Meeting Abstract
Plasticity in brain development has evolved in many independent taxa, suggesting advantages for the ability to preferentially invest in specific neural structures in a changing environment. However, the explicit role of changes in ecological factors and environmental stimuli in neural developmental plasticity remains poorly understood. Using the wasp Mischocyttarus mexicanus where females form solitary or group nests, we investigated the influence of social interactions and visual stimuli in the development of the brain’s Mushroom Bodies (MB), the neuropils associated with learning and memory. We compared MB development in solitary foundresses and groups foundresses. We also experimentally manipulated whether wasps were reared in a visually complex environment, or in the laboratory under deprived light conditions and constrained from foraging for both solitary and group conditions. In contrast to previous studies, we found no association between level of social interaction (i.e., solitary vs. group) and volume of the lip, the MB substructure that receives olfactory information from interactions. Lack of differences between group and solitary foundresses in the field and laboratory, and between reproductives and auxiliaries in MB development may be related to behavioral and reproductive plasticity, and to frequent nest-switching in this species. In contrast, collar and basal ring volume, the MB substructures known to receive optical input, were positively associated with exposure to complex visual stimuli. Our results indicate that visual stimuli influence the differential development of brain structures that receive visual input suggesting that plasticity in brain architecture is influenced by changes in visually complex environments.
