In celebration of Open Access Week we revisit some of the open access content published in the journal so far this year.
supports open access publishing as part of our commitment to the widest possible dissemination of research. In 2021 Biology Letters became a Transformative Journal, and currently around 20% of our published articles are open access.
In celebration of we revisit some of the open access content published in the journal so far this year. Take a look for any articles you may have missed and visit our website to see published throughout the years.
The ocean is vital for all of us but there is inadequate and inequitable distribution of research capacity and resources. The authors used a case study of marine research in Seychelles to illustrate some activities that can be employed to magnify research outcomes and legacy.
How can we monitor the world’s most diverse taxonomic group across time and through various landscapes? With the contribution of more than a hundred citizen scientists, nets mounted on the rooftop of cars and rapid taxonomic assessment by DNA metabarcoding, the authors of this paper set out to solve the challenge.
Processionary caterpillars Thaumetopoea pityocampa and Ochrogaster lunifer form single files when moving to feeding and pupation sites. The authors of this paper investigated if processions are guided by polarisation vision.
(open access publication funded by a Publish & Read deal)
Chimpanzees are a cultural species but it is currently unknown to what extent culture affects their lives. This study focused on chimpanzees’ social custom of hand-clasping – a grooming addition only found in few chimpanzee populations.
(open access publication funded by a Read & Publish deal)
In the oceans, marine heatwaves are an increasing threat causing, for example, recent devastation to coral reefs around the world. The authors show that these impacts extend to adjacent terrestrial systems and can negatively affect breeding of endangered species.
Using non-invasive genetic data from a large carnivore - the wolverine in Scandinavia - authors found a lower mortality probability for individuals wearing a GPS collar, compared to individuals without GPS collars.
The last Xerces blue butterfly was seen in the early 1940s, and its extinction is credited to human urban development. Some have questioned whether it was truly a distinct species, or simply an isolated population of another living species. To address this question, authors leveraged next generation sequencing using a 93-year-old museum specimen.
DNA from a 1,600-year-old sheep mummy was recovered from ChehrÄbÄd - an ancient Iranian salt mine. Ancient DNA is usually damaged and fragmented, making it difficult to work with. Here, authors found that the DNA had remarkable preservation, likely due to the salty, anhydrous environment.
(open access publication funded by a Read and Publish deal)
The organization of barbs and barbule structures in hummingbird feathers give rich optical properties to their iridescence, permitting the animal to become more or less conspicuous depending on the species. In this study, the authors perform spectroscopical and anatomical studies on the feathers of six species of the genus Coeligena.
Do you have a short, high-quality article, review or opinion piece from the biological sciences that you’d like to publish in Biology Letters? For details on how to please visit our website or contact the editorial office.
If you’d like to publish open access with us, please visit our open access publishing page and check whether your institution is in a Read & Publish deal with us. If so, and if you are the corresponding author, all open access charges are already covered by your institution.
