Biodiversity Blog
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Pets as Invasive Species: Dogs
Woof. (Photo: Andrea Stacks) Last in our series on pets as invasive species looks at “Man’s Best Friend.” Are pooches so perfect? First, let’s define what an invasive species is. We’ve got a great blog on it here, but to summarize: the National Invasive Species Information Center defines an invasive species as non-native to the ecosystem i...
Meet Stengl-Wyer Scholar: Chatura Vaidya
Chatura Vaidya is one of our 2022 Stengl-Wyer Scholars who is working with Dr. Shalene Jha and Dr. Amelia Wolf. As part of the Stengl-Wyer Endowment, the Stengl-Wyer Postdoctoral Scholars Program provides up to three years of independent support for talented postdoctoral researchers in the broad area of the diversity of life and/or organisms i...
Restoring the Vanessa Butterfly Garden
CAMN member digging through rock soil to plant three red yuccas (Hesperaloe parviflora), a favorite for hummingbirds and night-pollinating moths. Not so long ago, there was a butterfly garden at the Brackenridge Field Laboratory, one of the field stations in UT’s growing field station network. This garden was initially created in 2012 with fundi...
Science Under the Stars: How Animals Adapt to Climate Change
We would like to invite you to attend our next Science Under the Stars talk of the season Thursday, April 13th! This will be an in-person event held outdoors at the Brackenridge Field Laboratory. Talk Title: How animals adapt to climate change, and how kids can help them About the talk: As our plan...
Armadillos to Ziziphus: David Hillis Talks About His New Book
Courtesy University of Texas Press 2023 With a state as big as Texas is, there is an extremely diverse ecology. From high altitude desert mountains in the west, to our vast coastline, to low-lying swamps in the east. Since most of the residents of the Lone Star State live in urban centers, sometimes it’s difficult to learn about the plants...
"Save the Insects, Save the Planet" with Dr. May Berenbaum
THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED. Please stay tuned for a possible reschedule in the near future. Email nicole.elmer[at]austin.utexas.edu if you have any questions About the talk: With more than a million described species, the Class Insecta is the most species-rich group of multicellular organisms on Earth; insects can be found in...
UT Spring Bee Competition 2023. We have a winner!
USDA Photo by Jack Dykinga We're pleased to announce we have a winner for the UT Spring Bee Competition! The winner is Caroline Chessher ('22) who collected a male Osmia on Mountain Laurel flowers on campus at 1:27pm, February 13th. She will win a free wall poster: “Back Yard Bees of North America”! The Entomology Collection holds a yearly...
The Next Frontier of Science is in your Backyard (with you and your smartphone)
Dr. Pauly's talk has been recorded and can be viewed by clicking here We are pleased to announce that Dr. Greg Pauly is the first spring semester speaker sponsored by the Biodiversity Center, and he will be talking about urban biodiversity. Talk title: The Next Frontier of Science is in your Backyard (with you and your sm...
Meet Stengl-Wyer Fellow: Erik Iverson
Erik and a painted bunting (Passerina ciris.) Erik Iverson is one of our 2022 Stengl-Wyer Fellows. Erik studies the influence of mitochondrial genetics and physiology on many aspects of biodiversity and conservation. His research interests and studies have taken him to very diverse places across the globe. In this blog, he talks about his ...
Biotechnologies for Conservation & Their Intended Consequences
The Stengl-Wyer Endowment is proud to share this public seminar with Ben Novak, Lead Scientist of Revive & Restore, hosted by Stengl-Wyer Fellow Erik Iverson. Friday, December 9th, 10:00 am - 11:00 am, UT Campus, NHB 1.720 Revive & Restore is a nonprofit conservation organization leading the effort to responsibly integrate bio...
Get involved! Outreach opportunities in biodiversity
Undergrad Abby Jones at the Capital Area Junior Master Naturalists October event. Field stations like Brackenridge Field Lab and natural history collections like the Biodiversity Collections fulfill many roles in the service of biodiversity. One such role is to engage in outreach to the general public to raise awareness, and to reach students wh...
Dr. Eric Pianka (1939-2022)
Photo: Larry Gilbert Dr. Eric Rodger Pianka was an evolutionary ecologist of enormous influence who spent his life studying lizards. Nicknamed “The Lizard Man,” his research covered a broad range of topics pertaining to the ecology, biology, and evolution of lizards, including rarity and responses to fire. His work contributed to the under...
A Chat with Botanist Domingos Cardoso
Domingos holding an inflorescence of Parkia discolor, a legume species ecologically dominant in Amazonian periodically-flooded forests locally known as "igapós" Domingos Cardoso is an esteemed Brazilian botanist very active in biodiversity and conservation in Brazil. His main research interests are how evolutionary processes have shape...
March of the Central Texas Butterflies
Butterflies never fail to fascinate young and old alike. They are the subject of countless paintings, poems, and for Professor James Glavan's (Head of the Costume Technology program in the Department of Theatre and Dance) class, Fabric Dyeing and Painting, they were the focus of an ambitious costume building project this spring semester. ...
A Northern Cardinal in North Austin
Male cardinal. (Photo: Gary Leavens - Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license) I awoke on a Sunday morning last week, started the coffee, then opened the curtains to my backyard. My usual habit, but on this Sunday, I had the surprise of seeing a female Northern Cardinal duck into the tight weave of a climbing rose about seve...
Meet Stengl-Wyer Scholar: Ummat Somjee
Ummat Somjee is one of our 2021 Stengl-Wyer Scholars and is researching the evolution of exaggerated sexually-selected traits in animals. His research aims to understand how the energetic costs underlying these exaggerated traits may shape their evolution. As part of the Stengl Wyer Endowment, the Stengl Wyer Postdoctoral Scholars Program prov...Meet Stengl-Wyer Fellow: Nikunj Goel
Nikunj modeling source-sink dynamics at range limits.
Nikunj is one of our 2021 Stengl-Wyer Fellows. He is a theoretical biogeographer working in the lab of Dr. Tim Keitt at the Department of Integrative Biology. He is broadly interested in understanding how dispersal generates and maintains biodiversity. As a Stengl-Wyer Fellow, he is buil... Science Under the Stars is back with new hybrid format
The COVID-19 pandemic has forever changed our lives. One thing that will probably never go away, for better or for worse, are remote meetings and online classes. But as some events begin to open up, the online formats are offering both in-person and remote experiences, thus opening access to audiences who could not have seen them otherwise.
One of ... 
What the Heck is a Lichen?
Cladonia parasitica, a lichen at Stengl Lost Pines (Photo: Liz Bowman) When my sister and I were little, my parents often took us camping in Colorado during the summers. We brought our Barbie dolls and when evening came around, we built pretend campfires and served pretend food. Part of those imaginative meals included lichen fragments we’...
