We are a comparative physiology and behavioral ecology lab using social insects as model systems to study social adaptations to environmental stressors. We are interested in how individual behavioral and physiological phenotypes scale to group strategies, and the adaptiveness of these strategies in different complex environments. Our lab has particular interest in macrophysiological patterns in the form and function of highly social species, particularly as related to the social dynamics of climate adaptation and competition.
Recent Lab News
3 Jul 2023 - Congratulations to PhD student Kristin Robinson on being awarded the Charles Michener Bee Research Grant by the IUSSI-North American Section to support her dissertation work exploring the interplay between division of labor and desiccation tolerance in stingless bees. 1 Jun 2023 - Our paper investigating the importance of colony-level differences in thermal tolerance in the context of biogeographic patterns was published in Ecological Entomology. 5 May 2023 - Congratulations to Nikki Guild on successful completion of her Honors Thesis! 29 Apr 2023 - Our paper showing that body mass and cuticular hydrocarbon profiles, but not queen number, underlie worker desiccation resistance in harvester ants, was published in the Journal of Comparative Physiology B! 22 April 2023 - Congratulations to Alycia Johnson and Nikki Guild on their posters winning second and third place at the USM Undergraduate Research Symposium! 14 Mar 2023 - Congratulations to PhD student Clayton Ziemke on receiving an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship to support his dissertation work on how hurricanes shape the ant fauna of Puerto Rico! 12 Aug 2022 - Our paper showing that multi-queen ant colonies have better heat tolerance has been published in the September/October issue of Physiological and Biochemical Zoology.