Glad to share our new paper! Previously, we knew burying beetles' phoretic mites aren't just hitchhikers. Now we ask: do beetles read mites as an environmental cue to adjust reproduction? We split broods into 3 groups—no mites, 24h mite exposure then removed, mites throughout.

Symbionts unmask the latent trade-off between reproduction and survival

Biological sciences; Zoology; Evolutionary biology

cell.com

Very happy to share our new paper that we explored the complex triangle between burying beetles, mites, and nematodes. Turns out, whether hitchhiking mites act as friends or foes to their hosts depends entirely on who else is in the room. doi.org/10.1038/s420...

Context-dependent indirect effects mediate ecological transitions between parasitism and mutualism - Communications Biology

Phoretic mites shift between mutualism and parasitism on burying beetles depending on nematode density, with mites suppressing nematodes and reshaping carcass microbiomes, revealing indirect effects d...

doi.org