution of population dynamical characters changed as a function of time, in both the...
The successful use of stable isotopes to track migratory animals between different seasons of the annual cycle depends, in part, on the turnover rate of isotopes in sample tissue. We examined whether stable‐carbon isotopes in the blood of a long‐distance...
The damage caused by biological invasions has traditionally been thought to result from alien species taking advantage of ecological differences between the native and introduced ranges. In contrast, the role of evolutionary forces has received relatively little attention. Our results...
Prey that are unprofitable to attack (for example, those containing noxious chemicals) frequently exhibit slower and more predicable movement than species that lack these defenses. Possible explanations for the phenomenon include a lack of selection pressure on unprofitable prey to...
Prey species that are unprofitable to attack often share conspicuous colours and patterns with other coexisting defended species. This phenomenon, termed müllerian mimicry, has long been explained as a consequence of selection on defended prey to adopt a common way...
Although broad habitat preferences are known for many species of conservation concern, identification of key microhabitat elements critical to persistence and reproduction is a crucial and generally understudied aspect in conservation. In this study, we examined diurnal microsite selection in...
Identifying the factors that control population dynamics in migratory animals has been constrained by our inability to track individuals throughout the annual cycle. Using stable carbon isotopes, we show that the reproductive success of a long‐distance migratory bird is influenced...
It is widely argued that defended prey have tended to evolve conspicuous traits because predators more readily learn to avoid defended prey when they are conspicuous. However, a rival theory proposes that defended prey have evolved such characters because it...
In animals where males engage in signalling interactions, females might evaluate male–male contests to inform their reproductive choices. We used interactive playback to engage territorial male black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) of known dominance status in countersinging contests with...
