May 2013
Sunshine, Kim and Nathan are off to Panama for June and July, while Demetra and Stephen begin to explore fungal endophytes in Louisiana wetlands.
New paper published in Ecosphere: Coblentz, K. E., and S. A. Van Bael. 2013. Field colonies of leaf-cutting ants select plant materials containing low abundances of endophytic fungi.
April 2013
Our new laboratory is complete in 443 Boggs! Now it’s time to get some research going!
March 2013
Demetra Kandalepas joins the laboratory as our first Tulane post-doctoral researcher, and we collect our first Spartina for analyses of endophytic fungi!
Gabriel Patterson from Colorado College is awarded a STRI competitive internship to join the lab in Panama for summer 2013.
Renovations on the Tulane laboratory in the Lindy Boggs Building are coming to a close!
February 2013
New paper published in New Phytologist: Estrada, C., Wcislo, W., S. A. Van Bael. 2013. Symbiotic fungi alter plant chemistry that discourages leaf-cutting ants.
http://tulane.edu/news/newwave/030413_ants.cfm
December 2012
Van Bael joins a group of researchers and administrators from Tulane on a visit to the University of Havana in Cuba.
https://tulane.edu/news/newwave/011513_cuba.cfm
November 2012
New paper published in BMC Ecology: Leaf endophyte load influences fungal garden development in leaf-cutting ants.
August 2012
Kimberly Mighell officially joins the lab!
Van Bael, with collaborators from STRI, publishes in Ecological Entomology on the leaf-cutting ant and endophytic fungi work from Panama.
May 2012
Tulane undergraduate, Kyle Coblentz, joins the lab in Panama for a summer NSF REU project.
Previous
Check out our new materials for teachers and kids, including bilingual, downloadable coloring pages and videos about leaf-cutting ants.
http://www.stri.si.edu/english/kids/symbiosis/index.html
