Department Profiles

I am a student in the laboratory of Dr. Walter Tschinkel and feel privileged to conduct my research in the beautiful Apalachicola National Forest, just 15 minutes south of FSU. During my time at FSU, I have received the NSF Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant (DDIG) and departmental scholarships to attend short courses on respirometry and ant taxonomy and was awarded an interdisciplinary NSF fellowship to conduct research on the history and philosophy of science. When not attending discussion groups on clonal organisms or animal behavior, I relish tying knots of 38-gauge wire around the waists of ants or vacuuming them out of 9-foot-deep nests in the local forest. Although I came to FSU as an entomologist, I have published with geochronologists, archeologists, philosophers, and historians and have even taken courses in scientific illustration and ornithology. I have also enjoyed unimaginable field experiences (including capturing sharks) at behest of my fellow grad students who are always eager to share their knowledge and enthusiasm. Being part of a department that consistently transforms students into experts has been a truly gratifying experience!

My dissertation asks how colonies of the (fabulous) Florida harvester ants (Pogonomyrmex badius) allocate labor to competing tasks, such as brood care, nest construction, and foraging.  I have demonstrated that the ratios of workers belonging to each labor group must change in response to seasonal differences in colony need in order for colonies to optimize growth and reproduction. My experimental findings support the idea that colony-level selection has shaped worker age-frequency distributions so that developmentally appropriate workers are aligned with the temporal availability of resources and other predictable events during the annual cycle (Kwapich & Tschinkel 2013).

Much like cells in a body, the rate at which workers in a colony senesce should trace the lifespan imposed on them by their environment. If the risk of externally induced mortality is high, selection for inexpensive, “disposable soma” (workers) is predicted. My work demonstrates that a 5-fold difference in the age at first foraging, lifespan, and rate of cuticle darkening occurs seasonally in the Florida harvester ant. In the absence of external mortality factors (from neighbors, etc.), longevity in both of its worker types can be significantly increased, indicating that an individual’s realized lifespan and potential lifespan are not congruent. Using flow-through respirometry and stable isotope analysis, my current work focuses on metabolism and colony investment in these two distinct worker types. I am excited to connect physiological data to what I’ve learned at the colony and population-level in Florida harvester ants.