2019 – 2020
On Haberkern et al. 2020 Biotropica article:
Biosphere (2020) “Spiders spin their webs where the weather won’t bother them”
2018
News articles featuring Fernandez-Fournier et al. 2018:
CBC news (2018) “BC researchers discover parasitic wasps that hypnotize and feast on spiders”
Science News (2018) ” New species of parasitoid wasp from Ecuador turns social spiders into zombies”
Science Daily (2018) ” Newly discovered wasp turns social spiders into zombies”
UBC News (2018) “Newly discovered wasp turns social spiders into zombies”
- News about our recent Ecological Entomology paper: Fernandez-Fournier P, Straus S, Sharpe RV & Avilés L. 2018. Behavioral modification of a social spider by a parasitoid wasp. Graphical abstract ResearchGate Journal link
2017
derStandard.at (2017) “Why some spiders form huge colonies?” (Translated from German using Google Translate)
- News article talks about social spiders’ behavior emphasizing spiders’ web building. The news highlight the research of Dr. Leticia Avilés. Original news title in German is “Warum manche Spinnen riesige Kolonien bilden”.
News articles featuring Hoffman & Avilés, 2017:
Live Science (2017) “It Takes a Village: Spider Parents Gain Support from Colonies”
- News article remarks the benefits of communal living when environmental conditions threaten the social spiders’ colonies. “The spiders joined forces and lived in large colonies to support the little ones.”
Radio-Canada.ca (2017) ” L’instinct de survie pousse des araignées à vivre en colonie”
- L’article surligner: “Les conditions météorologiques difficiles encouragent certaines araignées à vivre en colonie plutôt que de rester en simple groupe familial d’une mère et ses rejetons, selon une chercheuse de l’Université de la Colombie-Britannique (UBC).”
PHYS.ORG (2017) “Survival instinct, not family bonds, weave massive spider colonies together”
- PHYS.ORG reproduce UBC News’ article (2017).
Science Daily (2017) “Survival instinct, not family bonds, weave massive spider colonies together”
- Science Daily reproduce UBC News’ article (2017).
UBC News (2017) “Survival instict, not family bonds, weave massive spider colonies together”
- News article remarks “spiders will live in groups if environmental conditions make it too difficult for single mothers to go it alone”.
2016
BBC Earth (2016) “Meet the spiders that have formed armies 50.000 strong”
- News featuring the characteristics of social spiders with emphasis in Anelosimus eximius. The news also highlights the work of Dr. Leticia Avilés studying social spiders. News also available in Spanish.
News articles featuring Sharpe, R.V. and L. Avilés. 2016:
Beyinsizler (2016) “Death in the association of spider colonies” (Translated from Turkish using Google Translate)
- News article from a Turkish source features Dr. Leticia Avilés and PhD Candidate Ruth Sharp cutting edge research to understand causes of disappearance of social spiders’ large colonies. Original news title in Turkish is “Örümcek Kolonileri Ölüm ile İş Birliğinde”.
Popular Science (2016) “Spider Colonies are working for death” (Translated from Turkish using Google Translate)
- News article from a Turkish source highlights the work of the Ph.D. Candidate Ruth Sharpe and Dr. Leticia Avilés. The article mentions the trade-offs between creating larger colonies and the need to feed all of the colony’s members. Original news title in Turkish is “Örümcek Kolonileri Ölüm İçin İş Birliği Yapıyor”.
Lexi-TV (2016) “Survival in the super colony” (Translated from German using Google Translate)
- News article from a German source remarks the work of scientists from the University of British Columbia under the guidance of Dr. Leticia Avilés in the study of social spiders’ large colonies. Original news title in German is “Überleben in der Superkolonie”.
Nature News (2016) “Equality causes the community’ hunger” (Translated from Russian using Google Translate)
- News article from a Russian source remarks “By having equal rights in food sharing, social spiders begin to starve when colony gets larger. As a result large colonies die from malnutrition.” Original news’ title “ПАУЧЬЕ РАВНОПРАВИЕ ПРИВОДИТ К ГИБЕЛИ ИХ СООБЩЕСТВА ОТ ГОЛОДА”.
GLAVPOST.COM (2016) “Tropical spiders have proven that socialism leads to extinction” (Translated from Russian using Google Translate)
- News article from a Russian source remarks the publication results “The results showed that the larger prey was divided on a more equitable basis, and the spiders, paradoxically, fed worse where there was more production.” (Translated from Russian using Google Translate). Original news’ title “Тропические пауки доказали, что социализм приводит к вымиранию”.
California Academy of Science – Science News (2016) “Spider Sharing”
- News article remarks the results of the scientific publication which shows “the survival of each colony (i.e. social spiders) depends on the number of spiders in the colony and the size of prey caught.” The news article mentions “You know how your mom always told you that it is good to share with others? Well, in the social spider species Anelosimus eximius, sharing is not always caring.”
Popular Science (2016) ” Spider Colonies Are Cooperating Themselves To Death”
- News article featuring the publication which shows: “As social spiders’ colonies get larger and larger, their normal habits of sharing larger food turns into spiders not getting enough to eat. This may be the reason why 21 percent of colonies go extinct every generation, affirms Dr. Avilés.”
The Atlantic (2016) ” How Sharing Leads to Death”
- The news article concludes “the dynamics of their rise and fall –spider societies- are a fascinating glimpse into how social creatures manage the difficult tasks of living intertwined lives.”
Ars Technica (2016) “Social spiders may overshare when food gets scarce”
- News article remarks “Big colonies may collapse as big prey doesn’t provide enough to go around.”
2 New Things – Non-fiction bedtime stories for curious kids (2016) “Social spiders sharing surplus food can trigger starvation”
- News article presents a simplified approach of the publication for the general public.
Science, Space & Robots (2016) ” Spider sharing isn’t always caring: Colonies die when arachnids overshare food”
- News article remarks Ph.D Candidate Ruth Sharpe and Dr. Leticia Avilés motivations to conduct the research which showed “social spider species can go extinct when they cannot capture enough prey”.
Science Daily (2016) ” Spider sharing isn’t always caring: Colonies die when arachnids overshare food”
- Science Daily reproduce UBC News‘ article (2016).
UBC News (2016) ” Spider sharing isn’t always caring: Colonies die when arachnids overshare food”
- News article mentions “Spiders living together in colonies of tens of thousands can go extinct from sharing food equitably”.
2009
Darwin & You Lecture Series (2009) “Darwin & Your Health“
- In a talk, Dr. Avilés discusses the concept of Darwinian Medicine: how our knowledge of natural selection can help us understand why we get sick and how disease can be treated.
2008
News articles featuring Yip et al. 2008 :
Nature News (2008) “Bigger isn’t always better for spider colonies”
- News article remarks how cooperation may allow large spider colonies to make up for a deficit in the number of insects caught per-capita by capturing larger prey.
LifeOmix (2008) “A spider: we have a secret, large-scale gregarious” (Translated from Chinese using Google Translate)
- LifeOmix reproduce Science Daily’s news article (2008). (Translated from Chinese using Google Translate). Original news’ title “阿内蛛：大规模群居，我们有秘诀”.
Science Daily (2008) “Spiders Who Eat Together, Stay Together — And Form Enormous Colony Sizes”
- The news summarizes: “The ability to work together and capture larger prey has allowed social spiders to stretch the laws of nature and reach enormous colony sizes”.
2007
The Globe and Mail (2007) “What happens when 50,000 spiders hunt together?”
- News article provided an advance of Avilés et al. 2007 (The American Naturalist, vol. 170). The news highlights the discovery of one new species of social spiders that lives at high elevations.
2006
New Scientist Article (2006) “Society-focused spiders live and hunt together”
- News article featuring Avilés et al. 2006 (Biotropica, vol. 38), where the social behaviour of a newly discovered social spider, Theridion nigroannulatum, is described.
2005
TheScientist (2005) “Individuality, Evolution, and Dancing”
- Dr. Leticia Avilés’s was interviewed to discuss about the unit of evolution and the level of life upon which natural selection acts.
Scientist featured in EVO (2005) “Ten Questions Everyone should ask about Evolution”
- Dr. Leticia Avilés is interviewed in a documentary about the importance of understanding the theory of evolution.
2002
UANews (2002) “UA Biologist Offers a Solution to the ‘Freeloaders Paradox’”
- News article featuring L. Avilés, 2002 (PNAS, vol. 99), remarks this pioneer study which simultaneously modeled: “the way freeloading tendencies and the genes that control them would affect reproductive success and evolve through time over thousands of generations”.
1999
News wise (1999) “Social Spiders Hold Key to Evolutionary Questions”
- News features the ecology and behavior of social spiders. The news highlights the work of Dr. Leticia Avilés studying social spiders throughout her career.
Scientific American Frontiers (1999) “Ask the Scientists”
- Dr. Avilés is featured in a science documentary. Here are Leticia’s associated bio and answers to questions from the public about social spiders.
1996
- Dr. Leticia Avilés was part of the scientific advisors’ group who developed the documentaries and books “The FUTURE is WILD”. Based on a strong scientific basis, these materials explored future evolution without humans .