If you have a highly weighted ventral fear context (fear of the external harming the self), you probably should avoid this thread. This is not in jest.
I wish Reddit had a way to produce a blank page easily.
This thread is a work in progress, a continuation of the symbiont/parasite conceit I’ve been on about lately.
Up until recently I’ve mostly been looking at this in terms of behavioral co-evolution between a complex and single celled organism, however there are fascinating complex/complex interactions as well. What I’m interested in is the complexity of behavioral modification that these interactions impart, whether it be archaea and bacteria invoking behavior as systemic as “emotions” in humans, or as specific as horsehair worms guiding praying mantises to drown themselves to spread their offspring.
Going to wait a day or two to start adding to this to give everyone a fair chance to avoid this, some of the examples are genuinely not helpful to think about if you are susceptible to an overwhelming valence for this type of content.
Pre-Dump:
Coevolution’s conflicting role in the establishment of beneficial associations
Predictive Behavior Within Microbial Genetic Networks
Do microbes have a memory? History-dependent behavior in the adaptation to variable environments
Navigating Environmental Transitions: the Role of Phenotypic Variation in Bacterial Responses
An Evolutionary Paradigm Favoring Cross Talk between Bacterial Two-Component Signaling Systems
How Caenorhabditis elegans Senses Mechanical Stress, Temperature, and Other Physical Stimuli
The Plasmid pEX18Gm Indirectly Increases Caenorhabditis elegans Fecundity by Accelerating Bacterial Methionine Synthesis – Cross directional
Bacterial Nitric Oxide Extends the Lifespan of C. elegans
Making “Sense” of Ecology from a Genetic Perspective: Caenorhabditis elegans, Microbes and Behavior
WormPaths: Caenorhabditis elegans metabolic pathway annotation and visualization
Psychobiotics: the Influence of Gut Microbiota on the Gut-Brain Axis in Neurological Disorders
Evolutionarily conserved concepts in glial cell biology Glia actively sculpt sensory neurons by controlled phagocytosis to tune animal behavior
Combined measures of mimetic fidelity explain imperfect mimicry in a brood parasite–host system
Ophiocordyceps desmidiospora, a basal lineage within the “Zombie-Ant Fungi” clade
From So Simple a Beginning: The Evolution of Behavioral Manipulation by Fungi – Heh, The last of us.
Evolution of manipulative microbial behaviors in the rhizosphere
Microbial evolution and transitions along the parasite–mutualist continuum
Hosts winnow symbionts with multiple layers of absolute and conditional discrimination mechanisms
Standing genetic variation in host preference for mutualist microbial symbionts
Host nuclear genotype influences phenotype of a conditional mutualist symbiont – Hah! Cool.
The many means of conversation between the brain and the gut