Neil Tsutsui is an evolutionary biologist and behavioral ecologist at the University of California-Berkeley. He received his B.A. from Boston University in Biology (Marine Science) and his Ph. D. in Ecology, Behavior and Evolution from University of California-San Diego. He conducted post-doctoral research at University of California-Davis, and was an Assistant Professor at University of California-Irvine before moving to University of California-Berkeley in 2007.

Dr. Tsutsui's research focuses on understanding individual behaviors, forms of social organization, and patterns of evolution. Previous work has applied genetic and biochemical tools to understanding how an introduced ant (the Argentine ant, Linepithema humile) has become a damaging invader in its introduced range. These ants possess a fascinating social structure, characterized by the formation of geographically massive supercolonies in their introduced range. Colonies in the native range (South America) are much smaller and are not ecologically dominant.

In recent years, Dr. Tsutsui has been studying how individuals recognize each other as partners or foes. In ants, this process involves various types of learning and memory, as well as the expression and detection of specific chemical odors on each others exoskeletons. Future research will focus on applying approaches from genetics, genomics, chemistry and field ecology to understanding how the behaviors of individuals dictate the structure of complex and cooperative social groups.


Defining Wisdom Project Description

This project has 1) identified, synthesized and tested the chemical cues that ants use to identify colony mates; 2) shown that individual ants remember aggressive social interactions and alter their future behaviors accordingly; and 3) initiated a series of laboratory experiments to test hypotheses about how the social environment of young ants shapes their behavior as adults. These findings show that, like humans, ants accumulate knowledge through personal experience during their lifetime and use this body of wisdom to direct future decision-making. In future studies, genetic, genomic and neurophysiological approaches should be used to rigorously test hypotheses regarding the development of individual wisdom.