Concept

Sociality

Related publications (29)

Targeted worker removal reveals a lack of flexibility in brood transport specialisation with no compensatory gain in efficiency

Mahmut Selman Sakar, Laurent Keller, Fazil Emre Uslu

Division of labour is widely thought to increase the task efficiency of eusocial insects. Workers can switch their task to compensate for sudden changes in demand, providing flexible task allocation. In combination with automated tracking technology, we de ...

2024

A Biohybrid Superorganism - Investigating honeybees' collective behaviors via interactive robotics

Social insects, such as ants, termites, and honeybees, have evolved sophisticated societies where the collaborative efforts of "simple" individuals can lead to the emergence of complex dynamics. The reliance of each organism on the collective is so great t ...

EPFL2024

An Autonomous Robotic Platform to Manipulate Collective Behavior in Ants

Matthias Rüegg

Eusocial life is characterized by division of labour, collective decision making and self organization, and regarded as the highest form of social organisation in groups. Ants are a model organism for research in collective behavior and the evolution of eu ...

EPFL2023

Powering the social brain: Mitochondria in social behaviour

Maria del Carmen Sandi Perez, Dogukan Hazar Ülgen, Silvie Rosalie Ruigrok

A central role of brain mitochondria in regulating and influencing social behaviour is emerging. In addition to its important roles as the "powerhouses" of the cell, mitochondria possess a plethora of cellular functions, such as regulating ion homeostasis, ...

2023

Social isolation shortens lifespan through oxidative stress in ants

Alessandro Crespi, Laurent Keller

Social isolation negatively affects health, induces detrimental behaviors, and shortens lifespan in social species. Little is known about the mechanisms underpinning these effects because model species are typically short-lived and non-social. Using coloni ...

Berlin2023

The glucocorticoid receptor in the nucleus accumbens plays a crucial role in social rank attainment in rodents

Maria del Carmen Sandi Perez, Jocelin Grosse, Olivia Zanoletti, Fiona Hollis, Ioannis Zalachoras, Meltem Weger, Thomas Didier Larrieu, Alexandre Claude Gustave Bacq

Social hierarchy in social species is usually established through competitive encounters with conspecifics. It determines the access to limited resources and, thus, leads to reduced fights among individuals within a group. Despite the known importance of s ...

2020

Sensor and the Beast: Generalised Methods to Recognise Animal Behaviour and Quantify Energy Expenditure Using Inertial Sensors, and Applications

Pritish Chakravarty

How an animal allocates time and energy to different activities has repercussions for its survival, fitness, and response to changing environmental conditions. Fine-scale information on animal behaviour and energy expenditure can help develop better inform ...

EPFL2020

Astrocytic release of ATP through type 2 inositol 1,4,5‐trisphosphate receptor calcium signaling and social dominance behavior in mice

Maria del Carmen Sandi Perez, Jocelin Grosse, Marie-Isabelle Guillot de Suduiraut, Fiona Hollis, Eva Ramos Fernandez

Brain mitochondrial function is critical for numerous neuronal processes. We recently identified a link between brain energy and social dominance, where higher levels of mitochondrial function resulted in increased social competitive ability. The underlyin ...

2020

Neuropharmacology of the mesolimbic system and associated circuits on social hierarchies

Maria del Carmen Sandi Perez, Michael van der Kooij, Sriparna Ghosal

Most socially living species are organized hierarchically, primarily based on individual differences in social dominance. Dominant individuals typically gain privileged access to important resources, such as food, mating partners and territories, whereas s ...

2019

Social network plasticity decreases disease transmission in a eusocial insect

Alessandro Crespi, Laurent Keller

Animal social networks are shaped by multiple selection pressures, including the need to ensure efficient communication and functioning while simultaneously limiting disease transmission. Social animals could potentially further reduce epidemic risk by alt ...

2018

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