Understanding Ant Overwintering under Climate Change and Urbanization

Chelsea Miller, Ph.D., The University of Akron Department of Biology

Photo by Alexandria Szakacs, under CC-BY license

Project Description:

We are looking for an undergraduate student to join our team this fall as part of UA’s Tiered Mentoring program. You’ll work alongside an existing team of TM students and graduate students to study how climate change and urbanization are reshaping ant overwintering strategies. This process is critical for forest ecosystems because ants are both sensitive indicators of environmental change and key players in maintaining ecosystem health through roles such as nutrient cycling, soil turnover, and seed dispersal.

Students will get hands-on training in field collection of ant colonies, colony rearing and care in the lab, and deployment of experimental warming chambers at the UA Field Station and sites across Akron. Although your main focus will be ecological questions, you may also have opportunities to collaborate with students in Dr. Londraville’s lab to explore the physiological mechanisms of dormancy.

Our warming experiments use custom-built open-air chambers that simulate warmer winters (+3°C and +5°C) in both urban and rural sites. Ant colonies are placed in containers with natural nest materials (acorns, hickories, walnuts) inside these chambers, where they experience real weather plus our controlled warming conditions.

Expectations:

As a Tiered Mentoring student in our lab, you will help monitor colonies twice a week throughout the entire winter season, collecting data on survival, nest choice, foraging and behavior to track how different species and populations of forest ants respond to altered winter conditions.

This position is a great chance to gain meaningful research experience in ecology while contributing to important questions about how small but vital forest organisms interact with our rapidly changing environment.