Social plasticity and the response to selectionI'm currently using the Mediterranean field cricket (Gryllus bimaculatus) to test questions about the role of social interactions in evolution. I'm interested in understanding how the evolutionary outcome changes when individuals make plastic decisions during social interactions. The first experiments are ongoing... Stay tuned for the results coming up soon!
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I use the western black widow spider (Latrodectus hesperus) to test whether individuals change their response to the level of competition depending on the availability of food resources. Black widows are an excellent system to explore these questions as responses to the social environment don't necessarily require direct behavioural interactions: individuals adjust the structure of their web to protect themselves against intruders. This unable me to monitor responses to the level of competition while avoiding direct confrontation between competitors. Black widows also adjust the production of sticky silk (gumfooted threads) that is used to catch prey, which allows me to measure the response to variation in food availability by quantifying the proportion of gumfooted versus structural threads.
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In species where adults provide care to their brood, each member of the family often interact closely with other members: parents feed the young; the young beg for more food and might compete with one another for food. Social behaviours are generally plastic traits that reflect intrinsic conditions (e.g., hunger, nutritive needs) and are adjusted according to environmental conditions (e.g., food availability, predation risk, environmental hazards). Family members also have to adjust their behaviour depending on the behaviour of others: parents adjust food provisioning to the intensity of begging, the young adjust their begging effort to that of their siblings, parents coordinate their care. Behavioural plasticity is thus a key mechanism allowing each family member to tune its behaviour to best respond to variation in the ecological and social environment.
I am interested in understanding how flexible behaviours shape conflict and cooperation among family members and how an individual's attributes (sex, age, inbreeding, infection status) and the environment (resources, competition, cooperation) influence these plastic responses. I use the burying beetle (Nicrophorus vespilloides) as a study species to address these questions. |