The American Naturalist, scholarly journal of evolutionary biology and ecology, pioneer of Open Data, affiliated with American Society of Naturalists and our nonprofit publisher (UChicago Press). All articles are Green Open Access compatible.
Kework & Pierson studied fine-scale spatial variation in reproductive tactic frequencies in two-lined salamanders and found that "searching" male frequencies were higher in small tributaries than in larger stream reaches. Read now ahead of print! www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
Weiss et al. use field observations, experiments, and simulations to demonstrate that periodical cicada nymphs use skototaxis (orientation and movement towards dark objects), to march unerringly to their molting trees at night. Read now ahead of print! www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
Abundance and Functional Roles, Not Richness, Govern Wood-Fall Degenerative Ecosystem Function in the Deep Sea by McClain et al. Available now ahead of print! www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
When organisms colonize new environments, they can experience release from previous parasites. Bolnick et al. use an experiment to track how this release leads to large fluctuations in infection rates, as well as immune evolution. Read now ahead of print! www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
Arnold et al. developed a novel extension of mechanistic home range analyses (MHRA) that is able to predict both territorial shifts following harvest and non-territorial behaviors in the elusive felid Canada lynx (Lynx Canadensis). Read now ahead of print! www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
Cissell & McCoy reveal that spatially heterogeneous predation may contribute to asynchronous community extinction, stabilizing cyanobacterial mat metacommunities despite extensive community-scale instability. Read now ahead of print! www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
Godoy et al. explored whether cooperation gives rise to mechanisms of coexistence that competition does not promote and found that cooperation promotes three unique mechanisms that diversify the pathways to coexistence. Read now ahead of print! www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
Historical Perspective: Sridhar et al. use the backstories of famous scientific papers in Ecology and Evolution to uncover the background roles of natural history that are written out of papers. Available now ahead of print! www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
Regression to the mean (RTM) is a statistical phenomenon in which extreme initial observations tend to be closer to the average upon subsequent measurement. Fontanari & Santos show that common RTM correction methods are problematic. Read now ahead of print! www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
Are DMIs actors or simple markers of the speciation process with gene flow? Check out Blanckaert & Sousa 2025 for more info! Available now ahead of print! www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
How do ranges form and persist? Hancock et al., using shovel bugs that live on sandy beaches, discovered that when dispersal is asymmetric, it can drive the production of range edges. Read now ahead of print! www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
Positional Intraclutch Variation in Egg Shape Associated with Maternal Guarding in a Shield Bug by Masamoto et al. Read this new Natural History Note ahead of print! www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
Don't miss any of the ASN events at #evol2026 ! Here is a cheatsheet of ASN and tri-society events at the Cleveland meeting this year: www.amnat.org/announcement...
Riddell uncovers that salamanders from different elevations achieve similar plastic responses through distinct molecular mechanisms, offering new insight into how populations may respond (or fail to respond) to environmental change. Read now ahead of print! www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
Effects of Herbivore-Induced Plant Volatiles on Behaviors and Reproduction in a Common Songbird by Delaitre et al. Available now ahead of print! www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
Bacteria already killed by a host's immune response make it harder to handle those still alive. The same phenomenon might also help in tuning the immune response and decreasing the costs of the pathogen. Now available open access ahead of print! www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
Antonson et al. show that cowbirds’ neck muscles are unusually fatigue-resistant, suggesting muscular innovation for exaggerated begging as a key driver for how brood parasites outcompete hosts. Available now ahead of print! www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
McKenzie et al. applied a novel pipeline to automate floral color phenotyping from community science photographs, supporting anecdotal evidence that Monarda fistulosa is deeper purple in western vs. eastern North America. Read now ahead of print! www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...