Western University BiologyWestern Science  Graham Thompson, PhD
Behavioural Genetics and Sociobiology  Graham Thompson Position:
Assistant Professor Biological & Geological Sciences 2068
Biological & Geological Sciences 2060 (519) 661-2111 x 86570
519 661-3935  My lab studies the biological basis of insect
social behaviour; how it evolves, how it is maintained and why
some species are social while others are not. Much like human
societies, eusocial ants, bees, wasps and termites show
bewildering complexity in how their societies are structured.
Yet for insects, this complexity is derived from an economically
simple division of labour into reproductive and non-reproductive
specialists. Studying reproductive division of labour in insects
at the level of the gene can provide key insights into how
complex social systems evolved from simpler, ancestral ones.
Studies on social insects can also help understand how our own
societies might naturally mediate conflict, cooperation,
altruism and spite. My lab uses natur