Many plant species rely on animal frugivores to disperse their seeds. Understanding the value of frugivore-mediated seed dispersal depends upon comprehending the interaction between animals’ foraging behaviors and the patterns of seed dispersal services they provide.

Insect eggs are not passive structures deposited on leaves. They induce plant defenses that inhibit egg development or attract egg predators. Oviposition by the Large White butterfly Pieris brassicae leads to salicylic acid (SA) accumulation and local cell death in Arabidopsis. These responses are activated by a phospholipid elicitor perceived at the cell surface and share molecular similarities with PAMP-triggered immunity (PTI). However, expression of defense genes regulated by the jasmonic acid (JA) pathway are suppressed and larval performance is enhanced.

If the traits that confer increased reproductive success vary with environmental context, and information about context is available to juveniles during development, then adaptive developmental plasticity (ADP) may evolve. Here I show how male widow spiders (genus Latrodectus) are useful for testing hypotheses about ADP because their relatively short lifespans and well-documented, extreme mating behaviours allow strong predictions about how phenotypes are expected to shift under variable social contexts.

Animals live in a multisensory world and use different sensory channels to communicate during crucial behavioral contexts such as aggression and reproduction. Despite the importance of this multimodal communication, there are relatively few species in which information on sender signals and receiver responses are known. How do individuals send information in multiple sensory channels and where is this information processed and integrated in the receiver’s brain to produce context-dependent behaviors?

Macroevolutionary studies of trait evolution are incomplete without the integration of speciation and extinction rates. The frequency of a character state on the tips of a phylogenetic tree is not only the result of the trait change per se but is also a function of lineage diversification if the character state is linked to speciation and extinction rates. In this talk, I will show three different examples of trait evolution linked to diversification.

Measuring cell-generated forces and tissue mechanical properties in vivo and in situ has proven very difficult. For this reason, our understanding of how feedback loops between biochemical signaling and mechanics contribute to robust multicellular morphogenesis is still poor. To address this limitation, I helped develop a technique based on ferrofluid droplets which allows to measure multiple mechanical parameters at time- and length-scales relevant for embryonic development.

The nucleus is extensively studied for its role in gene expression. However, growing evidences indicate that the biophysical properties of this organelle participate in cellular functions such as cell migration and pathogen killing; two processes critical for immune response. In this talk, I will describe our discovery of how immune cells undergoing confined migration squeeze their nuclei through narrow pores by forming a dense perinuclear actin network.