IS: Who are you and what do you do?

MJWE: Mary Jane West-Eberhard, retired research scientist, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Retired = working as usual for less pay.

IS: How did you end up researching social insects?

MJWE: The answer started when I was a little kid. My first pet (or so I thought) was a beautiful sweat bee that looked like a jewel. It landed on my arm when I was about nine years old. I thought it liked me. But then it stung me and flew away! That did it for the solitary Hymenoptera. But I liked wasps – they are perky and beautiful. I first paid attention to them when making an insect collection for a 4-H entomology project. Then, in college I wanted to do something on insect behaviour for my honors thesis at the University of Michigan. Henry Townes, a taxonomist of parasitoid Hymenoptera, suggested that I do it on Polistes. It was the dead of winter but I found some hibernating females and put them in a terrarium. They woke up immediately and immediately started to antennate each other and fight. I figured I couldn’t go wrong with those.

IS: What is your favourite social insect and why?

MJWE: My favourite is still Polistes. Every Polistes species has distinctive visible social displays, and they are always active. Seeing a new species always rewards you with something new and interesting. They never disappoint. I have worked on MANY species of wasps. Some, like Mischocyttarus, are very common in the tropics where I have lived, and they have open nests like Polistes. There are many species and I have tried looking at lots of them but they are unbearably dull compared to Polistes.

IS: What is the best moment/discovery in your research so far? What made it so memorable?

MJWE: I guess there are two kinds of excitement – discoveries during fieldwork, and making new connections (having new ideas). Maybe I can get away with giving more than one example, one for each decade of my fieldwork on social insects:

• [as an undergrad] Seeing a mother cricket, who was caring for her nymphs, lay a tiny egg and then feed it to one of her nymphs! A trophic egg, like those of ants, but never before seen in a cricket.
• [As a grad student] Seeing some marked Polistes females return to their single-queen natal nest site after hibernation, and start building nests together (the first direct field confirmation of the relatedness aspect of kin selection theory).
• Discovering the complex dominance displays of Metabolybia queens toward each other, and the displays of workers toward them that indicated worker choice of queens – they actually dominated some of the queens into becoming workers!
• Finding a nest of Zethus miniatus the very species studied long ago by Ducke in Brazil, famously a group living eumenine wasp used by Wheeler as a model transitional species.
• Realizing (in the 1980s) that most alternative states considered “genetic polymorphisms” are actually condition-dependent polyphenisms and other kinds of non-genetically determined alternative forms – just like workers and queens. This undermined some assumptions of genetics and, within behaviour studies, ESS game theory, that predominated at the time.

IS: If teaching is part of your work, what courses do you teach? Has your work on social insects helped to shape your teaching?

MJWE: As a grad student I planned to become a college professor. But my job with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute has been a research job; and my husband Bill has taught the courses I might have taught in the places we have lived. But I like to think that the general-scope writing I have done is a kind of teaching – “courses” on the evolution of insect societies, sexual and social selection, and development (including of behaviour) in relation to genetic evolution. I like to think that it helps researchers working on real organisms to see the general significance of their work.

IS: What is the last book you read? Would you recommend it? Why or why not?

MJWE: “Hillbilly Elegy,” by J.D. Vance. I recommend it because it describes some truly forgotten, especially by academics and politicians, elements of US society – their deep problems and why ignorance (including bigotry) is entrenched and difficult to deal with, for those (victims and idealists) who would try to find a way out of it.

IS: Did any one book have a major influence in shaping your career? What was the book and how did it affect you?

MJWE: Mayr 1963, “Animal Species and Evolution.” A grad-student seminar (led by R.D. Alexander) read that book and we critically examined every page – every sentence. The book was mainly about speciation, but it was a summary of organismic evolutionary biology at that time. I still use it for history and references – as a marker of what was understood when I was a student, and what was not.

IS: Outside of science, what are your favourite activities, hobbies or sports?

MJWE: My favourite activity is good conversation. “Good” means intelligent and entertaining (this does not necessarily mean intellectual and can be with small children or people without earphones on airplanes). It means open as well as considerate. Travel. Watching behaviour including of people, and trying to figure out what is going on in different settings, and why. My work and my family have always been my hobbies. Aerobics 3 times a week.

 

IS: If you were on an island and could only bring three things, what would you bring? Why?

MJWE: A flashlight, a bottle of water, and a helicopter. The “why” seems self explanatory.

IS: Who do you think has had the greatest influence on your science career?

MJWE: Richard Alexander, my professor at the University of Michigan. He encouraged critical thinking and independence, and encouraged thinking about the general importance of my discoveries. He didn’t expect his students to work on aspects of his own research. He was bursting with original ideas and always talked about them. He didn’t worry about getting ripped off because he was publishing as fast as he talked.

IS: What advice would you give to a young person hoping to be a social insect researcher in the future?

MJWE: Choose a species or a taxon and resolve to become the world expert on it – to learn everything that is known about it, including classification, physiology, behaviour, evolutionary history. Then do whatever you have the greatest patience for. For example, I have no patience for making apparatus work in a lab. But I can watch animal behaviour for hours and hours without getting bored. Whatever you do, whether it is ecology, or library work, or laboratory experiments, or microscopic studies of morphology, be sure to spend SOME time observing behaviour, because that will give you clues about whatever you are trying to understand.

 

 

IS: Who are you and what do you do?

CSM: I am Dr. Corrie Moreau (@CorrieMoreau), Associate Curator/Professor at the Field Museum of Natural History. I oversee a very large scientific collection and run an active research program using molecular and genomic tools to study the evolution of social insects.

IS: How did you end up researching social insects?

CSM: Since a young age I have always wanted to study ants. Growing up in New Orleans, Louisiana, there were always ants everywhere and they completely fascinated me.

IS: What is your favourite social insect and why?

CSM: Ants! There are so many closely related species that look and behave differently and even distantly related species that have converged on their morphology and behaviors. These differences and similarities provide an excellent system to understand how and why these traits evolve.

IS: What is the best moment/discovery in your research so far? What made it so memorable?

CSM: For me there are two moments in my research so far that have stood out. One came when I inferred the first large-scale molecular phylogeny of the ants and found striking diversification that corresponded to the rise of the flowering plants. The second came when I started to realize the key role that host-associated bacteria can have on the ecology and evolution of social insects. For me what made these both so memorable is they helped explain the ecological and evolutionary success of the group of organisms I had been studying so intimately.

IS: If teaching is part of your work, what courses do you teach? Has your work on social insects helped to shape your teaching?

CSM: Being at a large natural history museum, I have the opportunity to share my research and educate a very diverse audience on a daily basis. This is really rewarding. Since everyone has at least seen an ant, this opens the door to be able to talk about cutting-edge research and how this informs other aspects of science. I have also taught a phylogenetics course at the University of Chicago and enjoy being in the more formal classroom setting too. Being able to share the theoretical framework and analytical skills that allow students to address their own research questions is very gratifying.

IS: What is the last book you read? Would you recommend it? Why or why not?

CSM: I am currently reading “Time, Love, Memory: A Great Biologist and His Quest for the Origins of Behavior” by Jonathan Weiner. It was sent to me as a gift from Dr. Hopi Hoekstra, behavioural geneticists at Harvard University. The book follows the research career of Dr. Seymour Benzer to tell the history of behavioral genetics. The book is very well written and provides insights into not only the scientific highlights of this field, but the opportunity to learn a little about the lives of several scientists that helped develop this field.

IS: Did any one book have a major influence in shaping your career? What was the book and how did it affect you?

CSM: One book that I consistently return to is “Ants: Their Structure, Development, and Behavior” by William Morton Wheeler. This book was published in 1910 and is still one of the most insightful and complete books on ants. Of course, many things we know about ants has changed in the last 100 years, but this book still has so many inspiring insights into ant biology. And the figures and diagrams on ant internal and external anatomy are excellent!

IS: Outside of science, what are your favourite activities, hobbies or sports?

CSM: Reading, running, yoga, hiking, and traveling the world for research and fun with my husband, Dr. Christophe Duplais.

IS: How do you keep going when things get tough?

CSM: I wish I had some words of wisdom here since I know everyone has difficult times or obstacles to overcome. For me I try to return to what excites me, which is often enough to help push me through the tough times.

IS: If you were to go live on an uninhabited island and could only bring three things, what would you bring? Why?

CSM: This is a tough question. I would bring an avocado seed to grow lots of avocados to eat. A hand lens to be able to try to identify all the cool insects I find. And, lastly, a field notebook (and lots of pencils – I know that is more than one thing, but you need pencils if you have a notebook) to record all my observations.

IS: Who do you think has had the greatest influence on your science career?

CSM: I don’t think any scientist can attribute their careers to one person and that is certainly true for me. My advisors and mentors from undergraduate, master’s, Ph.D. and postdoc all deserve very special thanks. In addition there are a myriad of teachers and scientists that have had a big impact on the way I think and try to solve problems. I thank them all.

IS: What advice would you give to a young person hoping to be a social insect researcher in the future?

CSM: Follow your passions. Working in science is really rewarding, and I believe it is important to do what you love everyday. So if you are passionate about some aspect of social insect science then you should absolutely go for it! There are more questions and species than people on the planet so we need all the social insect scientists we can get.

 

 

IS: Who are you and what do you do?

ET: My name is Elizabeth Tibbetts and I am a professor in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Michigan.

IS: How did you end up researching social insects?

ET: I’m not one of the those people who always loved insects. In fact, I was pretty scared of them as a child. I decided to study social insects in graduate school because they seemed more tractable than vertebrates. I’m glad I did. I fell in love with wasps and haven’t looked back.

IS: What is your favourite social insect and why?

ET: My favourite social insects are Polistes paper wasps. I’ve become quite attached to them over the years. I love the way their social organization combines cooperation and conflict. Polistes form stable societies, but each wasp also has its own agenda. Sometimes individuals fight for supremacy within their group or leave their natal nest to reproduce independently. Polistes are also a great group to study my favourite topics: communication and cognition.

IS: What is the best moment/discovery in your research so far? What made it so memorable?

ET: My best moment of scientific discovery happened in graduate school when I figured out that Polistes fuscatus use their facial patterns for individual recognition. In my second year of graduate school, I noticed that Polistes fuscatus wasps have highly variable facial patterns. I followed up the observation with a few behavioural experiments. I still remember the thrill of analysing the data and realizing my experiment worked. Wasps really are capable of individual face recognition.

As a new graduate student, I wondered whether I could ever discover something new. People have been studying social insects for hundreds of years, so how could I hope to contribute anything? Over time, I’ve learned that there is no lack of exciting research questions in even the most common organism.

IS: If teaching is part of your work, what courses do you teach? Has your work on social insects helped to shape your teaching?

ET: I teach animal behaviour classes at introductory and advanced levels. I’m sure I include more insect examples than many animal behaviour instructors. However, I try to limit myself. For some reason, introductory students tend to be more interested in whales than bees.

IS: What is the last book you read? Would you recommend it? Why or why not?

ET: I recommend “Lab Girl” by Hope Jahren. It’s a beautifully written memoir about her life as a plant geobiologist . The book does a great job of describing the ups and downs of life as a research scientist.

IS: Did any one book have a major influence in shaping your career? What was the book and how did it affect you?

ET: In high school, I read all the books in the ‘Nature’ section of our public library. Some were great (“The Selfish Gene”, “Gorillas in the Mist”), while others were not so great (“The Naked Ape”). That section of the library is probably responsible for my decision to study biology as an undergrad and animal behaviour as a grad student.

IS: Outside of science, what are your favourite activities, hobbies or sports?

ET: Most of my time outside of work is spent with my two kids (4 and 7 years old). We spend a lot of time playing Legos, pretending to be superheros, reading, and swimming.

IS: How do you keep going when things get tough?

ET: I remind myself that a scientific career is a marathon rather than a sprint, so there is no need to panic about a failed experiment or a rejected grant. There is usually lots of time to overcome challenges and turn things around.

IS:  If you were to go live on an uninhabited island and could only bring three things, what would you bring? Why?

ET: I would bring a satellite phone to call for help, fresh water, and a book to read while I wait.

IS: Who do you think has had the greatest influence on your science career?

ET: I’m grateful to my dad for instilling an early love of science. My graduate experience at Cornell was also very influential. There was a large, enthusiastic group of graduate students who had a big effect on my scientific development. My advisor, Kern Reeve, and committee, Tom Seeley, Elizabeth Adkins-Regan, and Cole Gilbert were also wonderful.

IS: What advice would you give to a young person hoping to be a social insect researcher in the future?

ET: Having a life outside work (hobbies, family) is compatible with being a successful scientist. Don’t let anyone convince you otherwise.

Get in the habit of writing every day. You need to get your ideas into the world and effective writing is the best way to do it.