This talk investigates the use of phylogeny and climate history to model reactions of species to climate change and explores community functional trait-environment relationships to measure ecosystem transitions. Fundamental understanding of how species and communities react to climate change should be supported by our understanding of the past. This is especially important today, because modern reactions are exacerbated by anthropogenic pressures including human population growth, habitat destruction and fragmentation, and intensifying land use.

Dr. Jeff Riffell

My laboratory’s long-term goal is to understand how environmental signals shape somatosensory neuron (SSN) structure and function. SSNs shape our experience of the world, allowing for perception and discrimination of pain, touch, pressure, and movement, and are a focal point of a growing human health crisis. Nearly twenty million Americans suffer from peripheral neuropathies, and one in three individuals in the U.S. will suffer from chronic pain.

Name: Dr. Gabriella Wolff
Lab: Riffell Lab

Title: Neuromodulation and Differential Learning Across Mosquito Species