Science & Technology

Sometimes overshadowed by neighboring Amazon forests, the forests of the Andes Mountains are helping to protect the planet by acting as a carbon sink, absorbing carbon dioxide and keeping some of this climate-altering gas out of circulation, according to biologists in Arts & Sciences and their partners from a Living Earth Collaborative working group.

Ecologist James Stroud in Arts & Sciences studies how patterns of contemporary natural selection can shape the structure of entire communities. He won the American Society of Naturalists’ 2021 Young Investigator Award, one of the most prestigious for young researchers in the field of ecology and evolution.

To figure out how to best support two endangered species — black-and-white ruffed lemurs and diademed sifakas — scientists at Washington University in St. Louis are joining up with researchers at the Saint Louis Zoo, Missouri Botanical Garden and Madagascar-based collaborators for an innovative research effort under the Living Earth Collaborative.

Tidestrom’s lupine is a delicate flowering plant that is part of a dune ecosystem along the west coast of the United States. Biologist Eleanor Pardini in Arts & Sciences has tracked Tidestrom’s lupine at the Point Reyes National Seashore in central California for more than 14 years.

More species are blooming at the same time than in the past. Matthew Austin, biodiversity postdoctoral fellow with the Living Earth Collaborative, is studying how changes in flower timing affect ecological and evolutionary dynamics of pollination systems.

As professor of biology in Arts & Sciences, Barbara Kunkel has made significant contributions to understanding the strategies plant pathogens use to manipulate their plant hosts. In addition to her research, Kunkel is an exceptional educator, beloved by her students.

Biologist Himadri Pakrasi in Arts & Sciences leads a team awarded $1.7 million from the National Science Foundation to streamline the genome of a cyanobacterium for sustainable production of food, feed and fuels.

Plant and animal cells rely on the versatile microtubule cytoskeleton. Researchers in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis received new funding from the National Institutes of Health to uncover the inner workings of these structures, including how they change configuration based on a cell’s needs.

Michael Landis, assistant professor of biology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, applies newer statistical and computational methods for insights into how biodiversity is generated, maintained and lost.