Welcome to the Bengston Lab!
In the Bengston Lab, at CUNY Baruch College in Manhattan, NYC, our research explores the interplay between behavior, ecology, and evolution, with a focus on social insects and other animal systems. We investigate how consistent between individual behavioral patterns shape group dynamics, ecological strategies, and evolutionary outcomes. Our work delves into how environmental and life-history factors influence collective behaviors, such as the development of colony personalities and the impacts of competition on within and between colony social dynamics. We also explore phenomena like social parasitism in ants, urban ecological adaptations in insects, and the role of environmental complexity in shaping behavioral diversity.
Current Projects in the Bengston Lab
Field and Lab Integration: Combining field studies and controlled experiments to connect ecological context with molecular mechanisms.
Behavioral Evolution and Social Parasitism: Exploring how colony-level risk tolerance influences parasitic strategies, including brood stealing and reproductive cheating.
Pace-of-Life Dynamics: Examining how metabolic and life-history traits are coupled or decoupled at the colony level.
Learn more on our Research page!
Research Updates
New Articles!
Be on the lookout for the two newest publications out of the Bengston lab!
In Bengston et al. (2024), “The discovery of mixed colonies in Temnothorax ants supports the territoriality hypothesis of dulotic social parasite evolution in myrmicine ants”, published in Insectes Sociaux we report our discovery of mixed colonies in four Temnothorax ant species in the western U.S., where species boost their workforce by incorporating brood from other interspecific colonies. This facultative parasitism is linked to an increased interspecies aggression in mix colony populations. The findings provide new clues about the evolutionary shift from cooperative to parasitic behavior, offering a valuable system to study this transition.
In Rahman and Bengston (accepted to Insectes Sociaux), undergraduate researcher (and recently accepted medical school student!) Nimra Rahman took the lead in asking if Temnothorax rugatulus follow the expected paradigms of the Pace-of-Life Syndrome (POLS) hypothesis. While “fast” pace-of-life colonies were predicted to have workers with reduced lifespans compared to “slow” pace-of-life colonies, no such correlation was found under normal conditions. Surprisingly, under stress, these “fast” colony workers showed increased robustness, suggesting a decoupling of costs and benefits associated with POLS at the colony level. This study highlights the need to explore how multi-level selection shapes trait correlations and evolutionary constraints in pace-of-life dynamics.
Contact US
Dr. Sarah Bengston
CUNY Baruch College
Department of Natural Sciences
New York City, New York
sarah.bengston@baruch.cuny.edu
