Steven W. Rissing - US grants

Individuals of many animal species cooperate with each other to the benefit of the cooperating group. Some of the best and most obvious examples of such cooperation occur in family groups. Indeed, selection to aid close relatives, "kin selection", likely plays an important role in most cooperative animal groups. Because of their small size, abundance and ease of observation, many studies of animal cooperation have focused on insects, especially social insects (e.g., wasps and honey bees). In both of these groups, cooperating individuals are closely related, e.g., workers in a honey bee hive are sisters as are the multiple queens that found some wasp colonies. In contrast to this trend, recent research has indicated relatedness is apparently unimportant among ant queens in those species which also found colonies cooperatively. Such conclusions, however, are based on behavioral observations, which provide only an indirect analysis of relatedness among such cooperating individuals. This project will analyze directly the relatedness patterns of cooperating ant queens. Relatedness will be determined through an electrophoretic analysis of protein patterns of individuals from cooperating groups (i.e., foundress associations) compared with populations as a whole. Results from this work will contribute directly to efforts to understand selective forces that encourage cooperation among individuals of the same species.

Animals are expected to behave in ways that maximize their own survival and reproduction. That an animal might ever risk its own survival or reproduction to aid some other individual to which it is not related or mated is currently a very controversial concept in behavioral ecology. Some species of ants provide an ideal opportunity to examine aspects of this controversy; these species exhibit cooperative colony foundation among unrelated individuals. The desert leaf-cutter ant is unique among such species since one of the cooperating co- foundresses voluntarily assumes the high-risk task of foraging for food outside the nest (foraging by foundress queens does not occur in most species of ants). This "foraging specialist" is apparently accepting a high risk role that decreases her probability of survival and reproduction while increasing the survival and reproduction possibilities of her non-foraging, co- foundresses. Such behavior is considered "altruistic." This proposal examines several aspects of the selective forces that might favor such altruistic behavior in animals. In particular, the eventual reproductive success of "foraging specialists" will be examined using new molecular genetic methodology (an examination of inheritance patterns of mitochondrial DNA). Further, "foraging specialists" in laboratory colonies will be prohibited from foraging to examine the behavior of non-foraging co-foundresses when confronted with a possible "cheater" who refuses to forage. Finally, the underlying population structure that favors cooperative colony foundation in some species (but not others) will be examined. This work is some of the first to empirically examine the nature of interactions among cooperating non-relatives. Development of an insect "model" system for such study and experimental manipulation is especially appealing.

Whether natural selection acts on parents to control the sex of offspring they produce is an important question in evolutionary biology. Perhaps the most extreme example of parental control over offspring sex occurs in colonies of ants. Individual colonies will often produce hundreds of individuals of a single sex. The reasons for such specialization remain unknown. This project tests alternative hypotheses proposed to explain specialization in production of the sexes by ants. Determining the conditions under which colonies produce one sex vs. the other may also have practical applications in controlling reproductive potential of pest species.

9317340 Grimm

This proposal is submitted under a special pilot program, Undergraduate Mentorships in Environmental Biology. The four year program will offer undergraduate students first hand experience in carrying out ecological research under the mentorships of six active research ecologists. We will aggressively seek to involve groups traditionally under represented in environmental biology, includi ng trainees of Latino, American Indian, and African American backgrounds as well as a number of non minority students. This effort will be aided considerably by close coordination with existing programs that target these minority groups at ASU. The program is a specialized educational track consisting of an integrative first year seminar, early exposure to advanced courses, research involvement at the outset of students' college careers, and continued follow up and support of individual students as they make plans for graduate school and future careers. Careful documentation of the program's successes and failures, support from other research experience programs targeting more advanced undergraduate students, and placement of students in individual laboratories will facilitate the entry of alumni and alumnae of this program into research careers in environmental biology.

This project proposes to plan, conduct and assess a "Shaping the Future" regional workshop the purpose of which would be able to improve the science, mathematics, engineering and technology (SMET) education at the undergraduate level within the state of Arizona. This workshop would have as invitees teams of faculty and administrators from three public universities and and the community colleges within the state, along with appropriate representatives of government agencies and the K-12 system. The proposed workshop would be one and one half days in length and tentatively set for January 1998. A steering committee with representation from each of the three state universities and the community college districts will be formed to work with a meeting facilitator so that the meeting format would best address the Shaping the Future: New Expectations for Undergraduate Education in Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology report (NSF 96-139) goals as they relate to: SMET faculty : Building "a sense of wonder and the excitement of discovery, plus communication and teamwork, critical thinking, and life-long learning skills into (SMET) learning experiences". SMET departments: Setting "departmental goals and accept responsibility for undergraduate learning, with measurable expectations for all students... offer a (SMET) curriculum engaging the broadest spectrum of ... use technology effectively to enhance... work collaboratively with departments of education, the K-12 teachers". Governing boards and administrators: Reexamining "institutional missions in light of needs in undergraduate SME&T education; provide strong programs of faculty development;...(and) reduce organizational rigidities". During the meeting, facilitated discussions will be used to address these issues. A review of how each institution (or district) is approaching the issues will also be conducted. The meeting results will be summarized in a report and captured on a state-wide SMET web page. The steering committee will be reconvened in the late spring or early summer of 1998 to assess the progress made on all campuses and to plan appropriate follow-up SMET activity. *