Revisiting Torchin et al. 2003

In a paper published in Nature in 2003, Mark Torchin, Kevin Lafferty, Andrew Dobson, Valerie McKenzie and Armand Kuris provided evidence to suggest that reduced parasite load in their introduced range might contribute to an exotic species' invasive success. Using data from 26 exotic species from a variety of taxa, Torchin and colleagues found that …

Revisiting Wootton 1994

In a paper published in Ecology in 1994, Timothy Wootton demonstrated the use of a new approach that combines experimental perturbations with path analysis to determine interaction strengths in communities. Wootton showed, using interactions between birds and other members of an intertidal community, that this approach could be an efficient way to predict direct and …

Revisiting Dingemanse et al. 2002

In a paper published in Animal Behaviour in 2002, Niels Dingemanse, Christiaan Both, Piet Drent, Kees van Oers and Arie van Noordwijk showed, using an open field test in the laboratory on wild caught great tits, that, 1. there is consistent individual variation in behaviour, and 2. this behaviour is heritable. Fourteen years after the …

Revisiting Schmitz et al. 1997

In a paper published in Ecology in 1997, Oswald Schmitz, Andrew Beckerman and Kathleen O'Brien experimentally tested the relative importance of direct and indirect effects of predation in causing tropic cascades, Using an old-field system that included herbaceous plants, a herbivorous grasshopper and a spider predator, Schmitz and colleagues showed that indirect effects of predation, …

Revisiting Inouye 1978

In a paper published in Ecology in 1978, David Inouye demonstrated, using removal experiments and careful observation in Gothic, Colorado, that the use of resources by a bumblebee species is affected by the presence of other bumblebee species , a finding that suggested that competitive exclusion occurs in these species. Thirty-nine years after the paper …

Revisiting Schemske & Bradshaw 1999

In a paper published in PNAS in 1999, Douglas Schemske and Toby Bradshaw showed, through field crosses of a bee-pollinated and a hummingbird-pollinated monkeyflower (Mimulus) plant, that genes of large effect on pollinator preference have had a role in floral evolution and premating reproductive isolation of these plants. Seventeen years after the paper was published, …

Revisiting Bshary & Grutter 2006

In a paper published in Nature in 2006, Redouan Bshary and Alexandra Grutter provided experimental evidence for, both, image scoring by clients and increased cooperation by cleaners in the presence of image-scoring clients in a cleaner fish mutualism, suggesting that the mutualism is a case of indirect reciprocity. Ten years after the paper was published, …

Revisiting Coyne and Orr 1989

In a paper published in Evolution in 1989, Jerry Coyne and Allen Orr showed, through a meta-analysis of 119 pairs of closely-related Drosophila species at different stages of speciation, that mating discrimination, and sterility or inviability of hybrids, gradually increase with time since speciation. Coyne and Orr also demonstrated important differences in patterns between allopatric …

Revisiting Bond and Kamil 2002

In a paper published in Nature in 2002, Alan Bond and Alan Kamil showed, with experiments using real jays and digital moths, that frequency-dependent predation led to the evolution of greater crypticity and phenotypic variation. Fourteen years after the paper was published I spoke to Alan Bond about how he got interested in studying effects …