I study how insects detect, learn about, and regulate their intake of nutrients. My lab specifically investigates the nutrition and physiology of honeybees and bumblebees using an approach that spans four levels: (1) chemical sensation: the organizational principles of the chemical senses of taste and smell; (2) learning: how the bee brain learns to associate chemical cues with food; (3) feeding: how individual insects regulate their intake of essential nutrients; and (4) ecology: how ingested compounds produced by plants affect sensation, learning and feeding.
