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Queen pheromones and reproductive division of labor: a meta-analysis (2018)
Journal Article
Holman, L. (2018). Queen pheromones and reproductive division of labor: a meta-analysis. Behavioral Ecology, 29(6), 1199–1209. https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/ary023

Our understanding of chemical communication between social insect queens and workers has advanced rapidly in recent years. Several studies have identified chemicals produced by queens and other fertile females that apparently induce sterility in othe... Read More about Queen pheromones and reproductive division of labor: a meta-analysis.

The gender gap in science: How long until women are equally represented? (2018)
Journal Article
Holman, L., Stuart-Fox, D., & Hauser, C. E. (2018). The gender gap in science: How long until women are equally represented?. PLoS Biology, 16(4), Article e2004956. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.2004956

Women comprise a minority of the Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Medicine (STEMM) workforce. Quantifying the gender gap may identify fields that will not reach parity without intervention, reveal underappreciated biases, and inform... Read More about The gender gap in science: How long until women are equally represented?.

Building a new research framework for social evolution: intralocus caste antagonism (2018)
Journal Article
Pennell, T. M., Holman, L., Morrow, E. H., & Field, J. (2018). Building a new research framework for social evolution: intralocus caste antagonism. Biological Reviews, 93(2), 1251-1268. https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.12394

The breeding and non‐breeding ‘castes’ of eusocial insects provide a striking example of role‐specific selection, where each caste maximises fitness through different morphological, behavioural and physiological trait values. Typically, queens are lo... Read More about Building a new research framework for social evolution: intralocus caste antagonism.

The effects of stress and sex on selection, genetic covariance, and the evolutionary response (2017)
Journal Article
Holman, L., & Jacomb, F. (2017). The effects of stress and sex on selection, genetic covariance, and the evolutionary response. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 30(10), 1898-1909. https://doi.org/10.1111/jeb.13149

The capacity of a population to adapt to selection (evolvability) depends on whether the structure of genetic variation permits the evolution of fitter trait combinations. Selection, genetic variance and genetic covariance can change under environmen... Read More about The effects of stress and sex on selection, genetic covariance, and the evolutionary response.

Conserved queen pheromones in bumblebees: a reply to Amsalem et al. (2017)
Journal Article
Holman, L., van Zweden, J. S., Oliveira, R. C., van Oystaeyen, A., & Wenseleers, T. (2017). Conserved queen pheromones in bumblebees: a reply to Amsalem et al. PeerJ, 5, Article e3332. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.3332

In a recent study, Amsalem, Orlova & Grozinger (2015) performed experiments with Bombus impatiens bumblebees to test the hypothesis that saturated cuticular hydrocarbons are evolutionarily conserved signals used to regulate reproductive division of l... Read More about Conserved queen pheromones in bumblebees: a reply to Amsalem et al..

Sexual selection expedites the evolution of pesticide resistance (2016)
Journal Article
Jacomb, F., Marsh, J., & Holman, L. (2016). Sexual selection expedites the evolution of pesticide resistance. Evolution, 70(12), 2746-2751. https://doi.org/10.1111/evo.13074

The evolution of insecticide resistance by crop pests and disease vectors causes serious problems for agriculture and health. Sexual selection can accelerate or hinder adaptation to abiotic challenges in a variety of ways, but the effect of sexual se... Read More about Sexual selection expedites the evolution of pesticide resistance.

Ornament Complexity Is Correlated with Sexual Selection: (A Comment on Raia et al., “Cope’s Rule and the Universal Scaling Law of Ornament Complexity”) (2016)
Journal Article
Holman, L., & Bro-Jørgensen, J. (2016). Ornament Complexity Is Correlated with Sexual Selection: (A Comment on Raia et al., “Cope’s Rule and the Universal Scaling Law of Ornament Complexity”). American Naturalist, 188(2), 272-275. https://doi.org/10.1086/687251

Raia et al. propose that the evolution of the shape and complexity of animal ornaments (e.g., deer antlers) can be explained by interspecific variation in body size and is not influenced by sexual selection. They claim to show that ornament complexit... Read More about Ornament Complexity Is Correlated with Sexual Selection: (A Comment on Raia et al., “Cope’s Rule and the Universal Scaling Law of Ornament Complexity”).

Evolution of social insect polyphenism facilitated by the sex differentiation cascade (2016)
Journal Article
Klein, A., Schultner, E., Lowak, H., Schrader, L., Heinze, J., Holman, L., & Oettler, J. (2016). Evolution of social insect polyphenism facilitated by the sex differentiation cascade. PLoS Genetics, 12(3), e1005952. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1005952

The major transition to eusociality required the evolution of a switch to canalize development into either a reproductive or a helper, the nature of which is currently unknown. Following predictions from the ‘theory of facilitated variation’, we iden... Read More about Evolution of social insect polyphenism facilitated by the sex differentiation cascade.

The ecology and evolutionary dynamics of meiotic drive (2016)
Journal Article
Lindholm, A. K., Dyer, K. A., Firman, R. C., Fishman, L., Forstmeier, W., Holman, L., Johannesson, H., Knief, U., Kokko, H., Larracuente, A. M., Manser, A., Montchamp-Moreau, C., Petrosyan, V. G., Pomiankowski, A., Presgraves, D. C., Safronova, L. D., Sutter, A., Unckless, R. L., Verspoor, R. L., Wedell, N., …Price, T. A. R. (2016). The ecology and evolutionary dynamics of meiotic drive. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 31(4), 315-326. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2016.02.001

Meiotic drivers are genetic variants that selfishly manipulate the production of gametes to increase their own rate of transmission, often to the detriment of the rest of the genome and the individual that carries them. This genomic conflict potentia... Read More about The ecology and evolutionary dynamics of meiotic drive.

Queen pheromones modulate DNA methyltransferase activity in bee and ant workers (2016)
Journal Article
Holman, L., Trontti, K., & Helanterä, H. (2016). Queen pheromones modulate DNA methyltransferase activity in bee and ant workers. Biology Letters, 12(1), https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2015.1038

DNA methylation is emerging as an important regulator of polyphenism in the social insects. Research has concentrated on differences in methylation between queens and workers, though we hypothesized that methylation is involved in mediating other fle... Read More about Queen pheromones modulate DNA methyltransferase activity in bee and ant workers.

Highly specific responses to queen pheromone in three Lasius ant species (2016)
Journal Article
Holman, L., Hanley, B., & Millar, J. G. (2016). Highly specific responses to queen pheromone in three Lasius ant species. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 70(3), 387-392. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-016-2058-6

Queen pheromones mediate the reproductive division of labor in social insect colonies and provide novel opportunities for investigating the evolution of animal communication. Previous work found that queens in the ant genus Lasius produce several 3-m... Read More about Highly specific responses to queen pheromone in three Lasius ant species.

Bet hedging via multiple mating: A meta-analysis (2015)
Journal Article
Holman, L. (2016). Bet hedging via multiple mating: A meta-analysis. Evolution, 70, 62-71. https://doi.org/10.1111/evo.12822

Polyandry has been hypothesized to allow females to “bet hedge” against mating only with unsuitable mates, reducing variance in offspring fitness between members of a polyandrous lineage relative to a single‐mating one. Theoretically, this reduction... Read More about Bet hedging via multiple mating: A meta-analysis.

Evidence of experimental bias in the life sciences: why we need blind data recording (2015)
Journal Article
Holman, L., Head, M. L., Lanfear, R., & Jennions, M. D. (2015). Evidence of experimental bias in the life sciences: why we need blind data recording. PLoS Biology, 13(7), Article e1002190. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002190

Observer bias and other “experimenter effects” occur when researchers’ expectations influence study outcome. These biases are strongest when researchers expect a particular result, are measuring subjective variables, and have an incentive to produce... Read More about Evidence of experimental bias in the life sciences: why we need blind data recording.

Assessing the alignment of sexual and natural selection using radiomutagenized seed beetles (2015)
Journal Article
Power, D. J., & Holman, L. (2015). Assessing the alignment of sexual and natural selection using radiomutagenized seed beetles. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 28(5), 1039-1048. https://doi.org/10.1111/jeb.12625

A major unsolved question in evolutionary biology concerns the relationship between natural and sexual selection. Sexual selection might augment natural selection, for example if mutations that harm female fecundity also reduce male mating success. C... Read More about Assessing the alignment of sexual and natural selection using radiomutagenized seed beetles.

The extent and consequences of p-hacking in science (2015)
Journal Article
Head, M. L., Holman, L., Lanfear, R., Kahn, A. T., & Jennions, M. D. (2015). The extent and consequences of p-hacking in science. PLoS Biology, 13(3), Article e1002106. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002106

A focus on novel, confirmatory, and statistically significant results leads to substantial bias in the scientific literature. One type of bias, known as “p-hacking,” occurs when researchers collect or select data or statistical analyses until nonsign... Read More about The extent and consequences of p-hacking in science.

Coevolutionary dynamics of polyandry and sex-linked meiotic drive (2015)
Journal Article
Holman, L., Price, T. A., Wedell, N., & Kokko, H. (2015). Coevolutionary dynamics of polyandry and sex-linked meiotic drive. Evolution, 69(3), 709-720. https://doi.org/10.1111/evo.12595

Segregation distorters located on sex chromosomes are predicted to sweep to fixation and cause extinction via a shortage of one sex, but in nature they are often found at low, stable frequencies. One potential resolution to this longstanding puzzle i... Read More about Coevolutionary dynamics of polyandry and sex-linked meiotic drive.

Female preferences for timing in a fiddler crab with synchronous courtship waving displays (2014)
Journal Article
Kahn, A. T., Holman, A., & Backwell, P. R. (2014). Female preferences for timing in a fiddler crab with synchronous courtship waving displays. Animal Behaviour, 98, 35-39. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2014.09.028

Studies of sexual communication typically focus on the design and information content of a signal of interest, but the timing of signal production relative to nearby competitors can be crucial. Male fiddler crabs, Uca mjoebergi, court females with a... Read More about Female preferences for timing in a fiddler crab with synchronous courtship waving displays.

Even more functions of sperm RNA: a response to Hosken and Hodgson (2014)
Journal Article
Holman, L., & Price, T. A. (2014). Even more functions of sperm RNA: a response to Hosken and Hodgson. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 29(12), 648-649. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2014.09.014

As recently outlined in TREE [1], many animals and plants are thought to load their male gametes with multiple types of RNA, some of which enters the oocyte upon fertilization. Four classes of ultimate hypotheses for sperm RNA were proposed [1], addi... Read More about Even more functions of sperm RNA: a response to Hosken and Hodgson.

Bumblebee size polymorphism and worker response to queen pheromone (2014)
Journal Article
Holman, L. (2014). Bumblebee size polymorphism and worker response to queen pheromone. PeerJ, 2, Article e604. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.604

Queen pheromones are chemical signals produced by reproductive individuals in social insect colonies. In many species they are key to the maintenance of reproductive division of labor, with workers beginning to reproduce individually once the queen p... Read More about Bumblebee size polymorphism and worker response to queen pheromone.