The ecological and evolutionary study of community formation, diversity, and stability is
rooted in general theory and reinforced by decades of system-specific empirical work …

Microbes can be an important source of phenotypic plasticity in insects. Insect physiology,
behaviour, and ecology are influenced by individual variation in the microbial communities …

Ecological specialization to restricted diet niches is driven by obligate, and often maternally
inherited, symbionts in many arthropod lineages. These heritable symbionts typically form …

Many animals have evolved associations with symbiotic microbes that benefit the host
through increased growth, lifespan, and survival. Some interactions are obligate (essential …

Across the tree of life, hosts have evolved mechanisms to control and mediate interactions
with symbiotic partners. We suggest that the evolution of physical structures that allow hosts …

1. Many insects host secondary bacterial symbionts that are known to have wide‐ranging
effects on their hosts, from host‐plant use to resistance against natural enemies. This has …

The recent development of high‐throughput NGS technologies,(ie, next‐generation
sequencing) has highlighted the complexity of tick microbial communities—which include …

Aphids are frequently engaged in mutualistic associations with endosymbionts. Symbionts
are bacterial or fungal microorganisms that can be obligate or facultative to aphids …

Highlights•Hamiltonella defensa is a bacterial symbiont protecting aphids against
parasitoids.•APSE viruses infect H. defensa and play key roles in the defensive …

Many aspects of an individual's biology derive from its interaction with symbiotic microbes,
which further define many aspects of the ecology and evolution of the host species. The …