School of Integrative Biology

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

 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...

We are pleased to announce that the winner of the Insects 2022 Young Investigator Award is Dr. Adam G. Dolezal, Assistant Professor in the Department of Entomology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana,...

Many animals have evolved to tolerate extreme environments, including being able to survive crushing pressures of ocean trenches, unforgiving heat of deserts, and limited oxygen high in the mountains. These animals are often highly specialized to live in these specific environments, limiting them...

The Insect Fear Film Festival celebrates 40 years of entertaining and educating people about insects and their close relatives at this year’s March 4 event at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. It will be the first in-person...

Honey bee workers collect pollen and nectar from a variety of flowering plants to use as a food source. Honey bees typically forage from up to 1-2 miles away from the hive, though sometimes they travel even further, including up to 10 miles away. However, much of the modern landscape consists of...