Neuroanatomical study of olfactory brain circuits as a function of the social organization level of bee species (Hymenoptera, Apidae: Meliponini, Augochlorini, Bombini)

• Grant number: 12/10630-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• Start date: September 01, 2012
• End date: August 31, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Morphology of Recent Groups
• Principal Investigator: Carminda da Cruz-Landim
• Grantee: Ana Carolina Roselino
• Supervisor: Jean-Christophe Sandoz
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Rio Claro. Rio Claro , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Evolution Genomes Comportement Ecologie (EGCE), France
• Associated to the scholarship: 10/03692-2 - The natural behavior and neural systems: the sculpture of evolution on bioecological strategies in insects (Hymenoptera, Meliponini, Augochlorini)., BP.PD

Abstract

Considering neuroanatomy a fundamental tool for understanding the mechanisms of perception of the parameters that define the environment, and the possibility to establish comparisons between different groups of animals and their bioecological strategies, the analysis of neuro-histological records of bees' antennal lobes has the sociality level as a criterion used to choose these groups as subjects for this study: Meliponini - eusocial; Augochlorini - facultative social, Bombini - primitive social. Besides the anatomical description of the olfactory system, the project aims to point out the differences and possible specializations in each group as measured by volumetric studies, spatial (glomerular arrangement), morphological and cytological studies (glial cells), and finally, under the perspective of the behaviour evolution, to discuss the high adaptive capacity of these organisms in the environment. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

ROSELINO, ANA CAROLINA; HRNCIR, MICHAEL; LANDIM, CARMINDA DA CRUZ; GIURFA, MARTIN; SANDOZ, JEAN-CHRISTOPHE. Sexual dimorphism and phenotypic plasticity in the antennal lobe of a stingless bee, Melipona scutellaris. JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE NEUROLOGY, v. 523, n. 10, p. 1461-1473, JUL 1 2015. (12/10630-9, 10/03692-2)