Social insect colonies have evolved many collectively performed adaptations that reduce the
impact of infectious disease and that are expected to maximize their fitness. This colony …

Highlights•Polydomous ant colonies live in spatially separated but socially connected
nests.•Dispersed central place foraging may be a key benefit of polydomy.•Ergonomic …

The scientific study of networks-computer, social, and biological-has received an enormous
amount of interest in recent years. However, the network approach has been applied to the …

External immune defence, such as antimicrobial secretions, is not generally viewed as part
of the immune system. Nevertheless, it constitutes a first barrier to pathogens and …

Invasive species events related to globalization are increasing, resulting in parasitic
outbreaks. Understanding of host defense mechanisms is needed to predict and mitigate …

When exotic animal species invade new environments they also bring an often unknown
microbial diversity, including pathogens. We describe a novel and widely distributed virus in …

The widespread occurrence of W olbachia in arthropods and nematodes suggests that this
intracellular, maternally inherited endosymbiont has the ability to cross species boundaries …

The fitness effects of symbionts on their hosts can be context-dependent, with usually benign
symbionts causing detrimental effects when their hosts are stressed, or typically parasitic …

In animals, parasitic infections impose significant fitness costs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Infected
animals can alter their feeding behavior to resist infection, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 but parasites …

The highly invasive Argentine ant (Linepithema humile) started its colonisation from the
species' native range in South America approximately 150 years ago and has since become …