Events
Seminar title: Soils Under Stress: Understanding soil communities and biogeochemical cycles in the era of global change.
Hosted by Meredith Holgerson, Roxanne Marino, and Christy Goodale.
Seminar title: Macroevolution Meets Community Ecology: How Species Interactions Shape Fish Diversification Across Habitat Transitions.
Hosted by Casey Dillman.
Seminar title: Ecological consequences of an inadvertent N addition experiment on a coastal marine system:
Insights from long-term monitoring.
Hosted by Meredith Holgerson, Roxanne Marino, and Christy Goodale.
Abstract: Brandy is a research associate in Courtney Murdock’s lab. She will discuss her previous work investigating different aspects of malaria transmission Southeast Asia, including the transmissibility of drug-resistant malaria parasites and the feeding ecology of diverse vector species. Global malaria elimination efforts are now being threatened by an invasive South Asian urban malaria vector Anopheles stephensi. Changing climate and shifts in land use are also rapidly changing the landscape for malaria transmission. While the effects of temperature on malaria transmission have been investigated, the influence of humidity on mosquito and pathogen parameters affecting disease dynamics are less understood. In the Murdock lab, we have investigated the impact of humidity on the relationship between temperature and natural history traits in larval stage and adult mosquitoes. To investigate the impact of both temperature and humidity on parasite development in this mosquito, we infected An. stephensi with Plasmodium falciparum NF54 and placed infected mosquitoes under variable temperature (16°C - 36°C) and relative humidity (30-90%) conditions. Midguts and salivary glands of infected mosquitoes were dissected every three days post-infection to quantify the developmental timing of oocysts and sporozoites. We will discuss the infection outcomes under these range of temperatures and previously uninvestigated variation in relative humidity. Understanding the dynamics of malaria infection in An. stephensi will help us to better predict and model the environmental suitability for this invasive vector.
Seminar title: Leveraging Al for enhanced carbon cycling accounting in the Water-Food-Energy Nexus: from aquaculture ponds to hydropower reservoirs.
Hosted by Meredith Holgerson, Roxanne Marino, and Christy Goodale.
Wildlife trafficking is a multibillion-dollar business involving the unlawful harvest and trade of thousands of animals and plants. One such type of trade is for songbird singing competitions, a sport of “racing” male seed-finches, seedeaters and other species that is popular in the Caribbean, Guiana Shield of South America and countries with communities from these regions, including the U.S. While this legal, cultural practice is celebrated as a source of national pride in some countries, international trafficking is threatening 15 species of songbirds as well as national security and public health across the Americas and Europe. In 2023, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service launched the Species Conservation Catalyst Fund on Songbird Trade, a new accelerator-model financial assistance initiative to reduce the illegal, unsustainable trade of songbirds in this region. Through cross-disciplinary strategic planning, the Service developed a strategy to address supply and demand dynamics and build law enforcement capacity to combat songbird trafficking. The Service recently invested $3.7 million in six projects collaborating across the trade chain to reduce trafficking of songbirds through mapping the drivers and actors involved in trade, addressing health risks for birds and people, strengthening law enforcement capacity and launching behavior change campaigns. Through a strategic, collaborative and socio-ecological approach, the Service and its partners hope to facilitate legal, sustainable trade that enables songbirds to sing freely in the wild once more.
Join us for a Chats in the Stacks book talk with Thomas D. Seeley, Horace White Professor Emeritus in Biology in the Dept. of Neurobiology and Behavior on his new book Piping-Hot Bees and Boisterous Buzz-Runners: 20 Mysteries of Honey Bee Behavior Solved (Princeton University Press, 2024).
Seeley, who has devoted nearly six decades to the study of honey bees and their colonies, takes us inside a world seldom seen even by beekeepers, to illuminate mysteries of honey bee behavior including how they choose a home for their colony, keep the colony inhabitants warm, and defended the colony from intruders. Weaving personal stories with the latest science, Piping Hot Bees and Boisterous Buzz-Runners shows both the excitement of scientific discovery and how it continues to shape our understanding of these vitally important insects.
This talk is hosted by Mann Library. Light refreshments will be served.
Dr. Marc Dionne (Imperial College London) will be on campus to present his talk, "Costs and consequences of peptide-based immunity"
