North to Alaska: from NextGen sequencing to Citizen Science aiming to understand the subarctic and Arctic biodiversity
Scientists estimate that there are over 7.5 million species of plants and animals that have yet to be discovered and described. But in a world where extinction may outpace discovery, and global changes are occurring at a faster rate in Arctic and subarctic regions, like Alaska, how can citizen scientists get involved? Join me as I share how residents in Alaska helped me discover and describe a new species of snakeworm gnat (Diptera) and how I used DNA barcoding (nanopore sequencing technology) to find 50 new species of Phoridae (Diptera).
Moths in Places: The Complex and Fascinating Relationships of Lepidoptera and Landscapes
Sarah Dendy
or my research, I have spent the past three years collecting moths at various sites in New England. Moths are closely associated with specific habitat features, including abundance of their larval host plant. I wanted to see whether different assemblages of moths would tell me about the characteristics of the surrounding landscape. This presentation will reflect on the progress of this work, including some built intuition about these animals and the landscape features I believe to be significant to their success. I include a brief introduction to several of the important and charismatic families of moths that can be found in and around Cambridge, as well as some larger ideas about local ecosystems and conservation futures.
