A new simplex approach to highlight multi-scale feeding behaviors in forager species from stomach contents: application to insectivore lizard population.

Stomach contents represent complex mixture systems which depend on feeding mode and level of forager species (carnivores, herbivores) as well as on natural availability/distribution of food resources (preys, plants). Such mixture systems can be considered as small black boxes condensing wide ecological information on (i) feeding behaviors of predator (or herbivore) and (ii) local diversity of preys (or host plants). Feeding behaviors of a hunter species toward different prey taxa show a complex variability whose investigation requires multivariate statistical tools.

Family-based guilds in the ant Pachycondyla inversa.

High relatedness promotes the evolution of sociality because potentially costly cooperative behaviours are directed towards kin. However, societies, such as those of social insects, also benefit from genetic diversity, e.g.

Selection on defensive traits in a sterile caste - caste evolution: a mechanism to overcome life-history trade-offs?

During development and evolution individuals generally face a trade-off between the development of weapons and gonads. In termites, characterized by reproductive division of labor, a caste evolved-the soldiers-which is completely sterile and which might be released from developmental trade-offs between weapons and testes. These soldiers are exclusively dedicated to defense.

An immunoproteomic approach for identification of clinical biomarkers of Whipple's disease.

Whipple's disease (WD) is a chronic multisystemic infection, caused by the bacterium Tropheryma whipplei. The main clinical presentations are classic WD (CWD) with histologic lesions in the gastrointestinal tract, endocarditis, and isolated neurologic infection. The current strategy for diagnosis remains invasive.

Changes in composition of cuticular biochemicals of the facultatively polygynous ant Petalomyrmex phylax during range expansion in Cameroon with respect to social, spatial and genetic variation.

In social insects, biochemicals found at the surface of the cuticle are involved in the recognition process and in protection against desiccation and pathogens. However, the relative contribution of evolutionary forces in shaping diversity of these biochemicals remains largely unresolved in ants. We determined the composition of epicuticular biochemicals for workers sampled in 12 populations of the ant Petalomyrmex phylax from Cameroon.

Cuticular hydrocarbon profiles of dominant versus subordinate male Nauphoeta cinerea cockroaches.

Interactions between male Nauphoeta cinerea cockroaches are characterized by an elaborate ritual that leads to a stable dominant-subordinate hierarchy between two individuals. Chemical signals involving volatile sex pheromones and cuticular hydrocarbons play an important role in establishing and maintaining dominance status. The present study was performed to identify cuticular hydrocarbons in two- and three-times dominant or subordinate individuals obtained by forcing dyadic encounters.