D. Rebar

Selection on the joint actions of pairs leads to divergent adaptation and coadaptation of care-giving parents during pre-hatching care

The paper investigates how joint nest preparation behaviors evolve in burying beetles under different care regimes, finding that males adapt first and females coadapt secondarily.

Phenotypic plasticity explains apparent reverse evolution of fat synthesis in parasitoid insects

The paper shows that apparent reverse evolution of fat synthesis in parasitoid insects is due to phenotypic plasticity, not actual genetic regain, and demonstrates its evolutionary stability through simulations.

The evolution of a beneficial association between an animal and a microbial community

This study shows that burying beetles benefit from microbial communities on carrion, as larvae from germ-free mice had lower fitness.

Social interactions within the family enhance the capacity for evolutionary change

The paper shows that social interactions in burying beetles affect evolutionary responses to selection, with care enhancing increases in size and conflict limiting it.