Person
Laurent Keller
This person is no longer with EPFL
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 ...
2024The evolution of behavioral cues and signaling in displaced communication
Dario Floreano, Laurent Keller
Displaced communication, whereby individuals communicate regarding a subject that is not immediately present (spatially or temporally), is one of the key features of human language. It also occurs in a few animal species, most notably the honeybee, where t ...
2023Social 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 ...
Berlin2023Tissue- and sex-specific small RNAomes reveal sex differences in response to the environment
Pierre Gönczy, Alexandra Bezler, Frédéric Schütz, Laurent Keller, Raffaella Conconi
RNA interference (RNAi) related pathways are essential for germline development and fertility in metazoa and can contribute to inter- and trans-generational inheritance. In the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, environmental double-stranded RNA provided by ...
PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE2019Sexual conflict drives male manipulation of female postmating responses in Drosophila melanogaster
Laurent Keller, Brian Dennis Hollis
In many animals, females respond to mating with changes in physiology and behavior that are triggered by molecules transferred by males during mating. In Drosophila melanogaster, proteins in the seminal fluid are responsible for important female postmating ...
PNAS2019Social 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 ...
2018Sexual selection shapes development and maturation rates in Drosophila
Laurent Keller, Brian Dennis Hollis
Explanations for the evolution of delayed maturity usually invoke trade-offs mediated by growth, but processes of reproductive maturation continue long after growth has ceased. Here, we tested whether sexual selection shapes the rate of posteclosion matura ...
Wiley2017Automated computer-based detection of encounter behaviours in groups of honeybees
Alessandro Crespi, Laurent Keller
Honeybees form societies in which thousands of members integrate their behaviours to act as a single functional unit. We have little knowledge on how the collaborative features are regulated by workers' activities because we lack methods that enable collec ...
Springer Science and Business Media LLC2017Uncovering Latent Behaviors in Ant Colonies
Patrick Thiran, Matthias Grossglauser, Laurent Keller, Mohamed Kafsi, Raphaël Braunschweig
Many biological systems exhibit collective behaviors that strengthen their adaptability to their environment, compared to more solitary species. Describing these behaviors is challenging yet necessary in order to understand these biological systems. We pro ...
SIAM2016Oral transfer of chemical cues, growth proteins and hormones in social insects
Laure Menin, Oksana Riba Grognuz, Laurent Keller
Social insects frequently engage in oral fluid exchange trophallaxis between adults, and between adults and larvae. Although trophallaxis is widely considered a food-sharing mechanism, we hypothesized that endogenous components of this fluid might underlie ...
Elife Sciences Publications Ltd2016