Breaking barriers? Ethnicity and socioeconomic background impact on early career progression in the fields of ecology and evolution.

The academic disciplines of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) have long suffered from a lack of diversity. While in recent years there has been some progress in addressing the underrepresentation of women in STEM subjects, other characteristics that have the potential to impact on equality of opportunity have received less attention. In this study, we surveyed 188 early career scientists (ECRs), defined as within 10 years of completing their PhD, in the fields of ecology, evolutionary biology, behaviour, and related disciplines.

Let's emerge from the pandemic lockdown into a fairer academic world.

At the beginning of the pandemic, as universities were shutting, a meme did the rounds on social media. Some academics suggested that they were looking forward to increased productivity in grant and paper writing under lockdown. They cited the fact that Isaac Newton came up with his theory of gravity whilst quarantined during the bubonic plague.

Drosophila Sexual Attractiveness in Older Males Is Mediated by Their Microbiota.

Age is well known to be a basis for female preference of males. However, the mechanisms underlying age-based choices are not well understood, with several competing theories and little consensus. The idea that the microbiota can affect host mate choice is gaining traction, and in this study we examine whether the male microbiota influences female preference for older individuals in the fruit fly Drosophila pseudoobscura.

The effect of gut microbiota elimination in : A how-to guide for host-microbiota studies.

In recent years, there has been a surge in interest in the effects of the microbiota on the host. Increasingly, we are coming to understand the importance of the gut microbiota in modulating host physiology, ecology, behavior, and evolution. One method utilized to evaluate the effect of the microbiota is to suppress or eliminate it, and compare the effect on the host with that of untreated individuals.

Fifty important research questions in microbial ecology.

Microbial ecology provides insights into the ecological and evolutionary dynamics of microbial communities underpinning every ecosystem on Earth. Microbial communities can now be investigated in unprecedented detail, although there is still a wealth of open questions to be tackled. Here we identify 50 research questions of fundamental importance to the science or application of microbial ecology, with the intention of summarising the field and bringing focus to new research avenues.

Insect behaviour and the microbiome.

Increasingly we are coming to understand the role of the microbiome in determining host physiological, behavioural, and evolutionary processes. Indeed it is now widely accepted that the host genome should be considered from a hologenomic point of view, with it also including the genomes of its symbiotic microbiota. Some of the most remarkable phenomena in the insect world relate to behavioural manipulation by the microorganisms associated with a host, and we here review recent progress in the study of these phenomena.

You are what you eat.

Gut bacteria is now considered as an additional host organ, and it has been shown that they have important influences on host developmental and physiological processes. More recently gut bacteria have additionally been implicated in behavioral processes. We showed that in two species of Drosophila, gut bacteria variation affects behavior, altering partner investment in copulation in relation to whether individuals were familiar (i.

Extreme cost of rivalry in a monandrous species: male-male interactions result in failure to acquire mates and reduced longevity.

Mating system variation is profound in animals. In insects, female willingness to remate varies from mating with hundreds of males (extreme polyandry) to never remating (monandry). This variation in female behaviour is predicted to affect the pattern of selection on males, with intense pre-copulatory sexual selection under monandry compared to a mix of pre- and post-copulatory forces affecting fitness under polyandry.

Kin recognition in Drosophila: the importance of ecology and gut microbiota.

The animal gut commonly contains a large reservoir of symbiotic microbes. Although these microbes have obvious functions in digestion and immune defence, gut microbes can also affect behaviour. Here, we explore whether gut microbiota has a role in kin recognition.

Sexual and natural selection both influence male genital evolution.

Rapid and divergent evolution of male genital morphology is a conspicuous and general pattern across internally fertilizing animals. Rapid genital evolution is thought to be the result of sexual selection, and the role of natural selection in genital evolution remains controversial. However, natural and sexual selection are believed to act antagonistically on male genital form.

Gut microbiota and kin recognition.

The animal gut contains a large reservoir of symbionts. Whilst these microbes have obvious physiological functions in, for example, digestion and immune defence, they can also affect their host's behavior. Increasing evidence suggests that gut microbiota alters the scent of an individual, thereby affecting mate choice and kin recognition.

Dopaminergic system as the mechanism underlying personality in a beetle.

Individuals in many animal species exhibit 'personality,' consistent differences in behaviour across time, situations and/or contexts. Previous work has revealed a negative genetic correlation between intensity of tonic immobility and walking activity levels in the confused flour beetle, Tribolium confusum, thus suggesting these beetles exhibit personality in activity-related traits. The present study investigated the mechanism underlying this correlation.

Perception of male-male competition influences Drosophila copulation behaviour even in species where females rarely remate.

Males in many taxa are known to exhibit behavioural plasticity in response to the perceived intensity of sperm competition, reflected in Drosophila melanogaster by increased copulation duration following prior exposure to a rival. We tested the prediction that males do not adjust their copulation effort in response to the presence of a competitor in Drosophila species where there is little or no sperm competition. Contrary to expectations, male plasticity in copulation duration was found in both Drosophila subobscura and Drosophila acanthoptera, species in which females rarely remate.

Evidence for strong intralocus sexual conflict in the Indian meal moth, Plodia interpunctella.

Males and females share a genome and express many shared phenotypic traits, which are often selected in opposite directions. This generates intralocus sexual conflict that may constrain trait evolution by preventing the sexes from reaching their optimal phenotype. Furthermore, if present across multiple loci, intralocus sexual conflict can result in a gender load that may diminish the benefits of sexual selection and help maintain genetic variation for fitness.

Sex ratio drive promotes sexual conflict and sexual coevolution in the fly Drosophila pseudoobscura.

Selfish genetic elements occur in all living organisms and often cause reduced fertility and sperm competitive ability in males. In the fruit fly Drosophila pseudoobscura, the presence of a sex-ratio distorting X-chromosome meiotic driver Sex Ratio (SR) has been shown to promote the evolution of increased female remating rates in laboratory populations. This is favored because it promotes sperm competition, which decreases the risk to females of producing highly female-biased broods and to their offspring of inheriting the selfish gene.

Sperm dumping as a defense against meiotic drive.

Sperm from Drosophila simulans that carry a sex-ratio distorter is preferentially lost from females' sperm-storage organs. This suggests that sperm dumping is a major factor affecting sperm competition in this species, and may have evolved in response to sex-ratio distorters.

Genital Evolution: blurring the battle lines between the sexes.

The rapid, divergent evolution of genitalia is a general trend in animals and likely influenced by sexual selection. Contrary to previous ideas, an intriguing new study suggests that sexual selection by sexual conflict can promote the evolution of both male and female genitalia.