Welcome to Ant Insights!

This is the personal web site of Scott Powell. I am a research biologist working on phenotypic adaptation and diversification in ants, the most evolutionarily and ecologically successful social animals on Earth. I am currently based at the Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, Brazil, in the beautiful and hyper-diverse 'cerrado' biome.

I follow the philosophy that the big questions in evolutionary biology and ecology are best answered by building on a detailed knowledge of one's study organisms. To date I have worked with predatory Ponerine ants, the spectacular Army ants (Ecitoninae), and the peculiar Turtle Ants (Cephalotes). Each group has very different and fascinating biology that makes them ideally suited for addressing different big questions.

To find out a little more about my research questions and the ants that I work with, please follow the appropriate links in the navigation bar above. Ants are such weird and wonderful animals that I also have an ever-increasing collection of photos for you to browse. The remaining sections of my site are dedicated to my publications (with PDFs of papers and coverage of my work in the popular science press), C.V. and links to some of my favourite pages and people.

I hope you enjoy my site, and please feel free to use the contact link below if you have any questions or comments. Cheers, Scott.