I am interested in evolutionary biology and ecology and use interdisciplinary approaches to test hypotheses about the mechanisms of physiological adaptation, the diversification of nutritional niches, and evolutionary responses to global change. I have a special fondness for ants and their associates and study them in habitats ranging from Danish grasslands to Panamanian rainforests. Visit my website (www.jonathanshik.com) for more information about my work and to find opportunities to join my team!

JONATHAN ZVI SHIK

RESEARCH STATEMENT

I am an integrative evolutionary ecologist exploring how physiological traits govern species co-existence. Funded by an ERC Starting Grant, I have developed complementary approaches focusing on eco-physiology and nutritional ecology to study how the performance of diverse organisms in communities varies across environmental gradients in light of climate change. This interdisciplinary research combines fieldwork, lab experiments, genetic/genomic approaches and theory development. My favorite study organisms are the ants, which enable me and my collaborators to test hypotheses across levels of biological organization, from genes in genomes, to cells in multicellular bodies, to individuals in societies and symbioses. Trillions of ants inhabit diverse habitats across the planet, providing a rich canvas on which to apply integrative approaches from metabolic respirometry, to stable isotopes, to comparative genomics.

CURRENT POSITIONS

Associate Professor

Section for Ecology and Evolution, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark 

Research Associate

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado 0843-03092, Balboa, Ancon, Republic of Panama

EDUCATION

PhD, University of Oklahoma (2010)

B.Sc., McGill University (2003)

APPOINTMENTS

2019-present: Research Associate, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

2018-2021: Assistant Professor, Centre for Social Evolution, University of Copenhagen

2016-2018: Postdoctoral Researcher, Centre for Social Evolution, University of Copenhagen

2014-2016: Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellow, Centre for Social Evolution, University of Copenhagen

2013-2014: Postdoctoral Fellow, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

2011-2013: Postdoctoral Research Associate, Department of Entomology, North Carolina State University

2010: Research Associate, University of Oklahoma and Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

2009: Research Fellow: Alumni Fellowship, University of Oklahoma

EDITORIAL POSITIONS

2019-present: Associate Editor, Journal of Animal Ecology

SELECTED GRANTS & AWARDS: (TOTAL FUNDING TO DATE (€ 3,172,000; >23.5 million DKK)

2023 Carlsberg Semper Ardens: Accelerate Grant (~5 million DKK)

2023 Danish Research Council Project 1 (~2.8 million DKK)

2022 Villum Experiment Grant (~2 million DKK)

2019 UCPH Forward Program for Excellence in Research selection

2017 European Research Council Starting Grant (ERC StG) [€1.5 million ($1,700)]

2014 EU Marie Curie International Incoming Postdoctoral Fellowship [€240,000 ($274,000)]

2013 Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Postdoctoral Fellowship [€55,000 ($63,000)]

2012 National Inst. for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis, short term research grant [€1700 ($2000)]

2005-2010 Alumni Fellowship, University of Oklahoma [€22,000 ($25,000), renewed annually]

SUMMARY OF PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS

• 45 publications in peer-reviewed journals.
• 982 citations in Google Scholar; h=22, i10=31 (Google Scholar).
• 49 invited oral presentations at national & international meetings, and departmental seminars.
• 34 contributed oral presentations at national & international meetings.
• 20 contributed poster presentations at national and international meetings.

KEY INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATORS

-Staff Scientist William Wcislo, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama

-Assistant Professor Brian Sedio, University of Texas, USA & STRI

-Associate Professor Xavier Arnan, CREAF, Spain

-Lecturer, Tom Bishop, Cardiff University, United Kingdom

-Associate Professor Kristine Bohmann, UCPH, Denmark

-Professor Jacobus J. Boomsma, UCPH, Denmark

-Professor Hans Henrik Bruun, UCPH, Denmark

-Professor David Donoso, Escuela Politecnica Nacional, Quito, Ecuador

-Associate Professor Vasilis Kokkoris, Vrije University, The Netherlands

-Professor Audrey Dussutour, CNRS, Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France

-Associate Professor Henrik de Fine Licht, UCPH, Denmark

-Professor Michael Poulsen, UCPH, Denmark

-Professor Heloise Gibb, La Trobe University, Australia

-Senior Lecturer Juliano Morimoto, University of Aberdeen, UK

-Assistant Professor Emily Meineke, University of California Davis, USA

-Professor Anders Michelsen, UCPH, Denmark

-Professor Riikka Rinnan, UCPH, Denmark

-Professor Andre Rodgrigues, São Paulo State University, Brazil

SELECTED INVITED INTERNATIONAL AND DANISH SEMINARS (since 2018)

CURRENT TEACHING

Invasion Biology (course coordinator since 2019)

Evolutionary Ecology (course coordinator since 2021

Advanced Ecology (assistant coordinator since 2018)

Population Biology (lecturer and exercise coordinator since 2019)

Macroecology (lecturer since fall 2019)

Tropical Behavioural Ecology and Evolution, field course at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama: April - May 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017

PEDAGOGICAL TRAINING

Introduction to University Pedagogy (IUP) (2017) at the Department of Science Education, University of Copenhagen.

Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (UP) (2021) at the Department of Science Education, University of Copenhagen

Course in PhD supervision (2024)

Course for PhD supervisors in Responsible Research Conduct (2024)

SUPERVISING at the University of Copenhagen

Ongoing postdoctoral projects

-Dr. Caio Leal-Dutra (2020-2025): Genomics and evolution of the domesticated cultivars of leafcutter ants

-Dr. Ayoub Stealate (2023-2026): Advanced imaging of a domesticated fungal symbiont

-Dr. Suzanne Schmidt (2022-2024): Culturing Termitomyces fungi for human consumption (co-supervisor, main supervisor: Professor Michael Poulsen, UCPH)

Ongoing PhD projects

- Asta Rødsgaard-Jørgensen (2023-26): Molecular mechanisms of crop domestication in leafcutter ants (main supervisor)

- Aoife O’Brien (2024-27): Nutritional mechanisms insect declines in Denmark (main supervisor, Prof. Hans Henrik Bruun, UCPH, co-supervisor)

- Sabrina Ferreira de Santana (2023-24): Bioinformatics of the viruses inhabiting fungi (hosting)

- Ana Cuesta (2022-25): Microbial symbionts inhabiting the guts of social insects (co-supervisor, main supervisor: Sandra Anderson, GLOBE, UCPH)

Ongoing MSc and BSc thesis projects

-Mads Ditlevsen MSc thesis: “Molecular and nutritional analyses of plant fragments foraged by free-ranging leafcutter ants”

-Kira Pejtersen, MSc thesis: “Mechanisms of nutritional reward formation in the domesticated fungal crop farmed by leafcutter ants”

-Katrine Ottesen, MSc thesis: “Genomic evolution of mitochondria inhabiting fungal cultivars of farming ants”

-Sarah Kock, BSc thesis: “DNA barcoding of attine symbioses from Panama”

-Ronan Merlotti: BSc thesis: “Development of ant husbandry techniques”

-Karl Fakentorp (starting Block 3, 2025): Bachelors thesis, “Tissue specific foraging by an insect pathogenic fungus”

-Malthe Rasmussen (starting Block 3, 2025): BSc thesis, “Tissue specific foraging by an insect pathogenic fungus”

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS since 2018 (see www.jonathanshik.com for full publication list)

De Fine Licht HH, Csontos Z, Nijegaard Nielsen PJD, Langkilde EB, Kjaergaard Hansen AK,Shik JZ (In Press, Ecology) Insect hosts are nutritional landscapes navigated by fungal pathogens. 

Leal-Dutra CA, Shik JZ, Boomsma JJ, Schultz TR (2024) How fungus-farming ants have nourished biology for 150 years. Nature635:39. 

Hess O, van der Deure T, Bolander M, Leal-Dutra CA, Shik JZ(2024) The evolution of thermal performance curves in fungi farmed by attine ant mutualists. Journal Evolutionary Biology, voae135. 

Rødsgaard-Jørgensen A, Leal-Dutra CA, Ferreira de Santana S, Roland Jensen A, Marques RE, Rocha Aguiar ERG, Shik JZ(2024) Two +ssRNA mycoviruses cohabiting the fungal cultivar of leafcutter ants. Virology Journal, 21:211. 

Leal-Dutra CA, Vizueta J, Baril T, Kooij PW, Rødsgaard-Jørgensen A, Schantz-Conlon BH, Croll D, Shik JZ(2024) Genomic signatures of domestication in a fungus obligately farmed by leafcutter ants. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 41:msae197. 

Leal-Dutra CA, Lok Man Y, Guedes BAM, Contreras-Serrano M, Shik JZ(2023) A domesticated fungal cultivar recycles its cellular contents as nutritional rewards for its leafcutter ant farmers. IMA Fungus, 14:9. 

Bolander M, Andersen JE, Conlon BH, Arnan X, Michelsen A, Shik JZ(2023) Reciprocal nutritional provisioning between leafcutter ants and their fungal cultivar mediates performance of symbiotic farming systems. Functional Ecology, 37:3079-3090. 

Gibb H, Bishop T, Parr C, Lessard J-P, Sanders N, Shik JZ, Ibarra-Isassi J, Narendra A, Dunn RR, Wright I. (2023) Ecological strategies of pl(ant)s: toward a world-wide worker economic spectrum for ants. Functional Ecology, 37:13-25. 

Donoso DA, Basset Y, Shik JZ, Forrister DL, Uquillas A, Salazar Mendez Y, Arizala S, Polanco P, Beckett S, Dominguez DG, Barrios H (2022) Male ant reproductive investment in a seasonal wet tropical forest: consequences of future climate change. PLoS One, 17:e0266222. 

Conlon BH, O’Tuama D, Michelsen A, Crumière AJJ, Shik JZ (2022) A fungal symbiont converts provisioned cellulose into edible yield for its leafcutter ant farmers, Biology Letters, 18:20220022. 

Crumière AJJ, Mallett S, Michelsen A, Rinnan R, Shik JZ(2022) Nutritional challenges of provisioning a mutualist: testing for a nutrient-toxin tradeoff in fungus-farming leafcutter ants. Ecology, 103:e3684. 

Conlon BH, Schmidt S, Poulsen M, Shik JZ(2022) Orthogonal protocols for DNA extraction from filamentous fungi. STAR Protocols, 3:101126. 

Crumière AJJ, James A, Lannes P, Mallett S, Michelsen A, Rinnan R, Shik JZ(2021) The multidimensional nutritional niche of foraging and fungus-cultivar provisioning in a free-ranging leafcutter ant. Ecology Letters, 24:2439-2451. 

Shik JZ, Kooij PW, Donoso D, Santos JC, Gomez EB, Franco M, Crumière AJJ, Arnan X, Howe J, Wcislo WT, Boomsma JJ (2020) Nutritional niches reveal fundamental domestication tradeoffs in fungus-farming ants. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 5:122-134. 

Fisher RM, Shik JZ, Boomsma JJ (2020) The evolution of multicellular complexity: the role of relatedness and environmental constraints. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 287:20192963. 

Shik JZ, Dussutour A. (2020) Nutritional dimensions of invasive success. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 35:691-703. 

Crumiere AJJ, Stephenson CJ, Nagel M, Shik JZ (2020) Using nutritional geometry to explore how social insects navigate nutritional landscapes. Insects, 11:53. 

Krabbe BA, Arnan X, Lannes P, Echtvad Bergstedt C, Stenbak Larsen R, Pedersen JS, Shik, J.Z. (2019) Using nutritional geometry to define the fundamental macronutrient niche of the widespread invasive ant ​Monomorium pharaonis. PLoS One, 14: e0218764. 

Shik JZ, Arnan X, Oms CS, Cerda X, Boulay R (2019) Evidence for locally adaptive metabolic rates among ant populations along an elevation gradient. Journal of Animal Ecology, 88:1240-1249. 

Rodrigues da Costa R, Vreeburg SME, Shik JZ, Aanen DK, Poulsen M (2019) Can interaction specificity in the fungus-farming termite symbiosis be explained by nutritional requirements of the crop fungi? Fungal Ecology, 38:54-61. 

Kooij PW, Dentiger BM, Donoso D, Shik JZ, Gaya, E. (2018) Cryptic diversity in Colombian edible ants, Atta spp. Fabricius, 1804 [Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Attini]. Insects, 9:191. 

Sapountzis P, Zhukova M, Shik JZ, Schiøtt M, Boomsma JJ (2018) Reconstructing the symbiotic functions of intestinal Mollicutes in fungus-growing ants. eLife, 7:e39209. 

Hamilton N, Jones, TH, Shik JZ, Wall B, Schultz TR, Blair HA, Adams RMM (2018) Context is everything: Mapping Cyphomyrmex-derived compounds to the fungus-growing ant phylogeny. Chemoecology, 28:137-144. 

Shik JZ, Rytter W, Arnan X, Michelsen A (2018) Disentangling nutritional pathways linking leafcutter ants and their co-evolved fungal symbionts using stable isotopes. Ecology, 99:1999-2009. 

Shik JZ, Consilio A, Kaae T, Adams RMM (2018), Farming ants nutritionally manage fungal mutualists and social parasites. Ecological Entomology, 43:440-446. 

Shik JZ, Gomez EB, Kooij PW, Santos JC, Wcislo WT, Boomsma JJ (2016) Nutrition mediates the expression of cultivar-farmer conflict in a fungus-growing ant. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, 113:10121-10126. 

SERVICE

University Service

Reviewer: Peer-Reviewed Journals (average 14 reviews per year)

Acta Ethologica, Agricultural and Forest Entomology, Animal Behaviour, Arthropod-Plant Interactions, Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, Biological Invasions, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, Biology Letters, Current Zoology, Ecography, Ecological Entomology, Ecology, Ecology and Evolution, Ecology Letters, Ecosystems, Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata, Environmental Entomology, European Journal of Entomology, Evolution, Evolutionary Biology, Functional Ecology, Global Change Biology, Insect Conservation and Diversity, Insects, Insectes Sociaux, Journal of Animal Ecology, Journal of Applied Entomology, Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology, Journal of Insect Behavior, Journal of Insect Physiology, Journal of Insect Science, Journal of Thermal Biology, Myrmecological News, Naturwissenschaften, Oecologia, Oikos, PeerJ, PLoS One, Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Rangeland Ecology and Management, Revista Brasileira de Entomologia, Scientific Reports

Reviewer: Grant Agencies

European Research Council (ERC, Advanced Grants), National Science Foundation (USA), Sapere Aude (Denmark), US-Israel Binational Agricultural Research and Development Fund (BARD: US-Israel), Binational Science Foundation (BSF: US-Israel), Austrian Science Fund

Grant Review Panels

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Tupper Fellowship Committee, USA (2024)

Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I. P. (FCT) (Reviewed 25 proposals (15 as lead reviewer) for the Central Portuguese Funding Agency, April 2018)

Current Professional Affiliations

International Union for the Study of Social Insects, British Ecological Society, Danish Oikos Society

Symposium Organizer

2023: International Symposium on Social Evolution, over 80 attendees, attained Carlsberg funding

2020: Insect eco-physiology, International Congress for Entomology (every 4^th year), Helsinki, Finland [postponed until 2021]

2018: Social insect eco-physiology across scales, International Union for the Study of Social Insects (every 4^th year), Guaruja, Brazil

2016: Physiological responses to environmental change, International Congress for Entomology (every 4^th year), Orlando, Florida, USA