Edward O. Wilson Profile
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Following the Trail of Ants: an Examination of the Work of E.O
Sacred Heart University DigitalCommons@SHU Writing Across the Curriculum Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) 2012 Following The rT ail Of Ants: An Examination Of The orW k Of E.O. Wilson Samantha Kee Sacred Heart University Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.sacredheart.edu/wac_prize Part of the Biodiversity Commons, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons, Entomology Commons, Other Genetics and Genomics Commons, Philosophy of Science Commons, Religion Commons, and the Theory, Knowledge and Science Commons Recommended Citation Kee, Samantha, "Following The rT ail Of Ants: An Examination Of The orkW Of E.O. Wilson" (2012). Writing Across the Curriculum. 2. http://digitalcommons.sacredheart.edu/wac_prize/2 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) at DigitalCommons@SHU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Writing Across the Curriculum by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@SHU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Samantha Kee RS 299-Writing With Public Purpose Dr. Brian Stiltner March 2, 2012 Following the trail of ants An examination of the work of E.O. Wilson Edward Osborne Wilson was a born naturalist, in every sense of the word. As a child growing up in Alabama, he collected and studied species of snakes, flies, and the insect that became the basis of his life’s work, ants. He made a goal to record every species of ant that could be found in Alabama—a childhood project that would eventually lead to his first scientific publication. By age 13, Wilson discovered a red, non-native ant in a local town in Alabama, and by the time he entered the University of Alabama, the fire ant had become a significant threat to the state’s agriculture. -
AAS NEWSLETTER Issue 127 a Publication for the Members of the American Astronomical Society
October 2005 AAS NEWSLETTER Issue 127 A Publication for the members of the American Astronomical Society PRESIDENT’S COLUMN know that Henrietta Swan Leavitt measured the Cepheid variable stars in the Magellanic Clouds Robert Kirshner, [email protected] to establish the period-luminosity relation, and that Inside this rung on the distance ladder let Hubble reach As I write this, summer is definitely winding down, M31 and other nearby galaxies. And I recognized George Johnson’s name from his thoughtful pieces 3 and the signs of Fall on a college campus are all in the New York Times science pages. Who Served Us Well: around: urgent overtime work on the last licks of John N. Bahcall summer renovations is underway, vast piles of trash and treasure from cleaning out dorm rooms are But I confess, though I walk on the streets where accumulating, with vigorous competitive double- she lived, work in a building connected by a 5 parking of heavily-laden minivans just ahead. With labyrinth to the one she worked in, and stand on Katrina Affected the Galaxy overhead most of the night, and the the distance ladder every day, my cerebral cortex Physics and summer monsoon in progress in Arizona, the pace is a little short on retrievable biographical details Astronomy (KAPA) of supernova studies slackens just a bit (for me, for Henrietta Swan Leavitt. Johnson has plumbed Community Bulletin anyway) and I had time to do a little summer reading. the Harvard archives, local census records, and the correspondence of Harvard College Board There were too many mosquitoes in Maine to read in a hammock, but there was enough light on the Observatory Directors to give us a portrait of screened porch. -
Effects of Urban Development on Ant Communities: Implications for Ecosystem Services and Management
Contributed Paper Effects of Urban Development on Ant Communities: Implications for Ecosystem Services and Management MONTE P. SANFORD,∗‡ PATRICIA N. MANLEY,† AND DENNIS D. MURPHY∗ ∗Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology / 316, University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, NV 89557, U.S.A. †Pacific Southwest Research Station, USDA Forest Service, Davis, CA 95618, U.S.A. Abstract: Research that connects the effects of urbanization on biodiversity and ecosystem services is lack- ing. Ants perform multifarious ecological functions that stabilize ecosystems and contribute to a number of ecosystem services. We studied responses of ant communities to urbanization in the Lake Tahoe basin by sam- pling sites along a gradient of urban land development. We sampled ant communities, measured vegetation characteristics, quantified human activities, and evaluated ant-community responses by grouping ants into service-providing units (SPUs), defined as a group of organisms and their populations that perform specific ecosystem services, to provide an understanding of urbanization impacts on biodiversity and their delivery of ecosystem services. Species richness and abundance peaked at intermediate levels of urban development, as did the richness of 3 types of ant SPUs (aerators, decomposers, and compilers). With increasing land development aerator and decomposer ants significantly declined in abundance, whereas compiler ants signif- icantly increased in abundance. Competing models demonstrated that precipitation was frequently among the strongest influences on ant community structure; however, urban development and human activities also had a strong, negative influence on ants, appearing in most models with ΔAICc < 2 for species richness and abundance patterns of SPUs and generalists. Response diversity was observed within SPUs, which suggests that the corresponding ecosystem services were maintained until development reached 30–40%. -
Ants Are More Than a Hundred Million Years Older Than Humans, and They Cover the Land Surface of the Planet
Copyrighted Material 1 THE A NT C OLONY AS A C OMPLE X S YSTEM Ants are more than a hundred million years older than humans, and they cover the land surface of the planet. Probably peo- ple have always watched ants, and probably they have always asked the same question: How can ants get anything done when no one is in charge? Whoever wrote Proverbs 6:6 put it this way: “Look to the ant, thou sluggard—consider her ways and be wise. Without chief, overseer or ruler, she gathers the harvest in the summer to eat in the winter.” The history of our understanding of ant behavior is the history of our changing views of how organizations work.1 There have been times when it was impossible to imagine an ant colony without a leader. The scientific study of ants began when natural history joined the rest of the emerging sciences in the eighteenth century. It was already clear that ants live in colonies, consisting of one or more reproductive females, while the rest are sterile females. Among bees, the reproductive female in a colony was called the ‘queen,’ and the females who do not reproduce called ‘workers,’ by Charles Butler in The Feminine Monarchie, or the Historie of Bees, in Copyrighted Material 2 Chapter 1 1609.2 These observations of bees were extended to ants in the eighteenth century by the French naturalist Réaumur. Like his contemporaries, such as Maeterlinck, writing about bees, Réaumur described ants as a group of subordinate laborers happy to serve their monarch. -
Eusociality: Origin and Consequences
Corrections CELL BIOLOGY. For the article ‘‘The NF1 tumor suppressor criti- BIOCHEMISTRY. For the article ‘‘Engineered single-chain dimeric cally regulates TSC2 and mTOR,’’ by Cory M. Johannessen, streptavidins with an unexpected strong preference for biotin- Elizabeth E. Reczek, Marianne F. James, Hilde Brems, Eric 4-fluorescein,’’ by Filiz M. Aslan, Yong Yu, Scott C. Mohr, and Legius, and Karen Cichowski, which appeared in issue 24, June Charles R. Cantor, which appeared in issue 24, June 14, 2005, of 14, 2005, of Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA (102, 8573–8578; first Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA (102, 8507–8512; first published June published June 3, 2005; 10.1073͞pnas.0503224102), the authors 6, 2005; 10.1073͞pnas.0503112102), the footnotes appeared in note the following. On page 8574, the last sentence of the first the wrong order, due to a printer’s error. The ** footnote on paragraph in the left column, ‘‘Clarified lysates were normalized page 8507 should have read: ‘‘Throughout this paper, we use the for protein levels and analyzed by Western blotting with the terms monomer(ic), dimer(ic), and tetramer(ic) to refer to the following antibodies: phospho-p70S6K (T-389), phospho- number of biotin-binding domains present in a molecule, re- tuberin (S-939), phospho-tuberin (T-1462), phospho-Akt (S- gardless of the number of polypeptide chains it has.’’ In addition, 473), tuberin (C-20) from Santa Cruz Biotechnology, and the †† footnote on page 8512 should have read: ‘‘We note, protein kinase B␣͞AKT1, actin, and -tubulin from Sigma- however, -
Eowilson CV 25 Aprili 2018
Curriculum Vitae Edward Osborne Wilson BORN: Birmingham, Alabama, June 10, 1929; parents: Inez Linnette Freeman and Edward Osborne Wilson, Sr. (deceased). Married: Irene Kelley, 1955. One daughter: Catherine, born 1963. EDUCATION: Graduated Decatur Senior High School, Decatur, Alabama, 1946 B.S. (biol.), University of Alabama, 1949 M.S. (biol.), University of Alabama, 1950 Ph.D. (biol.), Harvard University, 1955 POSITIONS: Alabama Department of Conservation: Entomologist, 1949 National Science Board Taskforce on Biodiversity, 1987–89 Harvard University: Junior Fellow, Society of Fellows, 1953– Xerces Society: President, 1989–90 56; Assistant Professor of Biology, 1956–58; Associate The Nature Conservancy, Board of Directors, 1993–1998 Professor of Zoology, 1958–64; Professor of Zoology, 1964– American Academy for Liberal Education: Founding Director, 1976; Curator in Entomology, Museum of Comparative 1992–2004 Zoology, 1973–97; Honorary Curator in Entomology, New York Botanical Garden: Board of Directors, 1992–95; Museum of Comparative Zoology, 1997–; Frank B. Baird Jr. Honorary Manager of the Board of Directors, 1995– Professor of Science, 1976–1994; Mellon Professor of the American Museum of Natural History: Board of Directors, Sciences, 1990–1993; Pellegrino University Professor, 1994– 1993–2002; Lifetime Honorary Trustee, 2002– June 1997; Pellegrino University Professor, Emeritus, July Conservation International, Board of Directors, 1997– 1997–December 1997; Pellegrino University Research Scientific Committee of the Ministry of the -
Causes of Ecological Success: the Case of the Ants
Journal of Animal Ecology (1987), 56, 1-9 CAUSES OF ECOLOGICAL SUCCESS: THE CASE OF THE ANTS. THE SIXTH TANSLEY LECTURE* BY EDWARD 0. WILSON Museum of ComparativeZoology, Harvard University, Cambridge,Massachusetts 02138, U.S.A. INTRODUCTION The key remaining questions of evolutionary biology are more ecological than genetic in nature. In spite of the continuing great vitality of genetics in general, the known mechanisms of heredity appear to be sufficient to explain the observed phenomena of evolution. This is not to say that all processes of genetic change have been discovered. It may even prove true that extragenetic constraints on embryonic development, such as fundamental physical limits on cell size and configuration, play a role in evolution. What I am suggesting instead is that nothing empirically known at the present time about the nature and rate of evolution even hints at the existence of undiscovered hereditary processes. Consequently, what we know for sure that we do not know is largely ecological in nature. And ecologically-based problems of basic importance abound. One of the more obvious is why there are a certain number of species on Earth and not some other, in particular why 10 million (if that, say, proves to be the number) and not a thousand or a hundred million. Another unanswered question is why certain groups of organisms speciate profusely and spread over the world while otherwise similar ones remain undiversified and static. And that leads ineluctably to a third, related question, the meaning of ecological success. The subject has received remarkably little attention, perhaps because it is difficult to express with any precision and may appear to be more semantic than scientific. -
Awards of ICCM 2013 by the Editors
Awards of ICCM 2013 by the Editors academies of France, Sweden and the United States. He is a recipient of the Fields Medal (1986), the Crafoord Prize Morningside Medal of Mathematics in Mathematics (1994), the King Faisal International Prize Selection Committee for Science (2006), and the Shaw Prize in Mathematical The Morningside Medal of Mathematics Selection Sciences (2009). Committee comprises a panel of world renowned mathematicians and is chaired by Professor Shing-Tung Björn Engquist Yau. A nomination committee of around 50 mathemati- Professor Engquist is the Computational and Applied cians from around the world nominates candidates based Mathematics Chair Professor at the University of Texas at on their research, qualifications, and curriculum vitae. Austin. His recent work includes homogenization theory, The Selection Committee reviews these nominations and multi-scale methods, and fast algorithms for wave recommends up to two recipients for the Morningside propagation. He is a member of the Royal Swedish Gold Medal of Mathematics, up to two recipients for the Morningside Gold Medal of Applied Mathematics, and up to four recipients for the Morningside Silver Medal of Mathematics. The Selection Committee members, with the exception of the committee chair, are all non-Chinese to ensure the independence, impartiality and integrity of the awards decision. Members of the 2013 Morningside Medal of Mathe- matics Selection Committee are: Richard E. Borcherds Professor Borcherds is Professor of Mathematics at the University of California at Berkeley. His research in- terests include Lie algebras, vertex algebras, and auto- morphic forms. He is best known for his work connecting the theory of finite groups with other areas in mathe- matics. -
Protein Marking Reveals Predation on Termites by the Woodland Ant, Aphaenogaster Rudis
Insect. Soc. 54 (2007) 219 – 224 0020-1812/07/030219-6 Insectes Sociaux DOI 10.1007/s00040-007-0933-x Birkhuser Verlag, Basel, 2007 Research article Protein marking reveals predation on termites by the woodland ant, Aphaenogaster rudis G. Buczkowski and G. Bennett Department of Entomology, 901 W. State St., Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA, e-mail: [email protected] Received 19 January 2007; revised 23 March 2007; accepted 26 March 2007. Published Online First 20 April 2007 Abstract. Subterranean termites provide a major poten- Introduction tial food source for forest-dwelling ants, yet the inter- actions between ants and termites are seldom investigat- Animal ethology and ecology studies often involve ed largely due to the cryptic nature of both the predator experiments in conditions that may preclude visual and the prey. We used protein marking (rabbit immuno- observations. This is especially true when observing the globin protein, IgG) and double antibody sandwich trophic ecology of small and/or elusive animals with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (DAS-ELISA) to cryptic behavior. While vertebrate food webs often examine the trophic interactions between the woodland involve visible predator-prey interactions, which makes ant, Aphaenogaster rudis (Emery) and the eastern sub- field observations relatively straightforward, invertebrate terranean termite, Reticulitermes flavipes (Kollar). We food webs are often substantially more difficult to marked the prey by feeding the termites paper treated document. To accurately asses the trophic interactions with a solution of rabbit immunoglobin protein (IgG). between invertebrate predators and prey, an efficient Subsequently, we offered live, IgG-fed termites to ant marker is required. -
Publications by Bert Hölldobler 1 1960 B. Hölldobler Über Die
1 Publications by Bert Hölldobler 1 1960 B. Hölldobler Über die Ameisenfauna in Finnland-Lappland Waldhygiene 3:229-238 2 1961 B. Hölldobler Temperaturunabhängige rhythmische Erscheinungen bei Rossameisenkolonien (Camponotus ligniperda LATR. und Camponotus herculeanus L.) (Hym. Formicidae.) Insectes Sociaux 8:13-22 3 1962 B. Hölldobler Zur Frage der Oligogynie bei Camponotus ligniperda LATR.und Camponotus herculeanus L. (Hym. Formicidae). Z. ang. Entomologie 49:337.352 4 1962 B. Hölldobler Über die forstliche Bedeutung der Rossameisen Waldhygiene 4:228-250 5 1964 B. Hölldobler Untersuchungen zum Verhalten der Ameisenmännchen während der imaginalen Lebenszeit Experientia 20:329 6 1964 W. Kloft, B. Hölldobler Untersuchungen zur forstlichen Bedeutung der holzzer- störenden Rossameisen unter Verwendung der Tracer- Methode Anz. f. Schädlingskunde 37:163-169 7 1964 I. Graf, B. Hölldobler Untersuchungen zur Frage der Holzverwertung als Nahrung bei holzzerstörenden Rossameisen (Camponotus ligniperda LATR. und Camponotus herculeanus L.) unter Berücksichtigung der Cellulase Aktivität Z. Angew. Entomol. 55:77-80 8 1965 W. Kloft, B. Hölldobler, A. Haisch Traceruntersuchungen zur Abgrenzung von Nestarealen holzzerstörender Rossameisen (Camponotus herculeanus L.und C. ligniperda). Ent. exp. & appl. 8:20-26 9 1965 B. Hölldobler, U. Maschwitz Der Hochzeitsschwarm der Rossameise Camponotus herculeanus L. (Hym. Formicidae). Z. Vergl. Physiol. 50:551-568 10 1965 B. Hölldobler Das soziale Verhalten der Ameisenmännchen und seine Bedeutung für die Organisation der Ameisenstaaten Dissertation Würzburg, pp. 122 2 11 1965 B. Hölldobler, U. Maschwitz Die soziale Funktion der Mandibeldrüsen der Rossameisenmännchen (Camponotus herculeanus L.) beim Hochzeitsschwarm. Verhandlg. der Deutschen Zool. Ges. Jena, 391-393 12 1966 B. Hölldobler Futterverteilung durch Männchen im Ameisenstaat Z. -
The Rise of the Ants: a Phylogenetic and Ecological Explanation
PERSPECTIVE The rise of the ants: A phylogenetic and ecological explanation Edward O. Wilson*† and Bert Ho¨ lldobler‡§ *Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138-2902; ‡School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-4501; and §Theodor-Boveri-Institut fu¨r Biowissenschaften (Biozentrum) der Universita¨t, Am Hubland, D-97074 Wu¨rzburg, Germany Contributed by Edward O. Wilson, March 18, 2005 In the past two decades, studies of anatomy, behavior, and, most recently, DNA sequences have clarified the phylogeny of the ants at the subfamily and generic levels. In addition, a rich new harvest of Cretaceous and Paleogene fossils has helped to date the major evolutionary radiations. We collate this information and then add data from the natural history of the modern fauna to sketch a his- tory of major ecological adaptations at the subfamily level. The key events appear to have been, first, a mid-Cretaceous initial radia- tion in forest ground litter and soil coincident with the rise of the angiosperms (flowering plants), then a Paleogene advance to eco- logical dominance in concert with that of the angiosperms in tropical forests, and, finally, an expansion of some of the lineages, aided by changes in diet away from dependence on predation, upward into the canopy, and outward into more xeric environments. ecology ͉ evolution ͉ phylogeny ͉ sociobiology umanity lives in a world recently divided (4), comprising the myrmine and more derivative traits. The largely filled by prokaryotes, abundant and diverse Ponerinae and Burmese amber (10), containing spheco- fungi, flowering plants, nem- five other less prominent subfamilies. -
SIMON DONALDSON Simons Centre
Department of Mathematics University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill The 2014 Alfred Brauer Lectures SIMON DONALDSON Simons Centre “Canonical Kähler metrics and algebraic geometry” The theme of the lectures will be the question of existence of preferred Kähler metrics on algebraic manifolds (extremal, constant scalar curvature or Kähler-Einstein metrics, depending on the context). LECTURE 1: Geometry of Kähler metrics Monday, March 24, 2014 from 3:30 – 4:30* Phillips Hall, Room 215 LECTURE 2: Toric surfaces Tuesday, March 25, 2014 from 4:00 – 5:00 Phillips Hall, Room 215 LECTURE 3: Kähler-Einstein metrics on Fano manifolds Wednesday, March 26, 2014 from 4:00 – 5:00 Phillips Hall, Room 215 *There will be a reception in the Mathematics Faculty/Student Lounge on the third floor of Phillips Hall, Room 330, 4:45—6:00 pm, on Monday, March 24. Refreshments will be available there at 3:30 before the second and third lectures. The Alfred Brauer Lectures 2014 Professor Simon Kirwan Donaldson, of Simons Centre, will deliver the 2014 Alfred Brauer Lectures in Mathematics. Professor Donaldson's lectures are entitled ``Canonical Kähler metric and algebraic geometry"; an abstract can be found on the Mathematics Department’s website: www.math.unc.edu. The first lecture will be on Monday, March 24 from 3:30 to 4:30 pm in Phillips Hall Rm. 215. It will be followed by a reception at 4:45 pm in Phillips Hall 330. The second and third lectures will be on Tuesday, March 25 and Wednesday, March 26 from 4:00 to 5:00 in Phillips Rm.