Jonathan Shik is the group leader and is an Associate Professor at the University of Copenhagen and a Research Associate at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama. Jonathan works on the ecology, evolution, and physiology of insects and their symbionts. Much of this work: 1) focuses on fungus farming ants, 2) uses nutrition as an entry point for testing hypotheses, 3) harnesses diverse research approaches ranging from tropical forest fieldwork to genomic analyses.
|
Ayoub Stelate is a postdoctoral researcher funded by a Semper Ardens Accelerate grant from the Carlsberg Foundation that is using advanced imaging approaches to study the cellular mechanisms of symbiotic integration between leafcutter ants and their co-evolved fungal cultivar.
|
Asta Rødsgaard Jørgensen is a PhD student studying the genetic signatures of crop domestication in the cultivars of fungus-farming ants. Asta's project is funded by a Semper Ardens Accelerate grant from the Carlsberg Foundation.
|
Mads Ditlevsen performed a Bachelors thesis project (2022) using comparative analyses to explore the evolution of the nutritional rewards produced by the cultivars of fungus-farming ants. Mads is now beginning a MSc project exploring the mechanisms of chemical communication within the leafcutter ant symbiosis.
|
Visitors
Sabrina Ferreira de Santana (2023-2024) is a visiting PhD student from Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz in Brazil. Sabrina is using bioinformatics and in vitro approaches to understand how the fungal cultivar of leafcutter ants responds to the presence of viruses. Sabrina's primary PhD supervisor is Eric Aguiar.
|
Hugo Merienne (2019) is a PhD student in the lab of Vincent Fourcassie at the University of Toulouse in France, and is working in the group as an ERASMUS Fellow during the fall of 2018. His thesis work is on the biomechanics of load transport in seed harvester ants. We will be doing a series of metabolic respirometry experiments to explore the energetic costs of carrying seeds relative to worker body size in Messor barbarus.
|
Nathan Cyrille (2019) is a MSc student Paris-Sud University doing a comparative study on the digestive physiology of fungus-farming ants, in collaboration with Kenneth Halberg from the University of Copenhagen.
|
Alumni
Winnie Rytter (2015-2017) completed a Masters Degree in my lab studying the physiological basis for foraging behaviors in leafcutting ants. Her first chapter was recently published in Animal Behavior. Her second chapter, just accepted to Ecology, used stable isotopes to track the flow of nutrients through the complex farming systems of leafcutter ants.
|
Mads Wolter (2017-2019) has completed his masters thesis using stable isotopes to study the production ecology of fungus-farming ants. Mads was co-supervised by Anders Michelsen from the Section of Terrestrial Ecology at the University of Copenhagen.
|
Birla Krabbe (2017-2019) performed her Bachelor's thesis studying the nutritional ecology of the ant Monomorium pharaonis to understand its success as an invasive species. Birla was co-supervised by Jes Pedersen (U. Copenhagen), and then worked as a research technician in my lab. She is now pursuing a Masters degree in Nature Management.
|
Antonin Crumiere (2018-2020) was a postdoctoral researcher exploring the evolution and ecology of crop production in leafcutter ants. He is using a combination of field and laboratory experiments to explore how leafcutter ants and their domesticated fungal cultivars communicate their nutritional needs.
|
Zsuzsanna Csontos (2018-2020) performed masters thesis research exploring how the fundamental nutritional niche breadth of fungal parasites influences the diversity of hosts they can infect. The project will focus on insect pathogenic fungal genus Metarhizium, more precisely, of the species M. acridum (specialist pathogen of locusts), as well as generalist insect-pathogenic fungi such as M. robertsii and M. anisopliae. Zsuzsanna is co-supervised by Professor Henrik de Fine Licht from the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences at the University of Copenhagen.
|
August Hansen (2022-2023) performed a BSc thesis using nutritional analyses of insect prey organs to test whether and how nutrition mediates the infection timeline of insect-pathogenic fungi. August is co-supervised by Professor Henrik de Fine Licht from the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences at the University of Copenhagen.
|
Mille Bolander (2020-2023) performed her Masters research working with Julie Andersen on a project to study whether and how leafcutter ants that produce a fungal cultivar make decisions about how to process incoming resources (e.g. freshly cut leaves) to nutritionally provision their crops. Mille then worked as a scientific assistant in the group until early 2023.
|
Collaborators
Audrey Dussutour (University of Paul Sabbatier, Toulouse, France)
Jacobus Boomsma (University of Copenhagen)
Bill Wcislo (Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute)
Pepijn Kooij (Kew Gardens)
Rachelle Adams (Ohio State University)
Juan Santos (St. John's University)
David Donoso (Escuela Politecnica Nacional, Quito)
Xavier Arnan (CREAF Centre for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications)
Anders Michelsen (University of Copenhagen)
Henrik de Fine Licht (University of Copenhagen)
Jes Pedersen (University of Copenhagen)
Audrey Dussutour (University of Paul Sabbatier, Toulouse, France)
Jacobus Boomsma (University of Copenhagen)
Bill Wcislo (Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute)
Pepijn Kooij (Kew Gardens)
Rachelle Adams (Ohio State University)
Juan Santos (St. John's University)
David Donoso (Escuela Politecnica Nacional, Quito)
Xavier Arnan (CREAF Centre for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications)
Anders Michelsen (University of Copenhagen)
Henrik de Fine Licht (University of Copenhagen)
Jes Pedersen (University of Copenhagen)