Pablo Burraco Maider Iglesias-Carrasco Carlos Cabido Ivan Gomez-Mestre. Conservation Physiology, Volume 6, Issue 1. We found that leachates of eucalypt leaf litter reduced amphibian development and growth, compromised their antipredator responses and altered their metabolic rate. Increased temperature itself also posed serious alterations on development, growth, antioxidant ability and the immune status of tadpoles. However, the combined effects of eucalypt leaf litter and increased temperature were additive, not synergistic. Therefore, we show that non-lethal levels of a globally spread disruptor such as leachates from eucalypt leaf litter can seriously impact the life history and physiology of native amphibian populations. Leer más.

Urbanization can cause species to adjust their sexual displays, because the effectiveness of mating signals is influenced by environmental conditions. Despite many examples that show that mating signals in urban conditions differ from those in rural conditions, we do not know whether these differences provide a combined reproductive and survival benefit to the urban phenotype. Our findings thus reveal that urbanization can rapidly drive adaptive signal change via changes in both natural and sexual selection pressures. Artículo en español . Leer más (fuente original). 

Bisbal-Chinesta, J.F., Blain, H.-A. 2018. Long-term changes in composition and distribution patterns in the Iberian herpetofaunal communities since the latest Pleistocene. Quaternary Science Reviews, 184: 143-166. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2017.06.010. This research presents the first approach to the Iberian paleobiogeography of the different species of amphibians and reptiles from the Late Pleistocene (MIS 3) to present times, based on a comparative synthesis of the latest research published in recent years and the fossil record of the 58 archaeo-paleontological sites with significant assemblages. Leer más.

Acaba de salir el Volumen 32 (2018). Podéis consultar el contenido y descargar los artículos en el siguiente enlace.

Asian geckos were observed running over water at nearly a meter per second, as fast as on land. Lab experiments show how. They get support from surface tension but also slap the water rapidly with their feet. They also semi-plane over the surface and use their tail for stabilization and propulsion. They thus sit between insects, which use only surface tension, and larger animals, which run upright via foot slapping alone. Leer más.