Neil Tsutsui

Assistant Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management

University of California Berkeley, United States

Neil D. Tsutsui is an evolutionary biologist and behavioral ecologist at the University of California-Berkeley. He received his BA from Boston University in Biology (Marine Science) and his PhD in Ecology, Evolution and Behavior 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 from 2003-2007. 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 ecologically dominant 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 other’s 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.

Source: Center for Practical Wisdom, University of Chicago