Professor Kaishian urges fungal conservation
In a new paper in The Conversation, Professor Patty Kaishian, Visiting Assistant Professor of Biology, and her colleagues argue that the conservation of fungi is critical. Fungi, they argue, are poorly studied -- scientists have identified only ~150,000 of an estimated 2-4 million fungal species. And yet we know that fungi play crucial roles in ecosystems, functions that humans have put to use in the making of many of our favorite foods, including beer, wine, and soy sauce, as well as the manufacture of important medicines like penicillin. Mycologists -- scientists who study fungi -- want these important creatures included in biodiversity targets to be set later this year in China.
Alumni return for grad panel
Three recent Bard biology alumni joined us for a panel discussion on careers. Sacha Medjo-Akono '21 works as an educator at the New York Aquarium. Quanita Kendrick '17 works for the US Army Corps of Engineers on environmental justice initiatives. Biz Osborne-Schwartz is an outdoor educator and teacher in the western US, leading trips for students of all ages. The three gave students advice about particularly useful experiences they had at Bard -- teaching, tutoring, working with groups of people outside of the classroom, such as through being a peer counselor. The three encouraged students to keep trying new things, and to be open to the possibilities in front of them, because each new experience can have unexpected benefits later on.
Plant Ecology: Bard students install pollinator gardens with 2nd graders
Students in Professor Cathy Collins' Plant Ecology course installed pollinator gardens with 2nd graders from Edson Elementary school in Kingston. Bard students researched native plant species that are pollinated by different species and that flower at different times of year. From this list, each class at Edson selected 6-10 plant species based on which pollinators they wanted to attract. Bard students visited Edson two times. The first time they played a game to teach kids about traits of flowers that attract certain pollinators. The second visit they taught the kids about plant life cycles and sowed the seeds into the garden. The 2nd grade teachers assigned work to their students related to the project, and with the school librarian, students pay regular visits to the gardens to collect data!
Spring 2022 Seminar Schedule
The Spring 2022 biology seminar series schedule:
- 2/3 Introduction and orientation
- 2/10 Sarah Batterman; Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies. Resolving symbiotic nitrogen fixation in tropical forests.
- 2/17 Patty Kaishian; Bard College. Mycologia obscura; the hidden and layered realms of fungal diversity.
- 2/24 Nathalie Oulen; Brown University. Quiesence in primordial germ cells.
- 3/3 Zuri Sullivan; Harvard University. Immunological control of physiology and behavior.
- 3/10 Souvik Mandal; Harvard University. The evolution of behavior science through integrating modern computation.
- 3/17 Raj Pandya; AGU Thriving Earth Exchange. Community Science: why and how?
- 3/31 Nemati Nadah; University of Pittsburgh. How lived experience shapes the neurobiology of sleep.
- 4/7 Chris Hawn; University of Maryland, Baltimore. Spidey Senser: using spider webs as air sensors.
- 4/14 Julian Resasco; University of Colorado, Boulder. Revisiting Clements: Community Ecology of Pikes Peak.
- 4/28 Beate Liepert; Bard College. The study of sunlight in the context of Earth's climate system.
- 5/5 Bard Biology Senior Project Students (TBA)
Alumni panel on graduate school
Four Bard biology alumni joined current Bard biology students for a panel discussion on graduate school options. Kelsey O'Brien '17 is a graduate student in cell and molecular biology at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School. Liz Miller '17 is a Ph.D. student in oceanography at the University of Hawaii. Adenike Akapo '13 is a third-year dental student at New York University. Lizzy Elliot '18 is a first-year Master's student in ecology at the College of William and Mary. The four gave students advice about choosing programs of study, applying to graduate school, finding funding, and staying open to new possibilities, including unexpected opportunities in unexpected places. Common themes for current students included valuing the skills they learned about writing and giving presentations, and recognizing that you don't have to know immediately what you want to do to be successful.
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).
