The Kaspari Lab
Category: ants
On the challenge of interpreting Activity Density from NEON’s pitfall arrays
As fossils fuels burn—with all the attendant effects—we are becoming increasingly concerned with how Earth’s insects—the little things that run the world—may be declining. Follow along, and let met tell you about a wee complication toward understanding what’s happening. In…
Read MoreIntroducing “Ecology Stories”
Wisdom begins with the proper naming of things. In this episode of Ecology Stories—written as a resource for science classes—@damotmot and I present an illustrated intro to taxonomy.
Read MoreAs ecosystems heat and green, ant abundance and diversity increases; but too much heat and these communities lose colonies and species.
One paradox in the recent flurry of papers reporting insect declines is that insects—ectotherms that rely on external sources of heat—are often predicted to benefit as their environment warms. In an open access paper accepted as a Report in the…
Read MoreOne way to build a dietary generalist
Karl Roeder gives some background on the dietary diversity hidden in a population of red imported fire ants
Read MoreNot all male ants are “sperm missiles”
When your mating system calls for patience, male ants will stick around for a while.
Read MoreSuccumbing to the lure of the model organism: studying the imported red fire ant
Guest Post by Karl Roeder Ants. The adorable arthropods that have captured my imagination for years have finally become the focus of my Ph.D. research. They are abundant, diverse, and ecologically important with a variety of castes that contain a…
Read MoreCanopy and understory microclimates – how are the ants handling them?
The author, Jelena Bujan, in the canopy of Pseudobombax septenatum, a deciduous tree with smooth green bark. Jelena is completing her third field season on Barro Colorado Island, in Panama. In tropical forests, is frequently assumed that canopies are “deserts”…
Read MoreA little known gem from the tropical ant/soil literature
A few days ago, a good friend wrote to ask what was known about the response of tropical soil invertebrates to drought. My first response was “precious little”, and then I remembered a cool article by Diana Wheeler and Sally Levings….
Read MoreMarty’s World: We’re off to see Ed Wilson!
Happy Friday. (Click on image to see full size.) Marty’s World is Brittany Bensons’s view from the world below. © 2015
Read MoreThermal Diversity: the importance of a community perspective
In a Figure that Jon Shik says used a “shocking” color choice–but that the lead author (who is color blind) finds pleasant and peaceful–we plot the distribution of thermal maxima (or, CTmax, or “death temp”) of an assemblage of 87…
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