Dr Simon Robson

Senior Lecturer

Lecturer - James Cook University, 2000-2002 JCU Postdoctoral Fellow - James Cook University, 1998-1999 ARC Postdoctoral Fellow - James Cook University, 1995-1998 Teaching Fellow - Harvard University, 1994, 1995 Teaching Fellow - Boston University, 1991-1993 Teaching Fellow - Harvard University, 1991 Teaching Fellow - Boston University, 1986-1989 Research Assistant - University of Queensland, 1985, 1986 Teaching Fellow - University of Queensland, 1984. BSc (Hons) (UQ), PhD (Boston) Member of the: American Naturalist Society Animal Behavior Society Australian Entomological Society Australasian Evolution Society Cambridge Entomological Society International Society for Behavioral Ecology International Union for the Study of Social Insects Society for the Study of Evolution Smithsonian-Queensland Alumni.

Research Interests

• Animal behavior (all taxa)

• Ecology, behavior and evolution of the social insects (ants, bees, termites and wasps)

• Ecology, behavior and evolution of bats

• Computer simulations and complex behavior

I have a diverse range of research interests, all of which involve a whole-organism approach to the study of evolution, ecology and behaviour, and all of which emphasise tropical systems and species. I am currently using social insects as models to determine how complex, group-level behaviour can be studied and interpreted within an evolutionary context, but I maintain an interest in a variety of tropical invertebrate and vertebrate systems, and a variety of evolutionary, ecological and behavioural questions. Research output over the last 10 years, for example, includes publications in such areas as: the foraging organisation and division of labor in social insects, the role of computer simulations to understand emergent behaviour in biological systems, the energetics, social organisation and community ecology of bats, and higher order primate phylogeny.

Recent and Current Research Includes

My research activities have been funded by grants from the Australian Research Council and James Cook University, and are often conducted in collaboration with other colleagues. Current research activities involve the following areas:

• Nest-weaving ants of Australia: a unique system to study the evolution of social organization

• Evolutionary genetics of the immune system in ants

• Biochemical methods of age determination in insects

• Socioecology of the primitively eusocial wasp genus Ropalidia

• Socioecology of the world's only intertidal ant, Polyrhachis sokolova.

• Queen number and queen dimorphism in arboreal ants

• Computer simulations and social insect foraging dynamics

Recent and Currently Supervised Projects

• Angela Shuetrim (PhD). Evolutionary genetics of the immune system in the Formicidae

• Nalinee Phisuthiphorn (MSc).

• Regina Teo (MSc)

• Angela Shuetrim (Hons). Territoriality, colony structure and spatial dispersion in the intertidal ant Polyrhachis sokolova (Formicidae: Formicinae).

• Clare Hourigan (Hons). Microchiropteran community structure in a tropical urban environment: Implications for bat conservation.

• Darren Peck (Hons)

Future PhD Directions

There are an infinite number of research projects and opportunities within the research areas listed above. Researchers at all levels (undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral) are welcome to contact me and discuss projects that may either integrate with the projects mentioned above, or represent new areas of research.

Teaching

AG2001

Quantitative Methods in Biology in Agricultural Sciences

BS2001/BS5001

Quantitative Methods in Biology

BZ3000

Projects in Biology

ZL3061/ZL5061

Behavioural Ecology

Selected Publications

Robson, S. (2004). Comparative nesting biology in two species of lithophilic ants, P. thusnelda Forel and P. turneri Forel (Formicinae). Australian Journal of Entomology (in press).

Henshaw, M. T., R. H. Crozier and S. K. A. Robson (2004). Queen number, queen cycling and queen loss: the evolution of complex multiple queen societies in the social wasp genus Ropalidia. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology (in press).

Robson, S. K. and J. F. A. Traniello (2002). Transient division of labour and behavioral specialisation inspecialization in the ant Formica schaufussi. Naturwissenschaften 89: 128-131.

Robson, S. K. A., K. Bean, J. Hansen, K. Norling, R. J. Rowe and D. White (2000). Social and spatial organisation in colonies of a primitively eusocial wasp, Ropalidia revolutionalis (de Saussure) (Hymenoptera: Vespidae). Australian Journal of Entomology 39(1): 20-24.

Robson, S. K. and J. F. A. Traniello (1999). Key individuals and the organisation of labour in ants. Information Processing in Social Insects. C. C. Detrain, J. M. Pasteels and J. L. Deneubourg, BirkŠuser Verlag Press: 239-259.

Robson, S. K. and J. F. A. Traniello (1998). Resource assessment, recruitment behavior, and organization of cooperative prey retrieval in the ant Formica schaufussi (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Journal of Insect Behavior 11(1): 1-22.

Kunz, T. H., S. K. Robson and K. A. Nagy (1998). Economy of harem maintenance in the greater spear-nosed bat, Phyllostomus hastatus. Journal of Mammalogy 79(631-642).

Robson, S. K., G. W. Rouse and J. D. Pettigrew (1997). Sperm ultrastructure of Tarsius bancanus (Tarsiidae, Primates): implications for primate phylogeny and the use of sperm in systematics. Acta Zoologica 78: 269-278.

Robson, S. K. and S. N. Beshers (1997). Division of labour and "foraging-for-work": Simulating reality versus the reality of simulations. Anim. Behav. 53: 214-218.

List of all publications

Full list of Publications

Contact Details

Dr Simon Robson

Campus: Townsville

Telephone: +61 7 4781 5389

Fax: +61 7 4725 1570

Email: Simon.Robson@jcu.edu.au

Note: Please direct all student enquiries through the School Secretary.