LABORATORY
OF ETHOLOGY
|
Head: Ewa
Joanna GODZIŃSKA, Ph.D., D.Sc. E-mail: 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.
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.