Research Interests

Sociobiology, behavioral ecology, bioinformatics, molecular evolution, developmental biology, population genetics, evolutionary, genomics

Current Research

We are interested in understanding how evolutionary processes affect social
systems and how sociality, in turn, affects the course of evolution. The principal subjects of our research are the social insects, which are primarily comprised of all ants, all termites, some bees, and some wasps. Social insects are characterized by highly cooperative behavior,
reproductive altruism, and morphologically differentiated castes. Our research focuses on understanding the social structure of invasive social insects and the particular problems associated with hybridization in social insects. In addition, we are interested in the process of development in the context of sociality. In order to address these issues, we make use of
a variety of techniques, including computer simulations, analytical theory, and field studies, as well as molecular genetic and genomic analysis.

A cDNA microarray displaying genes that are relatively overexpressed in larvae (red spots) and adults (green spots) of the ant Camponotus festinatus.

A mound of the cathedral termite, Nasutitermes triodiae, in Australia.

Fire ant queen leaving on mating flight

Yellow jacket wasp castes

Yellow jacket wasp workers and queen in the nest

Yellow jacket worker emerging from cell

Recent Publications

Goodisman, M. A. D. and D. A. Hahn. In press. Breeding system, colony structure, and genetic differentiation in the Camponotus festinatus species complex of desert carpenter ants. Evolution .

Goodisman, M. A. D. , J. Isoe, D. E. Wheeler, and M. A. Wells. 2005. Evolution of insect metamorphosis: A microarray-based study of larval and adult gene expression in the ant Camponotus festinatus . Evolution . 59:858-870.

Goodisman, M. A. D. and D. A. Hahn. 2004. Colony genetic structure of the ant Camponotus ocreatus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Sociobiology . 44:21-33.

Carew, M. E., M. A. D. Goodisman , and A. A. Hoffmann. 2004. Species status and population genetic structure of grape vine eriophyoid mites. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata . 11:87-96.

Goodisman, M. A. D. and R. H. Crozier. 2003. Association between caste and genotype in the termite Mastotermes darwiniensis (Isoptera: Mastotermitidae). Australian Journal of Entomology . 42:1-5.

Evans, T. A. and M. A. D. Goodisman . 2002. Nestmate relatedness and population genetic structure of the Australian social crab spider Diaea ergandros (Araneae: Thomisidae). Molecular Ecology . 11:2307-2316.  

Goodisman, M. A. D. , R. W. Matthews, and R. H. Crozier. 2002. Mating and reproduction in the wasp Vespula germanica . Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. 51:497-502 .

Goodisman, M. A. D. and R. H. Crozier. 2002. Population and colony genetic structure of the primitive termite Mastotermes darwiniensis . Evolution . 56:70-83.

Goodisman, M. A. D. , T. A. Evans, J. G. Ewen, and R. H. Crozier. 2001. Microsatellite markers in the primitive termite Mastotermes darwiniensis . Molecular Ecology Notes . 1:250-251.

Goodisman, M. A. D. , R. W. Matthews, and R. H. Crozier. 2001. Hierarchical genetic structure of the introduced wasp Vespula germanica in Australia. Molecular Ecology . 10:1423-1432.