REU: Cooperation and Conflict in Burying Beetles (Silphidae,Nicrophorus)

非人类物种社会行为的进化本身就是一个迷人的主题，对理解人类社会行为的本质也很重要。在昆虫中，对社会行为的研究主要集中在高度社会化的蚂蚁、蜜蜂、黄蜂和白蚁上，而忽视了其他群体。PI将研究一组兼性群体繁殖的甲虫（Silphidae, Nicrophorus）；小的资源由单个雄性和雌性垄断，而大的资源由每个性别的两个或两个以上的个体共享。生态条件有利于群体繁殖，社会行为导致甲虫暂时容忍其他繁殖个体，以及群体繁殖的遗传后果将通过现场和实验室实验相结合的方式进行探索。

The evolution of social behavior in nonhuman species is a fascinating subject in itself and also important for understanding the nature of human social behavior. Among insects, studies of social behavior have focused on the highly social ants, bees, wasps and termites, to the neglect of other groups. The PI will study a group of beetles (Silphidae, Nicrophorus) that are facultative communal breeders; small resources are monopolized by a single male and female while large resources are shared by two or more individuals of each sex. Ecological conditions that favor communal breeding, the social behaviors that cause beetles to facultatively tolerate other breeding individuals, and the genetic consequences of communal breeding will be explored with a combination of field and laboratory experiments.