BRIAN L. FISHER

January 13, 2006

Department of Entomology,
California Academy of Sciences
875 Howard Street, San Francisco, California 94103
bfisher@calacademy.org
www.antweb.org

 

EDUCATION

Ph.D. University of California , Davis , 1997 in Entomology
M.S. University of Utah , 1992 in Biology
B.A. University of Iowa , 1988 (Honors) in Biology

PUBLICATIONS

Fisher, B.L., and J.K. Zimmerman. 1988. Ant/orchid associations in the Barro Colorado National Monument, Panama. Lindleyana 3:12-16.

Fisher, B.L., L.S.L Sternberg, and D. Price. 1990. Variation in the use of orchid extrafloral nectar by ants. Oecologia ( Berlin ) 83:263‑266.

Davidson, D.W., and B.L. Fisher. 1991. Symbiosis of ants with Cecropia as a function of light regime. In: Ant‑Plant Interactions, D. Cutler and C. Huxley (eds.), pp. 289-309. Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford.

Fisher, B.L., H.F. Howe and J.S. Wright. 1991. Survival and growth of Virola surinamensis yearlings: water augmentation in gap and understory. Oecologia ( Berlin ) 86:292-297.

Fisher, B.L. 1992. Facultative ant associates benefit Caularthron bilamellatum (Rchg.f.) Schult. (Orchidaceae) in Panama . Journal of Tropical Ecology 8:109-114.

Molofsky, J. and B.L. Fisher. 1993. Habitat and predation effects on seedling survival and growth in shade‑tolerant tropical trees. Ecology 74:261-265.

Fisher, B.L. and R.L. Fisher. 1994. Conservation, insects, and the classroom. The Science Teacher 61(4):22-23.

Fisher, B.L. 1995. Ant diversity patterns along an elevational gradient in eastern Madagascar . [Abstract] In: Environmental change in Madagascar, B.D. Patterson, S.M. Goodman and J.L. Sedlock (eds.), pp. 19, 84-85. Field Museum of Natural History , Chicago.

Fisher, B.L. 1996. Ant diversity patterns along an elevational gradient in the Réserve Naturelle Intégrale d’Andringitra, Madagascar . Fieldiana: Zoology (n.s.) 85:93-108.

Fisher, B.L. 1996. Origins and affinities of the ant fauna of Madagascar . In: Biogéographie de Madagascar. W.L. Lourenço (ed.), pp. 457-465. Editions ORSTOM, Paris.

Fisher, B.L. 1997. A comparison of serpentine and non-serpentine Chaparral ant assemblages in Northern California . Insectes Sociaux 44:23-33.

Fisher, B.L., and S. Razafimandimby. 1997. Les fourmis (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). In: Inventaire biologique forêts de Vohibasia et d’Isoky-Vohimena. O. Langrand and S.M. Goodman (eds.) pp. 104-109. Recherches pour le Développement, Série Sciences Biologiques. N ° 12. Centre d’Information et de Documentation Scientifique et Technique and World Wide Fund for Nature, Antananarivo, Madagascar.

Fisher, B.L. 1997. Biogeography and ecology of the ant fauna of Madagascar (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Journal of Natural History 31:269-302.

Fisher, B.L. 1998. Insect behavior and ecology in conservation: preserving functional species interactions. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 91:155-158.

Fisher, B.L., H. Ratsirarson, and S. Razafimandimby. 1998. Les Fourmis (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) In: Inventaire biologique de la Forêt Littorale de Tampolo(Fenoarivo Atsinaanana). J. Ratsirarson and S.M. Goodman (eds.) pp 107-131. Recherches pour le Développement, Série Sciences Biologiques. N ° 14. Centre d’Information et de Documentation Scientifique et Technique, Antananarivo, Madagascar.

Fisher, B.L. 1998. Ant diversity patterns along an elevational gradient in the Réserve Spéciale d’Anjanaharibe-Sud and on the western Masoala Peninsula , Madagascar . Fieldiana: Zoology (n.s.) 90:39-67.

Fisher, B.L., and H. G. Robertson. 1999. Silk production by adult workers of Melissotarsus emeryi (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in South African Fynbos. Insectes Sociaux 46:78-83.

Fisher, B.L. 1999. Improving inventory efficiency: a case study of leaf litter ant diversity in Madagascar . Ecological Applications. 9:714-731.

Fisher, B.L. 1999. Ant diversity patterns along an elevational gradient in the Réserve Naturelle Intégrale d’Andohahela, Madagascar . Fieldiana: Zoology (n.s.) 94:129-147.

Fisher, B.L. 2000. Ant inventories along elevational gradients in tropical wet forests in Eastern Madagascar . In: Sampling Ground-dwelling Ants: Case Studies from the Worlds’ Forests, Agosti, D., J. D. Majer, L. Alonso, and T. Schultz (eds). Curtin University School of Environmental Biology Bulletin No. 18. Perth , Australia . 75 pp.

Fisher, B.L. 2000. The Malagasy fauna of Strumigenys. Pp. 612-710 in Bolton , B. The ant tribe Dacetini. Memoirs of the American Entomological Institute 65: 1-1028.

Fisher, B. L. and D. Girman. 2000. Biogeography of ants in eastern Madagascar . In: Diversity and Endemism in Madagascar . W. R. Lourenço and S.M. Goodman (eds). Pp. 331-344., Mémoires de la Société de Biogéographie, Paris.

Fisher, B. L., A. K. F. Malsch, R. Gadagkar, J. H. C. Delabie, H. L. Vasconcelos, and J. D. Majer. 2000. Applying the ALL Protocol: Selected Case Studies In: Measuring and Monitoring Biodiversity: Standard Methods for Ground-Dwelling Ants, Agosti, D., J. D. Majer, L. Alonso, and T. Schultz (eds). Pp. 207-214. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C.

Delabie, J.H., B.L. Fisher, J. Majer, J., and I.W. Wright. 2000. Sampling Effort and Choice of Methods In: Measuring and Monitoring Biodiversity: Standard Methods for Ground-Dwelling Ants, Agosti, D., J. D. Majer, L. Alonso, and T. Schultz (eds). Pp. 145-154. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C.

Fisher, B. L. and Robertson H. 2002. Comparison and origin of forest and grassland ant assemblages in the high plateau of Madagascar. Biotropica 34: 155-167.

Vences, M., Glaw, F., and Fisher, B. L. 2002. Notes on the Distribution of Dycophus insularis (Anura: Microhylidae). Herpetological Review 33:18-19.

Fisher, B. L. 2002. Ant diversity patterns along an elevational gradient in the Réserve Spéciale de Manongarivo , Madagascar . Boissiera 59: 311-328.

Fisher, B. L. 2003. Ants (Formicidae: Hymenoptera). In The natural history of Madagascar . S. M. Goodman and J. P. Benstead (eds). Pp. 811- 819. University of Chicago Press.

Fisher, B. L. (ed) 2004. Monts Doudou, Gabon: A Floral and Faunal Inventory with reference to elevational Variation. California Academy of Sciences Memoir 28 . . California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco , California . 295 pp.

Fisher, B. L. 2004. Diversity patterns of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) along an elevational gradient on Monts Doudou in southwestern Gabon . In Monts Doudou , Gabon : A Floral and Faunal Inventory with reference to elevational Variation . Pp 269-286. California Academy of Sciences, Memoirs 28. California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco , California

Thibault, M., B. L. Fisher, and S. M. Goodman. 2004. Description of Monts Doudou , Gabon , and the 2000 biological inventory of the Reserve. In Monts Doudou , Gabon : A Floral and Faunal Inventory with reference to elevational Variation . Pp 3-15. California Academy of Sciences, Memoirs 28. California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco , California.

Saux, C., B. Fisher, and G. S. Spicer. 2004. Dracula ant phylogeny as inferred by nuclear 28S rDNA sequences and implications for ant systematics (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Amblyoponinae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 33:457-468.

Simon F., G. V.N. Powell, K. S. Richardson, G. Manion, J. M. Overton, T. F. Allnutt, S. E. Cameron, K. Mantle, N. D. Burgess, D. P. Faith, J. F. Lamoreux, G. Kier, R. J. Hijmans, V. A. Funk, G. A. Cassis, B. L. Fisher, P. Flemons, D. Lees, J. C. Lovett, R. S.A.R. Van Rompaey. 2004. Mapping More of Terrestrial Biodiversity for Global Conservation Assessment. BioScience. 54: 1101-1109.

Fisher, B. L. 2005. A Model for a Global Inventory of Ants: A Case Study in Madagascar. Pages 78-89 in Nina G. Jablonski, ed., Biodiversity:A Symposium Held on the Occasion of the 150th Anniversary of the California Academy of Sciences June 17-18, 2003 . Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences , ser. 4, vol. 56, Suppl. I.

Clark, V. C., C. J. Raxworthy, V. Rakotomalala, P. Sierwald, and B. L. Fisher. 2005. Convergent evolution of chemical defense in poison frogs and arthropod prey between Madagascar and the Neotropics. Proceedings Of National Academy Of Sciences, 102: 11617–11622 www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.0503502102

Smith, M. A., Fisher, B. L. & Hebert, P. D. N. 2005. DNA Barcoding for effective biodiversity assessment of a hyperdiverse arthropod group: the ants of Madagascar. Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. Lond. B. 360: 1825 - 1834 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2005.1714

Lapolla, J. S, and B.L. Fisher. 2005. A Remarkable New Species of Acropyga (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from Gabon , with a Key to the Afrotropical Species. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 56:601-605.

Fisher, B. L. 2005. A new species of Discothyrea Roger from Mauritius and a new species of Proceratium from Madagascar (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 56:657-667.

Ward, P. S., Brady, S. G., Fisher, B. L., and Schultz, T. R. (2005). Assembling the ant “Tree of Life” (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Myrmecologische Nachrichten 7, 87-90.