Publications
41. Leal-Dutra CA, Lok Man Y, Guedes BAM, Contreras-Serrano M, Shik JZ (In Press) A domesticated fungal cultivar recycles its cellular contents as nutritional rewards for its leafcutter ant farmers. IMA Fungus, X:X-X.
40. Bolander M, Andersen JE, Conlon BH, Arnan X, Michelsen A, Shik JZ (In Press) Reciprocal nutritional provisioning between leafcutter ants and their fungal cultivar mediates performance of symbiotic farming systems. Functional Ecology, X:X-X.
39. Gibb H, Bishop T, Parr C, Lessard J-P, Sanders N, Shik JZ, Ibarra-Isassi J, Narendra A, Dunn RR, Wright I. (2023) Ecological strategies of pl(ant)s: toward a world-wide worker economic spectrum for ants. Functional Ecology, 37:13-25. (https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.14135)
38. Donoso DA, Basset Y, Shik JZ, Forrister DL, Uquillas A, Salazar Mendez Y, Arizala S, Polanco P, Beckett S, Dominguez DG, Barrios H (2022) Male ant reproductive investment in a seasonal wet tropical forest: consequences of future climate change. PLoS One, X
37. Leal-Dutra CA, Lok Man Y, Guedes BAM, Contreras-Serrano M, Shik JZ (2022) A domesticated fungal cultivar recycles its cellular contents as nutritional rewards for its leafcutter ant farmers. bioRxiv, https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.03.03.482823.
36. Conlon BH, O’Tuama D, Michelsen A, Crumière AJJ, Shik JZ (2022) A fungal symbiont converts provisioned cellulose into edible yield for its leafcutter ant farmers. Biology Letters, 18:https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2022.0022
35. Conlon BH, Schmidt S, Poulsen M, Shik JZ (2022) Orthogonal protocols for DNA extraction from filamentous fungi. STAR Protocols, X:X-X.
34. Crumière AJJ, Mallett S, Michelsen A, Rinnan R, Shik JZ (2022) Nutritional challenges of provisioning a mutualist: testing for a nutrient-toxin tradeoff in fungus-farming leafcutter ants. Ecology, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ecy.3684.
33. Crumière AJJ, James A, Lannes P, Mallett S, Michelsen A, Rinnan R, Shik JZ (2022) The multidimensional nutritional niche of foraging and fungus-cultivar provisioning in a free-ranging leafcutter ant. Ecology Letters, doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.02.22.432261. Link
32. Shik JZ, Kooij PW, Donoso D, Santos JC, Gomez EB, Franco M, Crumiere AJJ, Arnan X, Howe J, Wcislo WT, Boomsma JJ (2021) Nutritional niches reveal fundamental domestication tradeoffs in fungus-farming ants. Nature Ecology & Evolution, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-020-01314-x. Link
31. Fisher, R.M., Shik, J.Z., Boomsma, J.J. (2020) The evolution of multicellular complexity: the role of relatedness and environmental constraints. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 287, 20192963. Link
30. Shik, J.Z., Dussutour A. (2020) Nutritional dimensions of invasive success. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 35:P691-703.-X. Link
29. Crumiere, A.J.J., Stephenson, C.J., Nagel, M., Shik, J.Z. (2020) Using nutritional geometry to explore how social insects navigate nutritional landscapes. Insects, 11(1), 53.* Link
* invited review paper
28. Krabbe, B.A., Arnan, X., Lannes, P., Echtvad Bergstedt, C., Stenbak Larsen, R., Pedersen, J.S., Shik, J.Z. (2019) Using nutritional geometry to define the fundamental macronutrient niche of the widespread invasive ant Monomorium pharaonis. PLoS One, 14: e0218764. link
27. Shik, J.Z., Arnan, X., Oms, C.S., Cerda, X., Boulay, R. (2019) Evidence for locally adaptive metabolic rates among ant populations along an elevation gradient. Journal of Animal Ecology, 88:1240-1249. link
26. Rodrigues da Costa, R., Vreeburg, S.M.E., Shik, J.Z., Aanen, D.K., and Poulsen M. (2019) Can interaction specificity in the fungus-farming termite symbiosis be explained by nutritional requirements of the crop fungi? Fungal Ecology, X:X-X. link
25. Kooij, P.W., Dentiger, B.M., Donoso, D., Shik, J.Z., and Gaya, E. (2018) Cryptic diversity in Colombian edible ants, Atta spp. Fabricius, 1804 [Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Attini]. Insects 9(4): 191. link
24. Sapountzis, P., Zhukova, M., Shik, J.Z., Schiøtt, M., and Boomsma, J.J. (2018) Reconstructing the symbiotic functions of intestinal Mollicutes in fungus-growing ants. eLife, 7:e39209. link
23. Hamilton, N., Jones, T.H., Shik, J.Z., Wall, B., Schultz, T.R. Schultz, Blair, H.A., Adams, R.M.M. (2018) Context is everything: Mapping Cyphomyrmex-derived compounds to the fungus-growing ant phylogeny. Chemoecology, 28:137-144. link
22. Shik, J.Z., Rytter, W., Arnan, X., Michelsen, A. (2018) Disentangling nutritional pathways linking leafcutter ants and their co-evolved fungal symbionts. Ecology, 99:1999-2009. link
21. Shik, J.Z., Consilio, A., Kaae, T., Adams, R.M.M. (2018) Farming ants nutritionally manage fungal mutualists and social parasites. Ecological Entomology, 43:440-446. pdf
20. Shik, J.Z., Gomez, E.B., Kooij P.W., Santos, J.C., Wcislo, W.T., Boomsma, J.J. (2016) Nutrition mediates the expression of cultivar-farmer conflict in a fungus-growing ant. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, 113:10121-10126. pdf (for summary of press coverage)
19. Rytter, W., Shik, J.Z. (2016) Liquid foraging behavior in leafcutting ants: The lunchbox Hypothesis. Animal Behaviour, 117:179-186. pdf (press coverage)
18. Guenard, B.*, Shik, J.Z.*, Booher, D., Lubertazzi D., Alpert G. (2016) Extreme polygyny in the previously unstudied subtropical ant Temnothorax tuscaloosae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), with implications for the biogeographic study of the evoluiton of polygyny. Insectes Sociaux, 63:543-551. pdf
* authors contributed equally to the study
17. Shik, J.Z., Schal, C., Silverman, J. (2015) Diet specialization in an extreme omnivore: nutritional regulation in glucose averse cockroaches. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 27:2096-2015. pdf
16. Shik, J.Z., Kay, A., Silverman, J. (2015) Aphid honeydew provides a nutritionally balanced resource for incipient Argentine ant mutualists. Animal Behaviour, 95:33-39. pdf
15. Shik, J.Z., Santos, J.C., Seal, J.N., Kay A., Mueller, U.G., Kaspari, M. (2014) Metabolism and the rise of fungus cultivation by ants. American Naturalist, 184:364-373. pdf
14. Shik J.Z., Donoso, D.D., Kaspari M (2013) The life history continuum hypothesis links traits of male ants with life outside the nest. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata, 149:99-109.* pdf
* invited review paper
13. Bednar, D, Shik, J.Z., Silverman J (2013) Prey handling performance facilitates behavioral dominance of an invasive over a native keystone ant. Behavioral Ecology, 24:1312-1319. pdf
12. Shik, J.Z., Silverman, J. (2013) Towards a nutritional ecology of invasive establishment: aphid mutualists provide better fuel for incipient Argentine ant colonies than insect prey. Biological Invasions, 15:829-836. pdf
11. Shik, J.Z., Hou, C., Kay, A., Kaspari, M., Gillooly, J.F. (2012) Toward a general life history model of the superorganism: predicting the survival, growth, and reproduction of ant societies. Biology Letters, 8: 1059-1062. pdf (press coverage)
10. Spicer Rice, E., Shik, J.Z., Silverman, J. (2012) Effect of scattered and discrete hydramethylnon bait placement on the Asian needle ant, Pachycondyla chinensis Emery. Journal of Economic Entomology, 105:1751-1757. pdf
9. Shik, J.Z., Flatt, D, Kay, A.D., Kaspari, M. (2012) A life history continuum in the males of a Neotropical ant assemblage: refuting the sperm vessel hypothesis. Naturwissenschaften, 99: 191-197. pdf
8. Kay, A.D., Shik, J.Z., Van Alst, A., Kaspari, M. (2011) Diet composition does not affect ant colony tempo. Functional Ecology, 26: 317-323. pdf
7. Shik, J.Z., Kaspari, M., Yanoviak, S. (2011) Preliminary assessment of metabolic costs of the nematode Myrmeconema neotropicum on its host, the tropical ant Cephalotes atratus. Journal of Parasitology, 97: 958-959. pdf
6. Shik, J.Z. (2010) The metabolic costs of building ant colonies from variably sized subunits. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 64: 1981-1990. pdf
5. Kaspari, M., Stevenson, B., Shik, J.Z., Kerekes, J. (2010) Scaling biodiversity: how bacteria, fungi, and ant communities respond to the same tropical landscape. Ecology, 91: 2221-2226. pdf
4. Shik, J.Z., Kaspari, M. (2010) More food, less habitat: how necromass and leaf litter decomposition combine to regulate a litter ant community. Ecological Entomology, 35:158-165. pdf
3. Shik, J.Z., Kaspari, M. (2009) Male lifespan in ants linked to mating systems. Insectes Sociaux, 52:131-134. pdf
2. Shik, J.Z. (2008) Ant colony size and the scaling of reproductive effort. Functional Ecology, 22: 674-681. pdf
1. Shik, J.Z., Francoeur, A. & Buddle, C.M. (2005) The effect of human activity on ant species (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) richness at the Mont St. Hilaire Biosphere Reserve, Quebec. The Canadian Field Naturalist, 118: 38-42. pdf
41. Leal-Dutra CA, Lok Man Y, Guedes BAM, Contreras-Serrano M, Shik JZ (In Press) A domesticated fungal cultivar recycles its cellular contents as nutritional rewards for its leafcutter ant farmers. IMA Fungus, X:X-X.
40. Bolander M, Andersen JE, Conlon BH, Arnan X, Michelsen A, Shik JZ (In Press) Reciprocal nutritional provisioning between leafcutter ants and their fungal cultivar mediates performance of symbiotic farming systems. Functional Ecology, X:X-X.
39. Gibb H, Bishop T, Parr C, Lessard J-P, Sanders N, Shik JZ, Ibarra-Isassi J, Narendra A, Dunn RR, Wright I. (2023) Ecological strategies of pl(ant)s: toward a world-wide worker economic spectrum for ants. Functional Ecology, 37:13-25. (https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.14135)
38. Donoso DA, Basset Y, Shik JZ, Forrister DL, Uquillas A, Salazar Mendez Y, Arizala S, Polanco P, Beckett S, Dominguez DG, Barrios H (2022) Male ant reproductive investment in a seasonal wet tropical forest: consequences of future climate change. PLoS One, X
37. Leal-Dutra CA, Lok Man Y, Guedes BAM, Contreras-Serrano M, Shik JZ (2022) A domesticated fungal cultivar recycles its cellular contents as nutritional rewards for its leafcutter ant farmers. bioRxiv, https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.03.03.482823.
36. Conlon BH, O’Tuama D, Michelsen A, Crumière AJJ, Shik JZ (2022) A fungal symbiont converts provisioned cellulose into edible yield for its leafcutter ant farmers. Biology Letters, 18:https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2022.0022
35. Conlon BH, Schmidt S, Poulsen M, Shik JZ (2022) Orthogonal protocols for DNA extraction from filamentous fungi. STAR Protocols, X:X-X.
34. Crumière AJJ, Mallett S, Michelsen A, Rinnan R, Shik JZ (2022) Nutritional challenges of provisioning a mutualist: testing for a nutrient-toxin tradeoff in fungus-farming leafcutter ants. Ecology, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ecy.3684.
33. Crumière AJJ, James A, Lannes P, Mallett S, Michelsen A, Rinnan R, Shik JZ (2022) The multidimensional nutritional niche of foraging and fungus-cultivar provisioning in a free-ranging leafcutter ant. Ecology Letters, doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.02.22.432261. Link
32. Shik JZ, Kooij PW, Donoso D, Santos JC, Gomez EB, Franco M, Crumiere AJJ, Arnan X, Howe J, Wcislo WT, Boomsma JJ (2021) Nutritional niches reveal fundamental domestication tradeoffs in fungus-farming ants. Nature Ecology & Evolution, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-020-01314-x. Link
31. Fisher, R.M., Shik, J.Z., Boomsma, J.J. (2020) The evolution of multicellular complexity: the role of relatedness and environmental constraints. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 287, 20192963. Link
30. Shik, J.Z., Dussutour A. (2020) Nutritional dimensions of invasive success. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 35:P691-703.-X. Link
29. Crumiere, A.J.J., Stephenson, C.J., Nagel, M., Shik, J.Z. (2020) Using nutritional geometry to explore how social insects navigate nutritional landscapes. Insects, 11(1), 53.* Link
* invited review paper
28. Krabbe, B.A., Arnan, X., Lannes, P., Echtvad Bergstedt, C., Stenbak Larsen, R., Pedersen, J.S., Shik, J.Z. (2019) Using nutritional geometry to define the fundamental macronutrient niche of the widespread invasive ant Monomorium pharaonis. PLoS One, 14: e0218764. link
27. Shik, J.Z., Arnan, X., Oms, C.S., Cerda, X., Boulay, R. (2019) Evidence for locally adaptive metabolic rates among ant populations along an elevation gradient. Journal of Animal Ecology, 88:1240-1249. link
26. Rodrigues da Costa, R., Vreeburg, S.M.E., Shik, J.Z., Aanen, D.K., and Poulsen M. (2019) Can interaction specificity in the fungus-farming termite symbiosis be explained by nutritional requirements of the crop fungi? Fungal Ecology, X:X-X. link
25. Kooij, P.W., Dentiger, B.M., Donoso, D., Shik, J.Z., and Gaya, E. (2018) Cryptic diversity in Colombian edible ants, Atta spp. Fabricius, 1804 [Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Attini]. Insects 9(4): 191. link
24. Sapountzis, P., Zhukova, M., Shik, J.Z., Schiøtt, M., and Boomsma, J.J. (2018) Reconstructing the symbiotic functions of intestinal Mollicutes in fungus-growing ants. eLife, 7:e39209. link
23. Hamilton, N., Jones, T.H., Shik, J.Z., Wall, B., Schultz, T.R. Schultz, Blair, H.A., Adams, R.M.M. (2018) Context is everything: Mapping Cyphomyrmex-derived compounds to the fungus-growing ant phylogeny. Chemoecology, 28:137-144. link
22. Shik, J.Z., Rytter, W., Arnan, X., Michelsen, A. (2018) Disentangling nutritional pathways linking leafcutter ants and their co-evolved fungal symbionts. Ecology, 99:1999-2009. link
21. Shik, J.Z., Consilio, A., Kaae, T., Adams, R.M.M. (2018) Farming ants nutritionally manage fungal mutualists and social parasites. Ecological Entomology, 43:440-446. pdf
20. Shik, J.Z., Gomez, E.B., Kooij P.W., Santos, J.C., Wcislo, W.T., Boomsma, J.J. (2016) Nutrition mediates the expression of cultivar-farmer conflict in a fungus-growing ant. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, 113:10121-10126. pdf (for summary of press coverage)
19. Rytter, W., Shik, J.Z. (2016) Liquid foraging behavior in leafcutting ants: The lunchbox Hypothesis. Animal Behaviour, 117:179-186. pdf (press coverage)
18. Guenard, B.*, Shik, J.Z.*, Booher, D., Lubertazzi D., Alpert G. (2016) Extreme polygyny in the previously unstudied subtropical ant Temnothorax tuscaloosae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), with implications for the biogeographic study of the evoluiton of polygyny. Insectes Sociaux, 63:543-551. pdf
* authors contributed equally to the study
17. Shik, J.Z., Schal, C., Silverman, J. (2015) Diet specialization in an extreme omnivore: nutritional regulation in glucose averse cockroaches. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 27:2096-2015. pdf
16. Shik, J.Z., Kay, A., Silverman, J. (2015) Aphid honeydew provides a nutritionally balanced resource for incipient Argentine ant mutualists. Animal Behaviour, 95:33-39. pdf
15. Shik, J.Z., Santos, J.C., Seal, J.N., Kay A., Mueller, U.G., Kaspari, M. (2014) Metabolism and the rise of fungus cultivation by ants. American Naturalist, 184:364-373. pdf
14. Shik J.Z., Donoso, D.D., Kaspari M (2013) The life history continuum hypothesis links traits of male ants with life outside the nest. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata, 149:99-109.* pdf
* invited review paper
13. Bednar, D, Shik, J.Z., Silverman J (2013) Prey handling performance facilitates behavioral dominance of an invasive over a native keystone ant. Behavioral Ecology, 24:1312-1319. pdf
12. Shik, J.Z., Silverman, J. (2013) Towards a nutritional ecology of invasive establishment: aphid mutualists provide better fuel for incipient Argentine ant colonies than insect prey. Biological Invasions, 15:829-836. pdf
11. Shik, J.Z., Hou, C., Kay, A., Kaspari, M., Gillooly, J.F. (2012) Toward a general life history model of the superorganism: predicting the survival, growth, and reproduction of ant societies. Biology Letters, 8: 1059-1062. pdf (press coverage)
10. Spicer Rice, E., Shik, J.Z., Silverman, J. (2012) Effect of scattered and discrete hydramethylnon bait placement on the Asian needle ant, Pachycondyla chinensis Emery. Journal of Economic Entomology, 105:1751-1757. pdf
9. Shik, J.Z., Flatt, D, Kay, A.D., Kaspari, M. (2012) A life history continuum in the males of a Neotropical ant assemblage: refuting the sperm vessel hypothesis. Naturwissenschaften, 99: 191-197. pdf
8. Kay, A.D., Shik, J.Z., Van Alst, A., Kaspari, M. (2011) Diet composition does not affect ant colony tempo. Functional Ecology, 26: 317-323. pdf
7. Shik, J.Z., Kaspari, M., Yanoviak, S. (2011) Preliminary assessment of metabolic costs of the nematode Myrmeconema neotropicum on its host, the tropical ant Cephalotes atratus. Journal of Parasitology, 97: 958-959. pdf
6. Shik, J.Z. (2010) The metabolic costs of building ant colonies from variably sized subunits. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 64: 1981-1990. pdf
5. Kaspari, M., Stevenson, B., Shik, J.Z., Kerekes, J. (2010) Scaling biodiversity: how bacteria, fungi, and ant communities respond to the same tropical landscape. Ecology, 91: 2221-2226. pdf
4. Shik, J.Z., Kaspari, M. (2010) More food, less habitat: how necromass and leaf litter decomposition combine to regulate a litter ant community. Ecological Entomology, 35:158-165. pdf
3. Shik, J.Z., Kaspari, M. (2009) Male lifespan in ants linked to mating systems. Insectes Sociaux, 52:131-134. pdf
2. Shik, J.Z. (2008) Ant colony size and the scaling of reproductive effort. Functional Ecology, 22: 674-681. pdf
1. Shik, J.Z., Francoeur, A. & Buddle, C.M. (2005) The effect of human activity on ant species (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) richness at the Mont St. Hilaire Biosphere Reserve, Quebec. The Canadian Field Naturalist, 118: 38-42. pdf
Manuscripts In Review
Shik JZ, Contreras-Serrano M, Leal-Dutra CA, Conlon BH (In Review) Variable fungal cultivar glycogen linked to variable nutritional provisioning in a leafcutter ant farming mutualism.
Shik JZ, Contreras-Serrano M, Leal-Dutra CA, Conlon BH (In Review) Variable fungal cultivar glycogen linked to variable nutritional provisioning in a leafcutter ant farming mutualism.
Other publications in refereed journals
Shik, J.Z., Nichols, L.M, Lucky, A, Hoefnagels, M.H. (2013) Ants as model organisms to study species coexistence. Proceedings of the 34th Workshop Conference of the Association for Biology Laboratory Education, 34:233-239. pdf
Shik, J.Z. (2022) Improving congruence: setting the stage for meaningful interactions with experts. University of Copenhagen, Teaching and Learning in Higher Education 2020 Proceedings, Volume 17. (link) (pdf)
Shik, J.Z., Nichols, L.M, Lucky, A, Hoefnagels, M.H. (2013) Ants as model organisms to study species coexistence. Proceedings of the 34th Workshop Conference of the Association for Biology Laboratory Education, 34:233-239. pdf
Shik, J.Z. (2022) Improving congruence: setting the stage for meaningful interactions with experts. University of Copenhagen, Teaching and Learning in Higher Education 2020 Proceedings, Volume 17. (link) (pdf)