Katharina Hoffmann
"Conflict and conflict resolution in termite societies"
CV
- 2002
Abitur at the Johannes Gutenberg-Gymnasium, Waldkirchen
- 2002-2006
Studies of Biology at the University of Regensburg
- 2006-2007
Diploma thesis: „Endocrine regulation of the development in Cryptotermes secundus (Isoptera)“
Supervisor: PD Dr. Judith Korb
- since 2007
Ph.D.: „Conflict and conflict resolution in termite societies“
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Judith Korb
Research
Communities of social insects are the epitome of cooperation and altruism. However, more recently investigations on social hymenopterans showed that often conflicts occur between colony members and that coercion and manipulation are major mechanisms for conflict suppression and maintenance of cooperation.
In hymenopterans (ants, bees, wasps) many conflicts ascribe to their haplodiploid mode of sex determination.
The aim of my project is to examine conflicts and mechanisms of conflict resolution in diploid social organisms with lower termites as model system. Termites and hymenopterans differ considerably in their potentials for conflict: As termites lack relatedness asymmetries leading to conflicts over sex ratio or male production in hymenopterans, other conflicts can be expected due to different developmental options of the distinct castes. The drywood termite Cryptotermes secundus is particularly suited for such studies because intensive investigations on this species made it a so far unique model-system for the evolution of cooperation in termites. Whether both groups of social insects have evolved similar principles for conflict resolution despite their different potentials for conflicts and evolutionary ancestry is a question yet to be answered.
Methods
- DNA-microsatellite-analyses for genetic kinship analyses to detect the genetic composition of colonies
- Behavioural observations
- Developmental analyses
- Gas chromatography and mass spectrometry with SPME (Solid Phase Micro Extraction)
Meetings and Workshops
- Hoffmann K (2011) Ecological factors influence social decision making in a lower termite. IUSSI, Papenburg
- Hoffmann K. & Korb J. (2011) Conflict and cooperation in lower termite societies - Ecological factors influence social decision making in a lower termite. Meeting der Ethologischen Gesellschaft e.V., Zürich
- Hoffmann K. & Korb J. (2010) Fatal meetings in the woods? Intraspecific colony encounters in wood-dwelling termites. IUSSI, Kopenhagen
- Hoffmann K. & Korb J. (2009) Conflict of colony inheritance – who gets the crown? IUSSI, Fraueninsel Chiemsee
- Hoffmann K. & Korb J. (2009) Conflict and conflict resolution in termites. 102. Annual Meeting of the Deutsche Zoologische Gesellschaft, Regensburg
- Hoffmann K. (2009) Conflict and conflict resolution in termites. 1st Status Symposium Evolutionary Biology of the Volkswagen Foundation, Münster
- Hoffmann K. & Korb J. (2008) Endocrine Regulation in Cryptotermes secundus. Meeting of the Ethologische Gesellschaft e.V., Regensburg
- Hoffmann K. & Korb J. (2008) Conflict and Conflict Resolution in Sozial Insects. Workshop: Conflict and Cooperation in Animal Societies, Debrecen, Hungary
Publications
- Korb J., Hoffmann K., Hartfelder K. (2012) Molting dynamics and juvenile hormone titer profiles in the nymphal stages of a lower termite, Cryptotermes secundus (Kalotermitidae) - signatures of developmental plasticity. Journal of Insect Physiology 58: 376-383
- Hoffmann K., Korb J. (2011) Is there conflict over direct reproduction in lower termite colonies? Animal Behaviour 81:265-274
- Korb J., Weil T., Hoffmann K., Foster K., Rehli M. (2009) A gene necessary for reproductive suppression in termites. Science 324:758
- Korb J., Hoffmann K., Hartfelder K. (2009) Endocrine signatures underlying plasticity in postembryonic development of a lower termite, Cryptotermes secundus (Kalotermitidae). Evolution & Development 11: 269-277
- Korb J., Weil T., Hoffmann K., Foster K., Rehli M. (2009) A gene necessary for reproductive suppression in termites. Science 324:758
- Weil T., Hoffmann K., Kroiss J., Strohm E., Korb J. (2008) Scent of a queen – cuticular hydrocarbons specific for female reproductives in lower termites. Naturwissenschaften 96:315 – 319