ANT BIODIVERSITY · Ecology and evolution of ant communities in tropical ecosystems

This project proposes a comprehensive study of the ecology and evolution of tropical ants at the community, species and population levels. It will be based on unique data set of 11000 samples collected from 17 sites in New Guinea and northern Australia. This study will be the first to examine species distributional data combined with their population and species phylogenetic relationships across a large regional spatial scale. The multidisciplinary methodology will permit the novel analysis of the environmental, evolutionary and geological factors influencing the diversity and distribution of ants in lowland tropical ecosystems. This project will use state of the art techniques in phylogeography and community ecology to address important questions of wide relevance about the evolution of insect communities, and will provide important knowledge relevant to conservation of tropical rainforest and savanna ecosystems. The proposed research will be combined with high quality training in phylogenetic and population genetic methodology, provided by world leading experts in this area.