Research Laboratories

Research Laboratories
ANIMAL ECOLOGY (Adam L. Cronin and Yu Okamura, Isaac Planas-Sitjà)

ANIMAL ECOLOGY (Adam L. Cronin and Yu Okamura, Isaac Planas-Sitjà)

Research Overview

Our laboratory is interested in looking at the behavior of biological systems from individuals in groups to the ecosystem level. We want to understand how these behaviors evolve and dictate ecological roles, as well as how organisms utilize them to adapt to change. To this end, we use different groups of organisms, with particular focus in hymnopterans such ants, bees, and wasps.

Some of our work include the following themes:

Collective behavior
Adaptive strategies in super-organisms
Alternative reproductive strategies
Pollinator network ecology
Adaptive evolution in invasive species

We are always looking for enthusiastic graduate students. Don't hesitate to contact us if you are interested in doing research with us!

Current Projects

(1) Collective behaviour

Groups of organisms can gain ecological advantage by staying together, demonstrated to the most extent by social insects. In such highly integrated groups, individuals behave as intelligent, cooperative parts of a single entity without necessitating any top-down control despite being simple individuals. We find this very curious, and thus want to understand how they can achieve such sophisticated adaptive behavior. We use a combination of experiments and modelling to explore the dynamics of social decision-making.

(2) Adaptive strategies in super-organisms

Social organisms in highly integrated groups can function as cohesive units to maximize their collective traits, shape their environment, and even allow them to develop adaptive responses that individuals cannot independently achieve. Our research explores how colony-level behavior contribute to invasion success with ant systems as our model. We also investigate how sociality affects immunity in facultatively social bees (Ceratina spp. and Lasioglossum spp.)

(3) Alternative reproductive strategies

Social organisms employ a variety of reproductive strategies that can influence offspring survival and dispersal. These strategies, differing in the degree of offspring investment, may significantly impact species ecology and ecosystem dynamics as a whole. By combining field studies, genetic analyses, and mathematical modeling, we examine how various reproductive and dispersal strategies in ants shape life-history traits.

(4) Pollinator network ecology

Pollinator networks can change with the introduction of invasive species and other disturbances. Using the isolated oceanic islands of Ogasawara as our model system, we look at how pollinator network structures change in island populations as a response of different disturbance pressures, as well as how invasive species affect the pollinator services.

(5) Adaptive evolution in invasive species

Introduction to new environments require new adaptive strategies in invasive species. To see how invasive species evolve, we study the morphological and behavioral changes in non-native populations of green anole (Anolis carolinensis) in the islands of Japan. We also work with invasive ants to gain insight into social behavior flexibility that facilitates invasiveness

Staff Highlight


Dr. Adam L. Cronin Associate Professor	Dr. Yu Okamura (岡村悠) Associate Professor (from April 2025)	Dr. Isaac Planas-Sitjà Assistant Professor
Email:
adamcronin[at]gmail.com	(coming soon)	iplanass[at]proton.me
Read more:
(Researchgate Profile) (ResearchMap Profile) (TMU Faculty Profile (Japanese))	(Researchgate Profile) (ResearchMap Profile)	(Researchgate Profile) (ResearchMap Profile)
Lab Information: (Animal Ecology Laboratory) Old Department Laboratory Page (English) (Japanese)

Recent Publications

1. Phenylphenalenones and Linear Diarylheptanoid Derivatives Are Biosynthesized via Parallel Routes in Musella lasiocarpa, the Chinese Dwarf Banana

Hui Lyu, Lukas Ernst, Yoko Nakamura, Yu Okamura, Tobias G. Köllner, Katrin Luck, Benye Liu, Yu Chen, Ludger Beerhues,

Jonathan Gershenzon. Organic Letters, 26(26) 5522-5527, Jun 2024

2. De novo genome assembly and annotation of Leptosia nina provide new insights in the evolutionary dynamics of genes involved in host-plant adaptation of Pierinae butterflies

Yu Okamura, Heiko Vogel. Genome Biology and Evolution, 16 (5) evae105, May 2024

3. Functional heterogeneity facilitates effectual collective task performance in a worker-polymorphic ant

Takuto Sakai, Isaac Planas-Sitjà, Adam L Cronin. Behavioral Ecology, 35(1) arad096, Jan 2024

4. Developmental transcriptomes predict adult social behaviours in the socially flexible sweat bee, Lasioglossum baleicum

Kennedy S. Omufwoko, Adam L. Cronin, Thi Thu Ha Nguyen, Andrew E. Webb, Ian M. Traniello, Sarah D. Kocher.

Molecular Ecology, e17244, Dec 2023

5. To disperse or compete? Coevolution of traits leads to a limited number of reproductive strategies

Isaac Planas‐Sitjà, Thibaud Monnin, Nicolas Loeuille, Adam L. Cronin. Oikos 2023(9) e09972, Jun 2023

See more: (Google Scholar (Cronin)) (Researchgate (Okamura))

Lab Gallery

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