In a study published in the open-access, peer-reviewed journal PLoS ONE June 10, Chang Seok Han and Piotr Jablonski at Seoul National University, Korea, report that by evolving a morphological shield to protect their genitalia from males' forceful copulatory attempts, females of an Asian species of water strider seem to "win" the
Ha, J. M., Yang, E. J., Lee, K. S., Lee, S. I., Jablonski, P. G. The Oriental tits Parus minor is known for their specialized ‘snake call’ to make their nestlings jump out from the nest box when the snake is approaching (Suzuki 2011). Hence, the function of “snake call” is to induce jumping
Yang, E., Son, J. H., Jablonski, P. G., & Kim, H. Y. Water striders are water-walking insects that can jump upwards from the water surface. Quick jumps allow striders to avoid sudden dangers such as predators’ attacks, and therefore their jumping is expected to be shaped by natural selection for optimal performance. Related
Jung, Y. J., Baek, M. J., Kim, Y. W, Yang, E. J., Kim, H. Y., Klassen, M. J., Moeller, J. M., Kim, H. K., Lee, S. I., Jablonski, P. G. Grasshoppers have become model organisms to understand the biomechanics of jumps. However, surprisingly little is known about their adaptations to the natural substrates
Baek, M. Jung., Lawin, K. M., Codden, C. J., Lim, H. K., Lee, S. I., Jablonski, P. G. In response to predators’ attacks from under the water surface, water striders use sudden upward escape-jumps to escape danger. Water striders perform as if they “knew” how to move their legs for maximization of their
Kim, Y. W., Jablonski, P. G., Choe, J. C., Lee, S. I. Drug resistance in bacteria is one of the most important issues in the world. Previous studies show that antibiotic-resistant bacteria can be carried by populations of wild animals inhabiting urban environment or human settlements. In this study, we examined the presence
Lee, S. I., Kim, M., Choe, J. C., & Jablonski, P. G. The alula is a small structure located at the joint between the hand-wing and arm-wing of birds and is known to be used in slow flight with high angles of attack such as landing. It is assumed to function similarly to
Lee, W. Y., Han, Y. D., Jablonski, P. G., Jung, J. W., & Kim, J. H. Recent findings report that wild animals can recognize individual humans. To explain how the animals distinguish humans, two hypotheses are proposed. The high cognitive abilities hypothesis implies that pre-existing high intelligence enabled animals to acquire such abilities.
Han, C. S., & Jablonski, P. G. Alternative reproductive tactics (ARTs) are commonly associated with differences in morphological, physiological and behavioural traits. The morphological differences can be associated with differences between ARTs in effectiveness of sexual display but the relationship has rarely been documented. We tested it using the Asian water strider Gerris gracilicornis
Han, C. S., Brooks, R. C., & Jablonski, P. G. Fluctuating sexual selection caused by environmental heterogeneity can maintain variation in sexual signals. Sexual selection can also shape correlations among behavioral traits (behavioral syndromes) when certain behavioral combinations enjoy greater fitness than other combinations (i.e., under correlational sexual selection). Here, we tested the
