Alexander Walton

Education

• PhD, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Iowa State University
• BA, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona

Postdoctoral research

• Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta
• Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University
• Department of Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University

Research interests

• Understanding how nutrition and physiological state regulate cooperative and aggressive behaviors in social insects, with an emphasis on the ecological and evolutionary consequences of these interactions in bees and wasps.
• Investigating how environmental stressors—including climate change, winter severity, and wildfire smoke—affect social insect behavior, communication, and overwintering survival, especially in northern ecosystems.

Selected Publications:

• Walton A., Herman J.J., and Rueppell O. (2024) “Social life results in social stress protection: A novel concept to explain individual life history patterns in social insects.” Biological Reviews, 99(4), 1444-1457. https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.13074
   
  Tumulty J.P., Miller S.E., Van Belleghem S.M., Weller H.I., Jernigan C.M., Vincent S., Staudenraus R.J., Legan A.W., Polnaszek T.J., Uy F.M.K., Walton A., and Sheehan, M. J. (2023) “Evidence for a selective link between cooperation and individual recognition.” Current Biology, 33(24), 5478-5487. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2023.11.032
   
  Walton A. and Toth A.L. (2023) “Nutritional inequalities structure worker division of labor in social insects.” Current Opinion in Insect Science,101059. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cois.2023.101059
   
   
  Walton A., Flores E., Guinness A., Fortune R., Sheehan M.J., and Toth A.L. (2023) “A practical approach to RNA-interference for studying gene function in a refractory social insect (on a limited budget).” Insectes Sociaux, 70, 213-224.
  https://doi.org/10.1007/s00040-023-00910-x
   
   
  Walton A. and Toth A.L. (2021) “Resource limitation, intra-group aggression, and brain neuropeptide expression in a social wasp.” Functional Ecology, 35.10, 2241-2252.  
  https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.13895
   
  Walton A., Toth A.L., and Dolezal A.G. (2021) “Developmental environment shapes honey bee worker response to virus infection.” Scientific Reports, 11(1), 13961. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-93199-4
   
  Walton A., Sheehan M.J., and Toth A.L. (2020). “Going wild for functional genomics: RNA interference as a tool to study gene-behavior associations in diverse species and ecological contexts.” Hormones and Behavior, 124, 104774. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yhbeh.2020.104774
   
  Walton A., Tumulty J.P., Toth A.L., and Sheehan M.J. (2020) “Hormonal modulation of reproduction in Polistes fuscatus social wasps: dual functions in both ovary development and sexual receptivity.” Journal of Insect Physiology, 120, 103972. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jinsphys.2019.103972
   
  Walton A., Jandt J.M., and Dornhaus A. (2019) “Guard bees are more likely to act as undertakers: variation in corpse removal in the bumble bee Bombus impatiens.” Insectes Sociaux, 66(4), 533-541.
  https://doi.org/10.1007/s00040-019-00718-8
   
  Walton A., Dolezal A.G., Bakken M.A., and Toth A.L. (2018) “Hungry for the Queen: Nutritional environment affects a honey bee worker’s response to queen pheromone”. Functional Ecology, 35(10), 2241-2252. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.13222
   
  Walton A. and Toth. A.L. (2016) “Variation in individual worker honey bee behavior shows hallmarks of personality.” Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 70, 999-1010. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-016-2084-4