Thursday, December 12, 2024
Speaker:  Dr. Elsie Shogren – “The moment of truth for speciation: Myzomela honeyeaters in the Solomon Islands”

Dr. Elsie Shogren grew up exploring muddy creeks and observing wildlife around the family farm in Nebraska. She channeled her fascination with biology as an undergraduate at Cornell University, where she discovered field work and ornithology collecting data on Tree Swallows in Ithaca, NY and Alberta, Canada. After graduating, Elsie continued developing her research interests, assisting with projects on Red-backed Fairywrens in Australia, Greater Prairie Chickens in Nebraska, and Piping Plovers in South Dakota. Deciding to focus on the interplay of sexual and natural selection for her PhD at Kansas State University, she studied the consequences of rainfall for survival, behavior, and evolution in sexually-selected Neotropical Manakins. As a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Rochester, Elsie is now exploring the genetic, ecological, and behavioral factors that maintain species boundaries between two Myzomela honeyeaters that have recently come into contact and are hybridizing in the Solomon Islands of the south Pacific.

Look for the Zoom link in your email a few days prior to the meeting. The Zoom Room will open at 6:45 PM.  Don’t wait until the last minute to sign on, you might be left out!