Ph.D. Biology, University of Missouri – St. Louis 2005 - present

  B.S. Biology, Universidad Nacional de Colombia 1995-2004

  Thesis title: Taxonomy of the genus Trigona s. str in Colombia.

 

  I am interested on the evolutionary biology of social insects, related specially with the origin of social behavior. My principal goal is to understand the evolutionary mechanisms that were fundamental in the process of creating new social systems from solitary ancestors. In particular, I am interested in the evolutionary social biology of Bees from the Genus Bombus (Bumblebees). Bombus are a good study system because they are considered as an intermediate between solitary species and highly advance social species. They are and intermediate in the social scale because in the species life cycle there is a solitary phase and a social phase. For my Ph. D., I am combining ecological and molecular methods to investigate how environment plays a role in social behavior in Bombus sociality. We are looking at differences in workers circadian clocks and how these differences are translated within the colony.