Despite the COVID pandemic, the research staff and graduate students at the McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity were able to write up past research and to conduct other meaningful scientific exchanges of information.
This unusual time in history, resulted in some very cool studies finally seeing the light of day, as well as fantastic presentations, which are part of the McGuire Center’s “Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research” webinar series.
Below are links to some of the Florida Museum Science Stories and recorded talks from that era:
Lepidoptera-related Museum Science Stories, 2020-2021 academic year:
On preventing insect decline – 12 January, 2021
Hawaii’s oldest moths – 19 March, 2021
Escape mimicry in butterflies – 11 March, 2021
Battle of sexes in butterflies – 3 September, 2021
Disney award for butterfly conservation – 16 July, 2020
Gatorade fuels endangered butterflies – 26 June, 2020
Eyespots in butterflies and moths evolved separately – 6 May, 2020
Butterflies keeping cool – 27 January, 2020
Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research (2020-21 McGuire Center Webinar Series)
Speakers: Krushnamegh Kunte research group, National Center for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru, India. “Evolution and Developmental Genetics of Mimicry in Butterflies.” Click here to watch the Zoom recording.
Speaker: Kathleen Prudic, University of Arizona. “Precision conservation takes flight in butterflies using citizen and data science.” Click here to watch the Zoom recording.
Speaker: Erica Westerman, University of Arkansas. “Why do we like different things? Using butterflies to understand diversity in preferences.” Click here to watch the Zoom recording.
Speaker: Marianne Elias, Institution: Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle. “The puzzle of evolution of transparent wings in aposematic, mimetic butterflies.” Click here to watch the Zoom recording.
Speaker: Jaret Daniels, University of Florida. “Safeguarding Royalty: Efforts to Combat Monarch Population Declines in Florida (and Beyond).” Click here to watch the Zoom recording.
Speaker: Emilie Snell-Rood, University of Minnesota. “Nutritional constraints on brain and life history evolution across butterflies.” Click here to watch the Zoom recording.
Speaker: Fabien Condamine, Institut des Sciences de l’ Evolution de Montpelier, France. “Genome-wide macroevolutionary signatures of key innovations in butterflies colonizing new host plants.” Zoom recording
Speaker: Jeffrey Marcus and Melanie Lalonde, Institution: University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. “The Chronicles of Junonia: Evolutionary travels in space and time in an emerging butterfly model system.” Zoom recording
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. “LABBOR: The Lepidoptera Lab at the University of Campinas, Brazil.” Zoom recording
Speaker: Robert D. Reed and Anyi Mazo-Vargas, Departments of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, and Entomology, Cornell University. “How butterflies make their wing patterns.” Zoom recording
Speaker: Adriana Briscoe,“School of Biological Sciences, University of California, Irvine. “Sizing up the small and the large: Reference genomes for butterflies on the extreme ends of genome size.” Zoom recording
Speaker: Arnaud Martin, Institution: George Washington University. “The genetic basis of color patterning in butterfly wings.” Zoom recording
Speaker: Callum Macgregor, Energy and Environment Institute, University of Hull, Kingston-upon-Hull, UK. “What can butterflies and moths teach us about conserving nature on a warming planet?” Zoom recording