Thesis Defense Chris Pull: Disease defence in garden ants

Abstract:
Ants form densely crowded societies in environments teeming with pathogens. On paper, they should therefore be extremely susceptible to disease. Yet, there are almost no known cases of epidemics in ants and attempts to eradicate them using biological controls, e.g. fungal pathogens, have all but failed. This is because ants have evolved a suite of collective disease defences that they use to combat pathogens. Many of these defences are proactive, acting as a first line of defence to prevent infection of the colony. However, what happens when these defences are breached and a pathogen takes hold? During his talk, Chris will answer this question and tell you about the drastic measures ants take to prevent successful infections spreading throughout their colonies

Short bio:
Christopher completed a BSc in Zoology and an MSc in Biological Sciences Research at Royal Holloway University of London, before joining Sylvia Cremer’s group at IST Austria in 2012. His main research interests are animal behaviour and the evolution of sociality. Specifically, he has focussed on disease and its role in the evolution of social behaviour in animals, using ants and bees as model organisms. During his PhD, Christopher has studied how invasive garden ants are able to prevent disease outbreaks within their colonies.