ABS 2023
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Integrating Diverse Influences on Adult Behavior and Cognition in a Non-traditional Model Insect
Rebecca R. Westwick, Armin P. Moczek. Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, United States

Animals often exhibit among-individual variation in behavior and cognition. This variation can have important consequences for an animal’s ability to secure resources, find mates, persist, and generally maintain high fitness. Individual variation in cognition may be caused by a variety of intrinsic and extrinsic factors such as sex, nutrition, previous experiences, and the microbiome. The significance of each factor can be challenging to study in isolation, and finding a system that allows rigorous study of the interactions of multiple factors is only more difficult. My work investigates among-individual variation in cognition in the bull-headed dung beetle, Onthophagus taurus. Male O. taurus exhibit a nutritionally-cued polyphenism in both morphology (horned v. hornless) and reproductive tactic (fighter v. sneaker), whereas females are morphologically and behaviorally monomorphic over similarly diverse nutritional conditions. In this talk I present our latest insights into the multifactorial influences shaping behavioral complexity and problem-solving and discuss their potential to influence ecological events such as range expansion and persistence in novel habitats.