In ectothermic predator‐prey relationships, evasion of predation by prey depends on physiological and behavioural responses relating to the thermal biology of both predator and prey. On Japan's Izu Islands, we investigated a prey lizard's physiological and thermal responses to the presence of a snake predator over geologic time in addition to recent climatic warming. Foraging lizard body temperatures increased by 1.3 °C from 1...

Aim We aimed to examine the phylogeographical structure and demographic history of domestic and wild yaks ( Bos grunniens ) based on a wide range of samples and complete mitochondrial genomic sequences. Location The Qinghai‐Tibetan Plateau (QTP) of western China. Methods All available D‐loop sequences for 405 domesticated yaks and 47 wild yaks were examined, including new sequences from 96 domestic and 34 wild yaks. We further...

How do populations of highly mobile species inhabiting open environments become reproductively isolated and evolve into new species? We test the hypothesis that elevated ocean‐surface temperatures can facilitate allopatry among pelagic populations and thus promote speciation. Oceanographic modelling has shown that increasing surface temperatures cause localization and reduction of upwelling, leading to fragmentation of feeding...

Mangroves form the dominant intertidal ecosystems and differ morphologically and physiologically from their close terrestrial relatives. We investigate the molecular evolutionary pattern of the typical mangrove family, i.e. Rhizophoraceae, and rate heterogeneity for the plastid mat K and rbc L genes in different species of the family, as revealed by phylogenetic analyses and relative‐rate tests. Our study documents evolutionar...

Intraspecific phylogeny and genetic variation were investigated based on nucleotide sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene in six soricine shrew species, Sorex unguiculatus , S. caecutiens , S. shinto , S. gracillimus , S. minutissimus and S. hosonoi , collected primarily from northeastern Asia. Maximum likelihood trees and a phylogenetic network were generated to estimate intraspecific phylogenies. S. minutissimus s...