Research Staff - Dr Mathieu Lihoreau

Areas of Interest

I am broadly interested in social evolution. A major goal of my research is to understand why and how individuals (mainly arthropods) organize into social groups, be them loose aggregate or cohesive colonies.

Postdoctoral research (Sydney). My current projects focus on the ecological factors leading animals to behave and live in groups . Locusts are well-known for their transitions from solitary to a gregarious phases. Swarming is likely to occur because environmental parameters such as food distribution patterns, predature pressures or microclimatic conditions. Mathematical models derived from Pecrolation Theory helps exploring these phase transitions. This work is a collaboration with Prof Steve Simpson.

Postdoctoral research (London). When bees leave their nest, they are faced with hugely diverse and dynamic floral markets in which they have to develop functional foraging routes. Such routing problems, analogous to the well-known Travelling Salesman Problem, are computationally hard to solve. Using artificial flowers and experimental setups at different spatial scales, we demonstrate that bees optimize their routes with experience using simple movement rules and spatial memory of flower locations. This work is a collaboration with Prof Lars Chittka and Dr Nigel Raine.

PhD research (Rennes). Cockroaches (Blattaria) is a key group for the study of social evolution because of their phylogenetic proximity with eusocial termites, which nevertheless remains largely understudied. This work highlights some emergent properties of social life in urban cockroach species known to be 'gregarious', demonstrating the occurence of sophisticated communication and basic cooperation. This work is a collaboration with Dr Colette Rivault and Prof Jean-Louis Deneubourg.

CV

2011 - present: Postdoctoral researcher - The University of Sydney (ARC)
2009 - 2010: Postdoctoral researcher - Queen Mary University of London (BBSRC/EPSRC/Wellcome T)
2005 - 2009: PhD Thesis - University of Rennes 1 (MRT)
2003 - 2005: Master's degree - University of Rennes 1
2002-2003: Bachelor's degree - University of Tours

Awards

2011. Early career researcher prize - International Union for the Study of Social Insects (French Section)
2007. Best talk - Meeting of the French Section of the International Union for the Study of Social Insects, University Paul Sabatier, Toulouse
2006. Best poster - European Conference on Behavioural Biology, University of Belfast

Publications

Peer-reviewed articles

• Lihoreau M, Chittka L, Le Comber SC, Raine NE. (2011 - Published online). Bees do not use nearest-neighbour rules for optimization of multi-location routes. Biology Letters.
• Lihoreau M, Chittka L, Raine NE. (2011 - Published online). Trade-off between travel distance and prioritization of high reward sites in traplining bumblebees. Functional Ecology.
• Lihoreau M, Chittka L, Raine NE. (2010). Travel optimization by foraging bumblebees through re-adjustments of traplines afterdiscovery of new feeding locations. American Naturalist, 176:744-767. Supplementary material
• Lihoreau M, Deneubourg J-L, Rivault C. (2010). Collective foraging decision in a gregarious insect. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 64:1577-1587. Supplementary material
• Lihoreau M, Rivault C. (2010). German cockroach males maximize their inclusive fitness by avoiding mating with kin. Animal Behaviour, 80:303-309.
• Lihoreau M, Brepson L, Rivault C. (2009). The weight of the clan: even in insects,social isolation can induce a behavioural syndrome. Behavioural Processes, 82:80-84.
• Lihoreau M, Rivault C. (2009). Kin recognition via cuticular hydrocarbons shapescockroach social life. Behavioral Ecology, 20:46-53.
• Lihoreau M, Zimmer C, Rivault C. (2008). Mutual mate choice: when it pays both sexes to avoid inbreeding. PLoS ONE, 3:e3365.
• Lihoreau M, Rivault C. (2008). Tactile stimuli trigger group effects incockroach aggregations. Animal Behaviour, 75:1965-1972.
• Lihoreau M, Zimmer C, Rivault C. (2007). Kin recognition and incest avoidancein a group-living insect. Behavioral Ecology, 18:880-887.

Please visit my page to view articles.

Popular science articles

• Lihoreau M. (2007). Les blattes: un autre modèle de sociétés. Science Ouest, 244:8.

Recent talks

• Lihoreau M (2011). The multi-location routes of traplining bees. Invited speaker. Workshop on Insect Homing: Mechanisms and Models, Bielefeld (Germany).
• Lihoreau M (2011). From solitary to eusocial lifestyle: what do the 'other' insect societies teach us about social evolution? Invited seminar. Research Institute on Insect Biology (UMR CNRS 6035), University François Rabelais, Tours (France).
• Lihoreau M (2011). Bees and the Travelling Salesman problem. Invited plenary session. Meeting of the French Section of the International Union for the Study of Social Insects, University Pierre and Marie Curie, Banyuls (France).
• Lihoreau M (2011).Bees and the Travelling Salesman problem. Invited seminar. Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney (Australia).
• Lihoreau M (2011). From solitary to eusocial lifestyle: what do the 'other' insect societies teach us about social evolution? Invited seminar. School of Biological Sciences, The University of Sydney (Australia).
• Lihoreau M, Chittka L, Raine NE (2010). Trapline foraging in bumblebees: how tiny brains solve complex routing tasks? Winter meeting of the North-West European Section of the International Union for the Study of Social Insects, London (UK).
• Lihoreau M, Chittka L, Raine NE (2010). Bees and the travelling salesman problem: how tiny brains solve complex routing tasks? 16th International Congress of the International Union for the Study of Social Insects, Copenhagen (Denmark).
• Lihoreau M (2010). From solitary to eusocial lifestyle: what do the 'other' insect societies teach us about social evolution? Invited seminar. Research Centre on Animal Cognition (UMR CNRS 5169), University Paul Sabatier, Toulouse (France).

External activities

Societies

• International Union for the Study of Social Insects (IUSSI)
• Société Française pour l'étude du Comportement Animal (SFECA)
• The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour (ASAB)

Media coverage

• New Scientist: 17th August 2011 - Zoologer: the world's smartest insect. Marshall M.
• Science & Vie: March 2011 - Insectes: leur intelligence défie la nôtre. Lassagne F.
• CBC radio: 27th October 2010 - Bees math problem (interview with Carol Off).
• Fox News: 25th October 2010 - Tiny bee brains beat computers at complex math problems.
• CBS News: 25th October 2010 -Bee's tiny brain beats computers at complex Math Problem.
• MSNBC: 25th October 2010 - Need a shortcut? Ask a bumblebee.
• The Independent: 25th October 2010 - Bees are quicker than computers at maths. von Radowitz J.
• The Times: 25th October 2010 - Bees could help to ease traffic congestion, scientists suggest
• The Guardian: 24th October 2010 - Bees' tiny brains beat computers, study finds.
• BBC News: 22nd September 2010 - Mapping the flight of the bumblebee. Gill V.
• ABC: 10th June 2010 - Roaches prefer dinner parties. O'Hanlon L.
• Disovery news:10th June 2010 - Roaches prefer dinner parties. O'Hanlon L.
• MSNBC:10th June 2010 - Roaches prefer dinner parties. O'Hanlon L.
• BBC News:4th june 2010 - How cockroaches 'talk' about food. Gill V.
• Nature: 30th july 2009 - Why there's never just one. Nature, Research highlight 460:555.

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