Soapbox Science: spontaneous public engagement as a persuasive platform to promote women in science

Public engagement events tend to appeal to those already interested in science. Soapbox Science is an alternative approach to engagement that encourages spontaneous public participation. Co-organisers Seirian Sumner and Nathalie Pettorelli discuss the event taking place in London on the 5th July underlining the primary goals of increasing the visibility of women in science

INFLUENCIA DEL ENTORNO: ¿CÓMO PUEDE SER INTERPRETADO EL COMPORTAMIENTO SOCIAL DE LAS AVISPAS?

Un equipo de biólogos, liderado por la Profesora Seirian Sumner, una científica británica de University College London (Reino Unido), cuyo interés radica en la evolución molecular y los insectos sociales, completó un estudio de avispas, con la asistencia en campo del Profesor Javier Hurtado Yow, docente de la Universidad de Panamá. Se trata de un proyecto que involucra a la avispa tropical primitiva Polistes canadensis, de color marrón rojizo y se le conoce comúnmente como avispa de papel o chagreña, que muestra un comportamiento altruista entre su familia, como una estrategia para maximizar la aptitud física y sobrevivencia. En este artículo de opinión se describen aspectos generales del proyecto Nest Drifting en Punta Galeta, con los aportes de los científicos asociados al mismo, Dra. Solenn Patalano, Dr. Thibault Lengronne y Dra. Emily Bell, destacando su trascendental contribución a través de todas las referencias bibliográficas aquí citadas. Desde la ejecución del trabajo en campo, hasta los hallazgos de la investigación en el presente, se ha utilizado la información como un aporte académico importante en la estrategia metodológica del proceso de enseñanza y aprendizaje de los estudiantes participantes de los cursos del Profesor Javier Hurtado Yow, sobre Ecología General, Ecología de Ecosistemas, Ecología de Poblaciones, entre otros, pertenecientes a la malla curricular de la Licenciatura en Biología con orientación en Biología Ambiental, de la Escuela de Biología del Centro Regional Universitario de Colón de la Universidad de Panamá

Division of labour and risk taking in the dinosaur ant, Dinoponera quadriceps

The success of social insects can be largely attributed to division of labour. In contrast to most social insects, many species with simple societies contain workers which are capable of sexual reproduction. Headed by one or a few reproductive individuals, subordinate workers form a dominance hierarchy, queuing to attain the reproductive role. In these species task allocation may be influenced by individual choice based on future reproductive prospects. Individuals with a better chance of inheriting the colony may be less likely to take risks and high-ranking workers that spend a greater amount of time in proximity to the brood may be able to increase the ability to police egg-laying by cheating subordinates. We investigated division of labour and risk taking in relation to dominance rank in the queenless ponerine ant, Dinoponera quadriceps, a species with relatively simple societies. Using behavioural observations, we show that high-ranking workers spend more time performing egg care, less time foraging and are less likely to defend the nest against attack. High-rankers also spent a greater amount of time guarding and inspecting eggs, behaviours which are likely to improve detection of egg laying by cheating subordinates. We also show that high-ranking workers spend a greater amount of time idle, which may help increase lifespan by reducing energy expenditure. Our results suggest that both risk-taking and egg-care behaviours are related to future reproductive prospects in D. quadriceps. This highlights a mechanism by which effective division of labour could have been achieved during the early stages of eusocial evolution

High reproductive skew in the Neotropical paper wasp Polistes lanio

Reproductive conflicts are expected in societies where nonbreeding helpers retain the ability to produce offspring. Despite potential competition from reproductively capable nestmates in social wasps, egg laying tends to be monopolised by a single or relatively few queens. Genetic studies on reproductive partitioning in Polistes paper wasps suggest high reproductive skew in the genus. Conflict is thought to be minimal due to nestmate relatedness or the possibility of inheriting a reproductive monopoly on a nest; consequently, there are inclusive fitness opportunities for nonreproductive helpers. However, most studies are limited to temperate wasp species. Given the cosmopolitan distribution of Polistes, genetic data on group conflicts are required for a broader range of tropical species to determine whether these trends apply across climatic zones. We examined female reproductive skew in the Neotropical paper wasp Polistes lanio, genotyping a selection of adults and pupae from established post-emergence nests using single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). SNP-based pedigree analyses indicate a reproductive monopoly held by a single queen, with queen replacement from natal nestmates and evidence of possible multiple mating. Relatedness between pupal offspring was high (r = 0.71). It is likely that high reproductive skew among females is a founding trait of Polistes societies, conserved among species that have spread into new environments from Indomalayan origins

Self-organisation of plasticity and specialisation in a primitively social insect

Biological systems have the capacity to not only build and robustly maintain complex structures but also to rapidly break up and rebuild such structures. Here, using primitive societies of Polistes wasps, we show that both robust specialization and rapid plasticity are emergent properties of multi-scale dynamics. We combine theory with experiments that, after perturbing the social structure by removing the queen, correlate time-resolved multi-omics with video recordings. We show that the queen-worker dimorphism relies on the balance between the development of a molecular queen phenotype in all insects and colony-scale inhibition of this phenotype via asymmetric interactions. This allows Polistes to be stable against intrinsic perturbations of molecular states while reacting plastically to extrinsic cues affecting the whole society. Long-term stability of the social structure is reinforced by dynamic DNA methylation. Our study provides a general principle of how both specialization and plasticity can be achieved in biological systems. A record of this paper’s transparent peer review process is included in the supplemental information

Transcriptomic responses to location learning by honeybee dancers are partly mirrored in the brains of dance-followers

Open Access via the Royal Society agreement This research was funded by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant no. 638873 to E.L.). This funding also supported F.M. for the whole duration of the project.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

INFLUENCIA DEL ENTORNO: ¿CÓMO PUEDE SER INTERPRETADO EL COMPORTAMIENTO SOCIAL DE LAS AVISPAS?

A team of biologists, led by Prof. Seirian Sumner, a British biologist from University College London (United Kingdom) whose interest lies in molecular evolution and social insects, completed a wasp study in Panama, helped by Professor Javier Hurtado Yow, from the University of Panama. It’s a project that involves the primitive tropical wasp Polistes canadensis, which is reddish-brown in colour and is commonly known as the paper wasp. This note describes general aspects of the Nest Drifting project in Punta Galeta, with the contributions of the scientists associated with it, Dr. Solenn Patalano, Dr. Thibault Lengronne and Dr. Emily Bell, highlighting their transcendental contribution through all the bibliographic references cited here. From the execution of the fieldwork, to the findings of the research in the present, the information has been used as an important academic contribution in the methodological strategy of the teaching and learning process of the students participating in the courses of Professor Javier Hurtado Yow, on General Ecology, Ecology of Ecosystems, Ecology of Populations,  among others, belonging to the curriculum of the Bachelor's Degree in Biology with orientation in Environmental Biology, of the School of Biology of the Regional University Center of Colón of the University of Panama.Un equipo de biólogos, liderado por la Profesora Seirian Sumner, una científica británica de University College London (Reino Unido), cuyo interés radica en la evolución molecular y los insectos sociales, completó un estudio de avispas, con la asistencia en campo del Profesor Javier Hurtado Yow, docente de la Universidad de Panamá. Se trata de un proyecto que involucra a la avispa tropical primitiva Polistes canadensis, de color marrón rojizo y se le conoce comúnmente como avispa de papel o chagreña, que muestra un comportamiento altruista entre su familia, como una estrategia para maximizar la aptitud física y sobrevivencia. En este artículo de opinión se describen aspectos generales del proyecto Nest Drifting en Punta Galeta, con los aportes de los científicos asociados al mismo, Dra. Solenn Patalano, Dr. Thibault Lengronne y Dra. Emily Bell, destacando su trascendental contribución a través de todas las referencias bibliográficas aquí citadas. Desde la ejecución del trabajo en campo, hasta los hallazgos de la investigación en el presente, se ha utilizado la información como un aporte académico importante en la estrategia metodológica del proceso de enseñanza y aprendizaje de los estudiantes participantes de los cursos del Profesor Javier Hurtado Yow, sobre Ecología General, Ecología de Ecosistemas, Ecología de Poblaciones, entre otros, pertenecientes a la malla curricular de la Licenciatura en Biología con orientación en Biología Ambiental, de la Escuela de Biología del Centro Regional Universitario de Colón de la Universidad de Panamá