By Marlene Cimons, National Science Foundation
One of the big advantages to collecting and studying ants is that they are much less likely than vertebrates to land on any endangered species list. More importantly, scientists can use them as “surrogates” for other species that might.
“You can sample them easily and get lots of them,” said Brice Noonan, a University of Mississippi biologist. “Also, the things we observe in ants aren’t only applicable to ants. We can apply them to other organisms that are more difficult to sample.”
Noonan, assistant professor of biology at Ole Miss, is collaborating with entomologist Brian Fisher of the California Academy of Sciences, and Philip Ward, professor of entomology at the University of California-Davis, to study the ants of the Southwest Indian Ocean islands and adjacent portions of east Africa.
These islands are known for their exceptional biological diversity and high concentrations of endemic species. As land masses fragmented and islands formed over time, isolating the habitat, unique examples of flora and fauna evolved. Yet the area, particularly the insects of the region, has been poorly studied.
The goal of the research is to obtain data about the region’s evolution and biodiversity, information that could prove especially valuable for conservation efforts. “For example, if we are interested in where a park might be placed, we can go in and explore the biodiversity in the area using ants,” Noonan said.
“We might not be able to get an adequate sample of frogs and snakes,” he added. “But if we see a particular pattern with ants in a certain patch, and if that pattern is repeated across different lineages of ants, it would be reasonable to assume it likely applies to other organisms that live in these places.”
Ants offer a diversified selection of life histories, which makes their experiences relevant to other groups of animals, he said. For example, some ant colonies are ruled by queens with wings, meaning they can fly and disperse across the landscape. Others are led by queens without wings, who cannot easily change locations.
“The ones that can disperse readily (fly) might have similarities to other things that can move, such as birds,” Noonan said. “The ones who can’t may exhibit patterns representative of organisms that have difficulty dispersing, like amphibians, which can’t swim across the ocean. Because of this diversity, different groups of ants may provide insight into the evolution of different groups of organisms.”
Ants of this region are the perfect study subjects to better understand the process of evolution, the finer points of biogeography, and to explore the effects of global climate change, Noonan said.
“With the aid of novel DNA sequencing technologies, and recently developed analyses that elucidate the impact of climate on these organisms, we are uniquely poised to answer some of the more pressing questions in evolutionary and conservation biology,” he said. “With a DNA-derived concept of species diversity, we can then use ecological modeling analyses to understand what factors influence distributions, use this to understand the impacts of past climate changes, and make predictions of the impacts of climate change in the next 100 years.”
Noonan’s work is funded by a $178,333 grant from the National Science Foundation, while Fisher is receiving $1,908,517 and Ward, $276,489, each of the grants spread over five years. The awards are part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Among other things, the money will help employ and train “the next generation of scientists,” Noonan said.
For example, the grant has enabled Stuart Nielson, a graduate student who works with Noonan, to receive training critical to his academic development, Noonan said. “With these funds, Stuart is developing novel genetic markers for ants with which he is exploring their evolution,” Noonan said. “These recently developed methods will greatly benefit him in his own research, and make him more competitive for academic employment in the future.”
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