Tuesday, March 11th
Beyond Sustainable: Floral Resources for Insects on Martha’s Vineyard Farms
Matt Pelikan
Growing out of an ongoing effort to promote sustainable agriculture on Martha’s Vineyard, this three-year pilot project examined the flower-visiting invertebrate community on farms and developed species priorities and cultural methods for plantings aimed at promoting insect diversity. This presentation will summarize the study methods used and the findings that emerged from test plantings and intensive monitoring on eight widely varying farms spread across the Bay State’s largest island.
Tuesday, February 11th
Can termites inform us on general group conflict?
Liz Clifton
University of New Hampshire
My PhD began as a Masters project testing models of human warfare in tropical termites. I evaluated Lanchester’s Laws, which focus on group size and group fighting ability to determine the winner of a battle, by creating conflict between termite groups of various sizes and abilities. From that work, I expanded my studies to include an assessment of the evolution of defense in termites, from the architecture of their nests to the physical forms of “weapons” in termite soldiers. In this talk, I will share my fascination with termite “warfare” and how it may relate to the larger ideas of phenological and behavioral evolution.
