My research group uses the Western honey bee, Apis mellifera , to understand the mechanisms governing social behavior.
Behavioral development occurs in many animals, including humans.
As animals age and pass through different life stages, their genetically determined behavioral responses to environmental and social stimuli change in predictable ways. Often these responses increase in complexity and involve learning. Our research is designed to explain the function and evolution of behavioral mechanisms that integrate the activity of individuals in a society, neural and neuroendocrine mechanisms that regulate behavior within the brain of the individual, and the genes that influence social behavior. Among the species of animals most attuned to their social environment are the social insects, which include the honey bee. They live in societies that rival our own in complexity and internal cohesion.