Animals disperse seeds in various ways that affect seed deposition sites and seed survival, ultimately shaping plant species distribution, community composition, and ecosystem structure. Some animal species can disperse seeds through multiple pathways (e.g., defecation, regurgitation, epizoochory), each likely producing distinct seed dispersal outcomes. We studied how seed traits (size and toughness) interact with disperser sp...

Aim Viviparity has evolved more times in squamates than in any other vertebrate group; therefore, squamates offer an excellent model system in which to study the patterns, drivers and implications of reproductive mode evolution. Based on current species distributions, we examined three selective forces hypothesized to drive the evolution of squamate viviparity (cold climate, variable climate and hypoxic conditions) and tested...

Aim Variation in body size across animal species underlies most ecological and evolutionary processes shaping local‐ and large‐scale patterns of biodiversity. For well over a century, climatic factors have been regarded as primary sources of natural selection on animal body size, and hypotheses such as Bergmann's rule (the increase of body size with decreasing temperature) have dominated discussions. However, evidence for cons...

The Baffin Bay estuary is a hypersaline system in the Gulf of Mexico that supports an important recreational and commercial fishery for black drum Pogonias cromis , a benthic predator. Seasonal measurements of water quality variables, benthic macrofauna densities and biomass, and determination of P. cromis food sources using stomach‐content and stable‐isotope analyses were carried out to determine how P. cromis food sources ch...

Aim To map and assess the richness patterns of reptiles (and included groups: amphisbaenians, crocodiles, lizards, snakes and turtles) in Africa, quantify the overlap in species richness of reptiles (and included groups) with the other terrestrial vertebrate classes, investigate the environmental correlates underlying these patterns, and evaluate the role of range size on richness patterns. Location Africa. Methods We assemble...

We used a species‐distribution modeling approach, ground‐based climate data sets, and newly available remote‐sensing data on vegetation from the MODIS and Quick Scatterometer sensors to investigate the combined effects of human‐caused habitat alterations and climate on potential invasions of rainforest by 3 savanna snake species in Cameroon, Central Africa: the night adder (Causus maculatus), olympic lined snake (Dromophis lin...