DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Regulation of colony growth in leafcutter ants

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Three major elements, Carbon, Nitrogen, and Phosphorus, determine how organisms grow, and influence how systems, from groups to ecosystems, function. As a result, organisms have developed behavioral and physiological mechanisms to adjust to limits in element availability and grow successfully in the face of nutritional challenges. Like organisms, social groups that collect and store food must also adapt to changes in nutrient availability. This study focuses on how a complex social group, the leafcutter ant colony, uses behavioral strategies to integrate intake of these elements with colony growth. Because social insect colonies must allocate effort to both foraging and brood care, colony growth and success depend on balancing work allocation across activities. This study will employ biochemical and behavioral techniques to determine how relative balances of these three key elements affect colony growth, as well as foraging and brood-care decisions by the individual workers within colonies. It is expected that colonies will respond to limitations by altering growth patterns and shifting efforts between tasks to balance different tasks associated with colony maintenance, growth, and reproduction around nutrient availability. The findings will integrate our understanding of how fundamental biological properties such as growth scale across levels of organization, especially in complex social groups like the social insects. Social insects are paralleled only by humans in their social complexity and level of organization. Thus, they serve as a relevant model to address the question of how resources and social organization are integrated. This research has broader impact in student training and outreach. Multiple undergraduates will be involved in the project through hands-on research and will participate in an associated seminar: the majority of students move on to the Ph.D. or other postgraduate training. The research will be featured in public educational outreach including the Ask-A-Biologist website (askabiologist.asu.edu) and local K-12 demonstrations.