What's *your* Ant Navigation style? When you're lost, do you make like an Argentine ant and follow the crowd, or like a desert ant and look for landmarks? Read more about the different ways ants find their way in Paul's latest student blog post: hmcbee.blogspot.com/2025/12/ant-... @hmc.edu

I always appreciate the first-year students' comments & drawings on the final exam, but *this* one especially 😍 🐜!

From the surface, ant nests don't look like much. But underground, there's *a lot* going on! Learn about the complex structure & construction of ant nests, and what we have to learn from it all, in Pranay's new blog post: "Antchitecture"! hmcbee.blogspot.com/2025/12/antc... @hmc.edu

California harvester #ants have a powerful sting -- so powerful that Indigenous people of the region ingested hundreds of them to induce visions. Read more in Ananya's latest blog post: hmcbee.blogspot.com/2025/12/trip... (Don't try this at home!!) @hmc.edu

What makes humans "special"? Well, it isn't farming... ants have been doing it a lot longer than we have! Read more about fungus farming ants in Diya's latest student blog post: hmcbee.blogspot.com/2025/11/hold... @hmc.edu

Students in my lab have been observing interactions b/w native and invasive ants in our local field station. First-year student Su writes about the different species they've encountered in the process, including our fave, the California harvester ant! hmcbee.blogspot.com/2025/11/the-... @hmc.edu

We've seen our turtle ants, after being bitten, stung and thrown by twig ants, just walk away all nonchalant. What makes them so hard core? Read about our latest exploratory project in Lexie's new blog post: hmcbee.blogspot.com/2025/11/knig... @hmc.edu

Want to learn about ant weaponry & wrestling moves? New undergrad student Phoebe interviewed collaborator Dr. Scott Powell to find out how the enemy species she's studying in the lab interact in the field. Read her blog post here: hmcbee.blogspot.com/2025/10/neve... #ants #wrestling @hmc.edu

Hey #ABS2025 are you excited to see some Ant Wrestling?? My undergrad Marissa Douglas made this fun trailer for her thesis presentation: youtu.be/MtBHG3XNVxY?... I'll be talking about it this afternoon at 4pm in Social Aggression.

Wanna read more about ant wrestling -- and learn how we make science replicable? First-year undergrad Hanna writes about her experience working in the lab this semester & what she learned about the importance of a detailed protocol w/ lots of examples hmcbee.blogspot.com/2025/05/wres... @hmc.edu

Protecting habitat is perhaps THE most important conservation strategy. But a proposed change to the Endangered Species Act would stop doing so, allowing people & companies to destroy habitat that endangered species need to survive. Join us in stopping this change ➡️ xerces.org/protect-the-esa

"Have you ever watched a WWE wrestling match and wished you could see it at a fraction of the size? Ever wanted to see miniature body slams, tiny submission holds and even small aerial moves?" If so, read on in the latest student blog post by Lexie! hmcbee.blogspot.com/2025/05/wres... @hmc.edu #ants

Work on the resilience of wood ant transport networks led by SandorPiross shows network dynamics that are highly effective in stable environments have limited capacity to cope with targeted disruption 2/2 @uoyopenres.bsky.social @matinadonaldson.bsky.social royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Meet the lab ants, part II! In this blog post, Chloé introduces our three species (turtle ants, two kinds of twig ants) & the personality differences she's observed. Like me, she prefers turtle ants, but her reasons are different... hmcbee.blogspot.com/2024/12/flor... #ants @harveymudd.bsky.social

Tavo joined my lab this semester because he loves insects, so he was super excited to learn how to use the lab's dissecting scope to get up close and personal with *live* turtle & twig ants 🐜🐜🐜. Read his blog post, w/ lots of pics: hmcbee.blogspot.com/2024/12/up-c... #ants @harveymudd.bsky.social

The Red Imported Fire Ant is a major invasive pest across much of the US, but it also accomplishes some really cool engineering feats. Read TJ's latest student blog post about fire ant rafts, which they use to survive floods: hmcbee.blogspot.com/2024/12/when... @harveymudd.bsky.social #ants

The prisoner's dilemma is a classic game that emphasizes conflict & shows how hard cooperation can be. In the latest student blog post, Julianne explains how red fire ant queens get around this problem using a green beard: hmcbee.blogspot.com/2024/12/ant-... @harveymudd.bsky.social #ants #gametheory

Ever wonder: do ants sleep? In the latest student blog post, Diya writes about ants' sleeping habits -- and what college students have to learn from them! hmcbee.blogspot.com/2024/11/an-a... #ants @harveymudd.bsky.social

If you missed Dr. Sue Chan’s poster on cucurbit pollen collection and use by squash #bees (Xenoglossa pruinosa) at #EntSoc24, feel free to check out the @jpollecol.bsky.social open access paper instead: doi.org/10.26786/192... @entsocamerica.bsky.social

Want to be my colleague? There are two tenure track Assistant Prof positions opening up at my university - month of 1st consideration is Jan 2025 😄 One for Freshwater Fisheries Biology and the other for Animal Ecology! 😊 jobs.missouristate.edu/postings/78080 jobs.missouristate.edu/postings/78118

Two Lichtenberg Lab student presentations at #EntSoc24 on Monday! At 9 in 129A, Avery Pearson is talking about how ranch management alters plant visitation networks. At 11:42 in 132A, Marie Muñiz is talking about bees learning from lady beetles.

From Day 1 of my Experimental Ecology class, Chan's been focused on 🌱(and avoiding 🕷️). But in this new student blog post, he discovers that to really understand plants, you need to learn about other organisms too -- like 🍄 & even (gasp)🐞! hmcbee.blogspot.com/2024/04/yerb... @harveymudd.bsky.social

In the third natural history blog post from my ecology class, Marissa writes about her seemingly fruitless search for coyotes, and how much she has learned about them from, well, their 💩. hmcbee.blogspot.com/2024/03/what... @harveymudd.bsky.social #iTeachBio

Calling all grad students in N. America studying #ants, #bees, #wasps or #termites! We're accepting applications for IUSSI-NAS Spring Research Awards, plus nominations for Best Student Paper on behavior/evolution in social arthropods. For more info: iussi.cyberbee.net/2024/03/iuss...

Here's the second student blog post about keeping a natural history notebook! This week, Josie writes about how she started out *looking* for birds -- but found that *listening* (along w/ Merlin Bird ID app) was more fruitful! hmcbee.blogspot.com/2024/03/the-... @harveymudd.bsky.social #iTeachBio

Students in my ecology lab are blogging about their experiences keeping a natural history notebook. This week, Sarah writes about lizards: taking a closer look gave her a new appreciation for their individuality & cuteness 🦎😍 hmcbee.blogspot.com/2024/02/avid... @harveymudd.bsky.social #iTeachBio

It's awful to think that Duke is giving up on their herbarium. So many irreplaceable specimens, and so much more to be gained from them as new methods are developed! If you agree, consider signing this petition to show support for the herbarium: chng.it/7NrcD4jNnM

My college (Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, CA) is hiring a Director of Learning Programs, who will oversee our Writing Center and Academic Excellence Program and contribute to the teaching of our first year core writing course. lnkd.in/gxTPRqkE Please help me spread the word!

sad news - Duke University decided to dump their herbarium, which has over 800,000 plant specimens, one of the largest among in America, and includes many type specimens of Lady Gaga ferns. What a shame. Please stop Duke admins for making this horrible mistake!!