BIO

I am an organismal biologist interested in questions related to the evolution of symbioses, phylogenomics, taxonomy, and biodiversity and conservation. My research integrates tra­ditional morphological tools, with cutting-edge genomic methods, field observation, museum and herbaria preserved specimens, and natural history data to address these questions and by investigating fungus-farming (attine) ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), which include the most conspicuous and charis­matic neotropi­cal insects, the leaf-cutter ants. These ants engage in a multipartite symbiosis with basidio­mycete fungi they cul­tivate for food, specialized ascomycete fungi that parasitize the ant’s fungal cultivar, and antibiotic-producing actinomycete bacte­ria that the ants grow on their bodies and use to control mi­crobial parasites.

 

Currently, I am a research entomologist at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, where I am working on a project funded by an NSF Dimensions Grant. This project involves studying the multipartite fungus-farming ant symbiosis using genomics and chemical ecology, in collaboration with colleagues from institutions in the US and Brazil.