Avian hatching failure is a widespread phenomenon, affecting around 10% of all eggs that
are laid and not lost to predation, damage, or desertion. Our understanding of hatching …

The magnitude of many kinds of biological structures and processes scale with organismal
size, often in regular ways that can be described by power functions. Traditionally, many of …

A longstanding issue in biology is whether the intelligence of animals can be predicted by
absolute or relative brain size. However, progress has been hampered by an insufficient …

The size of a bird's nest can play a key role in ensuring reproductive success and is
determined by a variety of factors. The primary function of the nest is to protect offspring from …

Seasonal migration is intrinsically connected to the balance of survival and reproduction, but
whether migratory behavior influences species' position on the slow-fast continuum of life …

Aim Species interactions are assumed to be stronger closer to the equator. However,
numerous studies provided conflicting results and considerable controversy exists …

The broken-wing display is a well-known and conspicuous deceptive signal used to protect
birds' broods against diurnal terrestrial predators. Although commonly associated with …

Physiologically based kinetic (PBK) models facilitate chemical risk assessment by predicting
in vivo exposure while reducing the need for animal testing. PBK models for mammals have …

The altricial-precocial spectrum describes patterns of variation in avian developmental mode
that greatly influence avian life histories. Appraising a given species' position on this …

Conflicting theories have been proposed to explain variation in relative brain size across the
animal kingdom. Ecological theories argue that the cognitive demands of seasonal or …