Tom Scott

Kin-discriminating partner choice promotes the evolution of helping Abstract. Kin selection theory predicts that individuals should evolve to help relatives, either by helping indiscriminately in a population where they do

New paper with @andygardner.bsky.social and @geoffwild.bsky.social in which we ask whether the ability to recognise relatives causes individuals to be more or less cooperative overall.

doi.org/10.1093/evol...

New paper: "Kin-discriminating partner choice promotes the evolution of helping"

with Tom Scott (@tomwscott.bsky.social) & Geoff Wild (@geoffwild.bsky.social) #OpenAccess

doi.org/10.1093/evol...

@journal-evo.bsky.social #Image: #ChatGPT #Evolution #OA

The role of pleiotropy and population structure in the evolution of altruism through the greenbeard effect Population genetic theory sheds light on the necessity of pleiotropy for altruism to be favored through the greenbeard effect and reveals that population s

I’m a bit late, but new paper out led by Thomas Aubier on the evolution of altruism by the greenbeard effect! (1/6) academic.oup.com/evolut/artic...

I'm excited to share our review on the #Evolution of kin discrimination, out now in @annualreviews.bsky.social! We aim to showcase the breadth of #KinRecognition mechanisms across diverse taxa, and explore life-history and ecological processes that promote #KinDiscrimination. doi.org/10.1146/annu...

Populus trees in Gobi Desert depend on mycorrhizal fungi. Credit - Tomas Munita

Underground intelligence: Are plant-fungi networks about collaboration or competition? 🌳📢🍄📢🌳

A new study has investigated whether trees are altruistically warning their neighbours but its more likely a case of eavesdropping 👇

bit.ly/3CgDoHR

📷Tomas Munita

@tobykiers.bsky.social

Are plants more likely to be ‘eavesdroppers’ than altruists when tapped into fungal networks?

Read our new theory paper out today in @pnas.org w/ @stuwest.bsky.social @tomwscott.bsky.social

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
(photo T. Munita)

Study shows plants are more likely to be ‘eavesdroppers’ than A new study led by the University of Oxford has used a modelling approach to show that it is unlikely that plants would evolve to warn other plants of impending attack. Instead of using their

Write-up of our new paper on information transfer in plant-fungal networks: "Study shows plants are more likely to be ‘eavesdroppers’ than altruists when tapping into underground networks".

www.ox.ac.uk/news/2025-01...

@tobykiers.bsky.social
@stuwest.bsky.social

The evolution of signaling and monitoring in plant–fungal networks | PNAS Experiments have shown that when one plant is attacked by a pathogen or herbivore, this can lead to other plants connected to the same mycorrhizal ...

Evolutionary theory suggests that plants are unlikely to warn other plants about herbivore attack, via routes such as shared fungal networks (the 'wood wide web'). www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
@tobykiers.bsky.social @tomwscott.bsky.social

New paper with @tobykiers.bsky.social and @stuwest.bsky.social on whether plants send signals through fungal networks to warn other plants of impending attack – theory suggests unlikely.

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...