NSF East Asia and Pacific Summer Institute for FY 2012 in Australia

Kamhi Jessica F, Cambridge MA

Investigators

Abstract

This action funds Jessica Frances Kamhi of Boston University to conduct a research project, entitled "Neurobiology of individual and collective behavior in a superorganism, the weaver ant" during the summer of 2012 at James Cook University in Townsville, Queensland, Australia. The host scientist is Simon Robson. The Intellectual Merit of the research project is to advance understanding of the neurobiology of worker behavior and collective intelligence. Ants, as pinnacles of social evolution in insects, are renowned for their cohesive and complex group living, yet the extent to which selection for collective behavior has shaped the worker brain is poorly understood, and how the structure of the weaver ant brain underscores behavioral differentiation and cooperation has yet to be explored. By studying both worker task performance and the synaptic connections in sensory and integrative processing regions of the worker brain, the research elucidates how worker brain structure in the socially advanced weaver ant, Oecophylla smaragdina, is involved in individual and colony-level actions. The Broader Impacts of an EAPSI fellowship include providing the Fellow a first-hand research experience outside the U.S.; an introduction to the science, science policy, and scientific infrastructure of the respective location; and an orientation to the society, culture and language. These activities meet the NSF goal to educate for international collaborations early in the career of its scientists, engineers, and educators, thus ensuring a globally aware U.S. scientific workforce.