Animal Behavior and Cognition

Geomagnetic and visual cues guide seasonal migratory orientation in the nocturnal fall armyworm, the world’s most invasive insect

1. Yi-Bo Ma
2. Gui-Jun Wan
3. Yi Ji
4. Hui Chen
5. Bo-Ya Gao
6. Dai-Hong Yu
7. Eric J Warrant
8. Yan Wu
9. Jason W Chapman
10. Gao Hu

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This fundamental study presents experimental evidence on how geomagnetic and visual cues are integrated in a nocturnally migrating insect. The evidence supporting the conclusions is compelling. The work will be of broad interest to researchers studying animal migration and navigation.

Reviewed by eLife

Fitness drivers of division of labor in vertebrates

1. Irene García-Ruiz
2. Dustin Rubenstein

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This useful study develops an individual-based model to investigate the evolution of division of labor in vertebrates, comparing the contributions of group augmentation and kin selection. The findings are solid in showing that, within the specific structure of the model and the parameter space explored, group augmentation can robustly favor the evolution of differentiated helper roles, particularly when age-dependent task switching and dominance dynamics are allowed to evolve. However, the evidence only partially supports the authors' broader claim that group augmentation is the primary driver of vertebrate division of labor. Several modelling assumptions, including the limited scope for synergistic task benefits, the restriction of helper effects to group-size-mediated benefits, and the relatively narrow exploration of cost and benefit parameters, constrain the potential for kin selection to generate division of labor and limit the generality of the conclusions.

Reviewed by eLife

Infanticide in a colonial cooperative bird is not associated with direct reproductive benefits

1. Rita Covas
2. Liliana R. Silva
3. André C. Ferreira
4. Pietro B. D’Amelio
5. Rita Fortuna
6. Delphine Duval
7. Matthieu Paquet
8. Claire Doutrelant

Reviewed by Peer Community in Ecology

The Self-Interest of Adolescents Overrules Cooperation in Social Dilemmas

1. Xiaoyan Wu
2. Hongyu Fu
3. Gökhan Aydogan
4. Chunliang Feng
5. Shaozheng Qin
6. Yi Zeng
7. Chao Liu

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important work investigates cooperative behaviors in adolescents using a repeated Prisoner's Dilemma game. The approach used in the study is solid. The impact of this work could be further enhanced with more rigorous modelling procedures and more modeling selection/comparison details, as well as by framing the findings in terms of the specific game-theoretic context, rather than general cooperation. Findings from this study will be of interest to developmental psychologists, economists, and social psychologists.

Reviewed by eLife

Neural connectome of the ctenophore statocyst

1. Kei Jokura
2. Sanja Jasek
3. Lara Niederhaus
4. Pawel Burkhardt
5. Gáspár Jékely

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This fundamental work significantly advances our understanding of gravity sensing and orientation behavior in the ctenophore, an animal of major importance in understanding the evolution of nervous systems. Through comprehensive reconstruction with volumetric electron microscopy, and time-lapse imaging of cilia motion, the authors provide compelling evidence that the aboral nerve net coordinates the activity of balancer cilia. The resemblance to the ciliomotor circuit in marine annelids provides a fascinating example of how neural circuits may convergently evolve to solve common sensorimotor challenges.

Reviewed by eLife

Two neuropeptides that promote blood feeding in Anopheles stephensi mosquitoes

1. Prashali Bansal
2. Roshni Pillai
3. Pooja D Babu
4. Sonia Q Sen

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This is a valuable study that integrates behavioral and molecular approaches to identify neuromodulators influencing blood-feeding behavior in the disease vector Anopheles stephensi. Through gene expression analyses across blood-seeking life stages and RNA interference experiments, the authors present solid evidence that co-knockdown of the neuromodulators short Neuropeptide F and RYamide affects blood-seeking states in A. stephensi. However, evidence demonstrating that these neuropeptides are sufficient to promote host-seeking is lacking.

Reviewed by eLife

Agent-based modeling reveals how bats navigate dense group emergences

1. Omer Mazar
2. Yossi Yovel

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important model-based study seeks to mimic bat echolocation behavior and flight under conditions of high interference, such as when large numbers of bats leave their roost together. The simulations convincingly suggest that the problem of acoustic jamming in these situations may be less severe than previously thought. This finding will be of broad interest to scientists working in the fields of bat biology and collective behaviour.

Reviewed by eLife

Perceptual predictions track subjective, over objective, statistical structure

1. Jessye Clarke
2. Kirsten Rittershofer
3. Emma K Ward
4. Daniel Yon
5. Clare Press

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study reports three experiments examining how the subjective experience of task regularities influences perceptual decision-making. Although the evidence linking subjective ratings to behavioral measures is solid, the study would be strengthened if potential reverse influences of response times on subjective ratings were ruled out and if more comprehensive model comparisons supporting the main claims were performed. The findings will appeal to a wide range of researchers in decision-making and perception.

Reviewed by eLife

Predicting human decision-making across task conditions via individuality transfer

1. Hiroshi Higashi

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This revised paper provides a valuable and novel neural network-based framework for parameterizing individual differences and predicting individual decision-making across task conditions. The methods and analyses are solid yet could benefit from further validation of the superiority of the proposed framework against other baseline models. With these concerns addressed, this study would offer a proof-of-concept neural network approach to scientists working on the generalization of cognitive skills across contexts.

Reviewed by eLife

New idtracker.ai: rethinking multi-animal tracking as a representation learning problem to increase accuracy and reduce tracking times

1. Jordi Torrents
2. Tiago Costa
3. Gonzalo G de Polavieja

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study introduces an advance in multi-animal tracking by reframing identity assignment as a self-supervised contrastive representation learning problem. It eliminates the need for segments of video where all animals are simultaneously visible and individually identifiable, and significantly improves tracking speed, accuracy, and robustness with respect to occlusion. This innovation has implications beyond animal tracking, potentially connecting with advances in behavioral analysis and computer vision. The strength of support for these advances is compelling overall, although there were some remaining minor methodological concerns.

Reviewed by eLife