January 13, 12p.m.: 

McGuire Center “Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research”
Speakers: Dennis Böttger
Institution: Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany
Title: TBD
Host: Akito Kawahara

January 23, 3p.m.: 

Big Idea Lightning Talks

Speakers: Natural History Faculty
Institution: Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida
Host: Dave Blackburn
Speakers:
Jaret Daniels, Curator of Lepidoptera
Glau Del-Rio, Assistant Curator of Ornithology
Nick Gauthier, Assistant Curator of AI & Human Ecology
Gavin Naylor, Director & Curator, Florida Program for Shark Research

January 30, 3p.m.: 

Speaker: James Mulqueeney 
Title: A Transition to Automated Phenotypic Methods
Institution: Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution
Host: Moritz Lurig

February 6, 3p.m.: 

Speaker: Lauren Applebaum
Title: Understanding Adult and Youth Sense of Belonging in Cultural Institutions
Institution: Research and Evaluation, Griffin Museum of Science and Industry
Host: Megan Ennes

February 13, 3p.m.: 

Speaker: Jessie Williamson 
Title: Avian migration, physiology, and speciation at elevational extremes
Institution: Zoology and Physiology, University of Wyoming
Host: Glau Del-Rio

February 20, 3p.m.: 

Speaker: Ben Freeman
Title: On range limits and range changes: the “Escalator to Extinction” is in action in tropical mountains
Institution: School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology
Host: Scott Robinson

February 27, 3p.m.: 

Speaker: Courtney Sprain
Title: Understanding the causes and consequences of the Cretaceous-Paleogene Mass Extinction event
Institution: University of Florida
Host: Advait Jukar

March 6, 3p.m.: 

Staff Appreciation Week

Speakers: Natural History Faculty
Institution: Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida
Host: Andrea Torvinen

Speakers:
Verity Mathis
Title: Death of a Panther: UF 19077 and her lasting impact
Division: Mammalogy, Collections Manager

Andrei Sourakov
Title: Gynandromorphic Io Moth Born at the Florida Museum of Natural History
Division: Lepidoptera, Collections Manager

Jen Green
Title: The incredible avian from Pineland, southwest Florida
Division: South Florida Archaeology and Ethnography, Collections Manager

Alan Franck
Title: Mary Franics Baker, Florida botanist in the early 1900s
Division: Herbarium, Collections Manager

Andrea Torvinen
Title: Field Lab Photogrammetry for the La Quemada-Malpaso Valley Archaeological Project
Division: Ceramic Technology Lab & Florida Archaeology, Collections Manager

March 27, 3p.m.: 

Speaker: Ariel Kahrl
Title: Sperm morphological diversification driven by fertilization environments
Institution: Hamilton College
Host: Dave Blackburn

April 3, 3p.m.: 

Speaker: Jason Lee Brown
Title: Hybridization, sexual selection, and ecological divergence drive the rapid diversification of montane poison frogs in Peru
Institution: Southern Illinois University
Host: Aleida Iriarte

April 10, 3p.m.: 

Grad Student Appreciation

Speakers: Natural History Graduate Students

Institution: Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida

Host: Nick Gauthier

Speakers:

• Ana Isabel Lopez Cacacho
  • Division: Lepidoptera
  • Advisor: Akito Kawahara
  • College: Liberal Arts and Sciences
  • Department: Biology
• Gloria Church
  • Division: Florida Archaeology
  • Advisor: Neill Wallis
  • College: Liberal Arts and Sciences
  • Department: Anthropology
• Sajan KC
  • Division: Lepidoptera
  • Advisor: Vaughn Shirey & Keith Willmott
  • College: Agricultural and Life Sciences
  • Department: Entomology and Nematology
• Anisha Sapkota
  • Division: Lepidoptera
  • Advisor: Vaughn Shirey
  • College: Agricultural and Life Sciences
  • Department: School of Natural Resources and Environment
• Lungelo Khanyile
  • Division: Informatics
  • Advisor: Nico Cellinese
  • College: Liberal Arts and Sciences
  • Department: Biology
• Md Jahir Rayhan
  • Division: Lepidoptera
  • Advisor: Akito Kawahara
  • College: Agricultural and Life Sciences
  • Department: School of Natural Resources and Environment
• Taylor Pierson
  • Division: Lepidoptera
  • Advisor: Jaret Daniels
  • College: Agricultural and Life Sciences
  • Department: School of Natural Resources and Environment

April 17, 3p.m.: 

Speaker: Mark Uhen 
Title: The Fossil Record of Whales: An exploration of whale fossil discovery and what we have learned from the record.
Institution: George Mason University
Host: Advait Jukar

September 2, 12p.m.: 

McGuire Center “Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research”
Speakers: Jaret Daniels, Vaughn Shirey, Keith Willmott, and Akito Kawahara
Institution: McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida
Title: McGuire Center summer research highlights
Host: Akito Kawahara

September 5, 3p.m.: 

Speaker: Alberto Lopez
Institution: Exhibits and Public Programs, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida
Title: Florida Museum Education: Taking the Museum Beyond Our Walls
Host: Jaret Daniels

September 12, 3p.m.: 

Speaker: Andy Kratter
Institution: Ornithology, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida
Title: Discovery of a novel migration route across Florida: Common Loons,  backyard birding, and Citizen Science
Host: Glau Del-Rio

September 16, 12p.m.: 

McGuire Center “Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research”
Speakers: Jaimie Wyckoff
Institution: US Air Force Academy
Title: A spring fling: Fecal firing in fiery skipper caterpillars (Hylephila phyleus)
Host: Akito Kawahara

September 19, 3p.m.: 

Postdoc Appreciation Week

Postdoc Talks
Institution: Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida
Host: Vaughn Shirey
Speakers:

Zuania Colón-Piñeiro
Division: Herpetology
Advisors: Dave Blackburn, Ana Longo & Hannah Vander Zanden
College: Florida Museum of Natural History
Title: Exploring terminal investment and energy allocation tradeoffs in amphibians: biases, gaps, and future directions

Heru Handika
Division: AI Biodiversity
Advisors: Arthur Porto
College: Florida Museum of Natural History
Title: Modernizing field data collection in the digital age: An approach to enhance data integrity and research reproducibility

Caleb Gordon
Division: AI Biodiversity & Vertebrate Paleontology
Advisors: Arthur Porto & Jon Bloch
College: Florida Museum of Natural History
Title: Limb proportions predict aquatic habits and soft-tissue flippers in extinct mammals and reptiles

Nich Martin
Division: AI for Cultural and Biological Diversity
Advisors: Nick Gauthier
College: Florida Museum of Natural History
Title: Modeling risk perception among prey receiving heterospecific warning calls

September 26, 3p.m.: 

Speaker: Javi Rudolph
Institution: Academic Research Consulting & Services, Smathers Libraries, University of Florida
Title: Non-linear adventures: ecological modeling across scales and systems
Host: Nick Gauthier

September 30, 12p.m.: 

McGuire Center “Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research”
Speakers: Andrei Sourakov
Institution: McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida
Title: Remarkable moths of Florida: what we can learn from studying them
Host: Akito Kawahara

October 3, 3p.m.: 

Speaker: Rose Schnabel
Institution: Innovation News Center, College of Journalism & Communications, University of Florida
Title: Crafting compelling stories on science and the environment
Host: Megan Ennis

October 10, 3p.m.: 

Speaker: Bruce MacFadden
Institution: Vertebrate Paleontology, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida
Title: The Florida (State) Museum: The formative decade–1956 to 1965
Host: Doug Jones

October 14, 12p.m.: 

McGuire Center “Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research”
Speakers: Simon Doneski
Institution: University of New Mexico, Alburquerque, New Mexico, USA
Title: Introducing NM-RARe a New Tool and Next Step for Insect Conservation in New Mexico
Host: Akito Kawahara

October 24, 3p.m.: 

Speaker: Sofia Pacheco-Fores
Institution: College of Liberal Arts, University of Minnesota
Title: Beyond “Non-Local”: Investigating Diverse Migrant Experiences in pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica
Host: Nick Gauthier

October 28, 12p.m.: 

McGuire Center “Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research”
Speakers: Takuya Tsubota
Institution: Transgenic Silkworm Research Unit, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization, Tsukuba, Japan
Title: TBD
Host: Akito Kawahara

October 31, 3p.m.: Halloween Lightning Talks

Institution: Department of Natural History, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida
Host: Dave Blackburn aka David S. Pumpkin Toadlet

Speakers:
Verity Mathis
Title: The Not-So-Spooky Truth About Bats
Division: Mammalogy, Collection Manager

Miles Buddy
Title: Plants That Will Kill You (by Family)
Division: AI & Informatics, Graduate Student
Advisor: Nico Cellinese & Nick Gauthier
College: Agricultural and Life Sciences
Department: School of Nature Resources and Environmental

Ashley Hamersma
Title: Prickly Problems in Paleobotany
Division: Paleobotany
Advisor: Steve Manchester
College: Liberal Arts & Sciences
Department: Biology

Ellie Bollich
Title: A Tri-Fecta of Horrors: a Mislabeled Box, an Extinct Bird, and Unregulated Specimen Trading
Division: Mammalogy
Advisor: Jon Nations
College: Liberal Arts & Sciences
Department: Biology

Ed Stanley
Title: I Count Bacula: Revealing Multiple Origins of the Os Penis in Mammalia
Division: Digital Imaging, Research Scientist

Nick Gauthier
Title: Around the World in 10 Bites
Division: AI for Cultural and Biological Diversity, Assistant Curator

Jen Green
Title: The Critters of the Body Farm
Division: South Florida Archaeology, Florida Ethnography & General Ethnography, Collections Manager

November 7, 3p.m.: 

Speaker: Luke Weaver
Institution: Museum of Paleontology, University of Michigan
Title: Histological signatures of mammalian reproductive strategies shed light on the origin of the marsupial-placental dichotomy
Host: Jon Bloch

November 14, 3p.m.: 

Speaker: Lauren Butaric
Institution: Department of Anatomy, College of Osteopathic Medicine, Des Moines University
Title: Form, Function, & Forensics: How modern human paranasal sinus variation informs clinical and medicolegal fields.
Host: Nick Gauthier

November 18, 12p.m.: 

McGuire Center “Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research”
Speakers: Ivonne Garzón-Orduña 
Institution: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico
Title: TBD
Host: Akito Kawahara

November 21, 3p.m.: 

Speaker: Luke Flory
Institution: Agronomy, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, University of Florida
Title: Interactions between plant invasions and other global change drivers
Host: Dave Blackburn

December 2, 12p.m.: 

McGuire Center “Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research”
Speakers: BingKan Xue
Institution: Department of Physics, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA
Title: TBD
Host: Akito Kawahara

January 28, 3p.m.: 

McGuire Center “Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research”
Speaker: Paul Masonick
Institution: McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity, University of Florida
Title: Convergent evolution of antipredatory traits in bombycoid moths
Host: Akito Kawahara

January 24, 3p.m.: 

Speaker: Alina Zare
Institution: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Florida
Title: Advancing AI Research through Transdisciplinary Collaboration
Host: Dave Blackburn

January 28, 3p.m.: 

McGuire Center “Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research”
Speaker: Martha Weiss
Institution: George Washington University
Title: Learning and Memory in Lepidoptera
Host: Akito Kawahara

January 31, 3p.m.: 

Speaker: Oscar Johnson
Institution: Florida Gulf Coast University
Title: Syntopy, secondary contact, and macroevolution of tropical birds
Host: Glau Del-Rio

February 7, 3p.m.: 

Speaker: Alex McAlvay
Institution: New York Botanical Garden
Title: Remembering Resilience:  Drawing on biodiversity and traditional agroecological knowledge to climate-proof our food.
Host: Makenzie Mabry

February 11, 3p.m.: 

McGuire Center “Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research”
Speaker: Corey Callaghan
Institution: Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center, University of Florida
Title: From Local Observations to Global Impact: Leveraging Participatory Science for Biodiversity Research
Host: Akito Kawahara

February 21, 3p.m.: 

Speaker: Kirk Johnson
Institution: Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
Speaker: Ray Troll
Institution: Soho Coho Contemporary Art and Craft Gallery
Title: Art, Science, and the Future of Natural History Museums
Host: Advait Jukar

February 25, 3p.m.: 

McGuire Center “Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research”
Speaker: Gabriela Montejo-Kovacevich 
Institution: University of Cambridge
Title: Genomics of Local Adaptation in Three Lepidopteran Systems
Host: Akito Kawahara

February 28, 3p.m.: 

Speaker: Maria Nieves-Colón
Institution: University of Minnesota
Title: Genomic contributions to understanding the history of Latin America and the Caribbean
Host: Nick Gauthier

March 7, 3p.m.: 

Speaker: Breda Zimkus
Institution: Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology
Title: Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology: Management of A Modern Natural History Museum
Host: Dave Blackburn

March 11, 12p.m.: 

McGuire Center “Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research”
Speaker: Andrew Quitmeyer
Institution: Digital Naturalism Laboratories
Title: Mothbox – Open Source Science Tools for Biodiversity Research and Conservation
Host: Akito Kawahara

March 25, 12p.m.: 

McGuire Center “Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research”
Speaker: Pritha Dey
Institution: National Centre for Biological Sciences
Title: Traits and Tactics: How Moth Traits Influence Survival Against Adaptive Bat Predators
Host: Akito Kawahara

March 28, 3p.m.:

Graduate Student Lightning Talks
Institution: Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida
Host: Nick Gauthier
Speakers: 

Stephanie Killingsworth
Division: Vertebrate Paleontology
Advisor: Bruce MacFadden
College: Liberal Arts and Sciences
Department: Geology

Francisco Nares
Division: Paleobotany
Advisor: Steve Manchester
College: Liberal Arts and Sciences
Department: Biology

Bharti Parihar
Division: Molecular Systematics
Advisor: Doug Soltis, Pam Soltis
College: Liberal Arts and Sciences
Department: Biology
 
Ashley Rutkoski
Division: Archaeology
Advisor: Neill Wallis, Nick Gauthier
College: Liberal Arts and Sciences
Department: Anthropology

April 4, 3p.m.: 

Speaker: Scott Evans
Institution: Florida State University
Title: Weird and Wonderful: Early animals of the Ediacara Biota
Host: Advait Jukar

April 8, 12p.m.: 

McGuire Center “Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research”
Speaker: Bert Foquet
Institution: McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity, University of Florida
Title: The evolution of lepidopteran silk: From silk glands to gene expression
Host: Akito Kawahara

April 11, 3p.m.: 

Speaker: John Ososky
Institution: Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
Title: Smithsonian History of Marine Mammal Science, Conservation, Exhibits and Public Education
Host: Jon Nations

April 18, 3p.m.: 

Student Excellence Award Winners
Institution: Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida
Host: Gavin Naylor
Speakers: 

Sarah Steele Cabrera
Title: Long-term population dynamics of an endangered butterfly are influenced by hurricane-mediated disturbance
Division: Lepidoptera
Advisor: Jaret Daniels
College: Agriculture and Life Sciences
Department: SNRE

Maria Camila Vallejo-Pareja
Title: Hopping through the isthmus: Fossil frogs from the early Miocene of Panama and implications to anuran biogeography in the Americas
Division: Herpetology, Vertebrate Paleontology
Advisor: David Blackburn, Jon Bloch
College: Liberal Arts and Sciences
Department: Biology

April 22, 12p.m.: 

McGuire Center “Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research”
Speaker: Maria Heikkilä
Institution: University of Helsinki
Title: TBA
Host: Akito Kawahara

September 6, 3p.m.:

Tenure and Promotion Seminar
Speaker: Megan Ennes
Institution: Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida
Title: Museums, Science Communication, and Civic Engagement: Keys to Expanding Participation in STEM

September 13, 3p.m.:

Promotion Seminar
Speaker: Ed Stanley
Institution: Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida
Title: Digitization, Dissemination and Democratization: 3D solutions to challenges facing museum collections

September 20, 3p.m.:

Tenure and Promotion Seminar
Speaker: Michelle LeFebvre
Institution: Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida
Title: Meeting Global Research Priorities for Historical Ecology: Archaeology, conservation, and community

September 24, 12p.m.:

McGuire Center “Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research”
Speaker: Crystal Maier
Institution: Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology
Title: Challenges of Digitizing the 200+ Year Old Entomology Collection at the MCZ
Speaker: Stephen Mason
Institution: Immaculata University
Title: Importance of building a digital species index (spindex) for entomology collections: A case study at ANSP
Host: Akito Kawahara

October 4, 3p.m.: 

Speaker: Betty (Vassiliki) Smocovitis
Institution: Departments of Biology and History, University of Florida
Title: Plants and Manifest Destiny: US Botanists and the “Cinchona Missions” in Latin America (1942-1945)
Host: Alan Franck

October 8, 3p.m.: 

McGuire Center “Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research”
Speaker: John Lill
Institution: George Washington University
Title: Host plants as Mediators of Caterpillar-Natural Enemy Interactions
Host: Akito Kawahara

October 11, 3p.m.:

Speaker: Gavin Naylor
Institution: Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida
Title: Beyond Shark Attacks – Research at the Florida Program for Shark Research
Host: Steve Manchester

October 22, 3p.m.: 

McGuire Center “Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research”
Speaker: Sajan K C
Institution: Division of Plant Industry (FDACS)
Speaker: Anisha Sapkota
Institution: McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity, University of Florida
Title: Butterflies of Nepal
Host: Akito Kawahara

October 25, 3p.m.:

Postdoc Lightning Talks
Institution: Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida
Speakers:
Stephanie Baumgart
Division: Physiological Science
PI: Emma Schachner
College: College of Veterinary Medicine
Title: How special are pterosaurs? Comparing bone distribution in pterosaur humeri to birds

Paul Masonick
Division: Lepidoptera
PI: Akito Kawahara
College: Florida Museum of Natural History
Title: Convergent evolution of antipredatory traits in bombycoid moths (Lepidoptera)

Darcy Bird
Division: AI for Cultural and Biological Diversity
PI: Nick Gauthier
College: Florida Museum of Natural History
Title: Feedbacks in Human-Environment Dynamics

Laura Bento De Costa
Division: Anthropology
PI: Valeria Burke DeLeon
College: College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Title: Dentofacial growth in Primates: The influence of tooth growth in the facial skeleton of Primates

Monique Romeiro Brito
Division: Herbarium
PI: Lucas Majure
College: Florida Museum of Natural History
Title: Phylogenomic of Melastomataceae: congruence and incongruence across genomes

October 29, 3p.m.: 

McGuire Center “Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research”
Speaker: Andrew Mongue
Institution: Department of Entomology and Nematology, University of Florida
Title: Catching Z’s: Evolutionary insights from lepidopteran sex chromosomes
Host: Akito Kawahara

November 1, 3p.m.:

Speaker: Svetlana Maslakova
Institution: University of Oregon
Title: What larvae can tell us about biodiversity, ecology, and evolution in the ocean: lessons from ribbon worms.
Host: Gustav Paulay

November 8, 3p.m.:

Speaker: Laurel Yohe
Institution: University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Title: Linking Metabolism and Immunity from the Extreme Diets of Bats
Host: Jon Nations

November 15, 3p.m.:

Speaker: Oana Dumitru
Institution: Department of Geology, University of Florida
Title: Last Interglacial sea level: estimates from fossil reefs in The Bahamas and Turks & Caicos Islands
Host: Nick Gauthier

November 19, 12p.m.: 

McGuire Center “Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research”
Speaker: Chris Grinter
Institution: California Academy of Sciences
Title: Introduction to the Lepidoptera Course & Updates from the California ATBI
Host: Akito Kawahara

November 19, 3p.m.:

Speaker: Raul Diaz
Institution: California State University
Title: Resolving a paradox: how does vertebrate skull diversity arise when embryonic development is highly conserved?
Host: Nick Gauthier

November 22, 3p.m.:

Speaker: Larry Page
Institution: Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida
Title: Exploring Diversity of Freshwater Fishes
Host: Steve Manchester

December 3, 12p.m.: 

McGuire Center “Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research”
Speaker: Moritz Lurig
Institution: University of Florida
Title: From pixels to patterns: integrating computer vision and AI to study wing color pattern evolution in butterflies
Host: Akito Kawahara

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

April 26, 3p.m.:

Graduate Student Lightning Talks
Institution: Department of Natural History, University of Florida
Speakers:
Lillian Hendrick
Division: Lepidoptera
Advisor: Jaret Daniels
College: Liberal Arts and Sciences
Department: Biology
 
Thomas Murphy
Division: Herbarium
Advisor: Lucas Majure
College: Liberal Arts and Sciences
Department: Biology

Cristina Oliveira
Division: South Florida Archaeology
Advisor: Michelle LeFebvre
College: Liberal Arts and Sciences
Department: Anthropology
 
Domenique Sorresso
Division: Historical Archaeology
Advisor: Charlie Cobb
College: Liberal Arts and Sciences
Department: Anthropology
 
Luis Torres
Division: Invertebrate Paleontology
Advisor: Michal Kowalewski
College: Liberal Arts and Sciences
Department: Geological Sciences

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