Mouritzen Foster (hyenaflare1)

It is hypothesized that sociality has led to an increase in carnassial length for hunting durophages via scramble competition at feeding. Wnt agonist Such competition also penalizes adults from bringing food to cubs, which are consequently breastfed. On the other hand, it is also hypothesized that natural selection has led to solitary scavengers having large canines to transport carcasses to cubs. Our results indicate that these functional aspects are also better reflected by lower teeth than the upper dentition, which leads to a mosaic evolution.Massive floating green macroalgae have formed harmful green tides in the Yellow Sea since 2007. To study the early development and the associated environmental factors for the green tide, a field survey was carried out in the Subei Shoal, southwestern Yellow Sea. Multiple species were identified in both floating green macroalgae and micro-propagules , while their abundances showed distinct spatial variations. The floating macroalgal biomass was widespread in the northern Subei Shoal and most abundant at 34°N. Ulva prolifera dominated (91.2% in average) the floating macroalgae, and the majority (88.5%) of U. prolifera was the 'floating type'. In comparison, the micro-propagules were most abundant around the aquaculture rafts, and decreased significantly with the distance to the rafts. The dominant species of micro-propagules was U. linza (48.5%), followed by U. prolifera (35.1%). Their distinct distribution patterns and species diversity suggested little direct contribution of micro-propagules for the floating macroalgae. The spatial variation of the floating macroalgae was probably a combined result from the biomass source and environmental factors, while the abundance of micro-propagules was closely associated with the rafts. A positive correlation between the floating macroalgae and DO was observed and suggested active photosynthesis of the initial biomass in Subei Shoal. This study revealed specific distributional pattern and relationships among the floating macroalgae, micro-propagules and the environmental factors in the source region, which helps understanding the early blooming dynamics of the green tides in Yellow Sea.Previous studies, largely on avian species, have suggested that pairs that are permanently monogamous and have biparental care develop a coordination over time that enhances offspring survival. If this is the case, we predicted that a parent involved in biparental care would develop a pattern of biparental care specific to a particular mate and remain consistent in that pattern over time but would lose this pattern if it were to change mates. We tested this prediction with the convict cichlid fish (Amatitlania nigrofasciata) which has biparental care that is both complex and flexible. In this species, each parent can perform all parental roles but typically shows a division of labor in which males typically defend against offspring predators while the female typically provides direct care to the offspring. At various times, the parents briefly switch roles. Our experiments revealed that pairs that remained together for two consecutive broods were more consistent in their parental behaviors, including time they spent near the intruder and in the nest compared to pairs that were comprised of individuals that had previously mated with other partners. Also individuals that remained with the same partner were also more consistent as a parental unit, maintaining their sex-specific roles of males defending aggressively against an intruder and females spending more time directly caring for young. While our experiment clearly support our prediction that individuals do develop unique coordination with specific individuals, convict cichlids in nature appear to be largely serially monogamous in which they mate only once before changing partners. Thus, it is likely this coordination may be available in many species that have biparental care but become adaptive when repeat