Nate Sanders
Friday, October 17, 2008 - 8:30-9:00
Ants are ubiquitous in terrestrial ecosystems where they act as dominant predators, seed dispersers, soil bioturbators, and mutualists. Our ongoing work in Great Smoky Mountains National Park has shown that temperature is a key determinant of ant diversity and abundance. But if temperature continues to increase will ants, and the roles the play in ecosystems, disappear? In this talk, I will summarize what is known about the role that temperature plays in shaping ant diversity, abundance, and the ecosystem functions they provide. In addition, I will briefly introduce a global change experiment and models we are conducting to examine how climatic change might alter ant communities and the ecosystem functions they provide.
Keywords: ANTS, PREDATORS, SEED DISPERSERS, TEMPERATURE