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Gaurav Athreya

@gauravathreya.bsky.social
692 followers 532 following 41 posts

maths, community & evolutionary ecology, evolution of cooperation. PhD-ing kokkonut in Mainz. amateur hiker and bread baker, professional stick insect parent. Previously: IISER Pune & the MPI for Evolutionary Biology

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Reposted by Gaurav Athreya
Jeremy Van Cleve @vancleve.theoretical.bio · 29/09/2026
My group is recruiting a Ph.D student for Fall 2027! We're a friendly group of mathematically-minded and computationally-inspired biologists studying topics including social evolution, host-pathogen interactions, genetics, and demography. See vancleve.theoretical.bio for more info!
vancleve.theoretical.bio
van cleve research group
Van Cleve Research Group – theoretical evolution & ecology at the University of Kentucky
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arXiv q-bio.PE Populations and Evolution @qbiope-bot.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Zhuolin Qu, Abhi Ashwath: Structures of the Basic Reproduction Number $R_0$ Across Compartmental Disease Models arxiv.org/abs/2609.13668 arxiv.org/pdf/2609.13668 arxiv.org/html/2609.13668
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singular locus sarah @scgriffith.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
tried to explain to someone why openai's actions are so serious. not to be dramatic but we are in hell and all the demons are here
there are tons of issues here. almost impossible to convey how bad things are. in no particular order:

    this research breakthrough was a consequence of dumping tons of money into the ai companies. if the future of the field means being entangled with openai et al. and extreme expenses that is going to upend mathematics in a much bigger way than ability to prove new things will. this hasn’t been a focal point of discussion yet but it looks to be at the center of mathematics going forward imo.

    possibly for legal reasons, the statement stops short of accusing openai of stealing their in progress work. as in literally snaking their documents off the cloud and using them to try to undercut researchers. but it’s very clear that that is what the author believes happened

    openai straight up threatened the mathematician in question. in a colloquial sense they’re engaging in extortion. apparently this is so routine for them that they didn’t even stop to consider that they can’t threaten an academic’s career (or they assumed the mathematician would understand there will be no academic careers in the future)

    openai is straight up lying about their research methods. there are various ways that their announcements have had the potential to be misleading (for example when you see “we spent $2000 to compute these proofs” ask how much they spent on attempts that didn’t work). but what they’re saying may generally just not be true even in a literal sense
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bioRxiv Ecology @biorxiv-ecology.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Geometric scaling of non-consumptive interactions generates sublinear density dependence and reshapes coexistence www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/20…
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Gaurav Athreya @gauravathreya.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
i promised myself that for every self plug I would make at least one non-promotional skeet. and thus you all get to see the new ant colony I am co-parenting with @utharasrini.bsky.social (species is Dolichoderus quadripunctatus, arboreal & found all over Europe). they recently produced sexuals too!
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Reposted by Gaurav Athreya
E. Yağmur Erten @yagmurerten.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
It’s been so rewarding to brainstorm with this super talented and enthusiastic bunch; I’m very happy to be a part of this paper 🤩 Check out @gauravathreya.bsky.social’s thread and our preprint to learn more!
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Gaurav Athreya @gauravathreya.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
wanna read the latest overview of “internal evolutionary conflicts” — scenarios where genes spread despite being organism-deleterious? and wanna learn how to model them? look at our new preprint! we introduce unifying ideas, and try hard to write accessibly. small 🧵 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
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E. Yağmur Erten @yagmurerten.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Mathematical Models in Ecology and Evolution starts tomorrow in Cork, Ireland! @shikharabhat.bsky.social, @gauravathreya.bsky.social and I are organizing a mini-symposium on internal evolutionary conflicts, join us on Thursday! #MMEE2026
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Shikhara Bhat @shikharabhat.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
If you like multi-level selection, you may enjoy (models of) ageing. @kokkonut.bsky.social and I show that the mortality patterns generated by dem. senescence are formally equivalent to a multi-level selection process! arxiv.org/abs/2607.00262 Confused? So were we! A short explainer thread below
arxiv.org
Demographic senescence as multi-level selection in miniature
Multi-level selection and senescence do not at first sight have much in common. Here, we demonstrate that the emergent mortality patterns generated by demographic senescence can be understood as the p...
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Michael Sieber @michaelsieber.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Have ideas for your own, independent research program in Theoretical Biology? Then come and join us as a Group Leader at the @mpi-evolbio.bsky.social in Plön, Germany!
mpg.de
Group Leader in Theoretical Biology (m/f/d)
Experience in Theoretical Biology, Applied Mathematics, Theoretical Physics
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Timothy Gowers @wtgowers.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
OpenAI's claim that this is a central conjecture in discrete geometry is not an exaggeration. This will I think be looked back on as the first time that AI solved a major mathematics problem (defined as a problem that all experts in some subfield had thought about). openai.com/index/model-...
openai.com
An OpenAI model has disproved a central conjecture in discrete geometry
An OpenAI model solved the 80-year-old unit distance problem, disproving a major conjecture in discrete geometry and marking a milestone in AI-driven mathematics.
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Harman Jaggi @harmanjaggi.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
Excited to share our new preprint on noise and determinism in Trinidadian guppy population dynamics! Thanks to all collaborators: Ron, Joe, Arshed, Dave & Simon. We develop a framework for quantifying how stochasticity alters equilibrium structure, stability and vulnerability to perturbations. 1/5
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Tomos Potter @tomospotter.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
New paper on how an invasive parasite alters community structure - out now ahead of print in @animalecology.bsky.social! Co-led with Ryan Mohammed, with huge thanks to the very many interns who helped gather data over the years! A very brief thread on what happened and what we found out 🧪🧵:
Background image: giant worms from the Dune movies chasing a fleeing human populace. Lurid red text, in the style of a B-movie title reads: Attack of the killer worms!!!. There is also a screenshot of the journal article heading (Journal of Animal Ecology, researh article titled: Parasites alter host community structure in a natural experiment). Authors are me (Tomos Potter), Ryan S. Mohammed, Joshua F. Goldberg, David N. Reznick, Joseph Travis, and Ronald D. Bassar.
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Noah Whiteman @nkwhiteman.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
Image of a cross section of a different plant species from same site (~409 million years old) taken by Hans Kerp. You can see the packed parenchyma cells and also the presumably mutualistic mycorrhizal fungi (blue ring) that were partners of land plants from the beginning…glass-like preservation.
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EvolDir @evoldir.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
📣 EvolDir is now managed by @eseb.bsky.social! We are delighted to be taking the reins and express our gratitude to both Brian Golding who began this service to the community in the mid-1980s and to @rdmpage.bsky.social who ran this account until now 👏 You can now find evoldir here: evoldir.net
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bioRxiv Evolutionary Biology @biorxiv-evobio.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
Evolutionary invasion analysis for structured populations: a synthesis www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/20…
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Ina Huylmans @ahuylmans.bsky.social · 10/03/2026
Applications for our international Master‘s programme in Evolutionary Biology open again soon! We offer teaching and exciting research in molecular and experimental evolution, behaviour, ecology to genomics, bioinformatics and modelling. Come join us at JGU Mainz!
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Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 16/03/2026
4. As Jevin West and I have been saying for several years now, because a seemingly credible message no longer implies a human sender, LLMs will push us toward more emphasis on reputation and status — and as such serve as an anti-egalitarian force in all aspects of society, science included.
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Chris Klausmeier @chrisklausmeier.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Don't miss today's Dynamic Ecology interview with @clsong.com. Jeremy wasn't lying when he wrote "Reading this is going to be way more entertaining and thought-provoking than whatever you were planning to spend the next 15 minutes doing." dynamicecology.wordpress.com/2026/03/11/i...
dynamicecology.wordpress.com
“If you keep your mind too open, your brain falls out”: interview with theoretical ecologist Chuliang Song
Welcome to our latest interview with the author of a recent(ish) interesting paper. Today’s interview is with theoretical ecologist Chuliang Song. I asked Chuliang about Song & Levine 202…
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Charles Mullon @charlesmullon.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
With @saramitri.bsky.social, @sonjalehtinen.bsky.social and L. Lehmann we’ve launched the UNIL Center for Theory in Ecology and Evolution @unil.bsky.social🇨🇭 To kick things off, we’re offering short visiting fellowships for theorists in ecology & evolution. Apply & pls RP 😀 tinyurl.com/2wem36zz
unil.ch
Unil center for theory in ecology and evolution (UCTEE) - FBM Unil
Page Unil Center for Theory in Ecology and Evolution of site Faculty of Biology and Medicine hosted by the University of Lausanne
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Charles Mullon @charlesmullon.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
Many organisms, including humans, reshape their environments in ways that influence the conditions faced by future generations. We ask whether this can favour biological variation with @irisprigent.bsky.social in our new paper. Thanks to @dee-unil.bsky.social @snsf.ch www.pnas.org/doi/full/10....
pnas.org
PNAS
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...
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Cecile Molinier @cecilemolinier.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
The final part of the story: "The arduous path to obligate asexuality in Daphnia" is out in #ProcB 🥳 royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article.... 1. Instead of comparing long-established asexuals to sexuals, we generated new asexual lineages to observe the transition in action.
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Di Jiang @dijiang319.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
@science.org Evolution of error correction through a need for speed | Science #evolution 🧬🔬 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
Evolution of error correction through a need for speed
Kinetic proofreading is a class of error-correcting mechanisms in biology that expend energy to avoid mistakes during replication, transcription, and translation. Proofreading is typically assumed to ...
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EMPSEB 31 @empseb.bsky.social · 12/12/2025
📢 The Call for Abstracts for #EMPSEB31 is now open! 🔗 Full details & submission info on our website. ✈️ Applying for an ESEB Travel Grant? ⏰ Abstract deadline for travel-grant applicants: January 15, 2026 ⏳ General abstract deadline: February 1, 2026 #EvoBio #PhD #EMPSEB31
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Vaishnavi S @vaishs.bsky.social · 09/01/2026
This is very cool! (Two of my favourite things coming together — etymology and computer science!)
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Elisa Granato @prokaryota.bsky.social · 07/01/2026
JOB ALERT! 📢 For the scientists who love science communication: we’re hiring at @kurzgesagt.org !🌍 Come join our team, the vibes are impeccable. ✍️ Scriptwriter (Remote) kurzgesagt.org/careers/scri... 🔍 Fact-Checker & Researcher (Munich/Berlin/Remote) kurzgesagt.org/careers/seni...
kurzgesagt.org
Job listing for (Senior) Fact-Checker & Researcher (all genders) | kurzgesagt
Want to work with kurzgesagt? We have an open role as (Senior) Fact-Checker & Researcher (all genders). Apply now to become part of a great team and start an exciting career!
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Piret Avila @piretavila.bsky.social · 29/12/2025
📢 I'm hiring! 3-year postdoc in theoretical evolutionary ecology at University of Helsinki 🇫🇮 Apply: jobs.helsinki.fi/job/Helsinki-Postdoctoral-Researcher-in-Theoretical-Evolutionary-Biology/1348955157/ #AcademicJobs #Postdoc #EvolutionaryEcology #TheoreticalEcology #ScienceJobs #AcademicChatter
jobs.helsinki.fi
Postdoctoral Researcher in Theoretical Evolutionary Biology
Postdoctoral Researcher in Theoretical Evolutionary Biology
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Kalyani Twyman @kztwyman.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
Happy to share that our paper ‘a formal theory of group-level adaptation for obligate eusociality’ (with @andygardner.bsky.social) is now out in @jevbio.bsky.social advances. doi.org/10.1093/jeb/... #OpenAccess #Eusociality #GroupAdaptation #FormalDarwinism
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Lucas Santana Souza @lucasgenoma.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
youtu.be/SkaPFKazIoc Endosymbiosis webinar series Our Guest: Gabriel H. Giger 2025.12.11 Inducing novel endosymbioses by implanting bacteria in fungi
youtu.be
Inducing novel endosymbioses by implanting bacteria in fungi - Gabriel H. Giger (ETH Zürich)
YouTube video by Lucas Genoma
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Christoph Grüter @chrisleduck.bsky.social · 20/12/2025
🚨 Tenure-track professorship at Goethe University of Frankfurt, Germany, with a focus on evolutionary ecology of social hymenoptera 🐝🐜 Initially for 6 years: www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/pr...
linkedin.com
Goethe University Frankfurt hiring Professur (W1 mit Tenure Track) für Evolutionäre Ökologie der Hymenopteren in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany | LinkedIn
Posted 11:13:19 PM. Die Professur wird zunächst auf sechs Jahre befristet besetzt, nach erfolgreicher Evaluation…See this and similar jobs on LinkedIn.
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ASAB Spring 2027 @asab-meetings.bsky.social · 16/12/2025
Congratulations to Hanna Kokko for receiving this year’s ASAB medal! Hanna has done extraordinary work and we are so pleased to honour her at #ASABWinter2025
Hanna posing with tthe medal with ASAB president Melissa
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Rob Noble @robjohnnoble.bsky.social · 29/11/2025
Now free to read in Genetics (@genetics-gsa.bsky.social): "Preventing evolutionary rescue in cancer using two-strike therapy" #mathonco study by @srishtipatil.bsky.social, @armaanahmed.bsky.social, Yannick Viossat and me, determining the optimal time to switch treatments. doi.org/10.1093/gene...
doi.org
Preventing evolutionary rescue in cancer using two-strike therapy
Abstract. First-line cancer treatment frequently fails due to initially rare therapeutic resistance. An important clinical question is then how to schedule
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popgengoogling.bsky.social @popgengoogling.bsky.social · 07/12/2024
Does TPB do something like Spotify Wrapped
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Charles Mullon @charlesmullon.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
Great opportunity for those interested in fundamental questions in evolutionary biology and mathematical models: postdoc opening in Laurent Lehmann’s group @unil.bsky.social. We have a lively community of theorists here in Lausanne with good interactions across groups. Join us ! Please RP
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Sean Carroll @seanmcarroll.bsky.social · 27/11/2025
Annual Thanksgiving blog post! This year we are giving thanks for "information." www.preposterousuniverse.com/blog/2025/11...
A graph of two probability distributions; one is high-entropy and therefore very informative (from a communication perspective), the other is low entropy and therefore rather uninformative.
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Gaurav Athreya @gauravathreya.bsky.social · 24/11/2025
i will be giving a talk on some recently published work on the 4th of December. Come by (zoom link below) if you want to think and learn about the evolution of mutual dependence and synchronised reproduction in endosymbioses!
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Michael Baym @baym.lol · 20/11/2025
Hot off the press! Our latest paper led by @fernpizza.bsky.social, understanding how plasmids evolve inside cells. These small, self-replicating DNA circles live inside bacteria and carry antibiotic resistance genes, but also compete with one another to replicate. 1/ www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
Intracellular competition shapes plasmid population dynamics
From populations of multicellular organisms to selfish genetic elements, conflicts between levels of biological organization are central to evolution. Plasmids are extrachromosomal, self-replicating g...
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EMPSEB31 @empseb31.bsky.social · 14/11/2025
🏔️ EMPSEB31 is heading to the mountains! This year we’ll meet in Oberwiesenthal, Germany (8–12 June 2026), a quiet mountain town in the Ore Mountains, right on the Czech border. Think forest trails, open skies, and fresh air. Join us for a week of science and fun!🌿 #EMPSEB31 #EvoBio #PhD
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jordivangestel.bsky.social @jordivangestel.bsky.social · 08/11/2025
Please join us for this exciting new conference on the emergence, function and evolution of biological collectives - unpacking the wonderful world of self-organization: www.embl.org/about/info/c...
embl.org
Collectivity in living systems: emergence, function, and evolution
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Nikoleta Glynatsi @nikoletaglyn.bsky.social · 03/11/2025
🗞️📣 New paper "Exact conditions for evolutionary stability in indirect reciprocity under noise" with @chilbe.bsky.social & @yohm.bsky.social How can cooperation persist in large groups of unrelated individuals? Reputation 🗣️ But which social norms make this stable, even when mistakes happen? 🧵(1/6)
journals.plos.org
Exact conditions for evolutionary stability in indirect reciprocity under noise
Author summary Understanding how cooperation can evolve and be sustained is a central question in evolutionary biology and social science. One prominent explanation is indirect reciprocity, where indi...
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Lucas Santana Souza @lucasgenoma.bsky.social · 03/11/2025
Our Guest: István Zachar. Title: Farming the mitochondrial ancestor as a model of endosymbiotic establishment by natural selection. When: 🌟NEXT Thursday, 13 of November, at 3 PM CEST (Stockholm time zone). Zoom link: umu.zoom.us/j/61448056807 #Endosymbiosis
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Ann Kennedy @antihebbiann.bsky.social · 01/11/2025
I beg your pardon?
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Quanta Magazine @quantamagazine.org · 25/10/2025
This is the Noperthedron. A portmanteau of “nope” and “Rupert,” it is the only known shape that does not have a trait called Rupert’s property. No matter how you bore a straight tunnel through it, a second Noperthedron cannot fit through. www.quantamagazine.org/first-shape-...
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EMPSEB31 @empseb31.bsky.social · 23/10/2025
🧬✨ It’s official! EMPSEB31 is coming to Germany, June 2026! Europe’s friendliest evolution meeting returns, organized by PhD students, for PhD students. Expect inspiring research, new connections, and a mix of science + fun, the EMPSEB way! 📍Save the date & follow us for updates! Link in Bio 🌍
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E. Yağmur Erten @yagmurerten.bsky.social · 23/10/2025
Applications for the MEME programme (www.evobio.eu ) are now open! MEME is a research- and mobility-oriented master’s in evolutionary biology (& I’m a proud alumna!), jointly run by the Unis of Groningen, Uppsala, Montpellier, and LMU Munich, with Harvard and Lausanne as partners. Spread the word!
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Hanna Kokko @kokkonut.bsky.social · 17/10/2025
🚨🚨Job! 🚨🚨Permanent (75% time) job! We are a pretty awesome research group & seek a manager who deals with everything: personnel tasks, organizing retreats, preparing code for teaching / data structures for research... Fluency in German & English essential. stellenboerse.uni-mainz.de#/jgu/job/51527
stellenboerse.uni-mainz.de
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Filip Husnik @filiphusnik.bsky.social · 10/10/2025
Pretty excited to share our new preprint! Non-photosynthetic Plastid Replacement by a Primary Plastid in the Making www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
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Maria E. Orive @meorive.bsky.social · 07/10/2025
And this is a society journal - from the Society for Modeling and Theory in Biology @smtpb.bsky.social !
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Ben Allen @evodynamics.bsky.social · 07/10/2025
Looking forward to this! A non-Elsevier alternative to Theoretical Population Biology / Journal of Theoretical Biology
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Journal of Evolutionary Biology @jevbio.bsky.social · 02/10/2025
Why is it so hard to detect fecundity-longevity #trade-offs in social insects? And what does this have to do with the Gospel of #Matthew?? Find out in our new paper with @kokkonut.bsky.social and Susanne Foitzik @mainzuniversity.bsky.social! doi.org/10.1093/jeb/...
doi.org
Luck can explain the positive link between fecundity and longevity: the Matthew effect in social insects and beyond
Abstract. The universality of the trade-off between fecundity and longevity in life-history theory is sometimes contested. Social insects present the argua
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