Inês Órfão

Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre (MARE) · Agência Regional para o Desenvolvimento da Investigação Tecnologia e Inovação (ARDITI)

Background Evidence of male-male courtship display is widespread across the animal kingdom. Yet, its function and evolutionary origin remain unclear. Here, we hypothesise that male-male courtship display evolved in response to selection pressure exerted by intrasexual competition during male-female courtship interactions. Intrasexual competition ca...

Marinas are a gateway for the introduction and establishment of non-indigenous species (NIS). In these habitats, competition and predation are crucial determinants for NIS establishment and invasiveness. However, fish trophic preferences and biotic effects inside marinas are poorly known. This study proposes a novel method that combines the deploym...

This letter to the editor describes the surge of “photo-friendly” stacks of stones as an emerging tourism-associated threat to rock-dwelling biodiversity.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is the most severe form of depression and the leading cause of disability worldwide. When considering research approaches aimed at understanding MDD, it is important that their effectiveness is evaluated. Here, we assessed the effectiveness of original studies on MDD by rating their contributions to subsequent medica...

Sexual selection theory suggests that males need to constantly reappraise their mating decisions to take account of the presence and the phenotypes of their rivals. Here we examine this expectation by asking: (i) If the presence of a rival influences male mating behaviour; (ii) How important is the attractiveness of the rival (absolute attractivene...

When females mate multiply, male reproductive success depends on both pre- and postcopulatory processes, including female choice and sperm competition. However, these processes can favour different mating tactics in males. Here we used the Trinidadian guppy, Poecilia reticulata, system to understand how this conflict is resolved. We asked whether k...

Early studies on determinants of social interactions among animals typically focused on the influence of factors such as age, sex, physical attributes, group size or environment. Variation within categories of these factors was often regarded as uninteresting 'noise'. However, during the past two decades individual variation in behaviour within pop...