Specialization and Coordination of Individuals in a Complex Activity
{'Code': '08090200', 'Directorate': {'Abbreviation': 'BIO', 'LongName': 'Direct For Biological Sciences'}, 'Division': {'Abbreviation': 'IOS', 'LongName': 'Division Of Integrative Organismal Systems'}}
{'SignBlockName': 'Fred Stollnitz', 'PO_EMAI': None, 'PO_PHON': None}
It is a general rule among social insects that colony members specialize        on different tasks required for the growth, defense, and reproduction of        the colony.  Most previous studies of division of labor among workers           have limited analysis to the level of the "caste," the group of workers         performing a given role for a prolonged period of time.  However, some          recent evidence suggests that behavioral differences among individual           members of a caste may play an integral role in how the colony organizes        work.                                                                                                                                                           Dr. Jeanne's research will take the analysis of the organization of work        in social-insect colonies down to the level of the individual.  The             overall goal is to understand how the colony's response to a                    contingency, which at the global level appears to be deterministic              (certain), is put together from the responses of individual workers,            which appear to be idiosyncratic and probabilistic.                                                                                                             Dr. Jeanne will analyze nest-construction behavior of a species of              tropical wasp on which he has already done detailed preliminary work.           He has two objectives within his overall goal.                                                                                                                  The first objective is to determine the characteristics and behavioral          correlates of individual variability in nest construction.  Experiments         will be conducted on individually marked workers, working within the            social context, to determine if their levels of activity are related to         age and to different individual thresholds of response to the stimuli           that release nest-construction activities.                                                                                                                      The second objective is to experimentally test for mechanisms                   hypothesized to regulate nest-construction behavior.  The end result            will be an understanding of the nest-construction system in terms of            responses to stimuli, feedback pathways, and modes of communication             among workers engaged in the activity.                                                                                                                          What we know so far about the coordination of complex activities of             social insects suggests a parallel with what Sydney Brenner and his             associates are finding out about development in simple organisms, namely        that much of the "grammar of assembly" lies in the interaction among the        component parts of the system.  Specifying this grammar for a social            insect is the ultimate goal of this research.
{'FirstName': 'Robert', 'LastName': 'Jeanne', 'PI_MID_INIT': 'L', 'PI_SUFX_NAME': None, 'PI_FULL_NAME': 'Robert L Jeanne', 'EmailAddress': 'jeanne@entomology.wisc.edu', 'NSF_ID': '000279759', 'StartDate': '07/15/1987', 'EndDate': None, 'RoleCode': 'Principal Investigator'}
{'Name': 'University of Wisconsin-Madison', 'CityName': 'MADISON', 'ZipCode': '537151218', 'PhoneNumber': '6082623822', 'StreetAddress': '21 North Park Street', 'StreetAddress2': 'Suite 6301', 'CountryName': 'United States', 'StateName': 'Wisconsin', 'StateCode': 'WI', 'CONGRESSDISTRICT': '02', 'CONGRESS_DISTRICT_ORG': 'WI02', 'ORG_DUNS_NUM': '161202122', 'ORG_LGL_BUS_NAME': 'UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN SYSTEM', 'ORG_PRNT_DUNS_NUM': '041188822'}
{'Name': None, 'CityName': None, 'StateCode': None, 'ZipCode': None, 'StreetAddress': None, 'CountryCode': None, 'CountryName': None, 'StateName': None, 'CountryFlag': None, 'CONGRESSDISTRICT': None, 'CONGRESS_DISTRICT_PERF': '""'}
[{'Code': '1160', 'Text': 'IBN ANIMAL BEHAVIOR'}, {'Code': '9145', 'Text': 'SPECIAL PROGRAMS-RESERVE'}]
{'url': 'https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/download?DownloadFileName=1985&All=true', 'xml': '8517519.xml'}