Habitat disturbance, ant assembly, and pioneering women ecologists

Habitat disturbance, transformation, and modification strongly impact ant abundance, richness, and community composition often by altering community assembly. Mary Talbot was a pioneering woman ecologist who studied many facets of ant communities in a diverse range of disturbed habitats (from old fields to cities) to develop our understanding of the factors that drive ant arrival and survival. In this presentation, I track how other leading women ant ecologists, who have followed in Talbot's footsteps, have made major contributions to our understanding of ant community composition and assembly processes drawing from empirical and experimental research in a range of disturbed habitats.