Chemical cOmmunication coDe of InseCt societiES
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Volker NehringInstitute of Biology |
Research interests
- Having taken my first scientific steps in a behavioural ecology lab, I am still most interested in ultimate mechanisms underlying the evolutionary success of different traits. I am especially fascinated by the behavioural ecology of communication and cooperation.
PhD project:Communication and the management of information transfer in leaf-cutting ants
- Communication
is the key feature of societies. Besides humans, the pinnacle of
social evolution is embodied in the social insects, whose
organisation is maximised by elaborate division of labour.
Despite being object of intense research spanning many decades,
the communication codes of social insects and their evolutionary
origin are still largely unknown.
As a model system I am using an ecologically tremendously successful and important group of ants, the leaf-cutters, as a model system - which build societies of millions of workers - to find the general proximate and ultimate mechanisms underlying successful communication both at the individual and at the colony level. I will also address the question of whether individuals could exploit information for their personal benefit at the expense of the society. Finally, I plan to study the adaptations that allow social parasites to break the communication code and invade leaf-cutting ant societies.
I will use an integrated multidisciplinary approach including electro- and neurophysiology, genetics, chemical analyses and behavioural observations and experiments. Funding for my project is provided by CODICES and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).
Diploma project:Host
choice and mate competition in the phoretic mite Poecilochirus carabi
- P. carabi deuteronymphs are phoretic on burying beetles and the mite adults reproduce at carcasses monopolized by their carriers. During my Diploma thesis I mainly investigated proximate and ultimate reasons for the deuteronymphs' choice between beetles of their host species. I primarily used behavioural experiments, but also chemistry and theoretical approaches. Furthermore I explored the influence of the deuteronymphs' social environment at the carcasses on the timing of the adult moult, which for example can result in striking patterns of operational sex ratio. Find out more about burying beetles on the Müller lab website.