RW Moriarty Science Seminars

R.W. Moriarty Science Seminar Presents: “Follow Your Nose: How birds use scent to find mates, assess rivals, and recognize relatives”

Speaker: Danielle Whittaker, Oregon State University.

This event will take place online Monday, February 13 at Noon.

Abstract: Smell has been called the most ancient sense, and songbirds are no exception in their use of it. Behavioral, genomic, and neurobiological work has demonstrated that birds can use smell to navigate, find food, avoid predators, and even communicate with each other. The primary source of odors in most birds is preen oil, secreted by the uropygial gland and used by birds in grooming and maintaining their feathers. The compounds that make up these odors provide important information about a bird’s identity, health, breeding status, aggressiveness, and more. Interestingly, these compounds appear to be produced by symbiotic microbes that inhabit the uropygial gland. In this talk, Dr. Whittaker will share over a decade of her research on dark-eyed juncos (Junco hyemalis), a widespread North American sparrow, investigating how these odors are produced, what they communicate, and how they relate to behavior.

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R.W. Moriarty Science Seminar Presents: “Ceratopsian Dinosaurs in the 21st Century: Lifestyles of the Horned and Hornless”

Speaker: Eric Morschhauser, Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

This event will take place Monday, January 9 at Noon both online and at Earth Theater.

Abstract: Ceratopsians, the horned dinosaurs, were first discovered in the late 19th Century and have been among the most popular and widely known dinosaurs ever since. For much of that time most known species shared a familiar and iconic body plan seen in things like Triceratops, large, rhinoceros-like quadrupedal herbivores with horns and elaborate head frills. But the number of known ceratopsian species has more than tripled in the last 25 years. Those new species are much more varied than previously suspected. Slightly less than half of all known ceratopsians species are smaller than deer, and most of those lack horns entirely. Once known from only the end of the Cretaceous in North America, ceratopsian dinosaurs now have a 100-million-year history on perhaps three continents.

Studies of ceratopsians, both horned and hornless, span important questions in 21st Century paleontology. They can help us understand the timing of interconnections and movements between continents as they radiated and spread across the Earth. They can help us look at the tempo and mode of evolution. They are even being used to examine the question of what it means to be a distinct species of dinosaur.

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R.W. Moriarty Science Seminar Presents: “The Unnatural History of Cartoon Insects”

Speaker: Jay Hosler, Juniata College

This event will take place Monday, December 19 at Noon both online and at Earth Theater.

Abstract: Science, art, and story are core components of human creativity. When we try to separate them with artificial disciplinary boundaries, we weaken our ability to imagine and understand the world. Comic stories about science bring all three elements together in a medium where they can mix and amplify each other. Dr. Hosler uses comics to tell stories about insects. Insects provide a dizzying array of weird and wonderful life histories that are perfect for a visual medium like comics. Stories that feature engaging and visually interesting insect characters can help readers connect personally with these amazing aliens underfoot and forge a richer understanding of the natural world and why we should protect it.

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R.W. Moriarty Science Seminar Presents: “Biodiversity collapse and the future of the Eastern Deciduous Forest Biome of North America”

Speaker: Walter Carson, University of Pittsburgh

This event will take place Monday, December 5 at Noon both online and at Earth Theater.

Abstract: Throughout the Eastern Deciduous Forest Biome of North America, a near century of over-browsing by white-tailed deer has greatly reduced the biodiversity and abundance of native plant species causing the formation of impoverished forest communities. The recovery of these communities, even if deer populations are reduced substantially, is unlikely for numerous reasons. Moreover, understory fires, that used to occur frequently, have been suppressed for decades, leading to forests where saplings of oaks often fail to regenerate. In this talk, Dr. Carson will take a long-term experimental approach to tease out the key processes that underlie patterns of forest regeneration in the eastern United States. He will also urge forest biologists to focus more attention on understory herbs and shrubs, which account for more than 90% of the flora in the eastern U.S.

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R.W. Moriarty Science Seminar Presents: “How to Make a Coffin in Ancient Egypt”

Speaker: Kea Johnston, University of California, Berkeley

This event will take place Monday, November 7 at Noon both online and at Earth Theater.

Abstract: To wealthy ancient Egyptians of the First Millennium BCE, a coffin was the most important element of their burial. The coffin acted symbolically as a microcosm of the universe as the Egyptians understood it, and as a womb where the deceased would be protected until they could be reborn into the next world. We often think of coffins in terms of their original owners–those whose bodies they housed and whose social identity they communicated–but each coffin was also the product of a production process involving multiple specialists using rare materials and sophisticated techniques.

Focusing on the coffin of a man named Na-tjau-khonsu-rudj in the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, this talk explores how an Egyptian coffin was produced: from intricate carpentry to vignettes and texts drawn by scribes on a deadline. We know little about Na-tjau-khonsu-rudj–his remains may never have been buried in this coffin. Nonetheless, this coffin tells an important story about the people who made it nearly 2500 years ago.

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R.W. Moriarty Science Seminar Presents: “LOCUS TYPICUS: ASIA MINOR, Journeys in Turkey to Locate Type Localities of Land Snails”

Speaker: Aydin Örstan, Carnegie Museum of Natural History

This event will take place Monday, November 21 at Noon both online and at Earth Theater.

Abstract: Turkey (Türkiye) has a rich land snail fauna with many endemic species. A number of endemics, some dating from the late 18^th century and some from a few decades ago, were described from obscure places. The location from where a species was first described, its type locality, is a significant piece of information in the identity of the species. Ongoing discoveries of new species and taxonomic revisions make it necessary to determine the type localities of older species. This is especially urgent in the face of continuing habitat loss. Relocating of type localities is a challenging and rewarding activity often requiring input from geographical and historical sources and ultimately necessitating confirmation from field trips, sometimes to remote places. Some of the type localities we have searched for and located are those of Isaurica lycia, a large snail common in southwestern Turkey, and several Albinaria species. A noteworthy destination during our travels was the small village of Üçağız at the Mediterranean coast. Üçağız was the type locality of five species the German malacologist Johannes Roth described in 1839 and is also close to the type localities of three more recently described species.

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