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Luke Holman
Institute of Biology
Dept. Population Biology
University of Copenhagen
Universitetsparken 15
2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
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Research Interests
I am interested in evolutionary ecology, particularly of cooperation, signals, recognition and sex. I aim to test and generate evolutionary hypotheses using a combination of experimental studies of insects and theoretical models.
Research at CODICES
Much of my work in Copenhagen has focused on queen pheromones in the black garden ant
Lasius niger. We have identified a queen pheromone encoded in the surface hydrocarbons of queens and their eggs, which keeps workers from reproducing and inhibits their aggression. Pheromone concentration also signals the queen’s fertility, suggesting that workers respond more strongly to queens that are doing a good job. I am currently using a range of empirical and theoretical approaches to get to grips with the proximate and ultimate mechanisms underlying queen pheromone evolution and honest signalling in general.
I am also interested in the evolution of recognition systems, particularly the maintenance of genetic kin recognition despite the erosion of cue diversity introduced by the benefits of being common (“Crozier’s paradox”). I have also investigated ant sperm competition using molecular techniques, and revisited my earlier work on terminal investment in sex pheromones by sick male beetles. My work has benefitted greatly from collaborations with colleagues in
Helsinki and
Groningen, as well as here at the
Centre for Social Evolution.
Past work
Prior to joining CSE I was a member of the
Evolutionary and Ecological Entomology group at the University of Sheffield. I investigated the function of the small infertile “parasperm” produced by certain Drosophila in addition to the regular fertile sperm. Parasperm are produced in large numbers, and since they cannot fertilise eggs they have been suggested to fulfil some other role assisting their fertile brother sperm. My research indicated that parasperm may ameliorate damage to the fertile sperm inside the female reproductive tract.
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| Live sperm (stained green) migrating out of the female’s “mesospermalege”. The mesospermalege is an organ unique to bedbugs that lies just under the cuticle that receives the sperm. It has been implicated in reducing the risk of infection following “traumatic insemination” and also in digesting sperm. The round blobs are mesospermalege cell nuclei, and the red stain marks dead cells.
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Even mistakes can create something beautiful! Here are some badly prepared bedbug sperm stained with Hoescht.
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