Praying mantids are the only insects proven to have stereoscopic vision (stereopsis): the ability to perceive depth from the slightly shifted images seen by the two eyes. Recently, the first neurons likely to be involved in mantis stereopsis were described and a speculative neuronal circuit suggested. Here we further investigate classes of neurons in the lobula complex of the praying mantis brain and their tuning to stereoscop...

Leaf biomechanical properties are thought to impose a significant obstacle to herbivores and as such influence patterns of herbivory more than leaf chemistry. However, evidence for the role of structural traits in influencing herbivore food choice and performance has come from correlative studies, whereas the underlying mechanisms have been given little attention. By manipulating the biomechanical properties of a host grass sp...

Worldwide decomposition rates depend both on climate and the legacy of plant functional traits as litter quality. To quantify the degree to which functional differentiation among species affects their litter decomposition rates, we brought together leaf trait and litter mass loss data for 818 species from 66 decomposition experiments on six continents. We show that: (i) the magnitude of species‐driven differences is much large...