Fall 2021 seminar schedule
The Fall 2021 biology seminar series schedule:
- 9/2 Introduction and orientation
- 9/9 Juliet Morrison; UC Riverside. A role for pleural macrophages in influenza resolution.
- 9/16 Kat Anderson; Bard College. Marine climate change ecology: How trying to predict the future helps us understand the world today.
- 9/23 Nsikan Akpan; NY Public Radio What is science journalism…and can it save us from ourselves?
- 9/30 Danica Miller; University of Washington Tacoma. Self-determination and indigenous health.
- 10/7 Jane Lucas; Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies. Soil health in the age of antibiotics.
- 10/14 Shannon LaDeau; Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies. Vector-borne disease risk in cities influenced by social and ecological legacies of (dis)investment.
- 10/21 Chris Golden; Harvard University School of Public Health. The importance of wildlife declines to global food security.
- 11/4 Felicia Keesing; Bard College. How to plan a meaningful summer.
New faculty member
We are happy to report that Dr. Patricia Kaishian has joined our program as Visiting Assistant Professor of Biology. Dr. Kaishian is a mycologist focused on taxonomy, biodiversity, and ecology of fungi, with a particular focus on lesser known groups such as the order Laboulbeniales and other species rich microfungal groups. Her current research is focused on new species discovery and exploring the potential use of certain fungi as indicators of environmental health. Dr. Kaishian is broadly trained in the taxonomy of macro and micro fungi, having conducted numerous mycological inventories in biodiversity hotspots around the world. She received her PhD Mycology from SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry, and subsequently served as a postdoctoral researcher and fungal curator in the Aime Lab at Purdue University. Dr. Kaishian is a founding member of the International Congress of Armenian Mycologists, a research organization composed of ethnically Armenian mycologists who seek to simultaneously advance mycological science and Armenian sovereignty and liberation. Dr. Kaishian’s website
A new paper from the Keesing Lab
A new review paper from Felicia Keesing explores how diversity can affect pathogen transmission. For many diseases of plants and animals, including humans, the presence of low-quality hosts reduces the overall transmission of disease-causing pathogens. People have used these “dilution effects” to manage diseases for over a century. Recent evidence demonstrates that dilution effects also occur naturally, protecting us from greater risk of being exposed to infectious diseases. When biodiversity declines, these natural dilution effects disappear, providing a powerful link between the conservation of biodiversity and the health of humans, wildlife, and plants. Publication info: Keesing, F., & Ostfeld, R. S. (2021). Dilution effects in disease ecology. Ecology Letters. PDF
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New faculty member
We are happy to welcome Dr. Rob Todd as a Visiting Assistant Professor at Bard Biology. Dr. Todd is a microbiologist, educator, and avid proponent of science outreach. Rob obtained his B.S. in Biology from Iowa State University and a M.S. in Integrated Biology from the University of Iowa. He earned his Ph.D. in Medical Microbiology and Immunology from Creighton University in 2020 and went on to complete a postdoctoral position at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities campus. His research focuses on genome instability and adaptation in the human fungal pathogen Candida albicans, and he is generally interested in how organisms adapt to both acute and chronic environmental stresses. He is also keenly interested in developing curricula and outreach opportunities that increase (and support) diversity and representation in science. Rob has worked as a Citizen Science faculty member at Bard since 2020 and is beyond thrilled to continue working with all the talented and passionate students, staff, and faculty at Bard.
Professor Dueker on citizen science and environmental justice
Citizen science has seen a boon in participation by people motivated by the loss of environmental protections and the impacts of Covid-19 on data collection and justice.
“There isn’t enough environmental monitoring to begin with, and it will only decrease,” said Eli Dueker, a professor of environmental and urban studies at Bard College. “So what we end up with is community scientists often working with research scientists to fill that gap. And that can be really effective because it allows communities to know the pollution hot spots with both air and water.” FULL TEXT |
Devin Fraleigh '18, Jackson Barratt Heitmann '18, and Bruce Robertson publish paper on evolutionary traps
Biology alums Devin Fraleigh '18 and Jackson Barratt Heitmann '18 have joined Professor Bruce Robertson to publish the results of their research in the journal Animal Behavior.
“When animals are misguided by evolved behavioral cues to preferentially make mistakes, they are caught in an evolutionary trap,” write Associate Professor of Biology Bruce Robertson, Devin C. Fraleigh ’18, and Jackson Barratt Heitmann ’18 in a newly published scientific paper. “Aquatic insects rely heavily on polarized light cues to locate bodies of water necessary for laying eggs and mating. However, where artificial objects (e.g. asphalt, buildings) are at least as effective at polarizing light as natural water bodies, aquatic insects may instead prefer to lay eggs on those surfaces where their eggs fail to hatch.”
Published in Animal Behavior, their paper surveyed natural and artificial environment to understand the properties of objects that can polarize natural and artificial sources of UV light. They conducted a field experiment to test the importance of UV polarized light in guiding habitat selection behavior in six families of aquatic insects. The results highlight a quantitatively new type of ecological light pollution capable of creating evolutionary traps for insects at night, or even during the day.
Read the full study here: Fraleigh, Devin C., Jackson, Barratt Heitmann, and Bruce A. Robertson. "Ultraviolet polarized light pollution and evolutionary traps for aquatic insects." Animal Behaviour (2021).
“When animals are misguided by evolved behavioral cues to preferentially make mistakes, they are caught in an evolutionary trap,” write Associate Professor of Biology Bruce Robertson, Devin C. Fraleigh ’18, and Jackson Barratt Heitmann ’18 in a newly published scientific paper. “Aquatic insects rely heavily on polarized light cues to locate bodies of water necessary for laying eggs and mating. However, where artificial objects (e.g. asphalt, buildings) are at least as effective at polarizing light as natural water bodies, aquatic insects may instead prefer to lay eggs on those surfaces where their eggs fail to hatch.”
Published in Animal Behavior, their paper surveyed natural and artificial environment to understand the properties of objects that can polarize natural and artificial sources of UV light. They conducted a field experiment to test the importance of UV polarized light in guiding habitat selection behavior in six families of aquatic insects. The results highlight a quantitatively new type of ecological light pollution capable of creating evolutionary traps for insects at night, or even during the day.
Read the full study here: Fraleigh, Devin C., Jackson, Barratt Heitmann, and Bruce A. Robertson. "Ultraviolet polarized light pollution and evolutionary traps for aquatic insects." Animal Behaviour (2021).
