Minority Postdoctoral Research Fellowship for FY2006

本项目为2006年度少数民族博士后科研资助项目。种姓的本质是理解群居昆虫工作组织的核心，然而在这个基本概念上存在着深刻的分歧。时间等级概念假定昆虫群体表现出一种劳动分工，其中工蚁随着年龄的增长专门从事改变任务集。近年来获得支持的另一种模型提出，殖民地由灵活的工人组成，他们能够根据需求执行任何任务。我以前的工作表明，蜜蜂工蜂能够在不需要生理专业化的任务之间切换，但无法切换到需要这种专业化的任务。因此，我提出了一个修订后的种姓概念，强调在稳定的种姓制度中有限的灵活性。这个模型有可能弥合那些强调任务分配灵活性的模型和那些强调工人专业化的模型之间的鸿沟。我目前研究的目的是通过测试另一种社会性昆虫的相关性来确定这种修订后的种姓概念的适用范围。无刺蜜蜂在群体大小和栖息地上与蜜蜂有很大的不同。用来阐明蜜蜂种姓制度的方法将适用于无刺蜜蜂Melipona panamica。具体而言，将进行旨在测试与生理专业化相关的任务执行不灵活性的实验，并使用实验产生的单种姓群体进行群体灵活性测试。这项工作将阐明在僵化的种姓制度范围内灵活分配任务的方法，这种方法仍然很难理解。我的职业目标是在获得美国主要研究型大学的教授职位之前进行博士后研究。本奖学金以多种方式支持这一目标。首先，它提供了一个机会，进行旨在巩固我的论文工作的重要性的研究。其次，它提供了一个与史密森尼热带研究所相关领域的众多科学家合作的机会，特别是威廉·t·Wcislo博士。作为生态学、行为学和进化的研究中心，该研究所每年接待数百名研究人员。该研究所有大量不同学科的研究人员参加，这应该使我能够与研究人员见面，我可以与他们一起规划未来长期的合作研究，使用综合方法研究社会性昆虫。第三，也是最后一点，这个奖学金将使我增加我在多变量统计和理论建模等主题方面的基本技能，这两项在行为生态学中都越来越重要。

This project is awarded under the Minority Postdoctoral Research Fellowships and Supporting Activities Program for 2006. The nature of castes is central to understanding the organization of work in social insects, yet there is profound disagreement over this fundamental concept. The temporal caste concept posits that insect colonies exhibit a division of labor in which workers specialize on changing task sets as they age. An alternative model, which has gained support in recent years, proposes that colonies are composed of flexible workers able to perform any task as demand necessitates. My previous work showed that honeybee workers are capable of switching between tasks not requiring a physiological specialization, but are incapable of switching to tasks for which such a specialization is required. Accordingly, I proposed a revised caste concept that stresses limited flexibility within a stable caste system. This model has the potential to bridge the divide between those models stressing flexibility in task allocation and those models stressing specialization among workers. The objective of my current research is to determine how broadly applicable this revised caste concept is by testing its relevance for another species of social insect. The stingless bees strongly differ from honeybees in both colony size and habitat. Methods used to elucidate the caste system in honeybees will be tailored to the stingless bee Melipona panamica. Specifically, experiments designed to test for inflexibility in task performance related to physiological specialization and tests of colony flexibility using experimentally generated single-caste colonies will be conducted. This work will shed light on the still poorly understood method by which flexible task allocation occurs within the confines of an inflexible caste system.My career goals are to conduct postdoctoral research before obtaining a position as a professor at a major research university in the United States. This fellowship supports that goal in a number of ways. First, it provides an opportunity to conduct research aimed at cementing the importance of my dissertation work. Second, it provides an opportunity to collaborate with numerous scientists from related fields at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and in particular Dr. William T. Wcislo. This institute, being a center for research on ecology, behavior, and evolution, hosts hundreds of researchers in these fields each year. The large number of researchers in different disciplines in attendance at the institute should allow me to meet researchers with whom I can plan long-term future collaborative studies on social insects using an integrative approach. Third, and finally, this fellowship will allow me to increase my set of basic skills in topics such as multivariable statistics and theoretical modeling, both of which are of increasing importance in behavioral ecology.