B. Raymond

Swimming with the current improves juvenile survival in southern elephant seals

This study shows that southern elephant seal pups have higher survival rates when swimming with the Antarctic Circumpolar Current during their first foraging trip.

Manipulating multi-level selection in a fungal entomopathogen reveals social conflicts and a method for improving biocontrol traits

This study manipulates multi-level selection in a fungal pathogen to reveal social conflicts and improve biocontrol traits by altering virulence and sporulation timing.

Re-inventing pathogen passage for social microbes

This study shows that metapopulation selection can prevent social cheating and improve virulence in Bacillus thuringiensis against resistant hosts.

Optimal response to quorum-sensing signals varies in different host environments with different pathogen group size

The paper shows that optimal response to quorum-sensing signals varies with host environment and pathogen group size in Bacillus thuringiensis.

Laboratory sprayer for testing of microbial biocontrol agents: design and calibration

This paper designs and calibrates a low-cost laboratory sprayer for testing microbial biocontrol agents, showing reproducible bioassay results with spore deposition.

Antarctica's wilderness has declined to the exclusion of biodiversity

The paper assesses Antarctica's wilderness and finds it has declined, excluding much biodiversity, but suggests increased regulation could reverse this trend.

Targeting antibiotic resistant bacteria with phages reduces bacterial density in an insect host

This study shows that phage therapy can reduce bacterial density in an insect gut when combined with antibiotics, but does not lower the frequency of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Crystal Toxins and the volunteer’s dilemma in bacteria

This study shows that Cry toxin production in Bacillus thuringiensis is a volunteer's dilemma, where toxin producers benefit when others also produce, but cheaters can thrive under certain conditions.

Plasmid transfer is biased towards close kin in bacteria from natural populations.

The paper examines plasmid transfer rates between Escherichia coli isolates and finds that transfer is biased towards genetically similar clones, likely due to shared restriction-modification systems.