For many species of insects, lipid pheromones profoundly influence survival, reproduction,
and social organization. Unravelling the chemical language of insects has been the subject …

The first aggregation pheromone components from bark beetles were identified in 1966 as a
mixture of ipsdienol, ipsenol and verbenol. Since then, a number of additional components …

Background The mountain pine beetle, Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins, is the most
serious insect pest of western North American pine forests. A recent outbreak destroyed …

The extent to which interspecific interference competition has contributed to character
evolution is one of the most neglected problems in evolutionary biology. When formerly …

Ecosystems are shaped by complex interactions between species and their environment.
However, humans are rapidly changing the environment through increased carbon dioxide …

Insects use sex pheromones as a reproductive isolating mechanism to attract conspecifics
and repel heterospecifics. Despite the profound knowledge of sex pheromones, little is …

Queen pheromones, which signal the presence of a fertile queen and induce daughter
workers to remain sterile, are considered to play a key role in regulating the reproductive …

Variation in communicative complexity has been conceptually and empirically attributed to
social complexity, with animals living in more complex social environments exhibiting more …

A wide range of organisms use sex pheromones to communicate with each other and to
identify appropriate mating partners. While the evolution of chemical communication has …

Although chemical communication is the most widespread form of communication, its
evolution and diversity are not well understood. By integrating studies of a wide range of …