Andy Gardner
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andygardner.bsky.social
Andy Gardner
@andygardner.bsky.social
950 followers 710 following 21 posts
Evolution | Theory | Social Evolution | Population Genetics | Behavioural Ecology | Kin Selection | Multilevel Selection | Inclusive Fitness | Sex Ratio | Altruism | Professor of Biology at University of St Andrews, Scotland.
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Reposted by Andy Gardner
judithmank.bsky.social
Many of us are using LLMs in coding and scientific writing. They are very helpful tools, but we need to be thoughtful as we integrate them into our work flows to preserve accountability, voice and trust. academic.oup.com/evlett/advan.... An editorial at @evolletters.bsky.social for discussion:
Editorial: Accountability, voice, and trust - responsible use of GenAI in scientific publishing
Over the last few years, the development and rapid advancement of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) and Large Language Models (LLMs) such as ChatG
academic.oup.com
August 22, 2025 at 12:52 PM
andygardner.bsky.social
Finally on my way to #ESEB2025, a day late, following flight cancellation...

Disappointed to miss 1st day of talks, but happy that S03.01 "Advances in technology..." is in @ju-morimoto.bsky.social's safe hands.

Starting 10.30am, Meeting Room 129+130, with invited talk by @kokkonut.bsky.social.
Programme for Part I of the Symposium "Advances in technology, mathematical and statistical models and their application in evolutionary ecology: the dawn of a new era", including talks by Hanna Kokko, Szymon Drobniak, Aurelien Tellier, Yuxin Ning and Md Ruhul Armin.
August 18, 2025 at 7:36 AM
andygardner.bsky.social
New paper: "The consequences of constrained sex allocation in diploids and haplodiploids under local mate competition", with Chedhawat Chokechaipaisarn:

doi.org/10.1093/jeb/...

@jevbio.bsky.social
Figure 1. Unbeatable sex allocation strategy of unconstrained females (r*) as a function of proportion of constrained females (p) under local mate competition with two foundresses colonising the patch. Shown are the result for Godfray’s (1990) erroneous diploidy solution (dashed grey line), our corrected diploidy solution (solid grey line), and our haplodiploidy solution (solid black line). Overlaid are results from individual-based simulations (discs).
July 9, 2025 at 8:30 AM
Reposted by Andy Gardner
kztwyman.bsky.social
Now all typeset and pretty! A little summary:
June 26, 2025 at 2:47 PM
Reposted by Andy Gardner
ajmongue.bsky.social
It's finally out! This paper took quite a while but I'm so excited to share now! For anyone who studies sex chromosomes, take note: we found a rare "slower X"! (dN/dS_X < dN/dS_Autos) 👀
June 11, 2025 at 6:24 PM
andygardner.bsky.social
New paper: "Faster adaptation but slower divergence of X chromosomes under paternal genome elimination" (Open Access)

w/ Robert Baird, @imprintedgene.bsky.social‬, Jan Ševčík, Katy Monteith, @laurarossevo.bsky.social‬ & @ajmongue.bsky.social‬

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

‪@natcomms.nature.com‬
Faster adaptation but slower divergence of X chromosomes under paternal genome elimination - Nature Communications
X chromosomes evolve faster than autosomes, but confounding factors make this a difficult phenomenon to study. Utilising the unusual sex determination system of Sciaridae flies, this study finds a slo...
www.nature.com
June 11, 2025 at 6:15 PM
Reposted by Andy Gardner
kztwyman.bsky.social
Very excited to share that our paper, ‘The clonality window: relatedness and the group covariance effect in the evolution of division of labour’, is out now in @journal-evo.bsky.social advances. With @andygardner.bsky.social

doi.org/10.1093/evol...

#OpenAccess #Evolution #Multicellularity
The clonality window: relatedness and the group covariance effect in the evolution of division of labour
Abstract. Cellular division of labour is closely associated with the emergence of organismality in the evolution of obligate multicellularity. Michod has s
doi.org
May 8, 2025 at 1:27 PM
andygardner.bsky.social
New paper: “The clonality window: relatedness and the group covariance effect in the evolution of division of labour”, with @kztwyman.bsky.social #OpenAccess

doi.org/10.1093/evol...

@journal-evo.bsky.social #Image: #ChatGPT #Evolution #OA
AI-generated image using the paper's title and abstract as input.
May 7, 2025 at 6:59 PM
Reposted by Andy Gardner
royalsocietypublishing.org
Sex-ratio optima for haplodiploid parents converge in viscous populations when dispersal is density-dependent. Read 'Density-dependent dispersal reduces conflict over the sex ratio': royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/... #BiologyLetters #evolution
May 4, 2025 at 11:01 AM
Reposted by Andy Gardner
tomwscott.bsky.social
New paper with @andygardner.bsky.social and @geoffwild.bsky.social in which we ask whether the ability to recognise relatives causes individuals to be more or less cooperative overall.

doi.org/10.1093/evol...
Kin-discriminating partner choice promotes the evolution of helping
Abstract. Kin selection theory predicts that individuals should evolve to help relatives, either by helping indiscriminately in a population where they do
doi.org
April 11, 2025 at 11:34 AM
andygardner.bsky.social
New paper: "Kin-discriminating partner choice promotes the evolution of helping"

with Tom Scott (@tomwscott.bsky.social) & Geoff Wild (@geoffwild.bsky.social) #OpenAccess

doi.org/10.1093/evol...

@journal-evo.bsky.social #Image: #ChatGPT #Evolution #OA
February 17, 2025 at 9:45 AM
Reposted by Andy Gardner
bingdongevo.bsky.social
My paper is out! "Kin competition drives the evolution of earlier metamorphosis" (#OpenAccess), with @andygardner.bsky.social

doi.org/10.1002/ece3.70806
Kin Competition Drives the Evolution of Earlier Metamorphosis
We develop a mathematical model to investigate how kin selection shapes the optimal timing of metamorphosis. We consider the full range of larval competition intensities and the full range of related...
doi.org
January 15, 2025 at 10:36 AM
andygardner.bsky.social
New paper: "Kin competition drives the evolution of earlier metamorphosis", with @bingdongevo.bsky.social.

doi.org/10.1002/ece3...
January 15, 2025 at 8:05 AM
Reposted by Andy Gardner
kztwyman.bsky.social
Hello - how nice to be off twitter!
I'm a PhD student at the University of St Andrews studying evolutionary theory (my research profile: tinyurl.com/kztwyman).
Would love to connect with anyone working in evolution, theory, social behaviour etc.!
November 29, 2024 at 2:34 PM
Reposted by Andy Gardner
salazarafra.bsky.social
Join us for our satellite event on selfish genetic elements!
November 8, 2024 at 1:48 PM
andygardner.bsky.social
New paper: "Density-dependent dispersal reduces conflict over the sex ratio" (OpenAccess), w/ Chedhawat Chokechaipaisarn.

doi.org/10.1098/rsbl...

Sex-ratio optima for haplodiploid parents converge in viscous populations when dispersal is density-dependent.
A portion of the title page of the paper. The Abstract reads: Haplodiploids—in particular, wasps—are the workhorses of sex-allocation research. This is owing to their unusual system of sex determination, which provides a ready means of sex ratio adjustment. Notably, their sexually asymmetrical mode of genetic inheritance leads mothers and fathers to come into conflict over the sex ratio of their offspring. In the simplest outbreeding scenario, a mother is favoured to employ an even sex ratio while a father prefers that all his mate’s offspring are female. An important modulator of evolutionary conflict between mating partners is genetic relatedness, raising the possibility that this sex ratio conflict is reduced in low-dispersal settings with mating occurring between relatives. However, the impact of population viscosity on sex ratio conflict in haplodiploids remains unknown. Here, we develop and analyse a kin-selection model to investigate how the rate of dispersal modulates sex ratio conflict in a haplodiploid, viscous population setting. We find that population viscosity is associated with a reduction in the extent of sex ratio conflict—the effect being very weak under density-independent dispersal and much stronger under density-dependent dispersal.
October 30, 2024 at 9:33 AM
Reposted by Andy Gardner
andygardner.bsky.social
One of my undergraduate students, Callum Ferrando, has just published a comic in Journal of Evolutionary Biology. You can find "Taylor's famous result" here:

doi.org/10.1093/jeb/...

@jevbio.bsky.social @uniofstandrews.bsky.social
October 1, 2024 at 5:54 PM
andygardner.bsky.social
One of my undergraduate students, Callum Ferrando, has just published a comic in Journal of Evolutionary Biology. You can find "Taylor's famous result" here:

doi.org/10.1093/jeb/...

@jevbio.bsky.social @uniofstandrews.bsky.social
October 1, 2024 at 5:54 PM
andygardner.bsky.social
New paper: "Kin selection as a modulator of human handedness: sex-specific, parental & parent-of-origin effects" (#OpenAccess), with Bing Dong & Silvia Paracchini (@silparacchini.bsky.social):

doi.org/10.1017/ehs....

#OA #Image commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cu...
Rock art at Cueva de las Manos, Santa Cruz Province. From Wikipedia: "Cueva de las Manos (Spanish for Cave of the Hands or Cave of Hands) is a cave and complex of rock art sites in the province of Santa Cruz, Argentina, 163 km (101 mi) south of the town of Perito Moreno. It is named for the hundreds of paintings of hands stenciled, in multiple collages, on the rock walls."
August 27, 2024 at 1:58 PM
andygardner.bsky.social
New paper: "Transmission of social status drives cooperation and offspring philopatry", with Antonio Rodrigues (Open Access)

doi.org/10.1098/rspb...
November 29, 2023 at 10:34 AM
andygardner.bsky.social
New paper: "Sexual antagonism in sequential hermaphrodites", w/ Thomas Hitchcock (@imprintedgene.bsky.social) *Open Access*

doi.org/10.1098/rspb...

Image: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Am...
Image of clown anemonefish.
November 22, 2023 at 10:48 AM
Reposted by Andy Gardner
imprintedgene.bsky.social
Our new paper on sexual antagonism in sequential hermaphrodites has now been published! royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10....
November 22, 2023 at 6:31 AM
Reposted by Andy Gardner
leebanhy.bsky.social
Hi all,

The annual (57th) Population Genetics group conference will be hosted in St Andrews this year (8-10th of Jan 24)

General info, plenary speakers, registration and abstract submission can be found here: www.populationgeneticsgroup.org.uk

We hope to see you there in the new year! :)
Population Genetics Group 57 | Plenary Speakers
St. Andrews, Scotland
www.populationgeneticsgroup.org.uk
November 13, 2023 at 3:41 PM
andygardner.bsky.social
New paper: "A geometric approach to the evolution of altruism" (OpenAccess)

sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Altruism alleles are disfavoured upon their first appearance in the population, when they are not yet shared by kin. This slows the evolution of altruism.
A figure from the paper, showing the probability of fixation for alleles of different effect sizes in altruism versus nonsocial scenarios.
November 6, 2023 at 10:37 AM
andygardner.bsky.social
Registration & abstract submission now open for PopGroup 57, 8-10 Jan 2024 in St Andrews:

populationgeneticsgroup.org.uk
October 25, 2023 at 8:44 AM