One ant's trash is another plant's treasure: How the canopy ant Azteca trigona connects above- and below-ground processes in a wet tropical forest

Understanding how above and below ground ecosystems connect is essential for understanding nutrient cycling and broader ecological processes.  Social insects, like ants in tropical forest canopies, provide a unique model system for understanding these connections because they concentrate dispersed resources in centralized and observable locations. My research focuses on how the canopy ant, Azteca trigona, influences decomposition processes, manipulates invertebrate communities and potentially provides broad mutualistic benefits with their host trees.