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Research/Projects

SOCIAL INSECT SOCIETIES.  FROM INDIVIDUAL RESPONSES TO COLLECTIVE PATTERNS (AND BACK)

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  • Response decisions:  How do individuals in insect societies respond to their ever changing, heterogeneous environment?

  • Behavioral flexibility:  How are individual responses modulated; e.g. by experience (adult and ontogenetic), age, perception of own efficiency, nutritional state and social interactions?

  • Inter-individual variability:  How and why do individuals differ in their responses, and what is the contribution of these inter-individual differences to the properties of their collective?

  • How is the state of the collective reflected in the various feedback loops integrating individual response decisions?

  • Bee decline:  How do widely used agrochemicals impact individual and collective thermoregulation behavior and collective fitness?

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Individual Responses
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©L. Kling

©L. Kling

bumblebee worker fanning on brood

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©L. Kling

worker fanning on brood dummy

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©L. Kling

worker incubating on brood dummy

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brood dummy 

mimicking natural brood (pupae)

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test arenas with temperature controlled brood dummies 

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thermal images of workers on brood dummies

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different dummy 

types to manipulate cooling efficiency

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group setup with several brood dummies -

testing stimulus response behavior in a social context

collective Temperature Homeostasis
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We use collective thermoregulation in bumble bees to address the questions outlined above. 

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Bumblebee colonies maintain their brood at high and stable temperatures. Individuals actively generate heat and incubate the brood. When temperatures are too high, individuals fan their wings and cool the brood.  

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Temperature homeostasis is a collective phenomenon, with individuals switching in and out of the task of thermoregulation.

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In the lab, we are able to control and manipulate the stimulus (temperature) in order to study  both individual and collective responses in detail.

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thermal image of a split colony for within-colony comparisons

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observing multiple group setups under red light

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documenting collective brood temperature in bumblebee micro colonies as reliable indicator of  sub-lethal effects of pesticides

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©L. Fischer

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