1st pub for 2023 just came out in the Journal of Hymenoptera Research! This was a lovely collaboration between SDSU entomologists (Abigail Martens and Paul Johnson) and our bee group at USDA-ARS NCARL (Eric Beckendorf, Louis Hesler, Jesse Daniels, and myself). We compiled specimen and literature records for bumble bees collected over the past 130Continue reading “NEW PAPER OUT! A checklist of South Dakota bumble bees (Hymenoptera, Apidae)”
Category Archives: Ecology
NEW PAPER OUT! Importance of color for artificial clay caterpillars as sentinel prey in maize, soybean, and prairie
5th pub for 2022 just came out in Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata! This was Matt Dorland’s summer project from an USDA Plains Area internship during our first field season here in South Dakota. We set out almost 2000 caterpillars in corn fields, soybean fields, and prairie near Brookings to test whether the color of sentinel preyContinue reading “NEW PAPER OUT! Importance of color for artificial clay caterpillars as sentinel prey in maize, soybean, and prairie”
NEW PAPER OUT! Woody perennial polycultures increase ant diversity and ant-mediated ecosystem services compared to conventional corn-soybean rotations
3rd pub for 2022 just came out in Agriculture, Ecosystems, and Environment! This work is the first paper from my postdoc at UIUC with Dr. Alex Harmon-Threatt. We measured ants and how much insect prey ants were consuming in woody perennial polycultures and corn-soybean rotations monthly for an entire year! Our abstract sums up our resultsContinue reading “NEW PAPER OUT! Woody perennial polycultures increase ant diversity and ant-mediated ecosystem services compared to conventional corn-soybean rotations”
NEW PAPER OUT! Testing the role of body size and litter depth on invertebrate diversity across six forests in North America
Probably the last pub for 2021 or our first for 2022. This paper in Ecology is technically my last “official” dissertation chapter and it feels fantastic to get it out. To provide some background, I started working on this project in the summer of 2014 and spent almost a year measuring >40000 mites, springtails, andContinue reading “NEW PAPER OUT! Testing the role of body size and litter depth on invertebrate diversity across six forests in North America”
NEW PAPER OUT! Thermal traits predict the winners and losers under climate change: an example from North American ant communities
Our next pub for 2021 was just published in Ecosphere. This paper marks one of many papers from our group from our resampling events across the United States that took place in 2017 and 2018. In collaboration with Jelena Bujan, Kirsten de Beurs, Michael Weiser, and Michael Kaspari, we asked which ant genera are increasingContinue reading “NEW PAPER OUT! Thermal traits predict the winners and losers under climate change: an example from North American ant communities”
NEW PAPER OUT! Testing effects of invasive fire ants and disturbance on ant communities of the longleaf pine ecosystem
1st pub for 2021 was just published in Ecological Entomology. This manuscript was a few years in the making as Julian Resasco and I originally talked about this back in ~2018. After a few job changes and moves, I am happy to say we finally finished it up! Broadly, we were interested in how disturbance andContinue reading “NEW PAPER OUT! Testing effects of invasive fire ants and disturbance on ant communities of the longleaf pine ecosystem”
NEW PAPER OUT! Bioenergy landscapes drive trophic shifts in generalist ants
The 6th and likely last pub for 2020 was just published in Journal of Animal Ecology. Led by Jackson Helms IV, this paper investigates isotopic and trophic relationships of ants in corn, switchgrass, and restored prairies in Michigan. A summary from Jackson in JAE… Changes in trophic niche—the pathways through which an organism obtains energy andContinue reading “NEW PAPER OUT! Bioenergy landscapes drive trophic shifts in generalist ants”
NEW PAPER OUT! Thermal diversity of North American ant communities: Cold tolerance but not heat tolerance tracks ecosystem temperature
Our second NEON ants and 5th pub for 2020 was just published in Global Ecology and Biogeography. Led by Jelena Bujan, this is our first paper linking physiological traits like critical thermal max and min (CTmax and CTmin ) to different environmental abiotic conditions at a large geographical scale. A summary from Jelena in GEB… “InContinue reading “NEW PAPER OUT! Thermal diversity of North American ant communities: Cold tolerance but not heat tolerance tracks ecosystem temperature”
NEW PAPER OUT! Seasonal plasticity of thermal tolerance in ants
Great to see another publication out from one of my favorite places to do field work, the University of Oklahoma Biological Station. This is the 4th pub for 2020, which is shaping up to be quite the productive year! Recently published in Ecology, Jelena and I were interested in seeing if thermal tolerance, an importantContinue reading “NEW PAPER OUT! Seasonal plasticity of thermal tolerance in ants”
NEW PAPER OUT! Invasive Saltcedar and Drought Impact Ant Communities and Isopods in South-Central Nebraska
It has been a busy March as our third paper of 2020 was recently published in Environmental Entomology! This was a fun collaboration with Wyatt Hoback at Oklahoma State University, who I first met while working on our Ants of Oklahoma project. We decided to tackle a data set that had been collected almost 15Continue reading “NEW PAPER OUT! Invasive Saltcedar and Drought Impact Ant Communities and Isopods in South-Central Nebraska”
Roeder Lab 