When it comes to teaching and tenure it is time to walk the walk.

Institutions should value teaching and service, and not just research, when considering faculty for promotion and tenure

Some consequences of diffuse competition in a desert ant community

Journal ArticleExploitative and interference competition are investigated in detail in a community of six coexisting species of granivorous desert ants . A linear model that includes both direct and indirect competitive interactions is used to predict positive or negative correlations in the abundances of competitors. Data on the abundances of the six ant species on 23 1/4-ha plots provide empirical support for the four predictions so generated. "Apparent facilitation." in the for of positive interspecific spatial associations of colonies, is detected between two competitors and interpreted as arising from indirect pathways of interspecific interaction. The results illustrate how indirect interactions among species at a single trophic level may play a significant role in organizing natural communities

Size variability in the worker caste of a social insect (veromessor pergandei mayr) as a function of the competitive environment

Journal ArticleWorker size polymorphism in colonies of Veromessor pergandei, a granivorous desert ant, is inversely related to the intensity of interspecific competition in the habitat for seven ant communities in the deserts of southern California and southern Arizona. Seed size preferences are positively correlated with worker body sizes, and diet breadth relative to seed size is probably enhanced by colony polymorphism . Niche shifts within colonies of these social insects may permit unusually fine adaptation to the resource environment. In contrast to solitary organisms, for which generalization of the diet may imply significant trade-offs, these ants may expand their utilization of resources where competitors are absent while retaining an efficient size match to the distribution of available resources