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.
19 June 2024- Congratulations to PhD Candidate Karen Robles López on receiving the 2024 Tschinkel Ant Natural History Research Grant from the North American Section of the International Union for the Study of Social Insects! This grant will support her dissertation work exploring the relationship between the army ant Eciton burchellii and the Azteca that forage their middens.