A5035129181- Amphibian and Reptile Biology
- Animal Behavior and Reproduction
- Species Distribution and Climate Change
- Venomous Animal Envenomation and Studies
- Insect and Arachnid Ecology and Behavior
- Evolution and Paleontology Studies
- Bat Biology and Ecology Studies
- Lepidoptera: Biology and Taxonomy
- Physiological and biochemical adaptations
- Turtle Biology and Conservation
- Avian ecology and behavior
- Primate Behavior and Ecology
- Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
- Plant and animal studies
- Marine Invertebrate Physiology and Ecology
- Retinal Development and Disorders
- Neurobiology and Insect Physiology Research
- Subterranean biodiversity and taxonomy
- Rabies epidemiology and control
Ghent University
2017-2025
Lund University
2023-2025
The University of Queensland
2016-2018
Australia is the stronghold of front-fanged venomous snake family Elapidae. The Australasian elapid radiation, which includes approximately 100 terrestrial species in Australia, as well Melanesian and all world's sea snakes, less than 12 million years old. incredible phenotypic ecological diversity clade matched by considerable venom composition. clade's evolutionary youth dynamic evolution should make it particular interest to toxinologists, however, majority species, are small, typically...
Abstract Melanism, the process of heavier melanin deposition, can interact with climate variation at both micro and macro scales, ultimately influencing color evolution in organisms. While ecological processes regulating production relation to have been extensively studied, intraspecific variations melanism are seldom considered. Such scientific gap hampers our understanding how species adapt rapidly changing climates. For example, dark coloration may lead higher heat absorption be...
Biological rules describe general morphological, structural and genetic patterns within across species. Within these, ecogeographical correlate phenotypic variation of organisms with biogeography. The latter have been developed over the last 150 years, recently gained renewed attention due to climate change, as researchers try predict how species will respond different environmental conditions based on certain features. However, there is no agreement whether such hold true in our rapidly...
Fluorescence, the optical phenomenon whereby short-wavelength light is absorbed and emitted at longer wavelengths, has been widely described in aquatic habitats, both invertebrates fish. Recent years have seen a stream of articles reporting fluorescence, ranging from frogs, platypus, to even fully terrestrial organisms such as flying squirrels, often explicitly or implicitly linking presence fluorescence with sexual selection communication. However, many these studies fail consider...
Abstract While the ecological roles of colored integument have been extensively studied, what regulates global patterns color variation remains poorly understood. Here, using a dataset 1249 squamates, we evaluate whether and how six key eco-environmental variables their interactions shaped evolutionary history coloration. We show that only habitat openness consistently associates with brightness evolution, brighter integuments favored in open habitats, possibly for enhanced heat reflection....
Abstract The thermal environment can affect the evolution of morpho-behavioral adaptations ectotherms. Heat is transferred from substrates to organisms by conduction and reflected radiation. Because brightness influences degree heat absorption, could integumentary optical properties. Here, we show that vipers (Squamata:Viperidae) inhabiting hot, highly radiative superficially conductive have evolved bright ventra for efficient transfer. We analyzed 4161 publicly available images 126 species,...
With functions as diverse communication, protection and thermoregulation, coloration is one of the most important traits in lizards. The ability to change colour a function varying social environmental conditions thus an innovation. While present animals ranging from squids, fish reptiles, not much known about mechanisms behind it. Traditionally, was attributed migration pigments, particular melanin. More recent work has shown that changes nanostructural configuration inside iridophores are...
Abstract The impact of climate change on global biodiversity is firmly established, but the differential effect populations within same species rarely considered. In ectotherms, melanism (i.e. darker integument due to heavier deposition melanin) can significantly influence thermoregulation, as dark individuals generally heat more and faster than bright ones. Therefore, ectotherms might be susceptible change. Using colour‐polyphenic lizard Karusasaurus polyzonus (Squamata: Cordylidae), we...
Plutonium zwierleini is a large plutoniumid centipede of great evolutionary interest, occurring with isolated populations along the western Mediterranean area, from Spain to Italy. Due its rarity and extreme paucity available records, P. among least known chilopods, scarce information currently on ecology natural history. Based an extensive sampling effort carried out in Sicily between 2022 2023, we here provide additional occurrence localities for species across Sicily, new insights into...
Abstract Substrate properties can affect the thermal balance of organisms, and colored integument, alongside other factors, may influence heat transfer via differential absorption reflection. Dark coloration lead to higher could be advantageous when substrates are cool (and vice versa for bright coloration), but these effects rarely investigated. Here, we examined effect substrate reflectance, specific capacity (cp), body size on dorso-ventral brightness using 276 samples from 12 species...