The University of Arizona
Insect Science: the Graduate Interdisciplinary Program
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Kim Franklin

Kim Franklin

Bio Sketch

Research Interests:

My research interests focus on how data from insect communities can contribute to biodiversity conservation in fragmented landscapes. Most conservation programs have focused on data from vertebrate taxa, yet the majority of earth’s biodiversity is found within invertebrate groups. In comparison to most vertebrate taxa, insects exist in their environments on finer spatial and temporal scales. These characteristics of insects, together with their enormous diversity and abundance within most terrestrial environments, facilitate the detection of subtle changes in regional or local biodiversity patterns that may not be apparent from data from other taxa.

My dissertation research addresses the effects of habitat loss and fragmentation on the biodiversity of a unique ecosystem within the Sonoran Desert of Mexico. Current practices of rangeland improvement in this region involve the clearing of native desert vegetation followed by seeding with an exotic grass species known commonly as buffelgrass (Pennisetum ciliare). Colleagues and I began this research by mapping land clearing in the region with Landsat imagery. This fall I will begin surveying the ant community within the region. The main goals of this research are (1) to understand how habitat loss and fragmentation are affecting patterns of biodiversity in the region and (2) to provide local landowners with practical management guidelines that will maximize biodiversity conservation (3) to address questions of changes in species diversity over productivity gradients.

Personal:

I graduated with a B.A. in biology from New College of Florida, a small liberal arts college in Sarasota, Florida. Afterwards I took a year off to travel, visiting parts of Central America, Eastern Europe, and the former USSR. In 2003 I began my Ph.D. in the Insect Science Interdisciplinary Program at the University of Arizona. My first two years of graduate school I served as a research assistant on an initiative to survey and monitor the insect biodiversity of the Central Gulf Coast of the Sonoran Desert in Sonora, Mexico. This experience led to my current dissertation research on land use change and ant diversity in the southern Sonoran Desert.

Currently I am beginning a survey of ant community diversity in the Plains of Sonora bioregion of the Sonoran Desert in Mexico. Supported by a Fulbright Fellowship I will be stationed in Hermosillo, the capital of Sonora, until July 2006. My research is driven by both practical and theoretical questions. First, I am interested in the potential of ants to serve as indicators of ecosystem conditions, and in particular in their ability to indicate the success or failure of restoration efforts. Secondly, I am interested in using ants to address questions of changes in species diversity over productivity gradients. The landscape of southern Sonora provides an ideal system for investigating both of these issues.