 My research group uses
the Western honey bee, Apis mellifera, to understand the mechanisms
governing social behavior. Behavioral development occurs in many animals,
including humans. As animals age and pass through different life stages,
their genetically determined behavioral responses to environmental and social
stimuli change in predictable ways. Often these responses increase in complexity
and involve learning. Our research is designed to explain the function and
evolution of behavioral mechanisms that integrate the activity of individuals
in a society, neural and neuroendocrine mechanisms that regulate behavior
within the brain of the individual, and the genes that influence social
behavior.
Among the
species of animals most attuned to their social environment are the social insects,
which include the honey bee. They live in societies that rival our own in complexity
and internal cohesion. Social insects are characterized by "eusociality," which
means they live obligately in colonies with overlapping generations, cooperative
brood care, and a reproductive division of labor. The queen reproduces directly,
while the workers perform tasks related to colony growth and development and
engage in little, if any, reproduction themselves. Advanced eusocial species
such as honey bees have the largest colonies, numbering tens or even hundreds
of thousands of workers. They also live in the most complex societies, highlighted
by an intricate division of labor among workers.
Social insects are "extremists"
in their constant expression of social behavior; they coordinate virtually all
of their activities with other individuals to ensure colony survival. Yet despite
their special attributes, the challenges social insects face are not exceptional.
All animals must, to some degree, obtain and process information about their
changing ecological and social milieu and act accordingly. Neural and behavioral
plasticity is even more contingent upon social context for species with active
social lives. In social evolution, the sophistication of behavioral mechanisms
for the essentials of life--food, shelter, and reproduction--stems from
increased abilities to communicate and synchronize behavior with conspecifics.
Social insects, especially honey bees, are thus exemplars for the discovery
of general principles of brain function and behavior.
During just a 4-7 week
adult lifespan, worker honey bees display a rich, vertebrate-like pattern of
behavioral development, which underlies age-related division of labor in the
bee colony. Bees undergo a series of transitions that culminates with foraging,
a complex task that requires learning how to navigate in the environment and
handle flowers. Behavioral development in the bee is a powerful system for integrated
analysis; although it occurs naturally in the field, some underlying mechanisms
also are readily analyzable in the laboratory. Moreover, owing to the bee's
special status as a producer of honey and the premier animal pollinator, it
has been closely associated with human beings for millennia. As a result, we
know more about honey bees than just about any other animal on earth. One consequence
of this wealth of knowledge is that the natural social life of the honey bee,
though as complex as in any vertebrate society, can be extensively manipulated
with unparalleled precision.
Molecular Basis of Honey Bee Dance Language
We have embarked on a project
to elucidate the molecular basis of honey bee dance language. The honey bee
is the only non-mammal to have a symbolic language; honey bee dance language
shatters our perception of what an insect brain can accomplish and provides
a great challenge to discovering how a small brain can generate complex behavior.
We will use new genomic tools developed in our laboratory and the soon-to-be-complete
honey bee genome. |
