REVIEWS
- Genetic conflicts: the usual suspects and beyond
Summary: Diverse genetic conflicts shape a myriad of biological processes, from host–pathogen interactions to successful inheritance of chromosomes. Despite this diversity, common evolutionary and biochemical principles may dictate the course of the majority of these conflicts.
- The ecology and evolution of social behavior in microbes
Summary: To avoid misleading conclusions, the study of microbial social behavior must be grounded in ecology and account for eco-evolutionary feedback. Recent developments may facilitate this experimentally and inform theoretical frameworks.
- Machine vision methods for analyzing social interactions
Summary: We review recent developments in machine vision for automatic, quantitative analysis of social behavior that have changed the scale and resolution with which we can dissect interactions between animals.
- The neurogenetics of group behavior in Drosophila melanogaster
Summary: We highlight studies that exploited computational tools and the genetic accessibility and rich social life of Drosophila melanogaster to reveal molecular and neuronal determinants of social networks and collective behavior.
- Phylogeny, environment and sexual communication across the Drosophila genus
Summary: We explore the relationship between life history, phylogeny and social communication of the Drosophila genus.
- Caste development and evolution in ants: it's all about size
Summary: Morphological castes in ants vary as a function of size, which has far-reaching consequences for caste development and evolution.
- Evolution of the asexual queen succession system and its underlying mechanisms in termites
Summary: Termite queens conditionally use sexual and asexual reproduction, where queens produce neotenic queens by parthenogenesis but use sexual reproduction to produce other colony members.
- Individual versus collective cognition in social insects
Summary: This Review discusses how social insect colonies draw on both the cognition of their individual members and the interaction networks between these individuals to form collective cognition.
- When social behaviour is moulded in clay: on growth and form of social insect nests
Summary: Ants and termites collectively build large nests with complex architecture. Here, we review the organisation of these structures and the mechanisms involved in their construction.
- Modification of feeding circuits in the evolution of social behavior
Summary: Social behaviors are linked to foraging behavior on a behavioral and mechanistic level, and we propose that modifications of feeding circuits are crucial in the evolution of social behaviors.
- Cognitive skills and the evolution of social systems
Summary: Animals interacting successfully use cognitive skills such as recognizing individuals, their social rank and logic as described here in a cichlid fish, and the neural bases of these skills are identified.
- Intergenerational transmission of sociality: the role of parents in shaping social behavior in monogamous and non-monogamous species
Summary: In this paper, we review the ways in which parents shape social behavior in offspring, in both monogamous and non-monogamous mammals.
- How social learning adds up to a culture: from birdsong to human public opinion
Summary: We review recent converging studies, across birdsongs and human cultures, about how social learning adds up to a stable but rich culture.
This issue
JUMP TO
Other journals from The Company of Biologists
Editors’ choice – Vision is highly sensitive to oxygen availability in marine invertebrate larvae
Visual systems are highly metabolically demanding, making them sensitive to fluctuations in oxygen. For marine animals, vision is crucial to survival, but oxygen levels can vary greatly over time and depending on water depth. Lillian McCormick, Lisa Levin and Nicholas Oesch now assess the impact of reduced oxygen on the vision of marine invertebrate larvae.
“When I started at Carleton, I was interested in physics, but it turned out that I was inspired by my high school teacher and not by the subject itself.”
Heath MacMillan is an Assistant Professor at Carleton University, Canada, where he studies the physiological mechanisms limiting ectotherm performance. In this interview, Heath talks about what inspired him to become a scientist, his experience as an early career researcher, and his opinion on pre-prints in the comparative physiology field.
Obituary – Ewald R. Weibel (1929-2019)
Ewald R. Weibel passed away in February, aged 89. He continued to be fully engaged scientifically at the time of his death, preparing a draft introduction for his ultimate research paper just two weeks before his final hospitalization, write Hans Hoppeler and Stan Lindstedt. His articles and books cover three main areas: lung structure and function, stereology, and the design of the respiratory system. He will be remembered as an outstanding scientist.
The Peter Baker Fellowship is for post-doctoral scientists interested in marine biology research, especially physiological research. This fund is held in trust by the Physiological Society, The Company of Biologists and the Marine Biological Association. Application deadline: 31 January 2020.
If you’re going to the SEB annual meeting in Seville from 2 to 5 July, call by our stand to chat to JEB Reviews Editors Charlotte Rutledge and Stefan Galander and pick up free JEB goodies!
The Company of Biologists provide grants to fund scientific meetings, workshops and conferences in the fields covered by our journals. Typically, meetings with fewer than 100 people may be granted up to £2,000, increasing up to £6,000 for about 400 people. The next deadline to apply is 02 September 2019.
preLights – Active behaviour during early development shapes glucocorticoid reactivity
JEB Monitoring Editor and guest preLighter Katie Gilmour highlights a preprint from Luis Castillo-Ramírez, Soojin Ryu and Rodrigo De Marco, who establish developing zebrafish as a model system to study how early-life stress modulates the function of the stress axis and stress responses later in life.