scientists describing a new species of ant, strumigenys ayersthey, have broken with conventional naming traditions and used the pronoun “they” instead of the traditional male or female form to promote nonbinary gender inclusivity.

the new ant, described in a recent paper in zookeys, was named after the late artist and human rights activist jeremy ayers. traditionally, a species named after a person would have an “i” appended at the end of the name for males, or “ae” for females; in this case, ayersi or ayersae. instead, the researchers went with ayersthey.

they did this to honor ayers and the large number of people who do not identify with either the male and female genders, according to study author douglas booher, a yale postdoctoral researcher, and co-author philipp hönle, a doctoral student at the technical university of darmstadt, germany.

“in contrast to the traditional naming practices that identify individuals as one of two distinct genders, we have chosen a non-latinized portmanteau honoring the artist jeremy ayers and representing people that do not identify with conventional binary gender assignments, strumigenys ayersthey,” the authors wrote in the study.

ayers was an eclectic artist, publishing photography books, authoring a column in andy warhol’s interview magazine, and writing lyrics for both r.e.m. and the b-52s. indeed, r.e.m. lead singer and songwriter michael stipe joined booher in writing the etymology section of the paper explaining the decision to use the pronoun “they” to honor the artist. ayers is remembered today as a fixture of the athens, georgia, art community, according to a local paper.

hönle first encountered the ant while working on his doctoral thesis at darmstadt, researching ant communities in the chocó area of ecuador. of the specimens he looked at, one stood out for its unique shiny exoskeleton, for which hönle couldn’t find a matching species. hönle then contacted booher, an expert on the ant genus strumigenys, also known as trap-jaw ants for their trap-jaw mandibles. booher quickly identified the specimen as a potentially undescribed species, kicking off the work to describe the new ant.

what sets s. ayersthey apart from other ants in the genus is its signature shiny and smooth outer “skin,” or cuticle, as well as its long trap jaws, described by the researchers in the paper as a “biological mousetrap.”

the strumigenys genus itself is quite diverse. the various species’ trap-jaw mandibles can range from short to long, with the newly described species having large mandibles; some species lack the trap jaw entirely. one common identifying feature of the genus is a sponge-like structure toward the base of the abdomen. according to booher, the function of the sponge structure remains a mystery to scientists.

in a study published in plos biology in march 2021, booher explores the evolution of the trap-jaw mechanism and its gradual increase in length. the trap-jaw mechanism itself is one of the fastest movements in any living creature, with the jaws snapping shut at a rate of up to 1.2 million meters per second squared.

the newly described species is found in the chocó region of ecuador, a biologically rich and diverse coastal rainforest that is simultaneously understudied and under threat due to human activities. logging, mining and oil palm plantations have resulted in a 61% reduction of the chocó region’s forests.

“[the chocó] features a plethora of endemic species. there is one critically endangered subspecies of [brown-headed] spider monkey, ateles fusciceps fusciceps, that only lives in the forests of this part of ecuador,” hönle said. “however, the insect fauna and especially the ants there are poorly known, as only very few researchers did sample the area.”

the region is so understudied that last year hönle and other scientists described another species of native ant, odontomachus davidsoni, calling this one “large and conspicuous.”

hönle’s fieldwork collecting specimens in the chocó takes place on land preserved by jocotoco, an ngo that buys threatened land to conserve it.

“the fact that no one has described this species before highlights how much else might be out there. the new strumigenys is just one more little piece toward a more complete understanding of the fauna,” hönle said.

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citations:

booher, d. b., gibson, j. c., liu, c., longino, j. t., fisher, b. l., janda, m., … economo, e. p. (2021). functional innovation promotes diversification of form in the evolution of an ultrafast trap-jaw mechanism in ants. plos biology, 19(3), e3001031. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.3001031

booher, d. b., & hönle, p. o. (2021). a new species group of strumigenys (hymenoptera, formicidae) from ecuador, with a description of its mandible morphology. zookeys, 1036, 1-19. doi:10.3897/zookeys.1036.62034

hönle, p. o., lattke, j. e., donoso, d., von beeren, c., heethoff, m., schmelzle, s., … blüthgen, n. (2020). odontomachus davidsoni sp. nov. (hymenoptera, formicidae), a new conspicuous trap-jaw ant from ecuador. zookeys, 948, 75-105. doi:10.3897/zookeys.948.48701

the panel featured: payton head, public speaker, campus inclusion consultant, and recent alum of university of missouri; dr. felecia nave, former provost and current director for faculty development & engagement and chemical engineering professor at prairie view a&m; and dr. nora savage, an environmental engineer and program director for the national science foundation.

here are some highlights from the panelists: 

dr. felecia nave

“if we’re going to get comprehensive solutions, we need comprehensive problem solvers.”

although most universities are majority female, the numbers reverse when you move into the stem fields, where women and minorities are still heavily under-represented. digging deeper, this typically starts in k-12, where women and minorities systematically lack encouragement to join these fields. whether it be due to the lack of representation of similar faces in peers, or the way instructions were provided, many of these minorities ultimately move onto other fields to pursue a degree in. 

nora savage

“i’m an engineer by training and a philosopher at heart.”

building comprehensive solutions does not just require diversity of people, but also diversity of represented fields. the national science foundation (nsf) is interested in broadening participation across all underrepresented groups, including the social sciences, at all levels. bringing different tools together can create ideas that were not possible through one perspective. vibrant communities are key to creating holistic and long lasting solutions.

payton head

“now we’re in a big movement now, and everyone seems to be yelling and fighting and everyone wants something to say, everyone has something to say. i think many times we forget to talk to each other.”

all of these systemic problems we experience are related to not recognizing people in their humanity. in college, head noticed a gap between the student body. he became a member of the asian american association, spent more time in the women’s center, lgbtq groups, and black culture center, and started to learn the other students’ stories. however, he didn’t feel quite at home in the black culture center because there were homophobic things being said, and he didn’t feel quite at home in the lgbtq community because of racist things being said. there was a disconnect between the minority groups themselves. combining the stories of different students from different minority groups through the framework of intersectionality helps to create a new conservation. 

“wilderness, nope. wilderness society, nope,” she remembers thinking.

walker, who is black, grew up in the maryland suburbs outside of washington, d.c., and spent her childhood summers visiting family in detroit. though her grandmother always insisted she spend time outside each day, her childhood didn’t give her much experience with the wilderness.

“when you are in the lower socioeconomic bracket, you’re not thinking about going to a park. not one that isn’t close,” walker said. “it’s not even on your radar because you can’t get there.”

eventually, walker realized she wanted to pursue working for the wilderness society based on the merits of the position itself, not because she had a great passion for environmentalism. and the barriers that discouraged her from cultivating an interest in environmental issues are far from unique.

people of color are underrepresented in environmentalism and in the outdoor recreation industry. green 2.0, a research group that analyzes data on diversity in environmental organizations, found that as of april 2017, the full-time staffs of the top 40 environmental non-governmental organizations are on average 73% white.

only one in five visitors to national parks is nonwhite, and since the wilderness society focuses on public land conservation and access, this is something of a damning trend in the organization’s homogeneity, too. at the wilderness society, 86% of the staff is white. of the senior staff, 96% is white.

when walker first began working for the wilderness society as an operations specialist a year ago, there were only three other black women in the organization, which employs about 150 people total.

“it was that disconnect — the fact that all four of us looked different… and people still called us the other’s name, which was a little rough,” she said. “i was the newbie, how could you possibly get me confused as heather?”

in environmentalism, and especially in land conservation, there’s an unspoken expectation that the people who do this work care about the environment, and that they care because they’ve had direct experiences with the outdoors. many people who work at the wilderness society spend their free time kayaking, camping, and hiking in the backcountry. for people like walker who haven’t had those experiences, the motivation to work in environmentalism may not be there because of a lack of exposure.

though anastasia greene, communications manager for the wilderness society for the northwest region, enjoys spending time outdoors, she believes it shouldn’t be a prerequisite for working in environmentalism. greene said anecdotally that she thinks it has been in the past.

“there’s all these little mentalities around what it means to be an advocate for the environment,” the seattle-based greene said in an interview at the wilderness society’s d.c. office. she is a woman of color leading regional communications strategies for the pacific northwest.

“it is an environmental organization, so there are people who are just gonna love like getting outside and extreme sports… but i think part of the culture that we really have to address is the expectation that if you don’t like these things or if you can’t do these things that you’re somehow less.”

opening mainstream environmentalism up to more diversity is encouraged by a blossoming of smaller organizations such as outdoor afro, latino outdoors, green for all, adventures for hopi, the greening youth foundation, big city mountaineers and the center for diversity and the environment. the wilderness society has joined with its urban to wild campaign, which helps connect urban and low-income communities to public lands that might otherwise be inaccessible.

urban to wild (u2w) is an effort to reduce the barriers to outdoor spaces faced by our country’s rapidly growing and diversifying urban populations. over the next year, u2w will be working in the los angeles, puget sound, and albuquerque metro areas to enact new policies and practices. according to the wilderness society, the u2w model focuses on “protecting local parks and open space, creating new transit to trail opportunities and working with public land managers to ensure they are inclusive of local community needs.” the organization also plans to develop a u2w coalition on the national level.

community-building for people of color in environmentalism, with specialized conferences and social and professional networking opportunities, helps people feel more comfortable and supported in their work. the people of the global majority in the outdoors, nature, and environment (pgm one) summit brings together environmental and outdoor recreation industry professionals who identify as nonwhite to share their experiences. outside of the professional environmentalism world, instagram accounts like brown people camping and women of color in nature highlight the recreational experiences of people of color and inspire others.

walker is hopeful about the the wilderness society’s capacity for change. she says that the organization, spurred by changing views on the importance of diversity in environmentalism, is enacting policies designed to recruit people of color. for example, the policy sets a goal that a certain percentage of qualified applicants who are chosen to be interviewed should be people of color depending on the location of the position.

in d.c., where the population is majority non-white, that goal is 25%. the goal is less ambitious for the more rural offices out west, where the candidate pool includes fewer people of color. in wyoming, where the population is over 90% white, the target proportion is only 10%.

“they’ve acknowledged it, and i think that was the biggest step ever, because once you acknowledge it, you have to do something about it,” walker said.

“the wilderness society is truly committed to becoming a better organization every day by investing in a welcoming workplace culture, building a stronger recruitment network to diversify our staff, and challenging ourselves to make sure that public lands benefit us all,” said jamie williams, president of the wilderness society.  “the experiences of our staff should be a constant reminder of both what we have accomplished so far and how much we have yet to do—as an organization and within the conservation community as a whole.”

recruiting interns and employees from historically black colleges and universities (hbcus) is a new step the wilderness society is taking, due in part to the enthusiastic outreach of recruiters like shaw-walker.

“i did have a lot of people pass, just glancing like, ‘no, i don’t stand outside,’ and i had to say, ‘hey, we don’t just stand outside,’” walker said of recruiting at hbcus. “while they didn’t know they were looking for me, i knew i was looking for them.”

but recruiting employees of color is only the beginning of the battle toward equity. environmental professionals of color often face tokenization and microaggressions in the workplace, like being assigned to work on justice and diversity campaigns because of their identities.

heather davis served as the assistant director of the wilderness society’s urban to wild campaign until october 2017, when she took a management position at the national wildlife federation. in an october email to the wilderness society’s staff, davis wrote that she was tired of being pigeonholed into certain positions because she is a black woman.

“i am realizing that as young as i am, i am tired,” she wrote. “i am tired of the burden of feeling like i must and i need to work on justice issues in the conservation and environmental community simply because this is baggage that i carry and bring as a woman of color.”

“this is why our diversity, equity and inclusion work as an organization and as a community is so imperative and important because there are other heathers out there with the skills, desire, and passion to work on conservation and environmental issues, but we need the conservation community to see us as professional conservationists first and people of color second and not assume that because we are passionate about something that we necessarily want to make a career out of it,” she wrote.

walker admits she, too, fears being pigeonholed. but greene views it differently.

“to me, it doesn’t feel like being pigeonholed,” she said. “i feel like i need to be there.”

“i value speaking up and knowing that, ok, i don’t speak for all black women, i don’t speak for all people of color, but if i’m in the room, i’m gonna be heard,” greene said.

the hope is that environmental work will one day be an appealing and welcoming field of work for more diverse communities. although the organization is still in the middle of fully diversifying all of its offices, including those in the intermountain west, walker has a good feeling about where the wilderness society is headed.

“from what i gather… it was a lot of kumbaya stuff at first,” she said. “but i think since we’ve officially introduced policies that directly affect how we bring new people into the organization, it’s working.”