Science Night Live: Chasing Demonic Ants In Mayan Ruins, And Other Stories

Title: Chasing Demonic Ants In Mayan Ruins, And Other Stories

Featuring: Professor Jack Longino – Biology

Ants are a dominant component of tropical ecosystems, but like most tropical life the diversity is threatened by massive habitat conversion. My research has focused on documenting ant diversity in Central America, taking students up and down mountains and through the mud to sample ants in the last fragments of conserved forest. Back in the lab, DNA analysis is clarifying the fundamental nature of species diversity, both the how and the when of diversification across the MesoAmerican landscape.