Ned Dochtermann | Dochtermann Lab

Abstract:
While behavioral syndromes are frequently argued to represent an optimal outcome of correlated selection, they also have the potential to constrain evolutionary responses. Via intraspecific and interspecific comparisons we attempted to determine whether behavioral variation was distributed in a manner consistent with either (or both) of these explanations. We compared the distribution of genetic variation across four populations of field crickets (Gryllus integer) and for seven behavioral measures. The distribution and orientation of genetic variation was conserved across populations and divergence among populations was constrained to a shared direction in multivariate space. We then compared the distribution of behavioral variation across five species of crickets and identified a strong phylogenetic signal. Combined, these intra- and interspecific comparisons are consistent with behavioral syndromes acting as constraints on evolutionary outcomes. Finally, in a natural population of deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus) we compared the orientation of behavioral variation with the direction of selection acting on the population. We found that the distribution of behavioral variation was inconsistent with our a priori predictions. These three independent results suggest that intuitive adaptive explanations may be insufficient to explain the ubiquity of behavioral syndromes.

Dr. Van Savage

Bio:
I am a Professor in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Biomathematics departments. A major goal of my research is to quantify and understand the possible functions, forms, and interactions of biological systems that result in the extraordinary diversity in nature. I have studied a wide range of areas such as metabolic scaling, consumer-resource interactions, rates of evolution, effects of global warming on ecosystems, tumor growth, and sleep. Complementary to this, I aim to understand how much variation around optima or averages is considered healthy or adaptive versus diseased or disturbed states, which are essentially deviations from normal or sustainable functioning. As I attempt to make progress on these questions, I join together ecology, evolutionary theory, physiology, mathematical modeling, image-analysis software, informatics, and biomedical sciences. Many theories, including some of my work, focus on optimal or average properties, but more recently, I have been working to obtain the large amounts of data necessary to characterize variation in key properties. My new findings about the diversity and variation in form and function are revealing flaws in current models, and I am working to develop new theories that incorporate realistic amounts of natural variation.

Abstract:
The question of which factors contribute to ecosystem and food webs stability is one of the most fundamental and foundational in all of ecology. Here I present findings from a new numerical model that allows us to include or exclude different potential factors, and I interpret these results using a novel method that examines how stability and connectance change with consumer-resource size ratios. In this way we are able to compare our predictions and model with empirically grounded data and known trends. Consequently, we are also able to study how variation in size distributions within food webs overall impact the stability of food webs. These results are followed by a more analytical mathematical treatment of how eigenvalue distributions—directly related to system stability—change depending on the structure of the interaction matrix. As part of this, I review and revisit seminal work by Robert May and Stefano Allesina, and connect with and synthesize some lesser known theorems from linear algebra to illuminate and understand some of the results from our numerical model. Finally, I talk about how this work might be extended to consider the impacts of increasing or fluctuating temperatures due to climate change, and possible directions for enlarging and extending the
mathematical concept of stability to something closer to its ecological meaning.

Dr. Jessica Blois | Blois Lab

BIO:
Dr. Jessica Blois is an Associate Professor in the Department of Life and Environmental Sciences at UC Merced. Her research is particularly focused on examining the relative roles of environmental versus biotic drivers of biodiversity change, in merging data from different kinds of fossil proxies such as mammal bones and plant macrofossils, and in applying perspectives from the past to help conserve biodiversity. Her work combines field work aimed at broadening our samples of fossil and modern mammals, phylogeographic analyses to understand how genetic diversity is structured spatiotemporally, and paleobiogeographic modeling. Dr. Blois’ primary study system is North American mammals from the past 21,000 years, and she also has a strong focus on developing the paleo-informatic infrastructure to enable large-scale science.

Abstract:
Climates today are changing substantially and will continue to do so over the next hundred years and beyond. All of the different elements that comprise Earth’s biosphere—its biodiversity—depend on and respond to Earth’s climate in a variety of ways, and in turn, Earth’s biodiversity modulates the magnitude and trajectory of climate change. Species responses to highly novel climatic (and other anthropogenically-forced) conditions—which may fall outside the range of conditions experienced by species over their histories—will impact the adaptive capacity and evolutionary potential of species and shape future patterns of biodiversity. In this talk, I will present several recent projects illustrating how climate impacts biodiversity. I will focus on ecological processes that structure local populations and communities, and then move towards how we can scale up towards a broader understanding of how ecological processes structure biodiversity patterns across space and time.

Watch the seminar here!

Dr. Tesla Monson | Monson Lab

BIO:
Dr. Tesla Monson is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Western Washington University where she runs the Primate Evolution Lab. Her lab’s research focuses on the evolution of skeletal variation, life history, and reproduction in extant and fossil mammals. Dr. Monson recently published the first methods for reconstructing prenatal growth rates in the fossil record, one of which relies exclusively on teeth. Dr. Monson earned her PhD in Integrative Biology at UC Berkeley (2017), which is where she first became interested in science communication and research. Since then, she has developed and hosted a series of sci-comm projects, ranging from a science talk radio program called The Graduates, to a Twitter series highlighting the influence of women in early Washington State history (Washington Women).

Abstract:
The vertebrate fossil record is comprised almost entirely of the remains of bones and teeth. It is thus a key goal for evolutionary biologists to extract as much information as possible from these anatomical remains through morphological investigation. My research has demonstrated that there are significant phenotypic correlations between many anatomical traits, as well as between craniodental morphology and life history. These correlations both constrain and enable evolution, leading to the morphological diversity and disparity that we see today. In this talk, I will discuss our new research using cranial and dental morphology to reconstruct prenatal growth rates in

the hominid fossil record. Prenatal growth, or how quickly a fetus grows in utero, varies widely across primate species with the highest rate in humans. We recently demonstrated that prenatal growth rates increased throughout the Pleistocene, reaching ‘human-like’ rates just under 1 million years ago, before the evolution of our species. Prenatal growth is also key to healthy pregnancy and delivery. I will end by presenting some of our ongoing and future research investigating prenatal growth, and the evolution of encephalization and body size in primates.

"Fossil teeth reveal how brains developed in utero over millions of years of human evolution-new research"

Watch the seminar here!

Nicholas Teets

Insect species distributions are tightly linked to winter conditions. Surviving winter requires adaptations to cope with low temperatures and limited food resources, and much of our lab’s work focuses on the underlying mechanisms used by insects to survive extreme winter conditions. In this talk, I will primarily discuss our recent work on survival mechanisms of the Antarctic midge, which is the world’s southernmost insect and the only species endemic to Antarctica. This species can survive freezing of its body fluids for up to nine months a year, but it must also cope with considerable spatial and temporal variability in Antarctica’s unpredictable environments. Here, I will summarize how this impressive beast survives internal freezing, as well as the consequences of microhabitat variability and winter climate warming.

Larvae (left) and adults (right) of the Antarctic midge

Fieldwork

 Erin Dolan

Abstract: A graduate student’s relationship with their research advisor is considered to be the single-most influential factor in the quality and outcomes of their graduate training experience. Indeed, effective mentorship by research advisors promotes the development and success of graduate mentees. Yet, mentoring relationships, like any prolonged relationship, can have negative elements. Little research has examined the problematic elements of graduate research mentoring, even though prior research on mentoring in workplace settings suggests that negative mentoring experiences are common. This seminar will present findings from research on the negative mentoring that graduate life science researchers experience, including how their experiences differ from negative mentoring experienced in workplace settings. The session will offer insights on how mentor behaviors may be experienced as harmful or unhelpful and on how mentees and mentors can identify, avoid, and mitigate the impacts of negative mentoring.

Evangeline Ballerini Ballerini Lab

Evangeline Ballerini is an Assistant Professor in Biological Sciences at California State University, Sacramento. Evangeline’s research examines the evolutionary genetics and developmental biology of traits influencing ecological interactions between plants and pollinators with a focus on the genus Aquilegia. Evangeline earned a BA from the Integrative Biology department at the University of California, Berkeley and a PhD from the Organismic and Evolutionary Biology department at Harvard University and conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Georgia and the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Abstract: The genus Aquilegia, commonly known as columbine, represents a classic example of adaptive radiation following the evolution of a key innovation - floral nectar spurs. Nectar spurs, tubular outgrowths of floral tissue that produce and store nectar, are hypothesized to promote speciation through pollinator specialization. Variation in spur morphology, along with other floral features such as color and orientation, allows flowers to adapt to different animal pollinators, contributing to reproductive isolation. I will present work focused on understanding the genetic basis of trait evolution in the genus Aquilegia at multiple evolutionary timescales. To shed light on how nectar spurs evolved in the Aquilegia ancestral lineage, I will highlight studies in which I used a combination of genomic and transcriptomic analyses to identify a key gene regulating nectar spur development. Focusing on more recent evolutionary history, I will discuss work in which I use similar techniques to explore the genetic basis of several floral traits distinguishing closely related Aquilegia species adapted to different animal pollinators and examine the population genetic processes influencing the evolution of these traits important for ecological speciation in the genus.

 Erin Heath

Erin Heath is the Director of Federal Relations at the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world’s largest general scientific society and publisher of the journal Science. The Office of Government Relations provides timely, objective information on science and technology issues to lawmakers, and it assists scientists in understanding and getting involved in the policy process.

Erin leads the federal policy team at AAAS and is heavily involved in efforts to empower scientists and engineers to engage with policymakers, the media and the public. She co-chairs the Coalition for National Science Funding, the Engaging Scientists and Engineers in Policy Coalition, and the steering committee of the Golden Goose Award. She played a key role in the launch of the Center for Scientific Evidence in Public Issues (EPI Center) at AAAS and serves on its internal advisory committee. She is also the inaugural chair of the Governing Board of the Journal of Science Policy and Governance.

Before joining AAAS, Erin worked for the American Institute of Biological Sciences, where she led the organization’s media training and outreach efforts and cut her teeth on science policy. Erin holds a Master of Science with Merit in Public Policy and Administration from the London School of Economics and Political Science. While in London, she served as a research assistant in Parliament. Prior to graduate school, she spent years as a journalist in Washington, most notably as a science policy reporter and columnist for the National Journal. She earned a B.A. in Journalism from the University of Maryland.

In 2017, Erin was awarded the AAAS Champion Award, given to an individual who has "championed" the mission of AAAS with a positive attitude and has inspired and motivated others to embrace and fulfill the AAAS vision.

Dr. Michael Long

Michael Long is the Thomas and Susanne Murphy Professor of Neuroscience at the NYU School of Medicine. He completed his graduate studies with Barry Connors at Brown University where he investigated the role of electrical synapses in the mammalian brain. During his postdoctoral work with Michale Fee at MIT, Long began to study the songbird model system to uncover the cellular and network properties that give rise to learned vocal sequences. Since beginning his laboratory in 2010, Long has focused his attention on the neural circuits underlying skilled movements, often in the service of vocal interactions. To accomplish this, the Long lab has taken a comparative approach, examining relevant mechanisms in the songbird, a newly characterized neotropical rodent, and humans. In addition to federal funding, the Long lab has also received support from NYSCF, the Rita Allen Foundation, the Klingenstein Foundation, and the Herschel-Weill Foundation.

Long Lab

Abstract:  Vocal communication is central to our everyday lives, facilitating social exchange. Despite significant recent discoveries, the neural mechanisms underlying coordinated vocal exchanges remain poorly understood. We examine the brain processes involved in interactive vocal behaviors, focusing on forebrain circuitry in the songbird and the rodent, and we relate these to emerging human studies that employ a range of methods to manipulate and monitor cortical areas relevant for speech.