DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Speciation as a Function of Cultivar Switching in Fungus-Growing Ants

University Of Texas At Austin, Austin TX

Investigators

Abstract

Speciation is the basic process that generates biodiversity. In the tropics, leaf-cutter ants and their sister species the lower attine ants comprise a significant proportion of tropical insects, but little is known about their diversification. Patterns of speciation by switching fungal cultivar types between ant species will be examined in three Central American species complexes of lower attine ants (Cyphomyrmex longiscapus, Mycocepurus smithi, and Apterostigma pilosum). The goals of this study are to: split each species complex into valid species using molecular genetic techniques; assess genetic diversity of each species; examine biogeographic patterns of each species complex in Central America; and differentiate between allopatric and sympatric modes of speciation. This research examines the fundamental process of forming new species. By investigating patterns of diversification in cryptic attine ant species, the attine-fungus mutualism may emerge as a new model system for speciation studies, thus contributing to our understanding of biodiversity. This research will provide training for a graduate student in molecular genetic, entomological, and field techniques, and the graduate student will train and supervise several undergraduate assistants. These results will add new information to the already astonishing level of complexity that has evolved within the attine system over the fifty million years that these ancient farming ants have been cultivating fungi.