Integrative and comparative biology

01 16 October 2026

DOI 10.1093/icb/icag167

Parental Care Modulates Early-Life Oral Microbiome Assembly and Immune Ontogeny in Wild Birds

Open DOI

Victoria G Lynch, Rupak Timilsina, Carly Clark et al.

A young bird meets its first microbes before its immune system is finished being built. By early-life microbiome dynamics we mean the changes in which microbes arrive, persist, and are lost over the first days and weeks of life. When we ...

Read abstract

02 23 July 2026

DOI 10.1093/icb/icag110

Acceleration-Based Clustering Reveals Frequent Gait Switching in Sprint Sled Dogs

Open DOI

Benjamin Seleb, Saad Bhamla

Continuous video is difficult to obtain during field studies of sprint sled dogs, limiting analysis of stride-to-stride variation during load-pulling gallop. We developed an acceleration-based pipeline to identify recurrent stride states...

Read abstract

03 20 July 2026

DOI 10.1093/icb/icag122

Raising male drones affects honey bee ( Apis mellifera ) foraging behavior

Open DOI

Rachael E Bonoan, Kaitlyn M Bresnahan, Grace E O’BRien et al.

Globally, honey bees (Apis mellifera) are a vital commercial pollinator, contributing to food security and economies. One of the most pressing threats honey bees face is the parasitic mite Varroa destructor, which weakens bees and spread...

Read abstract

04 16 July 2026

DOI 10.1093/icb/icag120

Are there two honeybees in one honeybee brain?

Open DOI

Aswathy Vinod, Sandhya Mogily, Joby Joseph

We do not know if two sides of the insect brain share information in a manner that enables the insect to exhibit a sense of a single individual, that is, a unitary ‘I’. For a unitary ‘I’ to be exhibited by the organism, it requires the o...

Read abstract

05 15 July 2026

DOI 10.1093/icb/icag117

Developmental temperature does not influence thermal preferences but affects age at sexual maturity in the tropical lizard, Anolis cybotes.

Open DOI

Lila Salazar, Arely Flores-Guzmán, Martha M Muñoz et al.

As rising environmental temperatures can negatively affect some ectothermic animals, it is imperative to anticipate whether and how these organisms could cope with new thermal conditions. Several groups of animals that face constraints t...

Read abstract

06 15 July 2026

DOI 10.1093/icb/icag116

Crayfish and their hidden tenants: direct and indirect effects of ectosymbionts on crayfish behaviors and health.

Open DOI

Tara J Cronin, Nicholas C Williams, Sabrina M Fernandez et al.

Symbiotic relationships are a vital component of the stability and function of ecosystems. Despite their importance, our understanding of many key symbiotic relationships is rudimentary. Within freshwater ecosystems, crayfish are conside...

Read abstract

07 11 July 2026

DOI 10.1093/icb/icag103

Population consequences of physiological responses to stressors: A road map for endocrine data

Open DOI

Leslie New, Joshua Reed, Jennifer Jelincic et al.

Environmental change causes physiological effects that can last years in long-lived species, yet there is a dearth of methods for quantifying such effects and their population consequences across the necessary decadal timescales. The Pop...

Read abstract

08 6 July 2026

DOI 10.1093/icb/icag109

Neurodivergent perceptions, experiences, and perspectives in academic biological sciences spaces.

Open DOI

Brooke M Fitzwater, Alexandra G Tissot, Noah R Bressman et al.

Neurodiversity has received considerable attention recently from the general population and academic researchers, coinciding with an increase in formal adult diagnoses and individuals self-identifying as neurodivergent. Many neurodiverge...

Read abstract

09 3 July 2026

DOI 10.1093/icb/icag108

Antimalarial activity of Sargassum fluitans and Sargassum natans stranded along the Caribbean coast of Panama

Open DOI

Noemí León Correoso, Isaac Almanza, Lorena Coronado

Synopsis: Malaria remains a critical global health challenge, worsened by the emergence of drug-resistant Plasmodium falciparum strains. Marine macroalgae offer an underexplored chemical space for novel treatments; however, previous effo...

Read abstract

10 2 July 2026

DOI 10.1093/icb/icag105

Sexed Politics, Histories, and Futures

Open DOI

Megan G Massa

The tool of sex is being wielded against both science and society. As certain sex- and diversity-associated words are flagged and used to deny funding or discontinue awarded grants, the language of biology and sex is being used in legisl...

Read abstract