Honours Projects for 2010 - Behaviour and Genetics of Social Insects Laboratory

Projects available for 2010 can be downloaded here or visit the Social Insects Lab homepage by clicking here.

Who are we? Ben Oldroyd, Madeleine Beekman, Nate Lo, Tanya Latty and Tim Schaerf.

What do we do? Behavioural ecology, behavioural genetics and molecular genetics of social insects. Recently we have also acquired a new 'lab rat' a gigantic slime mould that can make foraging decisions despite having no brain or nervous system. We study honey bees (particularly Thai and African ones), ants, Australian native stingless bees, termites and the slime mould. We are particularly interested in cheating behaviour: when workers start laying eggs or changing sex or caste. We also study collective decision making: how do social insects decide on a new nest site, or how best to allocate their foragers to food sources? We offer projects ranging from field biology to molecular genetics and mathematical modeling.

What is our approach to Honours supervision? You will be treated as a colleague not a student. We promote a highly supportive and friendly environment. You will get heaps of help at every stage. We encourage Honours students to publish their work and we pay for their attendance at conferences. This year's (2009) student Alen Faiz was awarded the prize for the best Honours talk at the Genetics Society of Australia conference in Brisbane. Most of our Honours students publish senior-authored papers. A refereed publication is very helpful for acquiring an Australian Post Graduate Award. In the last five years two of our students were awarded University medals. Last year Jessica Higgs was awarded the Smith-White prize for the best thesis in genetics.

What are our facilities? You will learn a lot in our lab. We have excellent molecular equipment including an ABI 3130 DNA analyzer. We have a fully equipped apiary, an observation hive room, nice field work facilities and even a bee truck with crane. Our support staff include a full time beekeeper and a full time molecular biologist. The support staff are there to help you get the best possible training and a productive year. The group has the critical mass to provide a stimulating intellectual environment. We have good financial support for 2010 and beyond. We have the international networks to help students establish a career in biological science.

Who are our collaborators? Visual Sciences Group ANU Canberra, Chulalongkorn University Bangkok, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa, Computer Science, Leipzig University, Applied Mathematics University of Uppsala and termite biology groups at the University of Milan Italy, and Ibaraki University and the National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences Japan. Honours students are encouraged to be involved in these collaborations.

Papers arising from Honours projects in Social Insects Lab during the last 5 years (student name in bold)

Holmes, M.J., Allsopp, M.H., Noach-Pienaar, L-A., Wossler, T.C., Oldroyd, B.P., Beekman, M. (2010) Sperm utilization in South African honeybees (Apis mellifera scutellata and A. m. capensis). Apidologie. Submitted.

Holmes, M.J., Allsopp, M.H., Noach-Pienaar, L-A., Wossler, T.C., Oldroyd, B.P., Beekman, M. (2010) Excess larval feeding results in reproductively active workers in the honeybees of South Africa. J. Heredity. Submitted.

Higgs, J.S., Wattanachaiyingcharoen, W., Oldroyd, B.P. (2009) A scientific note on a geneticallydetermined colour morph of the dwarf honey bee Apis andreniformis. Apidologie 40: 513-514.

Higgs, J.S., Hale, M. Oldroyd B.P. (2009) A scientific note on a rapid method for the molecular discrimination of Apis andreniformis (Smith 1858) and A. florea (Fabricius 1787). Apidologie In press.

Oxley P.R., Thompson G.J., Oldroyd B.P. (2008) Four QTL influence worker sterility in the honey bee (Apis mellifera) Genetics 179: 1337-1343. (This paper was featured in Nature!).

Jordan LA, Allsopp M, Beekman M, Wossler TC, Oldroyd BP (2008) Inheritance of traits associated with reproductive potential in Apis mellifera capensis and A. m. scutellata workers. Journal of Heredity 99: 376-381.

Jordan LA, Allsopp M, Oldroyd BP, Wossler TC, Beekman M (2008) Cheating honey bee workers produce royal offspring. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. B. 275: 345-351. (Also featured in Nature!).

Gloag R.S., Oldroyd B.P., Heard T.A., Beekman M. (2008) Nest defense in a stingless bee: What causes fighting swarms in Trigona carbonaria? Insectes Sociaux 55: 387-391.

Gloag R.S., Heard T.A., Beekman M., Oldroyd B.P. (2008) No worker reproduction in the Australian stingless bee, Trigona carbonaria Smith (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Insectes Sociaux 54: 412-417.

Jordan LA, Allsopp MH, Oldroyd BP, Wossler TC & Beekman M. 2007. A scientific note on the drone flight time of Apis mellifera capensis and A. m. scutellata. Apidologie 38: 436-437.

Beekman M, Gilchrist AL, Duncan, M & Sumpter DJT. 2007 What makes a honeybee scout? Behavioral Ecology & Sociobiology: 61: 985-995.

Chapman, N, Oldroyd, B.P., Hughes, W. (2006) Differential responses of honeybee (Apis mellifera) patrilines to changes in stimuli for the generalist tasks of nursing and foraging. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 61: 1185-1194.

1. Anarchy in the beehive

After many years of selective breeding, our laboratory has developed a line of honey bees in which workers lay eggs at high frequency. We call these bees anarchistic. Anarchistic bees do precisely the opposite thing to ordinary honey bees, providing us with an experimental opportunity to study how sterility is enforced in ordinary bees. The topic of worker sterility is of great theoretical interest and a multitude of experiments remain to be done with these bees, ranging from highly molecular laboratory- based studies to behavioural or manipulative field-based studies. Our laboratory is unique in the world in having access to this mutant stock, and this provides the opportunity for some really groundbreaking work by motivated students with an interest in genetic aspects of animal behaviour. Possibilities include the identification of genes controlling the expression of worker sterility or anarchy. Thus, this project is likely to involve the use of genomic techniques such as real time PCR and genomic mapping. Other possibilities, depending on the student's interests, could include behavioural studies on the process of colony social breakdown once worker egg laying begins, or biochemical studies on the pheromonal signals that affect reproductive behaviour in workers.

Techniques. Some or all of: beekeeping, behavioural analysis, PCR, use of automated DNA analyser, real time PCR, microsatellites, microarrays and pedigree analysis.

Reference. Beekman M, Oldroyd BP (2008) When workers disunite: Intraspecific parasitism in eusocial bees. Annual Review of Entomology 53:19-37

Start: Depends on project selected.

2. Genetic determination of caste in termites

We have recently demonstrated that caste (queen or worker) is controlled by a single sex-linked gene. This project will involve trying to locate that gene.

Techniques: Molecular biology, genomic mapping.

Reference. Hayashi Y, Lo N, Miyata H, Kitade O (2007) Sex-linked genetic influence on caste determination in a termite. Science 318:985-987.

Start: Any time.

3. How do honey bees decide on a new home?

As you most likely know from experience, moving house is a stressful process. This is also true for honey bees. Honey bees move house in spring when the colony has outgrown its old house and has produced a new queen in a process called reproductive swarming. The old queen and approximately half of the workers leave the old colony and start searching for a new home. Interestingly, only about 5% of all the bees in the swarm are involved in the decision-making process. Hence, nest site selection in honey bees is a prime example of decentralized decision-making. This project aims at investigating how honey bee swarms decide on a new home. We also try to understand how different species cope with different environmental conditions. To this end we compare the cavity nesting honey bee Apis mellifera (the one we have in Australia) with the open-nesting A. florea (that lives in Asia). This project Social insects lab honours projects 2010 4 is perfect for behavioural ecologists, students interested in modeling and those who would like to combine the two.

For video, click here: http://www.bio.usyd.edu.au/Social_InsectsLab/floreaswarm.mov

Reference: Oldroyd BP, Gloag RS, Even N, Wattanachaiyingcharoen W, Beekman M (2008) Nest site selection in the open-nesting honeybee Apis florea. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 62:1643-1653.

Techniques. Beekeeping and behavioural observations.

Start: Second semester.

4. The benefits of genetic diversity for disease resistance

By mating with multiple males, honey bee queens produce colonies that consist of a genetically diverse population of workers. It has been suggested this may improve the colony's resistance to disease. Social insect colonies should be especially prone to disease because of the dense aggregations of individuals within them. If these individuals are very highly related, as is the case if the mother queen mated with only a single male, then a disease will spread relatively easily through them and be likely to infect the whole colony. It will be a lot harder for diseases to spread within a genetically diverse colony and there will be a much greater likelihood of at least part of the colony avoiding infection. However evidence for this effect is still lacking. The project may involve either examining the level of genetic variation for disease resistance (the key prerequisite for genetic diversity for disease resistance to work) or comparing the resistance to disease of low and high genetic diversity colonies.

Start: second semester.

Reference: Palmer K, Oldroyd BP (2003) Evidence for intra-colonial genetic variance in resistance to American foulbrood of honey bees (Apis mellifera): Further support for the parasite/pathogen hypothesis for the evolution of polyandry. Naturwissenschaften 90:265-268

Techniques: microbiology, beekeeping, PCR, microsatellites

5. Heat tolerance in honey bees

As you may recall from your population genetics prac in second year, the malate dehydrogenase enzyme (MDH) of honey bees has three common alleles, or electromorphs ('fast', 'medium' and 'slow'). The medium allele is common in cold-climate populations, and the protein it encodes has been shown to be less stable than the other alleles when heated in vitro. Moreover, MDH allelic frequencies show geographic clines on three continents, strongly suggesting that allele frequency is under environmentally-induced selective pressure with the medium allele being favoured in cold climates, and the heat resistant alleles being favoured in warm climates. The project would involve a search for the selective benefits of the medium allele in cold climates. The project would suit a student with a good biochemical background, and an interest in population genetics.

Reference: Hatty S, Oldroyd BP (1999) Evidence for temperature-dependent selection for malate dehydrogenase allele frequencies in honeybee populations. Journal of Heredity. 90:565-568

Techniques: enzyme characterization, population modeling.

Start: Any time.

6. Biology of Austalian stingless bees

There are 12 species of Australian stingless bees. They are extremely understudied. One of our 2006/2007 Honours students, Ros Gloag, (now doing a PhD at Oxford with field work in Argintina) found some amazing things related to fighting swarms. But there are many other aspects that can be studied: recruitment mechanisms, nest site selection and much more. We definitely want to keep stingless bee research alive. So if interested, let's talk.

Video: http://www.bio.usyd.edu.au/Social_InsectsLab/fightingswarm.mov

7. Foraging behaviour and decision-making in the slime mould, Physarum polycephalum

Our slime mould P. polycephalum is a giant, unicellular, amoeboid organism. Despite lacking a brain (or any organs at all) P. polycephalum has demonstrated a remarkable list of abilities: it can solve mazes, anticipate periodic events, alter its search pattern depending on recently consumed food items, and make trade-offs between light exposure (light is toxic to the slime mould) and food quality such that it will only venture into the light when the quality of food is sufficiently high. Even more striking is that we recently found that it behaves rationally, more rationally than we humans.
We are interested in understanding how P. polycephalum makes decisions as well as developing a better understanding of its abilities. Some potential questions are: How does the organism's diet affect its subsequent foraging decisions? For example, do hungrier slime moulds make different decisions than well-fed slime moulds? Does hunger affect the speed of decision making? What algorithms underlie slime mould decision making behaviour? What factors (starvation, food quality/composition, previous experience) influence P. polycephalum's search behaviour? Another potential avenue of research deals with life history decisions in P. polycephalum. When exposed to adverse conditions, P. polycephalum can either form spores (a sexual form of reproduction) or it can continue to search for better environments. However, once initiated, spore forming is irreversible and probably quite risky; on the other hand, continued search could lead to a point where the organisms no longer has the energetic reserves to form spores. Please let us know if you're interested in studying this amazing creature!

http://www.bio.usyd.edu.au/Social_InsectsLab/slimemould.mov

8. Genetics of theytoky

Sex is costly. There the cost of finding a mate and the genome of your offspring is shared with your mating partner. Far better to clone yourself if you can, and yet sex is almost ubiquitous among animals. The benefits of sex may include the prevention of inbreeding and generating variable offspring. Testing these ideas requires a model system where individuals can chose to reproduce sexually or asexually. This project will explore a unique population of honey bees from South Africa where a genetic mutation allows queens to clone themselves or reproduce sexually. This ability relies on an unusual meiosis in which two maternal nuclei fuse as if one acted as a sperm. The project will explain how queen eggs can eliminate male genomes and thus allow a queen to clone herself, and how the queen can have control of Social insects lab honours projects 2010 6 the meiosis that occurs in her eggs even after they are laid.

Reference: Oldroyd BP, Allsopp MH, Gloag RS, Lim J, Jordan LA, Beekman M (2008) Thelytokous parthenogenesis in unmated queen honey bees (Apis mellifera capensis): central fusion and high recombination rates. Genetics 180:359-366

Techniques: PCR, genotyping, mapping.

9. Can bees regulate intake of protein and carbohydrate? Organisms must balance their intake of multiple nutrients if they are to survive and prosper. We know that organisms from humans to slime moulds have exquisite behavioural mechanisms for regulating intake of both protein and non-protein energy. But how do social insects maintain an appropriate supply of nutrients, when only a minority of individuals collect food for the whole colony? What are the nutritional feedbacks from the colony that direct the behaviours of foragers?

Honey bees obtain protein from pollen and carbohydrates from nectar. Foragers must collect the appropriate amount and ratio of these essential macronutrients for the colony's needs. In this project you will manipulate the concentration of pollen and sugar at feeding sites and see whether over time forager bees adjust the amount of each collected to maintain a constant rate and ratio of nutrient supply to the colony. You will also manipulate the colony's need for nutrients by manipulating the number of larvae.

You will be supervised jointly by Steve Simpson and the Social Insect Lab, gaining the benefits of the expertise of both groups.

Start: second semester