Our research focuses on social interactions and their evolutionary consequences, using the a fruit fly (Drosophila prolongata) as our main study systems. For more information about our current research, visit the page of our research group here.
News
Jan 2026 – New preprint out in EcoEvoRxiv on size-mediated social behaviour and social plasticity.
Dec 2025 – Tom gave a talk at the BES Annual Meeting in Edinburgh, UK.
Dec 2025 – Tom presented a seminar at the Department of Biology, KU Leuven, Belgium.
Dec 2025 – The 4th annual meeting of the Swiss Reproducibility Network took place in Basel.
Nov 2025 – Ekaterine's paper has been accepted in Biology Letters! Some fresh insights into the behavioural plasticity and individuality of aggression in Drosophila prolongata.
Oct 2025 – Tom gave a talk in the Behavior, Ecology, Environment and Evolution Seminar at UZH.
Oct 2025 – The lab hosted Dr. Joanito Liberti, who gave a fascinating seminar talk about the microbiota's influence on the host behaviour and sociality in insects.
August 2025 – Tom presented a poster at ESEB25 in Barcelona, Spain.
July 2025 – Tom participated in the worksop of the ESEB STN Dispersal & Mating Systems in Ostana, Italy.
July 2025 – The lab enjoyed a summer outing in Lucerne, with a boat trip to Rütli, local street art, and ice cream to top it off.
June 2025 – Xiaoyan Long visited our lab and presented her theoretical work on the evolution of parental care. Fascinating!
June 2025 – Tom gave an interview for the magazine Horizons about a study recently published in behavioral Ecology.
May 2025 – Shivanshi joined the lab as a visiting masters student. Welcome Shivanshi!
April 2025 – Gayatri will present the findings from her first PhD experiment at the ASAB Spring Conference in Liverpool.
April 2025 – Tom visited the Ethological Station in Bern and presented an IEE seminar.
March 2025 – Tom was attending the entomo.ch meeting of the Swiss Entomological Society (SEG/SES) in Sion.
Feb 2025 – Tom gave the inaugural talk of the Zürich Ecology and Evolution Interaction Seminar at ETH Zurich.
Feb 2025 – Tom was at the Annual meeting of the Ethological Society (Etho2025) in Tutzing, Germany.
Feb 2025 – Gayatri presented a poster at Biology25 in Lausanne.
Feb 2025 – New paper published in Behavioral Ecology!
Dec 2024 – Tom gave an interview for the Insectes Sociaux blog.
Dec 2024 – New review paper published in Insectes Sociaux.
Nov 2024 – Tom gave an invited talk at the joint Biology Colloquium of the University of Bonn and the Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change (LIB) in Bonn, Germany.
Nov 2024 – Gayatri presented a talk at our departmental seminar. Some more exciting spider research!
Oct 2024 – The lab hosted Dr. Daniela Rößler, who gave a 'Halloween special' talk for our departmental seminar. We were very excited to learn about spiders and their sleep habits!
Sept 2024 – Tom presented a talk at the ISBE2024 Congress in Melbourne, Australia.
Sept 2024 – Welcome to Gayatri Raina, who is starting her PhD project in the group!
July 2024 – Tom co-hosted the symposium on social evolution at the 3rd Joint Congress on Evolutionary Biology in Montreal, Canada.
June 2024 – Marta Cortés Mediavilla joined the team as research assistant. Welcome Marta!
June 2024 – Tom presented a poster at the Swiss Reproducibility Conference in Zurich.
April 2024 – Kato Kikodze started her master's project in the team. Welcome Kato!
March 2024 – We were interviewed by National Geographic about our review on prey attraction strategies in spiders.
Dec 2025 – Tom gave a talk at the BES Annual Meeting in Edinburgh, UK.
Dec 2025 – Tom presented a seminar at the Department of Biology, KU Leuven, Belgium.
Dec 2025 – The 4th annual meeting of the Swiss Reproducibility Network took place in Basel.
Nov 2025 – Ekaterine's paper has been accepted in Biology Letters! Some fresh insights into the behavioural plasticity and individuality of aggression in Drosophila prolongata.
Oct 2025 – Tom gave a talk in the Behavior, Ecology, Environment and Evolution Seminar at UZH.
Oct 2025 – The lab hosted Dr. Joanito Liberti, who gave a fascinating seminar talk about the microbiota's influence on the host behaviour and sociality in insects.
August 2025 – Tom presented a poster at ESEB25 in Barcelona, Spain.
July 2025 – Tom participated in the worksop of the ESEB STN Dispersal & Mating Systems in Ostana, Italy.
July 2025 – The lab enjoyed a summer outing in Lucerne, with a boat trip to Rütli, local street art, and ice cream to top it off.
June 2025 – Xiaoyan Long visited our lab and presented her theoretical work on the evolution of parental care. Fascinating!
June 2025 – Tom gave an interview for the magazine Horizons about a study recently published in behavioral Ecology.
May 2025 – Shivanshi joined the lab as a visiting masters student. Welcome Shivanshi!
April 2025 – Gayatri will present the findings from her first PhD experiment at the ASAB Spring Conference in Liverpool.
April 2025 – Tom visited the Ethological Station in Bern and presented an IEE seminar.
March 2025 – Tom was attending the entomo.ch meeting of the Swiss Entomological Society (SEG/SES) in Sion.
Feb 2025 – Tom gave the inaugural talk of the Zürich Ecology and Evolution Interaction Seminar at ETH Zurich.
Feb 2025 – Tom was at the Annual meeting of the Ethological Society (Etho2025) in Tutzing, Germany.
Feb 2025 – Gayatri presented a poster at Biology25 in Lausanne.
Feb 2025 – New paper published in Behavioral Ecology!
Dec 2024 – Tom gave an interview for the Insectes Sociaux blog.
Dec 2024 – New review paper published in Insectes Sociaux.
Nov 2024 – Tom gave an invited talk at the joint Biology Colloquium of the University of Bonn and the Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change (LIB) in Bonn, Germany.
Nov 2024 – Gayatri presented a talk at our departmental seminar. Some more exciting spider research!
Oct 2024 – The lab hosted Dr. Daniela Rößler, who gave a 'Halloween special' talk for our departmental seminar. We were very excited to learn about spiders and their sleep habits!
Sept 2024 – Tom presented a talk at the ISBE2024 Congress in Melbourne, Australia.
Sept 2024 – Welcome to Gayatri Raina, who is starting her PhD project in the group!
July 2024 – Tom co-hosted the symposium on social evolution at the 3rd Joint Congress on Evolutionary Biology in Montreal, Canada.
June 2024 – Marta Cortés Mediavilla joined the team as research assistant. Welcome Marta!
June 2024 – Tom presented a poster at the Swiss Reproducibility Conference in Zurich.
April 2024 – Kato Kikodze started her master's project in the team. Welcome Kato!
March 2024 – We were interviewed by National Geographic about our review on prey attraction strategies in spiders.
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