About

James F. A. Traniello is a Professor of Biology at Boston University, with a PhD from Harvard University. His research focuses on the behavioral mechanisms, ecology, and evolution of social behavior in insects, particularly social insects such as ants. He studies collective intelligence, division of labor, and their influence on brain evolution, exploring the neuroanatomy and neurochemistry of social behavior through techniques like immunohistochemistry, confocal microscopy, high-performance liquid chromatography, and pharmacological interventions. His work aims to understand the neurobiology of social structure in relation to ecology and evolution, connecting sociobiology, neurobiology, physiology, gerontology, and ecology to examine the evolutionary forces shaping social brain development. His research includes investigating the evolution and neural architecture of the social brain, measuring its metabolic rate, and exploring the genomics of social brain evolution.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Biology
• Neuroscience
• Ecology
• Artificial Intelligence
• Evolutionary biology
• Optics
• Physics
• Genetics
• Paleontology

Selected publications

• The future of evolutionary behavioral biology

  Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology · 2026-05-01

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Behavioral ecology and sociobiology since 1975: The growth and diversification of the biology of adaptive social behavior

  Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology · 2026-03-01 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Sociobiology and the transformation of evolutionary behavioral biology

  Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology · 2026-03-01 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Gustatory socioecology: The evolution, ecology, and mechanisms of taste in eusocial insects

  Advances in insect physiology · 2025-01-01

  book-chapterSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• The neurobiology of collective behavior: Lessons from honeybees and ants

  Elsevier eBooks · 2025-01-01

  book-chapterSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• The science funding crisis threatens the careers of future behavioral ecologists

  Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology · 2025-10-21

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Insect Behavioral Science in 2025: The New Editor’s Perspective on the Journal of Insect Behavior

  Journal of Insect Behavior · 2025-04-05

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Differential Neuroanatomical, Neurochemical, and Behavioral Impacts of Early-Age Isolation in a Eusocial Insect

  Brain Behavior and Evolution · 2024-06-10 · 4 citations

  articleSenior author

  INTRODUCTION: Social experience early in life appears to be necessary for the development of species-typical behavior. Although isolation during critical periods of maturation has been shown to impact behavior by altering gene expression and brain development in invertebrates and vertebrates, workers of some ant species appear resilient to social deprivation and other neurobiological challenges that occur during senescence or due to loss of sensory input. It is unclear if and to what degree neuroanatomy, neurochemistry, and behavior will show deficiencies if social experience in the early adult life of worker ants is compromised. METHODS: We reared newly eclosed adult workers of Camponotus floridanus under conditions of social isolation for 2-53 days, quantified brain compartment volumes, recorded biogenic amine levels in individual brains, and evaluated movement and behavioral performance to compare the neuroanatomy, neurochemistry, brood-care behavior, and foraging (predatory behavior) of isolated workers with that of workers experiencing natural social contact after adult eclosion. RESULTS: We found that the volume of the antennal lobe, which processes olfactory inputs, was significantly reduced in workers isolated for an average of 40 days, whereas the size of the mushroom bodies, centers of higher-order sensory processing, increased after eclosion and was not significantly different from controls. Titers of the neuromodulators serotonin, dopamine, and octopamine remained stable and were not significantly different in isolation treatments and controls. Brood care, predation, and overall movement were reduced in workers lacking social contact early in life. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that the behavioral development of isolated workers of C. floridanus is specifically impacted by a reduction in the size of the antennal lobe. Task performance and locomotor ability therefore appear to be sensitive to a loss of social contact through a reduction of olfactory processing ability rather than change in the size of the mushroom bodies, which serve important functions in learning and memory, or the central complex, which controls movement.

  PublisherDOI

• Diversity of ground-dwelling ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in primary and secondary forests in Amazonian Ecuador

  Österreichische Gesellschaft für Entomofaunistik (OEGEF) · 2024-07-09 · 12 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  An inventory of the ground-dwelling ant faunas of primary and secondary forests at the Tiputini Biodiversity Station in Amazonian Ecuador revealed a total of 101 ant species in 32 genera. Eighty species were collected from the primary forest, while 65 species were collected from the secondary forest. Species overlap between the two sites was low (42.6%) and the composition was significantly different (p < 0.0001). Actual species richness was estimated to be 126 species for primary forest and 110 for secondary forest. The most species-rich genus in both habitats was Pheidole (21 species), which was also the most widespread genus, occurring in 38 of 40 collection sites. In the primary forest, in addition to Pheidole (18 species), the most species-rich genera were Crematogaster (8 species) and Pachycondyla (7 species), whereas Pheidole (17 species), Camponotus (5 species), and Pachycondyla (5 species) were the most species-rich genera in the secondary forest. These results are consistent with past studies showing that the number of ant species in secondary forest increases with time from disturbance and may approach that of primary forest within several decades, but that species composition may take significantly longer to resemble that of the original ant assemblage. The prevalence of different ant functional groups in the two habitats is discussed and the results compared to similar studies in Australia and North America.

  PublisherDOI

• Correction to: Individual and collective cognition in social insects: what’s in a name?

  Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology · 2024-01-19

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• Collaborative Research: Social Organization, Behavioral Development and Functional Neuroplasticity in the Ant Genus Pheidole

  NSF · $510k · 2007–2013

• Collaborative Research: Collective intelligence and social brain evolution in ants

  NSF · $675k · 2014–2020

• Social Behavior, Immunity and Disease Resistance in Termites

  NSF · $303k · 2001–2006

• Collaborative Research: Brain Size, Metabolism, and Sociality in Ants

  NSF · $839k · 2020–2025

Frequent coauthors

• Rebeca B. Rosengaus

  Northeastern University

  30 shared

• Sara Arganda

  Boston University

  27 shared

• Mario L. Muscedere

  Boston University

  18 shared

• Ignacio Arganda‐Carreras

  Fundación Biofísica Bizkaia

  15 shared

• Darcy G. Gordon

  Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  14 shared

• Daniel V. Calleri

  University of Chicago

  13 shared

• Isabella B. Muratore

  Boston University

  12 shared

• Simon K. A. Robson

  Central Queensland University

  11 shared

Awards & honors

• Oboh-Weilke Postdoctoral Travel Award