Boston Flora

Tag: David Lubertazzi

  • Tuesday, April 12, 7:40 pm – Boston Harbor Islands All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory

    The next meeting of the Cambridge Entomological Club will be held on Tuesday April 12 at 7:40 PM in room 101 of the Museum of Comparative Zoology. Please note that the meeting will begin 10 minutes later than usual. Dr. Jessica Rykken will present a talk entitled Boston Harbor Islands All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory: Discovering the Microwilderness of an Urban Island Park.

    The Boston Harbor Islands All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory (ATBI) began five years ago. Its major goals include inventorying and educating the public about arthropod biodiversity in the park. Dr. Rykken, a Harvard based researcher, has played a vital role in coordinating both the inventory and educational efforts. She first addressed the club shortly after the project was underway. Dr. Rykken is now returning to report on what has been discovered from the more than 1700 species and 65,000 specimens the ATBI has captured and cataloged.

    The meeting is free and open to the public. Snacks will be provided and you are also welcome to join us at 6:15 PM for an informal pre-meeting dinner at Harkness Commons, in the law school cafeteria on the second floor. For further information contact CEC President David Lubertazzi at lubertazzi@gmail.com.

  • Tuesday, March 8, 7:40 pm – Evolutionary Origins of Myrmecochory: Clues from Two Continents

    The next meeting of the Cambridge Entomological Club will be held on Tuesday March 8 at 7:40 PM in room 101 of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Oxford Street, Cambridge. Please note that the meeting will begin 10 minutes later than normal. David Lubertazzi will present a talk entitled Evolutionary Origins of Myrmecochory: Clues from Two Continents.  David, who is President of the Club, is a postdoctoral fellow  creating species pages for the Global Ant Project, and has described a Pyramica from Florida.

    Myrmecochory is a mutualism that provides food to ants and seed dispersal benefits to plants. Studies examining these interactions have provided important insights in ant biology, plant biology and a diversity of topics in ecology and evolutionary biology. This talk will present details about the natural history of two ant species that play important roles in dispersing seeds within their native habitats. Common characteristics of these ants will then be shown to form the
    basis for a new hypothesis to explain how myrmecochory first evolved.

    The meeting is free and open to the public. Snacks will be provided and you are also welcome to join us at 6:15 PM for an informal pre-meeting dinner at Harkness Commons, in the law school cafeteria on the second floor. For more information, email David Lubertazzi at lubertazzi@gmail.com.

  • Tuesday, February 8, 7:30 pm – Halictids as a Model of Social Evolution

    The next meeting of the Cambridge Entomological Club will be held on Tuesday February 8 at 7:30 PM in room 101 of the Museum of Comparative Zoology. David Lubertazzi is pleased to announce that our January meeting will feature a talk by Sarah Kocher entitled “Halictids as a Model of Social Evolution.” Sarah is a postdoctoral researcher from Harvard University.

    The development of eusociality is considered to be a major transition in evolutionary history. Even Darwin noted the presence of sterile castes was “a special difficulty that was potentially fatal to the whole theory” of evolution. Previous studies on the evolution of social behavior have focused on species that have fixed social structure; however, because these species no longer exhibit variation in sociality, they provide limited models for discovering the factors that led to the evolution of social behavior. Halictid bees, on the other hand, provide an excellent study system. Different populations of a species can exhibit variation in social behavior that ranges from solitary to social. Dr Kocher will describe her research, which uses molecular and biogeographic approaches, studying the evolution of social behaviors in this remarkable family of bees.

    The meeting is free and open to the public. Snacks will be provided and you are also welcome to join us at 6:15 PM for an informal pre-meeting dinner at Harkness Commons, in the law school cafeteria on the second floor. For more information, contact David Lubertazzi at lubertazzi@gmail.com.

  • Tuesday, January 11, 7:30 pm – Seminal Influences: The Role of Male Ejaculates in Firefly Evolution

    Sometimes you just can’t make this stuff up.  We recently highlighted the Museum of Science’s Firefly Project, and now we receive notification that the Cambridge Entomological Club will hold its next meeting on Tuesday, January 11 at 7:30 pm in Room 101 of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Oxford Street, Cambridge.  Adam South will speak on “Seminal Influences: The Role of Male Ejaculates in Firefly Evolution.” Adam is a PhD candidate from Tufts University, and we’d love to see his Facebook profile.

    Have you ever wondered what is behind the flashing lights of fireflies? Adam South will discuss his fascinating research exploring firefly mating, sexual selection and nuptial gifts. Male fireflies produce and transfer to the female a proteinacous, spirally coiled spermatophore each time they mate. These types of seminal nuptial gifts have been shown to be intimately connected with pre and post copulatory sexual selection in a diverse array of taxa. This presentation will examine spermatophore production from a phylogenetic perspective, including how it is linked to sex specific patterns of evolution and its role in firefly sexual selection.

    The meeting is free and open to the public. Snacks will be provided and you are also welcome to join Club members at 6:15 PM for an informal pre-meeting dinner at Harkness Commons, in the law school cafeteria on the second floor. For more information you may contact David Lubertazzi at lubertazzi@gmail.com.  Photo below by Baird Woods.