Mike Breed, Environmental, Population,and Organismic Biology University of Colorado

Dr. Breed's research interest is in how individuals communicate and perceive their colony membership. His work on nestmate recognition over the past 20 + years has shown how complex olfactory cues are derived from many intrinsic and extrinsic factors and used by social insects to accept or reject nestmates or intruders. Making the correct decisions at the colony entrance are of paramount importance for the evolution of social organization.

Selected recent publications:

• Breed, M. D. and Stiller, T. M. 1992. Honey bee, Apis mellifera, nestmate discrimination: hydrocarbons effects and the evolutionary implications of comb choice. Anim. Behav. 43:875-883.
• Breed, M. D., Garry, M. F., Pearce, A. N., Bjostad, L., Hibbard, B., Page, R. E. 1995. The role of wax comb in honey bee nestmate recognition: Genetic effects on comb discrimination, acquisition of comb cues by bees, and passage of cues among individuals. Anim. Behav. 50:489-496.
• Smith, B. H. and Breed, M. D. 1995. The chemical basis for nestmate recognition and mate discrimination in social insects. in Chemical Ecology of Insects II, R. T. Carde and W. J. Bell, eds. Chapman and Hall: New York. pp. 287-317.

Homepage: http://spot.colorado.edu/~breed/
Email:Breed@spot.colorado.edu

SFI-Social Insect Page