Collaborative Research: RUI: Evolvability of Social Networks

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Social organisms, including humans, organize themselves in social networks that dramatically affect disease transmission, access to resources and information, and ultimately biological fitness. Whether properties of social networks are determined by individual characteristics alone, or are emergent features of interacting groups is not clear. The answer to this question informs one of the most contentious issues in biology, does selection act on individuals or on groups and how does the response drive the evolution of social behavior? The proposed work uses remote video sensing technology to monitor multiple populations of forked fungus beetles under natural conditions and combines these behavioral data with molecular genetic analyses of relatedness and pedigree reconstruction. Together, these data will be used to determine whether and at what level genetic variation exists for social network properties. The results of the proposed work have the potential to redirect the focus of behavioral ecologists from individuals to interacting groups, or alternatively to show that what seem to be emergent phenotypes are simply explained through individual differences. The behavioral data archive will be cross-referenced with genotypes and pedigrees, representing a significant infrastructure contribution for future studies of behavior genetics, remote sensing methodologies, and image analysis development. Fieldwork will be conducted at the Mountain Lake Biological Station and allows collaboration with the highly successful MLBS-REU program to provide training opportunities for new scientists from diverse backgrounds. The work also provides training and mentorship opportunities for technicians, graduate students, and additional undergraduates from both PIs institutions. Data from the research phase will be used as the core scaffold for newly developed courses at a RUI institution, and outreach activities will connect the field station community and the Science for Kids program in urban Philadelphia each year.