An Evening with Biodiversity Researchers

Join us on April 16th to learn about biodiversity from Stengl-Wyer Scholars and Fellows!

Participating Stengl-Wyer Scholars and Fellows:

Korin Jones is a Stengl-Wyer postdoc working in the lab of Nancy Moran. He is broadly interested in microbiome assembly, host-microbe, and microbe-microbe interactions. The communities of bacteria that associate with animals, often referred to as the microbiome, are often beneficial for their animal hosts. Honeybees, which are deeply tied to our agricultural systems, have developed a small, but consistent microbiome that has similar bacteria regardless of geographic location. In honeybees, the bacteria living within the gut aids hosts in obtaining nutrients, detoxifying poisonous plant compounds, and fighting off diseases.

Rebecca Clemons is a graduate student studying the evolution of immunity in amphibians and understanding how amphibian immune systems respond to pathogens.  Rebecca will be running the amphibian disease activity. This activity explores how frogs face tradeoffs between being able to resist disease and being able to reproduce, including how diversity within frog populations is important.

Julia Schap is a Stengl-Wyer postdoc who studies the responses of small mammal (rodent and rabbit) communities to changes in climate. Julia will be discussing how we can use the modern relationship between physical traits of species and climate to estimate climate in the fossil record as well as predict which communities may be threatened to future climate and human land use changes.

Guillaume Dury is a Stengl-Wyer postdoctoral researcher, and his research aims at understanding why tropical insects eat the trees they eat and not other trees based on chemical defenses. Guillaume will have preserved Texas insects to show and will be happy to answer your questions about insects and arthropods.

Dale Forrister is a Stengl-Wyer postdoc who studies how plants use chemical toxins to defend themselves from insect herbivores and fungal pathogens. Dale will talk about how plants are chemical factories producing hundreds and even thousands of secondary metabolites, discussing how humans have used plants’ metabolic potential as sources of therapeutic drugs since time immemorial.

Schedule

• 6:00 pm: Table Activities
• 7:00 pm – 7:45 pm: Guided tour of the Brackenridge Field Laboratory (sturdy shoes and water recommended!)
• 8:00 pm: Presentations by SW Scholars & Fellows!

📍 Location: Brackenridge Field Laboratory, 2907 Lake Austin Blvd, Austin, Texas 78703
💡 No RSVP is required – just show up and enjoy!
🅿️ Free parking is available at BFL for all lecture events!
🌦️ While we aim to host all events outdoors, sometimes weather conditions or volunteer capacity may require that we move the event inside the laboratory building.

Follow us on our Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, or email us to stay updated on event-specific details. We look forward to seeing you at our events! ✨

Rare plants around the world

Plants are fascinating creatures that, compared to animals, cannot move around (sessile). Along with the surrounding environment and the fact that they cannot move, plants have develope bizarre and specialised mechanisms that have allow them to establish and persist through time in most environments around the globe. During this talk, we will do a virtual trip around the world to learn about some of these different unusual adaptations that make some of these plants very unique. Understanding these adaptations not only deepens our appreciation for plants and these species but also can helps us guide some conservation efforts. After all, we cannot save what we do not know.

Zarluis Mijango Ramos is a 5th year PhD student at UT Austin. Broadly, his research entails the study of ecological and evolutionary chemical interactions using the Juglandaceae plant family (Walnuts), which includes the chemical community effect of a monodominant (O. mexicanna) species on subordinates species in western Panama, and the effect of climatic variables on the chemical evolution and intraspecific chemical variation. He is from Panama where he did his bachelors in tropical Botany and got a MS from the Plant Biology department at UIUC. Outside of research, Zarluis enjoys watching sports, spending time with his cats and foster dogs (if he has) at home and loves cycling and cooking.

Lecture Schedule

• 7:00 pm: Kid’s activities and natural history displays
• 7:15 pm – 7:45 pm: Guided tour of the Brackenridge Field Laboratory (sturdy shoes and water recommended!)
• 8:00 pm: The talk begins!
• 8:45 pm: Q&A with the speaker

📍 Location: Brackenridge Field Laboratory, 2907 Lake Austin Blvd, Austin, Texas 78703
💡 No RSVP is required – just show up and enjoy!
🅿️ Free parking is available at BFL for all lecture events!
🌦️ While we aim to host all events outdoors, sometimes weather conditions or volunteer capacity may require that we move the event inside the laboratory building.

Follow us on our Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, or email us to stay updated on event-specific details. We look forward to seeing you at our events! ✨

The “Evolution” of Evolution: How the theory of evolution has changed over time

From flying bugs to swimming whales, from microscopic bacteria to giant redwood trees, evolution has shaped every aspect of the living world around us. But what does evolution actually “mean”, and how does it work? The famous work of Darwin and Mendel laid the foundation, and plenty of more modern ideas have contributed to how we think about evolution. In this talk, Matt will describe how our thinking about evolutionary theory has changed, and how scientists are continuing to learn more about this all-important force of nature and protect the state’s remarkable biodiversity as conditions continue to change.

Matt Ming is a 5th year PhD candidate in the Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior program at UT. Matt is broadly interested in population genetics and evolution, and is currently investigating how selection may differ between males and females. Outside of research, he enjoys watching movies, rock climbing, and playing chess.

This month Science Under the Stars is collaborating with the Texas Science Festival! Swag will be provided during the event. For more information on Texas Science Festival visit here.

Lecture Schedule

• 7:00 pm: Kid’s activities and natural history displays
• 7:15 pm – 7:45 pm: Guided tour of the Brackenridge Field Laboratory (sturdy shoes and water recommended!)
• 8:00 pm: The talk begins!
• 8:45 pm: Q&A with the speaker

📍 Location: Brackenridge Field Laboratory, 2907 Lake Austin Blvd, Austin, Texas 78703
💡 No RSVP is required – just show up and enjoy!
🅿️ Free parking is available at BFL for all lecture events!
🌦️ While we aim to host all events outdoors, sometimes weather conditions or volunteer capacity may require that we move the event inside the laboratory building.

Follow us on our Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, or email us to stay updated on event-specific details. We look forward to seeing you at our events! ✨

Changing Birds in a Changing Texas: How birds respond to human-driven environmental change

Texas is a BIG state facing a number of BIG environmental changes. Rising temperatures, shifting rainfall patterns, and human development are reshaping ecosystems that plants and animals depend on. Birds respond quickly to environmental change, making them important indicators of human impacts. On January 15th, we’ll explore how different species in Texas are adapting, declining, or shifting their ranges, and what those responses might tell us about the future. Understanding these patterns helps us protect the state’s remarkable biodiversity as conditions continue to change.

Brian Stokes is a PhD student at the University of Texas at Austin who studies how birds across Texas and North America are responding to a rapidly changing world. He investigates how species adapt or struggle as their habitats warm and shift. Brian uses everything from community science observations on apps like eBird and iNaturalist to genomic tools to understand how birds are coping, from big range changes to tiny DNA-level adjustments. One of his current projects focuses on the Green Jay, a vibrant tropical bird expanding its range northward into Texas.

Lecture Schedule

• 7:00 pm: Kid’s activities and natural history displays
• 7:15 pm – 7:45 pm: Guided tour of the Brackenridge Field Laboratory (sturdy shoes and water recommended!)
• 8:00 pm: The talk begins!
• 8:45 pm: Q&A with the speaker

📍 Location: Brackenridge Field Laboratory, 2907 Lake Austin Blvd, Austin, Texas 78703
💡 No RSVP is required – just show up and enjoy!
🅿️ Free parking is available at BFL for all lecture events!
🌦️ While we aim to host all events outdoors, sometimes weather conditions or volunteer capacity may require that we move the event inside the laboratory building.

Follow us on our Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, or email us to stay updated on event-specific details. We look forward to seeing you at our events! ✨