MPF Webinar: Notes from Underground: Ants in the Prairie with Dr. James Trager

Grassland ants all nest underground, but during the growing season, most live nearer and become active at the surface or even above ground level, where the flourish of prairie life is in such vibrant force.

Dr. James Trager has graduate degrees in entomology specializing in ant research, but has always been broadly interested in the natural history of terrestrial ecosystems. After a 10-year stint as a research entomologist in Florida, Brazil and Argentina, family matters brought him to Missouri, and he found employment as the interpretive naturalist and ecological restoration biologist at Shaw Nature Reserve near St. Louis, where he worked for 28.5 years, until he retired during the summer of 2019 (though staying on as an instructor and volunteer in the restoration program). He is currently working on a guide to the approximately 150 species of Missouri ants, frequently interrupted by “Zooming” off to entomology and other sorts of nature talks, even occasionally giving one himself. Lately he has become enchanted with a granddaughter, born in August, whom he hopes to influence as a student or at least a lover of nature.

Learn more at moprairie.org

This webinar was recorded live on March 10, 2021.