The Kaspari Lab
Category: Latest Posts
Canopy 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 MoreBrian McGill visits the Kaspari Lab
MacroEcologist extraordinaire Brian McGill visited the lab last week, visited with grad students, and gave two first rate seminars. The first laid out trends for the next 25 years of ecology. The second laid out a compelling framework for a…
Read MoreCongrats to Professor Natalie Clay
Kaspari Lab alum Natalie Clay will be joining the Biology faculty of Louisiana Tech University this September. Good going Natalie, and Go Bulldogs!
Read MoreSpring in Oklahoma–Hiking along the South Canadian River
Debby and I had a lovely hike along the South Canadian River with pals Susan Dragoo (Debby’s writing partner on the Oklahoma Today piece on Nuttall) and Tim Ryan. These scenes are about 10 minutes from Campus.
Read MorePolitics 101 for Academics
Politics is the art of the possible. Laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made. I’ve known both quotes for a while, but as I just now looked them up, I discovered they have the…
Read MoreMarty’s World: the tragedy of pre-zygotic isolation
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…
Read MoreNew Paper in Insectes Sociaux on Ants in Flight
Ant life cycles are complicated and varied, but in almost all species the queens have wings and fly through the atmosphere to mate and find new places to live. Drawing by Brittany Benson. Text by Jackson Helms. Go the publications…
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