By linking an expert nutritionist from WashU with a team of ethnobotanists from the Missouri Botanical Garden, this transdisciplinary project delved into the complex interplay between plants and people.
Can St Louis Missouri, the city of 280,000 residents located near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers be the nature city of the twenty-first century? As Peter Bernhardt reports, public knowledge of the city’s urban biology is poor, so St Louis has some catching up ahead if it’s to achieve this lofty title.
Lora Iannotti, a Biodiversity Fellow and professor at Wahu’s Brown School sat down with WashU’s School of Public Health Dean Sandro Galea to discuss a paper Iannotti co-authored, “Wild Foods Are Positively Associated with Diet Diversity and Child Growth in a Protected Forest Area of Madagascar.” This paper was co-authored with several Biodiversity Fellows from Missouri Botanical Garden: Tabita Randrianarivony, Armand Randrianasolo, Robbie Hart and originated from a Living Earth Collaborative Seed Grant project. Learn more about the project at https://bit.ly/Wildfood
Scientists show changes in genes related to diet of urban coyotes who eat foods high in glucose and starches
A recent study in Genome Biology and Evolution co-authored by LEC postdoc Liz Carlen examines the genetic makeup of urban coyotes to understand how these animals adapt to city environments. The research suggests that urban coyotes may be undergoing evolutionary changes that enable them to thrive alongside human populations. These findings contribute to our understanding of urban ecology and the impact of urbanization on wildlife species.
Researchers with the Forest Park Living Lab say that the home ranges of both Silver, a male coyote, and Solar, a female coyote with pups, were typical for urban coyotes.
Forest Park Living Lab researchers aimed to track two coyotes for a year to study their behavior and movement patterns. Unfortunately, the animals did not survive.
LEC postdoctoral fellow, Elizabeth Carlen and UC Berkely student Tyus Williams explore how superstitions have created biases in approaches to animal conservation.
USHSP associate professor of biology and LEC Biodiversity Fellow, Ben Jellen, is featured on Saint Louis on the Air discussing his copperhead snake study in Powder Valley and his longstanding partnership with Saint Louis Zoo.
On September 13th, the Living Earth Collaborative — a three-way partnership between the Missouri Botanical Garden, Saint Louis Zoo, and WashU — convened a symposium to imagine a St. Louis that lives in harmony with its natural surroundings.
The wildflowers that bring a burst of color to meadows and forests across St. Louis are blooming later and longer than they did in previous decades, according to a study led by researchers with the Living Earth Collaborative, a signature initiative of the Arts & Sciences Strategic Plan. The study by Missouri Botanical Garden’s Matthew Austin and Ken Olsen, the George William and Irene Koechig Freiberg Professor of Biology is published in New Phytologist.
Princeton University Press interviews Jonathan Losos, LEC director, and Ben A. MInteer about The Heart of the Wild, a new collection of essays about conservation in the modern world.
Jonathan Losos’s course, “The Science of Cats” was featured in the Uncommon Courses series, an occasional series from The Conversation U.S. that highlights unconventional approaches to teaching.
Soil microbial communities play a crucial role in oak woodland restoration, influencing the success of conservative herbaceous species reintroductions. Using DNA metabarcoding, researchers at Missouri Botanical Garden’s Shaw Nature Reserve studied how different restoration ages affect soil microbial composition and plant growth. Their findings suggest that younger restorations may offer more beneficial microbial conditions for conservative plant species, potentially improving nutrient uptake and stress resistance.
The Missouri Botanical Garden is leveraging AI to digitize its nearly 8 million plant specimens, creating an online database to support conservation efforts and preserve critical ecological data. By combining AI with historical and genetic information, the Garden is also advancing research on tree migration and ecosystem adaptation to climate change, while ensuring these technologies complement rather than replace human expertise.
Forest Park Living Lab is understanding racoon ecology in urban land through GPS tracking and how this work informs One Health programs.
As part of the UN’s International Day of Biodiversity, Kara Andres, a postdoctoral fellow with the Living Earth Collaborative at Washington University in St. Louis, collected samples of water from Simpson Lake, in Valley Park, Mo., as part of a coordinated global effort to use environmental DNA—genetic material shed by organisms into the environment—to document the current state of biodiversity.
Recently observed interactions between lemurs and a losa are describe in a new paper published in Ecology and Evolution. The interaction highlights the importance of an ecological approach to biodiversity conservation.
Researchers from the Forest Park Living Lab Project including LEC post-doc Stella Uiterwaal are conducting bird surveys to understand where and when birds like the red-tailed hawks can be found in Forest Park
In a recently published paper in People and Nature, LEC post-doc Elizabeth Carlen and collaborators, demonstrated how citizen science data can be skewed by social and economic factors.
HEC Science and Technology video report features Biodiversity Fellow Nicole Miller-Struttmann’s Shutterbee Project, a community science project documenting St. Louis’ region’s bee diversity. The Shutterbee Project received a LEC seed grant in 2020.
In a new paper published in People and Nature, LEC post-doc Elizabeth Carlen and her co-authors shared a framework that illustrates how social and ecological factors combine to create bias in contributory data and offered some recommendations to help address the problems.
The Living Earth Collaborative is
supporting a critical project to restore primary forest in the heart of
Betampona Reserve which comprises about 7.7 square miles of trees, surrounded by fields that have been cleared for agriculture.
Elizabeth Carlen and two of her undergraduate researchers work to bring science outside the walls of WashU.
A citizen scientist participating in the Shutterbee Project,a research initiative supported by an LEC seed grant, discovered a rare parasitic bumblebee species, Bombus suckleyi, which was identified through the project’s efforts. This finding highlights the valuable contributions of citizen scientists to local biodiversity research and the importance of community involvement in ecological studies.
A new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences led by Washington University Biology post-doc James Stroud and co-authored by LEC director, Jonathan Losos, is shedding new light on our understanding of evolution in species that live in close proximity to each other.
Forest Park Living Lab is collaborative of six different partners: the Saint Louis Zoo, Washington University, St. Louis University, Forest Park Forever, the World Bird Sanctuary and the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center, where researchers from around the St. Louis area are tracking animals and trying to learn more about them and how they’re adapting to the urban area around the park.
The Earth is facing two interconnected crises — loss of biodiversity and climate change. Each separately is an enormous threat to life on this planet. However, together they are fueling each other, creating a worsening downward spiral.
A new documentary film, “Mussel Grubbing: A Citizen Science Treasure Hunt,” about a freshwater mussel biodiversity project supported by the Living Earth Collaborative at Washington University in St. Louis, kicked off the inaugural World Water Film Festival March 19 in New York, and it won “Best Documentary Film” at the festival.
This month, the Republic of Congo agreed to protect a 36-square-mile area called Djéké Triangle by making it part of the adjacent Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park. Biodiversity research led by St. Louis scientists helped inform the decision to include the Djéké Triangle in the existing national park.
Learn about the Forest Park Living Lab project that started with LEC Seed grant monies. Experts in wildlife ecology, animal movement and veterinary medicine joined forces in a landmark collaboration to enhance how we understand Forest Park.
On November 12, 2022,Webster University held the Shutterbee Symposium. The symposium featured 12 presentations on topics ranging from the American Goldfinch to native gardening, highlighting the project’s success in documenting nearly 39,000 individual bees in the region since its inception in 2020.
A new book by WashU biology professor, Joan E. Strassmann, borrows from the slow food movement to propose a more thoughtful, less competitive form of bird-watching.
The “páramo biodiversity farms” initiative in Colombia’s Sumapaz region represents an innovative approach to biodiversity conservation, emphasizing the creation of ex situ living collections of threatened plants like Espeletia. These collections serve as tools for research, education, and ecological restoration while fostering collaboration with local communities. By prioritizing sustainable, community-driven conservation efforts, the initiative challenges traditional “ark paradigm” approaches and promotes biodiversity management rooted in the ecosystems and populations most affected.
The twin threats of climate change and loss of biodiversity on Earth are mobilizing scientists and policy makers to help ensure a future for humanity. The Living Earth Collaborative is leading the way.
Microbes of Diverse Ecosystems (mDivE-STL) Symposium held on Oct 3 by the Living Earth Collaborative focuses on the important but unseen role of microbes in diverse ecosystems.
Elizabeth Carlen is a postdoctoral fellow with the Living Earth Collaborative at Washington University in St. Louis. She is studying how city life is changing the local populations of eastern gray squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis).
Join LEC at the St. Louis Zoo on July 21 for the launch of a conservation incubator.
Washington University in St. Louis and the Living Earth Collaborative are part of a new Missouri-based conservation initiative led by the Saint Louis Zoo. Working with the Endangered Wolf Center, scientists are looking to answer ecological and health-related questions about canids — red foxes, gray foxes and coyotes — as well as bobcats, which live in close association with canids.
Researchers from the St. Louis Zoo, Washington University, and the Endangered Wolf Center have initiated the Canid Conservation Initiative to study the health and ecological roles of Missouri’s foxes, coyotes, and bobcats. The study is conducted at two sites: the Tyson Research Center near Eureka and the Saint Louis Zoo WildCare Park in north St. Louis County. To date, the team has collected samples from 16 opossums, 12 raccoons, one red fox, and two bobcats, with the red fox and bobcats now being monitored via GPS tracking devices.
Researchers from WashU, Saint Louis Zoo, and the Endangered Wolf Center have have launched a collaborative research effort to investigate the ecological roles and health of Missouri’s native canids—red foxes, gray foxes, and coyotes—as well as bobcats. The research focuses on two distinct sites: the rural Tyson Research Center and the suburban Saint Louis Zoo WildCare Park, aiming to determine if these species can serve as indicators of ecosystem health.
Science Journal for Kids picked up Moore et al (2021) on coloration changes in dragonflies article and brought it to younger audiences.
LEC post-doc Michael Moore led a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences looking at if dragonflies have adapted with climate historically and what is projected to happen with an even warmer climate in the future.
Video highlighting Dr. Sacha Heath’s, LEC postdoc, research in the Sacramento Valley looking at the effects of planting hedgerows on the edges of different types of crops.
In a study published last week, local researchers, including LEC post-doc Michael Moore, found that male dragonflies have less wing coloration in warmer climates to prevent overheating in the sun. This discovery enhances scientists’ understanding of how organisms adapt to climate change, offering insights into conservation strategies.
A new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences led by LEC postdoctoral fellow, Michael Moore, finds that dragonfly males have consistently evolved less breeding coloration in regions with hotter climates.
In an article for The Hill, Living Earth Collaborative postdoc Michael Moore highlights the threats facing dragonflies, one of Earth’s oldest and most resilient species. Despite surviving major extinction events and natural predators for over 200 million years, dragonflies are now at risk due to habitat loss, pollution, and climate change caused by human activity. Moore warns that if we fail to act, we risk being responsible for the extinction of a species that has withstood previous global catastrophes.
Saint Louis on the Air interviewed LEC post-doc Michael Moore about his new findings that male dragonfly wing patterns are changing.
LEC post-doc Michael Moore found that male dragonflies are adapting to warmer conditions by changing their wing patterns in a new study published in PNAS
New research led by post-doc Michael Moore and in collaboration with LEC Biodiversity Fellows, Kim Medley and Kasey Fowler-Finn, and several WashU undergraduate students reveals that male dragonfly wing patterns are changing in response to warming temperatures.