Dr Margaret Couvillon

Biography

Dr. Margaret J. Couvillon

Margaret Couvillon is a postdoctoral researcher in the Laboratory of Apiculture and Social Insects (LASI) at the University of Sussex. She is interested in the behavioural and evolutionary biology of social insects, specifically the evolved traits that have contributed to their ecological success.

Originally from Louisiana, she received her BSc from Loyola University and then volunteered in the national service program, AmeriCorps. After her MSc (Duke University) in Neurobiology, Margaret leapt the pond to the University of Sheffield for her PhD, where she studied mechanisms of nestmate recognition in honey bees (Apis mellifera) and stingless bees. As a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Arizona, she worked mostly in the bumble bee Bombus impatiens to determine why worker size variation exists and how it develops.

As a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Sussex, Margaret works with Professor Francis Ratnieks on the Sussex Plan for Honey Bee Health and Well-being. She uses a unique aspect of the honey bee  - the dance language - to investigate foraging biology. By decoding waggle dances, she determines from where honey bees collect nectar and pollen. Ultimately these data will allow us to evaluate the British landscape for honey bees.

Karl von Frisch, who shared the 1973 Nobel Prize for his discovery of the waggle dance, famously said, “The honey bees are a magic well for discoveries, where the more one draws from it, the more there is to draw.” Margaret agrees.

I am interested in the behavioural and evolutionary biology of social insects, specifically the adaptive traits that have contributed to their ecological success.

As a doctoral student at The University of Sheffield, I studied mechanisms of nestmate recognition in honey bees (Apis mellifera) and stingless bees. As a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Arizona, I worked mostly in the bumble bee Bombus impatiens to determine why worker size variation exists and how it develops. I also maintained side interest on learning and memory of Africanized honey bees. Additionally, while in Arizona, for one semester I taught my own full time lecture/lab course (Intro to Cell Bio) for Biology majors.

As a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Sussex, I work with Professor Francis Ratnieks on his Sussex Plan for Honey Bee Health and Well-being. We use a unique aspect of the honey bee to investigate their foraging biology: by decoding waggle dances, we determine from where honey bees collect nectar and pollen. We track these patterns over months and over different landscapes. Ultimately these data will allow us to evaluate the the British landscape for honey bees.

ACCEPTED PUBLICATIONS IN REFEREED JOURNALS

• MJ Couvillon, HLF Phillipps, R Schürch, & FWL Ratnieks (2012). Working against gravity: horizontal honeybee waggle runs have greater angular scatter than vertical waggle runs. Biology Letters (Accepted).

• MJ Couvillon, FC Riddell Pearce, EL Harris-Jones, AM Kuepfer, SJ Mackenzie-Smith, LA Rozario, R Schürch, & FWL Ratnieks (2012). Intra-dance variation among waggle runs and the design of efficient protocols for honey bee dance decoding. Biology Open (Accepted).

• MJ Couvillon (2012). The dance legacy of Karl von Frisch. Insectes Sociaux (Accepted).

• MJ Couvillon, JS vZweden, FLW Ratnieks (2012). Model of collective decision-making in nestmate recognition fails to account for individual discriminator responses and non-independent discriminator errors. Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology 66, 339-341.

• FAL Contrera, MJ Couvillon, J Nieh (2011). Hymenopteran group foraging and information transfer about resources. Psyche 2011, 1-2.

• MJ Couvillon, J Jandt, J Bonds, B Helm & A Dornhaus (2011). Percent fat is associated with body size but not task in the bumble bee Bombus impatiens. Journal of Comparative Physiology A.197, 1097-1104.

• MJ Couvillon, SN Barton, JA Cohen, OK Fabricius, MH Kärcher, LS Cooper, MJ Silk, H Helanterä, & FLW Ratnieks (2010). Alarm pheromones do not mediate rapid shifts in honey bee guard acceptance threshold. Journal of Chemical Ecology 36, 1306-1308.

• MJ Couvillon, WOH Hughes, JA Perez-Sato, SJ Martin, & FLW Ratnieks (2010). Sexual selection in honeybees: colony variation and the importance of size in male mating success. Behavioral Ecology 21 (3), 520-525.

• MJ Couvillon, J Jandt, N Duong, & A Dornhaus (2010). Ontogeny of worker body size distribution in bumble bee (Bombus impatiens) colonies. Ecological Entomology 35 (4), 424-435.

• MJ Couvillon, G Fitzpatrick, & A Dornhaus (2010). Ambient air temperature does not predict body size of foragers in bumble bees (Bombus impatiens). Psyche 2010.
  

• MJ Couvillon & A Dornhaus (2010). Small worker bumble bees (Bombus impatiens) are hardier against starvation than their larger sisters. Insectes Sociaux 57, 193-197.

• W Gronenberg & MJ Couvillon. Brain Composition and Olfactory Learning in Honey Bees (2010). Neurobiology of Learning and Memory 93 (3), 435-443.

• MJ Couvillon, G DeGrandi-Hoffman, W Gronenberg (2010). Africanized honeybees are slower learners than their European counterparts. Naturwissenschaften 97 (2), 153-160.

• MJ Couvillon, GGF Roy, FLW Ratnieks (2009). Recognition errors by honey bee (Apis mellifera) guards demonstrate overlapping cues in conspecific recognition. Journal of Apiculture Research 48, 225-232.

• MJ Couvillon & A Dornhaus (2009). Location, location, location: larvae position inside the nest is correlated with adult body size in worker bumble bees (Bombus impatiens). Proceedings of the Royal Society B 276, 2411-2418.

• MJ Couvillon, EJH Robinson, B Atkinson, L Child, KR Dent, and FLW Ratnieks (2008). En Guarde: Rapid changes in honey bee guarding to intense robbing demonstrates individual and colony level responses. Animal Behavior 76, 1653-1658.

• MJ Couvillon & FLW Ratnieks (2008). Odour transfer between colonies of the stingless bee Frieseomelitta varia demonstrates that entrance guards use an “undesirable-absent” cue recognition system. Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology 62, 1099-1105.

• MJ Couvillon, T Wenseleers, VL Imperatriz-Fonseca, P Nogueira-Neto, FLW Ratnieks (2008). Comparative Study in Stingless Bees (Meliponini) Demonstrates that Nest Entrance Size Predicts Traffic and Defensivity. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 21 (1), 194-201.

• MJ Couvillon, JP Caple, SL Endsor, M Kärcher, TE Russell, DE Storey, FLW Ratnieks (2007). Nest-mate recognition template of guard honeybees (Apis mellifera) is modified by wax comb transfer. Biology Letters 3 (3), 228-230.

• A Tofilski, MJ Couvillon, SE Evison, EJH Robinson, and FLW Ratnieks (2008) Pre-emptive defensive self-sacrifice by ant workers. The American Naturalist 172 (2) .

• JA Perez-Sato, MJ Couvillon, WOH Hughes, FLW Ratnieks. (2008) Effects of hive spacing, entrance orientation, and worker activity on nest relocation by honey bee queens. Apidologie 39, 708-713.

• JA Perez-Sato, WOH Hughes, MJ Couvillon, FLW Ratnieks (2007) Improved technique for introducing four-day old virgin queens to mating hives that uses artificial and natural queen cells for introduction. Journal of Apiculture Research, 46 (1), 28-33.

PUBLICATIONS IN POPULAR JOURNALS

• MJ Couvillon (2012). New studies investigating the effect of systemic pesticides in bees generates more questions. Beekeepers Quarterly 108

• MJ Couvillon (2012). A big job for a little bee: a morphologically distinct stingless bee worker provides effective nest defence. Beekeepers Quarterly 107, 40-41.

• MJ Couvillon (2011) Bookshelf reviews. Beekeepers Quarterly 106, 49-51.

• MJ Couvillon (2011). All in the genes: the genetic control of the initiation of foraging. Beekeepers Quarterly 105, 21-23.

• MJ Couvillon & FLW Ratnieks (2011). How good is the British countryside for honey bees? Decoding waggle dances to determine where bees forage. Beekeepers Quarterly 103, 29-31.

• MJ Couvillon (2008). Applying the 4 Modes of Tinbergen Inquiry to Bumble Bee Size Variation. Bee Craft 90, 32-33.

• MJ Couvillon (2007). Sniffing out the enemy – do honey bees rely only on olfaction to distinguish friend from foe? Bee Craft 89 (5), 16-17.

• MJ Couvillon (2006). Doorways to the hive: Stingless bee nest entrance morphology. Bee Craft 88, 25-26.

• MJ Couvillon (2005). Sniffing bees: Dynamic guarding behaviour in honey bee nestmate recognition. Antenna 29, 124-126.

Instructor, General Biology 181/182 for Science Majors

            Spring 2009                                                     Tucson, AZ, USA

As part of the MORE Fellowship through University of Arizona, taught as full instructor a 4 credit lecture/lab course for majors at Pima Community College. Covered principles of structure and function of living things at the molecular, cellular and organismal levels. Includes introduction to the scientific process, chemistry of cells, organization of cells, metabolism, patterns of cell division, patterns of inheritance, nucleic acids, and biotechnology.

Laboratory Mentor  

            Autumn 2005 – Present                                   Sheffield & Brighton, UK; Tucson, AZ, USA

Have mentored a total of 19 students in the laboratory in a variety of contexts and on many different projects; fourteen earned co-authorship on manuscripts.

Tutorial Instructor, Behavioral Ecology Course for Majors

            Autumn 2009 – Present                                   Brighton, UK

Led groups of six students in small group discussions on primary literature related to lecture topic.  Duties included grading of essays and presentations on the literature.

Teaching Observation, General Biology 181/182 for Science Majors

            Spring 2008                                                     Tucson, AZ, USA

Observed for one semester Ms. Jennifer Katcher, a full time biology instructor at Pima Community College. After semester of observations, I took over Jennifer’s course (see above: Instructor, General Biology, Spring 2009), which granted her a sabbatical for her own professional development.

Teaching Workshop offered through MORE and University of Arizona

            Spring 2008                                                     Tucson, AZ, USA

Participated in 2-day workshop on science education. Learned general principles of active-learning and how to increase classroom participation in all-sized classes.                  

Couvillon, Margaret J, Phillipps, Hunter L F, Schürch, Roger and Ratnieks, Francis L W (2012) Working against gravity: horizontal honeybee waggle runs have greater angular scatter than vertical waggle runs. Biology Letters. ISSN 1744-9561

Couvillon, Margaret J, Riddell Pearce, Fiona C, Harris-Jones, Elisabeth L, Kuepfer, Amanda M, Mackenzie-Smith, Samantha J, Rozario, Laura A, Schürch, Roger and Ratnieks, Francis L W (2012) Intra-dance variation among waggle runs and the design of efficient protocols for honey bee dance decoding. Biology Open. ISSN 2046-6390

Couvillon, Margaret J, Zweden, Jelle S and Ratnieks, Francis L W (2012) Model of collective decision-making in nestmate recognition fails to account for individual discriminator responses and non-independent discriminator errors. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 66 (2). pp. 339-341. ISSN 0340-5443

Couvillon, M J (2012) The dance legacy of Karl von Frisch. Insectes Sociaux. ISSN 0020-1812

Couvillon, Margaret J, Jandt, Jennifer M, Bonds, Jennifer, Helm, Bryan R and Dornhaus, Anna (2011) Percent lipid is associated with body size but not task in the bumble bee Bombus impatiens. Journal of Comparative Physiology A, 197 (11). pp. 1097-1104. ISSN 0340-7594

Contrera, F A L, Couvillon, M J and Nieh, J (2011) Hymenopteran group foraging and information transfer about resources. Psyche, 2011 (1-2). ISSN 1687-7438

Contrera, Felipe Andrés León, Couvillon, Margaret J and Nieh, James Charles (2011) Hymenopteran Group Foraging and Information Transfer about Resources. Psyche, 2011. pp. 1-2. ISSN 0033-2615

Couvillon, Margaret J, Hughes, William O H, Perez-Sato, Juan A, Martin, Stephen J, Roy, Gabrielle G F and Ratnieks, Francis L W (2010) Sexual selection in honey bees: colony variation and the importance of size in male mating success. Behavioral Biology, 21 (3). pp. 520-525. ISSN 1045-2249

Couvillon, M J, DeGrandi-Hoffman, G and Gronenberg, W (2010) Africanized honeybees are slower learners than their European counterparts. Naturwissenschaften, 97 (2). pp. 153-160. ISSN 0028-1042

Couvillon, Margaret J, Barton, Sarah N, Cohen, Jennifer A, Fabricius, Onna K, Kärcher, Martin H, Cooper, Lee S, Silk, Matthew J, Helanterä, Heikki and Ratnieks, Francis L W (2010) Alarm pheromones do not mediate rapid shifts in honey bee guard acceptance threshold. Journal of Chemical Ecology, 36 (12). pp. 1306-1308. ISSN 0098-0331

Couvillon, Margaret, Fitzpatrick, Ginny and Dornhaus, Anna (2010) Ambient air temperature does not predict body size of foragers in bumble bees (Bombus impatiens). Psyche, 2010. ISSN 0033-2615

Gronenberg, Wulfila and Couvillon, Margaret J (2010) Brain Composition and Olfactory Learning in Honey Bees. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 93 (3). pp. 435-443. ISSN 1074-7427

Couvillon, Margaret, Jandt, Jennifer M, Duong, Nhi and Dornhaus, Anna (2010) Ontogeny of worker body size distribution in bumble bee (Bombus impatiens) colonies. Ecological Entomology, 35 (4). pp. 424-435. ISSN 0307-6946

Couvillon, Margaret J and Dornhaus, A (2010) Small worker bumble bees (Bombus impatiens) are hardier against starvation than their larger sisters. Insectes Sociaux, 57 (2). pp. 193-197. ISSN 0020-1812

Couvillon, Margaret J and Dornhaus, Anna (2009) Location, location, location: larvae position inside the nest is correlated with adult body size in worker bumble bees (Bombus impatiens). Proceedings B: Biological Sciences, 276 (1666). pp. 2411-2418. ISSN 1471-2954

Couvillon, Margaret J, Roy, Gabrielle G F and Ratnieks, Francis L W (2009) Recognition errors by honey bee (Apis mellifera) guards demonstrate overlapping cues in conspecific recognition. Journal of Apicultural Research, 48 (4). pp. 225-232. ISSN 0021-8839

Tofilski, Adam, Couvillon, Margaret J, Evison, Sophie E F, Helanterä, Heikki, Robinson, Elva J H and Ratnieks, Francis L W (2008) Preemptive Defensive Self-Sacrifice by Ant Workers. American Naturalist, 172 (5). E239-E243. ISSN 0003-0147

Couvillon, Margaret, Wenseleers, T, Imperatriz-Fonseca, V L, Nogueira-Neto, P and Ratnieks, F L W (2008) Comparative Study in Stingless Bees (Meliponini) Demonstrates that Nest Entrance Size Predicts Traffic and Defensivity. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 21 (1). pp. 194-201. ISSN 1010-061X

Hughes, William O H, Perez-Sato, Juan Antonio, Couvillon, Margaret J and Ratnieks, Francis L W (2008) Effects of hive spacing, entrance orientation, and worker activity on nest relocation by honey bee queens. Apidologie, 39 (6). pp. 708-713. ISSN 0044-8435

Couvillon, Margaret J, Robinson, Elva J H, Atkinson, Beth, Child, Laura, Dent, Katie R and Ratnieks, Francis L W (2008) En Guarde: Rapid changes in honey bee guarding to intense robbing demonstrates individual and colony level responses. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 76 (5). pp. 1653-1658. ISSN 0168-1591

Couvillon, Margaret and Ratnieks , Francis L W (2008) Odour transfer between colonies of the stingless bee Frieseomelitta varia demonstrates that entrance guards use an "undesirable-absent" cue recognition system. Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology, 62 (7). pp. 1099-1105.

Couvillon, Margaret, Caple, Jamie P, Endsor, Samuel L, Kärcher, Martin, Russell, Trudy E, Storey, Darren E and Ratnieks, Francis L W (2007) Nest-mate recognition template of guard honeybees (Apis mellifera) is modified by wax comb transfer. Biology Letters, 3 (3). pp. 228-230. ISSN 1744-957X

Perez-Sato, Juan Antonio, Hughes, William O H, Couvillon, Margaret and Ratnieks, Francis L W (2007) Improved technique for introducing four-day old virgin queens to mating hives that uses artificial and natural queen cells for introduction. Journal of Agricultural Research, 46 (1). pp. 28-33. ISSN 0021-8839