Organisms use diel timing mechanisms to anticipate predictable daily environmental fluctuations, such as the start and end of the day light period. There is often ample intraspecific variation in this diel timing, with individuals being consistently active earlier or later than others in the population and therefore having early or late chronotypes. In tit species, early-active males have higher rates of extrapair paternity, a...

Birds breeding in high-Alpine habitats must select a suitable breeding site and achieve successful reproduction within a restricted time. During four breeding seasons, we monitored nest sites of the Northern Wheatear ( Oenanthe oenanthe ), a high-Alpine long-distance migrant. We investigated how ecological factors predicted the selection of a site for nesting within the home range, using conditional logistic regression. Birds...

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an age-related chronic inflammatory disease which may include accelerated biological ageing processes in its pathogenesis. To determine if increased biological age is associated with risk of RA and/or is present once disease is established. We used DNA methylation to compare biological age (epigenetic age) of immune cells in adults at risk of RA and those with confirmed RA, including twins discorda...

The mucosal origin hypothesis of rheumatoid arthritis has renewed the interest in IgA autoantibodies, but their added value over IgG anti-citrullinated protein antibody (ACPA) and IgM rheumatoid factor (RF) for modern treatment outcomes remains unknown. We aimed to investigate the prognostic value of IgA-ACPA and IgA-RF for treatment outcomes in an early arthritis population. IgA-ACPA/RF isotypes were measured in baseline sera...

We trapped, anesthetized, and fit 16 female feral swine ( Sus scrofa ) with Global Positioning System (GPS) collars in Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GRSM) to develop predictive summer and winter models for more effective population control efforts. Given the highly diverse habitat and topography in GRSM and the spatial extent of our dataset, we employed Step Selection Function (SSF) to evaluate resource selection at the...

Biological invasions are becoming more prevalent due to the rise of global trade and expansion of urban areas. Ants are among the most prolific invaders with many exhibiting a multiqueen colony structure, dependent colony foundation and reduced internest aggression. Although these characteristics are generally associated with the invasions of exotic ants, they may also facilitate the spread of native ants into novel habitats....