ERC Starting Grant · 2019
Experimental Epidemiology in Ant Societies
The risks and impact of disease are exacerbated in social organisms, which live in dense groups wherein pathogens can rapidly propagate. Theoretical epidemiology predicts that disease dynamics will depend in large part on a group's social interaction network, but empirical data are scarce. Experimental epidemiology is currently hampered by a lack of study systems that would enable a rigorous investigation of the causal link between network structure and disease transmission. I will tackle this question using a novel system, the clonal raider ant, a social insect whose unique biology affords unparalleled control over the main aspects of colony composition that are thought to modulate social…
From the public funding record at EU CORDIS. Describes the funded project, not the reviews below.