Naturhistorisches Museum Wien

Museum

Mag. Dr.

Daniela Magdalena Sorger

Position: associate scientist

Contact:

Magdalena.Sorger@nhm.at

Curriculum Vitae
Publications

EDUCATION

2015 North Carolina State University

Ph.D., Zoology

Advisor: Robert R. Dunn

2008 Vienna University of Economics and Business, Austria

Mag., International Business Administration (equivalent to B.Sc. + M.Sc.)

Concentrations: International Marketing Management & Change Management and Management

Development

RESEARCH APPOINTMENTS & WORK EXPERIENCE

2021 Founder/CEO DiscoverAnts.com

Headquartered in Vienna, Austria

2019 Research Adjunct

North Carolina State University

2019 Postdoctoral Researcher (Aug 2016 – Feb 2019)

Students Discover – Nat. Science Foundation, Math & Science Partnership Grant Nr. 1319293

North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences & North Carolina State University

2016 Postdoctoral Researcher (6 months)

North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC

2010 Lab Assistant, Bluetongue Vector Surveillance (2009 – 2010)

Natural History Museum, Vienna, Austria

2010 Research Assistant (2009 – 2010)

Ulm University, Germany (workplace: Natural History Museum Vienna)

2009 Internship (6 months)

AT Consult (Management Consulting Company), Vienna, Austria

TEACHING & MENTORING EXPERIENCE

Teaching portfolio available at theantlife.com/teaching/teaching-portfolio/ – password: ants

INSTRUCTOR

2024 Exploring the world of ants – Information for Use and Dissemination, Ranger workshop, Kalkalpen National Park, Reichraming, AUT

2024 Discovering ants – exploring Citizen Science with the Ant Picnic project, 2-day “summer university” program for kids (ages 8-10 and 10-13), University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria, Hagenberg, AUT

2024 Discovering Ants, “Business for Kids”, WIFI (Institute for Economic Promotion) St. Pölten.

2 days (ages 6-9 years), St. Pölten, AUT

2023 Nature Explorer, Summer Campus, Institute for Science and Technology Austria, Klosterneuburg, AUT

3 x 1 week (ages: 7-9 years)

2017 Animal Biology, Biological Sciences, Meredith College, Raleigh, NC

Lecture & Lab

2014 Islands & Evolution – From the Galapagos to New York City, Biological Sciences, NCSU

Class website: theantlife.com/teaching/bio295-islands-evolution

TEACHING ASSISTANT

2015 Introductory Biology II – Cellular and Molecular Biology, Biological Sciences, NCSU

Web-based distance education course

2013 Field Ecology and Methods, Biological Sciences, NCSU

2012 Field Ecology and Methods, Biological Sciences, NCSU

MENTORSHIP

2016 Students Discover Externship – 3 weeks, NC Museum of Natural Sciences

Middle School Teachers: Paige Derouin, Michelle Hafey, Maggie McKinley

2016 Training in collection, preparation & identification of ants, NCSU

High School Student: Tabin Dharanikota

2012 NC State Initiative for Maximizing Student Diversity (IMSD), NCSU

Undergraduate Student: Britné Hackett

HACKETT B., D.M. SORGER & R.R. DUNN (2012): Distance makes the difference: population divergence in the ant species Dorymyrmex elegans. 21st Annual NC State Undergraduate Research Symposium, Raleigh, NC, 1 Aug (poster).

HACKETT B., D.M. SORGER & R.R. DUNN (2013): And then there were four: Population divergence in the ant species Dorymyrmex elegans and D. bureni. 22nd Annual NC State Undergraduate Research Symposium, Raleigh, NC, 31 Jul (poster).

2011 Costa Rica Tropical Ecology Mentorship Program at CSU Dominguez Hills, La Selva Field Station

Undergraduate Student: Peter Tellez

OTHER TEACHING AND RELATED ACTIVITIES

2015 Organizer – Tree Climbing Workshop, NCSU

Two 2-day tree climbing workshops for NCSU students interested in canopy research

2014 Guest lecturer – English 101, NCSU

Lecture on role of writing in the biological sciences

GRANTS & AWARDS

2016 Best Presentation Award, W.M. KECK Center for Behavioral Biology Annual Symposium, NCSU

2014 Preparing the Professoriate Fellowship, NCSU [1,000$]

2013 Student Award for oral presentation, Central European Myrmecology workshop, Austria

2013 The Explorers Club Exploration Fund [2,500$]

2011 Global Change Fellowship, Southeast Climate Science Center, NCSU [semester salary: 10,000$]

2011 Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research [5,000$]

2011 Harkema Award (Biology Department & Biology Awards Committee) [800$]

2011 TREE Foundation Travel Fellowship to Ethiopia [2,000$]

2010 SYNTHESYS (EU-funded, for integrated infrastructure of natural history collections) [2,000$]

Natural History Museum London, Great Britain

2010 SYNTHESYS (EU-funded, for integrated infrastructure of natural history collections) [2,000$]

Zoological Museum Copenhagen, Denmark

PEER-REVIEWED:

18. ZETTEL H. & D.M. SORGER (2024): Odontomachus yamanei sp.n. (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), a spectacular, previously misidentified ant species from Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. Zeitschrift der Arbeitsgemeinschaft österreichischer Entomologen 75: 82-88.

17. BOGGS A.D., C.E. MOORMAN, D.W. HAZEL, C.H. GREENBERG, D.M. SORGER, C.E. SORENSON (2020): Ground-Dwelling Invertebrate Abundance Positively Related to Volume of Logging Residues in the Southern Appalachians, USA. Forests, 11, 1149.

16. RYAN S.F., N.L. ADAMSON, A. AKTIPIS, [...] D.M. SORGER [...], R.R. DUNN (2018): The Role of Citizen Science in Addressing Grand Challenges in Food and Agriculture Research. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 285: 20181977

15. MATOS-MARAVÍ P., N.J. MATZKE, F.J. LARABEE, R.M. CLOUSE, W.C. WHEELER, D.M. SORGER, A.V. SUAREZ & M. JANDA (2018): Taxon Cycle predictions supported by model‐based inference in Indo‐Pacific trap‐jaw ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Odontomachus). Molecular Ecology 27: 4090-4107.

14. MADDEN A. , M.J. EPPS, T. FUKAMI, R.E. IRWIN, J. SHEPPARD, D.M. SORGER, R.R. DUNN (2018): The ecology of insect–yeast relationships and its relevance to human industry. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 285: 20172733.

13. GIBB H., R.R. DUNN, N.J. SANDERS, […] D.M. SORGER […], K. PARR (2017): A global database of ant abundances. Ecology 98(3): 883-884.

12. SORGER D.M., W. Booth, A. Wassie Eshete, M. Lowman & M.W. Moffett (2017): Outnumbered: A new dominant ant species with genetically diverse supercolonies in Ethiopia. Insectes Sociaux 64: 141-147. – featured in Daily Mail UK, CNBC, etc.

11. SORGER D.M. (2015): Snap! Trap-jaw ants in Borneo also jump using their legs. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 13: 574-575. – featured in New York Times, Discovery Channel, Newsweek, etc.

10. MACGOWN J.A., B. BOUDINOT, M. DEYRUP & D.M. SORGER (2014): A review of the Nearctic Odontomachus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Ponerinae) with a treatment of the males. Zootaxa 3802: 515-552. – featured in National Geographic, The Independent, etc.

9. DIAMOND S.E., D.M. SORGER, J. HULCR, S.L. PELINI, I. DEL TORO, C. HIRSCH, E. OBERG & R.R. DUNN (2011): Who likes it hot? A global analysis of the climatic, ecological, and evolutionary determinants of warming tolerance in ants. Global Change Biology 18: 448-456.

8. SORGER D.M. (2011): A new ant species from Borneo closely resembling Tetramorium flagellatum, Bolton 1977 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Asian Myrmecology 4:1-7.

7. SORGER D.M. (2011): Redescription and history of Vombisidris jacobsoni (Forel, 1915) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Revue suisse de Zoologie 118(1): 149-155

6. ZETTEL H. & D.M. SORGER (2011): New Myrmoteras ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from the southeastern Philippines. Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 59(1): 59-65.

5. SORGER D.M. & H. ZETTEL (2011): On the ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of the Philippine Islands: V. The genus Odontomachus Latreille, 1804. Myrmecological News 14: 141-163.

4. ZETTEL H. & D.M. SORGER (2010): Three new species of the army ant genus Aenictus Shuckard, 1840 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Aenictinae) from Borneo and the Philippines. Zeitschrift der Arbeitsgemeinschaft österreichischer Entomologen 62(2): 115-125.

3. ZETTEL H. & D.M. SORGER (2010): On the ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of the Philippine Islands: IV. The genus Vombisidris Bolton, 1991. Entomologica Austriaca 17: 37-44.

2. SORGER D.M. & H. ZETTEL (2010): Taxonomic additions to the Polyrhachis (Myrma) cyaniventris species group (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Annalen des Naturhist. Museums in Wien, Serie B, Band 111: 31-36.

1. SORGER D.M. & H. ZETTEL (2009): Polyrhachis (Myrma) cyaniventris F. Smith, 1858 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) and a related new ant species from the Philippines. Zootaxa 2174: 27-37.

MANUSCRIPTS IN PREP. (available upon request):

3. SORGER D.M., J. JR. ZIMA, A. SMITH, C. SCHAL, M. JANDA & R.R. DUNN (in prep.): The hidden diversity of trap-jaw ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Ponerinae: Odontomachus) along elevational gradients in Borneo.

2. SORGER D.M., A.A. SMITH, W. BOOTH, & R.R. DUNN (in prep.): Cryptic divergence of native species among Florida’s inland sand ridges: The case of trap-jaw ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Odontomachus).

1. SORGER D.M., J. JR. ZIMA, A. SMITH, M. JANDA & R.R. DUNN (in prep.): The geography of gene flow: genetic (and morphological) structure within a species of trap-jaw ant (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Odontomachus) along a tropical elevational gradient.

OTHERS:

7. SORGER D.M., D.E. BEASLEY, P. DEROUIN*, M. HAFEY*, M. MCKINLEY*, L. SHELL, N. MCCOY, R.R. DUNN (2016): Ant ID Activity. (Students Discover lesson plan)

6. BEASLEY D.E., D.M. SORGER, P. DEROUIN*, M. HAFEY*, M. MCKINLEY*, L. SHELL, N. MCCOY, R.R. Dunn (2016): Invisible Pathogens. (Students Discover lesson plan)

5. SORGER D.M., D.E. BEASLEY, P. DEROUIN*, M. HAFEY*, M. MCKINLEY*, L. SHELL, N. MCCOY, R.R. DUNN (2016): Ant Picnic data analysis Activity. (Students Discover lesson plan)

4. SHELL L., D.M. SORGER, N. MCCOY, R.R. DUNN (2016): Ant Picnic lesson plan. (Students Discover lesson plan) http://studentsdiscover.org/lesson/ant-picnic/

3. SORGER D.M., H.C. WAGNER, F.M. STEINER & B.C. SCHLICK-STEINER (2011): Ameisen (Formicidae): 212-216. – In: WIESBAUER, H., H. ZETTEL, M.A. FISCHER & R. MAIER (eds.). Der Bisamberg und die alten Schanzen – Vielfalt am Rande der Großstadt Wien. St. Pölten, 387 pp. (book chapter)

2. ZETTEL H., H. WAGNER, D. ZIMMERMANN, H. WIESBAUER, D.M. SORGER, E. OCKERMÜLLER & F. SEYFERT (2009): Aculeate Hymenoptera am GEO-Tag der Artenvielfalt 2009 in Pfaffstätten, NÖ. Sabulosi 2: 1-20.

1. ZETTEL H., D. ZIMMERMANN, D.M. SORGER & H. WIESBAUER (2008): Aculeate Hymenoptera am 8. Wiener Tag der Artenvielfalt 2008. Sabulosi 1: 1-10.