On Sunday, October 11, the MSNH returned after a long hiatus. To keep our participants and presenters safe but our community of naturalists engaged, we decided to resume hosting events online (via Zoom) until it is once again safe to host in-person events. Our first event in this format was the Online Natural History Symposium, where we got to learn about a variety of topics in biology, including sunflower tracking, bird diversity in montane regions in Africa, and fish anti-predatory behavior with Drs. Benjamin Blackman (University of California, Berkeley), Elise Morton (Fairleigh Dickinson University) and Bronwyn Bleakley (Stonehill College). Each talk lasted 25 minutes and participants were able to ask questions at the end. Despite not being able to meet in-person, we had 40 participants, more than what we normally can accommodate for in-person events, and our participants logged in from across the globe, including NYC, California and other parts of the world. The presentations were also recorded for anyone who missed it or wanted to watch it again!
To watch the recording and view the transcript, please visit our gallery.
PRESENTATION SUMMARIES
Nature’s metronome: The biology of solar tracking by sunflowers
Benjamin Blackman, Associate Professor of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley
Although sunflowers are named for how their stems bend to track the sun and we have known about this daily growth rhythm for centuries, this iconic phenomenon has actually received only limited scientific study. In my talk, I will discuss what our recent research has revealed about how and why sunflower stems track the sun.
Long-term diversity dynamics of an Afromontane tropical forest bird community
Dr. Elise Morton, Assistant Professor Fairleigh Dickinson University, NJ
This presentation will focus on the long-term patterns of avian diversity in the tropical montane forests of the Albertine Rift of East Africa. This region is incredibly important biologically, providing habitat for over 50% of Africa’s bird species, many of which are endemic, endangered and/or threatened. These high levels of diversity and endemism can be attributed to the steep elevational gradient characteristic of the area, as these correspond to a variety of other environmental gradients (e.g., temperature and precipitation) upon which biological communities are structured. However, the species in this region are under threat due to changing climate and high levels of human disturbance driven by high population density and inequality. As such, this talk will also touch on the conflict and intersection between human needs and natural resource conservation in this region.
The company you keep matters - Social patterns influence cooperative antipredatory behavior in Trinidadian guppies
Dr. Bronwyn Bleakley, Associate Professor and Biology Chair, Stonehill College, MA
Trinidadian guppies, Poecilia reticulata, perform a suite of cooperative antipredator behavior in response to large predatory fish. How well they cooperate to share the risk depends on many factors, including the specific social partners with whom they interact and their own physiology and experience. In guppies, the company you keep matters.
Dr. Benjamin Blackman is an associate professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Current research in the Blackman Lab focuses on how plants respond to predictable seasonal and daily fluctuations in the environment and how these responses evolve during adaptation and domestication. Dr. Blackman received his Ph.D. at Indiana University, Bloomington in 2009, completed a postdoc at Duke University, and moved from the University of Virginia to join the faculty at the University of California at Berkeley in 2016. In 2017, he was honored with the Botanical Society of America’s Emerging Leader Award.
Dr. Elise Morton is an assistant professor in the Biological Sciences Department at Fairleigh Dickinson in NJ. Her research is broadly focused on avian ecology and conservation, particularly in the montane tropical forests of East Africa. Her career path has been unusually sinuous, first receiving her Ph.D. in Biology from Indiana University where her research was centered on the population dynamics of bacterial plasmids. However, during her postdoc at the University of Minnesota, Elise became heavily involved with volunteer work with the Audubon Chapter of Minneapolis, advocating for bird-friendly building design. This motivated her to combine her intellectual interests with her passion for wildlife conservation and pursue a second degree in Wildlife Conservation and Ecology at the University of Florida, where she began her work on birds.
Dr. Bronwyn Bleakley earned a BS in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Arizona and a Ph.D. in Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior with a Professional Area Certificate in Animal Behavior and a minor in College Teaching from Indiana University, where she investigated the evolutionary genetics of cooperative antipredator behavior in guppies. She completed a National Science Foundation International Research Fellowship split between the Centre for Ecology and Conservation at the University of Exeter, Cornwall and Northern Arizona University studying cannibalism in an endangered isopod. She is now an associate professor and chairperson of the biology department at Stonehill College, a predominantly undergraduate institution in southeastern Massachusetts, where she continues to investigate the evolution, genetics, and physiology of social behavior with undergraduate researchers.