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  • Honeybees (partly marked) on the edge of a brood frame
Chair of Behavioral Physiology & Sociobiology

Roces, Flavio

Prof. Dr. Flavio Roces

Research group leader
Zoology II / Roces lab
Universität Würzburg
Biozentrum
Am Hubland
97074 Würzburg
Building: B1 (Biozentrum)
Room: D120
Link: Roces lab
Portrait of Prof. Dr. Flavio Roces

I am a behavioral physiologist interested in decision making and the mechanisms underlying the organization of social insect colonies. After earning a PhD in zoology from the University of Buenos Aires (Argentina), I worked as a posdoc at the University of Erlangen (Germany), and finally moved to the University of Würzburg. My studies on ant societies are aimed, in a broad sense, to analyze the link between worker behavior and colony function, and combine physiological and behavioral research in the lab with ecological studies in the field. Current research projects are listed on the main page of my group (Behavioral Ecology).

  • Selection and spatial arrangement of building materials during the construction of nest turrets by grass-cutting ants. Römer, Daniela; Cosarinsky, Marcela I.; Roces, Flavio. In Royal Society Open Science, 7(10), p. 201312. The Royal Society, 2020.
  • Appetitive and aversive learning of plants odors inside different nest compartments by foraging leaf-cutting ants. Arenas, Andrés; Roces, Flavio. In Journal of Insect Physiology, 109, pp. 85–92. 2018.
  • The construction of ventilation turrets in Atta vollenweideri leaf-cutting ants: Carbon dioxide levels in the nest tunnels, but not airflow or air humidity, influence turret structure.. Halboth, Florian; Roces, Flavio. In PLOS ONE, 12(11), pp. 1–25. 2017.
  • Carbon dioxide sensing in an obligate insect-fungus symbiosis: CO2 preferences of leaf-cutting ants to rear their mutualistic fungus. Römer, Daniela; Bollazzi, Martin; Roces, Flavio. In PLOS ONE, 12(4), pp. 1–17. Public Library of Science, 2017.
  • Ventilation of the giant nests of Atta leaf-cutting ants: does underground circulating air enter the fungus chambers?. Bollazzi, M.; Forti, L. C.; Roces, F. In Insectes Sociaux, 59(4), pp. 487–498. 2012.