The evolutionary consequences of learning under competition.

Learning is a taxonomically widespread process by which animals change their behavioural responses to stimuli as a result of experience. In this way, it plays a crucial role in the development of individual behaviour and underpins substantial phenotypic variation within populations. Nevertheless, the impact of learning in social contexts on evolutionary change is not well understood.

The Effect of Non-pooled Multidonor Faecal Microbiota Transplantation for Inducing Clinical Remission in Patients with Chronic Pouchitis: Results from a Multicentre, Randomised, Double-blinded, Placebo-controlled Trial [MicroPouch].

Background And Aims: To investigate if treatment with non-pooled, multidonor faecal microbiota transplantation [FMT] for 4 weeks was superior to placebo to induce clinical remission in patients with chronic pouchitis.

Methods: The study was a randomised, double-blinded, placebo-controlled study with a 4-week intervention period and 12-month follow-up. Eligible patients with chronic pouchitis were recruited from five Danish hospitals.

High-throughput DNA extraction and cost-effective miniaturized metagenome and amplicon library preparation of soil samples for DNA sequencing.

Reductions in sequencing costs have enabled widespread use of shotgun metagenomics and amplicon sequencing, which have drastically improved our understanding of the microbial world. However, large sequencing projects are now hampered by the cost of library preparation and low sample throughput, comparatively to the actual sequencing costs. Here, we benchmarked three high-throughput DNA extraction methods: ZymoBIOMICS™ 96 MagBead DNA Kit, MP BiomedicalsTM FastDNATM-96 Soil Microbe DNA Kit, and DNeasy® 96 PowerSoil® Pro QIAcube® HT Kit.

Behavioural specialization and learning in social networks.

Interactions in social groups can promote behavioural specialization. One way this can happen is when individuals engage in activities with two behavioural options and learn which option to choose. We analyse interactions in groups where individuals learn from playing games with two actions and negatively frequency-dependent payoffs, such as producer-scrounger, caller-satellite, or hawk-dove games.

Underappreciated features of cultural evolution.

Cultural evolution theory has long been inspired by evolutionary biology. Conceptual analogies between biological and cultural evolution have led to the adoption of a range of formal theoretical approaches from population dynamics and genetics. However, this has resulted in a research programme with a strong focus on cultural transmission.