Gabriel Hernandez

Profile

Project title: Forces and mechanisms underpinning superorganismal evolution in ants

Summary: Ernst Mayr stated in 1982 that "no biological problem is solved until both the proximate and evolutionary (i.e. ultimate) causation has been
elucidated". Tinbergen further subdivided biological questioning into fourcomplementary domains: mechanisms, ontogeny, phylogeny and reasons for adaptation. Our project will follow these four levels of interrogation to understand the evolution of ant superorganismality. For this, we will combine principles of levels of selection including inclusive fitness theory, with comparative genomics analyses of empirical molecular data.

Supervisor

• Dr Yannick Wurm

Research