LABORATORY OF ETHOLOGY

| Head: Ewa Joanna GODZIŃSKA, Ph.D., D.Sc. E-mail: e.godzinska@nencki.gov.pl Prof. Emeritus Jerzy A. CHMURZYŃSKI Ph.D., D.Sc. Staff: Julita KORCZYŃSKA, Ph.D., Anna SZCZUKA, Ph.D., Maria KIERUZEL, M.Sc., Postgraduate student: Nataliya KHVOROSTOVA, M.Sc.

We are working in the field of theoretical and experimental ethology, sociobiology and neurosociobiology. We are particularly interested in ethological and neurochemical mechanisms underlying plasticity, flexibility and ontogeny of behaviour in social insects: ants and bumblebees. Our current research involves both field and laboratory studies.

In the experiments devoted to the role of homo- and heterospecific social context in the control of the expression of ant behaviour we use two principal experimental models: (1) the role of homospecific social context in the control of expression of predatory behaviour in the red wood ant Formica polyctena, and (2) the role of heterospecific social context in the control of expression of nestmate rescue behaviour in the ant Formica fusca.

Our recent experiments devoted to the ontogeny of ant behaviour are focused on the role of early experience in the development of illumination preferences in the carpenter ant Camponotus melanocnemis, and on the ontogeny of seed foraging in the harvesting ants of the genus Messor.

Our current research is focused on ethopharmacological analysis of neurochemical mechanisms underlying the phenomena of social reward and social cohesion in ant colonies. In particular, we are investigating the role of octopamine (OA) in the mediation of social behaviour in the carpenter ants of the genus Camponotus, and in the control of expression of predatory behaviour in workers of the red wood ant Formica polyctena.

Among others, we demonstrated that workers of the carpenter ants of the genus Camponotus show increased readiness to engage in trophallaxis (= mutual contacts of mouthparts accompanied by the exchange of liquid food and/or compounds acting as colony recognition cues) when reunited with the nestmate from the same colony after a period of social deprivation. Abdominal injections of octopamine (OA) suppress that isolation-induced trophallaxis, which implies that octopaminergic system is involved in the maintenance of social cohesion in ant colonies, and which suggests that OA may play a crucial role in the mediation of the hypothetical phenomenon of “social reward” implicated in the control of social interactions between nestmates in insect societies (publications 1-3).

Selected publications

1. Boulay, R., Quagebeur, M., Godzińska, E. J., Lenoir, A.1999. Social isolaton in ants: evidence of its impact on survivorship and behavior in Camponotus fellah (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Sociobiology 33: 111-124.

2. Boulay, R., Soroker, V., Godzińska, E. J., Hefetz, A., Lenoir, A.. 2000. Octopamine reverses the isolation-induced increase in trophallaxis in the Carpenter ant Camponotus fellah. J. Exp. Biol. 203: 513-520.

3.Cybulska, A., Godzińska, E. J., Wagner-Ziemka, A. 2000. Behaviour of dyads of ants reunited after social deprivation. Biol. Bull. Poznań 37: 119-127.

4. Czechowski W., Godzińska E. J., Kozłowski M. W. 2002. Rescue behaviour shown by workers of Formica sanguinea Latr., F. fusca L. and F. cinerea Mayr (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in response to their nestmates caught by an ant lion larva. Ann. Zool. 52: 423-431.

5. Korczyńska, J., Godzińska, E. J. 2000. Effects of chemical cues left by nestmates in familiar areas on illumination preferences of the ant Camponotus melanocnemis Santschi. Biol. Bull. Poznań 37: 129-138.

6. Mabelis A. A., Korczyńska J. 2001. Dispersal for survival: some observations on the trunk ant (Formica truncorum Fabricius). Neth. J. Zool. 51: 299-320.

7. Szczuka, A., Godzińska, E. J. 2000. Group size: an important factor controlling the expression of predatory behaviour in workers of the wood ant Formica polyctena Först. Biol. Bull. Poznań 37: 139-152.