Life and Death in the Desert: How Diversity Facilitates Success in the Western Harvester Ant

In this Speaker Series event, join Dr. Blaine Cole to learn about the fascinating aspects of the western harvester ant’s life cycle.

The western harvester ant is one of the most common and widespread ant species in North America, ranging from Canada to southern Arizona and from Kansas to Nevada. This ant is known for its large nest mounds, which are a prominent feature of desert grassland habitats. For the past 33 years, Blaine Cole has been studying a significant population of this ant species in Western Colorado. This Speaker Series presentation focuses on two key aspects of the ant’s life cycle. First, we will explore how the production of a new queen leads to the formation of a new colony. Then, we will examine the factors that determine whether a colony will survive and mature into a reproductive colony that can last for decades. Join us to learn more about these fascinating aspects of the western harvester ant’s life cycle and discover what contributes to the long life spans of certain colonies.

NOTE: This event starts at 7:30pm, doors open at 7pm.

*The event is free, but space is limited, and registration is required to attend. The talk will be live-streamed to our YouTube Channel for those unable to attend in person.

Blaine Cole is a professor in the Department of Biology and Biochemistry at the University of Houston. He received his bachelor’s degree in Systematics and Ecology from the University of Kansas and his Ph.D. from Princeton University. He was a post-doctoral fellow at Harvard University, the University of Utah and the University of California-Berkeley. He was previously on the faculty at the University of Virginia and the University of Arizona. He has been on the editorial board of the American Naturalist and is a past president of the North American Section of the IUSSI. He began studying the behavior and ecology of ants during graduate school and his work morphed from the community ecology of ants, to the dynamics of social hierarchies within colonies, to the nonlinear dynamics of ant activity patterns. For the past 33 years, in collaboration with Diane Wiernasz, he has been studying the population biology of the western harvester ant, Pogonomyrmex occidentalis.