Department of Natural History Research Seminar Series
Spring 2024
January 16, 3p.m.:
McGuire Center “Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research”
Speaker: Yash Sondhi
Institution: University of Florida; Florida International University
Title: Visual gene evolution and light entrapment in butterflies and moths
January 30, 3p.m.:
McGuire Center “Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research”
Speaker: Maël Doré
Institution: Museum für Naturkunde
Title: Beyond Müller mimicry model: Perceptual maps support continental-scale convergence in wing patterns of sympatric Neotropical butterflies
February 9, 3p.m.:
Speaker: Katja Seltmann
Institution: UC Santa Barbara
Title: Insect Biodiversity and Natural History Collections: Decoding patterns of morphological, environmental, and community change
Host: Rob Guralnick
February 13, 3p.m.:
McGuire Center “Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research”
Speaker: Vincent Ficarrotta
Institution: Auburn University
Title: Studying the sexual dynamics of functional colors in butterflies
Host: Akito Kawahara
February 16, 3p.m.:
Speaker: John Clark
Institution: Selby Botanical Gardens
Title: Convergent evolution in a Neotropical plant group: When an evolutionary biologist’s dream becomes a taxonomist’s worst nightmare.
Host: Lucas Majure
February 23, 3p.m.:
Speaker: Ian Thompson
Institution: Choctaw Nation Archeology
Title: Indigenous Experimental Archaeology at Choctaw Nation
Host: Neill Wallis
March 1, 3p.m.:
Speaker: James Stroud
Institution: Georgia Tech
Title: What can invasive lizards teach us about ecology and evolution?
Host: Orlando Acevedo-Charry
March 5, 3p.m.:
McGuire Center “Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research”
Speaker: Michael Braby
Institution: Austrialian National University
Title: Origin of Australian butterflies: patterns of diversity and endemism
Host: Keith Willmott
March 8, 3p.m.:
Speaker: Jonathan Wendel
Institution: Iowa State University
Title: Genes, Jeans, Genomes, and the Mysteries of Polyploidy in Cotton
Host: Pam and Doug Soltis
September 1, 3p.m.:
Promotion Seminar
Speaker: Neill Wallis
Institution: Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida
Title: The Archaeology of Early Villages and Social Networks: Florida’s Gulf Coast, 200-1000 CE
Host: Jon Bloch
September 8, 3p.m.:
Tenure and Promotion Seminar
Speaker: Lucas Majure
Institution: Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida
Title: Deserts, Mountains, and Tropical Dry Forests, Oh My! – Evolutionary Studies of Neotropical Plant Diversity
Host: Jon Bloch
September 15, 3p.m.:
Speaker: Scott Robinson
Institution: Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida
Title: Environmental gradients and the origin and maintenance of avian diversity
Host: Jon Bloch
September 22, 3p.m.:
Postdoc Lightning Talks
Speakers:
Dr. Bert Foquet (mentor: Akito Kawahara)
Dr. Felicity Newell (mentor: Scott Robinson)
Dr. Elie Pinta (visiting postdoc)
Dr. Monique Romeiro-Brito (mentor: Lucas Majure)
Dr. Shengchen Shan (mentors: Pam & Doug Soltis)
Institution: Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida
Host:Yash Sondi
September 29, 3p.m.:
Speaker: Patricia McAnany
Institution: University of North Carolina
Title: The Community-engaged Turn within Archaeological Research: Implications for Ontological Insights and Biocultural Conservation Efforts in Yucatán, México
Host: Charlie Cobb
October 13, 3p.m.:
Speaker: Lynne Zummo
Institution: University of Utah
Title: Towards a Better Climate Future: Museum Exhibits for Shared Engagement and Learning
Host: Megan Ennes
October 20, 3p.m.:
Speaker: Israel Borokini
Institution: Montana State University
Title: Assessing drivers of community assemblage using phylogeny-based trait diversity
Host: Rob Guralnick
October 27, 3p.m.:
Speaker: Sadie Ryan
Institution: Geography, University of Florida
Title: Mapping potential mosquito-borne disease risks in a changing world
Host: Nick Gauthier
November 3, 3p.m.:
Virtual Seminar
Speaker: Shane Campbell-Staton
Institution: Princeton University
Title: Evolution in the Anthropocene: Mechanisms and consequences of human-mediated selection
Host: David Blackburn
November 17, 3p.m.:
Speaker: Andrew Short
Institution: Entomology & Nematology, University of Florida
Title: Ecological Promiscuity and Geographic Constraint in Neotropical Diversification: Aquatic Beetles as a model system
Host: Akito Kawahara
December 1, 3p.m.:
Speaker: Emma Schachner
Institution: VetMed, University of Florida
Title: Pulmonary diverticula in birds: not your average air sacs
Host: David Blackburn
January 24, 12p.m.:
Thomas C. Emmel Seminar Series
Speaker: Joe Martinez
Institution: McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida
Title: Where do subfamilies end and families begin?
February 7, 12p.m.:
McGuire Center “Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research”
Speaker: Chris Lawrence
Institution: Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, USA
Title: Making models and mining mimics
February 10, 3p.m.:
Speaker: Stephen Smith
Institution: University of Michigan
Title: Phylogenomic investigations of the emergence of innovation in plants.
Hosts: Pam Soltis and Doug Soltis
February 17, 3p.m.:
Graduate Student Invited Speaker
Speaker: JC Buckner
Institution: University of Texas, Arlington
Title: Ducking and Diving: Evolution and (paleo)ecology research in Anseriformes
Hosts: Adania Flemming
February 21, 12p.m.:
McGuire Center “Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research”
Speaker: Felix Sperling
Institution: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
Title: The species problem: Is it one butterfly species or two?
February 24, 3p.m.:
Speaker: Jimmy Liao
Institution: Whitney Laboratory, University of Florida
Title: Collapsing fish swimming biodiversity
Host: David Blackburn
March 10, 3p.m.:
Speaker: Rachel Collin
Institution: Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Title: How the study of larvae offers novel insights into the diversity and physiology of marine invertebrates.
Host: Gustav Paulay
March 21, 12p.m.:
McGuire Center “Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research”
Speaker: Nick Dowdy
Institution: Milwaukee Public Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
Title: Recent advances in tiger moth phylogenomics and implications for the evolution of anti-bat sonar jamming
March 28, 12p.m.:
Thomas C. Emmel Seminar Series
Speakers: International Association of Butterfly Exhibitors and Suppliers:
Johanna Gomez de la Torre, Mariposas de Mindo, Ecuador
Vanessa Wilches Restrepo, Alas de Colombia, Colombia
Jacob Olander, Heliconius Butterfly Works, Ecuador
Ryan Fessenden, Butterfly Rainforest at the Florida Museum of Natural History, USA
Kimberly Kelly, CT Science Center, USA.
Title: Butterflies: Conservation, Education, Community
March 31, 3p.m.:
Speaker: Rebecca Kimball
Institution: Biology, University of Florida
Title: The avian Tree of Life – what answers can phylogenomics provide?
Host: Scott Robinson
April 4, 12p.m.:
McGuire Center “Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research”
Speaker: Nick Grishin
Institution: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Biophysics and Department of Biochemistry, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas
Title: Insights from large-scale butterfly genomics
April 7, 3p.m.:
Career Panel Featuring Natural History Alumni
Speakers:
Emily Ellis, Field Application Scientist, Illumina
Charlotte Germain-Aubrey, Project Management Officer, Convention on Biological Diversity, UN Biodiversity
Delano Lewis, Associate Professor, Department of Biology, Burman University
Paulette McFadden, Supervisor of Public Lands Archeology, Bureau of Archeological Research, Florida Division of Historical Resources
Host: David Blackburn
April 14, 3p.m.:
Speaker: Joshua Torres
Institution: US National Park Service, National Capital Region
Title: Tales from the Trenches: Building a Career in Archaeology
Host: Charlie Cobb
April 18, 12p.m.:
Thomas C. Emmel Seminar Series
Speaker: Debbie Matthews Lott, Jim Hayden, Riley Gott and Taylor Pierson
Institution: McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida
Title: Lepidoptera Inventory of DeLuca Preserve, Florida
April 21, 3p.m.:
Speaker: Kelly Matsunaga
Institution: University of Kansas
Title: Fossil palm reading: fruits reveal the deep roots of palm diversity
Host: Steve Manchester
September 16, 3p.m.:
Speaker: James Cahill
Institution: Environmental Engineering, University of Florida
Title: Using comparative genomics to identify the targets of selection underlying complex traits in songbirds and polar bears
Hosts: David Blackburn & Rob Guralnick
September 23, 3p.m.:
Postdoc Lightning Talks
Institution: Department of Natural History, Florida Museum, University of Florida
Hosts: María Vallejo-Pareja & Steve Manchester
Speakers:
Jaimi Gray
Division: Herpetology – Digital imaging division
PI: Dave Blackburn and Ed Stanley
Title: Vertebrate anatomy in 65 thousand shades of gray
Pathour Shashank Rajendra
Division: Lepidoptera
PI: Akito Kawahara
Title: Development of CRISPR-based diagnostics for invasive pest identification
Makenzie Mabry
Division: Molecular Systematics
PI: Pamela Soltis
Title: Crop wild relatives and the role of herbaria in future food crop security
Lucas De Freitas Bacci
Division: Herbarium
PI: Lucas Majure
Title: A phylogenomic approach to elucidate the evolution of one of the most diverse lineages within flowering plants.
Nicolas Del Sol
Division: Anthropology
PI: Charlie Cobb
Title: Misty of Puerto Real: A Story of Horses, Humans, and Ancient DNA in the Post-Columbian Americas.
September 27, 12p.m.:
McGuire Center “Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research”
Speaker: Pável Matos-Maraví
Institution: Laboratory of Molecular Ecology and Phylogenetics, Biology Centre, CAS, Institute of Entomology, Branišovská, Czech Republic
Title: The origin and evolution of butterflies in tropical America
October 11, 12p.m.:
McGuire Center “Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research”
Speaker: Oskar Brattström
Institution: School of Biodiversity, One Health & Veterinary Medicine, University of Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom
Title: Past and present responses in African butterflies to changing climates
October 14, 3p.m.:
Speaker: Juannan Zhou
Institution: Biology, University of Florida
Title: Modeling genetic interactions in genotype-phenotype maps for genes, proteins, and complex traits
Host: Gavin Naylor
October 21, 3p.m.:
Speaker: Sandra Goutte
Institution: NYU Abu Dhabi
Title: Coloring inside the lines: genomic architecture and evolution of widespread colors and patterns in anurans
Host: Dave Blackburn
October 25, 12p.m.:
McGuire Center “Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research”
Speaker: Matt Forister
Institution: Department of Biology, University of Nevada, Reno, USA
Title: Finding their way through the Anthropocene: diverse stressors impacting the diverse butterfly fauna of western North America
October 28, 3p.m.:
Speakers: Ed Stanley & Zach Randall
Institution: Digital Imaging, Florida Museum, University of Florida
Title: Unlocked cabinets of curiosity: Digitization, Dissemination and Democratization of collections at the Florida Museum
Hosts: María Vallejo-Pareja & Steve Manchester
November 4, 3p.m.:
Speaker: Daren Card
Institution: Harvard University
Title: Comparative Genomics of Early Skink Genomes Supports Multiple Mechanisms of Limb Reduction in Squamate Reptiles
Host: Dave Blackburn
November 8, 12p.m.:
McGuire Center “Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research”
Speaker: Pasi Sihvonen and Leidys Murillo Ramos
Institution: Finnish Museum of Natural History, Helsinki, Finland
Title: 24,000 reasons to study geometrid moths: an overview of diversity, phylogeny and classification
November 18, 3p.m.:
Graduate Student Lightning Talks
Institution: Department of Natural History, Florida Museum, University of Florida
Hosts: María Vallejo-Pareja and Gavin Naylor
Speakers:
Gabriel Somarriba
Division: Ichthyology
Advisor: Larry Page
Title: “Pao! A revision of an enigmatic genus of freshwater pufferfishes”
Shelly Gaynor
Division: Molecular Systematics
Advisor: Pamela Soltis
Title: Joint population dynamics of autotetraploids and their diploid progenitors
Mitchell Walters
Division: Ornithology
Advisors: Scott Robinson and Rob Guralnick
Title: Urbanization impacts vocal mimicry behavior but not song complexity in the Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos)
Lazaro Vinola Lopez
Division: Vertebrate Paleontology
Advisor: Jonathan Bloch
Title: The biogeography and extinction timing of endemic rodents on Hispaniola during the Holocene
Melanie Giangreco
Division: Museum Education
Advisor: Megan Ennes
Title: Building cultural capital through eco-civic engagement
November 29, 12p.m.:
McGuire Center “Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research”
Speaker: David Lohman
Institution: Department of Biology, The City College of New York
Title: Island biogeography of mimetic butterflies in the Indo-Australian Archipelago
December 2, 3p.m.:
Speakers: Morgan Ernst & Ethan White
Institution: School of Forest Resources, University of Florida
Title: Monitoring Wading Birds at Scale Using Drones & Artificial Intelligence
Host: Gavin Naylor
December 6, 12p.m.:
Thomas C. Emmel Seminar Series
Speaker: Juliette Rubin
Institution: McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida
Title: Investigating the role of predation as an evolutionary driver of elaborate traits in insects
January 7, 3p.m.:
Speaker: Matt Smith
Institution: IFAS, University of Florida
Title: Biodiversity, Biogeography, and Bird Dispersal: Explorations of the Ectomycorrhizal Fungi of Patagonia
Description: Matthew E. Smith (Associate Professor of Plant Pathology & Curator of the FLAS Fungarium) will discuss recent work from his lab on the biodiversity and biogeography of ectomycorrhizal fungi from Patagonia. Dr. Smith will cover the unique biogeographic history of Patagonia’s fungal communities, particularly the fungi that are symbiotically associated with Southern Hemisphere trees in the family Nothofagaceae. He will also present new data on mycophagy and spore dispersal of fungi by native ground dwelling birds and discuss the implications for these widespread and common interactions across Patagonia
Host: Lucas Majure
January 14, 3p.m.:
Speaker: Liliana Davalos
Institution: Stony Brook University
Title: Sensing in the dark
Description: Despite their nocturnal habits, bats occupy virtually all terrestrial niches on Earth. Yet the molecular adaptations underlying this ecological diversity remain underex- plored. Working with an international team for the better part of a decade, we have used amplicons, transcriptomes, hybrid probes, and more recently genomes to relate foraging and feeding ecology to sensory genes and pathways. We have found numerous, parallel instances of pseudogenization in vision and chemosensory genes, matching diversity of diet and olfactory receptors, the conservation of func- tional vomeronasal receptors since the K-T boundary in some lineages, and rampant preadaptation to divergent diets in sensory pathways. Our findings have upended the model of adaptation in response to ecological opportunities in the form of new diets, suggesting instead that shifts in foraging underlie much of the diversity we see today.
Host: Michelle LeFebvre
January 21, 3p.m.:
Speaker: Chris Barratt
Institution: German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research
Title: Environmental genomics to understand past and future biodiversity responses to global change
Description: I am a conservation biologist with a strong focus on population genomics and species distribution modelling, in my research I use bio- and ecoinformatic approaches to model how populations within species respond differently to changing environmental conditions. In line with this theme I’ll present two ongoing projects: in part one I will show how I am using paleoclimate and whole exome sequencing data to understand how intraspecific diversity in chimpanzees has been influenced by paleoclimatic change since the Pleistocene. In part two I’ll introduce a new project that assesses the adaptive capacity of populations within species and quantifies their vulnerability under future global change in a novel climate change vulnerability assessment framework.
Host: Greg Jongsma
January 25, 10a.m.:
McGuire Center “Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research”
Speaker: Niklas Wahlberg
Institution: Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
Title: Lepidoptera phylogenomics and the uses of museomics
Description: We have reached the age of phylogenomics, where the amount of data is no longer an issue for phylogenetic analyses. We are instead faced with questions of what kind of genomic data we should use, and whether taxon sampling still has an effect despite overwhelming amounts of data. I review the state of Lepidoptera phylogenomics, point out that there are still areas of the phylogeny that are not resolved, and describe a way to quickly increase taxon sampling using whole genome shotgun sequencing of museum specimens, a.k.a. museomics. Museomic methods open a whole new way to look at evolutionary history, from populations through time of single species, to ensuring broad taxon sampling of difficult to collect/identify taxa.
February 8, 12p.m.:
McGuire Center “Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research”
Speaker: Erica Henry
Institution: School of Biological Sciences, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA
Title: Insect conservation in an uncertain future
Talk abstract: Key to insect conservation in an uncertain future is understanding how populations will respond to future environmental change and incorporating this information into conservation strategies. In this talk I will focus on 1) how changing precipitation regimes affect the phenology and population dynamics of subtropical species 2) the need to maintain historic disturbance regimes to increase population resilience to catastrophic hurricanes and 3) the importance of careful assessment of whether conservation strategies are working as intended. My studies of endangered butterflies and their host plants highlight mechanisms that link species life history to climate change responses and provide a framework for developing conservation strategies that are rooted in basic ecology.
February 21, 12p.m.:
McGuire Center “Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research”
Speaker: Vojtěch Novotný
Institution: Department of Zoology, University of South Bohemia, České Budějovice, Czech Republic
Title: The ecology of caterpillars and their parasitoids in tropical rainforests: a Papua New Guinean experience
Talk abstract: How species rich are moths and butterflies in tropical rainforests? How do they all coexist in a single ecosystem? How important are they for ecosystem function? What is the place of Lepidoptera in rainforest food webs? These and other questions will be discussed, based on studies of Lepidoptera communities in the tropical forests of Papua New Guinea.
March 4, 3p.m.:
Graduate Student Lightning Talks
Speakers:
Trevor Duke, People and Things: Identity in Ancient Native American Potting Communities
Niyomi House, Untangling Lousy Relationships: Diversity and Distribution of Human Head Lice Across the World
Rachel Keeffe, XROMM Analysis of Feeding Mechanics in Toads: Interactions of the Tongue, Hyoid Apparatus, and Pectoral Girdle
Mitchell Riegler, Paleoecology and Diversity of Florida’s Fossil Alligators: Insights from Ct Scans and Geochemical Data
Institution: University of Florida
Host: Gavin Naylor
March 15, 12p.m.:
Thomas C. Emmel Seminar Series
Speaker: Robert Gallardo
Institution: Pro Nature Honduras Foundation, “Emerald Valley”, Honduras
Title: The butterflies of Honduras
Talk abstract: Honduras, located in northern Central America, has gaping holes in basic knowledge of many aspects of its biodiversity. This includes its butterfly fauna. Since 2016 Robert Gallardo and Olivia Diaz have been surveying butterflies in earnest across much of the Honduran landscape with the goal of producing a butterfly guide. Within the first fourteen months they discovered three undescribed species and to date have recorded more than three hundred country records. Their property alone, Emerald Valley, harbors an amazing 700 species as well as an annual butterfly festival. During this seminar we will explore this little known but rich country and the work they have been carrying out.
March 18, 3p.m.:
Speaker: Melissa Sanchez Herrera
Institution: Universidad del Rosario (Bogotá, Colombia)
Title: Following the evolutionary footsteps of a highly polymorphic damselfly (Polythoridae: Odonata)
Host: Emily Khazan
March 25, 3p.m.:
Speaker: Charlie Cobb
Institution: Florida Museum
Title: The Vacant Quarter: Archaeology, Climate Change and Regional Abandonment
Host: Michelle LeFebvre
March 29, 12p.m.:
McGuire Center “Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research”
Speaker: Keating Godfrey
Institution: McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida
Title: Sociality, sensory systems, and brain evolution in Hymenoptera
Talk abstract: I am a broadly trained biologist who took a rather circuitous path through academia. This non-traditional path means my research experience spans ecology, behavior, neuroscience, disease, and science education. My core interest is in the functional consequences of variation in neural circuits and in this introductory talk I will attempt to show how these highly divergent research experiences address this core interest. I will focus much of the talk on my PhD work on the role of sociality in neural traits in Hymenoptera. Sociality and cooperative behaviors associated with communal living are hypothesized to drive brain size evolution in bees, wasps, and ants. In my research I took a comparative approach and piloted new methods to look at brain size across Hymenoptera. Because cooperative behaviors may require novel or expanded forms of intraspecific communication, I also compared sensory systems in related ant species that vary in colony size. Finally, I will also touch on the role of evolution in modeling disease and my current research here at the McGuire Center, which addresses oviposition receptors in hawkmoths.
April 1, 3p.m.:
Speaker: Mariela Pajuelo
Institution: Florida Museum
Title: Sea turtles in a changing world: ecology, conservation, and outreach
Host: Gavin Naylor
April 8, 3p.m.:
Speaker: Chris Beard
Institution: University of Kansas
Title: Assembly and demise of an island fauna in Deep Time: the lost archipelago of Balkanatolia
Talk abstract: Islands and the biotas they harbor were instrumental in the development of evolutionary theory, but the vast majority of research on how insular biotas are assembled is based on modern island systems. The Eocene fauna of Balkanatolia includes anachronistic and endemic clades that rival the modern fauna of Madagascar in terms of uniqueness and evolutionary novelty. Ongoing phylogenetic and biogeographic analyses of this fauna allow us to test the significance of dispersal, vicariance and in situ diversification as drivers of biotic assembly in this insular system.
Host: Jon Bloch
April 12, 12p.m.:
McGuire Center “Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research”
Speaker: David Wagner
Institution: Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut, USA
Title: Insect decline in the Anthropocene: Death by a thousand cuts
April 15, 3p.m.:
Speaker: Pedro Monarrez
Institution: Florida Museum
Title: TBA
Host: Carmi Thompson
April 26, 12p.m.:
McGuire Center “Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research”
Speaker: Sean Ryan
Institution: Exponent, San Mateo, CA, USA
Title: Citizen Science as a Powerful Tool for Expanding Lepidoptera Research in a Rapidly Changing World
Talk abstract: In my talk I will attempt to convince you that citizen science remains an untapped potential for expanding the horizons of how we research the ecology and evolutionary biology of Lepidoptera, and the diversity of life more broadly. To do this I will share my experiences developing and prototyping projects centered around using citizen science to understand how anthropogenic disturbances alter lives of Lepidoptera. These projects include the use of population genetics for reconstructing invasion routes and life history data to predict the future.
September 3, 3p.m.:
Speaker: Fabiany Herrera
Institution: Chicago Botanic Garden
Title: Early Cretaceous Floras from Asia and Northern South America: Gymnosperms against Angiosperms
Description: Newly discovered fossil floras from the Early Cretaceous of Mongolia and China reveal a fascinating gymnosperm-dominated landscape. At the same time, the South American tropics show a remarkable mixture of flowering plants and conifers.
Host: Steve Manchester
September 10, 3p.m.:
Speaker: Juan Daza
Institution: Sam Houston State University
Title: Back to the past, time-traveling with geckos and other lizards
Description: In this talk, we will look at lizards embedded in amber from three different deposits around the world. Each locality can tell us details of lizard diversity in the past. This work has been the result of several research projects where paleontologists and herpetologist work together to interpret these amazing fossils.
Host: Ed Stanley
September 17, 3p.m.:
***Promotion Seminar***
Speaker: Akito Kawahara
Institution: University of Florida
Title: Evolution and diversification of butterflies and moths
Host: Jon Bloch
September 21, 12p.m.:
McGuire Center “Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research”
Speaker: Andrei Sourakov
Institution: McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
Title: “From Automeris to Zebra Longwings: probing Lepidoptera diversity with hybridization and wing-pattern manipulation experiments”
September 24, 3p.m.:
Speaker: Selena Smith
Institution: University of Michigan
Title: Dead Plants Do Tell Tales: fossil insights about the evolution of monocot flowering plants
Description: Monocot flowering plants include many ecologically and economically important groups including grasses (wheat, rice, corn), palms, bananas, lilies, orchids, and pondweeds. Understanding their evolutionary history, therefore, is important in order to understand their response to ecological and environmental changes on geological time scales. The fossil record provides concrete data on the past diversity and distribution of extinct monocots, and thus is critical to study. While monocots tend to display cryptic morphologies making them more difficult to identify, progress on applying novel techniques and building a modern phenotype comparative dataset has resulted in better understanding the evolutionary history of several monocot groups. Examples from studies on the Zingiberales (bananas, gingers, and relatives) highlight the benefits of leveraging natural history collections, especially using non-destructive techniques, to better place extinct taxa within the “tree of life” and understand biogeography. Fossils from the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary of India are revealing details on cryptic extinct lineages of monocots as well as more well-known groups such as the palms. MicroCT analysis has proven beneficial in both studying particular fossils, but also in being able to build modern comparative datasets that help us ascertain the affinities and significance of fossils. The monocot paleobotanical record highlights the complexity of evolutionary history and why inclusion of the fossil record is critical.
Host: MacKenzie Smith
October 1, 3p.m.:
Speaker: Lindsay Campbell
Institution: University of Florida
Title: Leveraging mosquito control district data for biodiversity investigations
Description: Mosquito control districts trap and identify mosquito species on a regular basis for the purpose of monitoring vector abundances and nuisance biting mosquitoes, but these collections have great potential for downstream biodiversity investigations. Unique challenges and opportunities exist to leveraging mosquito control district collections for biodiversity investigations, while also providing valuable opportunities to engage with and learn from knowledgeable stakeholder groups.
Host: Rob Guralnick
October 5, 9a.m.:
McGuire Center “Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research”
Speaker: Antonia Monteiro
Institution: Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore (NUS)/Yale-NUS College, Singapore
Title: “The developmental origin and evolution of a novel complex trait: butterfly eyespots” (Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research Series)
October 15, 3p.m.:
Speaker: Justin Dunnavant
Institution: UCLA
Title: Have Confidence in the Sea: Archaeologies of Marronage
Description:
In this talk, I discuss how archaeology has contributed to our understanding of marronage in the Atlantic world. Drawing from contemporary LiDAR and geospatial data in St. Croix and former Danish West Indies, I show how newer archaeological methods expand our understanding of maroon geographies and ecologies while also turning our attention toward maritime seascapes. Theoretically, I engage scholars in Black Geographies to think more critically about the sea/ocean as a site of history, memory, placemaking, and liminality, phenomenologically positioning bodies of water and seafaring vessels as a (de)generative space of Black Atlantic sociality and possibility. We can bridge terrestrial and maritime experiences by employing various “archaeologies” of marronage.
Host: Neill Wallis and Michelle LeFebvre
October 19, 12p.m.:
McGuire Center “Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research”
Speaker: Swanne Gordon
Institution: Department of Biology, Washington University in St. Louis
Title: “Maintaining diversity in nature: Lessons from an aposematic moth”
October 22, 3p.m.:
Speaker: Cathy McFadden
Institution: Harvey Mudd College
Title: Hidden in plain sight: cryptic biodiversity and regional endemism in the Indo-Pacific zooxanthellate soft corals
Description: Zooxanthellate soft corals (Anthozoa: Octocorallia) are dominant space-occupiers on coral reefs across the Indo-Pacific. Their nominal biodiversity rivals that of the reef-building scleractinians, but the true number of species and their biogeographic distributions remain unclear as a result of our poor understanding of species boundaries in these morphologically plastic organisms. Using molecular approaches to species delimitation, we are revealing high levels of cryptic biodiversity and regional endemism in species groups that have historically been assumed to have pan-Indo-Pacific geographic ranges.
Host: Gustav Paulay
October 29, 3p.m.:
Speaker: Nesra Yannier
Institution: Carnegie Mellon University
Title: Intelligent Science Exhibits: Transforming Hands-on Exhibits into Mixed-reality Learning Experiences
Description: We have been developing Intelligent Science Exhibits and a mixed-reality platform bridging physical and virtual worlds to improve children’s inquiry-based STEM learning, fostering their curiosity and 21st century skills like critical thinking and persistence. Our award-winning, patented technology adds an intelligent AI layer on top of physical, hands-on exhibits to provide personalized interactive feedback to children and families as they experiment and make discoveries in the real world. In this talk, I will talk about our technology and exhibits as well as the experiments we have conducted comparing the mixed-reality system to a screen-only version and a standard hands-on museum exhibit
Host: Bruce MacFadden and Megan Ennis
November 5, 3p.m.:
Speaker: Phoebe Stubblefield
Institution: University of Florida
Title: Un-erasure 101: The People of the June 2021 Tulsa Race Massacre Oaklawn Exhumations
Description: The effort to find the victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, begun in the 1990s, reached the exhumation phase for the Oaklawn Cemetery site in June 2021. Dr. Phoebe Stubblefield presents the relevance of Oaklawn Cemetery to the history of the race massacre investigation, and describes what she discovered about the cemetery itself, and the people recovered in the recent exhumation.
Host: Gifford Waters
November 16, 10a.m.:
McGuire Center “Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research”
Speaker: Chris Jiggins
Institution: Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
Title: Convergent evolution in butterflies: from chemicals to colour patterns
November 19, 3p.m.:
Speaker: Chris Sidor
Institution: University of Washington
Title: The original bone heads: paleobiology and evolution of burnetiamorph therapsids
Description: Burnetiamorphs were middle-to-late Permian therapsids (i.e. stem-group mammals) known from fossils across southern Africa and Russia. Notably, were among the first clades of tetrapods to develop a wide array of bony ‘horns’ and other adornments on their skulls, which in other lineages have been considered characteristics enhancing species recognition or mate competition. In this seminar, I will provide an overview of the clade, compare their cranial anatomy to the pachyostosis seen in other clades (e.g., pachycephalosaur dinosaurs), and discuss the macroevolutionary implications of burnetiamorphs being much more speciose than expected given its comparatively small sample size.
Host: David Blackburn
November 30, 12p.m.:
McGuire Center “Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research”
Speaker: Chase Kimmel
Institution: McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA
Title: Understanding three rare bees of the southeastern USA
December 3, 3p.m.:
Speaker: Post-Doc Lightning Talks: Maggie Hantak, Natalie Claunch, Rob Lasley, Jenna Moore
Institution: University of Florida
Titles:
Jenna Moore: Sand-strikers, grunge-moppers, and fairy tube worms: using collections to investigate morphological evolution in Annelida.
Maggie Hantak: A computer vision model for assessing species color pattern from community science images
Rob Lasley: Low hanging fruits of labor: crab speciation stories gleaned from worldwide collections and barcoding
Natalie Claunch: Islanders on the mainland: exploring thermal influences on establishment in an invasive lizard
Hosts: Gustav Paulay and Rob Guralnick
December 7, 12p.m.:
McGuire Center “Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research”
Speaker: Charlie Covell
Institution: McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA
Title: Seventy-one years with Lepidoptera
January 15, 12 p.m.:
Speaker: Hesham Sallam
Institution: American University in Cairo
Title: Breaking new ground in the study of Egypt’s ancient prehistory
Host: Rachel Narducci
January 22, 3 p.m.:
Speaker: Michael Donoghue
Institution: Yale University
Title: On the value of model clades: Integrative studies of evolution in the flowering plant Viburnum
Host: Doug Soltis
January 26, 12 p.m.:
Thomas C. Emmel Seminar Series presents: Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research
Speaker: Fabien Condamine
Institution: Institut des Sciences de l’ Evolution de Montpelier, France
Title: Genome-wide macroevolutionary signatures of key innovations in butterflies colonizing new host plants
January 29, 3 p.m.:
Speaker: Lisa White
Institution: University of California at Berkeley
Title: Integrating fieldwork, fossil data, and visualization tools to enhance geoscience instruction for diverse audiences
Host: David Blackburn
February 5, 12 p.m.:
Speaker: Miranda Lowe
Institution: Natural History Museum, London
Title: Changing Climate: Reuniting diverse narratives in natural science collections.
Host: Jeanette Pirlo
February 9, 12 p.m.:
Thomas C. Emmel Seminar Series presents: Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research
Speaker: Jeffrey Marcus and Melanie Lalonde
Institution: University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Title: The Chronicles of Junonia: Evolutionary travels in space and time in an emerging butterfly model system.
February 12, 3 p.m.:
Graduate Student Lightning Talks
Institution: University of Florida
Host: Maria Vallejo-Pareja
Speakers:
Arianne Boileau, Department of Anthropology
Maria Cortez, Department of Biology
Kristopher Kusnerik, Department of Geology
Shinichi Nakahara, Department of Entomology & Nematology
Daniel Paluh, Department of Biology
Lauren Rowan, Department of Biology
February 18, 12 p.m.:
Thomas C. Emmel Seminar Series presents: Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research
Speakers: Andre Freitas, Karina L. Silva-Brandão, Eduardo P. Barbosa, Mario A. M. Uribe, Patricia E. Gueratto, Luísa L. Mota, and Simeão S. Moraes
Institution: Universidade de Campinas, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil
Title: LABBOR: The Lepidoptera Lab at the University of Campinas, Brazil
February 19, 3 p.m.:
Speaker: Emily Graslie
Title: Lessons from 10 years in Museum #SciComm
Host: David Blackburn
February 23, 12 p.m.:
Thomas C. Emmel Seminar Series presents: Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research
Speaker: Robert D. Reed and Anyi Mazo-Vargas
Institution: Departments of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, and Entomology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA
Title: How butterflies make their wing patterns
February 26, 3 p.m.:
Speaker: Kendra Sirak
Institution: Harvard Medical School
Title: An archaeogenetic exploration of the pre-contact Caribbean
Host: Bill Keegan
March 2, 12 p.m.:
Thomas C. Emmel Seminar Series presents: Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research
Speaker: Adriana Briscoe
Institution: School of Biological Sciences, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA
Title: Sizing up the small and the large: Reference genomes for butterflies on the extreme ends of genome size
March 5, 3 p.m.:
Speaker: Dean Adams
Institution: Iowa State University
Title: Phylogenetic comparative methods and the evolution of multivariate phenotypes
Host: Dan Paluh
March 12, 3 p.m.:
Speaker: Jessica Ware
Institution: American Museum of Natural History
Title: Dragonflies, Damselflies & Dictyoptera Evolution
Host: Caroline Storer
March 16, 12 p.m.:
Thomas C. Emmel Seminar Series presents: Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research
Speaker: Arnaud Martin
Institution: George Washington University, Washington D.C., USA
Title: The genetic basis of color patterning in butterfly wings
March 19, 3 p.m.:
Speaker: Kadeem Gilbert
Institution: Penn State University
Title: Plant-Regulated Micro-Ecosystems: Pitchers and Leaves
Host: Lauren Whitehurst
March 26, 3 p.m.:
Speaker: Rayna Bell
Institution: California Academy of Sciences
Title: The diversity and evolution of visual systems across the frog tree of life
Host: Greg Jongsma
March 30, 12 p.m.:
Thomas C. Emmel Seminar Series presents: Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research
Speaker: Callum Macgregor
Institution: Energy and Environment Institute, University of Hull, Kingston-upon-Hull, UK
Title: What can butterflies and moths teach us about conserving nature on a warming planet?
April 2, 3 p.m.:
Speaker: Susana Magallón
Institution: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Title:The timing of angiosperm evolution, and the complex science of “including fossils”
Host: Nico Cellinese
April 9, 3 p.m.:
Speaker: Kristina Douglass
Institution: Penn State University
Title: Integrative and inclusive approaches to investigating human-environment dynamics in SW Madagascar
Host: Nicole Cannarozzi
April 16, 3 p.m.:
Speaker: Alejandro Rico-Guevara
Institution: University of Washington
Title: To Feed or To Fight: Nectarivory Energetics and Intrasexually Selected Weapons
Host: Scott Robinson
September 4, 3:00 p.m.:
Speaker: Nico Cellinese (promotion seminar)
Institution: University of Florida
Title: Querying Life in a post-taxonomic age: from global patterns to species-level processes.
Host: Jon Bloch
September 11, 3:00 p.m.:
Speaker: Anne Yoder
Institution: Department of Biology, Duke University
Title: Cryptic is as cryptic does: intriguing patterns of speciation in Madagascar’s mouse lemurs
Host: Dave Blackburn
September 15, 12:00 p.m.:
Thomas C. Emmel Seminar Series presents: Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research
Speaker: Sarah Steele-Cabrera
Institution: University of Florida
Title: Assessing Reintroduction Techniques for an Endangered Butterfly, Cyclargus thomasi behunebakeri in the Florida Keys
September 18, 3:00 p.m.:
Speaker: Ben Weinstein
Institution: University of Florida
Title: A Computer Vision for Ecology
Host: Rob Guralnick
September 25, 3:00 p.m.:
Speaker: David Blackburn (promotion seminar)
Institution: University of Florida, Florida Museum of Natural History
Title: The evolution of frogs and a plea for natural history.
Host: Jon Bloch
October 2, 3:00 p.m.:
Speaker: Porchia Moore
Institution: University of Florida, School of Art + Art History
Title: The Great Fire: Museums In Transition
Host: David Blackburn
October 7, 10:00 a.m.:
Thomas C. Emmel Seminar Series presents: Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research
Speaker: Krushnamegh Kunte
Institution: University of Florida
Title: Assessing Reintroduction Techniques for an Endangered Butterfly, Cyclargus thomasi behunebakeri in the Florida Keys
October 9, 3:00 p.m.:
Speaker: Kate Grillo
Institution: University of Florida
Title: Megaliths and milk molecules: new archaeological research on the Pastoral Neolithic cemeteries of the Turkana Basin, northwestern Kenya
Host: Michelle Lefebvre
October 16, 3:00 p.m.:
Speaker: Mauro Galetti
Institution: University of Miami
Title: Defaunation in the Anthrpocene
Host: Michelle Lefebvre
October 20, 12:00 p.m.:
Thomas C. Emmel Seminar Series
Speaker: Amanda Hipps
Institution: WildLandscapes International
Title: Ecosystem Underground: Vertebrate and Invertebrate Gopher Tortoise Burrow Commensals in Southeast Florida
October 23, 3:00 p.m.:
Speaker: Richelle Tanner
Institution: University of California, Davis
Title: The effects of environmental variation on ecosystem function in nearshore habitats
Host: Megan Ennes
October 27, 12:00 p.m.:
Thomas C. Emmel Seminar Series presents: Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research
Speaker: Kathleen Prudic
Institution: University of Arizona
Title: Precision conservation takes flight in butterflies using citizen and data science
October 30, 3:00 p.m.:
Speaker: Will Crampton
Institution: University of Central Florida
Title: Listening in the dark: Signal evolution in Neotropical electric fishes
Host: Larry Page
November 5, 12:00 p.m.:
Thomas C. Emmel Seminar Series presents: Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research
Speaker: Erica Westerman
Institution: University of Arkansas
Title: Why do we like different things? Using butterflies to understand diversity in preferences
November 6, 3:00 p.m.:
Speaker: Janet Buckner
Institution: Louisiana State University
Title: Molecular systematics, macroevolution and adaptive genetics in mammals and birds.
Host: Caroline Storer
November 9, 10:00 a.m.:
Thomas C. Emmel Seminar Series presents: Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research
Speaker: Marianne Elias
Institution: Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle
Title: The puzzle of evolution of transparent wings in aposematic, mimetic butterflies
November 13, 3:00 p.m.:
Speaker: David Skelly
Institution: School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University
Title: The Yale Peabody Museum: the history and future of a university natural history museum
Host: Doug Jones
November 17, 12:00 p.m.:
Thomas C. Emmel Seminar Series presents: Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research
Speaker: Jaret Daniels
Institution: University of Florida
Title: Safeguarding Royalty: Efforts to Combat Monarch Population Declines in Florida (and Beyond)
November 20, 3:00 p.m.:
Speaker: Rebecca Tarvin
Institution: Department of Integrative Biology, University of California – Berkeley
Title: Fine-scale evolution of aposematism in Epipedobates poison frogs
Host: FLMNH Graduate Students
December 1, 12:00 p.m.:
Thomas C. Emmel Seminar Series presents: Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research
Speaker: Emilie Snell-Rood
Institution: University of Minnesota
Title: Nutritional constraints on brain and life history evolution across butterflies
December 4, 3:00 p.m.:
Speaker: Jim Leebens-Mack
Institution: Department of Plant Biology, University of Georgia
Title: Plant phylogenomics: elucidating gene, gene family, genome, and organismal evolution
Host: Doug Soltis, Pam Soltis
December 1, 12:00 p.m.:
Thomas C. Emmel Seminar Series presents: Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research
Speaker: David Steen
Institution: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
Title: Using snakes and turtles to learn about conservation and ecology