Dr. Helen McCreery Dept. of Biology, Tufts University
Problem solving and flexible control in self-organized collectives
ABSTRACT: Across levels of organization—from subcellular processes to massive animal migrations—groups accomplish tasks well beyond what individuals can do. Among the most charismatic examples of this are the accomplishments of ant colonies. Ant colonies perform impressive tasks that are impossible for individual ants. In general, there are many benefits to collective action—e.g. it is typically scalable and robust—but there are also costs associated with collective systems, including high “inertia”, which is thought to result in a loss of flexibility. For example, the positive feedbacks that allow an ant colony to choose among resources may be hard to counteract if the chosen resource disappears. Yet for some tasks, ants rapidly respond to changing conditions. I will discuss the mechanisms of ants’ collective action in two tasks that require extreme flexibility: maze-like obstacle navigation during cooperative transport, and self-assembly of living bridges in army ants.
NOTICE:Welcome to the second CEC meeting of the 2023-2024 academic year! We will be holding hybrid meetings to accommodate COVID-19 precautions and audience members from around the world.
For those able to attend in person, we will have an informal dinner with the speaker at 6:00 pm at the Cambridge Common Restaurant. Our formal meeting runs from 7:30 – 9:00 pm in the Gilbert Room 101A of the Museum of Comparative Zoology (there will be signs to help direct). The meeting will begin with club announcements, followed by a 60-minute presentation by the invited speaker and Q&A. Membership is open to amateur and professional entomologists.
Reviving the Endangered Art of Faunistics: Revising the Ants of North America
MCZ 101, 26 Oxford Street, Harvard University
Stefan Cover, Harvard University
Many disciplines claim to be foundational to the rest of biology: systematics and genetics are two obvious examples. A good case can be made, however, that faunistics (the study of faunas), and its botanical equivalent (floristics), are basal to all other biological disciplines. Unfortunately, faunistics is a dying art. Good faunistic studies are uncommon and training in the field is not available. Faunistics combines alpha-taxonomy, biogeography, life-history studies, and natural history to produce a comprehensive, practical, useful portrait of a fauna. Come and see how these various elements are being used to assemble a new, more comprehensive monograph of the ants of North America.
The talk is free and open to the public. The meeting is readily accessible via public transportation. Parking is available in the Oxford Street Garage with advance arrangement, as described here, or (usually but not always) at spaces on nearby streets. Everyone is also welcome to join us for dinner before the talk (beginning at 6 PM) at the Cambridge Common restaurant.
CEC meetings are held the second Tuesday of the month from October through May. The evening schedule typically includes an informal dinner (6:15 to 7:15 PM) followed by our formal meeting (7:30 – 9:00 PM). The latter begins with club business and is followed by a 50 minute entomology related presentation. Membership is open to amateur and professional entomologists
Exploring insect biodiversity in Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique
MCZ 101, 26 Oxford Street, Harvard University
Gary Alpert
Gary Alpert and Piotr Naskrecki, Harvard University
Gary and Piotr will present a photo essay of a recent field expedition to Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique for the purpose of collecting ants and katydids. We will hear about field trips by helicopter, protection by armed national park guards and other adventures.
The talk is free and open to the public. The meeting is readily accessible via public transportation. Parking is available in the Oxford Street Garage with advance arrangement, as described here, or (usually but not always) at spaces on nearby streets. Everyone is also welcome to join us for dinner before the talk (beginning at 6 PM) at the Cambridge Common restaurant.
CEC meetings are held the second Tuesday of the month from October through May. The evening schedule typically includes an informal dinner (6:00 to 7:15 PM) followed by our formal meeting (7:30 – 9:00 PM). The latter begins with club business and is followed by a 50 minute entomology related presentation. Membership is open to amateur and professional entomologists.
Dr. Christian Rabeling, Harvard University Junior Fellow
Since the Mesozoic, ants evolved to become the most diverse, abundant and ecologically dominant group of social insects on earth. Recent advances in molecular and computational biology allowed for reconstructing the phylogenetic history of this fascinating group of organisms and for understanding their evolutionary biology. In this presentation, I will describe how the discovery of a single new species from the Amazon rainforest changed our understanding of ant evolution and what an asexually reproducing fungus-growing ant can teach us about the universality of sexual reproduction.
The talk is free and open to the public. The meeting is readily accessible via public transportation. Parking is available in the Oxford Street Garage with advance arrangement, as described here, or (usually but not always) at spaces on nearby streets. Everyone is also welcome to join us for dinner before the talk (beginning at 6:15 PM) at the Harvard Law School cafeteria, on the second floor of the Caspersen Student Center.
CEC meetings are held the second Tuesday of the month from October through May. The evening schedule typically includes an informal dinner (6:15 to 7:15 PM) followed by our formal meeting (7:30 – 9:00 PM). The latter begins with club business and is followed by a 50 minute entomology related presentation. Membership is open to amateur and professional entomologists.
Evolutionary Origins of Myrmecochory. Clues from Two Continents.
MCZ 101, 26 Oxford Street, Harvard University
*Please note the meeting will begin 10 minutes later than our normal time.
Myrmecochory is a mutualism that provides food to ants and seed dispersal benefits to plants. Studies examining these interactions have provided important insights in ant biology, plant biology and a diversity of topics in ecology and evolutionary biology. This talk will present details about the natural history of two ant species that play important roles in dispersing seeds within their native habitats. Common characteristics of these ants will then be shown to form the basis for a new hypothesis to explain how myrmecochory first evolved.
The talk is free and open to the public. The meeting is readily accessible via public transportation. Parking is available in the Oxford Street Garage with advance arrangement, as described here, or (usually but not always) at spaces on nearby streets. Everyone is also welcome to join us for dinner before the talk ( beginning at 6:15 PM) at the Harvard Law School cafeteria, on the second floor of Harkness Commons.
CEC meetings are held the second Tuesday of the month from October through May. The evening schedule typically includes an informal dinner (6:15 to 7:15 PM) followed by our formal meeting (7:30 – 9:00 PM). The latter begins with club business and is followed by a 50 minute entomology related presentation. Membership is open to amateur and professional entomologists.
The next meeting of the Cambridge Entomological Club will feature a talk by Mark Moffett.
Mark is a writer, photographer and world traveler and his talk will be about his new book – Adventures among Ants: A Global Safari with a Cast of Trillions
The meeting will be held in the Geological Lecture Hall at 7 A.M.
MCZ 101, 26 Oxford Street at Harvard University (directions and parking information)
Free and open to the public
Please join us for dinner at the Harvard Law School cafeteria, second floor of Harkness Commons, at 6:15pm.
