The European Reference Genome Atlas joins more than 600 researchers from 48 countries in Europe.
The genomic resources will help advance fundamental questions in science, biodiversity conservation, and public health.

Aggressive sibling competition for parental food resources is relatively infrequent in animals but highly prevalent and extreme among certain bird families, particularly accipitrid raptors (Accipitriformes). In this study, phylogenetic comparative analyses are applied to assess the relative importance of several behavioral, morphological, life history, and ecological variables as predictors of the intensity of broodmate aggression in 65 species of accipitrid raptors.

Sea turtles are vertebrates with temperature-dependent sex determination. Rising temperatures due to climate change cause female-biased sex ratios. Here, the influence of nest depth and shading conditions on nest temperatures and hatchling fitness
of the leatherback sea turtle Dermochelys coriacea have been assessed.

Telomere length is a marker of cellular senescence that relates to different components of individual fitness. Oxidative stress is often claimed as a main proximate factor contributing to telomere attrition, although the importance of this factor in vivo has recently been challenged.

The European rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus is endemic to Mediterranean ecosystems in the Iberian Peninsula, where it is a key species. In recent years its populations have declined due to several factors including habitat transformation and viral diseases. At the same time, corrective measures including population restocking in areas with low population densities using rabbits from other geographical areas have been performed. In this study we evaluate the impact restocking has had on the...