The aim of this study was to characterize histological changes during opercular osteogenesis in farmed gilthead sea bream Sparus aurata larvae from 7 to 69 days post hatching (dph) and compare normal osteogenesis with that of deformed opercles. Mild opercular deformities were first detected in 19 dph larvae by folding of the opercle's distal edge into the gill chamber. Here, the variation in the phenotype and the irregular bon...

Dispersal is essential for population persistence in transient environments. While costs of dispersal are ubiquitous, individual advantages of dispersal remain poorly understood. Not all individuals from a population disperse, and individual heterogeneity in costs and benefits of dispersal underlie phenotype‐dependent dispersal strategies. Dispersing phenotypes are always expected to maximize their fitness by adaptive decision...

Dispersal, the behaviour ensuring gene flow, tends to covary with a number of morphological, ecological and behavioural traits. While species‐specific dispersal behaviours are the product of each species’ unique evolutionary history, there may be distinct interspecific patterns of covariation between dispersal and other traits (‘dispersal syndromes’) due to their shared evolutionary history or shared environments. Using disper...

Although dispersal distance plays a major role in determining whether organisms will reach new habitats, empirical data on the environmental factors that affect dispersal distance are lacking. Population density and kin competition are two factors theorised to increase dispersal distance. Using the two‐spotted spider mite as a model species, we altered these two environmental conditions and measured the mean dispersal distance...

Aim This study aims to determine the underlying causes of local and regional patterns of variation in community structure of spiders in coastal grey dunes, and especially whether ecological time constrains the species composition in young and isolated grey dune habitats. Location The study was conducted in coastal dunes from northern France (Boulonnais, Nord‐Pas‐de‐Calais), Belgium (Flemish coastal dunes) and the Netherlands [...