2022 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 / Tandem run / Same sex sexual behavior / Mating / Python / Comparative analysis / Movement tracking |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
This research project aims to infer the evolutionary process of collective building in termites through a comparative analysis of nest construction across various species worldwide. However, I could not manage international travel for termite sampling in Australia. Thus, I focused on (i) compiling data from the literature to build a comprehensive dataset for termite phylogenetic comparative analysis and relate it to building behavior and (ii) behavioral observations of termite species within Japan. This year’s outcome is summarized as follows.
First, by adding more termite species this year, I finished collecting data on the tunneling behavior of 13 Japanese termite species. For data analysis, I developed a Python-based software named TManual (github.com/nobuaki-mzmt/tmanual), which assists in manually measuring the length development of animal structures.
Second, I compiled all available information about termite mating behavior from 69 species, which adds to the comparative datasets generated in the 1st-2nd years’ research (Mizumoto and Bourguignon, 2021, Proceedings B; Mizumoto et al., 2022, Evolution), which result in a paper on the evolution of same-sex sexual behavior in termites (Mizumoto et al., 2022, PNAS). Third, we obtained more datasets on termite movement patterns on the petri-dish to examine how evolution of nesting biology can result in the differentiated movement capacity of termites. The results have been presented at 5 different conferences.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
1: Research has progressed more than it was originally planned.
Reason
This project develops software to quantify the length-development of animal architecture. The paper on the development of this software is under review and will be published soon (and other collaborators use the software for a variety of projects). With the help of TManual, comparative behavioral datasets should be published near future with some more additional inputs.
The literature survey performed in this project produced a paper in PNAS, which is one of the world’s most-cited and comprehensive multidisciplinary scientific journals; thus, this outcome is significant. This project also contributed to producing three more papers this year.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
I will visit Australia to obtain data from Mastotermes, Porotermes, Stolotermes, and Schedorhinotermes termites. The information will be compared with the termite species in Japan.
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[Presentation] カニ類における進行方向と形態の関係性の解明2023
Author(s)
Inoue T, Taniguchi J., Hung J-F, Mizumoto N., Hirai A., Takeshita F., Sato T., Kawabata Y.
Organizer
70th Annual Meeting of Ecological Society of Japan (ESJ70)
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