Cameron's research involves the application of phylogenetic theory and techniques to questions concerning social insect evolution, behavior and ecology. She combines these tools with field and laboratory studies of Bombus (bumble bees). One application is to reconstruct phylogenies using DNA sequence to examine the historical pattern of social evolution in the bees. She is currently working out the phylogenies of the major groups of social bees (the clade known as the corbiculate bees), including the bumble bees (Bombini), stingless bees (Meliponini) and orchid bees (Euglossini, which are mostly solitary). A second application is the use of the phylogeny to understand the evolutionary pattern of ecological and behavioral characteristics of the social bees, particularly the bumble bees. In this regard her current research is moving in two new directions: (1) an evo-devo approach to examining the evolution of apparent mimicry complexes in bumble bees, and (2) comparative analyses of recruitment behavior in tropical bumble bees to test hypotheses concerning the origin of recruitment communication in stingless bees and honey bees. An evo-devo approach has led to recent collaborative research in developmental genetics, examining the role of hox genes underlying the evolution of the honey bee corbicula (pollen-carrying apparatus on hind leg of all corbiculate bees).

Nearing completion of the phylogeny of the world fauna of bumble bees (in collaboration with her graduate student, Heather Hines, and P. Williams of the Natural History Museum, London), a database is under construction to reflect the comprehensive phylogeny and to serve as a storage and retrieval facility, ultimately for all Bombus species.

Representative and Recent Publications

Cameron, S.A. 1993. Multiple origins of advanced eusociality in bees inferred from mitochondrial DNA sequences. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 90: 8687-8691.

Foster, S.A. & S.A. Cameron. 1996. Geographic variation in behavior: A framework for comparative studies. In Phylogenies and the Comparative Method in Animal Behavior. (ed., Martins, E.P.). Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford.

Cameron, S.A. & J.B. Whitfield. 1996. Use of walking trails by bees. Nature 379: 125.

Cameron, S.A. 1997. Gender bias and sociobiology. Review of: Feminism and Evolutionary Biology, ed. P. A. Gowaty, Chapman & Hall, 1997. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 12: 409-410.

Whitfield, J.B. and S.A. Cameron. 1998. Hierarchical analysis of variation in the mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene among Hymenoptera. Molecular Biology and Evolution 15: 1728-1743.

Mardulyn, P. and S.A. Cameron. 1999. The major opsin in bees (Insecta: Hymenoptera): A promising nuclear gene for higher level phylogenetics. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 12: 168-176.

Cameron, S.A. and P. Mardulyn. 2001. Multiple data sets suggest independent origins of highly eusocial behavior in bees (Hymenoptera: Apinae). Systematic Biology 50:194-214.

Lockhart, P. J. and S.A. Cameron. Trees of Bees. 2001. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 16: 84-88.

Cameron, S. A. Orchid bees of the Neotropics: Comparative biology and evolution. Annual Review of Entomology (slated to appear Vol. 48).