ALBERT

Description: Transformation of refractory cratonic mantle into more fertile lithologies is the key to the fate of cratonic lithosphere. This process has been extensively studied in the eastern North China Craton (NCC) while that of its western part is still poorly constrained. A comprehensive study of newly-found pyroxenite xenoliths from the Langshan area, in the northwestern part of this craton is integrated with a regional synthesis of pyroxenite and peridotite xenoliths to constrain the petrogenesis of the pyroxenites and provide an overview of the processes involved in the modification of the deep lithosphere. The Langshan pyroxenites are of two types, high-Mg# [Mg2+/(Mg2++Fe2+)*100 = ∼ 90, atomic ratios] olivine-bearing websterites with high equilibration temperatures (880 ∼ 970 oC), and low-Mg# (70 ∼ 80) plagioclase-bearing websterites with low equilibration temperatures (550 ∼ 835 oC). The high-Mg# pyroxenites show trade-off abundances of olivine and orthopyroxene, highly depleted bulk Sr-Nd (ƐNd = +11.41, 87Sr/86Sr = ∼0.7034) and low clinopyroxene Sr isotopic ratios (mean 87Sr/86Sr = ∼0.703). They are considered to reflect the reaction of mantle peridotites with silica-rich silicate melts derived from the convective mantle. Their depletion in fusible components (e.g., FeO, TiO2 and Na2O) and progressive exhaustion of incompatible elements suggest melt extraction after their formation. The low-Mg# pyroxenites display layered structures, convex-upward rare earth element patterns, moderately enriched bulk Sr-Nd isotopic ratios (ƐNd = -14.20 ∼ -16.74, 87Sr/86Sr = 0.7070 ∼ 0.7078) and variable clinopyroxene Sr-isotope ratios (87Sr/86Sr = 0.706-0.711). They are interpreted to be crustal cumulates from hypersthene-normative melts generated by interaction between the asthenosphere and heterogeneous lithospheric mantle. Combined with studies on regional peridotite xenoliths, it is shown that the thinning and refertilization of the lithospheric mantle was accompanied by crustal rejuvenation and that such processes occurred ubiquitously in the northwestern part of the NCC. A geodynamic model is proposed for the evolution of the deep lithosphere, which includes long-term mass transfer through a mantle wedge into the deep crust from the Paleozoic to the Cenozoic, triggered by subduction of the Paleo-Asian ocean and the Late Mesozoic lithospheric extension of eastern Asia.

Description: The orogenic development after the continental collision between Laurussia and Gondwana, led to two contrasting associations of mantle-derived magmatic rocks on the territory of the Bohemian Massif: (i) a 340–310 Ma lamprophyre-lamproite orogenic association and (ii) a 300–275 Ma lamprophyre association of anorogenic affinity. Major types of potassic mantle-derived magmatic rocks recognised in the orogenic and anorogenic associations include: (i) calc-alkaline to alkaline lamprophyres, (ii) alkaline “orthopyroxene minettes” (and geochemically related rocks), and (iii) peralkaline lamproites. These three types significantly differ with respect to mineral, whole-rock and Sr–Nd–Pb–Li isotope composition, and spatial distribution. The calc-alkaline lamprophyres occur throughout the entire Saxo-Thuringian and Moldanubian zones, whereas the different types of malte-derived potassic rocks are spatially restricted to particular zones. Rocks of the Carboniferous lamprophyre-lamproite orogenic association are characterised by variable negative εNd(i) and variably radiogenic Sr(i), whereas the rocks of the Permian lamprophyre association of anorogenic affinity are characterised by positive εNd(i) and relatively young depleted-mantle Nd-model ages reflecting increasing input from upwelling asthenospheric mantle. The small variation in the Pb isotopic composition of post-collisional potassic mantle-derived magmatic rocks (of both the orogenic and anorogenic series) implies that the Pb budget of the mantle beneath the Bohemian Massif is dominated by the same crust-derived material, which itself may include material derived from several sources. The source rocks of “orthopyroxene minettes” are characterised by isotopically light (“eclogitic”) Li and strongly radiogenic (crustal) Sr and may have been metasomatised by high-pressure fluids along the edge of a subduction zone. In contrast, the strongly Al2O3 and CaO depleted mantle source of the lamproites is characterised by isotopically heavy Li and high SiO2 and extreme K2O contents. This mantle source may have been metasomatised predominantly by melts. The mantle source of the lamprophyres may have undergone metasomatism by both fluids and melts.

Description: The Lu–Hf isotope system and Sr–Nd–Hf–Os isotope systematics of mantle rocks are capable of unravelling the early processes in collision belts, especially in a hot subduction context where the Sm–Nd and U–Pb systems in crustal rocks are prone to resetting owing to high temperatures and interaction with melts during exhumation. To improve models of the Devonian–Carboniferous evolution of the Bohemian Massif, we investigated in detail mafic and ultramafic rocks (eclogite, pyroxenite, and peridotite) from the ultrahigh-pressure and ultrahigh-temperature Kutná Hora Crystalline Complex (KHCC: Úhrov, Bečváry, Doubrava, and Spačice localities). Petrography, multiphase solid inclusions, major and trace element compositions of rocks and minerals, and radiogenic isotopic data document contrasting sources and protoliths as well as effects of subduction-related processes for these rocks. The Úhrov peridotite has a depleted composition corresponding to the suboceanic asthenospheric mantle, whereas Bečváry and Doubrava peridotites represent lithospheric mantle that underwent melt refertilization by basaltic and SiO2-undersaturated melts, respectively. Multiphase solid inclusions enclosed in garnet from Úhrov and Bečváry peridotites represent trapped H2O ± CO2-bearing metasomatizing agents and Fe–Ti-rich melts. The KHCC eclogites either formed by high-pressure crystal accumulation from mantle-derived basaltic melts (Úhrov) or represent a fragment of mid-ocean ridge basalt-like gabbroic cumulate (Spačice) and crustal-derived material (Doubrava) both metamorphosed at high P–T conditions. The Lu–Hf age of 395 ± 23 Ma obtained for the Úhrov peridotite reflects garnet growth related to burial of the asthenospheric mantle during subduction of the oceanic slab. By contrast, Spačice and Doubrava eclogites yield younger Lu–Hf ages of ∼350 and 330 Ma, respectively, representing mixed ages as demonstrated by the strong granulite-facies overprint and trace element zoning in garnet grains. We propose a refined model for the Early Variscan evolution of the Bohemian Massif starting with the subduction of the oceanic crust (Saxothuringian ocean) and associated oceanic asthenospheric mantle (Úhrov) beneath the Teplá–Barrandian at ≥380 Ma, which was responsible for melt refertilization of the associated mantle wedge (Bečváry, Doubrava). This was followed by continental subduction (∼370–360 Ma?) accompanied by the oceanic slab break-off and incorporation of the upwelling asthenospheric mantle into the Moldanubian lithospheric mantle and subsequent coeval exhumation of mantle and crustal rocks at ∼350–330 Ma.

Description: The Changning–Menglian orogenic belt (CMOB) in the southeastern Tibetan Plateau is an important link between the Longmu Co–Shuanghu suture (LCSS) in the northern Tibetan Plateau and the Chiang Mai–Inthanon and Bentong–Raub sutures in Thailand and Peninsular Malaysia. These belts and sutures are generally regarded as containing the remnants of the oceanic crust of the Palaeo-Tethys that formed by seafloor spreading as a result of the separation of Gondwana- and Eurasia-derived blocks during the Middle Cambrian. In this paper we report the first discovery of abundant unaltered and retrograde eclogites that occur as irregular lenses and blocks in metasedimentary rocks of the CMOB, and these eclogites form an elongate and almost north–south-trending high-pressure (HP)–ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) metamorphic belt that is ∼200 km long and ∼50 km wide. The newly discovered phengite/talc/epidote–glaucophane eclogites, lawsonite–talc–phengite eclogites, dolomite/magnesite–kyanite eclogites and phengite–kyanite-bearing retrograde eclogites have enriched (E-) and normal mid-ocean ridge basalt (N-MORB)-like affinities and mainly positive as well as some negative whole-rock εNd values (–4·34 to +7·89), which suggest an enriched and depleted oceanic lithosphere source for their protoliths. Magmatic zircons separated from the epidote–glaucophane, magnesite–kyanite and (phengite–kyanite-bearing) retrograde eclogites gave protolith ages of 317–250 Ma, which fit well within the time frame of the opening of the Palaeo-Tethys during the Middle Cambrian and its closure during the Triassic. Abundant metamorphic zircons in the eclogites indicate a Triassic metamorphic event related to the subduction of the Palaeo-Tethys oceanic crust from 235 to 227 Ma. Taking into account previous isotopic age data, we now establish the periods of Early–Middle Triassic (246–227 Ma) and Late Triassic (222–209 Ma) as the ages of subduction and exhumation of the Palaeo-Tethyan oceanic crust, respectively. Thermodynamic modelling revealed that the eclogites record distinct HP–UHP peak metamorphic conditions of 23·0–25·5 kbar and 582–610 °C for the phengite–glaucophane eclogites, 24·0–25·5 kbar and 570–586 °C for the talc–glaucophane eclogites, 29·0–31·0 kbar and 675–712 °C for the dolomite–kyanite eclogites, and 30·0–32·0 kbar and 717–754 °C for the magnesite–kyanite eclogites. These P–T estimates and geochronological data indicate that the Palaeo-Tethys oceanic slab was subducted to different mantle depths from 75 km down to 95 km, forming distinct types of eclogite with a variety of peak eclogite-facies mineral assemblages. The eclogites consistently record clockwise metamorphic P–T–t paths characterized by a heating–compression prograde loop under a low geothermal gradient of 5–10 °C km–1, indicating the rapid subduction of cold oceanic crust at a rate of 4·5–6·0 km Ma–1, followed by isothermal or cooling–decompressive retrogression and exhumation at an average rate of 3·2–4·2 km Ma–1. The newly discovered eclogites of the CMOB with their signatures of ocean-crust subduction are petrologically, geochemically and geochronologically comparable with those of the LCSS, providing powerful support for the idea that a nearly 2000 km long HP–UHP eclogite belt extends from the northern Tibetan Plateau to the southeastern Tibetan Plateau, and that it represents the main boundary suture of the Palaeo-Tethyan domain. These results have far-reaching implications for the tectonic framework and complex metamorphic evolution of the Palaeo-Tethyan domain.

Description: Replacive symplectites (vermicular intergrowths of two or more minerals) are an important feature of layered igneous intrusions, recording evidence of late-stage reactions between interstitial liquid and crystals. They are common throughout the Layered Series of the 564 Ma Sept Iles layered intrusion in Quebec, Canada, and fall into three types: oxy-symplectites, ‘Type I’ symplectites, and ‘Type II’ symplectites. Oxy-symplectites are comprised of magnetite and orthopyroxene, nucleate on olivine primocrysts, and form via the reaction Olivine + O2 → Orthopyroxene + Magnetite; Type I symplectites (of which there are 3 distinct categories) are comprised of anorthitic plagioclase with pyroxene, amphibole, or olivine vermicules, grow from primocryst oxide grains, and replace primary plagioclase; and Type II symplectites (of which there are 2 distinct categories) are comprised of anorthitic plagioclase with orthopyroxene ± amphibole vermicules, grow from primocryst olivine grains, and replace primocryst plagioclase. Rare symplectites composed of biotite and plagioclase are also present. Symplectite growth occurred at 700-1030 °C with pressure constraints of 1-2 kbar. We propose that Type I symplectites, and some Type II symplectites, formed from interaction of primocrysts with residual Fe-rich liquid as a consequence of differential loss of an immiscible Si-rich liquid conjugate from the crystal mush. However, redistribution and concentration of hydrous fluids in incompletely solidified rock, or an increase in water activity of the interstitial melt, may be more plausible processes responsible for the formation of replacive symplectites comprising abundant hydrous mineral assemblages.

Description: The Matachewan Large Igneous Province (LIP) is interpreted to have formed during the early stages of mantle plume-induced continental break-up in the early Proterozoic. When the Matachewan LIP is reconstructed to its original configuration with units from the Superior Craton and other formerly adjacent blocks (Karelia, Kola, Wyoming and Hearne), the dyke swarms, layered intrusions and flood basalts, emplaced over the lifetime of the province, form one of the most extensive magmatic provinces recognized in the geological record. New geochemical data allow, for the first time, the Matachewan LIP to be considered as a single, coherent entity and show that Matachewan LIP rocks share a common tholeiitic composition and trace element geochemistry, characterized by enrichment in the most incompatible elements and depletion in the less incompatible elements. This signature, ubiquitous in early Proterozoic continental magmatic rocks, may indicate that the Matachewan LIP formed through contamination of the primary magmas with lithospheric material or that the early Proterozoic mantle had a fundamentally different composition from the modern mantle. In addition to the radiating geometry of the dyke swarms, a plume origin for the Matachewan LIP is consistent with the geochemistry of some of the suites; these suites are used to constrain a source mantle potential temperature of c. 1500–1550°C. Comparison of these mantle potential temperatures with estimated temperatures for the early Proterozoic upper mantle indicates that they are consistent with a hot mantle plume source for the magmatism. Geochemical data from coeval intrusions suggest that the plume head was compositionally heterogeneous and sampled material from both depleted and enriched mantle. As has been documented with less ancient but similarly vast LIPs, the emplacement of the Matachewan LIP probably had a significant impact on the early Proterozoic global environment. Compilation of the best age estimates for various suites shows that the emplacement of the Matachewan LIP occurred synchronously with the Great Oxidation Event. We explore the potential for the eruption of this LIP and the emission of its associated volcanic gases to have been a driver of the irreversible oxygenation of the Earth.

Description: Olivine major and trace element compositions from 12 basalts from the southern Payenia volcanic province in Argentina have been analyzed by electron microprobe and laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The olivines have high Fe/Mn and low Ca/Fe and many fall at the end of the global olivine array, indicating that they were formed from a pyroxene-rich source distinct from typical mantle peridotite. The olivines with the highest Fe/Mn have higher Zn/Fe, Zn and Co and lower Co/Fe than the olivines with lower Fe/Mn, also suggesting contributions from a pyroxene-rich source. Together with whole-rock radiogenic isotopes and elemental concentrations, the samples indicate mixing between two mantle sources: (1) a pyroxene-rich source with EM-1 ocean island basalt type trace element and isotope characteristics; (2) a peridotitic source with more radiogenic Pb that was metasomatized by subduction-zone fluids and/or melts. The increasing contributions from the pyroxene-rich source in the southern Payenia basalts are correlated with an increasing Fe-enrichment, which caused the olivines to have lower forsterite contents at a given Ni content. Al-in-olivine crystallization temperatures measured on olivine–spinel pairs are between 1155 and 1243°C and indicate that the magmas formed at normal upper mantle (asthenospheric) temperatures of ~1350°C. The pyroxene-rich material is interpreted to have been brought up from the deeper parts of the upper mantle by vigorous asthenospheric upwelling caused by break-off of the Nazca slab south of Payenia during the Pliocene and roll-back of the subducting slab beneath Payenia. The pyroxene-rich mantle mixed with peridotitic metasomatized South Atlantic mantle in the mantle wedge beneath Payenia.

Description: To reconstruct the magmatic–hydrothermal processes leading to porphyry Mo ore formation at the Climax Mo mine, Colorado, four magma units that were emplaced before, during and shortly after the mineralization events were investigated: (1) a pre-mineralization white dike of the Alma district; (2) the syn-mineralization Chalk Mountain Rhyolite; (3) a late- to post-mineralization rhyolite porphyry dyke; (4) a mafic enclave within the productive Bartlett stock. Melt inclusions, mineral inclusions and fluid inclusions in quartz phenocrysts were investigated by means of laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, electron microprobe and microthermometry. Based on melt inclusion data both the Chalk Mountain Rhyolite and the rhyolite porphyry were ~10 times more fractionated than average granite and show geochemical characteristics of topaz rhyolites. They were saturated in magnetite, Mn-rich ilmenite, fluorite, aeschynite, monazite, pyrrhotite and thorite, and crystallized predominantly at 710–730°C, 1·2–2·6 kbar and log f O 2 FMQ + 2·2 (where FMQ is fayalite–magnetite–quartz). The silicate melt of the Chalk Mountain Rhyolite contained 3·5 ± 0·4 wt % F, 0·09 ± 0·03 wt % Cl, ≥ 3·0 wt % H 2 O, 15–90 µg g –1 Cs, 500–1500 µg g –1 Rb and 5–7 µg g –1 Mo, whereas that of the rhyolite porphyry contained 1·1 ± 0·3 wt % F and 4·9 ± 1·2 wt % H 2 O, but otherwise had a virtually identical major and trace element composition. The fluid exsolving from the latter melt had a bulk salinity of 10 ± 2 wt % NaCl equiv and contained of the order of 100 µg g –1 Mo. After emplacement of the Chalk Mountain Rhyolite magma at subvolcanic levels, extremely fractionated silicate melts coexisting with hypersaline brines (salt melts) and low-density vapor percolated at near-solidus conditions through the rock. These silicate melts contained 6·6 ± 0·4 wt % F, ≥ 7·5 ± 0·6 wt % H 2 O, 0·51 ± 0·05 wt % Cl, and up to 0·5 wt % Cs and 100 µg g –1 Mo, whereas the hypersaline brines contained 1–2 wt % Cs and 0·3–0·6 wt % Mo. However, owing to their negligible masses these liquids are unlikely to have played a major role in the mineralization process. The majority of Mo in the Climax deposit appears to have been derived from melts containing 5–7 µg g –1 Mo and bulk fluids containing ~100 µg g –1 Mo. These concentrations are similar to those found in similarly fractionated melts and fluids in barren and sub-economically mineralized intrusions. However, whereas in the latter intrusions fractionated melts occurred in a rather dispersed state, they seem to have been present as large, coherent masses in the apical parts of Climax-type porphyry Mo-forming magma systems. Efficient segregation of fractionated melts and fluids into the top of mineralizing magma chambers appears to have been promoted by high fluorine concentrations in the silicate melt, which was partly a primary feature, and partly an indirect consequence of other characteristics of within-plate magmatism.

Description: The Skaergaard intrusion, Greenland, is the type locality for Skaergaard-type mineralizations. Mineralization levels are perfectly concordant with igneous layering, up to 5 m thick, internally fractionated, and contain crystallized sulphide droplets and precious metal alloys, sulphides, arsenides and telluride. Immiscible Cu-rich sulphide droplets, formed in a mush zone below the roof, scavenged precious metals. They were subsequently dissolved and transported to the floor in late-formed, immiscible, Fe-rich mush melts. Mineralized stratigraphic intervals of floor gabbro formed in ‘proto-macrolayers‘, owing to local sulphide saturation in melt concentrated between floating plagioclase and sinking clinopyroxene. The floor mineralization is divided into four stratigraphic sections. Formation of the Lower Platinum Group Element Mineralization (LPGEM) involved: (1) crystallization of the bulk liquid liquidus paragenesis and in situ fractionation; (2) sulphide saturation and formation of sulphide droplets in melt in the upper part of ‘proto-macrolayers‘. After further in situ fractionation, the following steps occurred: (3) the onset of silicate–silicate immiscibility and the consequent loss of buoyant and immiscible Si-rich melt; (4) dissolution of unprotected droplets of sulphide melt present in the Fe-rich mush melt; (5) compaction-driven upwards loss of residual mush melt enriched in, for example, Au. The LPGEM preserves upward increasing bulk Pd/Pt (~6–13) owing to a continued supply of PGE and Au, with high Pd/Pt. The further development of the LPGEM ceased as the supply of precious metals to the floor waned. The Upper PGE Mineralization (UPGEM) subsequently formed from precious metals recycled in the floor. The UPGEM is characterized by increasing Au substitution in PGE phases, and a decrease in total PGE and Pd/Pt owing to upward fractionation in migrating mush melts and exhaustion of Pd and Pt. An upper Au-rich mineralization level (UAuM) was caused by late remobilization of Au and deposition on grain boundaries in fully crystallized gabbro. Cu concentrations (~150 ppm) are not correlated with PGE and Au. Repeated Cu mineralization levels (CuM), attaining 〉1000 ppm, occur above the Au levels, caused by local mush layer sulphide saturation. PGE, Au and Cu distributions in the floor mineralization reflect sub-liquidus, but supra-solidus, processes and reactions in mushes at the roof, wall and floor. Constraints provided by a new model for the mineralization provide the basis for re-evaluation of the solidification processes in the Skaergaard intrusion. We have identified the importance of extensive in situ fractionation and intrusion-wide elemental redistributions in immiscible Fe- and Si-rich silicate melts. Our model characterizes the floor cumulates as bulk liquid orthocumulates containing an upwards-increasing proportion crystallized from Fe-rich, immiscible mush melt. The roof-rocks are complementary to the floor, with downwards increasing proportions crystallized from the conjugate Si-rich melt. Petrographic observations and the relative timing of crystallization support the hypothesis that crystallization was restricted to marginal mush zones. Bulk melt remaining in the magma chamber evolved not, as generally assumed, as a result of loss of crystals grown from the bulk melt, but as the consequence of mixing with recycled and evolved melt expelled from the mush by compaction. Redistribution of Fe in immiscible melts may be common to mafic intrusions and puts into question the validity of petrogenetic modelling of bulk liquids in mafic intrusions based only on consideration of floor cumulates.

Description: We have determined experimentally the hydrous phase relations and trace element partitioning behaviour of ocean floor basalt protoliths at pressures and temperatures (3 GPa, 750–1000°C) relevant to melting in subduction zones. To avoid potential complexities associated with trace element doping of starting materials we have used natural, pristine mid-ocean ridge basalt (MORB from Kolbeinsey Ridge) and altered oceanic crust (AOC from Deep Sea Drilling Project leg 46, ~20°N Atlantic). Approximately 15 wt % water was added to starting materials to simulate fluid fluxing from dehydrating serpentinite underlying the oceanic crust. The vapour-saturated solidus is sensitive to basalt K 2 O content, decreasing from 825 ± 25°C in MORB (~0·04 wt % K 2 O) to 750°C in AOC (~0·25 wt % K 2 O). Textural evidence indicates that near-solidus fluids are sub-critical in nature. The residual solid assemblage in both MORB and AOC experiments is dominated by garnet and clinopyroxene, with accessory kyanite, epidote, Fe–Ti oxide and rutile (plus quartz–coesite, phengite and apatite below the solidus). Trace element analyses of quenched silica-rich melts show a strong temperature dependence of key trace elements. In contrast to the trace element-doped starting materials of previous studies, we do not observe residual allanite. Instead, abundant residual epidote provides the host for thorium and light rare earth elements (LREE), preventing LREE from being released (LREE 〈3 ppm at 750–900°C). Elevated Ba/Th ratios, characteristic of many arc basalts, are found to be generated within a narrow temperature field above the breakdown temperature of phengite, but below exhaustion of epidote. Melts with Ba/Th 〉1500 and La/Sm PUM (where PUM indicates primitive upper mantle) ~1, most closely matching the geochemical signal of arc lavas worldwide, were generated from AOC at 800–850°C.

Description: We constrain the physical nature of the magma reservoir and the mechanisms of rhyolite generation at Yellowstone caldera via detailed characterization of zircon and sanidine crystals hosted in three rhyolites erupted during the ( c . 170–70 ka) Central Plateau Member eruptive episode—the most recent post-caldera magmatism at Yellowstone. We present 238 U– 230 Th crystallization ages and trace-element compositions of the interiors and surfaces (i.e. unpolished rims) of single zircon crystals from each rhyolite. We compare these zircon data with 238 U– 230 Th crystallization ages of bulk sanidine separates coupled with chemical and isotopic data from single sanidine crystals. Zircon age and trace-element data demonstrate that the magma reservoir that sourced the Central Plateau Member rhyolites was long-lived (150–250 kyr) and genetically related to the preceding episode of magmatism, which occurred c . 256 ka. The interiors of most zircons in each rhyolite were inherited from unerupted material related to older stages of Central Plateau Member magmatism or the preceding late Upper Basin Member magmatism (i.e. are antecrysts). Conversely, most zircon surfaces crystallized near the time of eruption from their host liquids (i.e. are autocrystic). The repeated recycling of zircon interiors from older stages of magmatism demonstrates that sequentially erupted Central Plateau Member rhyolites are genetically related. Sanidine separates from each rhyolite yield 238 U– 230 Th crystallization ages at or near the eruption age of their host magmas, coeval with the coexisting zircon surfaces, but are younger than the coexisting zircon interiors. Chemical and isotopic data from single sanidine crystals demonstrate that the sanidines in each rhyolite are in equilibrium with their host melts, which considered along with their near-eruption crystallization ages suggests that nearly all Central Plateau Member sanidines are autocrystic. The paucity of antecrystic sanidine crystals relative to antecrystic zircons requires a model in which eruptible rhyolites are generated by extracting melt and zircons from a long-lived mush of immobile crystal-rich magma. In this process the larger sanidine crystals remain trapped in the locked crystal network. The extracted melts (plus antecrystic zircon) amalgamate into a liquid-dominated (i.e. eruptible) magma body that is maintained as a physically distinct entity relative to the bulk of the long-lived crystal mush. Zircon surfaces and sanidines in each rhyolite crystallize after melt extraction and amalgamation, and their ages constrain the residence time of eruptible magmas at Yellowstone. Residence times of the large-volume rhyolites (~40–70 km 3 ) are ≤1 kyr (conservatively 〈6 kyr), which suggests that large volumes of rhyolite can be generated rapidly by extracting melt from a crystal mush. Because the lifespan of the crystal mush that sourced the Central Plateau Member rhyolites is two orders of magnitude longer than the residence time of eruptible magma bodies within the reservoir, it is apparent that the Yellowstone magma reservoir spends most of its time in a largely crystalline (i.e. uneruptible) state, similar to the present-day magma reservoir, and that eruptible magma bodies are ephemeral features.

Description: We report and interpret new geochemical and Pb–Sr–Nd isotopic data from 325 samples of shield, late-shield, postshield, and rejuvenated stage lavas from Kauai and Niihau, the two most northwesterly islands in the Hawaiian island chain. Kauai is unique in the Hawaiian chain in that it exhibits a near-continuous geochemical transition from shield to postshield to rejuvenated stage volcanism between 4·4 and 3·6 Ma and has been continuously active over ~6 Myr. From c . 5·7 to 4·3 Ma, the shield stage of both islands produced tholeiitic basalts typical of other Hawaiian shield volcanoes. The Niihau basalts are more evolved and have high Gd/Yb compared with Kauai, indicating a higher residual garnet content in the source. Both Kauai and Niihau shield basalts have Kea-like trace element ratios, but isotopic ratios are transitional between Kea- and Loa-like compositions. The geochemical similarity of the two shields indicates that mantle sources in different regions of the plume source were similar, and that the 〈2 Ma Loa and Kea trends of the southeastern Hawaiian volcanoes are not observed. More Loa-like compositions are evident in shield lavas from eastern Kauai, where the enhanced Loa composition may reflect melting of low-melting temperature plume components as the island migrates off the hotter, more Kea-like, center of the Hawaiian plume. Postshield lavas and intrusive rocks on both islands are rare: Kauai includes alkalic basalts, hawaiites and mugearites that are isotopically homogeneous and include a significant depleted mantle component compared with the shield basalts, whereas the Niihau late-shield and postshield rocks consist of highly contrasting transitional tholeiites or basanites with variable but shield-like isotopic compositions. The Niihau postshield rocks represent variable, but lower degrees of melting of the shield mantle source. Large volumes of rejuvenated stage lavas cover both islands and also form submarine cone fields, but lava compositions are different. On Kauai, rejuvenated lavas range from melilitite to alkalic basalt with trace element, Nd isotope, and Pb isotope ratios that vary as a function of Th and SiO 2 content. Low-degree (high-Th) melts are dominated by a mixed Kea–Loihi component and high-degree (low-Th) melts include more of a depleted rejuvenated component (DRC) typified by rejuvenated stage lavas and xenoliths from nearby Kaula Island. With the exception of a single basanite, the Niihau rejuvenated stage lavas are uniformly alkalic basalt, with Sr and Ba excesses combined with depleted Th and Nb abundances relative to the light rare earth elements. Rejuvenated stage alkalic basalts from both islands are dominated by contributions from the DRC, which have high Sr/Ce and 87 Sr/ 86 Sr but low 206 Pb/ 204 Pb. The Sr-rich, possibly carbonate-bearing, DRC component may be distributed patchily in the rejuvenated stage mantle source such that, where present, the degree of partial melting was enhanced compared with the degree of partial melting of the Sr-poor, mixed Kea–Loihi component. Given the lack of a hiatus between postshield and rejuvenated stages on Kauai, the rejuvenated mantle source is already able to melt at the tail end of shield stage activity and no secondary melting mechanism is required to explain the rejuvenated stage.

Description: Females of many animal species seek mating opportunities with multiple males, despite being able to obtain sufficient sperm to father their offspring from a single male. In animals that live in stable social groups, females often choose to mate outside their group resulting in extra-group paternity (EGP). One reason proposed to explain female choice for extra-group males is to obtain compatible genes, for example, in order to avoid inbreeding depression in offspring. The benefits of such extra-group paternities could be substantial if they result in fitter, outbred offspring. However, avoiding inbreeding in this way could be costly for females, for example, through retaliation by cuckolded males or through receiving aggression while prospecting for extra-group mating opportunities. We investigate the costs and benefits of EGP in the banded mongoose Mungos mungo , a cooperatively breeding mammal in which within-group mates are sometimes close relatives. We find that pups born to females that mate with extra-group males are more genetically heterozygous are heavier and are more likely to survive to independence than pups born to females that mate within their group. However, extra-group matings also involve substantial costs as they occur during violent encounters that sometimes result in injury and death. This appears to lead femalebanded mongooses to adaptively adjust EGP levels according to the current risk of inbreeding associated with mating within the group. For group-living animals, the costs of intergroup interactions may help to explain variation in both inbreeding rates and EGP within and between species.

Description: Many species living in developed areas adjust the timing of their activity and habitat selection to avoid humans, which may reduce their risk of conflict, including vehicle collisions. Understanding the behavioral adaptations to vehicles exhibited by species that thrive in urban areas could improve the conservation of many species that are threatened by road-caused mortality. We explored these behaviors using the seasonal distribution of 80 road-killed coyotes ( Canis latrans ) collected by civic employees and by comparing the activity patterns (step lengths) and road crossings made by 19 coyotes fitted with GPS collars with 3-h fix rates, 7 of which were killed in vehicle collisions. Coyotes were collected on roads most often in spring and fall, which corresponded to the most rapid changes in day length in our northern study area and when collared road-killed coyotes were more active during rush hour. Among collared coyotes, those that were killed on roads were most active and crossed roads most frequently at dusk. By contrast, surviving animals were most active and crossed roads most often near midnight year round and surprisingly, exhibited less avoidance of roads than did road-killed coyotes. Our results suggest that risk of vehicle collision is lower for coyotes that restrict the times at which they cross roads but some coyotes do not or cannot. Such behavioral flexibility to adapt to the timing of human activity relative to exogenous cues such as dawn and dusk may contribute to differences both among and within wildlife species in rates of coexistence with humans.

Description: Group living in animals is a well-studied phenomenon, having been documented extensively in a wide range of terrestrial, freshwater, and marine species. Although social dynamics are complex across space and time, recent technological and analytical advances enable deeper understanding of their nature and ecological implications. While for some taxa, a great deal of information is known regarding the mechanistic underpinnings of these social processes, knowledge of these mechanisms in elasmobranchs is lacking. Here, we used an integrative and novel combination of direct observation, accelerometer biologgers, and recent advances in network analysis to better understand the mechanistic bases of individual-level differences in sociality (leadership, network attributes) and diel patterns of locomotor activity in a widespread marine predator, the lemon shark ( Negaprion brevirostris ). We found that dynamic models of interaction based on Markov chains can accurately predict juvenile lemon shark social behavior and that lemon sharks did not occupy consistent positions within their network. Lemon sharks did however preferentially associate with specific group members, by sex as well as by similarity or nonsimilarity for a number of behavioral (nonsimilarity: leadership) and locomotor traits (similarity: proportion of time swimming "fast," mean swim duration; nonsimilarity: proportion of swimming bursts/transitions between activity states). Our study provides some of the first information on the mechanistic bases of group living and personality in sharks and further, a potential experimental approach for studying fine-scale differences in behavior and locomotor patterns in difficult-to-study organisms.

Description: Sexually selected traits are often driven to costly extremes by persistent directional selection. Energy acquisition and allocation can therefore influence variation in traits subject to both precopulatory and postcopulatory sexual selection, though the later have received much less attention. We tested the condition dependence of sperm morphology, sperm count, and fertilization success in a promiscuous lizard ( Anolis sagrei ) by 1) collecting sperm samples from wild males that varied naturally in body condition, 2) experimentally altering the body condition of captive males through dietary restriction, and 3) analyzing genetic paternity data from competitive mating trials between captive males that differed in body condition. In both wild and captive males, the length of the sperm midpiece decreased with body condition. Experimental food restriction decreased sperm production, decreased length of the sperm head, increased length of the sperm midpiece, and increased variance in sperm morphology within individuals. When restricted to a single copulation, males on high-intake diets exhibited a slight but nonsignificant fertilization advantage. Reanalysis of a previous experiment in which high- and low-condition males were sequentially allowed to copulate ad libitum for 1 week revealed a significant fertilization bias in favor of high-condition males. When controlling for mean treatment effects on the proportion of offspring sired and on sperm phenotypes, multiple regression revealed negative correlations between fertilization success and sperm head length, midpiece length, and sperm count. Collectively, our results suggest that condition-dependent fertilization success in A. sagrei may be partially mediated by underlying condition dependence of sperm morphology and sperm count.

Description: The postfledging dependence period (PFDP) is a crucial stage in the development of altricial birds. This period is regulated by parental investment, in terms of food provisioning and protection, and the demands of young associated with their development and physical condition. We examine the relative role of parental investment, food provisioning, and offspring decisions on the PFDP regulation in the Spanish imperial eagle ( Aquila adalberti ) by comparing the PFDP timing among young from non-manipulated territories, food supplemented territories, and birds translocated by hacking methods in the absence of adults and with ad libitum food supply. We found that extra food homogenized the nutritional condition of young and reduced the length of the first stage of PFDP, which is related to flight development and thus dependent on body condition. However, hacked birds did not reduce this stage despite ad libitum food, likely due to the lack of parental stimulus to develop advanced flights. Although the presence of adults might accelerate young becoming independent, hacked birds did not extend significantly the whole PFDP and all birds eventually started dispersal. Thereby, the PFDP regulation was primarily under offspring control, and modulated secondarily by parental effects independently of food provisioning and laying date. The length of this period seems to be constrained mainly by the inherent benefits of early dispersal on ultimate fitness in accordance with ontogenic hypotheses. In addition, hacking was shown to be an effective translocation method when properly used, without negative drawbacks for young development during the PFDP.

Description: In antagonistic encounters, the primary decision to be made is to fight or not. Animals may then possess adaptations to assess fighting ability in their opponents. Previous studies suggest that humans can assess strength and fighting ability based on facial appearance. Here we extend these findings to specific contests by examining the perception of male faces from paired winners and losers of individual fights in mixed martial arts sporting competitions. Observers, unfamiliar with the outcome, were presented with image pairs and asked to choose which of the 2 men was more likely to win if they fought while other observers chose between the faces based on masculinity, strength, aggressiveness, and attractiveness. We found that individuals performed at rates above chance in correctly selecting the winner as more likely to win the fight than the loser. We also found that winners were seen to be more masculine, stronger, and more aggressive than losers. Finally, women saw the winners as more attractive than the losers. Together these findings demonstrate that 1) humans can predict the outcome of specific fighting contests based on facial cues, 2) perceived masculinity and strength are putative cues to fighting success available from faces, and 3) facial cues associated with successful male–male competition are attractive to women.

Description: Assessing an opponent’s strength is an important component of attack strategies in territorial combats between males. Body size is often considered to directly influence an individual’s strength, but other honest visual signals may also affect the assessment of opponents. Among such visual signals are the so-called egg-spots, a conspicuous ovoid marking on the anal fin of male haplochromine cichlid fishes, made up of carotenoid-containing and other pigment cells. It has long been assumed that egg-spots are mainly relevant in courtship and spawning behavior, and previous work has focused primarily on their function in intersexual selection. Recently, however, both body size and egg-spots have been suggested to play a role in male–male interactions. To test whether egg-spots function in female choice or whether egg-spots and/or body size function as a predictor of strength and the subsequent attack strategy in male–male interactions, we performed a series of behavioral experiments in the haplochromine cichlid Astatotilapia calliptera . The trials revealed a limited involvement of egg-spots in female choice, yet a much stronger influence in male interactions. Territorial males combined information from the strength assessment based on body size and egg-spots to adopt their attack strategies. They launched more attacks against the larger intruder with many egg-spots compared with the smaller intruder without or with fewer egg-spots. Our study provides evidence that egg-spots serve as honest visual signal and that the level of asymmetries in egg-spot pattern and body size determines the relative impact of each trait in strength assessment.

Description: Evaluating the costs and benefits of dispersal on individual life history is critical to understanding its importance to ecology and evolution. In feral horses ( Equus ferus caballus ), females may permanently move among breeding groups (bands) during their lifetime (termed social dispersal). Here, we assess costs and benefits of adult female social dispersal using 7 years of movement and life history data from an individual-based study of feral horses on Sable Island. Using path and survival analyses, we explored relationships between social dispersal, female reproduction, and survival of offspring. Dispersal negatively correlated with a female’s next reproduction (probability to produce a living foal that was observed during our summer census) and reproductive success (RS) over the longer term (probability of producing foals in subsequent years). Females that dispersed had longer latency before next reproduction than nondispersing (philopatric) females. We could not measure costs in terms of induced abortions or neonatal survival, but we observed no evidence of infanticide during our summer censuses. Furthermore, overwinter survival of foals to 3 years of age was not affected by either dispersal of its mother before conception or as pregnant. Despite a 10% higher rate for foals dispersing with mothers to survive to 3 years compared with those of philopatric females, the difference was not statistically significant. Overall, our results suggest that dispersing individuals have lower RS that may be a cost of social dispersal on future reproduction.

Description: Large mammalian carnivores create areas perceived as having high and low risk by their ungulate prey. Human activities can indirectly shape this landscape of fear by altering behavior and spatial distribution of carnivores. We studied how red deer perceive the landscape of fear in an old-growth forest system (Białowieza Primeval Forest, Poland) both at large and fine spatial scale. Camera traps were placed at locations with and without tree logs (fine-scale risk factor) and at different distances from the core of a wolf territory and human settlements (large-scale risk factor). Red deer avoided coming close to large tree logs and increased their vigilance levels when they were present in close vicinity. The strength of these effects depended on the distance to the wolf core area; deer perceived tree logs as more risky when wolves were more often present. Hence, tree logs inside wolf core areas create fine-scale patches of fear with reduced deer browsing pressure, thereby enhancing chances for successful tree recruitment. Human presence shapes this landscape of fear as wolf core areas are located far from human settlements. This "human shadow" on predator–prey interactions is therefore an important component that should be taken into account in human-dominated landscapes.

Description: Why do females faced with the same array of potential mates often select different males? Variation in choosiness, defined as investment in mate search, is an important potential source of variation in mating decisions. Experimental work suggests such variation is driven by the costs of searching, but data from natural populations are scarce and few studies have addressed explicitly the counteracting benefits expected from search investment. We tracked male visitation behavior of free-ranging females on a lek of lance-tailed manakins ( Chiroxiphia lanceolata ) using automated telemetry at dispersed male display sites. We assessed relationships of female age, experience, body condition, and parasite load with variation in choosiness, quantified as males visited, number of visits, and visit duration. Young females visited more males and made more total visits before choosing a mate, whereas older females conducted longer visits for first nests of the year. Renesting females searched less, but the few monitored females mating faithfully between years nevertheless sampled several males. We found little support for effects of condition on choosiness. Results suggest females sample more widely when they lack information about the distribution of available mates. Though previous work in the study population has shown both female preference for and offspring fitness benefits from heterozygous sires, genetic tests of paternity revealed choosier females did not choose more heterozygous mates. Females’ investment in mate search varied in relation to their own age and within-year experience, but mate search investment did not independently determine variation in choice among individuals.

Description: Urban animals often show differences in aggression relative to their rural counterparts, but the ultimate and proximate origins of these differences are poorly understood. Here, we compared urban and rural song sparrows ( Melospiza melodia ), a species for which higher levels of aggression in urban populations have previously been reported. First, we confirmed elevated territorial aggression levels in urban birds relative to rural birds over multiple years. To begin to identify the environmental variables contributing to these differences, we related aggression to features of the social and physical environment, specifically population density and the availability of suitable nesting vegetation. Population distribution and the availability of suitable nest vegetation were not correlated with territorial aggression levels. Subsequently, we conducted a food supplementation experiment to determine whether potential differences in the relative availability of food between the 2 habitats might drive differences in aggression. Food supplementation increased territorial aggression significantly, particularly in rural birds. Thus, it appears that the availability of food could play a role in determining territorial aggression in song sparrows. The specific combination of these features found in urban areas may cause the increased levels of territorial aggression seen in these populations.

Description: A critical question in the study of the evolution of cognition and the brain concerns the extent to which variation in cognitive processes and associated neural mechanisms is adaptive and shaped by natural selection. In order to be available to selection, cognitive traits and their neural architecture must show heritable variation within a population, yet heritability of cognitive and neural traits is not often investigated in the field of behavioral ecology. In this commentary, we outline existing research pertaining to the relative influences of genes and environment in cognitive and underlying neural trait variation, as well as what is known of their heritable genetic architecture by focusing on several cognitive traits that have received much attention in behavioral ecology. It is important to demonstrate that cognitive traits can respond to selection, and we advocate for an increased emphasis on investigating trait heritability for enhancing our understanding of the ecological, genetic and neurobiological mechanisms that have shaped interspecific and intraspecific variation in cognitive traits.

Description: Two recent observations in behavioral biology have sparked great interest and have already yielded many novel and intriguing insights. Bacteria appear to live lives of unforeseen behavioral complexity, and the consistent behavioral variation among individual animals is often not "noise" but turns out to be a highly relevant ecological and evolutionary feature in itself. Research covering these 2 phenomena has proceeded largely in isolation, and the rich behavioral lives of bacteria have not yet been studied with consistent interindividual behavioral differences in mind. Yet, the parallels between animal and bacterial behavior that are increasingly being uncovered, as well as the particular characteristics of bacteria, point toward a new approach in the study of consistent individual variation in behavior. Using bacteria can bring fruitful opportunities to the field and allows researchers to address questions that are very difficult to pursue using animal model systems. Notwithstanding a few challenges, bacteria can provide an alternative study system that may elucidate several evolutionary and ecological aspects of consistent individual behavioral variation.

Description: A new thermodynamic model is presented for calculating phase relations in peridotite, from 0·001 to 60 kbar and from 800°C to liquidus temperatures, in the system NCFMASOCr. This model system is large enough to simulate phase relations and melting of natural peridotite and basaltic liquids. Calculations in the program thermocalc illustrate mantle phase relationships and melting conditions, specifically for the peridotite composition KLB-1. The garnet–spinel transition zone intersects the solidus at 21·4–21·7 kbar, where both Fe 3+ and Cr increase spinel stability, expanding the width of the transition. Orthopyroxene is lost at the solidus at 42 kbar in KLB-1, although this pressure is very sensitive to bulk composition. Calculated oxidation states are in excellent agreement with measured log f O 2 for xenolith suites with mantle Fe 2 O 3 contents in the range 0·1–0·3 wt %. It appears that mantle oxidation state is not just a simple function of P and T , but depends on phase assemblage, and may vary in a complex way within a single assemblage. The liquid model performs well, such that calculated solidus, melt productivity and liquid compositions compare favourably with those of experimental studies, permitting its use in interpolating between, and extrapolating from, experimental P–T conditions. Experimentally challenging but geologically useful regimes can be explored, such as subsolidus samples and very low melt fractions, with application to both mantle xenoliths and the origin of basalt.

Description: The anorthositic members of the Mealy Mountains Intrusive Suite (MMIS; Labrador, Canada) are host to 0·5–5 m diameter pegmatitic, pod-like segregations, originally described as graphic granite pods. U–Pb zircon geochronology confirms that the pods are coeval with the 1650–1630 Ma emplacement age range for the MMIS, yielding ages of 1654 ± 8 to 1628 ± 3·5 Ma. Petrographic and geochemical analysis of five pods from anorthositic rocks of the MMIS reveals that the pods have a diverse compositional range from monzodiorite to granite, varying from Fe-rich and Si-poor, to Fe-poor and Si-rich compositions. Fe-rich, Si-poor pods in the MMIS and other massifs (e.g. Laramie Anorthosite Complex) tend to be hosted by olivine-bearing anorthosites, whereas Si-rich, Fe-poor pods are hosted by pyroxene-bearing anorthosites. Each pod shows a range of graphic, myrmekitic and symplectitic textures, along with distinctive mineral assemblages (e.g. apatite and zircon) and highly enriched trace-element compositions. Evolved mineral assemblages, high concentrations of Fe, Ti and P (and in some cases SiO 2 ), and 10–1000 x chondrite enrichment in light rare earth elements, U, Th and Rb indicate that many of the pods are highly fractionated. The array of textural intergrowths provides clues about the final stages of crystallization in the pods and, by extension, the anorthosites. Macroscopic quartz–K-feldspar graphic intergrowths indicate high-viscosity, fluid-bearing and significantly undercooled magmatic conditions, whereas microscopic myrmekitic (plagioclase–quartz) and symplectitic (plagioclase–orthopyroxene) intergrowths on primary grain boundaries indicate replacement of phases in the presence of reactive fluids. In assessing the nature of these pegmatitic pods based on field, petrographic and geochemical evidence, we conclude that they represent the fluid-bearing, late-stage crystallization products of a residual liquid in the massif anorthosite system. The Fe and Si compositional variations observed in these late-stage pods can be linked to a fundamental olivine–pyroxene dichotomy observed in most Proterozoic anorthosite massifs, suggesting that pulses of magma experience variable contamination (in amount and/or composition) leading to varying differentiation paths. A range of lithologies (monzonites, monzonorites, ferrodiorites and jotunites) observed in similar pod-like structures, as well as dykes and plutons, has been observed in other Proterozoic anorthosite massifs and all have, at one time or another, been interpreted as the residual liquids of anorthosite crystallization. Our observation of in situ pods with similar compositions to all of the aforementioned lithologies, and displaying textures indicative of late-stage crystallization, supports the notion that all of these associated lithologies can be interpreted as comagmatic with, but variably contaminated and isolated residual liquids of, anorthosite crystallization. However, using isotopic evidence we cannot support the notion that the far larger granitic plutons associated with Proterozoic anorthosites are also residual liquids of anorthositic magma fractionation.

Description: We report the results of experiments on two natural marine sediments with different carbonate contents (calcareous clay: CO 2 = 6·1 wt %; marl: CO 2 = 16·2 wt %) at subduction-zone conditions (3 GPa, 750–1200°C). Water (7–15 wt %) was added to the starting materials to simulate the effects of external water addition from within the subducting slab. The onset of melting is at 760°C in water-rich experiments; melt becomes abundant by 800°C. In contrast, the onset of melting in published, water-poor experiments occurs at variable temperatures with the production of significant melt fractions being restricted to more than 900°C (phengite-out). The different solidus temperatures ( T solidus ) can be ascribed to variable fluid X H2O [H 2 O/(CO 2 + H 2 O)], which, in turn, depends on bulk K 2 O, H 2 O and CO 2 . Partial melts in equilibrium with residual garnet, carbonate, quartz/coesite, epidote, rutile, kyanite, phengite, and clinopyroxene are granitic in composition, with substantial dissolved volatiles. Supersolidus runs always contain both silicate melt and solute-rich fluid, indicating that experimental conditions lie below the second critical endpoint in the granite–H 2 O–CO 2 system. Carbonatite melt coexists with silicate melt and solute-rich fluid above 1100°C in the marl. The persistence of carbonate to high temperature, in equilibrium with CO 2 -rich hydrous melts, provides a mechanism to both supply CO 2 to arc magmas and recycle carbon into the deep Earth. The trace element compositions of the experimental glasses constrain the potential contribution of calcareous sediment to arc magmas. The presence of residual epidote and carbonate confers different trace element characteristics when compared with the trace element signal of Ca-poor marine sediments (e.g. pelagic clays). Notably, epidote retains Th and light rare earth elements, such that some melts derived from calcareous sediments have elevated Ba/Th and U/Th, and low La/Sm PUM , thereby resembling fluids conventionally ascribed to altered oceanic crust. Our results emphasize the importance of residual mineralogy, rather than source lithology, in controlling the trace element characteristics of slab-derived fluids.

Description: Three crystal-poor obsidian samples (one dacite, 67 wt % SiO 2 ; two rhyolites, 73 and 75 wt % SiO 2 ), which erupted effusively from monogenetic vents, contain sparse (〈2%) plagioclase phenocrysts that span a remarkably wide and continuous range in composition (≤30 mol % An). Many, but not all, of the plagioclase crystals display diffusion-limited growth textures (e.g. swallow-tails, skeletal, vermiform). Hypotheses to explain the paradox of a wide compositional range despite a low abundance of plagioclase include (1) incorporation of xenocrysts and/or magma mingling, (2) slow crystallization of plagioclase driven by slow cooling in a magma chamber, (3) slow crystallization of plagioclase followed by a resorption (e.g. heating) event, and (4) crystallization driven by rapid degassing (i.e. loss of melt H 2 O) ± rapid cooling during ascent. To test these hypotheses, a series of phase equilibrium experiments were conducted under pure-H 2 O fluid-saturated conditions in a cold-seal pressure vessel between 30 and 300 MPa and 750 and 950°C. The results show that the plagioclase population in each obsidian sample could have grown from their respective melts, with the exception of a single calcic core (An 60–63 ) in one sample. The results additionally rule out slow cooling in a magma chamber, because this would lead to equilibrium abundances of plagioclase (≤20%), which are far higher than what is observed in the samples (〈2%). Nor can resorption (i.e. heating) explain the low abundance of plagioclase, because this would eliminate the more sodic plagioclase crystals and hence the wide compositional range of plagioclase that is observed. The most viable hypothesis is that the sparse plagioclase phenocrysts grew relatively rapidly during magma ascent to the surface; this is consistent with the results of isothermal (850°C) continuous decompression experiments (2·9, 1·0, 0·8, and 0·1 MPa h –1 ), under pure-H 2 O fluid-saturated conditions, which were performed on one of the rhyolites (MLV-36; 73 wt % SiO 2 ) and quenched at P H2O = 89, 58 and 40 MPa. The four decompression rates correspond to degassing rates of 1·6, 0·56, 0·45 and 0·06 wt % H 2 O per day. Decompressions ≥1·0 MPa( P H2O ) h –1 , initiated above the liquidus, quenched to 100% glass at all final P H2O . Decompressions at 0·8 MPa( P H2O ) h –1 , also initiated above the liquidus, led to plagioclase crystals nearly five times larger than those grown in runs decompressed at the same rate, but initiated just below the plagioclase-in curve. It is the kinetic hindrance to nucleation that permits crystal growth to be concentrated on relatively few crystals, leading to larger crystals. Plagioclase growth rates from these experiments show that the largest phenocrysts (~1 mm) in the MLV-36 obsidian could have grown in 〈42 h. A cooling rate of ~1·2°C h –1 closely matches both the increase in melt viscosity with time and the effective undercooling with time that occurs during the 0·8 MPa( P H2O ) h –1 decompression over the first 50 h. The combined results point to crystallization of sparse plagioclase driven by relatively rapid rates of degassing ± cooling during ascent to the surface of melts that were initially above their liquidus. The obsidian samples must have been efficiently segregated as nearly 100% liquids from their respective source regions at H 2 O-fluid undersaturated conditions to attain a degree of superheating upon ascent before reaching fluid saturation.

Description: The Jurassic Vestfjella dyke swarm at the volcanic rifted margin of western Dronning Maud Land represents magmatism related to the incipient Africa–Antarctica rift zone; that is, rift-assemblage magmatism of the Karoo continental flood basalt (CFB) province. Geochemical and Nd–Sr isotopic data for basaltic and picritic dyke samples indicate diverse low-Ti and high-Ti tholeiitic compositions with Nd (180 Ma) ranging from +8 to –17. Combined with previously reported data on a subcategory of ferropicritic dykes, our new data facilitate grouping of the Vestfjella dyke swarm into seven geochemically distinct types. The majority of the dykes exhibit geochemical affinity to continental lithosphere and can be correlated with two previously identified chemical types (CT) of the wall-rock CFB lavas and are accordingly referred to as the CT1 and CT3 dykes. The less abundant Low-Nb and High-Nb dykes, a relatively enriched subtype of CT3 (CT3-E) dykes, and dykes belonging to the depleted and enriched ferropicrite suites represent magma types found only as intrusions. The chemically mid-ocean ridge basalt (MORB)-like Low-Nb and the depleted ferropicrite suite dykes represent, respectively, relatively high- and low-degree partial melting of the same overall depleted mantle (DM)-affinity source in the sublithospheric mantle. In contrast, we ascribe the chemically ocean island basalt (OIB)-like High-Nb dykes and the enriched ferropicrite suite dykes to melting of enriched components in the sublithospheric mantle. Geochemical modelling suggests that the low-Ti affinity CT1 and CT3, and high-Ti affinity CT3-E magma types of Vestfjella dyke may predominantly result from mixing of DM-sourced Low-Nb type magmas with 〈10 wt % of crust- and lithospheric mantle-derived melts. U/Pb zircon dating confirms synchronous emplacement of CT1 dykes and Karoo main-stage CFBs at 182·2 ± 0·9 and 182·2 ± 0·8 Ma, whereas two 40 Ar/ 39 Ar plagioclase plateau ages of 189·2 ± 2·3 Ma (CT1) and 185·5 ± 1·8 Ma (depleted ferropicrite suite), and a mini-plateau age of 186·9 ± 2·8 Ma (CT3-E) for the Vestfjella dykes raise the question of whether the onset of rift-zone magmatism could predate the province-wide c. 179–183 Ma main stage of Karoo magmatism. Notably variable Ca/K spectra suggest that younger 40 Ar/ 39 Ar plagioclase plateau ages of 173, 170, 164, and 154 Ma are related to crystallization of secondary minerals during the late-stage tectono-magmatic development of the Antarctic rifted margin. The occurrence of rare MORB- and OIB-like magma types in Vestfjella and along the African and Antarctic rifted margins suggests melting of geochemically variable depleted and enriched sublithospheric mantle beneath the Africa–Antarctica rift zone. Our models for the Vestfjella dyke swarm indicate that the voluminous lithosphere-affinity low-Ti and high-Ti rift-assemblage tholeiites could have been derived from MORB-like parental magmas by contamination, which implies sublithospheric depleted mantle as the principal source of the CFB magmas of the Africa–Antarctica rift zone.

Description: Monazite laser ablation–split-stream inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry (LASS) was used to date monazite in situ in Barrovian-type micaschists of the Moravian zone in the Thaya window, Bohemian Massif. Petrography and garnet zoning combined with pseudosection modelling show that rocks from staurolite–chlorite, staurolite, kyanite and kyanite–sillimanite zones record burial in the S 1 fabric under a moderate geothermal gradient from 4–4·5 kbar and ~530–540°C to 5 kbar and 570°C, 6–7 kbar and 600–640°C, 7·5–8 kbar and 630–650°C, and 8 kbar and 650°C, respectively. In the kyanite and kyanite–sillimanite zones, garnet rim chemistry and local syntectonic replacement of garnet by sillimanite–biotite aggregates point to re-equilibration at 5·5–6 kbar and 630–650°C in the S 2 fabric. Heterogeneously developed retrograde shear zones (S 3 ) are marked by widespread chloritization, but minor chlorite is present in the studied samples. Monazite abundance and size increase with metamorphic grade from 5 µm in the staurolite–chlorite zone to 〉100 µm in the kyanite and kyanite–sillimanite zones. Irrespective of the monazite-forming reaction, this is interpreted as the onset of limited prograde monazite growth at staurolite grade, and continued prograde monazite growth after the kyanite-in reaction, compatible with conditions of about 5·5 kbar and 570°C and 7·5 kbar and 630°C from pseudosection modelling. Monazite is zoned, showing embayments and sharp boundaries between zones, with low Y in the staurolite zone, high-Y cores and low-Y rims in the kyanite zone, and high-Y cores, a low-Y mantle and a high-Y rim in the sillimanite zone. The 207 Pb-corrected 238 U/ 206 Pb ages from three samples range from 344 ± 7 to 330 ± 7 Ma, irrespective of metamorphic grade. The dates from monazite inclusions are interpreted as the ages of the staurolite- and kyanite-in reactions along the prograde path at 340 and 337 ± 7 Ma, respectively. The monazite in the matrix (and some inclusions) is interpreted as dating the prograde crystallization at (340–337) ± 7 Ma within the S 1 fabric, and then being affected by recrystallization at or down to 332 ± 7 Ma in the S 2 and S 3 fabrics. The two groups of data, for 340–337 and 332 Ma, are significantly different when only their in-run uncertainties (±1–3 Myr) are compared and indicate a 9 ± 3 Myr period of monazite (re)crystallization. A systematic increase in heavy rare earth element (HREE) content with decreasing monazite age from 344 to 335 Ma is correlated with growth on the prograde P–T path; the drop in HREE of monazite at 335–328 Ma is assigned to recrystallization. The presence of chlorite even in the least retrogressed samples witnesses limited external fluid availability on the retrograde P–T path. Migration of this fluid was probably responsible for heterogeneous fluid-assisted recrystallization and resetting of original prograde monazite, even where included in garnet, staurolite or kyanite. It is suggested that the rocks passed the chlorite-in reaction on the retrograde path at 332 ± 7 Ma. The timing of burial in the Thaya window, a deformed part of the underthrust Brunia microcontinent, was coeval with exhumation of granulites and migmatites of the Moldanubian orogenic root at c. 340 Ma.

Description: The Fanshan intrusion in the North China Craton (NCC) is concentrically zoned with syenite in the core (Unit 1), surrounded by ultramafic rocks (clinopyroxenite and biotite clinopyroxenite; Unit 2), and an outer rim of garnet-rich clinopyroxenite and orthoclase clinopyroxenite and syenite (Unit 3). The intrusive rocks are composed of variable amounts of Ca-rich augite, biotite, orthoclase, melanite, garnet, magnetite and apatite, with minor primary calcite. Monomineralic apatite rocks, nelsonite and glimmerite exclusively occur in Unit 2. Geochemically, the Fanshan rocks are highly enriched in light rare earth elements (LREE) and large ion lithophile elements (LILE), moderately depleted in high field strength elements (HFSE), and have a limited range of Sr–Nd–O isotopic compositions. The similar mineralogy, mineral compositions, and trace element characteristics of the three units suggest that all the rocks are co-magmatic. The parental magma is ultrapotassic and is akin to kamafugite. Very low-degree partial melting of metasomatized lithospheric mantle best explains the geochemistry and petrogenesis of the parental magmas of the Fanshan intrusion. We propose that the mantle source may have been metasomatized by a hydrous carbonate-bearing melt, which has imprinted the enriched Sr–Nd isotopic signature and incompatible element enrichment with conspicuous negative Nb–Ta–Zr–Hf–Ti anomalies and LREE enrichments. The mantle source enrichment may be correlated with oceanic sediment recycling during southward subduction of the Paleo-Asian oceanic plate during the Carboniferous and Permian. We propose that crystal settling and mechanical sorting combined with repeated primitive magma replenishment and mixing with previously fractionated magma is the predominant process responsible for the formation of the apatite ores.

Description: The fitness and survival of organisms ultimately depend on their feeding. Therefore, foraging behaviors should be selected to maximize cost-benefit ratio. Wind may restrict and modify animal movements increasing the cost of foraging, especially when the animal carries resources that intercept wind. We quantified the effect of wind on the foraging of leaf-cutting ants and evaluated whether this effect varies with 1) leaf fragment traits, such as area, mass, and shape, and 2) the characteristics of the foraging trail system. We also tested whether these ants show a short-term response to wind by selecting loads with characteristics that reduce wind interception, and a long-term response, by arranging the spatial design of the trail system in a way that reduces that effect. We found that in windy conditions, the speed of loaded ants was reduced by 55%, and ants were blown off the trail 28 times more than in windless conditions. However, wind only affected ants walking along trails that were perpendicular to wind direction or parallel upwind. Wind effect increased with area, mass, and shape of loads. At the short term, ants reduced the negative effect of wind by selecting smaller, lighter, or more elongated loads. However, trails showed no particular spatial distribution in relation to wind direction. This is the first study that quantifies the negative consequences of wind on leaf-cutting ants’ foraging and reports behaviors that can reduce this effect. Our work illustrates how short-term behavioral responses can mitigate the negative effect of an understudied environmental factor on ant foraging.

Description: The temporal partitioning hypothesis suggests that the evolution of different diel activity rhythms in animals might facilitate the coexistence between prey and predators. However, the temporal shift of habitat use induced by predation has rarely been observed. The study of such a mechanism is particularly relevant for introduced species because it might explain how native species can persist or decline in response to the presence of alien species. The introduction of fish into ponds inhabited by amphibians has severe consequences for their occurrence and abundance. Fish particularly affect an alternative newt phenotype, the paedomorph, which does not undergo metamorphosis and maintains larval traits such as gills at the adult stage. In a laboratory design, we assessed the diel patterns of habitat use in the 2 distinct morphological phenotypes of palmate newt ( Lissotriton helveticus ) in the presence or absence of goldfish ( Carassius auratus ). Both newt phenotypes avoided a risky habitat more in the presence than in the absence of fish. This habitat shift was more pronounced during the daytime (i.e., when the risk could be considered higher for the newts) than during nighttime. However, in contrast to metamorphs, paedomorphs showed less adaptive changes according to temporal risk and remained in their shelter for most of the time. Temporal and habitat partitioning at the diel scale between native and alien species might promote their coexistence, but diel change can also imply a cost in the overall reduction of the time allocated to essential activities, showing that species interactions remain complex.

Description: Translocation is an important conservation management tool. However, not all individuals are equally suited to translocation, and temperament traits (e.g., boldness, reactivity, exploration, sociability, and aggression) are likely to influence survival in a new environment. A few empirical studies have examined the consequences of personality differences on captive-bred translocated animals, but this has not been done for wild-caught animals. We compared behavioral responses to trapping, processing, holding, and release for 56 wild common brushtail possums ( Trichosurus vulpecula ). Twenty individuals were captured twice, once to attach radio-tracking collars, the second time (2 weeks later) for the translocation. Consistency of behavioral responses was compared between capture events and radio-tracking allowed estimates of pretranslocation home range, rest site selection, and foraging behavior. Survivors ( n = 10 survivors, 5 months later) were individuals showing the most fear or emotional reactivity during holding (less likely to have slept, eaten, defecated, or nested) and those that had the smallest home ranges and selected the safest den sites in their original habitat. Conversely, the greatest increase in body mass was recorded for individuals that had demonstrated "unsafe" behavior in their original habitat. To our knowledge, this is the first time this type of behavioral screening during handling and holding prior to release as part of a translocation has been undertaken. These methods have broad applicability for screening potential translocation candidates and are easily translated to a range of threatened and vulnerable animal species.

Description: The distribution and abundance of food resources are among the most important factors that influence animal behavioral strategies. Yet, spatial variation in feeding habitat quality is often difficult to assess with traditional methods that rely on extrapolation from plot survey data or remote sensing. Here, we show that maximum entropy species distribution modeling can be used to successfully predict small-scale variation in the distribution of 24 important plant food species for chimpanzees at Gombe National Park, Tanzania. We combined model predictions with behavioral observations to quantify feeding habitat quality as the cumulative dietary proportion of the species predicted to occur in a given location. This measure exhibited considerable spatial heterogeneity with elevation and latitude, both within and across main habitat types. We used model results to assess individual variation in habitat selection among adult chimpanzees during a 10-year period, testing predictions about trade-offs between foraging and reproductive effort. We found that nonswollen females selected the highest-quality habitats compared with swollen females or males, in line with predictions based on their energetic needs. Swollen females appeared to compromise feeding in favor of mating opportunities, suggesting that females rather than males change their ranging patterns in search of mates. Males generally occupied feeding habitats of lower quality, which may exacerbate energetic challenges of aggression and territory defense. Finally, we documented an increase in feeding habitat quality with community residence time in both sexes during the dry season, suggesting an influence of familiarity on foraging decisions in a highly heterogeneous landscape.

Description: Despite parents are equally related to all of their progeny, they may differentially invest in offspring that provide the highest fitness return. Sons and daughters can differ in reproductive value, especially in species where fitness is predicted by the expression of sexually selected traits. In many birds, offspring plumage coloration functions as a honest signal of individual quality, thus allowing parents to differentially invest in offspring of either sex accordingly. Here, we tested whether parents allocate different amounts of food depending on plumage color of their male and female offspring. As a model, we used the barn swallow ( Hirundo rustica ), a species where large among- and within-brood variation in ventral plumage color exists and male reproductive success varies according to ventral plumage coloration. We recorded the proportion of feedings obtained and body mass variation by dyads of same-sex and similar-sized nestlings subjected to either experimental darkening of their ventral plumage color or to a sham treatment. Plumage darkening enhanced food provisioning and body mass gain of males but not of females. Because darker ventral coloration is associated with larger reproductive success in male barn swallows, these results suggest that parents tune their effort toward more valuable male offspring that are likely to provide the greatest fitness returns. Our study thus suggests that parents are selected to differentially invest in offspring of either sex according to a trait expressed in early life, which is relevant to intrasexual competition for access to mates at sexual maturity.

Description: The iconic red hourglass of the black widow spiders (genus Latrodectus ) is traditionally considered an aposematic signal, yet experimental evidence is lacking. Here, we present data that suggest that black widow coloration may have evolved to be an aposematic signal that is more conspicuous to their vertebrate predators than to their insect prey. In choice experiments with wild birds, we found that the red-and-black coloration deters potential predators: Wild birds were ~3 times less likely to attack a black widow model with an hourglass than one without. Using visual-system appropriate models, we also found that a black widow’s red-and-black color combo is more apparent to a typical bird than a typical insect. Additionally, an ancestral reconstruction reveals that red dorsal coloration is ancestral in black widows and that at some point some North American widows lost their red dorsal coloration. Behaviorally, differences in red dorsal coloration between 2 North American species are accompanied by differences in microhabitat that affects how often a bird will view a black widow’s dorsal region. All observations are consistent with a cost–benefit trade-off of being more conspicuous to predators than to prey. We suggest that limiting detection by prey may help explain why red and black aposematic signals occur frequently in nature.

Description: While conducting a toxicity assessment of the antidepressant paroxetine (Paxil®), in wild-derived mice ( Mus musculus ), we observed that exposed dams (P 0 ) produced female biased litters (32:68 M:F). Though numerous experimental manipulations have induced sex ratio bias in mice, none have assessed the fitness of the offspring from these litters relative to controls. Here, we retrospectively analyze experimentally derived fitness data gathered for the purpose of toxicological assessment in light of 2 leading hypothesis (Trivers–Willard hypothesis [TWH] and cost of reproduction hypothesis [CRH]), seeking to test if this facultative sex ratio adjustment fits into an adaptive framework. Control F 1 males were heavier than F 1 females, but no differences in mass were detected between exposed F 1 males and females, suggesting that exposed dams did not save energy by producing fewer males, despite producing 29.2% lighter litters relative to controls. F 1 offspring of both treatments were released into seminatural enclosures where fitness was quantified. In enclosures, the relative reproductive success of F 1 -exposed males (compared with controls) was reduced by ~20% compared with the relative reproductive success of F 1 -exposed females. Thus, exposed dams increased their fitness by adjusting litters toward females who were less negatively affected by the exposure than males. Collectively, these data provide less support that the observed sex ratio bias results in energetic savings (CRH), and more support for the TWH because fitness was increased by biasing litters toward female offspring. These mammalian data are unique in their ability to support the TWH through the use of relevant fitness data.

Description: Understanding how seabirds and other central place foragers locate food resources represents a key step in predicting responses to changes in resource abundance and distribution. Where prey distributions are unpredictable and ephemeral, seabirds may gain up-to-date information by monitoring the direction of birds returning to the colony or by monitoring the foraging behavior of other birds through local enhancement. However, search strategies based on social information may require high population densities, raising concerns about the potential loss of information in declining populations. Our objectives were to explore the mechanisms that underpin effective search strategies based on social information under a range of population densities and different foraging conditions. Testing relevant hypotheses through field observation is challenging because of limitations in the ability to manipulate population densities and foraging conditions. We therefore developed a spatially explicit individual-based foraging model, informed by data on the movement and foraging patterns of seabirds foraging on pelagic prey, and used model simulations to investigate the mechanisms underpinning search strategies. Orientation of outbound headings in line with returning birds enables departing birds to avoid areas without prey even at relatively low population densities. The mechanisms underpinning local enhancement are more effective as population densities increase and may be facilitated by other mechanisms that concentrate individuals in profitable areas. For seabirds and other central place foragers foraging on unpredictable and ephemeral food resources, information is especially valuable when resources are spatially concentrated and may play an important role in mitigating poor foraging conditions.

Description: Experiments designed to quantify the effects of increasing numbers of carers on levels of offspring care are rare in cooperative breeding systems, where offspring are reared by individuals additional to the breeding pair. This paucity might stem from disagreement over the most appropriate manipulations necessary to elucidate these effects. Here, we perform both carer removal and brood enhancement experiments to test the effects of numbers of carers and carer:offspring ratios on provisioning rates in the cooperatively breeding chestnut-crowned babbler ( Pomatostomus ruficeps ). Removing carers caused linear reductions in overall brood provisioning rates. Further analyses failed to provide evidence that this effect was influenced by territory quality or disruption of group dynamics stemming from the removals. Likewise, adding nestlings to broods caused linear increases in brood provisioning rates, suggesting carers are responsive to increasing offspring demand. However, the 2 experiments did not generate quantitatively equivalent results: Each nestling received more food following brood size manipulation than carer removal, despite comparable carer:offspring ratios in each. Following an at-hatching split-design cross-fostering manipulation to break any links between prehatching maternal effects and posthatching begging patterns, we found that begging intensity increased in larger broods after controlling for metrics of hunger. These findings suggest that manipulation of brood size can, in itself, influence nestling provisioning rates when begging intensity is affected by scramble competition. We highlight that carer number and brood size manipulations are complimentary but not equivalent; adopting both can yield greater overall insight into carer effects in cooperative breeding systems.

Description: Dispersal affects the social contexts individuals experience by redistributing individuals in space, and the nature of social interactions can have important fitness consequences. During the vagrancy stage of natal dispersal, after an individual has left its natal site and before it has settled to breed, social affiliations might be predicted by opportunities to associate (e.g., distance in space and time between natal points of origin) or kin preferences. We investigated the social structure of a population of juvenile great tits ( Parus major ) and asked whether social affiliations during vagrancy were predicted by 1) the distance between natal nest-boxes, 2) synchrony in fledge dates, and 3) accounting for spatial and temporal predictors, whether siblings tended to stay together. We show that association strength was affected predominantly by spatial proximity at fledging and, to a lesser extent, temporal proximity in birth dates. Independently of spatial and temporal effects, sibling pairs associated more often than expected by chance. Our results suggest that the structure of the winter population is shaped primarily by limits to dispersal through incomplete population mixing. In addition, our results reveal kin structure, and hence the scope for fitness-related interactions between particular classes of kin. Both spatial-mediated and socially mediated population structuring can have implications for our understanding of the evolution of sociality.

Description: Cultural transmission in nonhuman animals is often sex biased, with females more frequently or efficiently learning cultural behaviors than males. The evolutionary origins of sex-biased cultural transmission have been a mystery, though it has been proposed that female offspring may gain greater reproductive benefit from cultural traits than sons—the "disparate benefits" hypothesis. I propose a different, "uniparental teaching," hypothesis where sex-biased transmission evolves in uniparental species if mothers teach, that is, invest in their offsprings’ learning. I show, with theoretical models, that mothers evolve to invest more in teaching daughters than sons because teaching daughters results in greater inclusive fitness benefits. Teaching a son gives him a reproductive benefit for one generation. However, I show that because daughters may teach future generations, teaching a daughter can be a better long-term investment. I also model the disparate benefits hypothesis and show that the uniparental teaching hypothesis better fits the empirical patterns of sex-biased transmission in the well-studied example of "sponging" in bottlenose dolphins. Uniparental teaching may also explain sex-biased transmission in other species, including chimpanzees. My findings suggest that controversial mechanisms of cultural transmission in nonhumans, such as teaching, may be inferred from population-level patterns of transmission even when it is difficult to observe transmission directly in the field or laboratory.

Description: Iteroparous organisms face a trade-off between reproduction and survival, but knowledge of whether how and when costs of long-term increases in workload are paid is scant. We increased locomotion costs for a whole year by equipping male great tits with a backpack during breeding, removing the backpacks 1 year later. We applied 3 different treatments: control (without backpack), light ("empty" backpack, 0.1g), and heavy ("full" backpack, 0.9g, ~5% of body mass). Backpacks were administered in 3 cohorts, and we monitored effects on mass of nestlings and the male, wing length, reproduction, and survival. Added mass had a negative effect on nestling mass in both the starting year of the experiment and 1 year later, but not on production of fledglings or recruits. In winter and the next breeding season, males equipped with heavy backpacks had a higher (net) body mass and had shorter third primary feathers than the other 2 groups. Heavy backpack males were less likely to sleep in a nest box in winter. Nest boxes are optimal roosting sites, and we interpret this finding as a treatment effect on success in competition over this resource. However, there was no effect of the manipulation on survival. Overall, we found no long-term fitness consequences, and we discuss possible explanations and implications for the "starvation–predation theory" of optimal body mass. However, we found short-term effects of carrying extra weight suggesting that behavioral studies using small devices should consider the effects of equipping small non-migratory passerines with devices such as transmitters.

Description: Behavior is usually the first line of defense against parasites. Antiparasite behaviors, such as grooming, or outright avoidance, have been shown to reduce the risk of parasitism in a wide variety of host–parasite systems. However, despite the central importance of antiparasite behavior, little is known about the extent to which prior exposure to parasites improves effectiveness. Here, we report the results of a 2-year study designed to test whether exposure to parasites can "prime" behavior, loosely analogous to priming of the immune system. We tested whether preening improves with experience by infesting captive-bred rock pigeons ( Columba livia ) with 2 common species of rock pigeon feather lice. We infested "primed" birds in Years 1 and 2 of the study and "nonprimed" birds only in Year 2. Birds with lice preened about a third more, on average, than birds without lice. Birds subsequently cleared of lice resumed preening at the same rate as birds that never had lice. Thus, our results confirm that preening is an inducible, reversible defense that is partly triggered by the presence of lice. Surprisingly, primed birds did not differ significantly from nonprimed birds in the overall rate or the efficacy of preening. Primed and nonprimed birds preened at similar rates and had similar numbers of lice at the end of the study. Our results therefore provide little evidence that antiparasite behavior improves with experience, at least in the case of preening as a defense against feather lice.

Description: Acoustic communication signals are often involved in mate-choice decisions. The decision for the best mating partner can become difficult when the available parameters of a signal are not positively correlated. Rational choice theory predicts that animals assign each signal a fixed value on a single dimension. The probability of choosing one signal over the other should be a monotonic function of the respective values and result in transitive choices. A violation of transitivity in choice behavior would suggest comparative rather than absolute decision making. Here, we tested the transitivity of preferences of female crickets for male calling songs. We conducted a series of binary choice experiments and compared their outcome to female preferences measured in no-choice experiments. To test transitivity, every choice pair had to differ in 2 parameters of the calling song. The parameter pairs used were 1) pulse rate and sound intensity, 2) chirp rate and sound intensity, and 3) pulse rate and chirp rate. The results revealed that females acted transitively if chirp rate and sound intensity or pulse rate and chirp rate of the patterns were varied. But females violated transitivity if pulse rate and sound intensity of signals differed as they mostly chose the louder pattern, although it was less attractive in the no-choice situation. This implies that sound intensity was weighted differently by females in the decision process in no-choice and choice experiments. The violation of transitivity suggests a comparative evaluation of available signals by female crickets.

Description: Experimental studies of mantle petrology find that small concentrations of water and carbon dioxide have a large effect on the solidus temperature and distribution of melting in the upper mantle. However, it has remained unclear what effect small fractions of deep, volatile-rich melts have on melt transport and reactive melting in the shallow asthenosphere. Here we present theory and computations indicating that low-degree, reactive, volatile-rich melts cause channelization of magmatic flow at depths approximately corresponding to the anhydrous solidus temperature. These results are obtained with a novel method to simulate the thermochemical evolution of the upper mantle in the presence of volatiles. The method uses a thermodynamically consistent framework for reactive, disequilibrium, multi-component melting. It is coupled with a system of equations representing conservation of mass, momentum, and energy for a partially molten grain aggregate. Application of this method in two-phase, three-component upwelling-column models demonstrates that it reproduces leading-order features of hydrated and carbonated peridotite melting; in particular, it captures the production of low-degree, volatile-rich melt at depths far below the volatile-free solidus. The models predict that segregation of volatile-rich, deep melts promotes a reactive channelling instability that creates fast and chemically isolated pathways of melt extraction. Reactive channelling occurs where volatile-rich melts flux the base of the silicate melting region, enhancing dissolution of fusible components from the ambient mantle. We find this effect to be similarly expressed for models of both hydrated and carbonated mantle melting. These findings indicate that despite their small concentrations, water and carbon dioxide have an important control on the extent and style of magma genesis, as well as on the dynamics of melt transport.

Description: Ecological conditions are expected to have an important influence on individuals’ investment in cooperative care. However, the nature of their effects is unclear: both favorable and unfavorable conditions have been found to promote helping behavior. Recent studies provide a possible explanation for these conflicting results by suggesting that increased ecological variability, rather than changes in mean conditions, promote cooperative care. However, no study has tested whether increased ecological variability promotes individual-level helping behavior or the mechanisms involved. We test this hypothesis in a long-term study population of the cooperatively breeding banded mongoose, Mungos mungo , using 14 years of behavioral and meteorological data to explore how the mean and variability of ecological conditions influence individual behavior, body condition, and survival. Female body condition was more sensitive to changes in rainfall leading to poorer female survival and pronounced male-biased group compositions after periods of high rainfall variability. After such periods, older males invested more in helping behavior, potentially because they had fewer mating opportunities. These results provide the first empirical evidence for increased individual helping effort in more variable ecological conditions and suggest this arises because of individual differences in the effect of ecological conditions on body condition and survival, and the knock-on effect on social group composition. Individual differences in sensitivity to environmental variability, and the impacts this has on the internal structure and composition of animal groups, can exert a strong influence on the evolution and maintenance of social behaviors, such as cooperative care.

Description: Reduction of predation risk represents the most likely explanation for the evolution of group-living among the anthropoid primates. Obligate sociality leads to increased competition for resources, meaning that animals may face a trade-off between safe positions within the troop and increased foraging efficiency. Dominance has been proposed to be a major factor influencing spatial position within primate troops, but it is also possible that animals can improve their spatial position using social strategies, such as grooming. In many species, dominance rank and social preference (as expressed through grooming) are confounded. In our study population of vervet monkeys, however, dominance does not underpin social preference, enabling us to test whether 1) more sociable vervets experience reduced exposure to predation risk, as indexed by vigilance, and 2) that dominant animals accepted increased risk in order to forage at the front of the troop. We collected spatially explicit data on the individual locations of members of 2 troops at predetermined times over a 4-month period. We constructed bounded Voronoi tessellations for each temporal snapshot, with the area of each animal’s "tile" identifying its "domain of danger." We also collected data on time spent vigilant and foraging, dominance rank, and grooming behavior. We found no effect of dominance, but animals with larger grooming networks were less exposed to predation risk, from which they benefitted through both reduced vigilance and increased foraging time. We interpret these results in the light of current debates about the ways in which sociality affects fitness.

Description: The high frequency of same-sex sexual behaviors (SSB) in free-ranging animals is an evolutionary puzzle because fitness benefits are often unclear in an evolutionary context. Moreover, the physiological and genetic underpinnings of SSB remain unclear. We exploited an extraordinary natural experiment to examine the impact of environmental factors (local sex ratio [SR]) and testosterone (T) levels on SSB in a dense population of Hermann’s tortoises monitored for 7 years. Under the combination of high density and extremely skewed SR (~50 females, 〉1000 males), males courted and mounted other males more frequently than females. They even exhibited extravagant sexual behaviors, attempting to copulate with dead conspecifics, empty shells, and stones. T levels remained within the species’ normal range of variation. SSB was not observed in other populations where SR is not, or less skewed, and where density is lower. This study reports the first natural example of a "prison effect," whereby a high population density combined with female deprivation triggered SSB as a mere outlet of sexual stimulation. More generally, it supports the hypothesis that SSB can be a nonadaptive consequence of unusual proximate factors rather than reflecting physiological disorders.

Description: In animal contests, individuals respond plastically to the phenotypes of the opponents that they confront. These "opponent"—or "indirect"—effects are often repeatable, for example, certain opponents consistently elicit more or less aggressiveness in others. "Personality" (repeatable among-individual variation in behavior) has been proposed as an important source of indirect effects. Here, we repeatedly assayed aggressiveness of wild-caught adult male field crickets Gryllus campestris in staged dyadic fights, measuring aggressiveness of both contestants. Measurements of their personality in nonsocial contexts (activity and exploration behavior) enabled us to ask whether personality caused indirect effects on aggressiveness. Activity, exploration, and aggressiveness were positively associated into a behavioral syndrome eliciting aggressiveness in conspecifics, providing direct evidence for the role of personality in causing indirect effects. Our findings imply that a multivariate view of phenotypes that includes indirect effects greatly improves our ability to understand the ecology and evolution of behavior.

Description: Individuals that retain their former partners often perform better than conspecifics that switch partners. This may be due to high-quality individuals being more faithful to their partners and more productive. Investigations of the fitness benefits of mate retention that also control for potential confounding effects of individuals are scarce. We studied the influence of mate retention and breeding experience on breeding performance of the hair-crested drongo ( Dicrurus hottentottus ) by carrying out both cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses. Pairs with longer pair-bond duration did not fledge more young or fledglings of better body condition nor did they produce more or better fledglings than newly formed pairs consisting of at least 1 experienced breeder, that is, individuals that had bred before. Individuals produced fewer fledglings when they were paired with an inexperienced breeder, especially when females were paired with inexperienced males. Although clutch size was not affected by mate retention or breeding experience, pairs consisting of inexperienced breeder(s) had a relatively higher predation rate of eggs and/or nestlings because they may be less effective in nest defense. The onset of breeding was advanced in the year following mate retention, but not in the second year thereafter, when pairs still remained together. Furthermore, only the breeding experience of the male determined the onset of breeding: Pairs consisting of inexperienced males bred later in the season. Our results suggest that breeding experience, and particularly the breeding experience of the male, but not mate retention, is important in determining the breeding performance of hair-crested drongos.

Description: A study of whole-rock major and trace element and Sr–Nd–Pb–Hf isotope compositions, combined with zircon U–Pb ages and Hf–O isotopes, for postcollisional intermediate volcanic rocks from the Dabie orogen, China provides constraints on the origin of andesitic magmas and insights into slab–mantle interaction in continental subduction channels. The volcanic rocks exhibit variable contents of SiO 2 (50·28–63·86 wt %), MgO (1·18–4·65 wt %), (Fe 2 O 3 ) T (3·60–8·53 wt %), Al 2 O 3 (12·92–18·95 wt %), Na 2 O (2·08–6·30 wt %) and K 2 O (0·73–5·25 wt %). They are mainly trachyandesites, with lesser amounts of basaltic trachyandesite, andesite, dacite and trachyte, characterized by subduction-like trace element distribution patterns showing enrichment of large ion lithophile elements and light rare earth elements but depletion of high field strength elements. The volcanic rocks have relatively enriched Sr–Nd–Pb–Hf isotope compositions, with high initial 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratios of 0·7075–0·7110, highly negative Nd ( t ) values of –23·1 to –15·0, Hf ( t ) values of –29·8 to –18·3 and elevated 207 Pb/ 204 Pb and 208 Pb/ 204 Pb ratios at given 206 Pb/ 204 Pb ratios. Zircon Hf–O isotope analyses yield negative Hf ( t ) values of –31·0 to –17·8 and 18 O values of 4·4–6·8 for syn-magmatic domains. Zircon U–Pb dating yields consistent Early Cretaceous ages of 124 ± 3 to 130 ± 2 Ma for magma emplacement. Residual zircon cores yield Triassic, Neoproterozoic and Paleoproterozoic U–Pb ages, consistent with the ages of tectonothermal events involving ultrahigh-pressure metamorphism and protolith formation in the Dabie orogen. The zircon cores also yield a few low to negative 18 O values. An integrated interpretation of these geochemical characteristics is that the andesitic magmas were derived by partial melting of metasomatized zones in the orogenic lithospheric mantle. The metasomatites were generated by reaction of subcontinental lithospheric mantle wedge peridotite with felsic melts that originated from deeply subducted continental crust during continental collision in the Triassic. Melt–peridotite reaction in a subduction channel is therefore a key to the origin of the mantle sources of andesitic magmas in collisional orogens.

Description: The late Proterozoic Ntaka Ultramafic Complex is a body of dominantly pyroxenitic cumulate rocks containing cyclic alternations of olivine–orthopyroxene cumulates. Chemical zoning in the pyroxenes has been imaged at 25–40 µm resolution using desktop microbeam X-ray fluorescence mapping followed up with laser ablation–inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry analysis for minor and trace elements on selected samples. Poikilitic and granular harzburgites are finely intermingled, in some cases on a centimetre scale in the same thin section. Poikilitic varieties display spectacular textures, ranging from isolated equant orthopyroxene oikocrysts within olivine-rich heteradcumulate harzburgites to rocks composed entirely of interlocking centimetre-sized anhedral orthopyroxene oikocrysts containing sharply bounded idiomorphic Cr-enriched cores. The poikilitic harzburgites are interlayered with cumulate pyroxenites in which orthopyroxene grains show a variety of zoning patterns: Cr-rich cores similar to those in the oikocrysts; sharply bounded oscillatory zoned cores; and reverse zoning with Cr-poor cores and Cr-enriched rims. A further variation is the presence of a mingled harzburgite lithology in which dunite or poikilitic harzburgite is invaded on a centimetre scale by diffuse vein networks or patches of coarse orthopyroxenite. This range of textures and lithologies attests to a more complex set of processes than implied by the standard cumulus theory model in which oikocrysts are considered to have crystallized from intercumulus liquid within a permeable crystal mush. A range of hypotheses is proposed, including infiltration metasomatism of original olivine cumulates by migrating orthopyroxene-saturated pore fluid; however, the textural relationships, whole-rock chemistry and Cr zoning within the grains can best be explained by a model in which the orthopyroxene oikocrysts form in part or whole as mechanically accumulated cumulus grains. The complexity of zoning patterns is attributed to stirring of entrained olivine and orthopyroxene crystals within a heterogeneous flowing crystal mush, where the transporting magma has a wide range of silica contents owing to poorly stirred incorporation of siliceous country-rock material. The Cr-rich orthopyroxenite component grew from Si-enriched chromite-saturated magma. Mingled lithologies developed after accumulation as a result of percolation and infiltration metasomatism by Si-enriched liquid derived by melting of xenoliths within the crystal pile. The model may be more generally applicable: dunite–harzburgite cycles, common in many layered intrusions, may reflect variable degrees of contamination rather than cycles of fractional crystallization and replenishment.

Description: New thermodynamic data for skiagite garnet (Fe 3 Fe 2 3+ Si 3 O 12 ) are derived from experimental phase-equilibrium data that extend to 10 GPa and are applied to oxybarometry of mantle peridotites using a revised six-component garnet mixing model. Skiagite is more stable by 12 kJ mol –1 than in a previous calibration of the equilibrium 2 skiagite = 4 fayalite + ferrosilite + O 2 , and this leads to calculated oxygen fugacities that are higher (more oxidized) by around 1–1·5 logfO2 units. A new calculation method and computer program incorporates four independent oxybarometers (including 2 pyrope + 2 andradite + 2 ferrosilite = 2 grossular + 4 fayalite + 3 enstatite + O 2 ) for use on natural peridotite samples to yield optimum logfO2 estimates by the method of least squares. These estimates should be more robust than those based on any single barometer and allow assessment of possible disequilibrium in assemblages. A new set of independent oxybarometers for spinel-bearing peridotites is also presented here, including a new reaction 2 magnetite + 3 enstatite = 3 fayalite + 3 forsterite + O 2 . These recalibrations combined with internally consistent PT determinations for published analyses of mantle peridotites with analysed Fe 2 O 3 data for garnets, from both cratonic (Kaapvaal, Siberia and Slave) and circumcratonic (Baikal Rift) regions, provide revised estimates of oxidation state in the lithospheric mantle. Estimates of logfO2 for spinel assemblages are more reduced than those based on earlier calibrations, whereas garnet-bearing assemblages are more oxidized. Importantly, this lessens considerably the difference between garnet and spinel oxybarometry that was observed with previous published calibrations.

Description: The Kidnappers [~1200 km 3 dense rock equivalent (DRE)] and Rocky Hill (~200 km 3 DRE) caldera-forming events in the Taupo Volcanic Zone, New Zealand, were erupted in close succession from the Mangakino volcanic centre. They have identical radiometric ages at ~1 Ma, yet erosion along the contact between the two deposits suggests that some years to decades separated the two eruptions. Field constraints and the similarities of crystal textures and compositions and glass chemistries of both eruption deposits demonstrate that they came from one overall magmatic system with a common crystal mush source. However, second-order variations in these parameters confirm that the Kidnappers and Rocky Hill deposits represent distinct events and are not the products of a single zoned magma chamber. The systematically zoned Kidnappers fall deposits provide evidence for the tapping of three discrete magma bodies, whereas the succeeding Kidnappers ignimbrite is compositionally more diverse. The transition from fall to flow deposition marks a change in the style of caldera collapse and the simultaneous evacuation of discrete but compositionally diverse melts, each of which underwent a distinct evolution and was held at slightly different P–T conditions prior to eruption. Contrasting plagioclase and orthopyroxene zonation patterns are present in pumices originating from three discrete magma bodies. Less evolved mafic melts interacted with the system, which mobilized portions of the final erupted melt through heating and volatile or chemical exchange in the mush. The two largest Kidnappers melt-dominant bodies were re-tapped in modified form, or re-established from their common mush source, prior to the Rocky Hill event. Rocky Hill pumices contain common, fluid-affected antecrystic crystal clots derived from chamber wall material. Amphibole compositions from each eruption reflect melt evolution processes and, in particular, the contemporaneous crystallization of biotite and breakdown of orthopyroxene. Plagioclase and orthopyroxene from Rocky Hill pumices share common zonation patterns with those from the two largest magma bodies in the Kidnappers. The rapid production of new melt-dominant bodies and the triggering of the Rocky Hill eruption reflect the ability of the magmatic system to rejuvenate on a geologically short timescale. The Mangakino centre did not follow a typical cycle of decreased activity after the supervolcanic Kidnappers event, instead producing a second caldera-forming eruption, within years to decades from the same system.

Description: Ambrym, a basaltic volcano in the Vanuatu Arc, has displayed variable eruptive behaviour throughout the past century, with major eruptions occurring both on the volcano flanks and at multiple vents within its caldera. These have been interspersed with periods of relative quiescence marked by extensive passive degassing at active, intra-caldera lava lakes, which experience occasional Strombolian explosions. Volcanic rocks from all vents and eruptive styles display similar isotope and incompatible trace element compositions, suggesting that all are derived from the same primary melt by fractional crystallization. Major eruptions are commonly responsible for effusion of the least evolved lavas examined (SiO 2 ~ 50 wt %; MgO ~ 5 wt %). Although all are geochemically similar, petrological differences discriminate between lavas erupted during flank and intra-caldera eruptions. Phyric basalts with homogeneous mineral compositions are common to flank eruptions, whereas crystal-rich basalts with variable mineral compositions, many not in equilibrium with their host liquid, are a feature of intra-caldera lavas. Lava lake samples are slightly more evolved than those from effusive eruptions (SiO 2 ~ 51–52 wt %; MgO ~ 4 wt %), as a result of additional crystallization during periods of relative quiescence. The diverse petrology of the intra-caldera lavas can be explained by mixing of replenishment magmas similar to those erupted from the volcano flanks with residual magma from lava lake activity. Flank eruptions exploit dykes that bypass the shallow reservoir involved with lava lake activity, limiting their interaction with this component.

Description: The generation and evolution of basaltic magmas at Usu volcano, located at the junction between the NE Japan arc and the Kuril arc, have been investigated. The mafic products, which form the somma edifice of the volcano, consist of basalt (49·6–51·3 wt % SiO 2 ) and basaltic andesite (52·0–54·9 wt % SiO 2 ) lavas. The basaltic lavas show relatively tight compositional trends, and 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratios tend to decrease with increasing whole-rock SiO 2 content. The water content of the basaltic magmas was determined to be ~4·8 wt % based on plagioclase–melt thermodynamic equilibrium. Using this information and an olivine maximum fractionation model, the water content of the primary Usu magma was estimated to be 3·9 wt %. Multi-component thermodynamic calculations suggest that the primary magma was generated by ~23% melting of the source mantle with ~0·94 wt % H 2 O at ~1300°C and ~1·4 GPa. The 0·94 wt % water content of the source mantle is significantly higher than that beneath volcanoes in the main NE Japan arc (generally 〈0·7 wt % H 2 O); this implies that the wedge mantle at the arc–arc junction is intensively hydrated. The temperature of the wedge mantle of ~1300°C at ~1·4 GPa is also significantly higher than that of the mantle in the main NE Japan arc. Unlike the basaltic lavas, the whole-rock compositions of the basaltic andesite lavas are scattered in Harker variation diagrams. This observation suggests that the compositional diversity was produced by at least two independent processes. To elucidate the processes responsible for this compositional diversity, principal component analysis was applied to the major element compositions of the samples. This suggests that 47% of the diversity of the whole-rock compositions can be explained by mixing with partial melts of lower crustal materials, 25% is explained by redistribution of plagioclase phenocrysts, and 16% is explained by fractionation of accessory minerals.

Description: Numerous models have been developed to simulate the reaction of magmas to changes of thermodynamic variables, such as pressure, temperature, oxygen fugacity, and water activity. However, the extensive experimental database still lacks information on the distinct effect of small amounts of H 2 O on olivine + plagioclase + clinopyroxene cotectic crystallization in tholeiitic basalt. We present an experimental study addressing the effects of pressure (at 100, 200, 400, and 700 MPa) and small amounts of H 2 O on phase relations and liquid lines of descent in three tholeiitic basalts representing different evolutionary stages of the Shatsky Rise oceanic plateau magmatic system (compositions AH6, AH3, and AH5 with 8·6, 8·0, and 6·4 wt % MgO, respectively). Two experimental approaches (dry and low H 2 O) are designed to maintain contrasting H 2 O activities during crystallization using (1) graphite–platinum double capsules to perform nearly anhydrous experiments (〈0·15 wt % H 2 O in the melt) and (2) Fe pre-saturated Au 20 Pd 80 capsules to obtain low melt H 2 O contents ranging from 0·4 to 1·1 wt % H 2 O. Under dry conditions, at lower pressures (≤400 MPa), the crystallization in the MgO-rich AH6 and intermediate AH3 basalts follows the typical sequence of tholeiitic differentiation with olivine crystallization at the liquidus followed by olivine + plagioclase and olivine + plagioclase + clinopyroxene. Both basalts are close to multiple saturation at pressures between 400 and 700 MPa. At high pressure (700 MPa) the crystallization sequence is reversed, starting with clinopyroxene at the liquidus. Under low-H 2 O conditions, AH6 and AH3 are very close to multiple saturation, even at the low pressures of 100 and 200 MPa, and the reversed crystallization sequence (clinopyroxene, plagioclase + clinopyroxene, olivine + plagioclase + clinopyroxene) is observed already at 400 MPa. In contrast to the two more MgO-rich basalts, in the most evolved AH5 basalt, clinopyroxene is the liquidus phase at all investigated pressures and under both dry and low-H 2 O conditions, followed by crystallization of plagioclase + clinopyroxene and olivine + plagioclase + clinopyroxene. The most striking observation in our experiments is that the stability of clinopyroxene increases not only with pressure increase but also in the presence of small amounts of H 2 O (when compared with dry counterparts at similar pressures). Small amounts of H 2 O increase the proportion of clinopyroxene in the olivine + plagioclase + clinopyroxene phase assemblage. Our experiments clearly show that the effect of adding 0·4 wt % H 2 O to cotectic melt compositions (e.g. CaO/Al 2 O 3 ratio at a given MgO) is similar to that caused by an increase of pressure from 100 to ~ 300 MPa. This implies that small amounts of H 2 O can lead to significant overestimation of cotectic crystallization pressures (by up to 300 MPa) and that H 2 O contents need to be taken into account in geobarometric models. Our new experiments emphasize the role of low melt H 2 O contents in stabilizing clinopyroxene and provide some new insights into the problem of the ‘pyroxene paradox’. The apparent mantle pressures obtained for some mid-ocean ridge basalts using ‘dry’ geobarometric approaches can actually represent depths within the lower crust, if small amounts of H 2 O are present. The application of our experimental data to natural Shatsky Rise basalts implies that the magmas record partial crystallization processes occurring mainly at low pressure (100 MPa), corresponding to depths of ~3 km beneath the former spreading center, although the more primitive lavas show evidence of differentiation in a deeper reservoir at ~14 km depth (400 MPa).

Description: Mantle-derived xenoliths hosted by melilitite lavas from In Teria (Ahaggar, SE Algeria) include garnet and spinel peridotites, pyroxenite and phlogopite megacrysts. The spinel and garnet peridotites record an early deformation event, which formed porphyroclastic microstructures and olivine crystal preferred orientations, followed by static infiltration of hydrous alkaline melts. This metasomatic stage (stage 1) is characterized by the crystallization of phlogopite in the garnet and spinel peridotites, amphibole in the spinel peridotites and clinopyroxene in the garnet peridotite, which record chemical equilibration with an alkaline silicate melt. These early events were largely overprinted by carbonatitic metasomatism (stage 2), which is observed only in the spinel peridotites. Spinel peridotite major and trace element compositions, as well as the compositions of newly formed minerals, are characteristic of interaction with carbonate melt, associated with strong enrichment in incompatible trace elements in clinopyroxene. This second stage was followed by crystallization of pyroxenites (stage 3) in vein conduits, probably segregated from alkaline melts. We propose a scenario in which the different metasomatic imprints record successive stages of interaction between lithospheric mantle and sublithospheric melts throughout the Cenozoic. In Sr–Nd isotope space, the host melilitites and several xenoliths are clustered and plot close to the HIMU mantle end-member. However, some peridotite xenoliths are shifted towards more radiogenic 87 Sr/ 86 Sr values. In 207 Pb/ 204 Pb– 206 Pb/ 204 Pb and 208 Pb/ 204 Pb– 06 Pb/ 204 Pb space the In Teria samples define a relatively large domain characterized by high 206 Pb/ 204 Pb and 208 Pb/ 204 Pb, consistent with a contribution of an HIMU component, considered to represent a sublithospheric signature. The highest 87 Sr/ 86 Sr values are comparable with those ascribed to the EM1 mantle end-member, representing the signature of the lower continental lithosphere, and are probably inherited from the pre-metasomatic lithospheric mantle beneath In Teria. Numerical modelling of porous percolation of melt of sublithospheric origin through an EM1-like lithospheric mantle protolith reproduces the In Teria peridotite compositions, using moderately sub-chondritic Sr/Nd values for the peridotite (e.g. In Teria garnet peridotite) and moderately super-chondritic Sr/Nd values in the melt (approximately ocean island basalt values). A few spinel peridotites require a component characterized by a 143 Nd/ 144 Nd signature higher than both the EM1 end-member and the local Ahaggar basalts; the 208 Pb/ 204 Pb compositions of several samples point to a component with a depleted mid-ocean ridge basalt (MORB) mantle (DMM) signature. Thus the lithospheric mantle beneath In Teria probably did not have a uniform EM1 signature before the onset of metasomatism; it included a DMM peridotite component as well as some peridotites with elevated 143 Nd/ 144 Nd values recording long-term LREE depletion.

Description: Modelled primary magma compositions of Palaeogene basalts from the North Atlantic Igneous Province (NAIP) require melting at mantle potential temperatures ( T P ) in the range 1480–1550°C. Modern lavas from Icelandic rift zones require T P ~ 1500°C and those from the rift flanks T P ~ 1450°C. Secular cooling of the NAIP thermal anomaly was therefore of the order of ~50°C over the past 61 Myr. There were systematic variations in T P of 50–100°C from the centre of the thermal anomaly to its margins at any one time, although limits on the stratigraphical distribution of T P determinations do not rule out thermal pulsing on a timescale of millions of years. Variation in extent of melting at similar T P was controlled by local variability in lithospheric thickness. In the west of the NAIP, lithosphere thickness varied from ~90 km at Disko Island to ~65 km at Baffin Island, with similar thickness variations being evident for magmatism in the Faroe Islands, Faroe–Shetland Basin and the British Palaeogene Igneous Province (BPIP). Mean pressure of melting was greater than or equal to the final pressure of melting; the two values converge for melting columns with a melting interval of 〈1·5 GPa, regardless of T P . The majority of the BPIP magmas were generated in the garnet–spinel transition in the upper mantle. Calculated and observed rare earth element distributions in NAIP lavas are entirely consistent with the melting regimes derived from major element melting models. This allows a calibration of rare earth element fractionation and melting conditions that can be applied to other flood basalt provinces.

Description: The astonishing diversity of floral form in angiosperm plants is driven in large part by preferences of pollinators for various floral traits, including learned preferences. Remarkably, almost all of a vast literature on learning and memory in pollinators relates to nectar as a reward, even though bees and many flies, beetles, and butterflies must collect pollen. In this study, we asked if bees formed preferences for plant species from which pollen had been collected successfully. Using absolute conditioning, we gave pollen foraging bees experience with plant species that offered only pollen rewards. Naive bees generally showed modest preferences, whereas experienced bees adopted strong preferences for those species over alternative species not previously experienced. Learned preferences were retained for at least 24h, consistent with preferences learned with nectar rewards. These experience-mediated changes in preference raised the possibility that bees formed associations between particular floral features and pollen rewards. We therefore asked if learned preferences required that bees successfully collect pollen. Using differential conditioning, we determined that learned preferences were strongly influenced by receipt of a pollen reward. In a final experiment, we characterized the importance of 2 floral features, the corolla and the anther, in the expression of learned preferences. Although experience altered responses to both floral parts, responses to anthers were influenced more strongly. We discuss recent evidence in the literature for associative learning with pollen rewards and propose that learned preferences in the context of pollen collection have played an important role in floral display evolution.

Description: The jumping spider genus Myrmarachne (Salticidae) consists of over 200 species of morphologically accurate ant mimics, enabling Myrmarachne to evade ant-averse predators that confuse the spiders with ants (Batesian mimicry). A conspicuous but untested trait of Myrmarachne , which is frequently mentioned in the literature, is locomotory mimicry. For these spiders, locomotion that is more ant like than salticid like may be an integral part of the suite of mimetic signals. We quantified the locomotory pattern of several species of non-ant-like salticids, Myrmarachne , and ants from Australia. We found that the locomotion of the mimics generally resembles that of ants, but not of other salticids. To tease out the effects of locomotion from those based on morphology, ant-eating salticids as visual predators were presented with 3D animations of ant-like salticids walking either in ant or in salticid fashion. Ant-eating salticids spent significantly longer looking at the stimulus with ant-like movement and were significantly more likely to visually track and stalk the stimulus with ant-like movement. Overall, our results suggest that there is selection pressure on Myrmarachne for increased resemblance to a model by locomotor mimicry, despite the associated costs when faced with ant-eating predators.

Description: The sensory trap model of signal evolution hypothesizes that signalers adapt to exploit a cue used by the receiver in another context. Although exploitation of receiver biases can result in conflict between the sexes, deceptive signaling systems that are mutually beneficial drive the evolution of stable communication systems. However, female responses in the nonsexual and sexual contexts may become uncoupled if costs are associated with exhibiting a similar response to a trait in both contexts. Male sea lamprey ( Petromyzon marinus ) signal with a mating pheromone, 3-keto petromyzonol sulfate (3kPZS), which may be a match to a juvenile cue used by females during migration. Upstream movement of migratory lampreys is partially guided by 3kPZS, but females only move toward 3kPZS with proximal accuracy during spawning. Here, we use in-stream behavioral assays paired with gonad histology to document the transition of female preference for juvenile- and male-released 3kPZS that coincides with the functional shift of 3kPZS as a migratory cue to a mating pheromone. Females became increasingly biased toward the source of synthesized 3kPZS as their maturation progressed into the reproductive phase, at which point, a preference for juvenile odor (also containing 3kPZS naturally) ceased to exist. Uncoupling of female responses during migration and spawning makes the 3kPZS communication system a reliable means of synchronizing mate search. The present study offers a rare example of a transition in female responses to a chemical cue between nonsexual and sexual contexts, provides insights into the origins of stable communication signaling systems.

Description: Weather is a crucial factor affecting the onset and end of breeding in birds. However, a few studies have clearly indicated that other factors—breeding parameters and/or individual traits—can also exert an influence. Our study aimed to determine how breeding experience and parental investment are related to the start and the end of the breeding season. We used age and pair-bond duration as predictors of breeding experience. We presumed, firstly, that older birds with a longer pair-bond duration would start breeding earlier, and secondly, that greater parental investment (expressed as breeding success in the previous season) favored later breeding. We tested the above hypotheses on an urban population of blackbirds ( Turdus merula ) in 2 parks in the city of Szczecin (western Poland) over 19 years. Despite the importance of weather variables, breeding experience expressed as age and pair-bond was shown to be a significant factor, too. Older birds with more bond experience started breeding sooner. Toward the end of the breeding season older, more experienced birds prolonged this period. We also observed senescence, which was manifested as the shortening of the breeding season. Those birds with more success in the previous season prolonged their breeding period in the following season; this contradicted our hypothesis. Temperature and precipitation were negatively related to the initiation date of the first clutch but positively to the initiation date of the last one. Our survey clearly showed the importance of breeding experience with the same partner and underlined the advantages of monogamy.

Description: Host-plant shifts have significantly contributed to the diversification of phytophagous insects. The contact sex pheromones of such insects may be modified by the plant they feed on, thereby contributing to the formation/maintenance of sister species on different plants. Here, we addressed this issue using 2 sister species of specialist phytophagous flea beetles Altica fragaria and Altica viridicyanea , and their oligophagous F 1 hybrids. Specifically, we tested 1) if males from these Altica species recognize conspecific females based on their cuticular hydrocarbon (CHC) profile, 2) if the host plant affects the CHC profile of hybrid females, and 3) whether hybrid males distinguish between hybrid females raised on different host plants. Mate choice tests revealed that males use CHCs to identify conspecific mates. We then identified different CHC profiles in females of the 2 species and showed that the profile of CHCs in hybrids is modified by the host plant in which the beetles develop. Finally, we found that hybrid males raised on one host plant choose females with a matching profile, but this is not the case for males raised on the other plant. Our results suggest that plasticity in the expression of CHCs may have contributed to the original speciation process between the parental species. This reinforces the key role of host plants in shaping the evolution of reproductive isolation among herbivore populations.

Description: How animals trade-off food availability and predation threats is a strong determinant of animal activity and behavior; however, the majority of work on this topic has been on individual animals, despite the modulating effect the presence of conspecifics can have on both foraging and predation risk. Although these environmental factors (food and predation threat) vary spatially within habitats, they also vary temporally, and in marine habitats, this can be determined by not only the diel cycle but also the tidal cycle. Humbug damselfish, Dascyllus aruanus , live in small groups of unrelated individuals within and around branching coral heads, which they collectively withdraw into to escape a predation threat. In this study, we measured the proportion of individuals in the colony that were outside the coral head before and after they were scared by a fright stimulus and compared the responses at high tide (HT) and low tide (LT). We found that a greater proportion of the shoal emerged after the fright stimulus at HT and in larger groups than at LT or in smaller groups. We also quantified the pattern of emergence over time and discovered the rate of emergence was faster in larger shoals as time progressed. We show that shoals of fish change their behavioral response to a predation threat in accordance with the tide, exemplifying how temporally variable environmental factors can shape group movement decisions.

Description: The growing body of literature on social behavior in fruit flies opens up exciting opportunities for addressing an unresolved issue involving the degree of correlation between behavioral traits in larvae and adults. Although the prevailing adaptive decoupling hypothesis states that metamorphosis is associated with the disruption of genetic correlations between juvenile and adult traits, 2 alternative hypotheses are that, sometimes, a positive correlation may be adaptive, and that, often, the underlying genetic architecture will prevent perfect decoupling. We used lines of the Drosophila Genetic Reference Panel to quantify the degree of sociality in larval and adult fruit flies and then examined the correlation between the life stages. To verify that our social behavior scores did not merely reflect variation in activity levels, we also quantified larval and adult activity. Although we found significant variation in social behavior and activity among larvae and adults, both traits were decoupled between larvae and adults. Social behavior and activity were not positively correlated within each life stage either. Although our results agree with the adaptive decoupling hypothesis, both ultimate and proximate considerations suggest that, generally, we should expect the degree of decoupling to vary between species and traits.

Description: Birds migrating between distant locations regularly perform long continuous flights lasting several days. What compass mechanism they use is still a mystery. Here, we use a novel approach, applying an individual-based model, taking compass mechanisms based on celestial and geomagnetic information and wind into account simultaneously, to investigate what compass mechanism likely is used during long continuous flights and how wind drift or compensation affects the resulting tracks. We found that for the 6 cases of long continuous migration flights, the magnetoclinic route could best explain the route selection in all except one case compared with the alternative compass mechanisms. A flight strategy correcting for wind drift resulted most often in routes ending up closest to the predicted destinations. In only half of the cases could a time-compensated sun compass explain the migration routes observed with sufficient precision. Migration from Europe to the Siberian tundra was especially challenging to explain by one compass mechanism alone, suggesting a more complex navigation strategy. Our results speak in favor of a magnetic compass based on the angle of inclination used by birds during continuous long-distance migration flights, but also a capacity to detect and correct for drift caused by winds along the route.

Description: Sexual cannibalism is an extreme expression of sexual conflict, which can grant females significant fitness benefits, particularly if female fecundity depends on foraging success. However, when cannibalism is precopulatory, there is the risk that females remain unmated. Therefore, males simultaneously present the option of a meal or a mate to the females they encounter. The springbok mantis ( Miomantis caffra ) is highly aggressive, and when females cannibalize males, it is exclusively precopulatory. However, females can circumvent the risk of infertility by reproducing asexually, providing a rare opportunity to explore the interaction between sexual cannibalism and facultative parthenogenesis. We kept female mantises on high and low feeding regimes, and paired them with males, to examine how body condition and age influenced rates of cannibalism. We also investigated whether reproductive mode (sexual or asexual) influenced fecundity by measuring ootheca weight. Overall, there was an extremely high average cannibalism frequency (~62%), but no significant difference in frequencies of cannibalism between feeding regimes. Although there was a relationship between female condition and fecundity, influenced by feeding treatment, the mode of reproduction (sexual or asexual) did not result in any difference in ootheca weight. Using information-theoretic approaches, we determined that, of the variables examined, female age best accounted for cannibalistic behavior and that females became less aggressive and more likely to mate over time. This suggests that, although parthenogenesis may allow females to cannibalize males at a high frequency without incurring the cost of infertility, they may still benefit from reproducing sexually later in their lives.

Description: Learning is a fundamental biological adaptation that is widespread throughout the animal kingdom. According to previous research, 2 conditions are necessary for learning to be adaptive: between-generation environmental variability and within-generation environmental predictability. In this article, we show that between-generation variability is not necessary and that instrumental learning can provide a selective advantage in a complex environment, where an individual is exposed to a large number of different challenges during its lifespan. We construct an evolutionary model where individuals have a memory with limited storage capacity, and an evolving trait determines the fraction of that memory that should be allocated to innate responses to the environment versus learning these responses. The evolutionarily stable level of learning depends critically on the features of the environmental process, but generally increases with environmental complexity. We conclude by emphasizing that the specific advantages of learning should be distinguished from the general advantages of phenotypic plasticity, and we discuss possible routes to empirically test our claims.

Description: Expression of sexually selected signals in many species varies over time of day and season. A key model system to study this variation in signal expression is birdsong. Yet, despite good ecological understanding of why song varies across time of day and season, much of the individual variation remains unexplained. Although some of the interindividual variation in singing depends on the quality or motivation of an individual, it can also vary with other characteristics. Because singing has been shown to vary with personality traits in specific contexts, personality is thus an important candidate to explain part of the variation in seasonal and daily singing. Using a personality-typed field population of great tits ( Parus major ), we here show that singing activity peaked at dawn during the fertile period of the females and that the association between male personality and singing activity depended on the reproductive stage of his mate; faster explorers significantly increased in singing activity during main periods of fertility and maternal investment (egg laying and incubation). Moreover, males with higher singing activity tended to raise more fledglings. Increased singing by faster explorers during key periods of female reproductive investment suggests that faster explorers are more responsive to changes in female reproductive stage, contrasting the general view that faster explorers are less responsive to environmental and social changes. Most importantly, these findings highlight that multiple factors including personality need to be integrated when assessing causes of variation of highly variable sexually selected signal traits.

Description: Eavesdropping predators and parasites that exploit the mating signals of their prey often prefer to approach certain signal variants. However, victim finding depends on many different factors. Therefore, preferences of eavesdroppers may not always directly reflect the predation or parasitism risk of the signaler. Frog-biting midges ( Corethrella spp.) and their anuran hosts offer an excellent model system to investigate this correlation. Female Corethrella are vectors of trypanosomes in frogs and use the mating calls of their anuran hosts to localize them. We tested whether the acoustic preferences of Corethrella reflects the parasitism risk of male frogs by Corethrella and trypanosomes in the field. We conducted acoustic attraction and preference tests with Corethrella in the field and used the results of the preference tests to estimate a linear model (LM) and predict the parasitism risk of sympatric frog species by Corethrella . Our preference tests in the field showed that frog-biting midges preferred higher call rates, longer calls, a frequency around 2kHz, and sounds that were broadcast near the ground. Anuran species that were predicted by our LM to produce the most attractive signal showed the highest rates of parasitism by frog-biting midges and trypanosomes. Thus, acoustic preferences of eavesdropping Corethrella can be used to predict not only the parasitism rate of their host species by Corethrella but also the risk of subsequent trypanosome transmission.

Description: Animals in social groups can acquire information about the need for antipredator behavior by personally sampling the environment or from information provided by others. Use of such social information is expected to be adjusted according to its reliability, but experimental tests are rare and tend to focus just on alarm calls. We use detailed behavioral observations, acoustic analyses, and playback experiments to investigate how differences in sentinel dominance status affect the behavioral decisions of foraging dwarf mongooses ( Helogale parvula ). Dominant individuals acted as sentinels considerably more often than subordinate group members and used higher sentinel posts for guarding, making them potentially higher-quality sentinels in terms of experience and optimal positioning for predator detection. Surveillance calls produced during sentinel bouts contained vocal information about dominance status. Playback experiments showed that foragers used surveillance calls to detect sentinel presence and identity, and adjusted their vigilance behavior accordingly. When a dominant sentinel was on duty, compared with a subordinate groupmate, foragers increased reliance on social information, gathered less information through personal vigilance, and focused more on foraging. Our study contributes novel evidence that a major benefit of individual- and class-specific vocalizations is the potential to assess differences in caller information quality.

Description: The mechanisms that determine the evolutionary adaptations of scavengers to carrion exploitation have been well established. In contrast, little is known about coexistence during carrion exploitation based on behavioral traits and considering obligate and facultative species together. This study revisits the hypotheses of behavioral organization within the guild of necrophagous birds in light of the adaptive processes of specialization to carrion exploitation. We used a detailed dataset of observations from high-quality video recordings in the 2 regions with the most diverse and abundant populations of European avian scavengers. Active feeding time varied between species, with the obligate scavengers spending more time eating. The way that scavengers ate the food (i.e., on the ground or carrying away) diverged among species, with species with longer and more pointed beaks and a greater prehensile ability (of talons to grip things) carrying the remains away more often. We recognized the diversity and complementarity of strategies aimed at exploiting the same resource by different species and age classes. Scavenger species were clustered according to the relationship between the time active at the feeding site and the number of feeding pecks, leading to a decrease in competition for resource exploitation, as well as an occupation of specialized trophic niches. The study of active-consumption rates showed that eagles and vultures obtained most and a half, respectively, of their daily energetic requirements from each feeding event, reinforcing the important role of this relevant food source from ecological, evolutionary, behavioral, and conservation standpoints.

Description: In most cooperative breeders, helping is directed at close kin, allowing helpers to gain indirect fitness benefits by increasing the reproductive success of close relatives, usually their parents. Extrapair paternity (EPP) occurs at high rates in some cooperative breeders, reducing the relatedness of helpers to the young they help raise. Even so, a son that helps is related to the brood by at least 0.25 through his mother and to within-pair young by 0.5, whereas a potential helper that has EPP in his own nest is related only to the offspring he sires and unrelated to any extrapair offspring. In birds, EPP often favors older males, which in the extreme case can result in sons being more closely related to young in their parents’ nest than to young in their own nests. The fitness benefit of helping will thus be enhanced if helping lightens the workload and increases survival of helpers and their fathers, enabling them to become old, hyper-successful extrapair sires. Here, we develop and analyze a proof-of-concept model, grounded in the western bluebird ( Sialia mexicana ) system, demonstrating the conditions under which high population levels of EPP can generate inclusive fitness benefits of helping behavior that outweigh the costs. This model provides a new perspective on the relationship between EPP and helping behavior in cooperative breeders and suggests a strong need for empirical work to gather unprecedented data on paternity over the lifetime of helpers and their parents.

Description: Animals can be flexible in their migration strategies, using several wintering sites or a variety of routes. The mechanisms promoting the development of these migratory patterns and their potential fitness consequences are poorly understood. Here, we address these questions by tracking the dispersive migration of a pelagic seabird, the Atlantic puffin Fratercula arctica , using over 100 complete migration tracks collected over 7 years, including repeated tracks of individuals for up to 6 consecutive years. Because puffins have high flight costs, dispersion may generate important variation in costs of migration. We investigate differences in activity budgets and energy expenditure between different strategies. We find that puffins visit a range of overwintering destinations, resulting in a diversity of migratory routes differing in energy expenditures; however, they show interindividual similarity in the timings and location of major movements. We consider 3 hypothetical mechanisms that could generate this pattern: 1) random dispersion; 2) sex segregation; and 3) intraspecific competition or differences in individual quality. First, we dismiss random dispersion because individuals show strong route fidelity between years. Second, we find that sex differences contribute to, but do not account fully for, the migratory variation observed. Third, we find significant differences in breeding success between overwintering destinations, which, together with differences in foraging levels between routes, suggest that birds of different quality may visit different destinations. Taken together, our results show that dispersive migration is a complex phenomenon that can be driven by multiple factors simultaneously and can shape a population’s fitness landscape.

Description: Predation risk of individuals moving in multispecies herds may be lower due to the heightened ability of the different species to detect predators (i.e., mixed-species effect). The giraffe is the tallest land mammal, maintains high vigilance levels, and has good eyesight. As a result, heterospecific herd members could reduce their predation risk if they keyed off the giraffe’s antipredator behaviors. However, because giraffe rarely use audible alarm snorts, heterospecifics would need to eavesdrop on cues given off by the giraffe that indicate predator presence (e.g., body posture), to benefit from herding with giraffe. To test this, we compared the vigilance of zebra herding with conspecifics, with those herding with giraffe. Our results indicate that giraffe reduce zebra vigilance in zebra–giraffe herds and that in these herds, giraffe are the primary source of information regarding predation risk. In contrast, when zebra herd with conspecifics, they rely primarily on personal information gleaned from their environment, as opposed to obtaining information from conspecifics about predation risk.

Description: There is a growing evidence that members of animal groups synchronize their vigilance behavior to minimize predation risk. Because synchronized vigilance deviates from the classical vigilance models, which assume independent scanning, it is important to understand when and why it occurs. We explored vigilance behavior of wild boar ( Sus scrofa ) in a population subject to spatial variation in human hunting risk and seasonal variation in food availability. Group members synchronized their vigilance behavior. We hypothesized that vigilance synchronization would be context dependent and the trade-off between energy gain and safety would shape the relationship between the degree of vigilance synchronization and group size. We predicted weaker synchronization in large groups under heavy predation risk, due to benefits of numerical dilution, and stronger synchronization in large groups when food is limiting, due to intense food competition. The degree of synchronization decreased with increasing group size in the area where human hunting added another risk factor to the natural predation, pointing at the safety benefits of vigilance synchrony for members of small groups and the role of human-induced risk in shaping vigilance synchrony. We found no relation between vigilance synchrony and group size in a food scarce, winter season. However, low levels of vigilance and its synchronization observed in winter indicated that energy gain was prioritized over safety. Thus, members of wild boar groups can adjust levels of vigilance and its synchronization depending on the forage-risk trade-off set by the ecological context.

Description: When animals live near family members, this creates potential for incest and inbreeding depression, especially with unfamiliar kin. We examined incest avoidance when birds paired in kin groups and after dispersal in western bluebirds, Sialia mexicana , a cooperative breeder with a persistent, but low frequency of adult males helping at the nest. During their first winter, sons usually live in family groups comprised of parents, brothers, immigrant females, and more rarely, immigrant males and philopatric sisters. Sons usually pair with females that have joined their winter group, although some pair with females they encounter after dispersal. Incestuous pairing among relatives with relatedness ≥0.25 rarely occurred in either context, even considering extrapair fertilizations and other sources of unfamiliar kin. Sons pairing in their winter groups preferentially mated with immigrant females and actively avoided pairing with relatives. After dispersal into kin neighborhoods in spring, active incest avoidance was still required to explain low levels of incest with females within 600 m (2–3 territories) of where sons first bred, whereas absence of incest over larger distances could be explained by random mating. The probability of encountering a female relative within 600 m of where a male settled declined rapidly with dispersal distance to near zero for males dispersing 2 km from home. Although recognition is required to avoid incest when pairing in winter groups or settling near home, female-biased dispersal reduces likelihood of incest to near zero, even when males disperse relatively short distances (e.g., 2 km) from where they were born.

Description: According to the good-genes hypothesis, females prefer males with costly displays because the costs are reliable indicators of genetic quality. In leks, mating costs result from a multiplicative interaction between the number of display performances (lek attendance) and the energetic expenditure associated with each display performance. If males differ in their allocation strategies between the 2 components of mating effort, the reliability of display performance as an indicator of genetic quality may be disrupted. Here, we investigate the association between male genetic quality and both lek attendance and display performance in the Italian treefrog, Hyla intermedia . We recorded lek attendance and display performance (nightly calling effort) during 2 breeding seasons, and we set up a breeding experiment to evaluate sire effects on 3 larval fitness-related traits (growth rate, age, and size at metamorphosis). Attendance and calling effort were positively correlated with each other and both with male mating success, providing no evidence for a performance-attendance trade-off at the population level. In the breeding experiment, we found some evidence for an effect of sire identity and attendance on growth rate and age at metamorphosis, but no evidence for an effect of sire calling effort. We conclude that female preference, by imposing high-quality standards for calling males, strengthens the role of endurance rivalry in male mating competition, indirectly favoring males of higher-than-average mating effort. Under this scenario, although male displays are unreliable indicators of mating quality, females nevertheless gain benefits because of the reduced risk of coming on low-quality males.

Description: Fighting ability is generally assumed to predict male reproductive success; yet the mechanisms responsible for this relationship are seldom known. Competitively superior males may monopolize access to females, be preferred by females, invest more into courtship, or employ more coercive mating tactics. Differentiating these alternatives is essential to understand the interaction between male–male competition and female mate choice, and their influence on the evolution of male traits such as aggression. We tested whether male fighting ability, body size, courtship, or coercive behavior in intersexual interactions predict copulation success in the Australian Lake Eyre dragon lizard, Ctenophorus maculosus . Males with superior fighting ability had higher mating success; however, male harassment (biting and chasing) was a much stronger predictor of copulation, likely because aggressive males are able to overcome female resistance. Better fighters also copulated for longer, which may increase sperm transfer and/or fertilization success. Conversely, courtship effort (head-bobs) decreased copulation success, but only for small males. Females were no less likely to reject males with higher fighting ability, suggesting that females do not prefer these males. Furthermore, males with superior fighting ability were no more or less likely to court or harass females. Instead, both fighting ability and aggression towards females independently increased mating success, potentially generating mutually reinforcing selection on male aggression.

Description: In collective decision making, groups collate social information to inform their decisions. Indeed, societies can gather more information than individuals—so social information can be more reliable than private information. Colonies of Temnothorax albipennis can estimate the average quality of fluctuating nest sites when the sharing of social information through recruitment is rare. However, collective decisions in T. albipennis are often reached with the use of recruitment. We use a new experimental setup to test how colonies react to fluctuating nest sites when they use recruitment to reach a decision. When recruitment is used, colonies consistently choose nest sites that fluctuate between being "good" and "poor" over constantly "mediocre" alternatives. Moreover, they do so even if the fluctuating option is only "good" for 25% of the time. The ants’ preference for fluctuating nest sites appears to be due to tandem running. Even if a nest site is only briefly "good," scouts that experience it when it is "good" are likely to perform tandem runs to it. However, a constantly "mediocre" nest site is unlikely to ever provoke tandem runs. Consequently, the fluctuating nest sites attracted more tandem runs, even when they were only "good" for a short time. This led to quorum attainment in fluctuating nest sites rather than in constant "mediocre" nest sites. The results of this experiment demonstrate how sharing of social information through recruitment can change the outcome of collective decisions.

Description: Differences in male and female phenotypes are often the results of sexual selection. Over the years, a vast number of studies investigated how and why the 2 sexes differ in their physical appearance, reaching the conclusion that peculiar visual traits, signals, or ornaments usually evolve under the pressure of sexual selection to mediate intrasexual competition and mate choice. In social contexts, however, males and females can hold different roles and social interactions may depend on the individual gender. The female-dominated hymenopteran societies represent a fascinating scenario to investigate recognition and communication among individuals of different genders outside a common sexual selection framework because sterile female workers typically do not mate and are not attracted to males. Here, we used laboratory bioassays (lure presentation experiments) to evaluate the ability of Polistes dominula workers to discriminate between individuals of the 2 genders, investigating the relevance of the chemical and visual cues potentially involved in such process. Our results showed that P. dominula workers are able to discriminate between the sexes and visual cues rather than chemical ones are responsible for such discrimination.

Description: Quantifying the interaction between dispersal, kinship, and genetic structure can provide insights into the factors that shape kin-structured mammal societies. Here, we first employ a combination of 8 years of capture–mark–recapture and molecular data to characterize the spatial and genetic relationships among female snow voles ( Chionomys nivalis ) in a population located in the Swiss Alps. Subsequently, we examine the individual-level consequences of kin structure in terms of fitness and mating patterns. Behavioral data, relatedness estimates, and spatial autocorrelation analyses indicate that females show strong philopatry, with spatially clustered females being characterized by high levels of genetic relatedness, leading to significant small-scale (〈30 m) spatial genetic structure (SGS). In line with selection favoring female philopatry, dispersing females had a lower fitness compared with philopatric individuals. However, we found a negative association between female reproductive success and the number of neighboring females. This suggests that female kin clustering does not constitute an adaptive strategy in this species, but rather that site tenacity is a by-product of the costs of dispersal. Although dispersal is frequently invoked as a means to avoid inbreeding, our results provide no evidence for premating inbreeding avoidance, which is in line with previous studies on mammals. Instead, in the majority of years, we observed that pairs were more-closely related than expected by chance. However, we found that both males and females with related partners had reduced reproductive success, suggesting the existence of inbreeding depression and/or postmating inbreeding avoidance mechanisms. On the whole, our results show how quantification of SGS within populations can provide insights into individual dispersal behavior and its fitness consequences, and into the ways in which social and genetic structure interacts to shape the evolution of free-living populations.