{"id":15,"date":"2019-10-17T00:53:52","date_gmt":"2019-10-17T04:53:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/traniellolab\/?page_id=15"},"modified":"2022-09-13T07:10:49","modified_gmt":"2022-09-13T11:10:49","slug":"research","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/traniellolab\/research\/","title":{"rendered":"Research"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"id2\" class=\"style_SkipStroke_2 shape-with-text\">\n<div class=\"text-content Normal_External_660_24\">\n<div class=\"Normal\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/traniellolab\/files\/2019\/10\/Ant-Brain-evolution.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1758\" height=\"989\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-151 size-full\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/traniellolab\/files\/2019\/10\/Ant-Brain-evolution.png 1758w, https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/traniellolab\/files\/2019\/10\/Ant-Brain-evolution-636x358.png 636w, https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/traniellolab\/files\/2019\/10\/Ant-Brain-evolution-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/traniellolab\/files\/2019\/10\/Ant-Brain-evolution-1024x576.png 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1758px) 100vw, 1758px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraphstyle1\" style=\"background: white; margin: 0in 0in .25in 0in;\"><strong><span style=\"color: black; font-weight: normal;\">Current research focuses on how social complexity, diet, and emergent behavior impact brain size and structure, from scaling relationships among functionally specialized brain regions and synaptic organization to gene expression and genomic change.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"Normal\">\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/traniellolab\/research\/brain-metabolism\/\"><strong>Social complexity and brain metabolism<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"Normal\">\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/traniellolab\/research\/diet-brain-evolution\/\"><strong>Diet and brain evolution<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"id9\" class=\"style_SkipStroke_3 shape-with-text\">\n<div class=\"text-content graphic_textbox_layout_style_default_External_477_231\">\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/traniellolab\/research\/ant-gustation\/\"><strong>Taste and task: gustation and division of labor in ants<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Recent Studies (see also <em>Publications<\/em>)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Social complexity, division of labor, and brain evolution<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Dr. J. Frances Kamhi examined neurobiological underpinnings of division of labor in the socially complex Australasian weaver ant <em>Oecophylla smaragdina, <\/em>which is considered to be a pinnacle of social complexity in ants, and the more socially basic sister clade <em>Formica subsericea<\/em>.<strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Comparative sociobiology and neuroethology of <\/strong><em><strong>Pheidole<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>The hyperdiverse ant genus <em>Pheidole<\/em> contains species that richly vary in ecology and patterns of social organization, including interspecific variation in the number, morphology, and behavioral repertoire of major workers, larger workers that typically specialize on colony defense or food processing. \u00a0Dr. Mario Muscedere examined social organization, colony size, and worker age impact brain size and structure, and how age-related behaviors are aminergically controlled in <em>Pheidole<\/em>.\u00a0 Dr. Ysabel Giraldo explored the resilience of behavioral performance and the brain across the minor worker lifespan in <em>P. dentata<\/em>.\u00a0 In the exceptionally polymorphic ant <em>Pheidole rhea, <\/em>Dr. Darcy Gordon focused on how these traits may be integrated within and across highly size-variable workers. \u00a0Current projects are focused on characterizing interspecific age- and size-related metabolic and neural variation in <span><em>Pheidole<\/em><\/span> major and minor workers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Current research focuses on how social complexity, diet, and emergent behavior impact brain size and structure, from scaling relationships among functionally specialized brain regions and synaptic organization to gene expression and genomic change. Social complexity and brain metabolism Diet and brain evolution Taste and task: gustation and division of labor in ants Recent Studies (see [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16946,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/traniellolab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/15"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/traniellolab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/traniellolab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/traniellolab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16946"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/traniellolab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/traniellolab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/15\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":223,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/traniellolab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/15\/revisions\/223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/traniellolab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}