William Wcislo
Staff Scientist
e-mail: WcisloW AT si dot edu, where AT=@ and dot=. without spaces
Link: Wcislo Lab
Address: Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Box 0843-03092
Balboa, Ancon
Republic of Panama
or
Unit 0948
Apo AA 34002-0948
Telephone: +507 212-8128
FAX: +507 212-8148
Publications
Publications by William Wcislo in STRI Bibliography
Research Interests
Evolution and behavior; bees: (Hymenoptera: Apoidea, especially Halictidae), solitary wasps (Sphecidae, Pompilidae) and ants (Formicidae); parasitism; sociality; social complexity; learning and behavioral diversification; brain evolution; environments.
We study the organization of behavior in incipient social groups, using bees and other Hymenoptera, and their predators and parasites. The aim is to better understand how behavior— including learning and assessment mechanisms for decision-making— generates novel environments, which might promote or inhibit evolutionary change due to changes in natural selection. The evolutionary transitions we focus on involve solitary, social and parasitic behavior, and also from diurnal to nocturnal foraging. A longer-term goal to integrate psychology and brain studies with evolutionary biology.
Bee Natural History
If you think of the (European) honey bee (Apis mellifera) as "the bee," check out the USDA Hayden Bee Lab, http://gears.tucson.ars.ag.gov/.
The other 20,000+ species of bees have diverse habits, and usually live either in nests in the soil, or in hollow twigs and wood; some build mud nests; others use cavities, including snail shells!
Most bees are solitary, while some are social with queens and workers. Other species are obligate parasites, and have foresaken an honest day’s work collecting pollen, and instead make their living by stealing the labor of other bees. The USDA Logan Bee Lab has a lot of information on solitary bees, http://www.loganbeelab.usu.edu/
Doing a school report? An account of research on bees at STRI is the children’s book, What’s the Buzz? by Marjorie Facklam, see http://www.turnstonepub.com.
Current Research
Most of our work centers on sweat bees (family Halictidae) and ants, especially Ectatomma (Ponerinae) and the fungus-growing ants, Attini. Sweat bees are often small and inconspicuous, although some are brilliantly colored and shimmer in the sun like gems. There are at least several thousand species, and many remain to be discovered. Sweat bees can have solitary, social, or parasitic behavior, which is why they are so important for understanding how behavior evolves in response to variation in environmental and genetic factors. Fungus-growing ants are superb for addressing questions relating to the evolution of social complexity and disease ecology. Ectatomma ants display impressive cognitive abilities, and are excellent for understanding the ecological significance of learning and cognition.
Projects often involve colleagues, STRI fellows and assistants, as well as interns and student volunteers.
Education and Degrees
Ph.D, University of Kansas, Lawrence (1991);
B.S. (Biology), University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (1982)
Selected Bibliography
Smith AR, Wcislo WT, O’Donnell S. 2007. Social nests have higher survivorship and suffer no per capita productivity cost relative to solitary nests in the facultatively social sweat bee Megalopta genalis (Hymenoptera: Halictidae). Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 61: 1111-1120.
Wcislo, W.T. and V. H. Gonzalez. 2006. Social and ecological contexts of trophallaxis in facultatively social sweat bees, Megalopta genalis and M. ecuadoria (Hymenoptera: Halictidae). Insectes Sociaux 53: 220-225.
Fernández-Marín, H., J. K. Zimmerman, S. A. Rehner, and W. T. Wcislo. 2006. Active use of the metapleural glands by ants in controlling fungal infection. Proceedings of the Royal Society, Series B 273: 1689-1695.
Kelber, A. E. J. Warrant, M. Pfaff, R. Wallén, J. C. Theobald, W. T. Wcislo & R. A. Raguso. 2006. Light intensity limits foraging activity in nocturnal and crepuscular bees. Behavioral Ecology 17: 63-72.
Wcislo, W. T., Arneson, L., Roesch, K., Gonzalez, V., Smith, A., and Fernández-Marín, H. 2004. The evolution of nocturnal behavior in sweat bees, Megalopta genalis and M. ecuadoria (Hymenoptera: Halictidae): an escape from competitors and enemies? Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 83:377-387.
Warrant, E. J., Kelber, A., Gislen, A., Greiner, B., Ribi, W., and Wcislo, W. T. 2004. Nocturnal vision and landmark orientation in a tropical halictid bee. Current Biology 14:1309-1318.