International Research Fellowship Program: Linking Resource Ecology with the Emergence of Cooperative Social Groups

国际研究奖学金计划使美国科学家和工程师能够在国外进行9到24个月的研究。该计划的奖项提供了联合研究的机会，并利用国外独特或互补的设施、专业知识和实验条件。该奖项将支持亚当·R·史密斯博士与巴拿马史密森热带研究所(Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute)的威廉·T·威斯洛博士(Dr.William T.Wcislo)合作，为期24个月的研究奖学金。该项目由国际科学与工程办公室的美洲计划提供支持。以合作和大多数个体的不育为特征的社会昆虫群体代表了进化中的一个根本转变：从每个个体都寻求最大化自己的适应能力，到支持少数群体成员的繁殖的合作群体。在大多数社会物种中，研究这种转变是不可能的，因为所有的个体都是群居的。然而，一些昆虫物种，包括新热带蜜蜂Megalopta，可以随意地在独居和群居之间切换(S饰)。这种转变允许研究合作群体如何从个人行为选择中脱颖而出。巴拿马史密森热带研究所(STRI)50公顷的森林动态研究小区正被用来检验关于资源可获得性和分布如何影响这一过渡的两个假设。第一个问题是，资源可获得性的增加是否增加了女性留下来当帮手并组成社会团体以获得间接健身好处的可能性。第二个问题是，资源质量的差异，特别是蛋白质含量的差异，是否会影响个体雌性的状况，从而使一些雌性更有可能作为非生殖工作者留在巢中。该项目开发了只有巴拿马STRI才有的关键资源：50公顷的林地、综合花粉钥匙和树冠鹤。这些对生态学和行为学的综合研究正在推进我们对合作群体是如何从个人行为选择中出现的理解。

0702391SmithThe International Research Fellowship Program enables U.S. scientists and engineers to conduct nine to twenty-four months of research abroad. The program's awards provide opportunities for joint research, and the use of unique or complementary facilities, expertise and experimental conditions abroad.This award will support a twenty-four-month research fellowship by Dr. Adam R. Smith to work with Dr. William T. Wcislo at Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama. Support for this project is provided by the Office of International Science and Engineering's Americas Program.Social insect colonies, characterized by cooperation and the sterility of most individuals, represent one of the fundamental transitions in evolution: from individuals each seeking to maximize their own fitness to cooperating groups supporting the reproduction of a few colony members. Studying this transition is impossible in most social species because all individuals live in groups. However some insect species, including the neotropical bee Megalopta, can facultatively switch between living solitarily and in social groups with a queen and worker(s). This switch allows the study of how cooperative groups emerge from individual behavioral choices. The 50 hectare forest dynamics study plot at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama is being used to test two hypotheses for how resource availability and distribution influence this transition. The first is whether increased resource availability increases the probability of females staying as helpers and forming social groups in order to gain indirect fitness benefits. The second is whether variance in resource quality, especially protein content, influences the condition of individual females such that some are more likely to remain in the nest as non-reproductive workers. The project exploits key resources only available at STRI in Panama: the 50 ha forest plot, comprehensive pollen key, and canopy cranes. These integrated studies of ecology and behavior are advancing our understanding of how cooperating groups emerge from individual behavioral choices.