Nicole Elise Fischer

I am a second year PhD student in the social insect lab at the University of Arizona where I study neural mechanisms of behavioral variation in ants. Ants are often thought of as simple automatons that reflexively respond to their environment. However, a closer look reveals that they demonstrate a wealth of behaviors -- and demonstrate remarkable inter-individual behavioral variation -- wherein worker ants within a nest will specialize in different tasks associated with nest defense, brood care, foraging and nest building. To understand the basis of this behavioral variation I take a neural approach, exploring how basic sensory perception and integration, at the level of the peripheral and central nervous systems, can create significant differences in behavior. I am also interested in how this behavioral variation is integrated at the colony level to give rise to a stable system of division of labor in insect societies.

July 2013