The effect of sexual selection on species persistence remains unclear. The cost of bearing ornaments or armaments might increase extinction risk, but sexual selection can also enhance the spread of beneficial alleles and increase the removal of deleterious alleles, potentially reducing extinction risk. Here we investigate the effect of sexual selection on species persistence in a community of 34 species of dung beetles across...

Aim In several ecosystems, the diversity of functional species traits has been shown to have a stronger effect on ecosystem functioning than taxonomic diversity alone. However, few studies have explored this idea at a large geographical scale. In a multisite experiment, we unravelled the relationship between ecosystem function and functional completeness of species assemblages using dung beetles as a model group, focusing on d...

Genetic assignment methods use genotype likelihoods to draw inference about where individuals were or were not born, potentially allowing direct, real‐time estimates of dispersal. We used simulated data sets to test the power and accuracy of Monte Carlo resampling methods in generating statistical thresholds for identifying F 0 immigrants in populations with ongoing gene flow, and hence for providing direct, real‐time estimate...

Commercial sealing in the 18th and 19th centuries had a major impact on the Antarctic and subantarctic fur seal populations ( Arctocephalus gazella and A. tropicalis ) in the Southern Ocean. The intensive and unrestricted nature of the industry ensured substantial reductions in population sizes and resulted in both species becoming locally extinct at some sites. However, both species are continuing to recover, through the reco...