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Sarah E. Bengston is a current Ph. D. Candidate at the Dornhaus Lab of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology located at the University of Arizona. Bengston is a published author on eight articles, four of which she was the project lead. Her most notable work is “Be meek or be bold? A colony-level behavioral syndrome in ants” published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B..

"Be meek or be bold? A colony-level behavioral syndrome in ants"
“'''Be meek or be bold? A colony-level behavioral syndrome in ants'” by Bengston and A. Dornhaus was published on August 6, 2014 by Royal Society Publishing''. Since publication it has received media coverage from the BBC, PBS, and Nature World News.

Abstract
“Be meek or be bold?” suggests that ant colonies have their own personalities that are shaped by their environment. This study uses ecologically relevant behavioral traits to test for a colony-level behavioral syndrome in rock ants (Temnothorax rugatulus) by combining field and laboratory assays to measure foraging effort, how colonies respond to different types of resources, activity level, response to threat, and aggression level. Evidence is found for a colony-level syndrome that suggests colonies consistently differ in their coping style. Some colonies are more risk-prone, while other colonies are more risk-adverse. Hence, the “meek” and the “bold.” From collecting data across the North American range of this species, “Be meek or be bold?” also shows that environmental variation may affect how different populations maintain consistent variation in colony behavior. 

BBC News
“Ant colony ‘personalities’ shaped by environment”, written by Science reporter for BBC News Jonathan Webb, was published online in the Science and Environment section of BBC News on August 6, 2014. The findings “Be meek or be bold?” made on the personality of ants, methods for collecting data and the environmental effect are the main points discussed. Included is an interview with Bengston, the lead researcher.

PBS
[http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/next/nature/ant-colonies-just-collective-purpose-collective-personalities/ “Ant Colonies Have More Than Just a Collective Purpose. They Have Collective Personalities, Too”] was posted on PBS.org by Eleanor Nelsen on August 7, 2014. Notably, this article points out other question’s Bengston’s study raises, such as “whether colonies of other eusocial animals-likes bees, termites, and mole rats-might have environmentally influenced personalities, too. Perhaps colonies in unforgiving climates are like the Vikings of the animal kingdom: willing, even eager, to roam far and wide to conquer new territory and feed their kin before the ice closes in.”

Nature World News
[http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/8582/20140816/ant-colonies-personalities-meek-bold.htm Ant Colonies With Personalities? The Meek and the Bold], written by Brian Stallard, was published on Nature World News August 16, 2014. This article emphasizes the researcher’s findings that “ant colonies behave radically different depending on where they were from, even if they were of the same species.”

"Differences in environmental enrichment generate contrasting behavioral syndromes in a basal spider lineage"
“Differences in environmental enrichment generate contrasting behavioral syndromes in a basal spider lineage” by Bengston, Jonathan N. Pruitt, Susan E. Riechert was published on May 28, 2014 by Elsevier Ltd.

Abstract
“Differences in environmental enrichment generate contrasting behavioral syndromes in a basal spider lineage" is a study examining the extent to which early experience acts as a modifier of behavioural tendencies in the basal tarantula. In this study, juvenile individuals were housed for two years in enriched controlled conditions, or in restricted conditions. Results suggest that early environment can induce behavioural development and prevent behavioural syndrome from emerging. This study provides a warning for those studying behavioral syndromes in captivity from its insight into the evolution of spider behavioral syndromes.