Fifty Shades of Green: True bugs, new species, and why I'm not smarter than a fifth-grader

Ever wonder how we find new species? How we decide what  a species is and what to call it? Turns out 2013 is a pretty good time to be an  insect taxonomist, with millions of unknown species still awaiting discovery in  our planet's ecosystems. Mr Balujian will discuss his PhD research at UC  Berkeley, in which he found and documented 25 species of plant bugs (relatives  of stinkbugs and bed bugs) in the volcanic islands of Tahiti. He used a novel  approach of integrating morphological, genetic, and ecological data to  determine how many species there are and how they can be identified, as well as  re-describing species based on new data. He will also cover his research on the  factors that led new species of plant bugs to form over millions of years on  these islands. Finally, he will discuss why this kind of research is important  not only for science, but also for local education, particularly with regards  to a natural history program he led for fifth-graders in Tahiti.

Room 3201, Building 3