DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Regulation of colony growth in leafcutter ants

三种主要元素，碳，氮和磷，决定了生物体的生长方式，并影响着从群体到生态系统的系统功能。 因此，生物体已经发展出行为和生理机制，以适应元素可用性的限制，并在面临营养挑战时成功生长。与生物体一样，收集和储存食物的社会群体也必须适应养分供应的变化。 本研究的重点是如何一个复杂的社会群体，切叶蚁群，使用行为策略，将这些元素的摄入量与殖民地的增长。 由于社会性昆虫群体必须分配努力觅食和育雏护理，殖民地的增长和成功取决于平衡工作分配的活动。 本研究将采用生物化学和行为技术，以确定这三个关键因素的相对平衡如何影响殖民地的增长，以及觅食和育雏护理决策的殖民地内的个人工人。 预计殖民地将通过改变生长模式和在任务之间转移努力来平衡与殖民地维护，生长和繁殖有关的不同任务来应对限制。这些发现将整合我们对基本生物学特性（如生长）如何在组织水平上扩展的理解，特别是在社会昆虫等复杂的社会群体中。 社会性昆虫在社会复杂性和组织水平方面是人类所独有的。 因此，它们是解决如何整合资源和社会组织问题的相关模式。 这项研究在学生培训和推广方面具有更广泛的影响。 多名本科生将通过动手研究参与该项目，并将参加相关的研讨会：大多数学生将继续攻读博士学位。或其他研究生培训。 该研究将在公共教育宣传中展出，包括Ask-A-Biologist网站（askabiologist.asu.edu）和当地K-12演示。

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.