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Dr. Olav Rueppell |
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Our office and lab space are located in the Eberhart
Building on the main
UNCG campus. Click for a broad or a detailed map how to get there. Our research apiary and bee facility are located 5min to the west (see map). If you want
to DONATE directly to UNCG’s honey bee
research program, Disclaimer:
The material located at this site is not endorsed, sponsored, or provided by or on behalf of the LAST UPDATED Sept. 2011 |
Social Behavior: “For so work the honey-bees, creatures that
by a rule in nature teach the act of order to a peopled kingdom” ~ William
Shakespeare
Honey bees
display a dazzling array of behavior in a social context. While some aspects
are found in non-social organisms (e.g. feeding) many specialized behaviors
have evolved in honey bees that are directly related to their sociality (e.g.
food sharing = trophallaxis). Honey bees also exhibit a spectacular division
of labor among their workers. Most of the specialization is age-dependent.
However, some aspects are not, and even the age-dependent progression through
tasks is influenced by genotype. We are interested in the proximate causation of inter-individual variability
in the performance of these behaviors. However, we have also started to
address the pressing question how these behaviors interact with life history:
how does behavior change with age, and how do these behaviors in turn
influence aging rates?
We are
also interested in the mechanisms that create the genetic diversity within
colonies that enhances the division of labor
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