Biology

Sean Menke

Sean Menke

Professor of Biology
Chair of Biology

Biology

Education

Post-doctoral Fellow, North Carolina State University
PhD Biology, University of California, San Diego, 2007
MS Zoology, University of Oklahoma, Norman, 2002
BA Biology, University of Minnesota, Morris, 1999

Specialization

Community Ecology
Biogeography
Urban Ecology
Myrmecology

Selected Publications

Elmore, J.A., S.B. Hager, B.J. Cosentino, T.J. O'Connell, C.S. Riding, M.L. Anderson, M.H. Bakermans, T.J. Boves, D. Brandes, E.M. Butler, M.W. Butler, N.L. Cagle, R. Calderón‐Parra, A.P. Capparella, A. Chen, A.A.T. Conkey, T.A. Contreras, R.I. Cooper, C.E. Corbin, R.L. Curry, J.J. Dosch, K.L. Dyson,  E.E. Fraser, R.A. Furbush, N.D.G. Hagemeyer, K.N. Hopfensperger, D. Klem Jr., E.A. Lago, A.S. Lahey, C.S. Machtans, J.M. Madosky, T.J. Maness, K.J. McKay, S.B. Menke, N. Ocampo‐Peñuela, R. Ortega‐Álvarez, A.L. Pitt, A. Puga‐Caballero, J.E. Quinn, A.M. Roth, R.T. Schmitz, J.L. Schnurr, M.E. Simmons, A.D. Smith, C.W. Varian‐Ramos, E.L. Walters, L.A. Walters, J.T. Weir, K. Winnett‐Murray,  I. Zuria, J. Vigliotti, and S.R. Loss. 2020 Correlates of bird collisions with buildings across three North American Counties. Conservation Biology https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13569.

Menke, S.B. and D.A. Holway. 2020. Historical resurvey indicates no decline in Argentine ant site occupancy in coastal southern California. Biological Invasions 22(5):1669-1679.

Arnan, X., A.N. Andersen, H. Gibb, C.L. Parr, N.J. Sanders, R.R. Dunn, E. Angulo, F.B. Baccaro, T.R. Bishop, R. Boulay, C. Castracani, X. Cerda, I. Del Toro, T. Delsinne, D.A. Donoso, E.K. Elten, T.M. Fayle, M.C. Fitzpatrick, C. Gomex, D.A. Grasso, B.F. Grossman, B. Guenard, N. Gunawardene, B. Heterick, B.D. Hoffmann, M. Janda, C.N. Jenkins, P. Klimes, L. Lach, T. Laeger, M. Leponce, A. Lucky, M. Majer, S.B. Menke, D. Mezger, A. Mori, J. Moses, T.C. Muyai, O. Paknia, M. Pfeiffer, S.M. Philpott, J.L.P. Souza, M. Tista, H.L. Vasconcelos, J. Retana. 2018. Dominance-diversity relationships in ant communities differ with invasion. Global Change Biology 24:4614-4625.

Menke, S.B., P.S. Ward, and D.A. Holway. 2018. Long-term record of Argentine ant invasions reveals enduring ecological impacts. Ecology 99(5):1194-1202.

Ksiazek-Mikenas, K., J. Herrmann, S.B. Menke, and M. Kohler. 2018. If you build it, will they come? Plant and arthropod diversity on urban green roofs over time. Urban Naturalist Special Issue 1:52-72.

Hager, S.B., B.J. Cosentino, M.A. Aguilar-Gomez, M.L. Anderson, M. Bakermans, T.J. Boves, D. Brandes, M.W. Butler, E.M. Butler, N.L. Cagle, R. Calderon-Parra, A.P. Capparella, A. Chen, K. Cipollini, A.A.T. Conkey, T.A. Contreras, R.I. Cooper, C.E. Corbin, R.L. Curry, J.J. Dosch, M.G. Drew, K. Dyson, C. Foster, C.D. Francis, E. Fraser, R. Furbush, N.D.G. Hagemeyer, K.N. Hopfensperger, D. Klem Jr., E. Lago, A. Lahey, K. Lamp, G. Lewis, S.R. Loss, C.S. Machtans, J. Madosky, T.J. Maness, K.J. McKay, S.B. Menke, K.E. Muma, N. Ocampo-Penuela, T.J. O’Connell, R. Ortega-Alvarez, A.L. Pitt, A.L. Puga-Caballero, J.E. Quinn, C.W. Varian-Ramos, C.S. Riding, A.M. Roth, P.G. Saenger, R.T. Schmitz, J. Schnurr, M. Simmons, A.D. Smith, D.R. Sokoloski, J. Vigliotti, E.L. Walters, L.A. Walters, J.T. Weir, K. Winnett-Murray, J.C. Withey, and I. Zuria. 2017. Continent-wide analysis of how urbanization affects bird-window collision mortality in North America. Biological Conservation 212:209-215.

Gibb, H., R.R. Dunn, N.J. Sanders, B.F. Grossman, M. Photakis, S. Abril, D. Agosti, A.N. Anderson, E. Angulo, I. Armbrecht, X. Arnan, F.B. Baccaro, T.R. Bishop, R. Boulay, C. Bruhl, C. Castracani, X. Cerda, I. Del Toro, T. Delsinne, M. Diaz, D.A. Donoso, A.M. Ellison, M.L. Enriquez, T.M. Fayle, D.H. Feener Jr., B.L. Fisher, R.N. Fisher, M.C. Fitzpatrick, C. Gomez, N.J. Gotelli, A. Gove, D.A. Grasso, S. Groc, B. Guenard, N. Gunawardene, B. Heterick, B. Hoffmann, M. Janda, C. Jenkins, M. Kaspari, P. Klimes, L. Lach, T. Laeger, J. Lattke, M. Leponce, J. Lessard, J. Longino, A. Lucky, S.H. Luke, J. Majer, T.P. McGlynn, S.B. Menke, D. Mezger, A. Mori, J. Moses, T.C. Munyai, R. Pacheco, O. Paknia, J. Pearce-Duvet, M. Pfeiffer, S.M. Philpott, J. Resasco, J. Retana, R.R. Silva, M.D. Sorger, J. Souze, A. Suarez, M. Tista, H.L. Vasconcelos, M. Vonshak, M.D. Weiser, M. Yates, and C.L. Parr. 2017. A global database of ant species abundances. Ecology, 98(3):883-884. Doi:10.1002/ecy.1682.

Menke, S.B., E. Gaulke*, A. Hamel*, and N. Vachter*. 2015. The effects of restoration age and prescribed burns on grassland ant community structure. Environmental Entomology, 44(5):1336-1347.

Gibb, H., N.J. Sanders, R.R. Dunn, S. Watson, M. Photakis, S. Abril, A.N. Andersen, E. Angulo, I. Armbrecht, X. Arnan, F.B. Baccaro, T.R. Bishop, R. Boulay, C. Castracani, I. Del Toro, T. Delsinne, M. Diaz, D.A. Donoso, M.L. Enríquez, T.M. Fayle, D.H. Feener Jr., M.C. Fitzpatrick, C. Gómez, D.A. Grasso, S. Groc, B. Heterick, B.D. Hoffmann, L. Lach, J. Lattke, M. Leponce, J. Lessard, J. Longino, A. Lucky, J. Majer, S.B. Menke, D. Mezger, A. Mori, T.C. Munyai, O. Paknia, J. Pearce-Duvet, M. Pfeiffer, S.M. Philpott, J.L.P. de Souza, M. Tista, H.L. Vasconcelos, M. Vonshak, C.L. Parr. 2015. Climate mediates the effects of disturbance on ant assemblage structure. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 282:20150418.

Menke, S.B. and N. Vachter*. 2014. A comparison of the effectiveness of pitfall traps and Wikler litter samples for characterization of terrestrial ant communities in temperate savannas. Great Lakes Entomologist, 47(3-4):149-165.

Menke, S.B., J. Harte, R.R. Dunn. 2014. Changes in ant community composition caused by 20 years of experimental warming vs. 13 years of natural climate shift. Ecosphere, 5(1):1-17.

Jenkins, C.N., N.J. Sanders, A.N. Andersen, X. Arnan, C. Bruhl, X. Cerda, A.M. Ellison, B.L. Fisher, M.C. Fitzpatrick, N.J. Gotelli, A.D. Gove, B. Guénard, J.E. Lattke, J. Lessard, T.P. McGlynn, S.B. Menke, C.L. Parr, S.M. Philpott, H.L. Vasconcelos, M.D. Weiser, R.R. Dunn. (2011). Global diversity in light of climate change: the case of ants. Diversity and Distributions 17(4):652-662.

Roura-Pascual, N., C. Hui, T. Ikeda, G. Leday, D.M. Richardson, S. Carpintero, X. Espadaler, C. Gómez, B. Guénard, S. Hartley, P. Krushelnycky, P.J. Lester, M.A. McGeoch, S.B. Menke, J.S. Pedersen, J.P.W. Pitt, J. Reyes, N.J. Sanders, A.V. Suarez, Y. Touyama, D. Ward, P.S. Ward, and S.P. Worner. (2011). Relative roles of climatic suitability and anthropogenic influence in determining the pattern of spread in a global invader. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 108(1):220-225.

Menke, S.B., B. Guénard, J.O. Sexton, M.D. Weiser, R.R. Dunn, J. Silverman. (2011). Urban areas may serve as habitat and corridors for dry-adapted, heat tolerant species; an example from ants. Urban Ecosystems 14(2):135-163.

Menke, S.B., A.V. Suarez, C.V. Tillberg, C.T. Chou*, and D.A. Holway. (2010). Trophic ecology of the invasive Argentine ant: spatio-temporal variation in resource assimilation and isotopic enrichment. Oecologia 164(3): 763-771.

Weiser, M.D. N.J. Sanders, D. Agosti, A.N. Andersen, A.M. Ellison, B.L. Fisher, H. Gibb, N.J. Gotelli, A.D. Gove, K. Gross, B. Guenard, M. Janda, M.E. Kaspari, J.P. Lessard, J.T. Longino, J.D. Majer, S.B. Menke, T.P. McGlynn, C.L. Parr, S.M. Philpott, J. Retana, A.V. Suarez, H.L. Vasconcelos, S.P. Yanoviak, R.R. Dunn. (2010). Canopy and litter ant assemblages share similar climate-species density relationships. Biology Letters 6:769-772.

Menke, S.B., W. Booth, R.R. Dunn, C. Schal, E. Vargo, J. Silverman. 2010. Is it easy to be urban? Convergent success in urban habitats among lineages of a widespread native ant. PLoS ONE 5(2):e9194.

* indicates student co-authors.

Courses Taught

Biology 220: Evolution and Ecology with lab
Biology 131: Biological Inquiry:Invasion Ecology
Biology 373: Community Ecology with lab
Biology 374: Biogeography with lab
Biology 383: Herpetology with lab
Biology 484: Biology of Extinctions

MLS 552: The Science of Science Fiction

FIYS 112: Wild Chicago - Exploring the Urban Jungl