Article
Ecology
Ana Marquez-Rosado, Clara Garcia-Co, Claudia Londono-Nieto, Pau Carazo
Summary: This study examines the effects of rearing environment and relatedness on male aggression, harassment, and harm towards females in Drosophila melanogaster. Contrary to previous findings, the study reveals that unrelated-unfamiliar males are just as likely to fight and harass females as related-familiar males, and overall levels of male harm to females are similar across treatments.
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2022)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Heikki Helantera, Martina Ozan, Liselotte Sundstrom
Summary: In ant societies, multiple queens may compete over reproduction. The study shows that in Formica fusca ants, queens adjust their egg laying rate based on the kinship of their nestmates. When exposed to odor of a highly fecund non-kin queen, queens increase their egg laying rate, while if the queen is a close relative, queens decrease their egg laying rate to reduce competition. This demonstrates that cooperative breeding behaviors in Formica fusca queens are influenced by kinship and fecundity of others.
BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biology
Samuel D. Robinson, Vanessa Schendel, Christina I. Schroeder, Sarah Moen, Alexander Mueller, Andrew A. Walker, Naomi McKinnon, G. Gregory Neely, Irina Vetter, Glenn F. King, Eivind A. B. Undheim
Summary: This study reveals that the venom of R. metallica consists of a high diversity of functionally distinct toxins, and despite low genetic relatedness among individuals, there is significant genetic variation within the colony. This suggests that the increased genetic variance can provide a selective advantage in maintaining the eusociality of R. metallica by expanding the pharmacological venom repertoire.
Article
Ecology
Adam M. Fisher, Sally Le Page, Andri Manser, Daniel R. Lewis, Gregory Holwell, Stuart Wigby, Tom A. R. Price
Summary: The study found that fruit fly larvae were more likely to cannibalize non-related larval victims in both species, and this effect increased at high densities in D. simulans. There was no evidence that fruit fly larvae use social familiarity to assess relatedness. Additionally, in D. melanogaster, cannibalistic larvae preferred to cannibalize larvae that were being attacked by a greater number of conspecifics, indicating that cues linked to conspecific abundance encourage cooperative cannibalism.
FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Zoology
Keshi Zhang, Zhi-Qiang Zhang
Summary: Kin recognition is a widespread phenomenon in different taxa, and the avoidance of cannibalism may be a driving factor for its evolution. In the case of the generalist phytoseiid Amblyseius herbicolus, adults showed a preference for cannibalizing more distant kin rather than close relatives. Phenotype matching and familiarity were prominent recognition mechanisms used by A. herbicolus adults.
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Chloe A. Fouilloux, Lutz Fromhage, Janne K. Valkonen, Bibiana Rojas
Summary: Investigating aggression in cannibalistic tadpoles of dyeing poison frogs revealed that factors such as size and relatedness influence aggressive behavior. Larger tadpoles are less aggressive towards siblings compared to non-siblings, and siblings tend to attack less overall. However, size mismatches can lead to increased aggression even within sibling pairs.
BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY
(2022)
Review
Biology
Darren P. Croft, Michael N. Weiss, Mia L. K. Nielsen, Charli Grimes, Michael A. Cant, Samuel Ellis, Daniel W. Franks, Rufus A. Johnstone
Summary: This article discusses the importance of kinship dynamics and their impact on social behavior and life history evolution, highlighting new insights brought by the kinship dynamics approach in behavior and life history evolution, and exploring new research directions that analyzing kinship dynamics could provide.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Roberto Garcia-Roa, Rebeca Dominguez-Santos, Vicente Perez-Brocal, Andres Moya Amparo Latorre, Pau Carazo, Andres Moya, Amparo Latorre
Summary: Social behaviors often rely on kin recognition, and recent research suggests that altering host-associated microorganisms may provide insights into the mechanisms of kin recognition. This study investigates the effects of larval rearing environment and relatedness on gut microbiota and cuticular hydrocarbons in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. The results show that rearing environment strongly influences microbiota composition and hydrocarbon profiles, while relatedness mainly affects microbiota diversity, which in turn covaries with hydrocarbon profiles.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Sean T. Bresnahan, David Galbraith, Rong Ma, Kate Anton, Juliana Rangel, Christina M. Grozinger
Summary: Behavioural variation is essential for animals to adapt to different social and environmental conditions. This study examines the Kinship Theory of Intragenomic Conflict (KTIC) and its predictions regarding the influence of parent-specific alleles on social behaviors and gene expression in honey bees. The results provide evidence for parent-of-origin effects on bee behaviors and gene expression patterns, supporting the KTIC hypothesis.
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Brian R. R. Haney, Juergen Gadau, Jennifer H. H. Fewell
Summary: Cooperation between kin and non-kin can have functional similarities, but the evolutionary mechanisms that drive their emergence can be different. However, the mechanisms responsible for non-kin cooperation are not well studied. To understand non-kin cooperation, we compared the fitness outcomes of cooperative and solitary living strategies in ant populations. Our results show that while non-kin cooperation has annual reproductive fitness costs, it also leads to long-term survival and colony growth.
BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY AND SOCIOBIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
David A. Galbraith, Rong Ma, Christina M. Grozinger
Summary: The study reveals the presence of intragenomic conflict in honey bees, where kin selection may lead to differential expression of patrigenes and matrigenes, manifested as Parent-Specific Gene Expression (PSGE). The findings show PSGE in brain gene expression, indicating flexibility in the epigenetic mechanisms mediating PSGE across different tissues. Weighted gene correlation network analysis identified modules enriched in both types of transcripts, suggesting interplay between genes may influence intragenomic conflict.
Article
Biology
Marie J. E. Charpentier, Clemence Poirotte, Berta Roura-Torres, Paul Amblard-Rambert, Eric Willaume, Peter M. Kappeler, Francois Rousset, Julien P. Renoult
Summary: Behavioral discrimination of kin is an important process in structuring social relationships in animals. This study provides evidence of discrimination towards non-kin through phenotype matching. In mandrills, mothers guide their offspring's social opportunities towards infants who resemble their own offspring. Results show that mothers are spatially closer to similar-looking infants, indicating adaptive maternal behavior.
Article
Biology
Eva Schultner, Tobias Wallner, Benjamin Dofka, Jeanne Bruelhart, Juergen Heinze, Dalial Freitak, Tamara Pokorny, Jan Oettler
Summary: In the ant species Cardiocondyla obscurior, queens have control over the allocation of queen-worker caste, as shown by the presence of crystalline deposits that distinguish castes throughout development. While size and weight differences were found in late development, there were no discernible differences in traits that may be used in social interactions. These findings, along with previous studies, suggest that queens control reproductive allocation in C. obscurior, aligning the fitness interests of colony members to optimize resource allocation.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Entomology
Keshi Zhang, Zhi-Qiang Zhang
Summary: Cannibalism is common among phytoseiids, but the avoidance of kin cannibalism is limited. This study found that the predatory mite A. herbicolus only discriminates siblings from non-siblings during cannibalism in the adult stage, possibly due to contact with and assessment of larvae's eggs during oviposition.
EXPERIMENTAL AND APPLIED ACAROLOGY
(2022)
Article
Biology
Antonio M. M. Rodrigues, Jessica L. Barker, Elva J. H. Robinson
Summary: Sociality is common among animals, but intergroup cooperation is rare. This study explores the reasons for its rarity and the conditions that promote its evolution. The researchers find that dispersal modes play a crucial role in intergroup interactions, and that localized dispersal is more likely to lead to the evolution of intergroup aggression, tolerance, or even altruism. However, the evolution of intergroup cooperation may have ecological impacts that affect its own evolution. The study also discusses empirical evidence of intergroup cooperation in ants and primates.
PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Tuomas K. Pernu, Heikki Helantera
Article
Biology
Unni Pulliainen, Heikki Helantera, Liselotte Sundstrom, Eva Schultner
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2019)
Review
Entomology
E. Schultner, U. Pulliainen
Review
Biology
I Satokangas, S. H. Martin, H. Helantera, J. Saramaki, J. Kulmuni
PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2020)
Article
Biology
Jussi Lehtonen, Heikki Helantera
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2020)
Article
Ecology
Cigdem Uen, Eva Schultner, Alejandro Manzano-Marin, Laura V. Florez, Bernhard Seifert, Jurgen Heinze, Jan Oettler
Summary: Studying the impact of Wolbachia in tramp ants in different geographic regions has revealed the reproductive manipulation mechanism in these ecologically dominant insects, providing a new perspective on evolutionary dynamics.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
U. Pulliainen, C. Morandin, N. Bos, L. Sundstrom, E. Schultner
Summary: Through RNAseq analysis, it was found that social stimulation led to higher expression of sensory-related genes in larvae of the ant Formica fusca. These larvae expressed similar sensory-related genes as adult ants and larvae of other insects, including genes belonging to major insect chemosensory gene families. This study provides insights into the molecular changes associated with social information perception in social insect larvae.
INSECT MOLECULAR BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Entomology
Matti Leponiemi, Eva Schultner, Franziska Dickel, Dalial Freitak
Summary: Chronic exposure to widely used pesticides has been shown to affect the reproduction and other physiological traits of ants, potentially decreasing their fitness. This study highlights the negative effects of even low levels of pesticides in the environment on ant colonies, contributing to the worldwide decline of insects.
ECOLOGICAL ENTOMOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Entomology
Cigdem Uen, Julia Hacker, Juergen Heinze, Jan Oettler, Eva Schultner
Summary: The study found that the antibiotic rifampicin negatively impacted queen fecundity and colony productivity in the tramp ant Cardiocondyla obscurior, even with a delay between treatment and productivity assessment. Additionally, sperm viability of males produced in rifampicin-treated colonies was significantly reduced, suggesting a trans-generational effect of antibiotics on male ant fitness. Furthermore, the titres of the main bacterial endosymbionts Candidatus Westeberhardia cardiocondylae and Wolbachia sp. in the ant were significantly decreased by rifampicin treatment, indicating a complex relationship between the microbiome and ant fitness.
ECOLOGICAL ENTOMOLOGY
(2022)
Editorial Material
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Heikki Helantera
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2021)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Heikki Helantera, Martina Ozan, Liselotte Sundstrom
Summary: In ant societies, multiple queens may compete over reproduction. The study shows that in Formica fusca ants, queens adjust their egg laying rate based on the kinship of their nestmates. When exposed to odor of a highly fecund non-kin queen, queens increase their egg laying rate, while if the queen is a close relative, queens decrease their egg laying rate to reduce competition. This demonstrates that cooperative breeding behaviors in Formica fusca queens are influenced by kinship and fecundity of others.
BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
I. Satokangas, P. Nouhaud, B. Seifert, P. Punttila, R. Schultz, M. M. Jones, J. Siren, H. Helantera, J. Kulmuni
Summary: The study reveals extensive hybridization between five wood ant species in Finland, with hybrids occupying warmer microhabitats. This suggests that extensive hybridization may promote wood ant persistence in a changing climate.
Article
Biology
Eva Schultner, Tobias Wallner, Benjamin Dofka, Jeanne Bruelhart, Juergen Heinze, Dalial Freitak, Tamara Pokorny, Jan Oettler
Summary: In the ant species Cardiocondyla obscurior, queens have control over the allocation of queen-worker caste, as shown by the presence of crystalline deposits that distinguish castes throughout development. While size and weight differences were found in late development, there were no discernible differences in traits that may be used in social interactions. These findings, along with previous studies, suggest that queens control reproductive allocation in C. obscurior, aligning the fitness interests of colony members to optimize resource allocation.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2023)
Review
Biology
Topi K. Lehtonen, Heikki Helantera, Cwyn Solvi, Bob B. M. Wong, Olli J. Loukola
Summary: Nests are crucial for the reproductive success of many animals, and cognitive abilities play a significant role in various nesting behaviors. This review examines the evidence linking cognition to nesting behaviors across different taxa and discusses how cognitive abilities can enhance nesting success. The review also emphasizes the importance of combining experimental and comparative research to understand the evolutionary pathways underlying the associations between cognitive abilities and nesting behaviors.
PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Biology
Jason Rissanen, Danae Nyckees, Torsten Will, Heikki Helanterae, Dalial Freitak
Summary: Animals modulate their nutritional intake to combat pathogens. Formica fusca ants adjust their diet to include more aphid-supplemented foods when exposed to a fungal pathogen, reducing mortality. However, a varied diet is necessary for this benefit.