ERC Starting Grant · 2024
The role of olfactory sensitivity on task specialization in a social insect
Division of labor and task specialization are key elements explaining the remarkable ecological success of human and animal societies. Social insect colonies are characterized by a highly effective division of labor, with workers specializing in brood care early in life and in foraging later in life. Various theoretical models have been proposed to explain division of labor, most prominently the response threshold model, which postulates that individuals differ in their response threshold to task-associated stimuli, and will engage in particular tasks depending on this threshold. While this model has received some experimental support, the current data still do not explain how division of…
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