CAREER: Working with student scientists to understand global patterns in the present and future ecological consequences of ants

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Understanding the distribution of species and the processes they mediate is a major focus of ecology. Yet no studies model the consequences of ecologically important animal groups across the globe. In part, the difficulty stems from the fact that the best-studied groups globally (i.e., birds, mammals), are also among the most difficult ones to study in terms of their ecological effects. Because dominant insect groups such as ants have large, direct ecological effects, processes mediated by insects are easier to study. But studies of these effects have been limited by the lack of global data on insect assemblages, geographic ranges and diversity patterns. Taking advantage of a global network of collaborators and a student scientist outreach program, the proposed work will investigate the climatic drivers of the diversity and abundance of different functional groups of ants (e.g., predators, herbivores or generalist foragers) at global and local scales and develop global models of rates and dynamics of the impact of ants based on field data. These impacts will include predation, nectar and other sugar consumption, seed consumption, and seed dispersal by ants. It will then examine whether changes in temperature, due to experimental warming in outdoor arrays, influence ant functional effects as expected based on global models. Finally, a synthetic model of global patterns in ecological functions mediated by ants will be developed and used to project changes in those functions under climate change scenarios. This proposed research program tests these and other scenarios and then uses the results of the tests to develop synthetic models of the effects of ant communities (and changes in ant communities) on plant and animal communities both today and in the context of global change.Course modules will be developed for 7-12th graders in the US (in schools predominately serving minorities) and around the world that teach participants about climate change, insects, and biogeography. All learning modules will be made available online so that any student scientist that wishes can participate in the project. In addition, this project will involve undergraduate, graduate students and postdocs in every component, including interactions with the younger students. All data will be posted on our existing 'global ants' website (http://www.antmacroecology.org/) and permanently archived in the Harvard Forest Archives (http://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu).