@article{knollenberg_brune_harrison_savage_2021, title={Identifying a community capital investment portfolio to sustain a tourism workforce}, volume={30}, ISSN={0966-9582 1747-7646}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09669582.2021.1890094}, DOI={10.1080/09669582.2021.1890094}, abstractNote={Abstract Members of the tourism workforce are a crucial resource, whose quality and quantity determine the success of tourism businesses and destinations. Yet, they are frequently subjected to social, psychological, and economic stressors which can result in isolation from destination communities or limited interest in participation in the tourism workforce. Both of these outcomes threaten the sustainability of tourism businesses and destinations, but more importantly create a working environment that can be unjust or unsafe for tourism workforce members. This study relies upon the community capitals framework to identify the resources that currently support the tourism workforce in an island community whose economic and social structure is heavily reliant upon tourism. Analysis of data from in-depth interviews and focus groups with thirty-seven tourism stakeholders reveals the social, cultural, human, and natural capital assets used to support a tourism workforce. An “investment portfolio” for these capitals offers development strategies that can be implemented to help sustain the tourism workforce.}, number={12}, journal={Journal of Sustainable Tourism}, publisher={Informa UK Limited}, author={Knollenberg, Whitney and Brune, Sara and Harrison, Jane and Savage, Ann E.}, year={2021}, month={Feb}, pages={2806–2822} } @article{penick_savage_dunn_2015, title={Stable isotopes reveal links between human food inputs and urban ant diets}, volume={282}, ISSN={0962-8452 1471-2954}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.2608}, DOI={10.1098/rspb.2014.2608}, abstractNote={ The amount of energy consumed within an average city block is an order of magnitude higher than that consumed in any other ecosystem over a similar area. This is driven by human food inputs, but the consequence of these resources for urban animal populations is poorly understood. We investigated the role of human foods in ant diets across an urbanization gradient in Manhattan using carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes. We found that some—but not all—ant species living in Manhattan's most urbanized habitats had δ 13 C signatures associated with processed human foods. In particular, pavement ants ( Tetramorium sp. E) had increased levels of δ 13 C similar to δ 13 C levels in human fast foods. The magnitude of this effect was positively correlated with urbanization. By contrast, we detected no differences in δ 15 N, suggesting Tetramorium feeds at the same trophic level despite shifting to human foods. This pattern persisted across the broader ant community; species in traffic islands used human resources more than park species. Our results demonstrate that the degree urban ants exploit human resources changes across the city and among species, and this variation could play a key role in community structure and ecosystem processes where human and animal food webs intersect. }, number={1806}, journal={Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences}, publisher={The Royal Society}, author={Penick, Clint A. and Savage, Amy M. and Dunn, Robert R.}, year={2015}, month={May}, pages={20142608} } @article{lucky_savage_nichols_castracani_shell_grasso_mori_dunn_2014, title={Ecologists, educators, and writers collaborate with the public to assess backyard diversity in The School of Ants Project}, volume={5}, ISSN={["2150-8925"]}, url={http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-84905233273&partnerID=MN8TOARS}, DOI={10.1890/es13-00364.1}, abstractNote={Citizen science can generate data that would not exist otherwise while increasing public scientific literacy. However, the quality and use of citizen science data have been criticized in the recent ecological literature. We need an approach that advances eco‐evolutionary understanding, achieves education goals and incorporates public participation into as many aspects of the scientific process as possible. We collaborated with public participants to make new discoveries about the distribution and ecology of ants while informing the next studies that participants and scientists might perform together. We implemented the School of Ants (SoA) program in which participants sample ants that are identified by taxonomic experts. Using a comprehensive framework that meets the needs of multiple agents, we also developed outreach materials about ant biology, collaborated with educators to incorporate SoA into classroom science, and launched an international SoA module in Italy. In the first 17 months, SoA volunteers collected ants at 500 unique sites across the USA‐including all 50 states and Washington, D.C. To address concerns about the validity of citizen scientist‐derived data, we conducted a ground truthing trial that confirmed that trained and untrained volunteers were equally effective at collecting ants. Data from SoA samples indicate that ant diversity varies across wide geographic scales and that there can be high levels of native ant diversity where people live. SoA volunteers collected 7 exotic and 107 native ant species. Although exotic ants were common, ants native to North America occurred in ∼70% of all sites. Many of the ants common in backyards were species that tend to be very poorly studied. For example, citizen scientists documented a range extension of more than 2000 miles for the Asian Needle Ant, Pachycondyla chinensis. Using SoA data as a starting point, we collaborated with a science writer to produce a free, interactive iBook about the common ants in North America; the book included distribution maps such as that for P. chinensis informed by participant collections. Moving forward, we plan to leverage this existing framework to address more complex ecological and evolutionary questions in partnership with our public participants.}, number={7}, journal={ECOSPHERE}, author={Lucky, Andrea and Savage, Amy M. and Nichols, Lauren M. and Castracani, Cristina and Shell, Leonora and Grasso, Donato A. and Mori, Alessandra and Dunn, Robert R.}, year={2014}, month={Jul} } @article{savage_hackett_guenard_youngsteadt_dunn_2015, title={Fine-scale heterogeneity across Manhattan's urban habitat mosaic is associated with variation in ant composition and richness}, volume={8}, ISSN={["1752-4598"]}, url={http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-84929312219&partnerID=MN8TOARS}, DOI={10.1111/icad.12098}, abstractNote={Abstract Global urbanisation is rapidly expanding and most of the world's humans now live in cities. Most ecological studies have, however, focused on protected areas. To address this issue, we tested predictions from studies of protected areas in urban ecosystems. Because most cities are heterogeneous habitat mosaics which include habitats with varying levels of chronic environmental stress, we focused on predictions from studies of less modified ecosystems about community‐wide responses to variation in chronic stress. We sampled ants across Manhattan's urban habitat mosaic, at sites with varying levels of chronic environmental stress. Many predictions derived from less modified ecosystems were supported by our findings: despite being the most intensively sampled habitat, high stress urban medians had less variability in ant composition –both within and among sites – than either urban parks or urban forests, the lowest stress habitat – urban forests‐had significantly more accumulated species and a higher number of unique species than higher stress habitats, and urban parks, which have intermediate levels of chronic environmental stress, also had intermediate levels of variation in among‐site species composition, accumulated species richness, and the incidence of unique species. The most common species also differed across Manhattan's urban habitat mosaic. Nevertheless, the prediction that exotic species would occur more frequently in higher stress habitats was not supported; exotic species were equally common across all habitats. These findings suggest that fine‐scale heterogeneity in the chronic stress of urban habitats may be an underappreciated, but important structuring force for urban animal communities. }, number={3}, journal={INSECT CONSERVATION AND DIVERSITY}, author={Savage, Amy M. and Hackett, Britne and Guenard, Benoit and Youngsteadt, Elsa K. and Dunn, Robert R.}, year={2015}, month={May}, pages={216–228} } @article{youngsteadt_henderson_savage_ernst_dunn_frank_2015, title={Habitat and species identity, not diversity, predict the extent of refuse consumption by urban arthropods}, volume={21}, ISSN={["1365-2486"]}, url={http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-84923107777&partnerID=MN8TOARS}, DOI={10.1111/gcb.12791}, abstractNote={AbstractUrban green spaces provide ecosystem services to city residents, but their management is hindered by a poor understanding of their ecology. We examined a novel ecosystem service relevant to urban public health and esthetics: the consumption of littered food waste by arthropods. Theory and data from natural systems suggest that the magnitude and resilience of this service should increase with biological diversity. We measured food removal by presenting known quantities of cookies, potato chips, and hot dogs in street medians (24 sites) and parks (21 sites) in New York City, USA. At the same sites, we assessed ground‐arthropod diversity and abiotic conditions, including history of flooding during Hurricane Sandy 7 months prior to the study. Arthropod diversity was greater in parks (on average 11 hexapod families and 4.7 ant species per site), than in medians (nine hexapod families and 2.7 ant species per site). However, counter to our diversity‐based prediction, arthropods in medians removed 2–3 times more food per day than did those in parks. We detected no effect of flooding (at 19 sites) on this service. Instead, greater food removal was associated with the presence of the introduced pavement ant (Tetramorium sp. E) and with hotter, drier conditions that may have increased arthropod metabolism. When vertebrates also had access to food, more was removed, indicating that arthropods and vertebrates compete for littered food. We estimate that arthropods alone could remove 4–6.5 kg of food per year in a single street median, reducing its availability to less desirable fauna such as rats. Our results suggest that species identity and habitat may be more relevant than diversity for predicting urban ecosystem services. Even small green spaces such as street medians provide ecosystem services that may complement those of larger habitat patches across the urban landscape.}, number={3}, journal={GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY}, author={Youngsteadt, Elsa and Henderson, Ryanna C. and Savage, Amy M. and Ernst, Andrew F. and Dunn, Robert R. and Frank, Steven D.}, year={2015}, month={Mar}, pages={1103–1115} } @article{savage_rudgers_2013, title={Non-additive benefit or cost? Disentangling the indirect effects that occur when plants bearing extrafloral nectaries and honeydew-producing insects share exotic ant mutualists}, volume={111}, number={6}, journal={Annals of Botany}, author={Savage, A. M. and Rudgers, J. A.}, year={2013}, pages={1295–1307} }