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Digital preservation infrastructures often prioritize the stability of content and metadata. In taxonomy, species names are formed according to the Articles listed in the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. The reasons for these changes are rarely recorded in detail or made machine-readable. This paper examines this preservation gap. Here, we cover issues in the Code by looking at approaches to recording nomenclatural changes related to the Kākāpō Strigops habroptilus. As a potential solution, we present Codex Mutabilis, a digital journal with a publication model that documents ICZN-mandated name changes with full textual justification, persistent identifiers, and archival infrastructure. We argue that this model offers a blueprint for preserving interpretive metadata in the sciences.

The loss of biodiversity due to the likely widespread extinction of species in the near future is a focus of current concern in conservation biology. One approach to measure the impact of this extinction is based on the predicted loss of phylogenetic diversity. These predictions have become a focus of the Zoological Society of London's `EDGE2' program for quantifying biodiversity loss and involves considering the HED (heightened evolutionary distinctiveness) and HEDGE (heightened evolutionary distinctiveness and globally endangered) indices. Here, we show how to generalise the HED(GE) indices by expanding their application to more general settings (to phylogenetic networks, to feature diversity on discrete traits, and to arbitrary biodiversity measures). We provide a simple and explicit description of the mean and variance of such measures, and illustrate our results by an application to the phylogeny of all 27 extant Crocodilians. We also provide an example to illustrate how the approach extends to feature diversity.

Reliable wildlife monitoring is essential for ecology and conservation, yet many existing methods, such as tagging, capture, and close-range observation, can alter the very behaviors they aim to measure. Aerial robots offer a scalable alternative, which has shown promising performance in multiple studies. Nonetheless, existing approaches typically lack behavioral awareness, rely on fixed heuristics, or require real-world training data that are costly, impractical, and ethically difficult to obtain. As a result, there remains no general framework for adaptive drone-based monitoring that can both preserve ecological validity and scale across species, behaviors, and robotic platforms. In this study, we introduce a disturbance-aware reinforcement-learning-based framework for heterogeneous aerial robotic fleets that enables autonomous wildlife tracking while explicitly minimizing behavioral disruption. We couple a zoologically grounded simulation environment with fitted animal movement models derived from real trajectory statistics, and train control policies using a reward formulation that captures the trade-off between observation quality and disturbance risk. Across three species (pi

In recent years, zoological institutions have made significant strides to reimagine ex situ animal habitats, moving away from traditional single-species enclosures towards expansive multi-species environments, more closely resembling semi-natural ecosystems. This paradigm shift, driven by a commitment to animal welfare, encourages a broader range of natural behaviors through abiotic and biotic interactions. This laudable progression nonetheless introduces challenges for population monitoring, adapting daily animal care, and automating data collection for long-term research studies. This paper presents an IoT-enabled wireless smart feeding station tailored to Goodman's mouse lemurs (Microcebus lehilahytsara). System design integrates a precise Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader to identify the animals' implanted RFID chip simultaneously recording body weight and visit duration. Leveraging sophisticated electronic controls, the station can selectively activate a trapping mechanism for individuals with specific tags when needed. Collected data or events like a successful capture are forwarded over the Long Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN) to a web server and provided to the

Phytophagous mites in the genus Brevipalpus (Tenuipalpidae) can be major pests, causing direct damage to their host plants or vectoring viruses. However, a phylogeny-based classification to understand their evolution and predict their bioecological aspects is lacking. Accurate species identification is crucial for studying pathosystem interactions, implementing quarantine measures, and developing control strategies. This study revisited the classification of Brevipalpus based on phylogenetic relationships, identifying cryptic species and determining genetic distance boundaries. A multi-tool exploration of DNA datasets, including mitochondrial (two COI regions) and nuclear (ITS2 and D1-D3) data combined with a detailed morphological study using light and scanning microscopy, was performed. Specimens were collected from 20 host plant families from South America, Europe, and the Middle East. Species were discriminated using three different approaches, namely, Automatic Barcode Gap Discovery (ABGD), Assemble Species by Automatic Partition (ASAP), and a local regression to establish consistent genetic distance thresholds. Results indicate that the current species-group classification on

One of the greatest challenges of terrestrial locomotion is resisting gravity. The morphological adaptive features of the limb long-bones of extant elephants, the heaviest living terrestrial animals, have previously been highlighted; however, their bone microanatomy remains largely unexplored. Here we investigate the microanatomy of the six limb long-bones in Elephas maximus and Loxodonta africana, using comparisons of virtual slices as well as robustness analyses, to understand how they were adapted to heavy weight-bearing. We find that the long bones of elephant limbs display a relatively thick cortex and a medullary area almost entirely filled with trabecular bone. This trabecular bone is highly anisotropic with trabecular orientations reflecting the mechanical load distribution along the limb. The respective functional roles of the bones are reflected in their microanatomy through variations of cortical thickness distribution and main orientation of the trabeculae. We find microanatomical adaptations to heavy weight support that are common to other heavy mammals. Despite these shared characteristics, the long bones of elephants are closer to those of sauropods due to their shar

Accurate localization is essential for a wide range of applications, including asset tracking, smart agriculture, and animal monitoring. While traditional localization methods, such as Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), offer varying levels of accuracy and coverage, they have drawbacks regarding power consumption, infrastructure requirements, and deployment flexibility. Ultra-Wideband (UWB) is emerging as an alternative, offering centimeter-level accuracy and energy efficiency, especially suitable for medium to large field monitoring with capabilities to work indoors and outdoors. However, existing UWB localization systems require infrastructure with mains power to supply the anchors, which impedes their scalability and ease of deployment. This underscores the need for a fully battery-powered and energy-efficient localization system. This paper presents an energy-optimized, battery-operated UWB localization system that leverages Long Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN) for data transmission to a server backend. By employing single-sided two-way ranging (SS-TWR) in a time-slotted localization approach, the power consumption both on the an

In this paper, we borrow the large language model (LLM) ChatGPT-3.5 to automatically and quickly design a new metaheuristic algorithm (MA) with only a small amount of input. The novel animal-inspired MA named zoological search optimization (ZSO) draws inspiration from the collective behaviors of animals for solving continuous optimization problems. Specifically, the basic ZSO algorithm involves two search operators: the prey-predator interaction operator and the social flocking operator to balance exploration and exploitation well. Besides, the standard prompt engineering framework CRISPE (i.e., Capacity and Role, Insight, Statement, Personality, and Experiment) is responsible for the specific prompt design. Furthermore, we designed four variants of the ZSO algorithm with slight human-interacted adjustment. In numerical experiments, we comprehensively investigate the performance of ZSO-derived algorithms on CEC2014 benchmark functions, CEC2022 benchmark functions, and six engineering optimization problems. 20 popular and state-of-the-art MAs are employed as competitors. The experimental results and statistical analysis confirm the efficiency and effectiveness of ZSO-derived algorit

At the core of most research in zoological disciplines, ranging from developmental biology to genetics to behavioral biology, is the ability to keep animals in captivity. While facilities for traditional model organisms often benefit from well-established designs, construction of a facility for less commonly studied organisms can present a challenge. Here, we detail the process of designing, constructing, and operating a specialized 10,000-liter aquatic facility dedicated to housing cichlid fishes for research purposes. The facility, comprising 42 aquaria capable of division into up to 126 compartments, a flow-through rack for juveniles, egg tumblers for eggs and embryos, and a microinjection setup, provides a comprehensive environment for all life stages of cichlid fishes. We anticipate that a similar design can be also used also for other tropical teleost fishes. This resource is designed to promote increased efficiency and success in cichlid fish breeding and research, thereby offering significant insights for aquatic research labs seeking to build or optimize their own infrastructures.

Nature has exhibited numerous soft-interactive botanical or zoological systems with self-adaptivenss or reconfigurable shape, however, artificial micro/nano materials of same merit are formidable due to material/structural limitations, posing multidimensional challenges to current chemical/physical fabrications. Here, we propose a new nanostructured hydrogel by four-dimensional (4D) printing for function integration and dimension reduction. The cross-linked matrix relaxes or contracts in robust hierarchical heterojunction to eliminate interface issues of dual-layer desgin.

Recently discovered, the oldest human abstract drawing is around 73,000 years. Although the origins of drawing behaviour have remained an enigma to this day, light may be shone on the subject through its study among our closest neighbours, the great apes. This study analyses 749 drawings of five female Bornean orang-utans (Pongo pygmaeus) at Tama Zoological Park in Japan. We searched for differences between individuals but also tried to identify possible temporal changes among the drawings of one individual, Molly, who drew almost 1,300 drawings from 2006 to 2016. A classical analysis of the drawings was carried out after collecting quantitative and qualitative variables. Our findings reveal evidence of differences in the drawing style of the five individuals as well as creative changes in Molly's drawing style throughout her lifetime. Individuals differed in terms of the colours used, the space they filled but also the shapes (fan patterns, circles or loops) they drew. Molly drew less and less as she grew older, and we found a significant difference between drawings produced in winter, when orang-utans were kept inside and had less activity, and those produced during other seasons

Stochastic encounter-mating (SEM) models describe monogamous permanent pair formation in finite zoological populations of multitype females and males. In this article, we study SEM with Poisson firing times. First, we prove that the model enjoys a fluid limit as the population size diverges, i.e., the stochastic dynamics converges to a deterministic system governed by coupled ODEs. Then, we convert these ODEs to the well-known Lotka-Volterra and replicator equations from population dynamics. Next, under the so-called fine balance condition which characterizes panmixia, we solve the corresponding replicator equations and give an exact expression for the fluid limit. Finally, we consider the case with two types of females and males. Without the fine balance assumption, but under certain symmetry conditions, we give an explicit formula for the limiting mating pattern, and then use it to characterize assortative mating.

We propose a new model of permanent monogamous pair formation in zoological populations with multiple types of females and males. According to this model, animals randomly encounter members of the opposite sex at their so-called firing times to form temporary pairs which then become permanent if mating happens. Given the distributions of the firing times and the mating preferences upon encounter, we analyze the contingency table of permanent pair types in three cases: (i) definite mating upon encounter; (ii) Poisson firing times; and (iii) Bernoulli firing times. In the first case, the contingency table has a multiple hypergeometric distribution which implies panmixia. The other two cases generalize the encounter-mating models of Gimelfarb (1988) who gives conditions that he conjectures to be sufficient for panmixia. We formulate adaptations of his conditions and prove that they not only characterize panmixia but also allow us to reduce the model to the first case by changing its underlying parameters. Finally, when there are only two types of females and males, we provide a full characterization of panmixia, homogamy and heterogamy.

We examine the problem of snake-like locomotion by studying a system consisting of a planar inextensible elastic rod that is able to control its spontaneous curvature. Using a Cosserat model we derive, through variational principles, the equations of motion for two special cases: one in which the system is confined inside a frictionless channel, and one in which it is placed in an anisotropic frictional environment, modeling the dynamical setting of the slithering of snakes on flat surfaces. The presence of constraints in both cases leads to non-standard boundary conditions, that allow us to close the equations of motion reducing them to a differential and an integro-differential equation, respectively, for one end point (the tail) of the active rod. For the snake-like case we also provide analytic solutions for a special class of motions. We highlight the role of the spontaneous curvature in the pushing (and the steering, in the snake-like setting) needed to power locomotion. Comparisons with available experiments confirm that the model is able to capture many of the essential findings in the zoological literature. The complete solvability and the existence of analytic solutions o

Phytoplankton are tiny floating plants (algae) living in oceans. In the process of photosynthesis, phytoplankton produces half of the world's oxygen. Moreover, by primary production, death and sinking, they transport carbon from the ocean's surface layer to marine sediments. There are many species of phytoplankton that can be distinguished according to morphology. In this paper, we investigate the generalised Truscott-Brindley model of the dynamics of zoologically defined interacting populations which have spatial structure. Specifically, we consider conjointly marine phytoplankton and zooplankton populations, and model them as an excitable medium. The resolution using the Boubaker polynomials expansion scheme (BPES) along with stability analysis is carried out.

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