A century ago, our understanding of behavior was dominated by naturalists. Today, we can assess and manipulate nervous systems at genetic, molecular and physiological levels. Despite our tremendous focus on understanding the brain, we still know remarkably little about how even simple brains generate complex behaviors. By studying natural behavior and the processing of natural stimuli across animals, we can unite these modern scientific techniques with natural observations to truly understand how brains make decisions in our complex world.

Our research employs a comparative approach to understand how insect brains parse the complex natural chemical environment to generate decisions. By all accounts, insects are masters of our animal kingdom. In fact, estimates suggest there are 100 times more species of insects than any other animal taxa1. The insect “microbrain” is also capable of incredibly complex decisions using a tractable nervous system. Finally, insects are known for their exquisite olfactory capabilities and use chemicals to locate mates, food, egg-laying sites, and to avoid danger, among others.

Our current research focuses on two major questions: By what mechanisms can nervous systems evolve to generate novel decisions? And second, how do nervous systems adapt to make the same decisions in diverse environments? For the first question, we examine the chemosensory basis for sympatric speciation events in Rhagoletis flies. For the second, we study how similar transcontinental species of hoverflies pollinate in subartic Swedish meadows, the Himalayan mountains, and even South Indian rainforests. We endeavor that our comparisons will allow us to generate overarching principles for decision making constrained by fundamental concepts, rather than specific physiologies.

1. Mora, C., Tittensor, D. P., Adl, S., Simpson, A. G. B. & Worm, B. How many species are there on earth and in the ocean? Plos Biol 9, e1001127 (2011).