Assistant Professor
Department of Entomology
University of California, Riverside
jpurcell@ucr.edu
phone:951-827-7258
Aldo de la Mora Rodriguez
I have been studying ants for years in Mexico. Previously, my primary research was focused on understanding the foraging behavior in Odontomachus opaciventris. Then, I went through the ant taxonomy and social behavior (but not enogh !!). During my Ph.D., I became interested in which local or landscape factors shape ant diversity and ants' ecological interactions with other organisms in agroecosystems. To respond to my inquietude, I worked on ant diversity and abundance, parasitism in ants, and ecosystem services provided by ants to explain the intensification process in coffee landscapes. However, I thought a better approach might be to use evolutionary approaches to understand ant distribution and interactions. As a part of the UCMEXUS-CONACYT program, my main research question in the Purcell Lab is: What are the evolutionary mechanisms underlying the distribution of social parasitism across a latitudinal gradient? Currently, I'm studying the Formica genus as a model system, integrating previous knowledge such as fieldwork and laboratory designs, as well as developing genomic skills to understand the proximate and ultimate consequences of social parasitism in Formica