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Book ChapterDOI

Putting the ecology back into insect cognition research

TL;DR: It is argued that there is a need to reconsider insect cognition into an ecological context in order to design experiments that address the cognitive challenges insects face in nature, identify competing hypotheses about the cognitive abilities driving the observed behavioural responses, and test them across different populations and species.
Abstract: Over the past decades, research on insect cognition has made considerable advances in describing the ability of model species (in particular bees and fruit flies) to achieve cognitive tasks once thought to be unique to vertebrates, and investigating how these may be implemented in a miniature brain. While this lab-based research is critical to understand some fundamental mechanisms of insect brains and cognition, taking a more integrative and comparative view will help making sense of this rich behavioural repertoire and its evolution. Here we argue that there is a need to reconsider insect cognition into an ecological context in order to design experiments that address the cognitive challenges insects face in nature, identify competing hypotheses about the cognitive abilities driving the observed behavioural responses, and test them across different populations and species. Reconnecting with the tradition of naturalistic observations, by testing animals in the field or in ecologically-inspired setups and comparing their performances, is complementary to mechanistic research in the lab, and will greatly improve our understanding of the role of insect cognition, its diversity, and the influence of ecological factors in its evolution.

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Citations
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01 Jan 1990
TL;DR: In a recent study, this paper found that males have larger hippocampi relative to the entire brain than females in polygamous vole species, while females perform better than males in spatial ability.
Abstract: In astudy oftwocongeneric rodent species, sex differences in hippocampal size were predicted by sex- specific patterns of spatial cognition. Hippocampal size isknownto correlatepositively withmazeperformance in labo- ratory mouse strains and with selective pressure for spatial memory among passerine bird species. In polygamous vole species (Rodentia: Microtus), males range more widely than femalesinthe fieldandperformbetteronlaboratorymeasuresof spatial ability; both of these differences are absent in monogamousvole species. Tenfemalesandmalesweretakenfromnatural populationsoftwovole species, thepolygamousmeadowvole, M.pennsylvanicus, and the monogamous pinevole, M.pinetorum. Onlyin the polygamousspecies domaleshave larger hippocampi relative to the entire brain than do females. Two-wayanalysis of variance showsthattheratio of hippocampal volumeto brain volumeis differently related to sexin thesetwospecies. Toourknowledge,nopreviousstudies of hippocampal size have linked both

24 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors used change-point analysis to estimate the timing of changes in the rate of hominin brain evolution and found that human brain size reduction was surprisingly recent, occurring in the last 3,000 years.
Abstract: Human brain size nearly quadrupled in the six million years since Homo last shared a common ancestor with chimpanzees, but human brains are thought to have decreased in volume since the end of the last Ice Age. The timing and reason for this decrease is enigmatic. Here we use change-point analysis to estimate the timing of changes in the rate of hominin brain evolution. We find that hominin brains experienced positive rate changes at 2.1 and 1.5 million years ago, coincident with the early evolution of Homo and technological innovations evident in the archaeological record. But we also find that human brain size reduction was surprisingly recent, occurring in the last 3,000 years. Our dating does not support hypotheses concerning brain size reduction as a by-product of body size reduction, a result of a shift to an agricultural diet, or a consequence of self-domestication. We suggest our analysis supports the hypothesis that the recent decrease in brain size may instead result from the externalization of knowledge and advantages of group-level decision-making due in part to the advent of social systems of distributed cognition and the storage and sharing of information. Humans live in social groups in which multiple brains contribute to the emergence of collective intelligence. Although difficult to study in the deep history of Homo, the impacts of group size, social organization, collective intelligence and other potential selective forces on brain evolution can be elucidated using ants as models. The remarkable ecological diversity of ants and their species richness encompasses forms convergent in aspects of human sociality, including large group size, agrarian life histories, division of labor, and collective cognition. Ants provide a wide range of social systems to generate and test hypotheses concerning brain size enlargement or reduction and aid in interpreting patterns of brain evolution identified in humans. Although humans and ants represent very different routes in social and cognitive evolution, the insights ants offer can broadly inform us of the selective forces that influence brain size.

24 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
07 Sep 2021-Insects
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors advocate for a more integrative vision of Varroa destructor research, where in vitro and field studies are more systematically compared and compiled, and discuss what has been done and what can be done from the laboratory to the field against V. destructor through an integrative approach.
Abstract: Varroa destructor is a real challenger for beekeepers and scientists: fragile out of the hive, tenacious inside a bee colony. From all the research done on the topic, we have learned that a better understanding of this organism in its relationship with the bee but also for itself is necessary. Its biology relies mostly on semiochemicals for reproduction, nutrition, or orientation. Many treatments have been developed over the years based on hard or soft acaricides or even on biocontrol techniques. To date, no real sustainable solution exists to reduce the pressure of the mite without creating resistances or harming honeybees. Consequently, the development of alternative disruptive tools against the parasitic life cycle remains open. It requires the combination of both laboratory and field results through a holistic approach based on health biomarkers. Here, we advocate for a more integrative vision of V. destructor research, where in vitro and field studies are more systematically compared and compiled. Therefore, after a brief state-of-the-art about the mite's life cycle, we discuss what has been done and what can be done from the laboratory to the field against V. destructor through an integrative approach.

15 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The hypothesis that variation in task performance influences selection for mosaic brain structure, the independent evolution of proportions of the brain composed of different neuropils, is supported.

9 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is proposed that the understanding of the role of cognition in brain evolution can be advanced through studies of eusocial insect species differing in agricultural practices and degree of division of labor, and thus social complexity.
Abstract: Agents of selection for behavioral responses to abiotic, biotic, and social environments are described as cognitive challenges. Research integrating behavior, ecology, and brain evolution has generated a growing literature—and sometimes controversy—over inferences made from correlating cognitive traits with neural metrics. We propose that our understanding of the role of cognition in brain evolution can be advanced through studies of eusocial insect species differing in agricultural practices and degree of division of labor, and thus social complexity. Fungus-growing ants offer diverse systems to assess the impacts of cognitive challenges on behavioral evolution and its neural and genomic architectures. Workers exhibit variability in social role differentiation in association with diet, morphology, group size, and task efficiency. This suite of covarying traits enables the accurate mapping of cognition, worker repertoire breadth, neuroanatomy, and genomic change in light of social evolution.

9 citations


Cites background from "Putting the ecology back into insec..."

  • ...However, cognitive ecologists have developed definitions emphasizing divergent demands from behavioral niches and neurobiological capabilities (Balda and Kamil, 1989; Real, 1993; Shettleworth, 2000, 2010; Dukas and Ratcliffe, 2009; Lihoreau et al., 2019)....

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References
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Book
01 Jan 1971
TL;DR: In this article, a definitive study of the social structure and symbiotic relationships of termites, social wasps, bees, and ants was conducted. But the authors focused on the relationship between ants and termites.
Abstract: Conducts a definitive study of the social structure and symbiotic relationships of termites, social wasps, bees, and ants.

4,679 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The emerging concept of a microbiota–gut–brain axis suggests that modulation of the gut microbiota may be a tractable strategy for developing novel therapeutics for complex CNS disorders.
Abstract: Recent years have witnessed the rise of the gut microbiota as a major topic of research interest in biology. Studies are revealing how variations and changes in the composition of the gut microbiota influence normal physiology and contribute to diseases ranging from inflammation to obesity. Accumulating data now indicate that the gut microbiota also communicates with the CNS — possibly through neural, endocrine and immune pathways — and thereby influences brain function and behaviour. Studies in germ-free animals and in animals exposed to pathogenic bacterial infections, probiotic bacteria or antibiotic drugs suggest a role for the gut microbiota in the regulation of anxiety, mood, cognition and pain. Thus, the emerging concept of a microbiota-gut-brain axis suggests that modulation of the gut microbiota may be a tractable strategy for developing novel therapeutics for complex CNS disorders.

3,058 citations

Book
01 Jan 1967
TL;DR: The Dance Language and Orientation of Bees as discussed by the authors is a seminal work in the field of honeybee behavior that describes in non-technical language what he discovered in a lifetime of study about honeybees - their methods of orientation, their sensory faculties, and their remarkable ability to communicate with one another.
Abstract: Until his death in 1982, Karl von Frisch was the world's most renowned authority on bees. "The Dance Language and Orientation of Bees" is his masterwork - the culmination of more than fifty years of research. Now available for the first time in paperback, it describes in non-technical language what he discovered in a lifetime of study about honeybees - their methods of orientation, their sensory faculties, and their remarkable ability to communicate with one another. Thomas Seeley's new foreword traces the revolutionary effects of von Frisch's work, not just for the study of bees, but for all subsequent research in animal behaviour. This new paperback edition also includes a "Personal Appreciation" of von Frisch by the distinguished biologist Martin Lindauer, who was von Frisch's protege and later his colleague and friend.

2,461 citations


"Putting the ecology back into insec..." refers background in this paper

  • ...This approach later facilitated the discovery of the symbolic communication by which foragers advertise the location of remote feeding sites to their nestmates by displaying dances on the vertical honey combs (von Frisch, 1967)....

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  • ...Given that bees are assumed to visit hundreds of flowers during a single foraging trip (von Frisch, 1967), this anecdotic observation has initiated several research programs investigating how bees develop routes between many familiar sites (Lihoreau et al., 2012b; Ohashi et al., 2007; Woodgate et…...

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Conventional wisdom over the past 160 years in the cognitive and neurosciences has assumed that brains evolved to process factual information about the world, and attention has therefore been focused on such features as pattern recognition, color vision, and speech perception.
Abstract: Conventional wisdom over the past 160 years in the cognitive and neurosciences has assumed that brains evolved to process factual information about the world. Most attention has therefore been focused on such features as pattern recognition, color vision, and speech perception. By extension, it was assumed that brains evolved to deal with essentially ecological problem-solving tasks. © 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

2,385 citations


"Putting the ecology back into insec..." refers background in this paper

  • ...Following the “social brain hypothesis” developed to explain the evolution of large brains in social vertebrates, and in particular anthropoid primates (Byrne, 1996; Dunbar, 1998), two hypotheses were recently proposed for insects....

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Book
01 Jan 1998
TL;DR: This chapter discusses Cognition, Evolution and the Study of Behavior, the Behavioral Ecology of Social Learning, and Cognitive Ethology and the Evolution of Mind, which aims to provide a framework for thinking about learning.
Abstract: Preface Acknowledgments Chapter 1. Cognition and the study of behavior 1.1 What is comparative cognition about? 1.2 Kinds of explanation for behavior 1.3 Approaches to comparative cognition 1.4 Summary Chapter 2. Evolution, behavior, and cognition: A primer 2.1 Testing adaptation 2.2 Mapping phylogeny 2.3 Evolution, cognition, and the structure of behavior 2.4 Evolution and the brain 2.5 What does all this have to do with comparative psychology? 2.6 Summarizing and looking ahead Part I. Fundamental Mechanisms Chapter 3. Perception and attention 3.1 Specialized sensory systems 3.2 How can we find out what animals perceive? 3.3 Some psychophysical principles 3.4 Signal detection theory 3.5 Perception and evolution: Sensory ecology 3.6 Search and attention 3.7 Attention and foraging: The behavioral ecology of attention 3.8 Summary Chapter 4. Learning: Introduction and Pavlovian conditioning 4.1 General processes and "constraints on learning" 4.2 A framework for thinking about learning 4.3 When and how will learning evolve? 4.4 Pavlovian conditioning: Conditions for learning 4.5 What is learned? 4.6 Conditional control of behavior: Occasion setting and modulation 4.7 Effects of learning on behavior 4.8 Concluding remarks Chapter 5. Recognition learning 5.1 Habituation 5.2 Perceptual learning 5.3 Imprinting 5.4 The behavioral ecology of social recognition: Recognizing kin 5.5. Forms of recognition learning compared Chapter 6. Discrimination, classification, and concepts 6.1 Three examples 6.2 Untrained responses to natural stimuli 6.3 Classifying complex natural stimuli 6.4 Discrimination learning 6.5 Category discrimination and concepts 6.6 Summary and conclusions Chapter 7. Memory 7.1 Functions and properties of memory 7.2 Methods for studying memory in animals 7.3 Conditions for memory 7.4 Species differences in memory? 7.5 Mechanisms: What is remembered and why is it forgotten? 7.6 Memory and consciousness 7.7 Summary and conclusions Part II. Physical Cognition Chapter 8. Getting around: Spatial cognition 8.1 Mechanisms for spatial orientation 8.2 Modularity and integration 8.3 Acquiring spatial knowledge: The conditions for learning 8.4 Do animals have cognitive maps? 8.5 Summary Chapter 9. Timing 9.1 Circadian rhythms 9.2 Interval timing: Data 9.3 Interval timing: Theories 9.4 Two timing systems? Chapter 10. Numerical competence 10.1 Numerosity discrimination and the analogue magnitude system 10.2 The object tracking system 10.3. Ordinal comparison: Numerosity, serial position, and transitive inference 10.4 Labels and language 10.5 Numerical cognition and comparative psychology Chapter 11. Cognition and the consequences of behavior: Foraging, planning, instrumental learning and using tools 11.1 Foraging 11.2 Long term or short term maximizing: Do animals plan ahead? 11.3 Causal learning and instrumental behavior 11.4 Using tools 11.5 On causal learning and killjoy explanations Part III. Social Cognition Chapter 12. Social intelligence 12.1 The social intelligence hypothesis 12.2 The nature of social knowledge 12.3 Intentionality and social understanding 12.4 Theory of mind 12.5 Cooperation 12.6 Summary Chapter 13. Social learning 13.1 Social learning in context 13.2 Mechanisms : Social learning without imitation 13.3 Mechanisms: Imitation 13.4 Do nonhuman animals teach? 13.5 Animal cultures? 13.6 Conclusions Chapter 14. Communication and language 14.1 Basic issues 14.2 Natural communication systems 14.3 Trying to teach human language to other species 14.4 Language evolution and animal communication: Current directions 14.5 Conclusions Chapter 15. Summing up and looking ahead 15.1 Modularity and the animal mind 15.2 Theory and method in comparative cognition 15.3 Humans vs. other species: Different in degree or kind? 15.4 The future: Tinbergen's four questions, and a fifth one References Index

1,775 citations

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What are the current research studies on the behavior and cognition of flies?

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