2017 is shaping up to be a nice year as our most recent paper on some new Pheidole species in Oklahoma was just published! Pheidole are a really fascinating and speciose genus that has a dimorphic workforce that is comprised of both minor and major workers. Fittingly, they are commonly called big-headed ants! In thisContinue reading “NEW PAPER OUT! The Pheidole (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Oklahoma: new species records and distributional notes”
Author Archives: karoeder
NEW PAPER OUT! Sodium co-limits and catalyzes macronutrients in a prairie food web
“Nitrogen and phosphorus frequently limit terrestrial plant production, but have a mixed record in regulating the abundance of terrestrial invertebrates. We contrasted four ways that Na could interact with an NP fertilizer to shape the plants and invertebrates of an inland prairie. We applied NP and Na to m² plots in a factorial design. AbovegroundContinue reading “NEW PAPER OUT! Sodium co-limits and catalyzes macronutrients in a prairie food web”
November updates and a little break…
November has been a great month so far. My first dissertation chapter was accepted in Ecology, we have a different paper that just came back with positive reviews, and a third ant taxonomy/species distribution paper is also in review. I have been plugging away at the flood manuscript with Mike and Diane and hope to submitContinue reading “November updates and a little break…”
NEW PAPER OUT! From cryptic herbivore to predator: stable isotopes reveal consistent variability in trophic levels in an ant population
We are incredibly excited to announce that our work on fire ants and isotopes has just been accepted in Ecology! The work primarily revolves around understanding trophic variation across a population of one of the model organisms of myrmecology: the red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta. Essentially, we are looking at where you rank in aContinue reading “NEW PAPER OUT! From cryptic herbivore to predator: stable isotopes reveal consistent variability in trophic levels in an ant population”
The Ants of Oklahoma: a collaborative project
Knowing your study organism(s) is one of the most important things for an ecologist as it can lead to amazing insights and future ideas about how the natural world works. For me, those study organisms are the ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). With help from collaborators and friends, we have started to publish exciting, but relatively small,Continue reading “The Ants of Oklahoma: a collaborative project”
September Musings – Conferences, Experiments, Papers, and more…
The month of August was fantastic. Mike and I reworked the isotope manuscript. I found some wonderfully cool ants at the University of Oklahoma Biological Station. And I made headway on my massive experiment for my dissertation. All in all, a good month. September is now here and I think it may be the bestContinue reading “September Musings – Conferences, Experiments, Papers, and more…”
NEW PAPER OUT! A checklist and assemblage comparison of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma
I am excited to announce our first paper of 2016! This was a really fun project that we worked on in the latter half of 2015 with new county and state records for a number of ant species. We also found interesting differences in patterns of local diversity between habitat types. We hope to follow this work upContinue reading “NEW PAPER OUT! A checklist and assemblage comparison of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma”
Summer heat and mid field season update!
This summer has been quite the adventure. I have been trying out a few different techniques, reading a ton of literature, and trying not to go crazy with all of the ideas. As of this week my first dissertation chapter was submitted and I just got the acceptance letter for our Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge AntContinue reading “Summer heat and mid field season update!”
Interview with an Ant Geek
A couple of weeks ago, I was asked for an interview about some of the work we are doing on ants in Oklahoma. I had a wonderful time answering questions about why I do some of the things that I do and frankly just gushing about ants. The piece just came out and I have scannedContinue reading “Interview with an Ant Geek”
Ant Ecology in New Mexico
New Mexico is a beautiful state. Despite its proximity to both Texas and Oklahoma, I really haven’t spent much time here. At the end of May, I was fortunate to join a team from the Kaspari lab who are resurveying ant transects that were initially measured 20 years ago. They are doing a lot of really cool,Continue reading “Ant Ecology in New Mexico”
Roeder Lab 