What makes a good learner: the evolution of cognition and memory in Caenorhabditis worms

Being good at learning may seem universally beneficial. But is it? First, you can make mistakes. Second, there may be physiological costs associated with learning, forming memories, and keeping your nervous system in peak condition.

With as few as c.a. 300 neurons, Caenorhabditis worms show a wide range of learning capabilities; they can associate olfactory cues with stress, learn to avoid pathogens, and can transmit their learned memory to their offspring (how convenient!).

Learning and memory inheritance have important implications in evolution, but their ecological relevance remains unclear – what is the variation across species? And how does the environment affect learning and memory? This project will investigate this variation across Caenorhabditis species and explore the interactions between the worms’ microbial environment and memory inheritance.

Required knowledge

Strong interests in evolutionary biology. No specific experience required.

Length of the project

Flexible. Worms are a convenient model animal with a life cycle of about 3 days, so data collection is fast once you get the hang of it.

We aim to include nine worm species in total. You may choose to focus on a subset of these species for a shorter project or study all nine for a full project.