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Research Articles (Zoology and Entomology): Recent submissions

  • Spatial patterns of large African cats : a large-scale study on density, home range size, and home range overlap of lions Panthera leo and leopards Panthera pardus 
    NAms, Vilis; Parker, Dan M.; Weise, Florian Johannes; Patterson, Bruce D.; Buij, Ralph; Wageningen, P.B.; Radloff, Frans G.T.; Vanak Ashoka, Abi Tamim; Tumenta, Pricelia N.; Hayward, Matt W.; Swanepoel, Lourens H.; Funston, Paul J.; Bauer, Hans; Power, R. John; O'Brien, John; O'Brien, Timothy G.; Tambling, Craig; DeIongh, Hans H.; Ferreira, Sam M.; Owen‑Smith, Norman; Cain, James W.; Fattebert, Julien; Croes, Barbra M.; Spong, Goran F.; Loveridge, Andrew J.; Houser, Ann Marie; Golabek, Krytyna A.; Begg, Colleen M.; Grant, Tanith; Trethoman, Paul; Musyoki, Charles; Menges, Vera; Creel, Scott; Balme, Guy A.; Pitman, Ross T.; Bissett, Charlene; Jenny, David; Schuette, Paul; Wilmers, Christopher C.; Hunter, Luke T.B.; Kinnaird, Margaret F.; Begg, Keith; Owen, Cailey R.; Steyn, Villiers; Bockmuehl, Dirk; Munro, Stuart J.; Mann, Gareth K.H.; DuPreez, Byron D.; Marker, Laurie L.; Huqa, Tuqa J.; Cozzi, Gabriele; Frank, Laurence G.; Nyoni, Phumuzile; Stein, Andrew B.; Kasiki, Samuel M.; MacDonald, David W.; Martins, Quinton, E.; VanVuuren, Rudie J.; Stratford, Ken; Bidner, Laura R.; Oriol-Cotteril, Alayne; Maputla, N.W. (Nakedi Walter); Maruping-Mzileni, Nkabeng; Parker, Tim; Van't Zelfde, Maarten; Isbell, Lynne A.; Beukes, Otto B.; Beukes, Maya (Wiley, 2023-04)
    1. Spatial patterns of and competition for resources by territorial carnivores are typically explained by two hypotheses: 1) the territorial defence hypothesis and 2) the searching efficiency hypothesis. 2. According ...
  • Explore before you restore : incorporating complex systems thinking in ecosystem restoration 
    Maes, S.L.; Perring, M.P.; Cohen, R.; Akinnifesi, F.K.; Bargués-Tobella, A.; Bastin, J.-F.; Bauters, M.; Bernardino, P.N.; Brancalion, P.H.S.; Bullock, J.M.; Ellison, D.; Fayolle, A.; Fremout, T.; Gann, G.D.; Hishe, H.; Holmgren, M.; Ilstedt, U.; Mahy, G.; Messier, C.; Parr, Catherine Lucy; Ryan, C.M.; Sacande, M.; Sankaran, M.; Scheffer, M.S.; Suding, K.N.; Van Meerbeek, K.; Verbeeck, H.; Verbist, B.J.P.; Verheyen, K.; Winowiecki, L.A.; Muys, B. (Wiley, 2024-05)
    The global movement for ecosystem restoration has gained momentum in response to the Bonn Challenge (2010) and the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (UNDER, 2021–2030). While several science-based guidelines exist to aid ...
  • The influence of sub-lethal neonicotinoid doses and ambient temperature on individual Apis mellifera scutellata flight efficiency 
    Bester, Laura Catherine; Wege, Mia; Weldon, Christopher William; Pirk, Christian Walter Werner (Taylor and Francis, 2024)
    Honey bee (Apis mellifera) thermoregulation plays an integral part in their behaviour and physiology and has been shown to be vulnerable to the effects of neonicotinoid insecticides. Flight muscles are a crucial source of ...
  • Robustly estimating the demographic contribution of immigration : simulation, sensitivity analysis and seals 
    Christian, Murray; Oosthuizen, W. Chris; Bester, Marthan Nieuwoudt; De Bruyn, P.J. Nico (Wiley, 2024-05)
    Identifying important demographic drivers of population dynamics is fundamental for understanding life-history evolution and implementing effective conservation measures. Integrated population models (IPMs) coupled with ...
  • Functional compensation in a savanna scavenger community 
    Walker, Alice E.L.; Robertson, Mark P.; Eggleton, Paul; Fisher, Adam M.; Parr, Catherine Lucy (Wiley, 2024-07)
    Functional redundancy, the potential for the functional role of one species to be fulfilled by another, is a key determinant of ecosystem viability. Scavenging transfers huge amount of energy through ecosystems and is, ...
  • Forest disturbance increases functional diversity but decreases phylogenetic diversity of an arboreal tropical ant community 
    Hoenle, Philipp O.; Plowman, Nichola S.; Matos-Maravi, Pavel; De Bello, Francesco; Bishop, Tom R.; Libra, Martin; Idigel, Cliffson; Rimandai, Maling; Klimes, Petr (Wiley, 2024-04)
    Tropical rainforest trees host a diverse arthropod fauna that can be characterised by their functional diversity (FD) and phylogenetic diversity (PD). Human disturbance degrades tropical forests, often coinciding with ...
  • Functional and morphological divergence in the forelimb musculoskeletal system of scratch-digging subterranean mammals (Rodentia: Bathyergidae) 
    Montoya-Sanhueza, German; Bennett, Nigel C.; Sumbera, Radim (Wiley, 2024-09)
    Whether the forelimb-digging apparatus of tooth-digging subterranean mammals has similar levels of specialization as compared to scratch-diggers is still unknown. We assessed the scapular morphology and forelimb musculature ...
  • Short QT intervals in African lions 
    Scharling, Frederik S.; Sandgreen, Ditte-Mari; Stagegaard, Julia; Elbrønd, Vibeke S.; Vincenti, Stefano; Isaksen, Jonas L.; Wang, Tobias; Wilson, Rory P.; Gunner, Richard; Marks, Nikki; Bell, Stephen H.; Van Rooyen, Martin C.; Bennett, Nigel C.; Hart, Daniel William; Daly, Angela C.; Bertelsen, Mads F.; Scantlebury, D. Michael; Calloe, Kirstine; Thomsen, Morten B. (Wiley, 2024)
    The cardiac conduction system in large carnivores, such as the African lion (Panthera leo), represents a significant knowledge gap in both veterinary science and in cardiac electrophysiology. Short QT intervals have been ...
  • Biogeographical variation in termite distributions alters global deadwood decay 
    Law, Stephanie J.; Flores-Moreno, Habacuc; Parr, Catherine Lucy; Adu-Bredu, Stephen; Bunney, K.; Cornwell, William K.; Ondo, Fidele Evouna; Powell, Jeff R.; Quansah, Gabriel W.; Robertson, Mark P.; Zanne, Amy E.; Eggleton, Paul (Wiley, 2024)
    AIM : Termites are a crucial group of macroinvertebrates regulating rates of deadwood decomposition across tropical and subtropical regions. When examining global patterns of deadwood decay, termites are treated as a ...
  • Description of the larva of Polynoncus hemisphaericus (Burmeister, 1876) (Coleoptera: Trogidae: Omorginae) 
    Da Costa-Silva, Vinicius; Smith, Andrew B.T. (Coleopterists Society, 2024-09)
    In this paper, we present a detailed description and illustrations of the larval stage of Polynoncus hemisphaericus (Burmeister, 1876). This larva was discovered in the region of Magallanes, Chile beneath the carcass of a ...
  • Scavenging in two mountain ecosystems : distinctive contribution of ants in grassland and non-ant invertebrates in forest 
    Fernandes, Tiago Vinícius; Parr, Catherine Lucy; Campos, Ricardo Ildefonso; De Siqueira Neves, Frederico; Solar, Ricardo (Wiley, 2024-08)
    Scavenging is a key process for the cycling of nutrients in ecosystems, yet it is still neglected in the ecological literature. Apart from the importance of specific groups of animals in scavenging, there have been few ...
  • Host tree-based scenario modelling for predicting a key edible insect, mopane worm Gonimbrasia belina (Westwood, 1894) distribution in Southern Africa 
    Meltus, Q.J.; Mudereri, B.T.; Mutamiswa, R.; Abdel-Rahman, E.M.; Matunhu, J.; Musundire, R.; Niassy, S.; Tonnang, H.E.Z. (Brill Academic Publishers, 2024-04)
    Gonimbrasia belina, known as the mopane worm, is a large edible caterpillar in tropical and subtropical regions. However, little is known about the bioecology of this species as influenced by its host trees. This study ...
  • Phylogeny and historical biogeography of the southern African lacewing genus Afroptera (Neuroptera: Nemopteridae: Nemopterinae) 
    Abdalla, Ishtiag H.; Mansell, Mervyn W.; Sole, Catherine L.; Daniel, Gimo M. (Wiley, 2024)
    The lacewing genus Afroptera Abdalla & Mansell (Neuroptera: Nemopteridae: Nemopterinae) is endemic to southern Africa, predominantly found in the Fynbos and Succulent Karoo biomes. The taxonomy of the genus has been recently ...
  • Reproductive phenology is a repeatable, heritable trait linked to the timing of other life-history events in a migratory marine predator 
    Oosthuizen, W.C.; Pistorius, P.A.; Bester, Marthan Nieuwoudt; Altwegg, R.; De Bruyn, P.J. Nico (Royal Society, 2023-07)
    Population-level shifts in reproductive phenology in response to environmental change are common, but whether individual-level responses are modified by demographic and genetic factors remains less well understood. We ...
  • The dissection of a despotic society : exploration, dominance and hormonal traits 
    Majelantle, T.L. (Tshepiso); Ganswindt, Andre; Hart, Daniel William; Hagenah, Nicole; Ganswindt, Stefanie Birgit; Bennett, Nigel C. (Royal Society, 2024-05)
    Naked mole-rats (Heterocephalus glaber) live in large colonies with one breeding female (queen), one to three breeding males (BMs) and the remainder are non-reproductive subordinates. The animals have a linear dominance ...
  • Honey bees switch mechanisms to drink deep nectar efficiently 
    Wei, Jiangkun; Rico-Guevara, Alejandro; Nicolson, Sue W.; Brau, Fabian; Damman, Pascal; Gorb, Stanislav N.; Wu, Zhigang; Wu, Jianing (National Academy of Sciences, 2023-07-17)
    The feeding mechanisms of animals constrain the spectrum of resources that they can exploit profitably. For floral nectar eaters, both corolla depth and nectar properties have marked influence on foraging choices. We ...
  • Cryptorchidism in the sub-Antarctic fur seal Arctocephalus tropicalis 
    Bester, Marthan Nieuwoudt (Springer, 2023-11)
    The prevalence of cryptorchidism, a condition when one or more testes failed to move to their proper position(s), was evaluated for sub-Antarctic fur seals from Gough Island, South Atlantic. The reproductive tracts of ...
  • Long-term stability in the circumpolar foraging range of a Southern Ocean predator between the eras of whaling and rapid climate change 
    Derville, Solene; Torres, Leigh G.; Newsome, Seth D.; Somes, Christopher J.; Valenzuela, Luciano O.; Vander Zanden, Hannah B.; Baker, C. Scott; Berube, Martine; Busquets-Vass, Geraldine; Carlyon, Kris; Childerhouse, Simon J.; Constantine, Rochelle; Dunshea, Glenn; Flores, Paulo A.C.; Goldsworthy, Simon D.; Graham, Brittany; Groch, Karina; Grocke, Darren R.; Harcourt, Robert; Hindell, Mark A.; Hulva, Pavel; Jackson, Jennifer A.; Kennedy, Amy S.; Lundquist, David; Mackay, Alice I.; Neveceralova, Petra; Oliveira, Larissa; Ott, Paulo H.; Palsbollj, Per J.; Patenaude, Nathalie J.; Rowntree, Victoria; Sironi, Mariano; Vermeulen, Els; Watson, Mandy; Zerbini, Alexandre N.; Carroll, Emma L. (National Academy of Sciences, 2023-02-27)
    Assessing environmental changes in Southern Ocean ecosystems is difficult due to its remoteness and data sparsity. Monitoring marine predators that respond rapidly to environmental variation may enable us to track ...
  • Context-dependent directional effects of termite mounds on soil nutrients, vegetation communities, and mammalian foraging 
    Davies, Andrew Byron; Levick, Shaun R.; Janse Van Rensburg, Berndt; Robertson, Mark P.; Parr, Catherine Lucy (Wiley, 2024-09)
    Termite mounds are keystone structures in African savannas, affecting multiple ecosystem processes. Despite the large size of termite mounds having the potential to modify conditions around them, patterns of mound-induced ...
  • Orb-web spider Argiope (Araneidae) as indigenous arrow poison of G/ui and G//ana San hunters in the Kalahari 
    Bird, Tharina L.; Moeti, Smith; Hitchcock, Robert K.; Kelly, Melinda C.; Chobolo, Lefang L.; Gotcha, Nonofo; Moatlhodi, Kgosi K.; Mukoka, Leungo D.; Sekopo, Emmanuel K.; Chaboo, Caroline S. (Public Library of Science, 2023-01-11)
    Hunting has been crucial in early human evolution. Some San (Bushmen) of southern Africa still practice their indigenous hunting. The use of poisons is one remarkable aspect of their bow-and-arrow hunting but the sources, ...