Research Interests:
My research explores how invertebrates, with small and supposedly simple brains, generate some astonishingly complex patterns of behaviour. I have focused on the honey bee, which lives in one of the most complex animal societies, and yet each bee's brain measures little more than 1 mm3.
I am examining how honey bees organise their division of labour; a complex and dynamic social process that enables super-efficient food handling and brood rearing. I also study the neural mechanisms underlying the honey bee's unique symbolic dance language by which forager bees communicate to nest mates the location and profitability of desirable resources. This line of research has generated a new project exploring how forager honey bees evaluate the quality of resources needed by their colony, and the neural basis of reward-seeking motivation in bees.
I currently collaborate with Alison Mercer at The University of Otago, New Zealand, Ryszard Maleszka at The Australian National University, and Gene Robinson at the University of Illinois, U.S.A.
Selected Publications:
Barron A.B. & Corbet S.A. (1999) Preimaginal conditioning in Drosophila revisited Animal Behaviour 58 (3): 621-628
Barron A.B., Oldroyd B.P. & Ratnieks F.L.W. (2001) Worker reproduction in honey-bees (Apis) and the anarchic syndrome: a review. Behavioral Ecology & Sociobiology. 50 (3): 199-208
Barron A.B. (2001) The life and death of Hopkins' host selection principle. Journal of Insect Behavior. 14 (6): 725-737
Barron A.B., Schulz D.J. & Robinson, G.E. (2002) Octopamine modulates responsiveness to foraging-related stimuli in honeybees (Apis mellifera). Journal of Comparative Physiology A. 188 (8): 603-610
Barron A.B., Schulz D.J. & Robinson, G.E. (2002) A role for octopamine in honey bee division of labor. Brain, Behavior and Evolution. 60: 350-359
Lehman H.K., Schulz D.J., Barron A.B. , Wraight L., Hardison C., Whitney S., Takeuchi, H. & Robinson G.E. (2006) Behavioral division of labor in the honey bee (Apis mellifera): the role of tyramine beta-hydroxylase. Journal of Experimental Biology 209: 2774-2784
Barron A.B. & Srinivasan M.V. (2006) Visual regulation of flight speed and headwind compensation in freely flying honeybees (Apis mellifera). Journal of Experimental Biology 209: 978-984
Barron A.B., Maleszka R., Vander Meer R.K. Robinson G.E (2007) Octopamine modulates honey bee dance behavior. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 104: 1703-1707
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