BehavEcolPapers

A new species of fringed Forest Gecko, genus Luperosaurus (Squamata: Gekkonidae), from Sibuyan Island, Central Philippines We describe a new species of Luperosaurus based on two specimens collected on Sibuyan Island, Romblon Province, central Philippines. The new species is phenotypically similar to L. cumingii (southern Luzon), L. angliit (northern Luzon), L. corfieldi (from Panay and Negros islands), and L. macgregori (the Babuyan and Batanes island groups), but differs from these closely related congeners and all other known Luperosaurus by a combination of discrete morphological characters. Extensive molecular divergence from all closely related species for which genetic data are available supports the new species as a distinct lineage. Its distribution is geographically isolated from congeners, restricted to a permanently isolated deep-water island. The new species’ extremely limited geographic range contributes to the recognition of the remaining forests of the central Philippine Romblon Island Group as a fundamental conservation priority for the archipelago.

A new species of fringed Forest Gecko, genus Luperosaurus (Squamata: Gekkonidae), from Sibuyan Island, Central Philippines @peerj.bsky.social

Between Behaviors: Comparison of Two Dynamical Models of Behavioral Switching for \textit{C. Elegans} Locomotion bioRxivpreprint

Integrating Lyapunov based backstepping and neuro fuzzy logic with sliding mode control for precise trajectory tracking of differential drive robots SciReports

Safety Signals Enable Single-Episode Active Avoidance paradigm and Expose Threat Generalization in Tuberous Sclerosis Complex Animals must flexibly discriminate between threat and non-threat to deploy adaptive defensive strategies. We introduce a single-episode differential signaled active avoidance (DSAA) paradigm that temporally dissociates acquisition, consolidation, and retrieval of instrumental avoidance memory. Interleaving a behaviorally noncontingent neutral cue (CS-) with a threat-predictive, behaviorally contingent cue (CS+) enhanced long-term memory without altering acquisition, demonstrating that differential contingency structure selectively reinforces memory consolidation rather than influencing learning performance. Naive animals inferred contingencies within a single episode, and discrimination achieved during training predicted retrieval precision. However, discrimination operated within defined boundary conditions: overtraining or elevated threat intensity destabilized cue specificity and promoted persistent avoidance generalization. Under high-threat conditions, freezing and shuttling co-emerged as complementary defensive responses, indicating a shift from precise cue-based encoding to a generalized defensive state. Remote retrieval recruited oxytocin receptor-expressing cells in the medial prefrontal cortex and activated mTORC1-dependent translational signaling, implicating protein synthesis in maintenance of discriminative avoidance memory. In a Tuberous Sclerosis Complex model with Tsc2 haploinsufficiency in oxytocin-responsive cells, males displayed intact acquisition but generalized avoidance at both recent and remote time points, a deficit not rescued by additional training. These findings identify oxytocin-modulated translational control as a molecular gate stabilizing threat-safety discrimination and show that disruption of this axis - by excessive threat or reduced Tsc2 gene dosage - biases memory toward pathological generalization, providing a mechanistic framework for safety-learning deficits in neurodevelopmental and anxiety-related disorders.

Safety Signals Enable Single-Episode Active Avoidance paradigm and Expose Threat Generalization in Tuberous Sclerosis Complex bioRxivpreprint

Host plant phylogeny predicts arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities, but plant life history and fungal genetic change predict feedback by Robert J. Ramos, Brianna L. Richards, Peggy A. Schultz, James D. Bever Symbioses exert strong influence on host phenotypes; however, benefits from symbionts can increase or degrade over time. Understanding the context-dependence of reinforcing or degrading dynamics is pivotal to predicting stability of symbiotic benefits. Host phylogenetic relationships and host life history traits are two candidate axes that have been proposed to structure symbioses. However, the relative influence of host evolutionary history and life history on symbiont composition, and whether changes in symbiont composition translate into stronger mutualistic benefits is unknown. We tested the influence of plant phylogenetic relationships and plant life history on the composition of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi, perhaps the most ancestral and influential of plant symbionts, and then tested whether AM fungal differentiation resulted in improved mutualism as expected from coadaptation. We constructed mycobiomes composed of seven AM fungal isolates derived from tallgrass prairie and grew them for two growing seasons with 38 grassland plant species. We found that host phylogenetic structure was a significant predictor of the composition of AM fungal communities and the genetic composition of AM fungal species, patterns consistent with phylosymbiosis. However, the phylogenetic structure of AM fungi failed to translate to improved benefits to their host. While AM fungi generally improved plant growth and mycorrhizal feedback was generally positive, the strength of feedback was not predicted by plant phylogenetic distance. The composition of the AM fungal community and genetic composition within AM fungal species were also significantly influenced by plant life history and feedbacks between early and late successional species were generally positive. Interestingly, positive mycorrhizal feedback was predicted by changes in genetic composition of the two most abundant AM fungal species, not by changes in species composition. Positive mycorrhizal feedbacks across life history can mediate plant species turnover during succession and suggests that consideration of mycorrhizal dynamics could improve ecosystem restoration.

Host plant phylogeny predicts arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities, but plant life history and fungal genetic change predict feedback @PLOSBiology.org

Behavioral Sciences, Vol. 16, Pages 259: The Role of Subjective Well-Being in the Relationship Between Illness Invalidation, Acceptance, and Functioning in Fibromyalgia BehSciMDPI

Orca vowels and consonants: convergent spectral structures across cetacean and human speech The vocal communication system of orcas (Orcinus orca) has so far been analyzed primarily in terms of the fundamental frequency (F0) modulations, i.e. the frequency of their phonic lips vibration. The calls have been divided into clicks, pulsed calls, whistles and types thereof. By analyzing 61 hours of on-orca acoustic recordings and controlling for the effect of high-frequency components (HFC) and F0, we report structured formant patterns in orca vocalizations including diphthongal trajectories. Broadband spectrogram analysis reveals previously unreported formant patterns that appear independent of F0 and HFC and are hypothesized to result from air sac resonances. This study builds on the recent report of formant structure in vowel- and diphthong-like calls in another cetacean, sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus). Using linguistic techniques, we further demonstrate that some calls are reminiscent of human consonant-vowel sequences, featuring bursts or abrupt decreases in amplitude. We also show that individual sparsely distributed clicks gradually transition into high frequency tonal calls, which aligns with analysis of sperm whale codas as vocalic pulses. The paper makes methodological contributions to the cetacean communication research by analyzing orca vocalizations with both narrowband and broadband spectrograms. The reported patterns are hypothesized to be actively controlled by whales and may carry communicative information. The spectral patterns shown in this study provide an added dimension to the orca communication system that merits further analysis and demonstrates convergent evolutions of similar phonological features in cetaceans (orca and sperm whale) and human communication systems.

Orca vowels and consonants: convergent spectral structures across cetacean and human speech bioRxivpreprint

Acute and chronic extreme cold weather events influence hypothalamic and testicular gene networks in a free-living Arctic breeding songbird, the Lapland longspur HormBehav

Early Parenting and Infant–Parent Attachment: Developmental Origins of Psychotic Experiences Brain and Behavior, Volume 16, Issue 3, March 2026.

Early Parenting and Infant–Parent Attachment: Developmental Origins of Psychotic Experiences Br&Beh

Music exposure reduces anxiety- and depression-like #behavior in rodents: a systematic review and multilevel meta-analysis Anxiety and depressive disorders impose a major global burden, prompting interest in non-pharmacological interventions that may influence affective processes. Music exposure has often been reported to affect anxiety- and depression-like behaviors, but preclinical findings remain heterogeneous and have not been quantitatively synthesized. Prior work has also focused almost entirely on mean behavioral responses, largely overlooking inter-individual variability as a biologically meaningful dimension. We conducted a preregistered systematic review and multilevel meta-analysis of experimental studies testing music exposure in laboratory rodents. Following PRISMA and PRISMA-EcoEvo guidelines, we synthesized 298 effect sizes from 20 studies using multilevel models to account for non-independence among effect sizes. We quantified effects on mean behavior with the log response ratio (lnRR) and effects on variability with the log variability ratio (ln VR). Overall, music exposure was associated with a statistically significant reduction in anxiety- and depression-like behaviors, corresponding to an average decrease of about 18% relative to controls. This mean effect was detected across outcome types and life stages despite substantial heterogeneity. By contrast, music exposure did not produce a statistically significant overall change in inter-individual behavioral variability. Instead, variability responses were context dependent: behavioral assay type and music meta-genre significantly moderated lnVR, with anxiety-like assays tending to show increased variability and depression-like assays tending to show reduced variability under music exposure. These results suggest that music exposure reliably shifts average affect-related behavior without uniformly changing behavioral stability across individuals. Because the evidence comes mainly from short-term exposures in young adult laboratory rodents, generalization beyond similar contexts should remain cautious.

Music exposure reduces anxiety- and depression-like #behavior in rodents: a systematic review and multilevel meta-analysis bioRxivpreprint

ICYMI: Unifying non-Markovian dynamics and agent heterogeneity in scalable stochastic networks @natcomms.nature.com

Breeding Ecology of the Critically Endangered Baer's Pochard (Aythya baeri): Nest Threats and Conservation Implications Ecology and Evolution, Volume 16, Issue 3, March 2026.

Breeding Ecology of the Critically Endangered Baer's Pochard (Aythya baeri): Nest Threats and Conservation Implications Ecol&Evol

Pt size-dependent reverse oxygen spillover on Sn-doped Pt/TiO2 for CO oxidation @natcomms.nature.com

Reply to Fitzgerald et al.: Mischaracterizing our findings; the cognitive profile of elite footballers remains robust Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Issue 8, February 2026.

Reply to Fitzgerald et al.: Mischaracterizing our findings; the cognitive profile of elite footballers remains robust @PNAS.org

Climate shocks, not just warming, threaten malaria control efforts in Africa Nature, Published online: 03 March 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-00491-2Climate change is expected to affect mosquito and parasite survival, reshaping malaria risk. But extreme weather could be a more immediate danger to disease control.

Climate shocks, not just warming, threaten malaria control efforts in Africa @Nature.com

Could sleep engineering be used to combat PTSD and depression? by Penelope A. Lewis, Mahmoud E. A. Abdellahi Sleep engineering could be developed to provide a drug-free, non-invasive avenue to treat depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. Such an intervention would be greatly aided by the sophisticated detection of memory reactivations using machine learning classifiers. Could sleep engineering be developed to provide a drug-free, non-invasive avenue to treat depression and post-traumatic stress disorder? This Perspective proposes using machine learning with EEG signals to develop and optimize this type of intervention.

Could sleep engineering be used to combat PTSD and depression? @PLOSBiology.org

Reproducible social phenotyping of 5xFAD #mice in the Agora maze (Sociobox) Neuropsychiatric (depression, schizophrenia, etc) and neurological disorders (Alzheimers disease, Parkinsons disease) are characterized by disruptions in cognition including social interaction and recognition. Developing tools for the assessment of social behaviour in mouse models and its relevance is essential to further advance our understanding of social impairments in these diseases. In the Agora maze for rodents, stranger mice confined into cubicles around the perimeter of the open square mirror the agora (marketplace) in ancient cities. Up to 5 social interaction partners are presented and can be freely selected for interaction (exposure). In the discrimination phase one novel mouse (SNew) is presented while 4 familiar partners remain. Interaction time is recorded via video observation. In Exp 1, we validated the test with different strains of wild-type male mice (C57BL/6J, Balb/c, NMRI) that were able to readily identify SNew and spent significantly more time in zones adjacent to their cubicle; only NMRI mice did not prefer SNew. Exp. 2 explored 5xFAD Alzheimer mice and showed normal exploration and discrimination when aged 6 and 8 months old. Repeat of the experiment in a second cohort confirmed robustness of this phenotype, but also reproducibility of the behavioural paradigm. The Agora task allows semi-automated evaluation of preference for social novelty in a more complex paradigm by expanding the number of social interaction partners from 2 (three-chamber test) to 5 (or more), while still avoiding physical approaches and aggressive episodes. Thus, Agora provides a more physiological behavioural paradigm which is highly robust and reproducible.

Reproducible social phenotyping of 5xFAD #mice in the Agora maze (Sociobox) bioRxivpreprint

Proteomics-based machine learning model for predicting secondary infection in HBV-related liver failure @natcomms.nature.com

Behavioral Sciences, Vol. 16, Pages 260: Examining Resilience in Those With and Without Suicidal Ideation Self-report surveys were conducted in Australia between May 2020 and April 2024, allowing for an analysis of perceived psychological resilience in those with and without suicidal ideation (SI) during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Linear mixed models were used to describe the factors associated with psychological resilience in these populations and in people experiencing transitions between SI states. Of the 1145 people who responded more than once to the survey, 879 (77%) always reported “never SI”, 84 (7%) always reported SI, while 182 (16%) reported SI for only some of their surveys. People who moved between SI states reported significantly lower psychological resilience than those who reported “never SI”, but significantly higher psychological resilience than those reporting SI in all their surveys. For participants always reporting SI, greater psychological resilience was significantly associated with greater hopefulness and quality of life, and less sleep than usual. In people who moved between SI states, greater psychological resilience was significantly associated with greater hopefulness, less psychological distress and lower likelihood of mental illness. Only participants with “never SI” reported better psychological resilience alongside consistent sleep and exercise quantities. These results have important implications for suicide prevention in Australia. However, bidirectional associations require further investigation.

Behavioral Sciences, Vol. 16, Pages 260: Examining Resilience in Those With and Without Suicidal Ideation BehSciMDPI

Screening, sorting, and the feedback cycles that imperil peer review @PLOSBiology.org

National Trends in Cerebrovascular Disease–Related Mortality among Adults With Obesity in the United States, 1999–2020 Brain and Behavior, Volume 16, Issue 3, March 2026.

National Trends in Cerebrovascular Disease–Related Mortality among Adults With Obesity in the United States, 1999–2020 Br&Beh

Toward robust automated cardiovascular arrhythmia detection using self-supervised learning and 1-dimensional vision transformers SciReports

Voluntary wheel running provides pain relief but transiently exacerbates gait impairments in male and female #mice with unilateral osteoarthritis Objective Physical activity is a first-line therapeutic intervention for managing osteoarthritis-related pain and functional impairment. However, the growing literature questions the long-term relevance of exercise-induced improvements in patients, while pre-clinical research evidence base is limited by reliance on stressful, forced exercise paradigms which do not reflect voluntary engagement. Here, we aimed to investigate the effects of voluntary wheel running on the pain experience in mice with joint pain. Design We investigated the impact of free access to a running wheel on sensory, functional and affective outcomes following unilateral intra-articular injection of monoiodoacetate in single-housed male and female C57Bl/6J mice. Results Monoiodoacetate injection transiently reduced running activity in both sexes; however, females rapidly resumed and sustained high activity levels over a two-month period, while males showed a progressive decline in running distance. Active males and females showed improvements in the monoiodoacetate-induced hindpaw secondary mechanical hypersensitivity. Moreover, mechanical thresholds positively correlated with the distance ran after injury, suggesting a functional relationship between exercise and secondary pain relief. However, access to a wheel temporarily exacerbated several monoiodoacetate-induced gait impairments in both sexes. Finally, while there were no obvious effects of running on anxio-depressive-like behaviours or cognitive functioning, exercise significantly impacted stress-induced faecal output and phenotypic regulation of body weight. Conclusions Our findings suggest that persistent loading of an injured knee joint may compromise functional outcomes independently of pain relief away from the joint, underscoring a critical consideration for exercise-based therapeutic strategies in osteoarthritis.

Voluntary wheel running provides pain relief but transiently exacerbates gait impairments in male and female #mice with unilateral osteoarthritis bioRxivpreprint

An Assessment of the Population Dynamics and Evolutionary History of the Dingo Ecology and Evolution, Volume 16, Issue 3, March 2026.

An Assessment of the Population Dynamics and Evolutionary History of the Dingo Ecol&Evol

Intrinsic gradient oxygen-driven second-order memristors for continual reinforcement learning @natcomms.nature.com

Wolves respond differently to human cues as they expand into urban landscapes Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Issue 8, February 2026. SignificanceWith experimental tests on individually recognized wolves conducted in the wild, we provide unique insights into how wolves are adjusting their behavior in more heavily anthropized areas. Conducted in one of the regions where wolf colonization ...

Wolves respond differently to human cues as they expand into urban landscapes @PNAS.org

Genetic differentiation of morphologically similar polyploid wheat species @peerj.bsky.social

Explainable multi agent reinforcement learning framework for secure and adaptive communication in UAV swarm based fanets SciReports

In vitro fertilisation procedure assisted with computer vision models for organic Senegalese sole (Solea senegalensis) culture Reproductive dysfunction remains a major challenge for Senegalese sole (Solea senegalensis) aquaculture. Hormone-induced ovulation and in vitro fertilisation (IVF) are currently used to overcome the absence of natural courtship behaviours in captivity. This study investigates the feasibility of hormone-free IVF and behaviour-based prediction of ovulation as alternative strategies to enhance reproductive outcomes. We selected males using computer-assisted sperm analysis to assess sperm motility and quality for IVF trials. IVF trials were conducted using selected males and naturally ovulated eggs collected from females during evening hours across six experimental nights in two groups. Fish behaviour was continuously recorded using underwater cameras, and a convolutional neural network was developed to automatically detect Rest the Head (RTH) and Locomotor Activity (LA) behaviours. These behavioural counts, together with timing information, were used as features to train a logistic regression model for predicting ovulation events. Hormone-free IVF achieved fertilization rates up to 44% with 18% hatching success, producing viable larvae without hormonal intervention. Both groups showed significantly elevated RTH and LA during ovulation nights compared to non-ovulation nights, with peak activity occurring between 18:00-19:00 hours. The behavioural prediction model correctly identified ovulation with 82-85% accuracy and an area under the curve of 0.95. These findings demonstrate that sperm-quality-based male selection combined with automated behaviour analysis provides a practical, non-invasive approach for hormone-free reproduction in organic flatfish aquaculture.

In vitro fertilisation procedure assisted with computer vision models for organic Senegalese sole (Solea senegalensis) culture bioRxivpreprint

Vasopressin and angiotensin II pathways differentially modulate human fear response dynamics to looming threats @PLOSBiology.org