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Pleiotropic fitness effects across sexes and ages in the Drosophila genome and transcriptome (2023)
Journal Article
Wong, H. W. S., & Holman, L. (2023). Pleiotropic fitness effects across sexes and ages in the Drosophila genome and transcriptome. Evolution, 77(12), 2642–2655. https://doi.org/10.1093/evolut/qpad163

Selection varies between categories of individuals, with far-reaching ramifications: Sex-specific selection can impede or accelerate adaptation, and differences in selection between young and old individuals are ultimately responsible for senescence.... Read More about Pleiotropic fitness effects across sexes and ages in the Drosophila genome and transcriptome.

Polygenic signals of sex differences in selection in humans from the UK Biobank (2022)
Journal Article
Ruzicka, F., Holman, L., & Connallon, T. (2022). Polygenic signals of sex differences in selection in humans from the UK Biobank. PLoS Biology, 20(9), Article e3001768. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3001768

Sex differences in the fitness effects of genetic variants can influence the rate of adaptation and the maintenance of genetic variation. For example, “sexually antagonistic” (SA) variants, which are beneficial for one sex and harmful for the other,... Read More about Polygenic signals of sex differences in selection in humans from the UK Biobank.

Experimental sexual selection affects the evolution of physiological and life‐history traits (2022)
Journal Article
Garlovsky, M. D., Holman, L., Brooks, A. L., Novicic, Z. K., & Snook, R. R. (2022). Experimental sexual selection affects the evolution of physiological and life‐history traits. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 35(5), 742-751. https://doi.org/10.1111/jeb.14003

Sexual selection and sexual conflict are expected to affect all aspects of the phenotype, not only traits that are directly involved in reproduction. Here, we show coordinated evolution of multiple physiological and life-history traits in response to... Read More about Experimental sexual selection affects the evolution of physiological and life‐history traits.

Social immunity in the honey bee: do immune-challenged workers enter enforced or self-imposed exile? (2022)
Journal Article
Conroy, T. E., & Holman, L. (2022). Social immunity in the honey bee: do immune-challenged workers enter enforced or self-imposed exile?. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 76(2), Article 32. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-022-03139-z

Animals living in large colonies are especially vulnerable to infectious pathogens and may therefore have evolved additional defences. Eusocial insects supplement their physiological immune systems with ‘social immunity’, a set of adaptations that im... Read More about Social immunity in the honey bee: do immune-challenged workers enter enforced or self-imposed exile?.

A comment on 'The adaptive value of gluttony: predators mediate the life history trade‐offs of satiation threshold' by Pruitt & Krauel (2010) (2021)
Journal Article
Postma, E., Gonzalez‐Voyer, A., & Holman, L. (2021). A comment on 'The adaptive value of gluttony: predators mediate the life history trade‐offs of satiation threshold' by Pruitt & Krauel (2010). Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 34(12), 1989-1993. https://doi.org/10.1111/jeb.13885

Inspection of the data that accompany Pruitt and Krauel's study of individual variation in satiation threshold and a comparison of these data with the Materials and Methods and Results sections of the paper have revealed a number of issues that cast... Read More about A comment on 'The adaptive value of gluttony: predators mediate the life history trade‐offs of satiation threshold' by Pruitt & Krauel (2010).

Sexual selection can partly explain low frequencies of Segregation Distorter alleles (2021)
Journal Article
Keaney, T. A., Jones, T. M., & Holman, L. (2021). Sexual selection can partly explain low frequencies of Segregation Distorter alleles. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 288(1959), https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.1190

The Segregation Distorter (SD) allele found in Drosophila melanogaster distorts Mendelian inheritance in heterozygous males by causing developmental failure of non-SD spermatids, such that greater than 90% of the surviving sperm carry SD. This within... Read More about Sexual selection can partly explain low frequencies of Segregation Distorter alleles.

Sexual selection affects the evolution of physiological and life history traits (2021)
Other
Snook, R. R., Brooks, A. L., Holman, L., & Garlovsky, S. D. Sexual selection affects the evolution of physiological and life history traits

Sexual selection and sexual conflict are expected to affect all aspects of the phenotype, not only traits that are directly involved in reproduction. Here, we show coordinated evolution of multiple physiological and life history traits in response to... Read More about Sexual selection affects the evolution of physiological and life history traits.

Male‐biased sexual selection, but not sexual dichromatism, predicts speciation in birds (2021)
Journal Article
Cally, J. G., Stuart‐Fox, D., Holman, L., Dale, J., & Medina, I. (2021). Male‐biased sexual selection, but not sexual dichromatism, predicts speciation in birds. Evolution, 75(4), 931-944. https://doi.org/10.1111/evo.14183

Sexual selection is thought to shape phylogenetic diversity by affecting speciation or extinction rates. However, the net effect of sexual selection on diversification is hard to predict because many of the hypothesized effects on speciation or extin... Read More about Male‐biased sexual selection, but not sexual dichromatism, predicts speciation in birds.

Resistance to natural and synthetic gene drive systems (2020)
Journal Article
Price, T. A. R., Windbichler, N., Unckless, R. L., Sutter, A., Runge, J., Ross, P. A., …Lindholm, A. K. (2020). Resistance to natural and synthetic gene drive systems. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 33(10), 1345-1360. https://doi.org/10.1111/jeb.13693

Scientists are rapidly developing synthetic gene drive elements intended for release into natural populations. These are intended to control or eradicate disease vectors and pests, or to spread useful traits through wild populations for disease contr... Read More about Resistance to natural and synthetic gene drive systems.

Sibling rivalry versus mother's curse: can kin competition facilitate a response to selection on male mitochondria? (2020)
Journal Article
Keaney, T. A., Wong, H. W. S., Dowling, D. K., Jones, T. M., & Holman, L. (2020). Sibling rivalry versus mother's curse: can kin competition facilitate a response to selection on male mitochondria?. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 287(1930), https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2020.0575

Assuming that fathers never transmit mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) to their offspring, mitochondrial mutations that affect male fitness are invisible to direct selection on males, leading to an accumulation of male-harming alleles in the mitochondrial ge... Read More about Sibling rivalry versus mother's curse: can kin competition facilitate a response to selection on male mitochondria?.

An X-linked meiotic drive allele has strong, recessive fitness costs in female Drosophila pseudoobscura (2019)
Journal Article
Larner, W., Price, T., Holman, L., & Wedell, N. (2019). An X-linked meiotic drive allele has strong, recessive fitness costs in female Drosophila pseudoobscura. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 286(1916), https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2019.2038

Selfish ‘meiotic drive’ alleles are transmitted to more than 50% of offspring, allowing them to rapidly invade populations even if they reduce the fitness of individuals carrying them. Theory predicts that drivers should either fix or go extinct, yet... Read More about An X-linked meiotic drive allele has strong, recessive fitness costs in female Drosophila pseudoobscura.

Mother’s curse and indirect genetic effects: Do males matter to mitochondrial genome evolution? (2019)
Journal Article
Keaney, T. A., Wong, H. W. S., Dowling, D. K., Jones, T. M., & Holman, L. (2020). Mother’s curse and indirect genetic effects: Do males matter to mitochondrial genome evolution?. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 33(2), 189-201. https://doi.org/10.1111/jeb.13561

Maternal inheritance of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) was originally thought to prevent any response to selection on male phenotypic variation attributable to mtDNA, resulting in a male‐biased mtDNA mutation load (“mother's curse”). However, the theory u... Read More about Mother’s curse and indirect genetic effects: Do males matter to mitochondrial genome evolution?.

Fitness consequences of the selfish supergene Segregation Distorter (2019)
Journal Article
Wong, H. W. S., & Holman, L. (2020). Fitness consequences of the selfish supergene Segregation Distorter. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 33(1), 89-100. https://doi.org/10.1111/jeb.13549

Segregation distorters are selfish genetic elements that subvert Mendelian inheritance, often by destroying gametes that do not carry the distorter. Simple theoretical models predict that distorter alleles will either spread to fixation or stabilize... Read More about Fitness consequences of the selfish supergene Segregation Distorter.

Evolutionary simulations of Z-linked suppression gene drives (2019)
Journal Article
Holman, L. (2019). Evolutionary simulations of Z-linked suppression gene drives. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 286(1912), https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2019.1070

Synthetic gene drives may soon be used to suppress or eliminate populations of disease vectors, pathogens, invasive species, and agricultural pests. Recent proposals have focused on using Z-linked gene drives to control species with ZW sex determinat... Read More about Evolutionary simulations of Z-linked suppression gene drives.

Meta-analytic evidence that sexual selection improves population fitness (2019)
Journal Article
Cally, J. G., Stuart-Fox, D., & Holman, L. (2019). Meta-analytic evidence that sexual selection improves population fitness. Nature Communications, 10, Article 2017 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-10074-7

Sexual selection has manifold ecological and evolutionary consequences, making its net effect on population fitness difficult to predict. A powerful empirical test is to experimentally manipulate sexual selection and then determine how population fit... Read More about Meta-analytic evidence that sexual selection improves population fitness.

Researchers collaborate with same-gendered colleagues more often than expected across the life sciences (2019)
Journal Article
Holman, L., & Morandin, C. (2019). Researchers collaborate with same-gendered colleagues more often than expected across the life sciences. PLOS ONE, 14(4), Article e0216128. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0216128

Evidence suggests that women in academia are hindered by conscious and unconscious biases, and often feel excluded from formal and informal opportunities for research collaboration. In addition to ensuring fairness and helping to redress gender imbal... Read More about Researchers collaborate with same-gendered colleagues more often than expected across the life sciences.

Comparative transcriptomics of social insect queen pheromones (2019)
Journal Article
Holman, L., Helanterä, H., Trontti, K., & Mikheyev, A. S. (2019). Comparative transcriptomics of social insect queen pheromones. Nature Communications, 10, Article 1593 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-09567-2

Queen pheromones are chemical signals that mediate reproductive division of labor in eusocial animals. Remarkably, queen pheromones are composed of identical or chemically similar compounds in some ants, wasps and bees, even though these taxa diverge... Read More about Comparative transcriptomics of social insect queen pheromones.

Evolution of female choice under intralocus sexual conflict and genotype-by-environment interactions (2018)
Journal Article
Li, X., & Holman, L. (2018). Evolution of female choice under intralocus sexual conflict and genotype-by-environment interactions. Philosophical Transactions B: Biological Sciences, 373(1757), 20170425. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2017.0425

In many species, females are hypothesized to obtain ‘good genes’ for their offspring by mating with males in good condition. However, female preferences might deplete genetic variance and make choice redundant. Additionally, high-condition males some... Read More about Evolution of female choice under intralocus sexual conflict and genotype-by-environment interactions.

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., …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.

Local Adaptation and the Evolution of Female Choice (2014)
Book Chapter
Holman, L., & Kokko, H. (2014). Local Adaptation and the Evolution of Female Choice. In J. Hunt, & D. J. Hosken (Eds.), Genotype‐by‐Environment Interactions and Sexual Selection. Chichester: Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118912591.ch3

The evolution of mate choice remains controversial, particularly when the choosy sex receives nothing but genes from their mates. Indirect benefits are predicted to be meagre because persistent female choice depletes genetic variation in the male tra... Read More about Local Adaptation and the Evolution of Female Choice.

Cuticular lipids correlate with age and insemination status in queen honeybees (2014)
Journal Article
Babis, M., Holman, L., Fenske, R., Thomas, M., & Baer, B. (2014). Cuticular lipids correlate with age and insemination status in queen honeybees. Insectes Sociaux, 61, 337-345. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00040-014-0358-2

Eusocial insects exhibit reproductive division of labour, in which one or a few queens perform almost all of the reproduction, while the workers are largely sterile and assist in rearing their siblings. Consequently, many of the colony’s tasks (e.g.... Read More about Cuticular lipids correlate with age and insemination status in queen honeybees.

Polyandrous females found fitter populations (2014)
Journal Article
Power, D. J., & Holman, L. (2014). Polyandrous females found fitter populations. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 27(9), 1948-1955. https://doi.org/10.1111/jeb.12448

Multiple mating by females (polyandry) requires an evolutionary explanation, because it carries fitness costs in many species. When mated females disperse alone to a new habitat, their offspring may have no option but to mate with their siblings and... Read More about Polyandrous females found fitter populations.

Conditional helping and evolutionary transitions to eusociality and cooperative breeding (2014)
Journal Article
Holman, L. (2014). Conditional helping and evolutionary transitions to eusociality and cooperative breeding. Behavioral Ecology, 25(5), 1173-1182. https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/aru100

The nonreproductive helpers of many arthropod, bird and mammal species are a perennial puzzle for evolutionary biologists. Theory and evidence suggests that helping is favored by high relatedness between social partners and by certain ecological fact... Read More about Conditional helping and evolutionary transitions to eusociality and cooperative breeding.

Conserved class of queen pheromones stops social insect workers from reproducing (2014)
Journal Article
Van Oystaeyen, A., Caliari Oliveira, R., Holman, L., van Zweden, J. S., Romero, C., Oi, C. A., …Wenseleers, T. (2014). Conserved class of queen pheromones stops social insect workers from reproducing. Science, 343(6168), 287-290. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1244899

A major evolutionary transition to eusociality with reproductive division of labor between queens and workers has arisen independently at least 10 times in the ants, bees, and wasps. Pheromones produced by queens are thought to play a key role in reg... Read More about Conserved class of queen pheromones stops social insect workers from reproducing.

Fiddlers on the roof: elevation muddles mate choice in fiddler crabs (2014)
Journal Article
Holman, L., Kahn, A. T., & Backwell, P. R. (2014). Fiddlers on the roof: elevation muddles mate choice in fiddler crabs. Behavioral Ecology, 25(2), 271-275. https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/art125

Biological signaling usually occurs in complex environments, yet signals are most often studied in controlled experiments that strip away this complexity. Male fiddler crabs possess one enlarged claw that is waved during courtship displays, and femal... Read More about Fiddlers on the roof: elevation muddles mate choice in fiddler crabs.

Caste load and the evolution of reproductive skew (2013)
Journal Article
Holman, L. (2014). Caste load and the evolution of reproductive skew. American Naturalist, 183(1), 84-95. https://doi.org/10.1086/674052

Reproductive skew theory seeks to explain how reproduction is divided among group members in animal societies. Existing theory is framed almost entirely in terms of selection, though nonadaptive processes must also play some role in the evolution of... Read More about Caste load and the evolution of reproductive skew.

The evolution of genomic imprinting: costs, benefits and long-term consequences (2013)
Journal Article
Holman, L., & Kokko, . H. (2014). The evolution of genomic imprinting: costs, benefits and long-term consequences. Biological Reviews, 89(3), 568-587. https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.12069

Genomic imprinting refers to a pattern of gene expression in which a specific parent's allele is either under‐expressed or completely silenced. Imprinting is an evolutionary conundrum because it appears to incur the costs of diploidy (e.g. presenting... Read More about The evolution of genomic imprinting: costs, benefits and long-term consequences.

Crozier’s paradox revisited: maintenance of genetic recognition systems by disassortative mating (2013)
Journal Article
Holman, L., van Zweden, J. S., Linksvayer, T. A., & d’Ettorre, P. (2013). Crozier’s paradox revisited: maintenance of genetic recognition systems by disassortative mating. BMC Evolutionary Biology, 13, 211. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2148-13-211

Background Organisms are predicted to behave more favourably towards relatives, and kin-biased cooperation has been found in all domains of life from bacteria to vertebrates. Cooperation based on genetic recognition cues is paradoxical because it... Read More about Crozier’s paradox revisited: maintenance of genetic recognition systems by disassortative mating.

The evolution of queen pheromones in the ant genus Lasius (2013)
Journal Article
Holman, L., Lanfear, R., & d'Ettorre, P. (2013). The evolution of queen pheromones in the ant genus Lasius. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 26(7), 1549-1558. https://doi.org/10.1111/jeb.12162

Queen pheromones are among the most important chemical messages regulating insect societies yet they remain largely undiscovered, hindering research into interesting proximate and ultimate questions. Identifying queen pheromones in multiple species w... Read More about The evolution of queen pheromones in the ant genus Lasius.

The consequences of polyandry for population viability, extinction risk and conservation (2013)
Journal Article
Holman, L., & Kokko, H. (2013). The consequences of polyandry for population viability, extinction risk and conservation. Philosophical Transactions B: Biological Sciences, 368(1613), https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2012.0053

Polyandry, by elevating sexual conflict and selecting for reduced male care relative to monandry, may exacerbate the cost of sex and thereby seriously impact population fitness. On the other hand, polyandry has a number of possible population-level b... Read More about The consequences of polyandry for population viability, extinction risk and conservation.

Genetic constraints on dishonesty and caste dimorphism in an ant (2013)
Journal Article
Holman, L., Linksvayer, T. A., & d’Ettorre, P. (2013). Genetic constraints on dishonesty and caste dimorphism in an ant. American Naturalist, 181(2), 161-170. https://doi.org/10.1086/668828

The ultimate causes of honest signaling remain a subject of debate, with questions remaining over the relative importance of costs and constraints. Signal costs may make dishonesty prohibitively expensive, while genetic constraints could make it impo... Read More about Genetic constraints on dishonesty and caste dimorphism in an ant.

Cuticular chemistry of males and females in the ant Formica fusca (2012)
Journal Article
Chernenko, A., Holman, L., Helanterä, H., & Sundström, L. (2012). Cuticular chemistry of males and females in the ant Formica fusca. Journal of Chemical Ecology, 38, 1474-1482. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-012-0217-4

Communication between organisms involves visual, auditory, and olfactory pathways. In solitary insects, chemical recognition cues are influenced mainly by selection regimes related to species recognition and sexual selection. In social insects, chemi... Read More about Cuticular chemistry of males and females in the ant Formica fusca.

Are queen ants inhibited by their own pheromone? Regulation of productivity via negative feedback (2012)
Journal Article
Holman, L., Leroy, C., Jørgensen, C., Nielsen, J., & d’Ettorre, P. (2013). Are queen ants inhibited by their own pheromone? Regulation of productivity via negative feedback. Behavioral Ecology, 24(2), 380-385. https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/ars174

Social organisms have evolved diverse and complex regulatory mechanisms that allow them to coordinate group-level functions. Signals and cues produced by other group members facilitate assessment of the group’s current state, allowing the receiver to... Read More about Are queen ants inhibited by their own pheromone? Regulation of productivity via negative feedback.

Costs and constraints conspire to produce honest signaling: insights from an ant queen pheromone (2012)
Journal Article
Holman, L. (2012). Costs and constraints conspire to produce honest signaling: insights from an ant queen pheromone. Evolution, 66(7), 2094-2105. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1558-5646.2012.01603.x

Signal costs and evolutionary constraints have both been proposed as ultimate explanations for the ubiquity of honest signaling, but the interface between these two factors is unclear. Here, I propose a pluralistic interpretation, and use game theory... Read More about Costs and constraints conspire to produce honest signaling: insights from an ant queen pheromone.

Random sperm use and genetic effects on worker caste fate in Atta colombica leaf‐cutting ants (2011)
Journal Article
Holman, L., Stürup, M., Trontti, K., & Boomsma, J. J. (2011). Random sperm use and genetic effects on worker caste fate in Atta colombica leaf‐cutting ants. Molecular Ecology, 20(23), 5092-5102. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-294x.2011.05338.x

Sperm competition can produce fascinating adaptations with far‐reaching evolutionary consequences. Social taxa make particularly interesting models, because the outcome of sexual selection determines the genetic composition of groups, with attendant... Read More about Random sperm use and genetic effects on worker caste fate in Atta colombica leaf‐cutting ants.

Terminal investment in multiple sexual signals: immune-challenged males produce more attractive pheromones (2011)
Journal Article
Nielsen, M. L., & Holman, L. (2012). Terminal investment in multiple sexual signals: immune-challenged males produce more attractive pheromones. Functional Ecology, 26(1), 20-28. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2435.2011.01914.x

Trade‐offs between current and future resource allocation can select for elevated reproductive effort in individuals facing mortality. Males are predicted to benefit from increasing investment in costly sexually selected signals after experiencing an... Read More about Terminal investment in multiple sexual signals: immune-challenged males produce more attractive pheromones.

Wax on, wax off: nest soil facilitates indirect transfer of recognition cues between ant nestmates (2011)
Journal Article
Bos, N., Grinsted, L., & Holman, L. (2011). Wax on, wax off: nest soil facilitates indirect transfer of recognition cues between ant nestmates. PLOS ONE, 6(4), Article e19435. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0019435

Social animals use recognition cues to discriminate between group members and non-members. These recognition cues may be conceptualized as a label, which is compared to a neural representation of acceptable cue combinations termed the template. In an... Read More about Wax on, wax off: nest soil facilitates indirect transfer of recognition cues between ant nestmates.

Only full-sibling families evolved eusociality (2011)
Journal Article
Boomsma, J. J., Beekman, M., Cornwallis, C. K., Griffin, A. S., Holman, L., Hughes, W. O., …Ratnieks, F. L. (2011). Only full-sibling families evolved eusociality. Nature, 471, E4-E5. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature09832

Arising from M. A. Nowak, C. E. Tarnita & E. O. Wilson Nature 466, 1057–1062 (2010)10.1038/nature09205; Nowak et al. reply The paper by Nowak et al.1 has the evolution of eusociality as its title, but it is mostly about something else. It argues a... Read More about Only full-sibling families evolved eusociality.

Queen pheromones: The chemical crown governing insect social life (2010)
Journal Article
Holman, L. (2010). Queen pheromones: The chemical crown governing insect social life. Communicative and Integrative Biology, 3(6), 558-560. https://doi.org/10.4161/cib.3.6.12976

Group-living species produce signals that alter the behavior and even the physiology of their social partners. Social insects possess especially sophisticated chemical communication systems that govern every aspect of colony life, including the defin... Read More about Queen pheromones: The chemical crown governing insect social life.

Identification of an ant queen pheromone regulating worker sterility (2010)
Journal Article
Holman, L., Jørgensen, C. G., Nielsen, J., & d'Ettorre, P. (2010). Identification of an ant queen pheromone regulating worker sterility. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 277(1701), 3793-3800. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2010.0984

The selective forces that shape and maintain eusocial societies are an enduring puzzle in evolutionary biology. Ordinarily sterile workers can usually reproduce given the right conditions, so the factors regulating reproductive division of labour may... Read More about Identification of an ant queen pheromone regulating worker sterility.

Selfish strategies and honest signalling: reproductive conflicts in ant queen associations (2010)
Journal Article
Holman, L., Dreier, S., & d'Ettorre, P. (2010). Selfish strategies and honest signalling: reproductive conflicts in ant queen associations. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 277(1690), 2007-2015. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2009.2311

Social insects offer unique opportunities to test predictions regarding the evolution of cooperation, life histories and communication. Colony founding by groups of unrelated queens, some of which are later killed, may select for selfish reproductive... Read More about Selfish strategies and honest signalling: reproductive conflicts in ant queen associations.

Sperm viability staining in ecology and evolution: potential pitfalls (2009)
Journal Article
Holman, L. (2009). Sperm viability staining in ecology and evolution: potential pitfalls. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 63, 1679-1688. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-009-0816-4

The causes and consequences of variation in sperm quality, survival and ageing are active areas of research in ecology and evolution. In order to address these topics, many recent studies have measured sperm viability using fluorescent staining. Alth... Read More about Sperm viability staining in ecology and evolution: potential pitfalls.

Drosophila melanogaster seminal fluid can protect the sperm of other males (2008)
Journal Article
Holman, L. (2009). Drosophila melanogaster seminal fluid can protect the sperm of other males. Functional Ecology, 23(1), 180-186. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2435.2008.01509.x

Many internally‐fertilizing animals produce seminal fluid which is transferred along with sperm during mating. Seminal fluid typically contains a diverse range of chemicals that coordinate sperm storage, moderate sperm motility, provide advantages in... Read More about Drosophila melanogaster seminal fluid can protect the sperm of other males.

What use is an infertile sperm? A comparative test of parasperm function in sperm-heteromorphic Drosophila (2007)
Journal Article
Holman, L., Freckleton, R. P., & Snook, R. R. (2008). What use is an infertile sperm? A comparative test of parasperm function in sperm-heteromorphic Drosophila. Evolution, 62(2), 374-385. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1558-5646.2007.00280.x

Sperm size and number are important determinants of male reproductive success. The genus Drosophila exhibits a remarkable diversity of sperm production strategies, including the production of multiple sperm morphs by individual males, a phenomenon ca... Read More about What use is an infertile sperm? A comparative test of parasperm function in sperm-heteromorphic Drosophila.

Spermicide, cryptic female choice and the evolution of sperm form and function (2006)
Journal Article
Holman, L., & Snook, R. R. (2006). Spermicide, cryptic female choice and the evolution of sperm form and function. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 19(5), 1660-1670. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1420-9101.2006.01112.x

Sperm competition and cryptic female choice profoundly affect sperm morphology, producing diversity within both species and individuals. One type of within‐individual sperm variation is sperm heteromorphism, in which each male produces two or more di... Read More about Spermicide, cryptic female choice and the evolution of sperm form and function.

Modulation of sexual signalling by immune challenged male mealworm beetles (Tenebrio molitor, L.): evidence for terminal investment and dishonesty (2006)
Journal Article
Sadd, B., Holman, L., Armitage, H., Lock, F., Marland, R., & Siva-Jothy, M. T. (2006). Modulation of sexual signalling by immune challenged male mealworm beetles (Tenebrio molitor, L.): evidence for terminal investment and dishonesty. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 19(2), 321-325. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1420-9101.2005.01062.x

Organisms partition resources into life‐history traits in order to maximise fitness over their expected lifespan. For the males of many species fitness is determined by qualitative and quantitative aspects of costly sexual signals: The notion that ep... Read More about Modulation of sexual signalling by immune challenged male mealworm beetles (Tenebrio molitor, L.): evidence for terminal investment and dishonesty.