2012 IUSSI-NAS Meeting, Greensboro NC

Transcription

1 2012 IUSSI-NAS Meeting, Greensboro NC Program Overview: 10/5 18:00 Dinner and Welcome 20:00 Plenary Talk Robert Page 21:00 Poster Session I 10/6 8:00 Breakfast 8:45 Social Insect Symbioses 10:15 Break 10:30 Social Organization 12:30 Lunch 13:30 Foraging 15:30 Break 15:45 Ethology, Ecology, Evolution 18:00 Dinner 20:00 Poster Session II 10/7 7:45 Breakfast 8:30 Genetics & Genomics 10:30 Break 10:45 Bee Health and Nutrition 12:30 Lunch 13:15 Communication and Caste 15:30 Good Bye & Farewell How to get here: 1. Tell us your arrival flight to GSO on Friday (1-7pm). We will also drive you back to GSO (Sunday, 4-8pm). 2. Drive yourself: Park at the Lodge: Conference registration will open in the Lodge from 1pm 8pm on Friday. We cannot register or board anyone without full payment. Please allow 45 minutes transportation from and to the Greensboro airport (PTI). Emergency Contacts: The Summit Conference Center: haw.river@ncdenr.gov, phone: (336) Olav Rueppell, orueppell@gmail.com, phone: (336) or (336)

2 Acknowledgements: This conference would not have been possible without the great help of the local organizing committee: Ed Vargo (treasurer), Mike Simone-Finstrom (web and registration), Stan Schneider (oral program and awards), David Tarpy (web and awards), Juliana Posada-Rangel (web and awards), and Jim Hunt (oral program and awards). The financial support of the Army Research Office, the IUSSI, the AAPA, and UNCG also contributed greatly to this meeting. We want to thank the wonderful staff of the Summit Conference Center and Haw River State Park. Finally, thanks to all the contributors: You made for a very busy and exciting program. Welcome to Greensboro and North Carolina! Olav Rueppell Detailed Program: Friday 8pm Plenary - Robert Page Jr.: Kin selection, superorganisms, and mechanisms of social behavior. Friday 9pm Poster Session I (set up on arrival) 1. Avalos, Arián: Defensive response in honey bee colonies, from the group to the individual. 2. Bardunias, Paul: The excavation of tunnels by Formosan subterranean termites. 3. Barnard, Matthew: Assessing the Equality of Costly Investments by Foundresses of a Pleometrotic Ant Species. 4. Baudier, Kaitlin: Long-term Impacts of Flood Disturbance on Ant Diversity in Urban and Rural Habitats within Southern Louisiana. 5. Bespalova, Ioulia: Meathead queens: Lethal fighting linked to larger heads in Messor pergandei. 6. Carman, Karlie: Structure of plant-pollinator interaction networks in natural versus altered systems. 7. Chen, Jian: The ant and the cricket. 8. Cho, John: How do drones (A. mellifera) distinguish days of good and bad weather for mating flights? 9. Chouvenc, Thomas: Succession ecology of dying subterranean termite colonies. 10. Cook, Chelsea: Social Context Alters Behavioral Response in Apis mellifera. 11. DeFelice, Dominick: Analysis of Geographic Variation in Mating Frequencies of the Eastern Honey Bee, Apis cerana. 12. Denier, Diandra & Velenovsky, Joseph: A common antifungal defense strategy in Cryptocercus woodroaches and termites. 13. Dingle, Hester: Allometry of incipient colonies of the Red Imported Fire Ant (Solenopsis invicta). 14. Earhart, Alexander & Tarter Elizabeth: Describing tropical termite nest growth and decline patterns using logistic growth models. 15. Ebie, Jessica: When do Temnothorax rugatulus recruit to prey items? 16. Fuller, Claire & Marielle Postava-Davignon: The ability of an arboreal termite Nasutitermes acajutlae to mediate nest temperature and humidity changes 17. Gilley, David: How do hydrocarbons released by waggle-dancing honey bees stimulate colony foraging effort? 18. Graham, Kelsey: Foraging behavior of the eusocial paper wasp, Polistes dominulus. 19. Greene, Michael: The dynamics of fighting non-nestmates by pavement ant (Tetramorium caespitum) workers. 20. Haight, Kevin: Patterns of venom production and temporal polyethism in workers of Jerdon s jumping ant, Harpegnathos saltator. 21. Haney, Brian: Cooperative brood production in a polygynous ant: an equal investment in alates? 22. Helms Cahan, Sara: Retracing the Steps of Social Evolution: Emergent properties and the evolution of eusociality. 23. Henshaw, Michael: Population genetics of Polistes metricus across North America. 24. Hernaiz-Hernandez, Yainna: Geographic variation in fungal diversity and abundance in Harvester Ants (Pogonomyrmex). 25. Holbrook, Tate: How does colony size affect task organization in the ant Pogonomyrmex californicus? 26. Hudu, Amadu: Survival of Pollinators in the 21st Century. 27. Hunt, Jim: A conceptual model for the origin of worker behavior and adaptation of eusociality. 28. Jandt, Jennifer: Behavioral syndromes and social insects: personality at multiple levels 29. Johnson, Christine: Queen sex pheromones of two sympatric slave-maker ant species: A sufficient mechanism for reproductive isolation? 30. Johnson, Robert: Selection against aerial dispersal in ants: two non-flying queen phenotypes in Pogonomyrmex laticeps.

3 Saturday 8:45am Oral Session I: Social Insect Symbioses (12min talks) Theresa Pitts-Singer Official IUSSI-NAS business and welcome. Alessandra Marins Termite host-guest interactions inside termite nests: an approach with network theory. Rachelle Adams Parasites or mercenaries? Shifts on the symbiosis continuum. Svjetlana Vojvodic Symbiotic gut bacteria effect on honey bee brood immune system and suppression of obligate and facultative fungal pathogens. Jon Seal Constraints in symbiont-switching fungus gardening ants: repeated experiments produce different results. Katrin Kellner Bacterial communities associated with Mycocepurus smithii ants, their gardens, nest-walls, and adjacent soil: evidence of bacterial recruitment? Saturday 10:30am Oral Session II: Social Behavior and Organization (12min talks) Walter R. Tschinkel Opportunities for fabulous fire ant research. Adam Dolezal Division of labor is associated with age-independent changes in ovarian activity in Pogonomyrmex californicus harvester ants. Ying Wang Larval nutrition affects adult honeybee physiology and sucrose sensitivity. Sarah Bengston Colony personalities: Behavioral syndromes in social insects. Jessica Barker Potential conflict over work effort in a primitively eusocial wasp: investigating aggression towards experimentally removed Polistes dominulus workers. Daniel Charbonneau Are lazy ants actually resting shift workers? Alexander Walton Larger bees are better undertakers: Variation in corpse removal in the bumblebee Bombus impatiens. Juliana Rangel Colony fissioning in honey bees: size and significance of the swarm fraction. Saturday 1:30pm Oral Session III: Social Foraging and Decision Behavior (12min talks) Christina Kwapich The Influence of Demand, Demography and Death on Labor Economics in the Florida Harvester Ant (Pogonomyrmex badius). Takao Sasaki Colonies more precisely discriminate options than individual ants do. Theodore Pavlic Sequential-sampling models of quorum detection in house-hunting ants. Helen McCreery Why are some ants brilliant at collective transport? Aurélie Buffin Emergence of coordination in collective food transport by the ant Aphaenogaster cockerelli. Nicola Plowes Orientation and navigation in the column foraging desert harvester ant, Messor pergandei (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Jennifer Jandt Negative effects of food-robbing are exacerbated at low colony density. Elinor Lichtenberg Eavesdropping on heterospecific recruitment pheromones facilitates efficient foraging by stingless bees. Saturday 3:45pm Oral Session IV: Neuroethology, Ecology & Evolution (12min talks) Floria Mora-Kepfer The role of social interactions and visual stimuli in influencing brain plasticity in a primitively eusocial wasp. Sean O'Donnell Evolution of brain investment in sensory processing. Michele C. Lanan The evolution of the ant proventriculus. Shauna Price Patterns of diversification and phenotypic evolution in Neotropical turtle ants. Su Yee Lim Taxonomy of Reticulitermes spp. from the southeast USA: success using the principles of integrative taxonomy. Sandra Rehan Early global colonization and niche pre-emption by the small carpenter bees.

4 Amy Savage Scott Powell Sarah Lawson Biodiversity across the urban habitat mosaic: Assessing the relative diversity of ants in parks and roadside medians of Manhattan (NYC). Beetle-produced cavities shape the arboreal ant communities of Neotropical savanna. Do aphid soldiers elicit an immune response in victims? Saturday 8pm Poster Session II (set up during the day) 31. Jones, Nathan : Cellular physiology of the postpharyngeal gland in the Red Imported Fire Ant (Solenopsis invicta). 32. King, Joshua: Social insect biomass in eastern temperate forests. 33. Kramer, Elliot: Division of Labor in Pogonomyrmex badius. 34. Kuster, Ryan: Temporal gene expression in Apis mellifera in response to feeding and reproduction by Varroa destructor. 35. Juliana, Lima: Parthenogenesis in a Neotropical termite species (Isoptera: Termitidae): comparative census in laboratorial colonies. 36. Loope, Kevin: Why do vespine wasp workers commit matricide? 37. Macdonald Kietzman, Parry: Waggle dance following: does position matter. 38. Madden, Anne A.: The microbiology of a social insect invasion: Invasive paper wasps as microbial ecosystem engineers? 39. Marting, Peter: Testing for collective personality in Azteca ant colonies. 40. Merrell, Andrew: The development of colony-level behavioral phenotypes in the red harvester ant, Pogonomyrmex barbatus. 41. Miller, Julie: Launching raids in slave-making ants: a model for the analysis of collective decision making. 42. Milne, Marc: Importance of nectar and pigment in the capture of ants by carnivorous pitcher plants. 43. Narraway, Claire: The Hidden Cost of Altruistic Policing. 44. Nguyen, Andrew: Sequence and Cis-Regulatory Evolution of Heat Shock Protein hsp83, in Social Hymenoptera. 45. Penick, Clint: The regulation of queen development in colonies of the ant Harpegnathos saltator. 46. Pitts-Singer, Theresa: Attributes of Solitary Bees that Set Stage for Social Lifestyle. 47. Rodriguez, Michael: Foraging plasticity of Atta cephalotes in response to wind speed. 48. Sapp, Joseph: Life in the Fast Lane: Anthropogenic surfaces affect the speed and distance traveled by leafcutter ants (Atta cephalotes). 49. Scofield, Hailey: Effects of Malnutrition on Aspects of Worker Performance in the Honey Bee (Apis mellifera). 50. Shaffer, Zachary: Optimum foundress number in Pogonomyrmex californicus: survival, division of labor, and productivity. 51. Simone-Finstrom, Michael: Behavioral correlates and markers of oxidative stress in honey bees. 52. Smith, Chris: Does worker fat amount cause shifts in division of labor? 53. Smith, Michael: Honeybee Robbing Behavior. 54. Sorger, Magdalena: A new trap-jaw ant species on Florida s inland ridges? 55. Starks, Philip: Zombies without parasites: response of Polistes dominulus to a pseudo-parasite. 56. Stern, Caitlin: The effects of maternal promiscuity and helper sex on cooperative breeding behavior. 57. Tellez, Peter: Effects of Large Mammals on Ant Density and Diversity in a Neotropical Rainforest. 58. Traver, Brenna: Findings on Nosema ceranae in Virginia. 59. Velarde, Rodrigo: Characterization of gustatory receptor expression in adult worker honey bees. 60. Weiner, Susan: DNA methylation and caste determination in the primitively social wasp, Polistes dominulus. 61. Wiernasz, Diane: Genetics of Reproductive Conflict in Harvester Ants. 62. Woodard, S. Hollis: Social Regulation of Maternal Traits in Nest-Founding Bumble Bee (Bombus terrestris) Queens.

5 Sunday 8:30am Oral Session V: Genetics and Genomics of Social Insects (12min talks) Karl Glastad DNA methylation in the fire ant. Brendan Hunt Histone modifications mirror DNA methylation patterning in hymenopterans. Clement Kent Neutral Models explain Social Insect Genome Structure. Sean McKenzie Antennal transcriptomics in the ant Cerapachys biroi provides insights into the evolution and function of odorant binding and chemosensory proteins. Jessica Richards Chemical communication and genomics of swarming behavior in honey bees. Karen Kapheim Neuromolecular modifications of reward response as a function of eusocial evolution. Blaine Cole The quantitative genetics of behavior in harvester ants. Tim Linksvayer Colony level gene regulatory networks. Sunday 10:45am Oral Session VI: Honey Bee Health, Stress, and Nutrition (12min talks) Amanda Stammer Energetic stress from a parasitic infection can alter foraging behavior in honeybees. Robin Scudelari The effects of immune challenge and energetic stress on cognition in honeybees. Vanessa Corby-Harris Transcriptional markers of aging and dietary protein stress in the fat bodies of developing Apis mellifera nurses. Humberto Boncristiani Honey bee pupae IAPV in vitro infected: Evidences of transcriptional abundance up regulation. Renata Borba Botanical sources and antimicrobial activity of resins collected by honey bees pre- and post-challenge with Paenibacillus larvae. Michael Goblirsch The effects of Nosema ceranae on physiological markers of adult honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) development. Kaira Wagoner Identification and characterization of olfactory indicators of Varroa presence in brood cells of hygienic, Varroa Sensitive Hygienic, and unselected European honey bees (Apis mellifera). Sunday 1:15pm Oral Session VII: Social Communication and Caste (12min talks) Colin Funaro Chemical mediation of queen and king recognition in subterranean termites (Reticulitermes flavipes). Jürgen Liebig Convergent evolution of fertility signaling in eusocial insects? Insights from a termite. Adrian Smith Recognizing reproductives and hydrocarbon signal variation in the trap-jaw ant Odontomachus brunneus. Dani Moore A refined palate: the role of experience in the expression of egg-eating behavior in the ant Camponotus floridanus. Michael Herrmann Queens in Control: Males do not show adaptive mating behavior in hybridizing harvester ants. Terry McGlynn Local and global models of soldier production in Pheidole. Bill Wills Ecological Influences of Body Size Distributions in Ants. Jess Vickruck Is it better to be bigger or older? The influence of size and age on dominance rankings in the large carpenter bee, Xylocopa virginica.

6 Abstracts: Adams, Rachelle: Parasites or mercenaries? Shifts on the symbiosis continuum Mutualisms are attractive targets for parasites, because resources freely exchanged between partners can be intercepted and stolen. This leads to complex species networks that present a formidable challenge, when considering hypotheses to elucidate the coevolution and relations between associates. The fungus-growing ant mutualism is a model system, recognized as a species network that spans phyla, and where the roles of the different symbionts are only now becoming clear. The ants are farmers of a fungal cultivar and protect their crop from devastating pathogens with weeding behavior and by housing an active bacterial community on their exoskeleton. They, however, are unable to deter the chemical warriors - social parasites of the ant genus Megalomyrmex (Solenopsidini) - that infiltrate the protective fortress of their nest. The most derived Megalomyrmex species infiltrate, then integrate into the host nest, consuming the fungus garden and offspring of the host colony for years. However, when a Sericomyrmex amabilis host colony is threatened by a marauding agro-predator from the Gnamptogenys ant genus, Megalomyrmex symmetochus ants use their toxic chemical weaponry to protect the host ants, farm and ultimately their shared home. The mere presence of the parasite discourages the fierce ant predator from even attempting a raid, thus serving as an effective prophylactic. Counter to expectation, the symbiotic relationship between M. symmetochus and S. amabilis may be beneficial rather than costly under certain ecological conditions. Amadu, Hudu: Survival of Pollinators in the 21st Century Pollinators, plants and human beings are depending on each other since the creation of the world in billion years ago. The most unfortunate thing is that man has disappointed plants and the pollinators. This has cause problems to man. The way forward is to blend the indigenous knowledge with the scientific or modern knowledge and focus directly on the practicals on the ground at the grassroots level. Anderson, Kirk: Microbial dynamics of the pollination landscape: Environmentally vectored bacteria in the alimentary tract and beebread of honey bees (Apis mellifera) Nearly all eukaryotes are host to beneficial or benign bacteria in their gut lumen, either vertically inherited, or acquired from the environment. While the core bacteria of the honey bee gut is becoming evident, the influence of the pollination environment on honey bee microbial health is unknown. Here we use culturing, 16S cloning and sequencing, phylogenetic inference and bioinformatics to investigate bacteria from different segments of the honey bee (Apis mellifera) gut, incoming pollen, and stored pollen. Our results reveal that many non-core bacteria prevalent in stored pollen and the honey bee gut environment are typically associated with the plant phylosphere, pollen or floral nectar. Among these, potentially beneficial bacteria include Lactobacillus kunkeei, Fructobacillus spp. and many different groups of Actinobacteria, Acetobacteraceae and Firmicutes. We suggest that a subset of bacteria associated with phylosphere and floral nectar can serve as facultative mutualists throughout the acidic and sugar-rich hive environment. Contributions of plant associated bacteria to colony health may include general hygiene, fungal and pathogen inhibition and beebread preservation. Changes in the pollination environment, due to both typical environmental variation and human influence could affect honey bee colony health by directly or indirectly altering the evolution, abundance or survival of these bacteria or their associated communities in plants or honey bee food stores. Our results are important for understanding the contribution to pollinator health of both environmentally vectored and core microbiota, and the identification of factors that may affect colony food storage and disease susceptibility. Avalos, Arián, Yoselyn Rodriguez and Tugrul Giray: Defensive response in honey bee colonies, from the group to the individual. Colony defensive behavior has been an important factor for both economic and scientific reasons as Africanized honey bees expanded their range up through the Americas. Past methods for assessing defensiveness either focused on colony-level behaviors or provided individual level responses that were too variable or binary in measure. Individual measures of behaviors, such as defensive response, allow for further examinations of underlying genetic mechanisms. Here we present an individual-level assay of defensive behavior which looks at several response variables and which is shown to be applicable in both worker females and reproductive males (drones). Defensive response was measured in a modified Kolmes grid via the sequential presentation of an increasing voltage scale. The correlation between drone age and defensive response was assayed. We additionally explored the relationship between worker and worker-sired drones individual response to parent colonies defensiveness score. Bardunias, Paul: The excavation of tunnels by Formosan subterranean termites Since Grasse s groundbreaking work (1959), construction and excavation in termites and ants has been thought to be coordinated through a system of threshold responses to pheromones. Recent studies on subterranean termites

7 suggest pheromones may play no direct role in the removal of soil, relegating their function to recruitment. In this new model, tunnels are viewed as extensions of the termite phenotype and serve as an organizing factor, limiting movement to specific vectors, and providing unambiguous starting and ending points. Tactile information and traffic density provide the template coordinating the labor of excavators. When tunnels are too narrow for the number of termites attempting gain access to soil at the tunnel s end, a queue forms and termites will take soil from the tunnel walls wherever they are held up. Widening of the tunnel end can lead to bifurcation, while depressions in tunnel walls left by periodic widening of tunnels act as cues for tunnel branching. Excavated soil is deposited along the walls and inside depressions, acting to narrow tunnels and inhibit branching. At food sources, termites transition from excavating through soil to excavating into wood. The tailings, small wood fragments, are deposited along tunnels in the same manner as soil. The result is that tunnels near food sources are lined with wood fragments. This sequestered wood, subsequently covered in a fecal envelope, is a unique microhabitat, and may be the route of fungal invasion that was a necessary precursor to the type of fungal gardening seen in more derived termite species. Barker, Jessica: Potential conflict over work effort in a primitively eusocial wasp: investigating aggression towards experimentally removed Polistes dominulus workers Evolutionary conflicts of interest between members of social groups lead to potential within-group conflict as well as cooperation. One form of potential conflict is over the effort that non-breeders invest in working or helping to raise the breeders offspring. Lazy workers may impose a cost on other group members, which could select for group members to pay attention to how hard others are working. We experimentally removed workers in the primitively eusocial wasp Polistes dominulus during periods of high foraging activity, in order to determine whether nestmates responded to an individual worker s apparent lack of work. We found that focal removed workers who spent less time off the nest received more aggression when they returned, and that focal workers who had access to food while removed received more aggression than those without food. These results are consistent with two hypothesized roles for aggression: aggression could function in punishment of perceived lazy workers, or to obtain food forcibly from returning foragers. We predict that punishment of lazy workers will occur when other group members suffer a net cost as a result of this laziness, and that workers will be more likely to be lazy when they have a higher probability of gaining direct fitness benefits. Furthermore, when focal workers had had access to food and spent more time away from the nest, aggression among other wasps on the nest also increased. This suggests an additional role for aggression in colony activation, and that removing a focal worker has group-level, as well as individual-level, consequences. Barnard, Matthew: Assessing the Equality of Costly Investments by Foundresses of a Pleometrotic Ant Species The evolution of social living is a complex process that requires a series of behavioral changes promoting cooperation. Queens of Pogonomyrmex californicus, a harvester ant endemic to the southwestern US, show a propensity for cooperative colony founding known as pleometrosis. Using pairs of these pleometrotic founding queens, we studied task division as well as worker output during colony founding. Colony founding is a crucial period carrying great individual risk for the queen. By observing behaviors during the founding stage we sought to show differences in risk mitigation that may favor the evolution of sociality. Furthermore, using genetic techniques to determine brood maternity we studied the relative contribution of queens to worker production during the founding stage. Previous work has shown that P.cal pleometrotic queens equally contribute to the workforce in established colonies, but maternity has never been examined in the resource limited founding stage. This allowed us to investigate whether cheating by reduced contribution to worker production occurs within foundress associations, shedding further light on the mechanisms that shaped the evolution of sociality. Baudier, Kaitlin: Long-term Impacts of Flood Disturbance on Ant Diversity in Urban and Rural Habitats within Southern Louisiana Southeastern Louisiana, being subject to frequent intermittent flooding, is home to many species of ant with specialized adaptations for colony survival in this high disturbance environment. However, some of these regions have become flood-protected and urban in recent history. Additionally these urban areas have seen an increase in exotic cosmopolitan Formicidae. The question then arises whether species found primarily in areas which have been protected from inundation by man-made structures would be less likely to survive a widespread natural flooding event. During recent hurricane seasons, both these highly urban regions as well as outlying areas in southeastern Louisisana experienced widespread flooding, which presented the opportunity to compare how ant species in both were affected. Species richness was studied across Plaquemines parish (county) and Orleans parish throughout several years after being flooded, and compared to similar studies conducted across both parishes several years before the flooding occurred. This allowed for a preliminary assessment of the long-term effects of flooding on ant diversity in this region. Several years after the sampling began, it would appear that while overall species richness in both areas has seen little change from numbers before the storm, exotic species previously not found, particularly in Plaquemines parish, were collected in the sampling.

8 Bengston, Sarah: Colony personalities: Behavioral syndromes in social insects Animals across many phyla show consistent individual behavioral variation, often referred to as behavioral syndromes or personalities. For example, some individuals in a population may consistently be more active than others, and therefore differ in their foraging rate, migratory patterns, defensive responses, etc. Social insects have the potential to show variation across several levels of organization: colonies, castes, genetic lines and individuals. While much work has described behavioral differences among castes, genetic lines, and individuals across a variety of species; less work has focused on the consistency of colony variation across contexts and through time. Could this variation be described as colony-level personality? To answer this, we looked for consistent variation across several behavioral traits in the ant Temnothorax rugatulus including 1) foraging behavior in the field and in the lab 2) activity levels 3) response to threat from conspecifics and 4) exploratory behavior. Additionally, to understand what is driving how different personalities may correlate with environmental context, we measured ecological factors such as: resource density, colony density and abiotic conditions across a latitudinal gradient. We found evidence of both consistent variation over time and striking behavioral correlations with environment. Colonies are consistent in foraging, aggressive behavior and activity level and this variation is well predicted by latitude. Despite not being a common area of focus, variation among colonies may have important ecological consequences; it could drive the success of a colony in one situation and its failure in another. Bespalova, Ioulia & Helms, Ken: Meathead queens: Lethal fighting linked to larger heads in Messor pergandei In certain populations of Messor pergandei, colony foundation entails obligate lethal fighting between queens. In such populations, queens cooperate with each other in digging nests and rearing the first brood, but reduce to one queen through lethal fighting shortly after workers emerge (secondary monogyny). This fighting behavior is not present in other populations of the same species, where queens either cooperate for the entire life of the colony (primary polygyny) or remain solitary (haplometrosis). We examined whether the necessity of fighting resulted in differences in head width, a proxy for mandible strength, in queens from these three behavioral regions. Workers and newly-mated queens were collected from two sites exhibiting primary polygyny, two sites exhibiting secondary monogyny, and one site exhibiting haplometrosis. Log of head width and hind femur, alinotum and first gaster segment length were measured and regressed against each other using Standard Major Axis regression (SMA), then linear slopes and elevations were compared among sites. Queens from sites exhibiting lethal fighting were found to have wider heads at a particular alinotum, hind femur, and first gaster segment length, while workers did not show a clear or significant distinction in regression lines between populations with fighting and non-fighting queens. This trend indicates that M. pergandei queens in populations which exhibit secondary monogyny have evolved stronger mandibles in response to the necessity of lethal fighting during colony founding. Boncristiani, Humberto: Honey bee pupae IAPV in vitro infected: Evidences of transcriptional abundance up regulation The ongoing decline of honey bees in the USA, and in many others parts of the world, is raising serious concerns about the long-term availability of honey bee-assisted pollination of our crops. Principle significant cause of decline in honey bee populations is the mysterious rapid loss of colony viability that has been called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). Data from an initial study in which investigators compared pathogens in honey bees affected by CCD suggested a putative role for Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus, IAPV. White-eye pupae infected with purified IAPV were followed over 48 hours under laboratory conditions. The pupae presented different patterns of disease depending on the viral load. Symptoms vary from complete cessation of development with no visual evidence of disease to rapid darkening of part/whole body in pupae inoculated. Real time PCR analysis shows incremental virus replication over time with no difference between different patrilines analyzed, with a peak of replication varying on each colony tested, suggesting genetic and environmental background input. Real time analysis reveals an intriguing up regulation of the main house-keeping genes, Actin, RPS5, 28S. The up regulation observed suggest a costly feed-back response to the translational shut off cause by IAPV, a Picornavirus key marker. This data together bring new insights about IAPV pathogenesis and raises concerns about real time PCR data analysis under Picornavirus infection in honey bees. Borba, Renata: Botanical sources and antimicrobial activity of resins collected by honey bees pre- and postchallenge with Paenibacillus larvae. Honey bees collect resins, antimicrobial substances, from the environment and incorporate them into the nest architecture. Some plants secrete highly aromatic resins that have a number of antimicrobial properties, which serve to protect the plant against predators and pathogenic microorganisms. The chemical composition of resins varies qualitatively and quantitatively within and among plants, making them potentially a good defense against rapidly evolving pests and pathogens. The incorporation of resins from the environment acts as an external immune defense mechanism for honey bees, benefiting colony health by lowering the costly production of some

9 immune-related antimicrobial peptides (Simone et al., 2009). Additionally, previous work found that the presence of the fungal pathogen, Ascosphaera apis, in the nest elicits resin collection (Simone-Finstrom and Spivak, 2012). We tested how robust this self-medication response is by challenging colonies with the bacterial pathogen Paenibacillus larvae. We also asked if bees shift their selection of resin sources at the colony-level after challenge with P. larvae, and, if so, how the antimicrobial activity differs between the pre- and post-challenge resin sources. If bees alter the diversity or source of resin(s), it suggests they are able to discriminate among resins. This study sheds light on the behavior mechanisms underlying the collection of resin by a relatively rare subset of bees in the colony whose foraging choices contribute to social immunity at the colony level. Buffin, Aurélie: Emergence of coordination in collective food transport by the ant Aphaenogaster cockerelli Cooperative transport by ants is a leading example of self-organized behavior, meaning that it emerges from behavioral changes due to local cues, without a leader or global knowledge of the process. Compared to analogous phenomena like food source selection and exploitation, the mechanisms behind cooperative transport are still poorly understood. While most ant species are relatively unskilled at this behavior, a few have evolved impressive skills that are important to their ecological success. We designed a set of standardized field experiments to investigate cooperative transport in one of these species, the desert ant Aphaenogaster cockerelli. Workers were induced to recruit to a standardized food item and then transport it over a flat surface. We measured the speed of the transported object, the number of ants and their orientation. We also measured the deviation of the carried object from the most direct route to the nest, as well as the stabilization effect induced by an increased number of ants taking part in transport. These experiments will allow us to describe the mechanisms behind the onset of cooperation and the coordination of workers to reach a common goal: retrieving an object too large for a single ant. Besides its obvious biological interest, we expect insights on the leaderless coordination of ants to interest robotics engineers seeking to imitate this robust, decentralized behavior. Carman, Karlie: Structure of plant-pollinator interaction networks in natural versus altered systems Ecological interactions influence ecosystem functioning. Mutualisms, such as plant-pollinator interactions, exist as potentially delicate exchange networks that may collapse as habitat alteration occurs, thereby threatening the overall health of an ecosystem. Archbold Biological Station in Venus, Florida contains over 2000 hectares of prime Florida scrub habitat nested within a changing environment. In the past, 213 species of bees were recorded and there is a large variety of classified plant species, many endemic to the Lake Wales Ridge, that are known to inhabit the station. Using bees as a study system, my research will compare the current diversity of plants and bee pollinators, the structure of plant-pollinator interactions, and changes in specificity/generality of contributors to those networks in natural versus altered scrub to determine how these interactions change as habitat alteration occurs. Charbonneau, Daniel: Are lazy ants actually resting shift workers? Ants are often portrayed as archetypal hard workers. This is seemingly not the case. Studies show that the distribution of work within a colony is heavily skewed, where a small proportion of workers perform most of the work and the majority does little or no work. However, we do not know how consistent individual inactivity is through time. We investigate the whether shift-work, the idea that part of the colony works while the other part rests, can explain observed inactivity in ant colonies. To this end, we observe colonies of individually marked ants (Temnothorax rugatulus) at regular intervals and determine whether worker and colony-wide activity varies over a 24h period and across multiple days. Our results provide evidence for a circadian rhythm by showing that colony activity is significantly lower during the nighttime than during the daytime. However, not all tasks are as likely to happen during the night as they are during the day. We also show that individual inactivity varies significantly between workers and is consistent through time showing that inactive workers are not simply resting shift workers. Chen, Jian: The ant and the cricket The house cricket is often used as a food source for imported fire ants in the laboratory. It was found that fire ants consumed most of the soft tissues of a female cricket but avoided its eggs by disposing them in the refuse piles. The chemical analysis showed that cricket eggs had an astonishingly similar surface fatty acid profile as that of dead ants. There are two possible causes for such a close match in surface chemical profile with dead ants: a random coincidence or a chemical mimicry in which eggs mimic a dead ant in order to avoid being predated by ants. We analyzed soil-dwelling eggs of field cricket and grasshoppers and pupae of three lepidopteran species. They also have similar fatty acid profile as that of dead ants. Mimicking fatty acid profile of dead ants may be a common phenomenon in soil-dwelling insects. However, in order to fully test the hypothesis of chemical mimicry, more investigations on the origin of such chemical profile match are needed.

10 Cho, John: How do drones (Apis mellifera) distinguish days of good and bad weather for mating flights? Male honey bees, or drones, are important colony members, because only they and the queens reproduce the colony s genes. Drones leave the hive to mate at certain times on days when it is sunny and warm enough. We investigated how drones know if the weather conditions are favorable. Our hypotheses were: 1) The workers provide weather information to the drones, 2) Drones share the information, and 3) Drones collect the information by themselves. To test our hypotheses, we first described the departure pattern of drones. We then recorded their daily movement in an observation hive. Finally, we followed individually marked drones to identify possible cues from other bees. The departures were generally concentrated around mid-afternoon. We rejected hypothesis 1 because possible cues from workers did not increase as departure time approached. We did not find support for hypothesis 2 because there was no noticeable interaction among drones. We found support for hypothesis 3 because the drones moved toward the hive entrance even on days with unfavorable weather conditions. We conclude that drones collect weather information by going to the entrance themselves. This is interesting because we expected the workers to provide weather information, given the drones importance. Chouvenc, Thomas: Succession ecology of dying subterranean termite colonies Subterranean termite colonies (Rhinotermitidae) live in extensive underground galleries. A mixture of soil, wood particles and termite fecal material is deposited as a lining along tunnel walls that mitigates temperature and humidity extremes, and provides a microniche that may host a complex microbial community. In healthy termite colonies, the gallery system is maintained by the termites as a homeostatic environment which helps to prevent the intrusion of parasites, predators, competitors and deleterious microorganisms. However, senescent colonies, or those failing due to unusual stress conditions, may accumulate massive amounts of moribund termites who can no longer contribute to colony function and act to shift the colony environment away from homeostasis. This study aims to describe the succession of the various organisms that use a dying termite colony as a resource, either through the decomposition and recycling of the termite cadavers, or the exploitation of the resources of the gallery system. Our observations suggest that a dead termite colony leaves an ecological footprint with enhanced organismal activity. Cole, Blaine J., Jordan, Dayne & Wiernasz Diane C.: The quantitative genetics of behavior in harvester ants. Using colonies that were constructed by performing directed matings between parents (queens and males) from known colonies of the Western Harvester Ant, Pogonomyrmex occidentalis, we produced colonies that varied considerably in their degree of genetic similarity to one another. These colonies were reared under laboratory conditions and then 100 colonies whose queens were from a total of 30 source colonies were given a battery of eight behavioral tests. These tests assay a variety of behavioral phenotypes (tempo, exploration, aggression and sorting) and reveal highly significant lineage differences. Because we know the genealogical relationships between the males and queens that produce the colonies we can assess maternal and paternal effects independently. Cook, Chelsea: Social Context Alters Behavioral Response in Apis mellifera When faced with increasing hive temperatures, honeybees coordinate as a group to effectively cool the hive by fanning at the entrance. This unique behavior is initiated by a complex interplay between temperatures and social effects among individuals within the hive. I tested these fanning honeybees by heating them alone or with a group. When isolated, a single bee rarely fanned, while in groups, fanning commenced. My research provides insight into how social cues can alter response thresholds to accomplish a critical task, and allows us to explore contexts of behaviors that may be altered due to a changing environment. Corby-Harris, Vanessa: Transcriptional markers of aging and dietary protein stress in the fat bodies of developing Apis mellifera nurses. The honey bee, Apis mellifera, is an invaluable pollinator and contributes substantially to the worldwide economy and ecosystem health. Dietary protein in the form of stored pollen (bee bread) is an essential part of the honey bee diet, particularly in young adults developing into nurses. Recent surveys of beekeepers in both small and large commercial operations rank starvation as a major cause of colony losses. Although a flood of recent research has focused on honey bee declines, little of this effort has been directed towards starvation and, more generally, nutrient stress. To further understand nutritional stress in honey bees, we assayed gene expression changes in the fat bodies of 3 day and 8 day old worker bees fed either honey and pollen (control) or honey alone (protein restricted) genes were differentially expressed due to some combination of age, diet, or the age by diet interaction. Surprisingly few genes were differentially regulated due to diet (73 genes) or the interaction between diet and age (15 genes) compared to the effect of age alone (1581 genes). Substantial down-regulation of gene expression was observed with increasing age and pollen deprivation. Functional analyses suggest that protein-

11 restricted bees have defects in neurological development and sphingolipid metabolism, while aging bees downregulate cellular immune function and key signaling, proteolytic, and oocyte development pathways. This data offers a large-scale approach towards understanding the role of dietary protein stress in the early adult development of A. mellifera and points to several avenues for further study. DeFelice, Dominick: Analysis of Geographic Variation in Mating Frequencies of the Eastern Honey Bee, Apis cerana With over forty different mating partners, honey bee queens demonstrate an exceptional degree of polyandry. The costs of multiple mating are presumably outweighed by its benefits, such as an increased genetic diversity of the resulting colony. Few comparative data from different honey bee species are available and comparative analyses within species are even rarer. Therefore, little is known about the environmental influences and microevolution of honey bee queen promiscuity. This study compares queen mating numbers among three natural populations of the eastern honey bee, Apis cerana, to study geographic variation of mating behavior. Workers were collected from six colonies from the northern mountains of Thailand, six colonies from a coastal, southern population, and six from a small island. Approximately 50 workers of each of the eighteen colonies were genotyped at five microsatellite loci to determine the number of patrilines in each colony. Preliminary comparisons indicate that allelic diversity in the island colonies is reduced compared to both mainland populations. The mating frequencies of individual queens will be inferred with the computer program COLONY and compared to other parameters of our study populations. Implications of these results for the variation and evolution of mating behavior in honey bees will be discussed. Denier, Diandra & Velenosvsky, Joseph: A common antifungal defense strategy in Cryptocercus woodroaches and termites Co-author and presenter, Joseph Velenosvsky, and I worked together under Mark Bulmer, Ph.D to identify and characterize Gram-negative bacteria binding proteins (GNBPs) and their predicted anti-fungal activity in the woodroach Cryptocercus punctulatus. Based on a phylogenetic analysis, an ancestral GNBP with an intact b-1,3- glucanase active site appears to have duplicated in a common ancestor of subsocial Cryptocercus woodroaches and termites. In termites, the secreted b-1,3-glucanase activity of GNBPs provides important prophylactic protection from fungal pathogens such as Metarhizium anisopliae, which can evade the immune system after entering the insect. We identify b-1,3-glucanase activity on the cuticular surface of C. punctulatus that originates from the salivary gland and is likely spread by allogrooming. Cuticular washes have antifungal activity against conidia that is suppressed by an inhibitor (GDL) of termite GNBP b-1,3-glucanase activity. C. punctulatus nymphs that are treated with GDL and subsequently exposed to M. anisopliae conidia show significantly greater mortality than the untreated nymphs exposed to conidia. A molecular evolutionary analysis of GNBPs in C. punctulatus and representative termites indicates that selection-directed change in a glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) anchor region. Modification of the GPI anchor region may have been instrumental in the evolution of an antifungal defense strategy that depends on the external secretion of GNBPs from the salivary gland and their dissemination by grooming. This strategy may have helped compensate for the vulnerability of a subsocial woodroach-like ancestor to fungal disease that results from prolonged development with a thin cuticle and facilitated the transition to termite eusociality. Dingle, Hester: Allometry of incipient colonies of the Red Imported Fire Ant (Solenopsis invicta) Mated queens of the Red Imported Fire Ant (Solenopsis invicta) were collected in the field and reared in the lab. Egg-laying rates for newly mated queens were continuously recorded along with periodic measurement of colony health and productivity. Previous studies have focused on mature colony characteristics. This study will provide detailed insight into the early stages of colony growth. Dolezal, Adam: Division of labor is associated with age-independent changes in ovarian activity in Pogonomyrmex californicus harvester ants An age-independent division of labor can develop in both the reproductive (queen) and non-reproductive (worker) castes of Pogonomyrmex californicus harvester ants, and individuals develop biases for in-nest activities or external foraging. These behavioral biases correlate with hormones that normally pace reproductive physiology and ovarian development. Additionally, ant ovaries normally atrophy in foragers compared to nest-biased workers (nurses). However, it is not clear whether these ovarian changes are due to changes in behavior or age, since foragers are typically older individuals. Here, we clarify this relationship in P. californicus queens and workers by comparing ovarian activity in same-aged ants that exhibit divergent behavioral biases. We found that foraging individuals had significantly reduced ovarian activity compared to their nest-biased counterparts, thereby linking changes in the ants reproductive system to social task performance rather than to age. The general finding that

12 ovarian physiology is associated with social insect behaviors is consistent with the hypothesis that the reproductive system of solitary ancestors provided building blocks for the evolution of insect societies. Earhart, Alexander & Tarter, Elizabeth: Describing tropical termite nest growth and decline patterns using logistic growth models Termites act as ecosystem engineers, capable of recycling most dead organic material and maintaining the flow of resources in a tropical ecosystem; this characteristic may be especially important on St. John, USVI, where the arboreal nesting termite, Nasutitermes acajutlae is the major invertebrate degrader. Our goal is to investigate nest growth, decline, and longevity on St. John, as well as to understand how biotic and abiotic factors affect changes in nest size and survival, via mathematical models. We have collected natural history data on >200 N. acajutlae nests from five major habitat types (dry, mangrove, moist, sparse, wooded/wetlands) spanning the years We developed an adaptive logistic model using nest volumes from these years capable of describing the patterns of nest growth and decline from year to year for each habitat. We observed that growth and decline, and general nest size patterns were typically unrelated between habitats. However, each habitat has its own typical pattern of growth and decline. Using this model, it is possible to estimate when nests first appeared and their likely longevity, enabling us to effectively determine the average nest lifespan for each habitat. In the future, we will incorporate both abiotic (i.e., ambient humidity and ambient temperature) variables, and intrinsic biotic (e.g., production of alates) to estimate their effects on nests in each habitat. This will allow us to predict the efficacy of termite degradation in tropical ecosystems in changing environmental conditions. Ebie, Jessica: When do Temnothorax rugatulus recruit to prey items? Recruitment helps ants better exploit rich or difficult food sources, but recruiting too much or at the wrong time can be costly. If an ant recruits excess foragers to food, the colony pays opportunity costs for the lost foraging effort they could have devoted elsewhere. However, an ant too reluctant to recruit may fail to exploit a food item that would have provided ample food with more assistance. Therefore ants may benefit by recruiting only when reliable cues indicate that it will be worthwhile. For sweet liquids, a common food source for ants, high sugar concentration and volume have been implicated as recruitment cues. However, little is known about recruitment to prey items such as insects. Compared to sugar water, prey are nutritionally complex, containing protein, carbohydrates and trace nutrients. They may be difficult to harvest, requiring dissection or cooperative transport. Prey characteristics that are currently known to trigger recruitment include tractive resistance, food quality, and prey density. These characteristics have been assessed in ant species that are predatory, recruit via pheromone trails, and transport prey collectively. Temnothorax rugatulus recruit using tandem runs rather than pheromone trails and do not collectively carry, and so may rely on novel recruitment cues. To determine what features trigger T. rugatulus individuals to recruit to insects, we are investigating many possible characteristics including prey density and tractive resistance, and we are observing the time until recruitment begins to items of different sizes. We expect to learn which characteristics determine when and how recruitment occurs. Fuller, Claire & Marielle Postava-Davignon: The ability of an arboreal termite Nasutitermes acajutlae to mediate nest temperature and humidity changes Tropical climates are less variable in temperature, but can vary dramatically in relative humidity (RH). All termites require high moisture, and tropical termites have narrow temperature tolerances. A number of termites are known to control their nest environment to stabilize against external climate and fulfill these requirements, but little is known how this is accomplished. We determined whether an arboreal termite, Nasutitermes acajutlae on the tropical dry island St. John, USVI can mediate changes in nest environment via metabolism and/or nest structure. We placed temperature/humidity data loggers into > 100 nests that were either living reproductive (containing alates and/or nymphs), living but non-reproductive or recently dead, over a 4 year period. We found that termites maintained a higher internal nest temperature than ambient and that the presence of reproductives increased temperature further. Dead nest temperatures were not significantly different than daily low ambient, but they were significantly less variable. Termite nests maintained a high relative humidity (typically > 95%) and were significantly higher and less variable than ambient RH. There were no significant differences in RH among reproductive, non-reproductive and dead nests. The results suggest that, while termite metabolism heats nests, the ability to prevent heat loss and mediate RH seems to be solely due to nest material. While the ability of N. acajutlae to mediate nest environment may help account for its wide success on St. John, long term data suggests that N. acajutlae may not be able to cope if the climate becomes significantly warmer and drier.