Office Phone: (206) 543-2315   Home Phone: (206) 365-4163
FAX: (206) 365-4153  Email: sodonnel@u.washington.edu
World-Wide Web page: http://weber.u.washington.edu/~sodonnel/

CURRENT RESEARCH INTERESTS

Social behavior, especially of eusocial Hymenoptera:
  Genetic and physiological control of individual behavioral differences and division of labor in wasps (Vespidae)
  Evolution of eusociality, caste determination, and colony organization
  Evolution and population genetics of mimicry
Ecology and biological diversity of tropical social insects

UNIVERSITY FACULTY POSITIONS

Assistant Professor of Animal Behavior, Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, September 1996 to Present.

University of Washington Graduate Program in Neurobiology and Behavior, August 1997 to Present.

Instructor, University of California Education Abroad Program. Monteverde, Costa Rica, Fall 1995

POSTDOCTORAL AND GRADUATE TRAINING

Postdoctoral Fellow: National Science Foundation Division of Environmental Biology (DEB-9303244). Laboratory of Robert E. Page, Jr., University of California-Davis, September 1994 to August 1996

Postdoctoral Fellow: University of California-Davis NSF Animal Behavior Research Training Grant. Laboratories of Hugh Dingle and Robert E. Page, Jr., September 1993 to August 1994

Ph.D. in Zoology and Entomology (joint major), University of  Wisconsin-Madison, January 1990 to May 1993. Ph.D. Thesis: Patterns and regulation of division of labor in the eusocial wasp Polybia occidentalis Olivier (Hymenoptera: Vespidae).

PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATION MEMBERSHIP

International Society for Behavioral Ecology; Animal Behavior Society; Association for Tropical Biology; Entomological Society of America; American Entomological Society; International Union for the Study of Social Insects; Kansas Entomological Society

FIELD RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

Monteverde, Puntarenas Province, Costa Rica, July/August 1997, December/January 1995-1996, April/May 1994 and October 1993

Yasuni National Park, Napo Province, Ecuador, April 1995 and November 1994

Iquitos, Loreto Province, Peru, January 1994 and March 1993

Centro Ecologico la Pacifica, Guanacaste Province, Costa Rica, July 1998, August 1997, July 1992 & July-October 1991, June-August 1989, August-October 1988

Hato Masaguaral, Guarico Province, Venezuela, Spring 1991 and 1992

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute facilities in Gamboa, Panama Province, Panama, July 1998, June-October 1990

Cuzco Amazonico lodge, Madre de Dios Province, Peru, August 1989
 

PEER-REVIEWED PUBLICATIONS RESULTING FROM WORK AT MONTEVERDE, COSTA RICA

Kaspari, M., S. O’Donnell & J.R. Kercher. Submitted. Energy, density, and constraints to species richness: studies of ant assemblages along a productivity gradient.
  The American Naturalist.

O'Donnell, S. & F.J. Joyce. In press. Dual mimicry in the dimorphic eusocial wasp, Mischocyttarus mastigophorus Richards. Biological Journal of the Linnean
  Society.

O’Donnell, S. In press. The function of male dominance in the eusocial wasp Mischocyttarus mastigophorus (Hymenoptera: Vespidae). Ethology.

Ranger, S. & S. O’Donnell. In press. Genotypic effects on forager behavior in the Neotropical stingless bee Partamona bilineata (Hymenoptera: Meliponidae).
  Naturwissenschaften.

O’Donnell, S. In press. Dominance and division of labor in the eusocial wasp Mischocyttarus mastigophorus (Hymenoptera: Vespidae). Behavioral Ecology and
  Sociobiology.

O'Donnell, S. In press. Eusocial wasps of Monteverde (Hymenoptera: Vespidae). In: N.M. Nadkarni and N.T. Wheelright (eds) The Natural History and Ecology
  of Monteverde, Costa Rica: a Background to Conservation.

O’Donnell, S. & F. Joyce. In press. A dual mimicry complex involving three eusocial wasp species at Monteverde (Hymenoptera: Vespidae). In: N.M. Nadkarni
  and N.T. Wheelright (eds) The Natural History and Ecology of Monteverde, Costa Rica: a Background to Conservation.

O'Donnell, S. 1998. Genetic effects on task performance, but not on age polyethism, in a swarm-founding eusocial wasp. Animal Behaviour 55: 417-426.

Kaspari, M., J. Kercher, & S. O’Donnell. 1997. Species energy theory and gradients in ant community structure. Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America 78:
  120.

O'Donnell, S., J.H. Hunt, & R.L. Jeanne.1997. Gaster-flagging during colony defense in Neotropical swarm-founding wasps (Hymenoptera: Vespidae, Epiponini).
  Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 70:175-180.

O'Donnell, S. 1996. RAPD markers suggest genotypic effects on forager specialization in a eusocial wasp. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 38: 83-88.

O'Donnell, S. 1996. Dragonflies (Gynacantha nervosa Rambur) avoid wasps (Polybia aequatorialis Zavattari and Mischocyttarus sp.) as prey. Journal of Insect
  Behavior 9: 159-162.

O'Donnell, S. 1995. Necrophagy by neotropical swarm-founding wasps (Hymenoptera: Vespidae, Epiponini). Biotropica 27: 133-136.

O'Donnell, S. & R.L. Jeanne. 1990. Notes on an army ant (Eciton burchelli Westwood) raid of a social wasp nest (Agelaia yepocapa Richards) in Costa Rica.
  Journal of Tropical Ecology 6: 507-509.