R.W. Moriarty Science Seminar Presents: Who Belongs When No One or Everyone Does? Stewarding Novel Ecosystems in the Anthropocene Speaker: Nicole Heller Conserving biodiversity is a scientifically and socially challenging enterprise. This is perhaps especially the case in the early twenty-first century when global environmental changes associated with the Anthropocene are impacting local ecosystems everywhere. […]

R.W. Moriarty Science Seminar Presents: Northward Migration of Umbrella Magnolia via Horticultural Escape Speaker: Jesse Bellemare Due to climate change, many species will need to shift their distributions northward in coming decades; however, slow rates of natural dispersal might be insufficient to keep pace with the high rate of change, resulting in species declines or […]

R.W. Moriarty Science Seminar Presents: Tandem Effects of Changes in Both Climate and Land Use on Body Size Speaker: Amanda Martin Alterations in body size, a fundamental ecological trait, can have profound impacts on an organism’s life history and ecology with long-lasting effects that span multiple biological scales. Increased warming from climate change has led […]

R.W. Moriarty Science Seminar Presents: Every Family Has Its Junk Drawer: Adventures in Noctuidae (Lepidoptera) Systematics Speaker: Kevin Keegan Noctuidae moths are one of the most successful animal lineages on the planet, being abundant in nearly all terrestrial habitats and with over 12,000 species globally—some of which are among the world’s most damaging agricultural pests. […]

R.W. Moriarty Science Seminar Presents: Biogeographic and socioeconomic drivers of global insect invasions Speaker: Andrew Liebhold, US Forest Service, Morgantown, WV Biological invasions are largely an unintended consequence of globalization. With increasing mobility, humans have accidentally transported organisms around the world, breaking the geographical boundaries that separated species ranges that persisted for millions of years […]

R.W. Moriarty Science Seminar Presents: Resilience and adaptation to climate change and environmental shifts in ancient Egypt and Nubia- the 4.2 ka BP and 3.2 ka BP events reconsidered Speakers: Nadine Moeller and Emilie Sarrazin In the history of ancient Egypt, two periods of important societal change have often been linked to major climatic events: […]

R.W. Moriarty Science Seminar Presents: Understanding the Mid-Atlantic Flora...One Specimen at a Time Speakers: Cindy Skema, Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania Plant collections and their archiving in herbaria form a cornerstone in the foundation of plant science studies. We will discuss the why, how, and where of this work, as well as the […]

R.W. Moriarty Science Seminar Presents: Rethinking Plant Heat Tolerances and Photosynthetic Strategies of Tropical Plants Speakers: Timothy Perez Stomata and leaf size thermoregulatory traits, a thermograph of leaves, and a tropical forest. Abstract: As climate changes so too do the compositions of terrestrial plant communities that sequester carbon and mitigate climate change. However, the physiological […]

R.W. Moriarty Science Seminar Presents: The mysterious megaraptorids: giant-clawed meat-eating dinosaurs from the southern continents Speakers: Matt Lamanna, Carnegie Museum of Natural History Articulated antebrachium (forearm) and manus (hand) of eponymous megaraptorid Megaraptor namunhuaiquii. The largest, innermost claw at right is approximately 40 cm (~16 inches) in length. Credit: Wikipedia (raffaele sergi from Pinerolo, Italia - dinosauri […]

R.W. Moriarty Science Seminar Presents: Integrating the living and the dead: how functional traits can improve our understanding of early Cenozoic fern evolution Speaker: Molly Ng, Carnegie Museum of Natural History Abstract:Plants have different economic strategies to grow, survive, and reproduce. In leaves, these strategies are important in producing energy for the entire plant. Leaf mass per […]

R.W. Moriarty Science Seminar Presents: Eavesdropping on wildlife: Realizing the potential of autonomous acoustic surveys for ecology and conservation biology Speaker: Tessa Rhinehart, University of Pittsburgh Abstract:: In an era of rapid global change, it is critically important to understand how anthropogenic actions like habitat disturbance and restoration affect wildlife populations. Ecologists and conservation biologists are increasingly […]

R.W. Moriarty Science Seminar Presents: Dead shells speak: detecting unsuspected ecosystem change without being there Speaker: Susan Kidwell, University of Chicago Abstract:One of the major challenges for environmental management and conservation biology is simply discovering ‘what was natural’ before human impacts. This problem is especially pressing in marine systems, where biological monitoring and other records are brief […]

R.W. Moriarty Science Seminar Presents: Modern mineralogy at the Smithsonian NMNH Speaker: Gabriela Farfan, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History Abstract:The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History is renowned for its National Gem and Mineral Collection that encompasses the American “crown jewels,” such as the Hope Diamond, world class mineral specimens, and hundreds of thousands of reference […]

R.W. Moriarty Science Seminar Presents: Working the Face: Integrative Evolutionary Morphology & Physiology in the Mammalian Face Speaker: Anne Burrows, Duquesne University Abstract:Faces are ubiquitous in the mammalian and general vertebrate clades. However, our understanding of the evolutionary morphology and physiology of the face remains unclear. We have many paleontological pieces of evidence for how the bony […]