My lab is broadly interested in the pheromonal and molecular mechanisms underlying behavior and physiology of insects associated with the urban environment, particularly termites. Termites exhibit elaborate caste systems resulted from developmental plasticity and regulated by the social environment. Individuals respond to a variety of social cues in reproductive and non-reproductive tasks to optimize colony level performance and achieve ecological success. How social information is communicated and perceived to modulate individual behavior and physiology is central to understanding colony function. In addition, the pattern and mechanisms of social modulation vary in termite taxa with different ecological niches and social organizations. We seek to understand their ecology and evolution combining perspectives from chemical ecology, neurobiology and genetics, and we integrate basic and applied research for pest control. Big questions of interest include:

 

1. What are the social cues in behavioral and developmental modulation?

2. What are the olfactory mechanisms in perception and processing of social information?

3. How do pheromone, behavior, and regulatory mechanisms evolve in the cockroach-termite lineage?