This page was last edited on 16 November, 2008. More recent and detailed information, including media files, is available at my lab web page.

• Kenyon College, A.B. Biology, 1994
• University of Connecticut, Ph.D Ecology, 1999
• University of Maryland: Postdoctoral fellow

• BIOL 102: The Organism
• BIOL 203: Ecology
• BIOL 302: Communities and Ecosystems
• BIOL 425T: Coevolution

• Brooke Ray Smith, '02
• Jennifer Barone, '03
• Angus Beal, '03
• Nathan Briggs, '03
• Bill McDowell, '04
• Elise Leduc, '06
• Daniel Klein, '06
• Jessica Walthew, '09
• Benjamin Swimm, '09

The goal of my research program is to link empirical results and theory to develop and expand a framework for understanding the population and community dynamics of mutualism. My past and current research addresses this goal using a variety of natural systems, but focuses on ant-based mutualisms. Find out more about my research!

• Morales, M.A., J.L. Barone^*, and C.S. Henry. 2008. Acoustic alarm signaling facilitates predator protection of treehoppers by mutualist bodyguards. Proceeding of the Royal Society B 275: 1935-1941. Abstract | PDF | HTML (Open Choice).
• Morales, M.A., W. F. Morris, and W. G. Wilson. 2008. Allee dynamics generated by protection mutualisms can drive oscillations in trophic cascades. Theoretical Ecology 1: 77-88. Abstract | PDF | HTML (Open Choice)
• Morales, M.A. and A.L.H. Beal^*. 2006. The effects of host-plant quality and ant-tending for the treehopper Publilia concava. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 99: 545-552. Abstract | PDF (Open Choice)
• Morales, M.A., G. J. Dodge, and D.W. Inouye. 2005. A phenological mid-domain effect in flowering phenology. Oecologia 142: 83-89. Abstract | PDF | HTML (The original publication is available at springerlink.com)
• Morales, M. A., D. W. Inouye, M. J. Leigh, and G. Lowe. 2003. Considering interactions: incorporating biotic interactions into viability assessment. in C. A. Brigham and M. W. Schwartz, editors. Population viability in plants, Berlin Heidelberg, pp. 267-287.
• Morales M. A. 2002. Ant-dependent oviposition in the membracid Publilia concava. Ecological Entomology 27: 247-250. PDF (This is an electronic version of the published article)
• Inouye, D. W., M. A. Morales, and G. J. Dodge. 2002. Variation in timing and abundance of flowering by Delphinium barbeyi Huth (Ranunculaceae): the roles of snowpack, frost, and La Niña, in the context of climate change. Oecologia 130: 543-550. Abstract | PDF (The original publication is available at springerlink.com)
• Morales, M. A. 2000. Survivorship of an ant-tended membracid as a function of ant recruitment. Oikos 90: 469-476.  Abstract | PDF (This is an electronic version of the published Article)
• Morales, M.A. 2000. Mechanisms and density-dependence of benefit in an ant-membracid mutualism. Ecology 81: 482-489. Abstract | PDF
• Morales, M.A., and E.R. Heithaus.  1998. Seed dispersal mutualism shifts sex ratios in colonies of the ant, Aphaenogaster rudis. Ecology 79: 734-739. Abstract  | PDF

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If you would like a paper reprint of any of these publications, send me an e-mail