African field crickets (Gryllus bimaculatus). Photographed by Adrian Pingstone (Wikimedia Commons).

Many animals, like humans, rely on acoustic signals for intraspecific communication. Sound has the advantage of being easier to precisely locate than for instance pheromones and it penetrates the undergrowth and canopy, while at the same time allowing the sender to stay hidden from visual predators.

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Jewel beetle (Melanophila acuminata). photo: AG Prof. Schmitz , University Bonn, Germany

His larvea feed on burnt wood and so mother nature invented for a tiny little beetle a special device to "hear" the fires which can provide a home to his offspring. Even in 80 kilometres distance the insects from the family of the jewel beetles (or metallic wood-boring beetles) can detect the infrared light emitted by fires.  The zoologists from the University of Bonn (Germany) now provided evidence for this fire sensor which is fivefold as sensitive as technical infrared sensors.
 

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Two small bluestreak cleaner wrasses cleaning a potato cod at a cleaning stations. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons (taken by Richard Ling).

The fields of evolutionary ecology/behaviour and economics use more and more of each others methodology. Many animal interactions and economical transactions can be described with the same mathematical models. A research team comprising biologists from universities in the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Canada has found further similarities in a study of the behaviour of the bluestreak cleaner wrasse (Labroides dimidiatus) in its response to competition and clients.

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The braconid wasp parasites caterpillars and cause a behavioural change that enlists them as bodyguards for the wasp pupae. Photo taken by Richard Bartz, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Several parasites are known to cause a behavioural change in their hosts. Most of these are found in the insect world, where for instance

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