Roeder, Diane

• Ph.D., Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Oklahoma 

• M.S., Zoology, University of Oklahoma 

• B.S., Biology, Cameron University

Global climate change is expected to significantly affect the diversity and distribution of species, particularly among the ectotherms, which are animals that rely on environmental temperatures to regulate their body heat. Given that species may experience extreme temperature fluctuations across days, seasons, and years, the Roeder lab is interested in investigating how and if physiological traits respond to environmental warming, using ants as a study system. Predicting these effects is challenging, partly because ectotherms might physiologically adapt to new conditions or use behavioral thermoregulation to minimize their exposure to stressful microclimates. Likewise, individuals may acclimate to seasonally changing temperatures or display hardening responses to shorter-term bouts of particularly high or low temperatures. Thermal tolerance is a key physiological trait that dictates the thermal conditions in which organisms can exist, influencing their fundamental niche and activities like foraging, reproduction, and defense. While critical thermal maxima (Ctmax) and (CTmin) have been established for many taxa, flexibility in these traits is often overlooked. We are focused on asking questions about 1) whether critical thermal tolerance and preferred temperature measured under laboratory conditions can predict activity patterns in natural habitats, 2) how increasingly longer exposure to stressful temperatures impacts survival and cellular damage and repair, 3) how short bouts of exposure to stressful temperatures impacts thermal resistance, and 4)  how heat shock protein expression responds to different levels of thermal stress.