IS: Who are you and what do you do?

My name is Mariane Ronque and I recently finished my PhD. in Ecology at the University of Campinas (Brazil). Using a multidisciplinary approach, I investigated the natural history, behaviour, and associated bacterial community of five species of fungus-farming ants from the Atlantic rainforest, with a special interest in non-leafcutters: Mycocepurus smithii, Mycetarotes parallelus, Mycetophylax morschi, Sericomyrmex parvulus and Sericomyrmex saussurei.

(left) Nest of Mycetophylax morschi in Atlantic rainforest; (right) Fungus garden of Sericomyrmex parallelus.

IS: How did you develop an interest in your research?

I always had an interest in behavioural ecology and species interactions, beginning in my undergraduate studies. Ants became my interest because I wanted to study behavioural ecology and species interaction in a masters course, so I started to read a lot about these themes during my undergrad. When I was reading research about ant social organisation, how they participate in interactions with other arthropods and plants and acting on the dispersion of seeds, I became fascinated and recognised that they would be good models to study behavioural ecology and species interactions.

IS: What is your favourite social insect and why?

Ants, probably this answer is biased because I study ants! But I think ants are a good model to study social behaviour and ecological interactions. In addition, the variety of behaviours, ways of life and abundance in terrestrial environments fascinate me.

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

In my PhD when I observed in the field the behavior of cleptobiosis in fungus-farming ants (see the video below). It was very cool to watch Mycetarotes parallelus steal faeces pellets (probably to cultivate the symbiont fungus) from Mycetophylax morschi. I got very excited when I realized that probably this was the first record of cleptobiosis in fungus-farming ants. I reported this behavior in a recent paper at Insectes Sociaux – Thievery in rainforest fungus-growing ants: interspecific assault on culturing material at nest entrance, (Ronque M.U.V., Migliorini G.H., Oliveira P.S., 2018).

IS: What do you think are some of the important current questions in social insect research and what’s important for future research?

A question that I am currently interested in is how the associated microorganisms (microbiota) shapes the social behavior in ants. There has been an increase in the interest in the microbiome associated with animals since microorganisms are very abundant and some can affect animal ecology, evolution, and behavior. There is research showing that microorganisms can shape some social behaviors in meerkats, chimpanzees, hyenas. I would like to see this area of research expanding in ants since they are social animals that live in colonies and microorganisms could have key functions in the ant’s societies.

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

I like to cook, travel, be with my family and my partner.

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

I try to stop a while and give myself a time to relax. Talking to my partner and parents also help me to see the situation more clearly and think strategically to solve the problem.

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

This is a difficult question! Based on what I see in survival TV shows, I think it would take a fishing net, a knife, and a pot to boil water. Cannot it be 4 things? Because I would also need someone to share the experience, so I would bring my partner that is an ecologist with expertise in the field and would help me to survive on this island.

Me and my partner collecting nests of fungus-farming ants (Brazilian Cerrado).

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

My graduate advisor Dr. Paulo S. Oliveira. It was in his laboratory and under his supervision that I started studying ants during my master course. He showed me the importance of natural history studies to understand the ecological role of the organism in the environment in which it lives, as well as being the first step in formulating more detailed questions about a species and the interactions in which it participates. I also cannot fail to mention my parents, who always encouraged me to continue in my science career.

Me and my advisor Dr. Paulo S. Oliveira during poster presentation at IUSSI 2018 – Guarujá.

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

Be passionate about your research and scientific career. Be kind to yourself, sometimes things do not go as expected and we should not charge ourselves so much. Try to know the maximum of the organism or the system you study (as field and lab observations), this will allow more in-depth questions. Also, I think it is very important to learn new technologies (especially molecular tools), experimental design and statistic.

IS: Who are you and what do you do?

NLP: My name is Nathan Lecocq de Pletincx. I am a Ph.D. student in the Evolutionary Biology and Ecology unit of the ULB (Université Libre de Bruxelles). I am working in the group of Serge Aron on the evolution of reproductive strategies in ants. More specifically, my research focuses on population and colony genetic structure in connection with the hymenopteran sex determination system.

 

 

IS: How did you develop an interest in your research?

NLP: I have always been interested in the origin and evolution of sociality. Watching documentaries on a great diversity of social animals, I discovered how fascinating their behaviour is. Later, I developed a keen interest in reproductive strategies after learning the existence of original primary modes of reproduction (queen thelytoky, hybridogenesis, etc.) in several ant species. As Hymenoptera combines sociality and a great diversity of reproductive strategies, I decided to work on this biological model for my Ph.D.

 

IS: What is your favorite social insect and why?

NLP: Ants are fascinating models to study the causes and consequences of sociality and reproductive strategies. In fact, social structure, dispersal strategy, mode of reproduction, ecology, and mode of sex determination are so many characteristics that can interact directly or indirectly and vary significantly between species. Further, studying the causes and consequences of all these features is facilitated by the ease to rear and manipulate ants in the lab.

 

IS: What do you think are some of the important current questions in social insect research and what’s essential for future research?

NLP: I think the evolution of cooperation and of its most complex form, eusociality, has yet to be better understood. Numerous ‘mathematical’ models detailing the mechanisms at the origin of cooperation and eusociality have been proposed. In my opinion, it would be interesting to test these hypotheses ‘on the biological side’. Finding species matching our needs is essential to future research. On the other hand, the consequences and correlates of cooperation and eusociality have been better studied. However, there is still a lot to do, especially in the field of molecular genetics. Pursuing the development of molecular techniques and tools to analyse big data sets is crucial for future research.

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

NLP: I practice athletics a lot and bike regularly. I also like to read and learn new things about training methodology in sport. Spending time with my family is also of great importance to me.

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

NLP: For me, the best way to pass through difficult periods is by doing sport. There is no better way to relax than to train hard and go home with the feeling of having had a good session.

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

NLP: I think teachers are of great importance because the way they teach influences and helps shaping our vision of the different topics we study. The animal behaviour, genetics, and molecular and cell biology courses I have taken have had a great impact on my way of thinking.