Chocolate tasting, Jazz and Banjo Picking, Welcome Kirk Broders, Welcome Leila Nilipour, Smithsonian’s New Communication Chief visits STRI, Congrats Ummat and more
Chocolate tasting, Jazz and Banjo Picking, Welcome Kirk Broders, Welcome Leila Nilipour, Smithsonian’s New Communication Chief visits STRI, Congrats Ummat and more
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Events
Ecological and social interactions affect the behavioral responses of organisms. Ant societies in obligate mutualisms with plants are a fascinating pairing for studying coevolution. The plant and the needs it creates on the ant society shapes the behavior and morphology of society members.
Research projects in our lab combine approaches from behavioral ecology, functional morphology, ethology and evolution of behavior. Our work focuses mostly on the ultimate and proximate causes of behavior in an ecological and social context, with an emphasis on how ecological or social interactions shape behavioral and morphological traits. We are inspired by field observations and combining theory and natural history to understand natural phenomena, and we welcome collaborators who study behavior in a broad range of tropical organisms.
Obligatory associations between different organisms have consequences for the evolution of traits in the interacting species. We focus our research on the effects of obligatory plant parasitism or mutualisms on the behavior and morphology of acacia ants. Specifically, we study navigation, memory and learning in ants with different types of ecological associations. We are also interested in how the behaviors associated with the mutualistic or parasitic association may shape the morphology of ants.
We study how insect societies work to achieve common goals without central control. Focusing on acacia ants, we addressed how workers that are similar in shape and morphology are able to cover the whole variety of tasks that must be performed in the colony. We assess how society shapes the behavior and brain of individual ants. We are interested in understanding how experiences can affect the specialization, performance and range of tasks that workers execute.
We are broadly interested in how organisms modulate a response based on previous experiences, that is, how organism learn. Hence, we are researching plant decision making, aiming at understanding habituation-like responses in the sensitive plant Mimosa pudica. Also, we study memory, learning and orientation in ants.
Ph.D. Ecology, Evolution and Behavior. University of Texas at Austin, 2014. Dissertation: Brain and behavioral traits of acacia ants.
M.Sc. in Biology with honors. Universidad de Costa Rica, 2009. Dissertation: Division of labor and pruning behavior of acacia ants
B.S. in Biology. Universidad de Costa Rica, 2005.
Amador-Vargas S., Wcislo W.T. 2021. Nestmate interference in acacia ants vary with colony size and task-specialization. Animal Behavior 181: 151–163.
Gijsman, F., Gonzalez Y., Guevara M. & Amador-Vargas S. 2021. Short-term plasticity and variation in acacia ant-rewards under different conditions of ant occupancy and herbivory. The Science of Nature. 108(4):31. doi: 10.1007/s00114-021-01738-w.
Farji-Brener A.G.& Amador-Vargas, S. 2020. Plasticity in extended phenotypes: how the antlion Myrmeleon crudelis adjusts the pit traps depending on biotic and abiotic conditions. Israel Journal of Ecology and Evolution 66: 41–47.
Amador-Vargas, S., Dyer J., Arnold N., Cavanaugh L. & Sánchez E. 2019. Acacia trees with parasitic ants have fewer and less spacious spines than trees with mutualistic ants. Naturwissenschaften 107:3.
Amador-Vargas, S. & Mueller, U.G. 2017. Ability to reorient is weakly correlated with central-place versus non-central-place foraging in acacia ants. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 71: 43.
Amador-Vargas, S., W. Gronenberg, W. Wcislo, U. G. Mueller. 2015. Specialization and group size: brain and behavioural correlates of colony size in ants lacking morphological castes. Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 282: 2014-2502.
Kardish, M.R., Mueller, U.G., Amador-Vargas, S., Dietrich, E.I., Ma, R., Barrett, B., Fang, C.-C., 2015. Blind trust in unblinded observation in Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 3: 51.
Amador-Vargas, S., M. Dominguez, G. León, B. Maldonado, J. Murillo, and G. L. Vides. 2014. Leaf-folding response of a sensitive plant shows context-dependent behavioral plasticity. Plant Ecology 215: 1445–1454.
Amador-Vargas S. 2012c. Run, robber, run: parasitic acacia ants use speed and evasion to steal food from ant-defended trees. Physiological Entomology 37: 323-329.
Amador-Vargas S. 2012b. Behavioral responses of acacia ants correlate with age and location on the host plant. Insectes Sociaux. 59: 341- 350.
Amador-Vargas S. 2012a. Plant killing by acacia ants (Pseudomyrmex spinicola) increases the density of host species seedlings in the dry forest of Costa Rica. Psyche. Special Issue: Advances in Neotropical Myrmecology 2012: 1-6.
Latvian Scientist Studies
Epiphyll Communities
in Panama
STRI is hosting Dr. Anna Mežaka, originally from Latvia and currently employed at the University of Marburg (UMR), Germany, who is doing a project called “Life on a leaf: species interactions and community dynamics in epiphyll communities” funded by a Marie Skłodowska - Curie Global Fellowship from the European Union.
Panama
Biodiversity Botany Ecology Taxonomy Plant Physiology Connections in nature: Plants, Animals, Microbes and Environments Earl S. Tupper
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Noris SalazarLife on
a Leaf
Milton Garcia’s
Bird’s-Eye-View
When he’s not racing his bike cross-country, Milton Garcia is in demand for his expertise flying drones. In the last month, he monitored mangrove deforestation on Panama’s Pacific coast, mapped a new research station in Coiba National Park and tracked blooming trees on Barro Colorado Island, the first plot in an international network of forest monitoring sites.
Coibita, Barro Colorado
Physical Monitoring Canopy Biology Biodiversity Ecosystem Ecology Exploration Forest Ecology Sustaining a Biodiverse Planet Coibita Island Barro Colorado
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William Wcislo S. Joseph Wright Helene Muller-Landau Klaus WinterDrone
Pilot
Tropical dark respiration
data tweak climate model
What do warmer nights mean for the release of carbon dioxide by tropical forests?
Gamboa
Plant Physiology Global Change Sustaining a Biodiverse Planet Gamboa
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Klaus WinterAdjusting to
climate
change
Matthew Larsen
named director of
Smithsonian Tropical
Research Institute
Panama City, Panama
Earl S. Tupper
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Matthew LarsenSTRI
Leadership
How do fig trees punish cheaters?
The tiny female fig wasp carries a huge burden but cutting corners may not be worth the risk.
Barro Colorado Nature Monument, Panama
Chemical Ecology Entomology Ecology Connections in nature: Plants, Animals, Microbes and Environments Barro Colorado
greenProfile:
Charlotte
Jandér
Mary Jane
West-Eberhard
retires
After a half century of pioneering research on evolutionary developmental biology and induction into the National Academy of Sciences, a long-time Smithsonian scientist retires.
Panama City, Panama
Developmental Biology Entomology Origins of Species and Societies Earl S. Tupper
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Mary Jane West-EberhardAn
Evo-Devo
Pioneer
Do pests keep rare tree species from becoming common?
A five-year, $2-million grant will help test the hypothesis that rare trees are more susceptible to pathogens than common trees on Barro Colorado Island.
Barro Colorado Island, Panama
Biodiversity Microbial Ecology Origins of Species and Societies Sustaining a Biodiverse Planet Barro Colorado
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Stephen HubbellProfile:
Stephen
Hubbell
Is there an evolutionary point of no return?
A Chilean sea snail appears to have tried two forms of development and decided to turn back before it was too late.
Bocas del Toro, Panama
Biodiversity Origins of Species and Societies Naos
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Rachel Collin 
