Multi-organism systems, as a physical system, comprise interacting biological entities from one or multiple species that collectively exhibit emergent properties not attributable to individual organisms alone. These systems encompass microbial consortia, host–microbiome assemblages, plant–pollinator networks, and multi-species communities structured by trophic, competitive, mutualistic, or parasitic interactions. They are characterized by spatial organization, fluxes of matter and energy, and regulatory feedbacks across multiple scales, often modeled using network theory, dynamical systems, and statistical mechanics. In research, multi-organism systems provide a framework for analyzing community stability, resilience, coevolutionary dynamics, and ecosystem-level functions such as nutrient cycling, productivity, and biogeochemical regulation.
A new study seeks to challenge the conventional view of a honey bee colony. Viewing colonies as superorganisms redefines the fundamental biology of the honey bee colony. These insights may have implications for modern beekeeping.
Plants & Animals
Oct 6, 2026
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302
Tropical army ants are known to form devastating armadas that march through forests eating other insects and small creatures. As they march, they deposit chemical trails of pheromones that others behind them sense and follow. ...
Plants & Animals
Sep 23, 2026
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19
Ants live in highly organized colonies and cooperate daily to tackle a wide range of problems. Their striking group behaviors have fascinated biologists for centuries and even inspired the development of various artificial ...
A study published in the Journal of Statistical Mechanics: Theory and Experiment (JSTAT), inspired by the behavior of bacterial colonies observed in previous experiments, uses mathematical models to describe the expansion ...
Ecology
Aug 3, 2026
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12
An international team of researchers have published a new review in Animal Behavior revealing how communication enables cooperation between different animal species. The review, titled "The ecology and evolution of cues and ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 19, 2026
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307
Birds in flocks, bacteria and cells: In many collective systems, individual elements respond to only part of their surroundings, seemingly defying Newton's third law of motion—action equals reaction. These exceptions are ...
General Physics
Jun 12, 2026
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320
All cells in animals, plants, fungi, and protists share a fundamental characteristic: they are eukaryotic cells—complex cells with specialized internal compartments. The cells that make up our bodies are no exception.
Evolution
Jun 10, 2026
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45
The old "monkey see, monkey do" adage may rest on some neuroscientific evidence, finds a new Yale study. To examine how the primate brain facilitates cooperative behavior among individuals during social interaction, a team ...
Plants & Animals
May 27, 2026
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25
Predators are typically larger, faster, and more powerful than the animals they hunt. Yet in nature, most attacks fail. A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, by researchers from the ...
Plants & Animals
May 1, 2026
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81
When humans are moving as a crowd, their movements tend to be highly coordinated, similarly to the collective motions of bird flocks or other groups of animals. These group behaviors can limit collisions in dynamic environments, ...
