@article{boggs_moorman_hazel_greenberg_sorger_sorenson_2020, title={Ground-Dwelling Invertebrate Abundance Positively Related to Volume of Logging Residues in the Southern Appalachians, USA}, volume={11}, ISSN={1999-4907}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/f11111149}, DOI={10.3390/f11111149}, abstractNote={Invertebrates, especially those dependent on woody debris for a portion of their life cycle, may be greatly impacted by the amount of downed wood retained following timber harvests. To document relationships between invertebrates and logging residues, we sampled invertebrates with pitfall traps placed near or far from woody debris in 10 recently (2013–2015) harvested sites in western North Carolina with varying levels of woody debris retention. We measured the groundcover and microclimate at each trap and estimated site-level woody debris volume. We modeled predictors (e.g., site-level woody debris volume, percent woody debris cover at the trap site, site type) of captures of spiders (Araneae), harvestmen (Opiliones), centipedes/millipedes (Chilopoda/Diplopoda), ground beetles (Carabidae), rove beetles (Staphylinidae), other beetles, ants (Formicidae), grasshoppers (Acrididae/Tetrigidae), crickets (Gryllidae), and cave crickets (Rhaphidophoridae). In addition, we modeled ant occurrence at a finer taxonomic resolution, including red imported fire ants (Solenopsis invicta Buren) and 13 other genera/species. Forest type, whether hardwood or white pine (Pinus strobus L.) overstory preharvest, was a predictor of invertebrate response for 21 of 24 taxonomic analyses. Invertebrate captures or the occurrence probability of ants increased with increasing site-level woody debris volume for 13 of the 24 taxa examined and increased with increasing coarse woody debris (CWD; diameter ≥ 10 cm) cover at the trap level for seven of 24 taxa examined. Our results indicate that woody debris in harvested sites is important for the conservation of a majority of the taxa we studied, which is likely because of the unique microclimate offered near/under woody debris. Stand-scale factors typically were more important predictors of invertebrate response than trap-level cover of woody debris. We recommend implementing sustainability strategies (e.g., Biomass Harvesting Guidelines) to retain woody debris scattered across harvested sites to aid in the conservation of invertebrates.}, number={11}, journal={Forests}, publisher={MDPI AG}, author={Boggs, April D. and Moorman, Christopher E. and Hazel, Dennis W. and Greenberg, Cathryn H. and Sorger, D. Magdalena and Sorenson, Clyde E.}, year={2020}, month={Oct}, pages={1149} }
 @article{matos-maravi_matzke_larabee_clouse_wheeler_sorger_suarez_janda_2018, title={Taxon cycle predictions supported by model-based inference in Indo-Pacific trap-jaw ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Odontomachus)}, volume={27}, ISSN={["1365-294X"]}, DOI={10.1111/mec.14835}, abstractNote={AbstractNonequilibrium dynamics and non‐neutral processes, such as trait‐dependent dispersal, are often missing from quantitative island biogeography models despite their potential explanatory value. One of the most influential nonequilibrium models is the taxon cycle, but it has been difficult to test its validity as a general biogeographical framework. Here, we test predictions of the taxon cycle model using six expected phylogenetic patterns and a time‐calibrated phylogeny of Indo‐Pacific Odontomachus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Ponerinae), one of the ant genera that E.O. Wilson used when first proposing the hypothesis. We used model‐based inference and a newly developed trait‐dependent dispersal model to jointly estimate ancestral biogeography, ecology (habitat preferences for forest interiors, vs. “marginal” habitats, such as savannahs, shorelines, disturbed areas) and the linkage between ecology and dispersal rates. We found strong evidence that habitat shifts from forest interior to open and disturbed habitats increased macroevolutionary dispersal rate. In addition, lineages occupying open and disturbed habitats can give rise to both island endemics re‐occupying only forest interiors and taxa that re‐expand geographical ranges. The phylogenetic predictions outlined in this study can be used in future work to evaluate the relative weights of neutral (e.g., geographical distance and area) and non‐neutral (e.g., trait‐dependent dispersal) processes in historical biogeography and community ecology.}, number={20}, journal={MOLECULAR ECOLOGY}, author={Matos-Maravi, Pavel and Matzke, Nicholas J. and Larabee, Fredrick J. and Clouse, Ronald M. and Wheeler, Ward C. and Sorger, Daniela Magdalena and Suarez, Andrew V. and Janda, Milan}, year={2018}, month={Oct}, pages={4090–4107} }
 @article{madden_epps_fukami_irwin_sheppard_sorger_dunn_2018, title={The ecology of insect–yeast relationships and its relevance to human industry}, volume={285}, ISSN={0962-8452 1471-2954}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2017.2733}, DOI={10.1098/rspb.2017.2733}, abstractNote={Many species of yeast are integral to human society. They produce many of our foods, beverages and industrial chemicals, challenge us as pathogens, and provide models for the study of our own biology. However, few species are regularly studied and much of their ecology remains unclear, hindering the development of knowledge that is needed to improve the relationships between humans and yeasts. There is increasing evidence that insects are an essential component of ascomycetous yeast ecology. We propose a ‘dispersal–encounter hypothesis' whereby yeasts are dispersed by insects between ephemeral, spatially disparate sugar resources, and insects, in turn, obtain the benefits of an honest signal from yeasts for the sugar resources. We review the relationship between yeasts and insects through three main examples: social wasps, social bees and beetles, with some additional examples from fruit flies. Ultimately, we suggest that over the next decades, consideration of these ecological and evolutionary relationships between insects and yeasts will allow prediction of where new yeast diversity is most likely to be discovered, particularly yeasts with traits of interest to human industry.}, number={1875}, journal={Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences}, publisher={The Royal Society}, author={Madden, Anne A. and Epps, Mary Jane and Fukami, Tadashi and Irwin, Rebecca E. and Sheppard, John and Sorger, D. Magdalena and Dunn, Robert R.}, year={2018}, month={Mar}, pages={20172733} }
 @article{gibb_dunn_sanders_grossman_photakis_abril_agosti_andersen_angulo_armbrecht_et al._2017, title={A global database of ant species abundances}, volume={98}, ISSN={["1939-9170"]}, DOI={10.1002/ecy.1682}, abstractNote={AbstractWhat forces structure ecological assemblages? A key limitation to general insights about assemblage structure is the availability of data that are collected at a small spatial grain (local assemblages) and a large spatial extent (global coverage). Here, we present published and unpublished data from 51 ,388 ant abundance and occurrence records of more than 2,693 species and 7,953 morphospecies from local assemblages collected at 4,212 locations around the world. Ants were selected because they are diverse and abundant globally, comprise a large fraction of animal biomass in most terrestrial communities, and are key contributors to a range of ecosystem functions. Data were collected between 1949 and 2014, and include, for each geo‐referenced sampling site, both the identity of the ants collected and details of sampling design, habitat type, and degree of disturbance. The aim of compiling this data set was to provide comprehensive species abundance data in order to test relationships between assemblage structure and environmental and biogeographic factors. Data were collected using a variety of standardized methods, such as pitfall and Winkler traps, and will be valuable for studies investigating large‐scale forces structuring local assemblages. Understanding such relationships is particularly critical under current rates of global change. We encourage authors holding additional data on systematically collected ant assemblages, especially those in dry and cold, and remote areas, to contact us and contribute their data to this growing data set.}, number={3}, journal={ECOLOGY}, author={Gibb, Heloise and Dunn, Rob R. and Sanders, Nathan J. and Grossman, Blair F. and Photakis, Manoli and Abril, Silvia and Agosti, Donat and Andersen, Alan N. and Angulo, Elena and Armbrecht, Inge and et al.}, year={2017}, month={Mar}, pages={883–884} }
 @article{sorger_booth_eshete_lowman_moffett_2017, title={Outnumbered: a new dominant ant species with genetically diverse supercolonies in Ethiopia}, volume={64}, ISSN={["1420-9098"]}, DOI={10.1007/s00040-016-0524-9}, number={1}, journal={INSECTES SOCIAUX}, author={Sorger, D. M. and Booth, W. and Eshete, A. Wassie and Lowman, M. and Moffett, M. W.}, year={2017}, month={Feb}, pages={141–147} }
 @article{sorger_2015, title={Snap! Trap-jaw ants in Borneo also jump using their legs}, volume={13}, ISSN={["1540-9309"]}, DOI={10.1890/1540-9295-13.10.574}, abstractNote={A wide variety of animals jump – kangaroos, frogs, grasshoppers, and even humans – but one rarely sees this behavior in ants. Only three out of 326 ant genera (Bolton 2014) are known to jump using their legs: Gigantiops (Formicinae) in tropical South America, Harpegnathos (Ponerinae) in Southeast Asia, and Myrmecia (Myrmeciinae) in Australia, New Zealand, and New Caledonia. However, other ants have evolved the ability to jump by using their jaws. These so-called trap-jaw ants snap their jaws – specialized elongate mandibles also used to catch prey – closed onto a hard surface to propel themselves backwards and escape threats (Wheeler 1922; Patek et al. 2006). This behavior has been best-studied in Odontomachus and Anochetus (Ponerinae), two closely related genera, but there are a few references (Mayr 1887; Biró 1897; Creighton 1937) from a third unrelated genus, Strumigenys (Myrmicinae). These tiny ants can jump as far as 47 cm, over 100 times their body length (Biró 1897). This curious behavior has not been mentioned in the literature since 1937 and may be rare, or else seen but not reported. In 2011, I received a grant to study trap-jaw ants along elevational gradients in Borneo. I focused on a common species in Southeast Asia, Odontomachus rixosus (Figure 1). These ants are relatively large (1.3 cm) and live on the complex forest floor. As part of the project, I was mapping nests and collecting individuals. One of my first field sites in Borneo was at Niah National Park, located in the heart of Sarawak. Upon discovering an O rixosus nest near the river banks in a recently flooded lowland rainforest, my local friend and field assistant Syria Lejau and I crouched down to collect some ants. But then we both froze – these ants were doing something I had never seen before. They were jumping. Forward. I subsequently observed this behavior many times at various locations throughout Sarawak; whenever I disturbed O rixosus nests, in addition to backwards-oriented mandible-jumps, ants would jump from leaf to leaf on the low vegetation and litter surrounding the nest entrance. These leg-powered jumps, spanning several inches, were forward-oriented (Figure 2a), and resembled the leaps of a jumping spider. Video recordings of this behavior are available on YouTube (www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOQgvlAakh4). I could not find any record of leg-powered jumps for this species in the literature. Odontomachus rixosus worker. Jumping trajectory of O rixosus in (a) a leg-powered jump and (b) a mandible-powered jump. In 2013, I returned to Borneo to document this newly discovered jumping behavior through a series of field and laboratory observations and experiments. Odontomachus' trap-jaw mechanism is a particularly well developed, hyper-fast motion, reaching speeds of over 60 m s−1 (Spagna et al. 2008). The ants have two distinct backwards-oriented, mandible-triggered jumps: a “bouncer defense jump” (Carlin and Gladstein 1989) and an “escape jump” (Patek et al. 2006). For the bouncer defense jump, the ants approach a large intruding object and then snap their jaws against it, propelling themselves backwards away from it. For the escape jump, they try to avoid an intruder by shutting their mandibles against the substrate, which propels them vertically into the air. The trap-jaw mechanism almost certainly evolved for prey capture, but over time the ants started using it for jumping as well (Spagna et al. 2009). Trap-jaw-triggered, backwards-oriented jumps generally appear erratic; the ants do not seem to direct their trajectories toward a target but rather try to move away from a threat quickly. As a result, they land haphazardly, often on their backs (Figure 2b). My research revealed that the previously undocumented leg-powered jumps in O rixosus always occurred as a result of disturbance, rather than general locomotion, and were directed at clear targets. I observed the behavior of workers after brushing leaf litter over nests with a wooden stick, and compared the results to undisturbed control nests; I never saw the ants jump unprovoked. In the field laboratory at Mulu National Park in Malaysian Borneo, I was able to induce leg-powered jumping only through targeted disturbance (ie touching the ant's legs). I also investigated whether ants relied on visual cues to orient their leg-powered jumps by presenting 12 ants from nine nests with a high-contrast and a low-contrast target. I disturbed the ants for 10 minutes and logged each jump. In total, I recorded 2825 jumps, 96% of which were forward-oriented leg-jumps, while the remainder were backwards-oriented, mandible-triggered jumps. On average, when performing leg-powered jumps the ants showed a slight preference to jump onto a dark rather than a white surface (ca 60%). The evolution of two distinct jumping behaviors in O rixosus is surprising. Why has a second jumping behavior evolved in this species? Other ant species where leg-jumping has evolved share several characteristics: (1) they are diurnal, solitary hunters that catch live prey and forage in the complex leaf litter (Gigantiops and Myrmecia also forage in the canopy; see Beugnon et al. 2001; Jayatilaka et al. 2014); (2) they possess relatively large eyes to track arthropod prey; and (3) they jump primarily to escape and to capture prey, although Gigantiops and Harpegnathos also use it for general locomotion (Urbani et al. 1994; Beugnon et al. 2001). Odontomachus can use mandible-jumping as an escape mechanism when startled, but this gives them little or no control over the direction or distance of their trajectory. When they use leg-jumping instead, there may be an advantage to using a directed motion where individuals land on their feet and are therefore able to make swift headway in a specific direction. Mandible-jumping results in a chaotic landing and is not suitable for this purpose (Figure 2b). Leg-jumping may therefore have evolved as a more efficient escape mechanism to increase fitness or to better traverse the complex leaf litter environment. In addition to using directed leg-powered jumping to flee from threats, O rixosus may also use it to capture prey. I did not observe O rixosus jumping during prey capture, but such observations would be problematic to document in the field, even if common, because of the difficulty of maintaining sight of individuals in the leaf litter. In addition, prey-capture-related jumps, if they occur, may be inconspicuous, as they are in Harpegnathos where the ants leap forward only short distances (usually about 2 cm) or progress by means of short forward “jerks” (Musthak Ali et al. 1992). So I cannot rule out the possibility that O rixosus' leg-jumping plays a role in prey capture. Successfully capturing live prey also requires strong visual abilities. All other leg-jumping ant species have extremely large eyes and while the eyes of Myrmecia are smaller than those of Gigantiops and Harpegnathos, the eyes of Odontomachus are smaller still (WebFigure 1). The eyes of O rixosus are no larger than those of other non-jumping congenerics. In the case of Odontomachus, jumping to catch prey may be less important because of their elaborate trap-jaw mechanism, including trigger hairs specifically designed to catch prey items at close range (Gronenberg 1995), which other leg-jumping species lack. However, vision must still play an important role in jumping; otherwise directed jumps like those from leaf to leaf would not be possible. Finally, it is entirely possible that species other than O rixosus also use leg-propelled jumps. Indeed, several colleagues have since shared anecdotal observations of jumping ants in other genera (outside of the known “jumping ants”). Sometimes it is hard to distinguish between an intentional leg-triggered jump and the directed falls exhibited by many ants. Nonetheless, leg-jumping is probably underreported and may be present in more ant species. If it is, I predict that they will tend to be species living in structurally complex environments such as the forest canopy or a leaf-litter-covered forest floor and that they have excellent vison, like other jumping ants. This project received funding from the Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research (2011), The Explorers Club Exploration Fund (2013), the Southeast Climate Science Center, and NSF-CAREER (09533390). Acknowledgements are given to Mulu National Park staff, Sarawak Forestry, CA Penick, MW Moffett, AV Suarez, DR Tarpy, AL Traud, and RR Dunn. Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article. Please see WebReferences}, number={10}, journal={FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT}, author={Sorger, D. Magdalena}, year={2015}, month={Dec}, pages={574–575} }
 @misc{macgown_boudinot_deyrup_sorger_2014, title={A review of the Nearctic Odontomachus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Ponerinae) with a treatment of the males}, volume={3802}, ISSN={["1175-5334"]}, DOI={10.11646/zootaxa.3802.4.6}, abstractNote={The ant genus Odontomachus Latreille in the United States is reviewed. Six species are treated: O. brunneus (Patton), O. clarus Roger, O. desertorum Wheeler stat. nov., O. relictus Deyrup and Cover, O. ruginodis M.R. Smith, and O. haematodus (Linnaeus), a new record for North America. The spread of O. haematodus is documented, and its identity is clarified. The genus is diagnosed for species in the Nearctic region for all castes, and worker- and male-based keys are presented. The workers and males of all six species are described and figured, including the first male descriptions for O. haematodus and O. desertorum. This represents the first study of species-level variation in Odontomachus male genitalia, and one of the first of such studies of the Ponerinae for any biogeographic region. A discussion of the utility of the male sex for Odontomachus taxonomy is provided.}, number={4}, journal={ZOOTAXA}, author={Macgown, Joe A. and Boudinot, Brendon and Deyrup, Mark and Sorger, D. Magdalena}, year={2014}, month={May}, pages={515–552} }
 @article{sorger_2011, title={A new ant species from Borneo closely resembling Tetramorium flagellatum Bolton, 1977 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)}, volume={4}, journal={Asian Myrmecology}, author={Sorger, D. M.}, year={2011}, pages={1–7} }
 @article{zettel_sorger_2011, title={New myrmoteras ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from the Southeastern Philippines}, volume={59}, number={1}, journal={Raffles Bulletin of Zoology}, author={Zettel, H. and Sorger, D. M.}, year={2011}, pages={61–67} }
 @article{sorger_zettel_2011, title={On the ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of the Philippine Islands: V. The genus Odontomachus LATREILLE, 1804}, volume={14}, journal={Myrmecological News}, author={Sorger, D. M. and Zettel, H.}, year={2011}, pages={141–163} }
 @article{sorger_2011, title={Redescription and history of Vombisidris jacobsoni (Forel, 1915) (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)}, volume={118}, number={1}, journal={Revue Suisse de Zoologie}, author={Sorger, D. M.}, year={2011}, pages={149–155} }