Ecology of Antibiotics
Collaborators:
M, Strickland, Danielsson, R.J., Dahlberg, M. Ramin, S. Agenas, I. Tapio, A. Bayat, T. Hammer, T. Roslin, M. Kaspari, E. Gora.
Methods from our current project:
Relevant Publications:
Wepking, C., B. Badgley, J. Barrett, K. Knowlton, K. Minick, P. Ray, J.M. Lucas, S. Shawver, M. Strickland. (2019) Prolonged exposure to manure from livestock‐administered antibiotics decreases ecosystem carbon‐use efficiency and alters nitrogen cycling. Ecology Letters.
Danielsson, R.J., J. Lucas Dahlberg, M. Ramin, S. Agenas, I. Tapio, A. Bayat, T. Hammer and T. Roslin. (2019) Context-dependence of antibiotic effects on methane emissions from livestock. Royal Society Open Science.
Lucas, J.M., E.M. Gora, and M. Kaspari. (2019) Antibiotics as chemical warfare across multiple taxonomic domains and trophic levels. Proc. R. Soc. B.
Lucas, J.M., B. Sone, M.S. Strickland. Antibiotics and temperature disrupt soil communities and their function. In prep.
Lucas, J.M., H. Nunn, and M. Kaspari. Detritivorous invertebrates avoid harmful antibiotic compounds to increase survival rates. In prep.
Funding: NSF, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

How do orthopteran communities shape above- and below-ground ecosystems and their functions?
Collaborators:
Jayne Jonas-Bratten, Angela Laws, David Branson, Steven Pennings, Chelse Prather, Michael Strickland
Relevant Publications:
Lucas, J.M., J. Jonas-Bratten, A.N. Laws, D.H. Branson, S.C. Pennings, C.M. Prather, and M.S. Strickland. Herbivore functional groups, not species, shape belowground communities, but not their function. In review.
Funding: USDA
Microbiomes of the Ant-Built Home
Collaborators:
Azteca trigona Project: Michael Kaspari
Azteca-Cecropia Project: Emily Meineke, Rob Dunn, Mary Jane Epps, Daniel Fergus, Anne Madden, Peter Marting, Clint Penick, Julia Stevens
Relevant Publications:
Lucas, J.M., B. Bill, B. Stevenson, M. Kaspari. (2016) The microbiome of the ant-built home: the microbial communities of a tropical arboreal ant and its nest. Ecosphere.
Lucas, J.M., A.A. Madden, C.A. Penick, M.J. Epps, P.R. Marting, J.L. Stevens, D.J. Fergus, R.R. Dunn, E.K. Meineke. (2019) Ants control insect pathogens, but not plant pathogens, inside their nests in a model ant-plant mutualism. Proc. Roy. Soc. B.
Funding: NSF, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, University of Oklahoma
Canopy ants and host trees: a facultative mutualism?
Collaborators:
Azteca trigona Project: Michael Kaspari, Bradley Stevenson, Brian Bill
Relevant Publications:
Lucas, J.M., N.A. Clay, and M. Kaspari. (2018) External myrmecotrophy benefits host plants of dominant canopy ant, Azteca trigona. Ecological Entomology.
Clay, N.A., J.M. Lucas, M. Kaspari and A.D. Kay. (2013) Manna from heaven: Refuse from an arboreal ant connects aboveground and belowground processes in a lowland tropical forest. Ecosphere.
Funding: NSF, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, University of Oklahoma