Publications
Explore our publications on social immunity in ants.
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(NeurIPS, 2024) Smoke and Mirrors in Causal Downstream Tasks
This paper looks at the causal inference task of treatment effect estimation, where the outcome of interest is recorded in high-dimensional observations in a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT).
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(Trends Parasitol, 2024) Unconditional versus condition-dependent social immunity
This review discusses the differences between unconditional and condition-dependent social immunity.
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(PNAS, 2024) Frequent horizontal chromosome transfer between asexual fungal insect pathogens
This study demonstrates that horizontal transfer of entire chromosomes, previously thought unlikely, occurs both within and across species in the fungus Metarhizium, providing a competitive advantage to recipient strains under certain conditions.
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(Curr Biol, 2024) Fungal infection alters collective nutritional intake of ant colonies
This study explores how the role of amino acids and carbohydrates in a host-parasite system: the Argentine ant, Linepithema humile, and the entomopathogenic fungus, Metarhizium brunneum.
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(BMC Ecol Evo, 2023) Trade-offs between immunity and competitive ability in fighting ant males
The study investigates the trade-offs between investment in the immune system and the ability to compete with rival males.
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(Nat Comm, 2023) Dynamic pathogen detection and social feedback shape collective hygiene in ants
The study shows that noisy individual decisions based on only local, incomplete, yet dynamically-updated information on pathogen threat and social feedback can lead to potent collective disease defense.
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(Front Microbiol, 2023) Antiviral immune response reveals host-specific virus infections in natural ant populations
The authors used a dual sequencing strategy to reconstruct complete virus genomes by RNA-seq and to simultaneously determine the small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) by small RNA sequencing (sRNA-seq), which constitute the host antiviral RNAi immune response.
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(Funct Ecol, 2023) Behavioural defences against parasites across host social structures
This review discusses how different types of social organization influence the way how individuals change their behaviour to avoid, resist and tolerate infections, how this benefits themselves, and how it affects their group members (and the entire group).
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(Nat Ecol Evol, 2023) Pathogen evasion of social immunity
This study investigates the selection pressure imposed by living in a social context. It was found that pathogens adapt to social immunity in insect colonies by producing more, though less virulent, spores. Pathogens that evolved in the social context reduced ergosterol, a key fungal component that triggers grooming, allowing them to evade collective disease defenses.
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(Nat Rev Immunol, 2022) Principles of disease defence in organisms, superorganisms and societies
Cremer S, Sixt M Nat Rev Immunol 22, 713–714 (2022)doi: 10.1038/s41577-022-00797-y Abstract Social distancing is an effective way to prevent the spread of disease in societies, whereas infection elimination is a key element of organismal immunity. Here, we discuss how the study of social insects such as ants — which form a superorganism of unconditionally cooperative…
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(Ecol Lett, 2021) Early queen infection shapes developmental dynamics and induces long-term disease protection in incipient ant colonies
The study examines the effects of infections in newly mated Lasius niger queens on the development of the ant colony.
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(Ecol Lett, 2020) Social immunity modulates competition between coinfecting pathogens
This study investigates how social host interactions influence pathogen competition during coinfections.
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(Encycl Soc Ins, 2020) Parasites and Pathogens
Schmid-Hempel P, Cremer S in C.K. Starr (ed), Encyclopedia of Social Insects, Cham, Switzerland, Springerdoi: 10.1007/978-3-319-90306-4_94-1 Contributors
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(Curr Biol, 2019) Social immunity in insects
This review discusses the different aspects of social immunity in insects.
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(Curr Opin Insect Sci, 2019) Pathogens and disease defense of invasive ants
This review discusses how pathogens and disease defense of invasive ants lead to competitive advantage over native species.
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(Encycl Anim Behav, 2019) Social Immunity
Chapter on Social Immunity in the book “Encyclopedia of Animal Behavior”
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(Science, 2018) Social network plasticity decreases disease transmission in a eusocial insect
The study shows that behavioral changes after pathogen exposure help to contain the disease. It suggests that in social groups network plasticity after contact to a pathogen helps reducing the effects of disease.
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(Ecol Evol, 2018) Social environment affects the transcriptomic response to bacteria in ant queens
The article looks at the effects of social immunity on individual immune responses. The study uses bacterial infected queens of the species Linepithema humile as a model system.
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(Curr Biol, 2018) Protection against the lethal side effects of social immunity in ants
The publication looks at how brood is protected against the harmful effects of formic acid.
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(FASEB J, 2018) Oxytocin-like signaling in ants influences metabolic gene expression and locomotor activity
In this study the authors look at the functionality of inotocin, known to be the insect ortholog of the mammalian oxytocin.
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(PNAS, 2018) Ants avoid superinfections by performing risk-adjusted sanitary care
The study demonstrates how ants adjust their sanitary care behaviors based on previous encounters with pathogens.
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(eLife, 2018) Destructive disinfection of infected brood prevents systemic disease spread in ant colonies
The study shows how Lasius neglectus ants use destructive disinfection to prevent a pathogen from spreading within the colony.
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(Annu Rev Entomol, 2018) Social immunity: emergence and evolution of colony-level disease protection
This review explores social immunity in insect colonies—collective behaviors that reduce disease impact to improve survival. It highlights mechanisms, evolutionary influences, and research gaps in understanding how social immunity affects colony fitness.
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(BMC Evol Biol, 2017) Co-founding ant queens prevent disease by performing prophylactic undertaking behaviour
The authors demonstrate that co-founding ant queens engage in undertaking behaviors typically performed only by workers in mature colonies. These infection-avoidance behaviors occur before the queens contract the disease, thereby enhancing the likelihood of successful colony founding.
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(Roy Soc Open Sci, 2017) Ant queens increase their reproductive efforts after pathogen infection
The authors demonstrate that a fungal infection prompts ant queens to increase their reproductive efforts. This boost in reproduction aligns with the terminal investment hypothesis and is observed here for the first time in a social insect.
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(Phil Trans R Soc B, 2015) Sociality and health: impacts of sociality on disease susceptibility and transmission in animal and human societies
This paper introduces a theme issue presenting the latest developments in research on the impacts of sociality on health and fitness.
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(J Theor Biol, 2015) Fungal disease dynamics in insect societies: optimal killing rates and the ambivalent effect of high social interaction rates
Entomopathogenic fungi are potent biocontrol agents that are widely used against insect pests, many of which are social insects. The authors develop a model that takes into account the main distinguishing features between traditionally studied diseases and obligate killing pathogens, like the (biocontrol-relevant) insect-pathogenic fungi Metarhizium and Beauveria: 1. these fungi produce new infectious spores only after host death, 2. their…
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(Proc Roy Soc B, 2015) Anti-pathogen protection versus survival costs mediated by an ectosymbiont in an ant host
The authors look at potential costs and benefits of Laboulbenia formicarum – a fungal extosymbiont of Lasius neglectus – levels under Metarhizium exposure.
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(Curr Opin Insect Sci, 2014) Organisational immunity in social insects
This review explores how insect societies develop interaction patterns to reduce disease transmission, known as ‘organisational immunity.’ It reviews evidence for both prophylactic measures and behaviors induced by pathogen exposure, highlighting the individual actions that support these collective defenses. The authors call for stronger connections between theoretical models and empirical research, as well as between…
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(Trends Immunol, 2014) Individual and social immunisation in insects
The authors review recent insights into individual and social immunization mechanisms in insects, distinguishing general immune protection from specific immune memory (priming).
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(Behav Ecol Sociobiol, 2014) Increased grooming after repeated brood care provides sanitary benefits in a clonal ant
The authors tested whether experience gained by repeated tending of low-level fungus-exposed (Metarhizium robertsii) larvae may alter the performance of sanitary brood care in the clonal ant, Platythyrea punctata.
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(BMC Evol Biol, 2013) Pupal cocoons affect sanitary brood care and limit fungal infections in ant colonies
The authors look at the effects of the presence of a pupal coccon on the sanitary brood care and infection patterns after exposure to Metarhizium brunneum. They suggest that the cocoon protects the pupae against fungal infections, causing an adaptive change in sanitary behaviours by the nestmates.
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(Curr Biol, 2013) Ants disinfect fungus-exposed brood by oral uptake and spread of their poison
In this study the authors show that grooming, in Lasius neglectus, besides mechanical removal of fungal conidiospores also includes chemical disinfection through the application of their poison, which main active component is formic acid.
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(Funct Ecol, 2012) Effects of social immunity and unicoloniality on host-parasite interactions in invasive insect societies
In this review the authors explore how the lifestyle of social insects and their interaction with parasites may contribute to their success in becoming an invasive pest species.
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(Plos Bio, 2012) Social transfer of pathogenic fungus promotes active immunisation in ant colonies
Social contact to pathogen-exposed individuals reduces the susceptibility to this pathogen. In this study the authors look at the mechanisms behind this phenomenon – is this social immunisation in Lasius neglectus ants based on active upregulation of the immune system, or a passive protection due to transfer of immune effectors between group members?
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(Proc Roy Soc B, 2010) Rapid anti-pathogen response in ant societies relies on high genetic diversity
The study investigats the effects of high versus low genetic diversity on both the individual and collective disease defences in the ant Cardiocondyla obscurior.
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(Philos Trans R Soc B, 2009) Analogies in the evolution of individual and social immunity
In this review the authors compare anti-parasite defences at the level of multicellular organisms and insect societies.
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(Current Biology, 2007) Social prophylaxis: group interaction promotes collective immunity in ant colonies
In this work, the authors describe the phenomenon of social immunization in ant colonies, i.e. that living together with an infectious colony member can improve later survival upon exposure to the same pathogen.
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(Anim Behav, 2007) Plasticity in antiparasite behaviours and its suggested role in invasion biology
The authors suggest that the success of invasive species may in part lie in a plastic expression of costly antiparasite behaviors.
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(Current Biology, 2007) Social Immunity
In this review, the authors describe how the collective and cooperative disease defenses expressed by social insects provide the colony with social immunity. Therefore, social insect colonies are protected against disease by a combination of the individual immune defenses of each colony member, and their additional cooperative actions to prevent or treat infection.
Social immunity
In addition to the individual immunity of all colony members, social insects protect their colonies from disease by cooperative defences. This social immunity acts to prevent contamination of the colony, infection of colony members and disease transmission, hence to improve fitness of the colony.