Department of Natural History Virtual Research Seminar Series
Spring 2021
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
Click here to watch the Zoom recording.
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
Click here to watch the Zoom recording.
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: TBA
Host: Jeanette Pirlo
February 9, 3 p.m.:
Thomas C. Emmel Seminar Series presents: Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research
Speaker: Jeffrey Marcus
Institution: University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Title: TBA
February 12, 3 p.m.:
Speaker: Grad Student Lightning Talks
Institution: University of Florida
Title: TBA
Host: Maria Vallejo-Pareja
February 18, 12 p.m.:
Thomas C. Emmel Seminar Series presents: Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research
Speaker: Andre Freitas
Institution: Universidade de Campinas, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil
Title: TBA
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: A reference genome for Brephidium exilis (Lycaenidae: Polyommatinae) North America’s smallest butterfly
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: TBA
Host: Nico Cellinese
April 9, 3 p.m.:
Speaker: Kristina Douglass
Institution: Penn State University
Title: TBA
Host: Nicole Cannarozzi
April 16, 3 p.m.:
Speaker: Alejandro Rico-Guevara
Institution: University of Washington
Title: TBA
Host: David Blackburn
Fall 2020
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
Click here to watch the Zoom recording.
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
Click here to watch the Zoom recording.
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
Click here to watch the Zoom recording.
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
Click here to watch the Zoom recording.
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
Click here to watch the Zoom recording.
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
Click here to watch the Zoom recording.
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
Click here to watch the Zoom recording.
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
Click here to watch the Zoom recording.
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
Click here to watch the Zoom recording.
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
Click here to watch the Zoom recording.
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
Click here to watch the Zoom recording.
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
Click here to watch the Zoom recording.
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)
Click here to watch the Zoom recording.
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
Click here to watch the Zoom recording.
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
Click here to watch the Zoom recording.
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
Click here to watch the Zoom recording.