Charles Darwin Biology Seminar Series 2008-09
Department of Biological Sciences
Florida International University
 

Unless otherwise noted, seminars are on Tuesday afternoons at 3:45 p.m. in the Wertheim Conservatory (WC 130) at the University Park campus.  Light refreshments are served beginning at 3:30 p.m.  Please follow the hyperlinks (underlined), when available, for additional information.

The Department of Biological Sciences is grateful for financial support for enhancement of several seminars from the FIU University Graduate School and the Office of the Dean, FIU College of Arts & Sciences.  These special seminars are indicated by the following symbol:  ►

The Dept. of Biological Sciences is also grateful for financial support from the Stanley J. Glaser Professorship in Biology Endowment for the visit of Dr. Andy Sih during the week of January 26-30, 2009.

Date

Speaker

Title

August 26, 2008 Leung Kim, Dept. of Biological Sciences, FIU Mechanisms of eukaryotic cell differentiation and cell movement
September 2 Steve Wathen, Dept. of Biological Sciences, FIU
(Host: Jennifer Richards)
Another inconvenient truth: 2,000+ years of abrupt climate change in the Sierra Nevada
September 16 David Lee, Dept. of Biological Sciences, FIU FIU's Biscayne Bay Campus: Its Environmental History and Future
September 23 Joseph Parkos, Dept. of Biological Sciences, FIU
(Host: Joel Trexler)
The role of parental behavior and ontogenetic diet shifts in the recruitment variation of an aquatic predator
September 30 Tim Collins, Dept. of Biological Sciences, FIU Using phylogenies and building confidence in phylogenies
October 21 Patrick Griffith, Executive Director, Montgomery Botanical Center, Coral Gables, FL
(Host: Suzanne Koptur)
Collections-based research: Insights into evolution, conservation, and comparative biology from botanic gardens
October 28 Jessica Schedlbauer, Dept. of Biological Sciences, FIU
(Host: Steve Oberbauer)
Environmental service payments in a Costa Rican biological corridor: Consequences for forest retention and recruitment
November 4 Akira Chiba, Dept. of Biology, University of Miami
(Host: Lidia Kos)
The beginning of dendrite and the beginning of synapse
November 11 No seminar (Veterans Day)  
November 18 Carolina Barillas-Mury,  National Institutes of Health, Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research, Rockville, MD
(Host: Fernando Noriega)
Anopheles gambiae immune responses that determine susceptibility to Plasmodium infection
November 25 No seminar (week of Thanksgiving)  
December 2 Tiffany Troxler, Dept. of Biological Sciences and Southeast Environmental Research Center, FIU
(Host: Steve Oberbauer)
Study of arctic ecosystem changes in the International Polar Year using the International Tundra Experiment (ITEX)
January 6, 2009 Javier Francisco-Ortega, Dept. of Biological Sciences, FIU From Sir Hans Sloane to Charles Darwin: Early accounts of plant exploration in the Macaronesian Islands
► January 13 Rick Relyea, Director, Pymatuning Laboratory of Ecology, University of Pittsburgh, PA
(Host: Kelsey Reider/ Donnelly lab)
The impacts of pesticides on aquatic communities: Connections to global amphibian declines?
► January 20 John Bruno, Marine Sciences Program, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
(Host: Aaron Miller/ Richardson lab)
Climate change and coral reef resilience: Are we expecting too much from marine reserves?
January 23 David Tilman, Dept. of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, University of Minnesota, St. Paul
(Host: Bryan Dewsbury/ Fourqurean lab)
Competitive coexistence and the evolutionarily universal trade-off surface
January 27
(Glaser Distinguished Biology Lecture)
Andrew Sih, Dept. of Environmental Science & Policy and Center for Population Biology, University of California, Davis
(Host: Philip Stoddard)
Behavioral syndromes: an integrative overview

(For other presentations this week by Dr. Sih, please click here.)

February 3 Pedro Oliveira, Institute of Medical Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biotechnology Program, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
(Host: Fernando Noriega)
Radical metabolism in the gut of blood-sucking animals
February 10 Eric von Wettberg, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Brown University, Providence, RI
(Host: Tim Collins)
Ecological genomics in heterogeneous habitats: Approaches and mechanisms
February 24 John Chick, Great Rivers Field Station, Illinois Natural History Survey
(Host: Joel Trexler)
Development of planktonic food webs in large rivers and the role of long-term monitoring with increasing globalization
► March 5 Rita Perlingeiro, Lillehei Heart Institute and Dept. of Medicine, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
(Host: Sudhakar Veeranki/ Kim lab)
Lineage reprogramming and stem cell-based therapies
March 17 No seminar (Spring Break)  
March 24 Eric Denkers, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
(Host: Lorenzo Menzel/ Bigger lab)
Dysregulation of host cell signaling by the protozoan Toxoplasma gondii
Monday, April 6, at 3:00 PM
in WC 130
Robert Gourdie, Dept. of Cell Biology and Anatomy, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC
(Host: Amy Saldana/ Kos lab)
The Cx43 carboxyl-terminus: Linking skin wound healing and cardiac arrythmia
April 7 Biology and Biomedical Undergraduate Honors Presentations DeEtta Mills, FIU (host)
Monday,
April 13, at 3:00 PM

in WC 130
Edward Kravitz, Dept. of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
(Host: Anya Goldina/ Stoddard lab)
Genetic manipulations in the fruit fly fight club: Love and war in a single gene and other stories
April 14 Biology and Biomedical Undergraduate Honors Presentations DeEtta Mills, FIU (host)