2021 Fiscal Year Annual Research Report
Evolutionary process of termite construction revealed by comparative and constructive approaches
| Project/Area Number |
20J00660
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Research Institution | Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University |
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Principal Investigator |
水元 惟暁 沖縄科学技術大学院大学, 沖縄科学技術大学院大学、進化ゲノミクスユニット, 特別研究員(CPD)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2020-04-24 – 2025-03-31
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| Keywords | Termite / Evolution / Collective behavior / Nest construction / Rove beetles / Social insects |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
The purpose of this research project is to infer the evolutionary process of collective building in termites through comparative analysis of nest construction across a wide variety of species over the world. During the second year, I still could not manage international travel for termite sampling because of the travel restriction to Australia. Thus, I focused on (i) building a comprehensive dataset of termites from literature and (ii) behavioral observations of species within Japan. This year’s outcome is summarized as follows.
First, I compiled all available information about termite colony size from 130 species. This information was combined with body size dataset, which was collected last year, to reveal the lack of correlation between colony size and body size among termite species. Also, colony size dataset was combined with the literature information of termite nest and parasitism by termitophilous rove beetles. These results are accepted and published this year.
Second, I collected data of tunneling behavior by species who perform tunneling in natural condition and species who don’t perform tunneling in natural condition in Japan. Among 11 species, I finished collecting data from 7 species. These videos will be analyzed in the following year.
Third, I compared movement patterns of 5 different termite species on the petri-dish to examine how evolution of nesting biology can result in the differentiated movement capacity in termites. We found that species with more complex nest structure increased movement capacity in general.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
2: Research has progressed on the whole more than it was originally planned.
Reason
Because I could not manage to travel to Australia, the CPD project was shortened to 3 years from 5 years, and the preplanned experiments were not conducted. However, I could keep myself productive by obtaining data through a literature survey. Also, at least I could collect data from a variety of Japanese termites. All of them are good contributions to the understanding of the evolutionary process of collective building in termites.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
First, I will comprehend the datasets collected within Japan and formalize a paper, especially, on the evolutionary loss of collective building in Kalotermitidae. Also, I will try to travel to Australia for half the year to obtain as much information as possible.
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[Journal Article] Molecular phylogeny reveals the past transoceanic voyages of drywood termites (Isoptera, Kalotermitidae)2022
Author(s)
Bucek A., Wang M., Sobotnik J., Sillam-Dusses D., Mizumoto N., Stiblik P., Clitheroe C., Lu T., Gonzalez Plaza J. J., Mohagan A., Rafanomezantsoa J. J., Fisher B., Engel M., Roisin Y., Evans T., Scheffrahn R. & Bourguignon T.
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Journal Title
Molecular Biology and Evolution
Volume: NA
Pages: NA
DOI
Peer Reviewed / Open Access / Int'l Joint Research
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