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PSW 2455 Squirrels, Lemurs, and all Manner of Creatures Great and Small | Melissa Hawkins
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Lecture Starts at 12:50
March 11, 2022
PSW #2455 Squirrels, Lemurs, and all Manner of Creatures Great and Small: Field Studies & Museum Collections -- Essential tools of taxonomy, ecology, evolutionary behavior, and conservation
Melissa Hawkins
Curator of Mammals
Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History
This lecture will discuss research using traditional museum specimens in combination with field collected samples and modern techniques of molecular biology to study species boundaries (endemism), biogeography, taxonomy (systematics), evolution and evolutionary dynamics. The lecture will describe the use of “ancient” DNA methods on museum specimens to evaluate genetic signatures and its application to studies of animals around the world. Examples to be discussed include combined field and museum specimen-based work on a variety of squirrels and lemurs. The lecture will also discuss how this type of research is crucial to developing an accurate understanding of the number of species, genetic diversity and distribution of animals in a region, and the necessity of this information for formulating effective conservation plans and practices. The need to understand the effects of human alterations of the environment is particularly important for conservationists, and the lecture will discuss how the information provided by this type of research is used to protect endangered species and ecosystems from anthropogenic changes.
Melissa Hawkins is Curator of Mammals and Research Zoologist at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History, and a Research Affiliate in the Department of Biology at George Mason University. Previously she was a Research Associate in the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute at the National Zoo, and Curator and Assistant Professor at Humboldt State University.
For over a decade, Melissa have been applying the techniques of molecular biology to the study of speciation, evolution and biodiversity. She has been working especially on DNA sequence information obtained from “ancient” DNA extracted from museum samples, which typically is challenging to study because it is degraded by preservation circumstances and processes that occur during storage. She combines these DNA-based studies of museum specimens with field studies, and she has led two field expeditions to study mammals in Kinabalu Park in Sabah, Malaysia.
Melissa is an author on numerous research publications and two chapters in the Handbook of Mammals of the World. Among other honors and awards she is the Recipient of the first Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute Emerging Scientist Award, the Best Dissertation Award from George Mason University, Department of Environmental Science and Policy, and a runner up for the American Society of Mammologists Shadle Fellowship.
Melissa earned a BS and an MS at Western Illinois University and a PhD in Environmental Science and Policy at George Mason University.
March 11, 2022
PSW #2455 Squirrels, Lemurs, and all Manner of Creatures Great and Small: Field Studies & Museum Collections -- Essential tools of taxonomy, ecology, evolutionary behavior, and conservation
Melissa Hawkins
Curator of Mammals
Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History
This lecture will discuss research using traditional museum specimens in combination with field collected samples and modern techniques of molecular biology to study species boundaries (endemism), biogeography, taxonomy (systematics), evolution and evolutionary dynamics. The lecture will describe the use of “ancient” DNA methods on museum specimens to evaluate genetic signatures and its application to studies of animals around the world. Examples to be discussed include combined field and museum specimen-based work on a variety of squirrels and lemurs. The lecture will also discuss how this type of research is crucial to developing an accurate understanding of the number of species, genetic diversity and distribution of animals in a region, and the necessity of this information for formulating effective conservation plans and practices. The need to understand the effects of human alterations of the environment is particularly important for conservationists, and the lecture will discuss how the information provided by this type of research is used to protect endangered species and ecosystems from anthropogenic changes.
Melissa Hawkins is Curator of Mammals and Research Zoologist at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History, and a Research Affiliate in the Department of Biology at George Mason University. Previously she was a Research Associate in the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute at the National Zoo, and Curator and Assistant Professor at Humboldt State University.
For over a decade, Melissa have been applying the techniques of molecular biology to the study of speciation, evolution and biodiversity. She has been working especially on DNA sequence information obtained from “ancient” DNA extracted from museum samples, which typically is challenging to study because it is degraded by preservation circumstances and processes that occur during storage. She combines these DNA-based studies of museum specimens with field studies, and she has led two field expeditions to study mammals in Kinabalu Park in Sabah, Malaysia.
Melissa is an author on numerous research publications and two chapters in the Handbook of Mammals of the World. Among other honors and awards she is the Recipient of the first Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute Emerging Scientist Award, the Best Dissertation Award from George Mason University, Department of Environmental Science and Policy, and a runner up for the American Society of Mammologists Shadle Fellowship.
Melissa earned a BS and an MS at Western Illinois University and a PhD in Environmental Science and Policy at George Mason University.
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