Tyler Herron
Research Mentor: Elizabeth Tibbetts
Mentor Department: Ecology and Evolution, LSA
Author(s): Tyler Herron, Seokin Yang, Emily Laub, Elizabeth Tibbetts
Session: Session 3 (11:00 AM – 11:50 AM)
Presentation Type: Poster 16
Abstract
Understanding how social systems evolve is a central question in evolutionary biology. Closely related species that differ in social behavior but share an environment provide an opportunity to investigate how selection for divergent social systems may result in neurological differences. Polistes fuscatus and Polistes metricus are two closely related and co-occurring species of paper wasps that differ in social organization. P. fuscatus founds nests with multiple queens, utilizing facial recognition to organize their nests, while P. metricus nests are founded by a single queen. In this project we compare differences in brains of P. metricus and P. fuscatus to determine what brain regions may be associated with differences in social behavior. We use micro-CT scans of the brains of P. fuscatus and P. metricus queens to compare brain volumes of different regions. Volumetric differences in specific brain regions may underlie each species’ social organization. We predict that brain regions associated with processing visual cues (anterior optic tubercles) and areas associated with sensory integration (mushroom body calyces) may be more different between species than brain regions associated with identification of smells (antennal lobes) because of their importance in visual recognition and social interactions. Investigating relative differences in brain regions may provide greater insight into how differences in social behavior may evolve than consideration of whole brain volumes, as is the focus of most prior work.
