Jake Socha, Virginia Tech. What’s up with flying snakes? Flying snakes are perhaps the world’s most unconventional gliders, turning their body into a wing by changing shape and undulating in the air. In this talk, I’ll discuss our experimental and theoretical efforts to understand the biomechanical features that underly this unique form of flight. Some […]
AJ Jolley, University of Waikato. Affective and Effective STEM Undergraduate Field Experiences Undergraduate field experiences are central to many STEM disciplines. They offer unique ways for students to apply their knowledge to authentic settings and challenge them to construct and synthesize their learning holistically. Historically, much of the field education research has focused on the […]
Dr. Robert Dudley, University of California-Berkeley. The Drunken Monkey: Is Alcoholism in Modern Humans an Evolutionary Hangover? Special SBE Seminar Ethanol derives from the fermentation of simple sugars, and fermentative yeasts are ubiquitous within terrestrial ecosystems. Animals that consume sugar-rich fruits and nectar thus routinely ingest low-level ethanol, although typical concentrations and consumed volumes are […]
Dr. Robert Dudley, University of California-Berkeley. "From gliding ants to Andean hummingbirds: the evolution of animal flight performance." What is the use of half a wing? More generally, how do novel structures and behaviors evolve? Controlled aerial behaviors in ant workers and other insects of the tropical rainforest canopy demonstrate directed gliding in the complete absence […]
Dr. Pete Avis, University of Maine Talk title TBD
SBE Undergraduate Lightning Talks Dylan Applegate (Water striders' turning). Ru McClung (Browntail moth's conifer preferences), Richard Viveiros (Snow springtails' locomotion ), Hunter Praul (Exploring patterns between annuli growth of wood turtles {Glyptemys insculpta} and past weather conditions), Grace Hodgkin, and Marcus Russano
Dr. Emma Perry, University of Maine Tardigrades are everywhere! Tardigrades, aka “waterbears,” are a little-studied phylum, although they are widespread. They are members of the understudied meiofaunal ecosystem. I will share my progress in discovering the biodiversity of the tardigrades around us and some new species I have described along the way. Emma Perry is […]
