2023-06-27
- More than four decades ago, field ecologists set out to quantify the diversity of trees on a forested plot on Barro Colorado Island in Panama, one of the most intensively studied tracts of forest on the planet. They began counting every tree with a trunk wider than a centimeter.
They identified the species, measured the trunks and calculated the biomass of each individual. They put ladders up...
2023-06-08 - Like many ecological scientists, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign plant biology professor James O’Dwyer has spent much of his career searching for ways to measure and predict how specific plant communities will fare over time. Which species in a diverse population will persist and coexist? Which will...
2023-06-06 - I am walking in a forest and listening to a concert of birdsong at dawn. I pick one song out of the chorus – a fast chatter full of melodious whistles – the sound of the sooty ant tanager. “Today, we will probably get to know this bird up close,” I think. My colleagues and I set up and open our mist nets. Now we are ready to document and study the avian wonders of this corner of the world. We...- 2023-06-03 - Victor E. Shelford has been called “the father of animal ecology” because he was one of the first scientists to study natural environments as communities of complex relationships among animals and plants. His studies led to “law of toleration,” which stated that every species is able to successfully live and reproduce only within a defined range of environmental...
2023-05-25 - Anyone near campus with a green thumb—or at least an appreciation for it—has likely heard of the Plant Biology Greenhouse, including its popular 2,000 square-foot conservatory. As noteworthy as the local attraction has become in the past 30-plus years, efforts are underway to make the space even more educational and interactive...
2023-04-21 - Nine alumni from the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences will receive the college’s 2023 annual alumni awards at a celebration on April 21. They are researchers, entrepreneurs, lawyers, and public servants who have had impressive impact on their fields and communities. LAS Alumni Achievement Award ... Lawrence M. Page (MS, '68; PhD, '72,...
2023-04-17 - Andrew Leakey, professor and head of plant biology, was featured in a weeklong "Science is for Everyone" promotion on social media by The Science Coalition, which kicked off with a short video featuring 17 questions. It covered everything from his daily bike commute to CABBI's interdisciplinary work developing technologies to grow next-generation bioenergy crops to produce clean bioenergy and...
2023-04-14 - Faculty, staff, and graduate teaching assistants at the University of Illinois, including 11 instructors from the College of LAS, were honored recently for excellence in teaching, mentoring, and advising. These awards, sponsored by the Office of the Provost, are collectively known as the Campus Awards for Excellence in Instruction. The Campus Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching...
2023-04-10 - Launched in 1952 shortly after Congress established NSF, the Graduate Research Fellowship (GRF) program represents the nation's oldest continuous investment in the scientific workforce. The program recruits high-potential, early-career researchers and supports their graduate training in science, technology, social science, engineering, mathematics, and STEM education. Awardees receive...
2023-04-07 - A new look at decades of data from museum collections and surveys of leaf-litter ants in Florida reveals a steady decline in native ants and simultaneous increase in nonnative ants – even in protected natural areas of the state, researchers report. The study tracked leaf-litter ant abundance from 1965 to 2019. Nonnative ants represented 30% of the 177 ground-dwelling species detected in surveys...
2023-04-06 - Meet T. Josek, who joined the Beckman Institute as a microscopist in June 2022. The following profile of alumni Tanya Josek was published by the Beckman Institute. T. graduated with a Master of Science in Entomology and studied in the Alleyne Lab. Describe your role at the Beckman Institute. I am a microscopist in the Microscopy Suite. One of my main responsibilities is to...
2023-04-03 - Chicago’s Joseph Frumkin (BS, ’13, integrative biology) is the guest engagement coordinator with Lincoln Park Zoo. From designing public education presentations to managing the fellowship program, Frumkin has found that informal education diving into animal care and conversation combines skills that he honed while studying at Illinois. Please briefly describe a typical workday. Also,...
2023-03-24 - The next, and past, big thing: The great woolly mammoth is back. This time it’s visible to all near the University of Illinois Main Quad. A new mammoth sculpture is rearing its head on the same ground where real mammoths wandered 30,000 years prior. That’s even older than the neighboring Natural History Building (NHB), built in 1892, from where the sculpture draws inspiration. Why a mammoth?...
2023-03-13 - DR. JAMES NARDI says you can tell a lot about a tree by the company it keeps. From life in the soil around their roots to the action up in their canopies, trees are swarming with engagement—unseen microbes and fungi, countless insects and other arthropods, and vertebrates like birds, squirrels, and even porcupines. Jim Nardi spoke about their diverse community of companions. He is...
2023-03-10 - Lexi Gomez is knee-deep in a pond when I first see her in the U. of I. Plant Biology Greenhouse and Conservatory. A fifth-year senior who will graduate this semester, Gomez dips a net in the dark water to clear the pond of debris fallen from the lush jungle of tropical plants that looms above. She attacks the work with gusto. As...