She'll speak on "Insects in Human-Modified Environments" at the next UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology seminar, set for 4:10 p.m., Monday, Jan. 13 in Room 122 Briggs Hall. Her seminar also will be on Zoom. The link: https://ucdavis.zoom.us/j/95882849672.
Lenard, a member of the Mathew Forister lab since May of 2023, says in her abstract:
"My research focuses on how environmental stress influences the ecology and evolution of organisms. I am particularly interested in global change biology and how insects are impacted by human-modified environments, with a specific focus on agricultural and urban areas. In this talk, I will discuss my ongoing postdoctoral work on pesticide contamination and butterfly diversity in national wildlife refuges surrounded by agricultural activity in the Central Valley of California. I will also explore the ecological and evolutionary mechanisms used by the cabbage white butterfly to successfully persist in urban landscapes. My work reveals complex trait interactions between thermal physiology, behavior, and morphology, which provide a basis for understanding how insects are coping with human-modified landscapes."
A side note: Forister, a UC Davis doctoral alumnus (2004) studied with Art Shapiro, now UC Davis distinguished emeritus professor. Forister, who is the Foundation Professor, Trevor J. McMinn Endowed Research Professor in Biology at the University of Nevada, collaborates with Shapiro in his cabbage white butterfly research. Every year Shapiro sponsors a "Beer for a Butterfly" contest to see who can collect the first cabbage white butterfly, Pieris rapae, in the three-county area of Yolo, Sacramento and Solano.(See blog) Forister annually creates a graph, using statistics from 1972 to the current year.
Lenard holds three degrees in biology: her bachelor's degree from the University of North Carolina, Wilmington (2015); her master's degree from the University of Central Arkansas, Conway (2018), and her doctorate from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (2023). For her doctorate, she studied the multifaceted effects of urbanization on the morphology, physiology, and behavior in cabbage white butterflies, This included urbanization effects on evolution and plasticity of physical (wing coloration), physiological (thermal tolerance), and behavioral (thermoregulation and flight) traits in cabbage white butterflies.
Overall, her work focuses on "how organisms cope with environmental change, with particular attention on rapid anthropogenic change." As a postdoc, Lenard is "examining the effects of agricultural pesticide usage on butterfly assemblages at National wildlife refuges in the California Central Valley."
Seminar host is Professor Neal Williams, who will introduce her.
Nematologist Amanda Hodson, assistant professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, coordinates the ENT seminars, held every Monday at 4:10 p.m. in 122 Briggs Hall. She may be reached at akhodson@ucdavis.edu for any Zoom issues. The seminar recordings are archived at https://entnem.ucdavis.edu/seminars.
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