We offer a 3-year PhD position (65% TV-L E13, DFG-funded) for studying genomic mechanisms linked to the multiple origins of sub-sociality in beetles. Subsociality has evolved in at least ten beetle families. The project aims to discover the transcriptomic patterns linked to social evolution using transcriptomics and behavioural experiments in wood boring weevils and burying

[This is a repost to increase visibility; It is an initiative by Tomer Czaczkes] [download pdf with text & links here] The war in Ukraine is posing serious threat to researchers, academics and students. Most ofthem had to cease their academic activities, university studies included, while many had toflee their country. The Central European section

Social insect workers typically do not lay their own eggs but would do anything (including sacrificing their lives) to support their queen. The queen is the only individual producing offspring. Worker that focus on working and do not bother with reproduction are simply more efficient at their job. Once the queen dies, however, workers of

Application deadline: August 11th, 2019 Social insects typically cooperate with their nestmates but attack intruders, and they make their decisions based on odours individuals bear on their surface. Our lab would like to better understand how ants can know what their nestmates smell like. We offer a 3-year PhD position (65% TV-L E13, DFG-funded) for

Life history traits are closely linked to fitness so that selection often leaves only little room for variation. Take an organism in an environment where the optimal offspring number is ten. Perhaps the organism cannot feed more then ten offspring, and trying to raise more would result in the death of all offspring. On the

Lending ants an ear – please welcome our new curator @VolkerNehring over at German-language @realsci_DE! https://t.co/HeEsuLmgg5 — RealScientists Mods (@RealSciMods) October 2, 2017 In October 2017 I tweeted for @realsci_de for a a week, a German derivative (warning: German tweets below) of @realscientists. These are Twitter accounts curated by real scientists and science communicators on

Im März 2018 haben wir in Freiburg das Graduiertentreffen der DZG-Fachgruppe Evolutionsbiologie zum Thema “Life History Evolution” ausgerichtet. Die Hauptarbeit haben dabei die Doktoranden der Abteilung für Evolutionsbiologie und Ökologie gestemmt, namentlich Daniel Elsner, Manuel Monroy Kuhn, Jana Mähner, Victoria Moris, Thomas Pauli, Petra Schedwill, Lena Waidele und Yun Wang. Finanzielle Unterstützung kam von der

Social parasites enter social insect colonies and harm their fitness. In case of the leaf-cutting ant parasite Acromyrmex insinuator, the host is essentially castrated. Of course the host colonies try to avoid this type of fate. Their nestmate recognition systems are sensitive enough to detect and reject most intruders (see the image for what happens

Living in a group has many advantages. One of them is that you don’t have to do everthing yourself. Often, some group members are more likely than others to carry out certain tasks. Perhaps they do it because they are better at the specific task, but maybe only because they are quicker in grasping what

Artificial selection in mites Parasitic mite development time is a crucial adaptation to the mite hosts. We will conduct an artificial selection experiment to analyse this trait and its correlation with other important mite traits. I am looking for student assistants who will run the experiment. Daily checks of the mite lines will be required,