Our new paper out today at Biology Letters @royalsocietypublishing.org shows that environmental quality, specifically the quality of food a population accesses, mediates if and how behavioural innovation is linked to survival differences among individuals.

Food quality-driven variation in the link between innovation and survival in semi-natural populations of wild mice

Abstract. Innovation underpins adaptation to environmental challenges, yet its link to fitness remains unclear. This may reflect context-dependent effects,

doi.org

Excited to share that I’ve been awarded a Walter Benjamin Fellowship to study how genetic variation and population density shape life-history in wild mice at the University of Zurich! 🐭🧬 Grateful to the @dfg.de for supporting this work. Looking forward to the collaborations and discoveries ahead! 🎉

Our new paper out on @behavecol.bsky.social We show that multiple paternity is driven by the social environment females experience, the abundance of roaming and territorial males. Polyandry and male reproductive tactics might be locked in a feedback loop. doi.org/10.1093/behe...

Polyandry is shaped by male mating behavior in house mice living in semi-natural conditions

In house mice, males use different mating strategies—some defend territories, while others roam to sneak matings—and these tactics influence paternity. We

doi.org

💥After 3 full days, it's a wrap for our early career workshop for the study of social behaviour and evolution in Greece! A huge thank you to all our brilliant participants for coming, to @biologists.bsky.social for making it possible, and HCMR for hosting us!

Almost synchronously with our new @cp-trendsecolevo.bsky.social paper on “Levelling: behaviours that constrain inequality in animal societies”, I'm also excited to advertise the first PhD student position in my Emmy Noether project @humboldtuni.bsky.social

Excited to share our paper in Animal Behaviour(@asab.org)! We show that in ♂ house mice with different reproductive tactics,innovation emerges when ecological constraints limit time & space. With @avezyrakis.bsky.social, @fragdarm.bsky.social & Anja Guenther. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Are innovators born that way, or does solving problems come from experience?🐭 In our recent(ish) paper in @asab.org with @valmazza.bsky.social & Anja Guenther, we show innovation may be inherent in wild house mice and experience makes innovators better! paper: doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2025.123441

📢One week left to apply! To promote research on #animal #behaviour in Greece, we are organizing a 3 day workshop on methods, from social evolution to collective behaviour 🐭🐟🐦🐒✨ 📍 Crete☀️ 🗓️ July 13-15 🌐 marinapapa.github.io/TRASEworksho... Supported by @biologists.bsky.social 🙏 DM for questions!

Pace-of-life syndromes fascinate me as they offer an intuitive way to understand striking individual variation across levels, yet evidence remains mixed. Our study at @ecol-evol.bsky.social shows that POLS are environment-dependent, in line with recent theory onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Evidence for Environment‐Specific Pace‐of‐Life Syndromes

The correlation between behaviour and life-history depends on environmental conditions. We show this is true when considering the quality of the food in the environment.

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

🎉 What a way to end the year! Very excited to see our new paper on 🐭 innovation and mate choice out in @currentbiology.bsky.social! doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2025.11.077 With the amazing @fragdarm.bsky.social, @valmazza.bsky.social & Anja Guenther

Here we show - using long-term data of 12 years - that serum osmolality increases in striped mice in the dry season, and the harsher the dry season, the stronger the increase, indicating dehydration. @antoinestier.bsky.social @iphc-strasbourg.bsky.social journals.biologists.com/jeb/article-...

Seasonal increase in blood serum osmolality reflects environmental harshness in the striped mouse: a decade-long field study

Highlighted Article: Osmolality is a biomarker for dehydration in mammals: data from 12 years show that striped mice have increased blood osmolality during the dry season, especially when food availab...

journals.biologists.com

Our new paper offers an explanation for the universal law that "under carefully controlled conditions.... an animal behaves as it damn well pleases." We explore how stochastic mechanisms may play an underappreciated role in generating individuality. (1/7 🧵) www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Playing dice with behavior: drivers of stochastic individuality

Animal behavior is often viewed as stemming from predictable genetic and environmental factors. However, despite our best attempts to control genetic …

sciencedirect.com

🧪ETHOLOGY: Condition-dependent risk-taking in mice! 🐭💥🍔 Lopez-Hervas et al. show that diet quality and body mass shape mice’s reactions to risk — heavier or better-fed individuals play it safer, supporting the asset-protection hypothesis! Read here, it's #OpenAccess: doi.org/10.1111/eth....

Condition‐Dependent Responses to Risk in a Small Mammal

Responses to a predation risk gradient vary as a function of the resource environment and individual condition in a small mammal.

doi.org