Study approaches, 8, 15

Question 1

what is a good model org for study of evolution of cooperation in insects?

Answer 1

Polistes spp

live outside of nest so easy to observe

Question 2

describe use of radio tags to monitor wasp movement

Answer 2

radio tag readers with antennae around nest.
record which wasps are flying around. used 7 detectors per colony, 30 colonies.
car batteries are power source.
Radio tags on wasps - microchip similar to cats for individual id. also individual specific colour code marked on wings.

Question 3

what types of data to collect

Answer 3

many lines of auxilliary data
wing length
individual specific colour code
facial colour - dominance
eye color - indicator of age
parasites in abdomen
tarsal clipping - for nonlethal DNA sampling

Question 4

experimental design using wasp radio tags

Answer 4

• premanipulation period of 7 days
• manipulation day, remove queen
• 7 day post manipulation period.
• calculate how many times each wasp visited each colony and build up an interaction network. compare pre and post manipulation matrices.

Question 5

advantages to radio tagging wasp populations

Answer 5

1. Far more observation time and intensity than possible with human observers
2. Large sample sizes possible
3. Automated monitoring
   removes observer biases
4. During monitoring period, allows observers time to focus on additional data

Question 6

complexities of wasp radio tagging

Answer 6

1. Complicated apparatus set-up can demand detailed maintenance in the field –so be near a good hardware shop!
2. Radio-tagging large numbers of
   wasps is more time-consuming than simple paint marks

Question 7

what is an advantage to behavioural observations?

Answer 7

findings are ecologically relevant

Question 8

when using playback recordings, what must be ensured?

Answer 8

the sound is similar to what the animal would actually hear.
speaker placed at the right height, and amplitude monitored.
standardise the playback volume, 65-75dB, from 10 m away.

Question 9

what is pseudoreplication?

Answer 9

confusion between the number of measurements made and the number of statistically independent replicates available for analysis.

Question 10

describe a 2x2 experimental design for measuring impact of noise and predator presence on prey behaviour

Answer 10

2 types of noise - ambient, road
2 fecal types indicating pred presence - herbivore, predator.
4 treatment groups:
herbivore, ambient
herbivore, road
predator, ambient
predator, road

Question 11

what is a balanced experimental design?

Answer 11

order trials fairly.

use a latin square,

Question 12

how has the genomics revolution helped animal behaviour studies?

Answer 12

Higher accessibility and affordability of next-generation sequencing technologies
Can now sequence de-novo molecular data for any organism, inc genomes, proteomes, transcriptomes and epigenomes.
Data is freely available for anyone to use.

Question 13

what is sociogenomics?

Answer 13

the study of the molecular basis of sociality

aims to achieve a comprehensive understanding of social life in molecular terms: evolution, how it is governed and how it influences aspects of the genome structure activity and function.

Question 14

how can differential gene exp between castes be studied?

Answer 14

eg. put worker cell honeybee larvae into a royal cell. larvae developed and then collected at different time points.
northern blots - found larvae in royal cells had up regulation of queen associated genes. studied 7 genes, 2 were specific to queen development.

Question 15

how can differential gene exp within castes be studied?

Answer 15

eg honeybees, see differences in GE at diff stages of a workers life.
there is an age related transition for workers, from young - hive work, to old - foraging. studies diff exp of 5000 genes. gene exp profile was as expected for diff ages.
looking at function of genes gave loads of info. many linked to brain structure were expressed in young workers, whereas differences in cognitive function increased in foragers.

Question 16

why might genomic analyses be used to understand the concept of a ‘caste’?

Answer 16

terms Queen and Worker may be too simplistic, as there is a whole spectrum of caste complexities, division of labour and flexibility. there are beh, morphological and physiological traits for each caste, each on a spectrum.
a new approach involves the use of molecular phenotype as a measure of genomic variation.
genomic analyses might be more quantifiable.

Question 17

how does differential gene expression vary across the spectrum of sociality?

Answer 17

not much transcriptional difference between castes in faultatively social societies with totipotent workers.
most difference in obligate eusocial sterile workers and queens.
transcriptomic differences increase with social complexity.

Question 18

how does epigenetics vary across the spectrum of sociality?

Answer 18

caste bias genes are regulated by epigenetic processes in more complex eusocial societies.
more complex - predicted higher methylation level in worker bias genes
simple societies - lack any pattern in gene methy;ation.

Question 19

how does gene functional specialisation vary across sociality spectrum.

Answer 19

gene function becomes more specialised with increasing social complexity

Question 20

what is a genetic toolkit?

Answer 20

a selection of genes which is conserved and serves a particular function shared across a wide group of organisms, eg for eyes, developmental (eg hox genes), for plumage pigmentation.
possible a toolkit exists for sociality.

Question 21

what are some examples of genes shared between many organisms for sociality

Answer 21

they are consistently differentially expressed between castes across species
these are associated with rep caste:
Cytochrome p450s
heat shock proteins
insulin signalling pathway
hexamerin
JH
vitellogenin (for egg production in social insect queens)

could these toolkit genes be found in other social orgs?

Question 22

opposing idea to toolkit genes?

3 examples

Answer 22

phenotypic innovations are underpinned by genomic innovations - novel genes.
may be taxon specific or taxonomically restricted.

eg hydra - taxon specific genes for tentacle formation, not found in any other hydra.
Drosophila - taxon restricted genes for development of drosophila.
Bees andwasps - OE genes in workers lack homology to known sequencing

Question 23

eg of taxon specific OE genes in bees and wasps?

Answer 23

• worker biased, and evolutionarily accelerated.
  1. honeybee - 58% caste biased genes are novel, esp in workers.
  2. Temnothorax ants - 14% queen biased genes novel, and 45% of worker biased genes novel.
  3. polistes wasps - 75% caste biased genes novel, 81% worker boased genes and 21% of queen biased genes.

Question 24

why do workers have many biased genes, whereas queens don’t?

Answer 24

relaxed selection, as workers are non reproductive

Question 25

describe a compromise between novel genes and toolkit ideas

Answer 25

both play a role in evo of sociality
toolkit genes are hubs - highly connected genes with lots of influence on other genes. Eg foraging genes are hubs.
novel genes are not hubs. there is a lower expression, less connectivity, eg nursing genes.

Question 26

what intergrated elements exist in the ERC grant?

Answer 26

5 years, 2 million euros

1. behaviour - immediate and long term effects on ind, within gr interactions and gr decision making
2. hormones- steroid hormones underlying stress, social beh and rep.
3. reproduction - fitness consequences via maternal investment, offspring care, condition growth and rep output.
4. evolution - driving within gr affiliation, coop and punishment, social structure and dev of armamnents

Question 27

describe a model system for conflict with individual outsiders

Answer 27

Cichlids
Neoamprologus pulcher,
group territorial,
1. beh in captivity matches wild.
set up territorial intrusions.
2. hormones- able to sample from water of fish. beneficial as non invasive.
3. rep consequences - breed in captivity as they would in the wild. can see consequences of outgroup conflict on egg size, clutc size, timing of rep etc.

Question 28

model system for conflict in rival groups

Answer 28

Dwarf mongooses -
habituated, so can do close observations of freq inter group interactions.
regular weighing, trained to climb on balance.
movement patterns, GPS track, fecal samples.
adapted modes for bat simultaneous movements to mongoose.
hormones - from saliva - immediate measure and faeces, build up over time.
long term monitoring over 11 years, to see how group conflicts and movement patterns have influenced rep output and behaviour.

Question 29

what types of modelling can be used and tested how to study animal beh?

Answer 29

analytical modelling
State dependent modelling
evolutionary simulations.

can be tested with pylogenetically controlled meta analyses.