Tuesday November 10
07:30 PM
Nectar Guides but Pollen Doesn’t: Learning and Uncertainty in Plant-Pollinator Interactions
MCZ 101, 26 Oxford Street, Harvard University
Dan Papaj
Professor and Associate Head of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona
Humans perceive the world as uncertain in key respects, and think often about how to cope with uncertainty. Insects too must cope with uncertainty, for example, in the availability and value of their resources. In this talk, I treat plants and their insect pollinators as signalers and receivers respectively in a communication system that is part mutualism and part antagonism. I will argue that the floral resource can be uncertain from a pollinator’s perspective in two key ways: first, the signals by which flowers are identified and located may be uncertain (= low signal detectability) and, second, the consequences of attending to the signal may be uncertain (= low information reliability). Drawing from our work on bumble bees, examples of each challenge for pollinators and the means by which challenges are met will be presented. Ways in which flowers appear to mitigate uncertainty will be contrasted with ways in which they appear to maintain it and benefit from it, even at the expense of the pollinator. The talk will touch on a broad range of topics, including signal detection theory, multimodal communication, learning (including social learning), concealed floral rewards, nectar guides and nectar robbing, and floral sonication behavior.
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 5:45 PM) at the West Side Lounge, 1680 Massachussetts Avenue, Cambridge.
CEC meetings are held the second Tuesday of the month from October through May. The evening schedule typically includes an informal dinner (5:45 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.
Tuesday October 13
7:30 PM
Comparative biology of Ceratina small carpenter bees: What early insect societies can tell us about the evolution of sociality
MCZ 101, 26 Oxford Street, Harvard University
Sandra Rehan
Assistant Professor, University of New Hampshire
The small carpenter bees, genus Ceratina, offer important insights into the early stages of social group formation. Small carpenter bees provide a unique opportunity to study the evolution and maintenance of social behavior in a group benefitting from detailed life history studies and a well-established phylogeny. Ceratina are globally-distributed and species range from solitary to complex societies; solitary species are typically found in temperate environments and social groups are recurrent in tropical regions. My data highlight the importance of molecular phylogeny and historical biogeography for understanding the relative roles of phylogenetic inertia and regional ecology on the evolution of social behavior. Moreover, maternal care is a key precursor for the evolution of eusociality. Maternal investment is often determined, in part, by the quality and quantity of food provided to the offspring. Such maternal manipulation of nutrients, during development in particular, can influence the activation of hormones, nutrient storage, and social interactions of offspring once development is complete. The small carpenter bee, Ceratina calcarata, is native to New England and this species is of special interest because of its prolonged maternal care and mothers who produce a special class of small daughters that help raise their siblings. I examine nutritional, developmental and behavioral variation among offspring to determine the role of maternal manipulation and social environment on offspring care and worker behavior in incipient insect societies.
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 5:45 PM) at the West Side Lounge, 1680 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge.
CEC meetings are held the second Tuesday of the month from October through May. The evening schedule typically includes an informal dinner (5:45 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.
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
7:30 PM
Decision making during the scouting behavior of the slave-making ant Protomognathus americanus
MCZ 101, 26 Oxford Street, Harvard University
Sebastian Pohl
University of Melbourne
Collective decision making is important for social insects living in highly organized societies. However, often only a few individuals acquire information relevant for the entire colony. In the slave-making ant Protomognathus americanus, workers focus on a single task: searching for and raiding host colonies to replenish their slave workforce. Single scouts search for colonies of their Temnothorax hosts, which are subsequently attacked by a group of raiding slavemaker workers. Scouts and raiders risk being killed by host workers defending their colony. Considering both the raiding risk and the potential benefit, slavemaker workers have to make several decisions: when to start scouting, whether or not to participate in scouting or raiding events, and whether a discovered host colony is worth attacking. I investigated the scouting behavior of P. americanus using a combination of behavioral observations and chemical analyses, in order to elucidate the course of these crucial interspecific interactions between a social parasite and its host.
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 6:00 PM) at Cambridge Common restaurant, on 1667 Massachusetts Ave.
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.
