Seminarios del IBUNAM

Ants are an abundant and ecologically important group in terrestrial ecosystems. We study their distribution, ecology and evolution to better understand the processes generating biodiversity. Here, I will review principal patterns of ant distribution on Melanesian and South Pacific islands, revisiting some of the classical biogeographical studies in the context of what we know about the fauna today. We reconstructed the diversification and the evolution of ecological traits across several ant lineages, to study the past ecological changes of the species and how some traits are essential for colonization of the islands. Our studies also revealed some unexpected connections among South Pacific and Americas. In the second part, I’ll introduce some of our current projects in Mexico.