http://www.journalofanimalecology.org current issue RSS Feed http://www.journalofanimalecology.org/details/journalArticle/741559/Red_in_tooth_and_claw_how_top_predators_shape_terrestrial_ecosystems.html A young Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx). Photo by Gilbert Ludwig taken at Ähtäri Zoo. Elmhagen, B., Ludwig, G., Rushton, S.P., Helle, P. & Linden, H. (2010) Top predators, mesopredators and their prey: interference ecosystems along bioclimatic productivity gradients. Journal of Animal Ecology79, 785–794. Top predators are increasingly recognized as important regulators of ecosystem structure. Elmhagen et al. in this issue show how a recolonizing population of lynx in Finland is in the process of... 2010-06-07T00:00:00Z http://www.journalofanimalecology.org/details/journalArticle/741561/Maximal_heat_dissipation_capacity_and_hyperthermia_risk_neglected_key_factors_in.html 1. The role of energy in ecological processes has hitherto been considered primarily from the standpoint that energy supply is limited. That is, traditional resource-based ecological and evolutionary theories and the recent 'metabolic theory of ecology' (MTE) all assume that energetic constraints operate on the supply side of the energy balance equation. 2. For endothermic animals, we provide evidence suggesting that an upper boundary on total energy expenditure is imposed by the maximal... 2010-04-28T00:00:00Z http://www.journalofanimalecology.org/details/journalArticle/590379/Safety_in_numbers_extinction_arising_from_predatordriven_Allee_effects.html Chaoborus punctipennis under dark field microscopy. Chaoborus preying on Daphnia magna cause lower per capita growth rate and higher extinction risk in small populations, providing experimental confirmation for a predator-driven Allee effect. Photo by Meghan Duffy. A.M. Kramer & J.M. Drake (2010) Experimental demonstration of population extinction due to a predator-driven Allee effect. Journal of Animal Ecology, 79, 633–639. Experimental evidence of extinction via an Allee effect (AE) is a... 2010-03-22T00:00:00Z http://www.journalofanimalecology.org/details/journalArticle/741593/How_well_do_food_distributions_predict_spatial_distributions_of_shorebirds_with_.html 1. Habitat selection models usually assume that the spatial distributions of animals depend positively on the distributions of resources and negatively on interference. However, the presence of conspecifics at a given location also signals safety and the availability of resources. This may induce followers to select contiguous patches and causes animals to cluster. Resource availability, interference and attraction therefore jointly lead to self-organized patterns in foraging animals. 2. We... 2010-03-19T00:00:00Z http://www.journalofanimalecology.org/details/journalArticle/558687/Transgenerational_immune_priming_as_cryptic_parental_care.html (a) Copulating red flour beetles (photo by Paul Schmid-Hempel). (b) Female red flour beetle at the pupal stage (photo from the laboratory of Joachim Kurtz). O. Roth, G. Joop, H. Eggert, J. Hilbert, J. Daniel, P. Schmid-Hempel & J. Kurtz (2009) Paternally derived immune priming for offspring in the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum. Journal of Animal Ecology, 79, 403–413. Eggs are relatively large and can provide offspring with resources that improve their survival. While such maternal... 2010-02-05T00:00:00Z http://www.journalofanimalecology.org/details/journalArticle/590385/Consequences_of_loadlightening_for_future_indirect_fitness_gains_by_helpers_in_a.html 1. Helpers that invest energy in provisioning the offspring of related individuals stand to gain indirect fitness benefits from doing so. First, if the helper's effort is additional to that of the parents (additive) the productivity of the current breeding attempt can be increased. Secondly, if the parents reduce their workload (compensation) this can result in future indirect fitness gains to the helper via increased breeder survival; termed 'load-lightening'. 2. Long-tailed tits (Aegithalos... 2010-01-28T00:00:00Z http://www.journalofanimalecology.org/details/journalArticle/590383/Site_selection_and_resource_depletion_in_blacktailed_godwits_Limosa_l__limosa_ea.html 1. During migratory stopovers, animals are under strong time stress and need to maximize intake rates. We examine how foragers react to resource depletion by studying the foraging ecology and foraging site selection of black-tailed godwits Limosa l. limosa staging in rice fields during their northward migration stopover (January–March 2007). 2. We analysed godwit abundance and foraging behaviour, sampled the availability of rice in the fields and used the functional response model to predict... 2010-01-08T00:00:00Z http://www.journalofanimalecology.org/details/journalArticle/590381/Reproductive_competition_favours_solitary_living_while_ecological_constraints_im.html 1. Social groups typically form due to delayed dispersal of adult offspring when no opportunities for independent breeding exist, or the costs of dispersal are higher than the costs of remaining philopatric. Ecological constraints are thought to be a main reason for group-living in animals. 2. Reproductive competition within groups can induce high costs of philopatry, and is thought to be a main reason for solitary living. 3. Experimental manipulation of reproductive competition is difficult.... 2010-01-05T00:00:00Z http://www.journalofanimalecology.org/details/journalArticle/493287/Environmental_variance_population_growth_and_evolution.html Female red kangaroo (Macropus rufus) with her yearling juvenile. Kangaroos are adapted to low and unpredictable rainfall giving rise to low, variable juvenile survival and high, stable adult survival. Reduced and more varied rainfall induced by climate change might increase kangaroo vulnerability to over-harvest. Photo provided by Andrew Lothian. N. Jonzén, T. Pople, K. Knape & M. Skjöld (2009) Stochastic demography and population dynamics in the red kangaroo (Macropus rufus). Journal of... 2009-12-11T00:00:00Z http://www.journalofanimalecology.org/details/journalArticle/493293/An_ecologists_guide_to_the_animal_model.html 1. Efforts to understand the links between evolutionary and ecological dynamics hinge on our ability to measure and understand how genes influence phenotypes, fitness and population dynamics. Quantitative genetics provides a range of theoretical and empirical tools with which to achieve this when the relatedness between individuals within a population is known. 2. A number of recent studies have used a type of mixed-effects model, known as the animal model, to estimate the genetic component of... 2009-12-11T00:00:00Z http://www.journalofanimalecology.org/details/journalArticle/558689/Analysis_of_variance_with_unbalanced_data_an_update_for_ecology__evolution.html 1. Factorial analysis of variance (anova) with unbalanced (non-orthogonal) data is a commonplace but controversial and poorly understood topic in applied statistics. 2. We explain that anova calculates the sum of squares for each term in the model formula sequentially (type I sums of squares) and show how anova tables of adjusted sums of squares are composite tables assembled from multiple sequential analyses. A different anova is performed for each explanatory variable or interaction so that... 2009-12-03T00:00:00Z http://www.journalofanimalecology.org/details/journalArticle/558693/Habitat_selection_as_an_antipredator_behaviour_in_a_multipredator_landscape_all_.html 1. Breeding territory choice constitutes a crucial antipredator behaviour for animals that determines reproductive success and survival during the breeding season. On arrival to breeding grounds migrant prey face a multitude of 'waiting' predators already settled within the landscape. 2. We studied territory selection and reproductive investment of migrant pied flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca) relative to breeding pygmy owls (POs) (Glaucidium passerinum) and Tengmalm's owls (TOs) (Aegolius... 2009-11-12T00:00:00Z http://www.journalofanimalecology.org/details/journalArticle/558691/Breeding_dispersal_in_blackheaded_gull_the_value_of_familiarity_in_a_contrasted_.html 1. Some species (e.g. migratory species with high movement ability) are unlikely to experience any physical cost when dispersing, at least at the landscape scale. In these species dispersal is nevertheless behaviourally constrained to avoid non-physical costs such as the loss of familiarity with the breeding environment, and these constraints can be maladaptive in a fast-changing environment. 2. We evaluated such constraints using multievent modelling of a 20-year capture–mark–recapture data... 2009-11-05T00:00:00Z http://www.journalofanimalecology.org/details/journalArticle/493289/Considering_ecological_dynamics_in_resource_selection_functions.html 1. Describing distribution and abundance is requisite to exploring interactions between organisms and their environment. Recently, the resource selection function (RSF) has emerged to replace many of the statistical procedures used to quantify resource selection by animals. 2. A RSF is defined by characteristics measured on resource units such that its value for a unit is proportional to the probability of that unit being used by an organism. It is solved using a variety of techniques,... 2009-09-01T00:00:00Z http://www.journalofanimalecology.org/details/journalArticle/493295/Energetic_costs_of_male_reproduction_in_a_scramble_competition_mating_system.html 1. The assumption that the primary limitations on reproductive success differ between the sexes is inherent in traditional sexual selection theory. Although the energy that can be allocated to reproduction is assumed to be the main limitation to females, the ability to attract and defend oestrous females is assumed to be the primary limitation to males. 2. Estimates of the energetic costs of reproduction in male mammals are, however, limited and have largely been obtained from sexually... 2009-08-06T00:00:00Z