How landscape change has shaped patterns of diversity on Earth is a central question in Biology. In Plant Systematics, a great volume of research on this problem has centered on how major geological events shaped the evolution of the Neotropical flora (the world’s richest flora). In this talk, I will show how I rely on natural history observations as a powerful tool for identifying plant groups whose biology make them ideal model systems for approaching long-standing questions from unexplored angles.

Molluscs are familiar invertebrates, from the humble garden slug, to the colorful shells picked up on the beach, to the mercurial shell-less octopus. Being one of the largest, most diverse, and beautiful groups of marine animals, molluscs have been cultivated by humans for centuries for the valuable materials they make (think pearls) and for the nutritious food they provide (menu items such as pulpo, escargot, moules).

Complex biological systems can be described by any one of a number of features, including the tools used to deconstruct interactions between the parcels, actors, and forces that compose these systems. In addition, they are defined by a growing understanding of how context shapes these interactions, and by extension, the behavior of biological systems. In this seminar, I will highlight these aspects of complex biological systems using several different model problems: protein evolution, genomic prediction, and the interaction between pandemics and the criminal legal system.

Historical biogeography increasingly depends on probabilistic phylogenetic models to reconstruct where ancestral species once lived. Standard approaches, however, rely almost solely on information about the present to reconstruct the past. More complex phylogenetic models that integrate paleogeographical, paleoenvironmental, and paleontological data promise to improve historical evolutionary inferences.

Sensing in Flight: Neural encoding and wing structure interact to shape sensory information
By: Dr. Alison Weber (Daniel & Brunton Lab)

A race to identify the genes that support neutrophil cell migration
By: Dr. Nathan Belliveau (Theriot Lab)

Disentangling mechanisms of Miocene vegetation change
By: Dr. Christopher Schiller (Stromberg Lab)