Social insects like honeybees and hornets evolved from solitary bees and wasps, respectively. A common trait of many social insects is age-specific behavior: when they emerge from the pupa, workers typically specialize in ...
Cell & Microbiology
Nov 16, 2020
0
549
Fungus farming is a fascinating symbiosis that has evolved multiple times in social insects: once in ants, once in termites, and several times in weevils (beetles) from the subfamilies Scolytinae and Platypodinae. The behavior ...
Plants & Animals
Nov 4, 2020
0
8
A new paper in Behavioral Ecology, published by Oxford University Press, finds that wild vampire bats that are sick spend less time near others from their community, which slows how quickly a disease will spread. The research ...
Plants & Animals
Oct 27, 2020
1
1362
Ants are one of the most successful groups of animals on the planet, occupying anywhere from temperate soil to tropical rainforests, desert dunes and kitchen counters. They're social insects and their team-working abilities ...
Plants & Animals
Oct 19, 2020
1
236
You live in a crowded underground city with everyone you know. A relative comes home, and you can tell that they've been exposed to something that could get you all sick. Unchecked, a disease could wipe out your whole civilization. ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 19, 2020
0
6
Sixty-six million years ago, an asteroid struck the Earth. The world was plunged into darkness, killing the dinosaurs and over 90% of all species alive. Today, every living thing descends from the handful of surviving species. ...
Ecology
Jul 21, 2020
0
59
A team working at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) found evidence to support a long-debated mode of evolution, revealing how evolution captures environmental variation to teach old genes new tricks: Sweat ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 8, 2020
0
197
A new study from researchers at Oxford University's Departments of Zoology and Biochemistry shows that warring bacteria will engage in suicidal attacks in vast numbers to take down competitors.
Evolution
Jun 5, 2020
1
4355
As social insects, ants are particularly dependent on optimizing their communication in order to ward off enemies and to recognize individuals from their own colony. They must also protect themselves against desiccation. ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 26, 2020
0
4
Bacteria found in soil specialize in the colony by division of labor. Some of the bacteria produce antibiotics, even when it comes at the expense of their individual reproduction success, to defend their colony against competitors.
Cell & Microbiology
Jan 20, 2020
0
24
