Tropical pollinators forage in environments where floral resources vary in space and time, requiring flexible strategies to optimise foraging efficiency. One such strategy, floral constancy - the temporary restriction to a single flower type - strongly influences foraging success and plant-pollinator interactions. We aimed to: (1) quantify spontaneous colour preferences and constancy in the Asian giant honeybee Apis dorsata, (2) test whether reward concentration modulates these preferences, (3) evaluate how quickly learned associations override spontaneous biases, (4) determine whether bees can use multiple colour associations simultaneously, and (5) assess whether local floral spectral patterns correlate with bee preferences. Bees trained to a neutral UV-grey stimulus showed a strong spontaneous preference and high constancy to blue, revealing a robust short-wavelength bias. Crucially, the strength of this spontaneous bias depended on reward concentration; Low-reward conditions elicited strong blue constancy, whereas high-reward conditions weakened it, demonstrating that reward expectation shapes spontaneous colour choices. This bias was flexible. When bees learned that yellow was rewarding, they switched their preferences. Bees sequentially trained to both colours visited blue and yellow, showing no overall bias, or effect of the last-trained colour, indicating that recent experiences disrupt colour-specific constancy and generate largely random foraging choices. Bees were capable of learning and retaining two colours simultaneously, effectively suppressing the influence of spontaneous preferences. Finally, analysis of the community floral spectral distribution revealed a strong dominance of short-wavelength flowers, suggesting that long-term selection by the local floral environment may underlie the spontaneous blue preference observed in A. dorsata.

Basking in groups with conspecifics is extensively documented in reptiles, and in some clades, notably Scincidae, basking aggregations can be representative of repeatable and stable social kin groups. Evidence for social basking in non-squamate reptiles is less reported, but mounting evidence suggests that social behaviour in turtles may be common. To elucidate the social drivers of basking aggregations, we recorded basking behaviour in a population of Midland Painted Turtles (Chrysemys picta marginata) over two active seasons. We explored potential factors influencing associations during basking aggregations, and tested whether social basking is impacted by individual traits that may reflect dominance hierarchies. We used network analysis to construct matrices of social association between basking individuals, and explored spatial overlap, genetic relatedness, body size, and sex as possible predictors of these population-level associations. We also quantified individual social behaviour by calculating network metrics and examined whether body size and a proxy of boldness influenced individual-level social behaviour. We found no support for spatial overlap, kinship, body size, or sex similarity as drivers of social associations while basking. Turtles did not generally associate with one another, but when they did, close to the majority of association were preferred (i.e., non-random). Further, we found that body size and a proxy of boldness affected the social behaviour of female turtles. These individual-level findings suggest that a dominance hierarchy may influence social structure in basking aggregations of Painted Turtles. Our findings have implications for understanding the evolution of cryptic sociality, and call for more thorough examination of social organization in a wider range of non-avian reptiles.

Ecology and Evolution, Volume 15, Issue 12, December 2025.

Bizarre discovery of interspecies cloning “almost impossible to believe,” biologists say

Bizarre discovery of interspecies cloning “almost impossible to believe,” biologists say

The ability to process temporal information is crucial for animal activities like foraging, mating and predator avoidance. While circadian rhythms have been extensively studied, there is limited knowl...

Ecology and Evolution, Volume 15, Issue 11, November 2025.

Animal colouration has been viewed as an adaptation shaped by both abiotic and biotic factors, balancing sexual attractiveness against predation risk. In studying predator-prey dynamics, using 3D mode...

Animal colouration has been viewed as an adaptation shaped by both abiotic and biotic factors, balancing sexual attractiveness against predation risk. In studying predator-prey dynamics, using 3D mode...

Observation methods are crucial for understanding ecological processes. One widely used method is the application of plasticine models that visually mimic prey organisms in assessing biotic interactio...

Observation methods are crucial for understanding ecological processes. One widely used method is the application of plasticine models that visually mimic prey organisms in assessing biotic interactio...

Movement tracking using the deep-learning network DeepLabCut has revealed how a species not known for tool use acquires and refines tool skills. This opens the door to detailed cross-species comparisons of the behavioural, cognitive, neural and evolutionary processes that turn naïve actions into expertise.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 122, Issue 42, October 2025. As Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is diagnosed more frequently in women, understanding the role of sex has become a key priority in AD research. However, despite aging being the primary risk factor for AD, it remains unclear whether men and women differ in the ...

A study of elephants, giraffes and other wildlife in Namibia's Etosha National Park underscores the ways in which the environment, biological sex, and anatomical distinctions can drive variation in th...

Birch bark tar, used as chewing gum and glue, provides rare window into life 6000 years ago