Presentation

Confirmed speakers

• Andrea Battisti, University of Padova - IT

  

  Andrea Battisti

   

  University of Padova
  Address: Agripolis, Legnaro

  Email: andrea.battisti@unipd.it
  Phone: (+39) 334 6952488
   

  Professor of entomology at the University of Padova, Department DAFNAE. His research activity addresses topics of forest entomology and insect ecology, with special emphasis on the effect of climate change on the insect populations. He’s also developing innovative techniques for the study and the control of insect pests. He coordinates a research group involved in several national and international research projects. Processionary moths are the most studied group of insects and several aspects of the ecology and evolution of the group were addressed in more than 40 years of studies in Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia.

  Ecology and evolution of processionary moths

  Processionary moths belong to a group of insect herbivores well known since the ancient Greek and Roman times for their association with the host plants, their particular behaviour, and their urticating and envenomation ability. A few species of processionary moths are plant pests in Africa, Asia, Australia and Europe. All species are protected against vertebrate predators by urticating setae either as larvae or adults and these setae may threaten animal and human health. Three major clades can be identified: i. Australian, with 29 species; ii. African, with 39 species; and iii. Eurasian-African, with 26 species. A molecular phylogeny of the European species supports the hypothesis that they should be treated as members of a single genus, Thaumetopoea. The ancestor originated in the eastern Mediterranean area and used broadleaved host plants. Subsequently, a switch to conifers occurred, just once, in a large subclade. The ancestor pupated in the soil, like several current species, but in a few taxa this trait was lost, together with the related morphological adaptations. The pine processionary moth, Thaumetopoea pityocampa (Denis and Schiffermüller), is an iconic insect in the Mediterranean culture because of its economic and medical importance and the unique traits of the life history, namely the winter feeding and the construction of conspicuous silk tents by the larvae. Its taxonomic status, however, is unclear because the type material is not available and several species and subspecies have been described in the last centuries. molecular information is reliable to separate species in most cases whereas morphology is not. In addition, hybridization among taxa makes it difficult to delimit species in contact zones when mating barriers are not present. 

  Keywords: Notodontidae, Thaumetopoea, sociality, urtication, delimitation

   

• Jérôme Casas, Insect Biology Research Institute (IRBI), University of Tours / CNRS - FR

  

  Jérôme Casas

   

  Insect Biology Research Institute (IRBI), University of Tours / CNRS - FR

  Email: casas@univ-tours.fr

  Phone: (+) 33 6 32 63 11 69

  Trained as a population ecologist, his interests span organismal biology and ecology; behavior and population dynamics of consumer-resource interactions; the sensory ecology of mimetism; flow sensing in biotic interactions; locomotion in granular materials and at the air-water interface, physicochemical transport in olfaction and biologically inspired microtechnology. His group is composed of engineers, theoretical and soft-matter physicists, biologists and applied mathematicians working in the field of physical ecology.  A notable feature of his approach is the blending of natural history with both state-of-the-art technology and modeling. He was the director of the Institut de Recherche sur la Biologie de l’Insecte (UMR CNRS) for 7 years. He contributes or did so to many scientific boards, the most notable being BIOKON-The International Biomimetics Association (Berlin) as well as the interdisciplinary committee of the Canada Research Chairs program (Ottawa). He was awarded the ETH medal for a thesis in the University’s top 10%, was nominated junior and later senior member of the IUF (Institut Universitaire Français) and was the Distinguished Invited Professor of the Center for Insect Science at the University of Arizona in Tucson. He did hold the excellency Chair for bio-inspired technologies at the LETI CEA, a research powerhouse on micro-technologies in Grenoble. He was awarded a Humboldt research prize for lifetime achievement and is a corresponding fellow Royal Society of Edinburgh. Prof. Casas also served on the editorial board of a number of ecological, physiological and interdisciplinary journals and is currently co-editor in chief of Current Opinion in Insect Sciences.

  Transport and capture of pheromones: a mesoscale approach

  Moths are models of chemical communication, performing highly specific, long-range communication via minute amounts of pheromones through a cascade of highly improbable events occurring in succession — transport in the air, capture by an antenna and entry into a sensory pore —this mystery remains intact since Fabre. Critical gaps remain in our knowledge, concerning physicochemical aspects in particular: how can such tiny amounts of pheromones be released and efficiently transported over large distances? When molecules are captured on the antenna, how do they reach the nanometer-wide olfactory pore on the cuticle? What fluid dynamics govern the large diversity of insect antennal forms? How does the environment modify signals? The sensory ecology program I develop with my colleagues, Ph.D. students and post-docs aims to quantify the mechanisms underlying this efficiency, using silkmoths and their feathery antennae as a model. I will focus on two processes — transport and capture —at the meso-scale, between molecules and organisms. Cutting-edge techniques from fluid dynamics (PIV), atmospheric chemistry (FIGAERO-ToF-CIMS) and materials science (AFM) will be used. I will first quantify the partitioning of pheromone transport between the gas and aerosol phases, making use of the finding that pheromones can be efficiently transported not only as single molecules, but also bound to aerosols. I will determine the roles of antennal surface patterning and architecture in capture efficiency, by studying the viscous boundary layers of antennae. If time permists, I will decipher the interfacial processes transporting the molecules to the sensory pores and present our first attempts to integrate our knowledge into an integrated microfluidic biochip performing the first two processes with an unprecedented degree of control.

  Keywords: transport processes, physical and chemical ecology, sensory physiology, boundary layer, complex antennae

   

• Marc Holderied, University of Bristol - UK

  

  Marc Holderied

   

  University of Bristol - UK

  Address: 24 Tyndale Ave, Bristol, BS8 1TQ

  Email: marc.holderied@bristol.ac.uk
  Phone: (+)44 117 39 41190
   

  As sensory ecologist and bio-acoustician with strong links to bio-inspired engineering professor Holderied’s international research excellence is in the emerging fields of acoustic camouflage and biosonar navigation, with a continued passion for acoustic arms races and wildlife acoustics. He develops lepidoptera-inspired noise control solutions and as international consultant for the automotive industry helps establish Ultrasonic Vision technology. He studied Biology at the University of Erlangen, Germany (1997 Diploma, 2001 PhD) and since 2005 leads the BASElab at the University of Bristol, UK.

  Wingtip decoys and Stealth cloaks - Acoustic Defences of Moths against detection by echolocating Bats

  Invisibility cloaks are fantastic devices in popular culture from Harry Potter to Star Trek. But even in the real world so-called metamaterials (synthetic composite materials with emergent new properties) can act as (partial) cloaks both against light (vision) and sound (acoustics). We recently discovered that the 65MY old arms race with their echolocating bat predators has equipped silkmoths (Saturniidae) with remarkable acoustic metamaterials on their wings and bodies. These ultrathin sound absorbers offer protection because the strength of the echo bouncing off the moth's body determines the distance over which bats can detect it. In the talk we will use innovative acoustic tomographies to visualise how fur on bodies and scales on wings of moths provide acoustic cloaking. Turning the moth wing into bio-inspired thinner and better sound absorbers ('sonic wallpaper') can help us in the struggle to maintain healthy living and working environments in our ever noisier world.

  Keywords: Echolocation, Lepidopteran wings, scales, metamaterial sound absorber

• Joana Meier, Wellcome Sanger Institute & University of Cambridge - UK

  

  Joana Meier

   

  Wellcome Sanger Institute & University of Cambridge - UK
  Address: Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Saffron Walden CB10 1RQ, United Kingdom 

  Email: joana.meier@sanger.ac.uk
  Phone: (+44) 7770606089

  Joana Meier is an evolutionary biologist working on speciation in cichlid fishes, butterflies and peacock spiders. During her PhD and postdoc with Ole Seehausen at the University of Bern, Joana worked on the rapid adaptive radiation of Lake Victoria cichlid fishes. She found an important role of admixture facilitating their rapid diversification. In 2018 to 2022, Joana held a Bateson Research Fellowship at the University of Cambridge and later also a Branco Weiss Fellowship. Here, she started to work on South American butterflies. In collaboration with Chris Jiggins, she worked on parallel hybrid zones in Heliconius butterflies. Since July 2022, she leads a research group at the Wellcome Sanger Institute in the Tree of Life Programme. In addition, she was awarded a Royal Society University Research Fellowship in October 2022. Her team works on speciation in ithomiini and Heliconius butterflies. Combining comparative methods and population genomics approaches, she studies how speciation rates are affected by structural variants, admixture and the genetic architecture of traits involved in speciation.

  The role of hybridisation and chromosomal rearrangements in rapid speciation

  Speciation rates vary massively across the tree of life. Some lineages diversify rapidly into many species, whereas their close relatives speciate at a much slower pace in the same environment. The factors influencing such lineage-specific speciation rates are poorly understood. Hybridisation and chromosomal rearrangements are two of the factors that may contribute. Both of these factors can both increase or reduce the likelihood of speciation. Hybridisation can homogenise genomic regions under divergent selection or even lead to the merging of species. However, it can also enrich the genetic variation fuelling adaptation and speciation. Large-scale chromosomal rearrangements can facilitate speciation by reducing hybrid fitness or decreasing recombination in the vicinity of the rearrangement and thus locking co-adapted genes together. However, chromosomal rearrangements can also facilitate the evolution of polymorphisms, e.g. via supergenes, allowing a species to utilise multiple niches without speciating. 
  Together with a network of collaborators in the Americas and Europe, my team compares rapidly and slowly speciating lineages of ithomiini and Heliconius butterflies. These South- and Central American butterflies are well-known for their Müllerian mimicry rings and high species richness. The large variation in speciation rates across different lineages, particularly within the ithomiini tribe, make them an ideal system to study factors affecting speciation rates. Ithomiini and one lineage of Heliconius butterflies also show high rates of chromosomal evolution with karyotypes ranging from five to 120 chromosomes (Brown et al. 2004). We reconstruct chromosome-level reference genomes and combine micro- and macro-evolutionary approaches to elucidate the roles of hybridisation and large-scale chromosomal rearrangements in speciation and species persistence.

  Keywords: Speciation, chromosomal rearrangements, hybridisation, ithomiini, Heliconius

   

   

• Marko Mutanen, University of Oulu - FI

  

  Marko Mutanen

   

  University of Oulu

  Address: Ecology and Genetics Research Unit, FI-90014, Oulu, Finland

  Email: marko.mutanen@oulu.fi

  Phone: (+) 358 40 8246749

  Marko Mutanen is an enthusiastic entomologist and molecular taxonomist who has expertise on North European Lepidoptera and sawfly diversity. His research focuses broadly on insect biodiversity, but in particular he is interested in finding efficient solutions to our current inefficiency to understand the bewildering biological diversity surrounding us. He is a strong proponent of both DNA barcoding and DNA taxonomy. He is convinced that overcoming the so-called taxonomic impediment and achieving global bio-literacy requires wide-scale adoption of genetics and genomics each in species identification, species delimitation and biomonitoring. Mutanen leads the Finnish Barcode of Life (FinBOL) project, which is building a DNA barcode reference library for the multicellular species occurring in Finland. He also is leading several research projects that focus on finding ways to make us more bio-literate. Furthermore, he presently directs the Biodiverse Anthropocenes (2021-2026), an 8M-Euro multidisciplinary university research profiling programme. Mutanen has published ca 120 peer-reviewed scientific articles.

  What do unexpected patterns in DNA barcodes indicate? Insights from genomics

  Many national initiatives and individual researchers are working hard to build DNA barcode reference libraries covering geographic regions and taxonomic groups. Lepidoptera researchers across the world have been particularly active on this front. Presently, DNA barcodes are available for over 100,000 species of Lepidoptera. While DNA barcoding was originally designed to facilitate specimen identification into respective species, they have also turned out to be efficient in revealing cryptic diversity and speeding up taxonomic workflows. Consequently, new species have been revealed even in regions that have been subjected to thorough taxonomic scrutiny. Several newly discovered species from North Europe provide examples of usefulness of barcoding in unmasking cryptic diversity.

  Ideally, DNA barcodes would show little variability within species and a plenty between them as this would ensure the efficiency of the approach. Unfortunately, it is not always that straightforward. Basically, barcoding may reveal two kinds of patterns that complicate their use in identification. First, DNA barcodes may differ only little, or not at all, between species. Second, they may show extraordinary variability within species that may even exceed that usually observed between species. Furthermore, it is not unusual to find two or more highly distinct clusters of barcodes within a single species.

  Such unexpected patterns in DNA barcodes may result from either ‘operational’ or biological causes. A ‘wrongly’ placed barcode raises a question: Is this specimen misidentified, or did contamination take place? Ruling out such operational causes may require analysis of additional genetic markers or detailed morphological study. Barcode sharing may be due to taxonomic over-splitting. Alternatively, extraordinary levels of intraspecific variability may have resulted from amplification of pseudogene instead of the true barcode. In addition to such operational causes, mitonuclear discordance may result from biological causes. Two species may share the same barcode because their recent speciation. Similarly, high intraspecific variation may result from other biological processes, such as retained genetic polymorphism or introgression.

  In order to understand the numerous observed cases of unexpected patterns observed in DNA barcodes of European Lepidoptera, we studied a number of cases using genomic approaches, including ddRAD sequencing and Target Capture, under various setting, including sympatry, parapatry and allopatry. These studies have revealed a variety of patterns and likely explanations, suggesting that patterns of variability in mitochondrial DNA is shaped by several biological processes, and their elucidation may require insights from nuclear genome. These studies have also revealed evident cases of cryptic diversity and taxonomic over-splitting.

  Keywords: Bioliteracy, DNA barcoding, genomics, mitochondrial DNA, mitonuclear discordance

   

• Sandra Schachat, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa - USA

  

  Sandra Schachat

   

  University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
  Address:  Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Entomology Section. Honolulu, Hawaiʻi, United States

  Email: sschachat@schmidtsciencefellows.org
  Phone: (+1) 3013666424
   

  I am a postdoctoral fellow in Dan Rubinoff’s lab with interests in the fossil record, morphological evolution of Lepidoptera, and parthenogenesis in the context of sexual antagonism. I am particularly interested in the early fossil record of Pterygota and the early evolution of Lepidoptera. My research into both fossils and moths revolves largely around wings. During geologic intervals that predate major amber deposits, the fossil record of insects consists primarily of wings. When studying extant Lepidoptera my main focus has been on wing morphology: veins and color patterns. My university degrees are in Art History, Entomology, and Geology, and I enjoy conducting research that spans these disciplines. During the past few years I have been particularly interested in the question of whether we can pinpoint true evidence of absence in the fossil record, and more generally, what the fossil record can and cannot tell us.

  Evaluating putative fossil gaps for Lepidoptera and Pterygota: A comparative approach

  The fossil record of winged insects (Pterygota) is famously incomplete; the fossil record of Lepidoptera, all the more so. The ages of both Pterygota and Lepidoptera remain contentious because both undoubtedly originated before their first known appearances in the fossil record. Time-calibrated molecular phylogenetic studies present an available but imperfect alternative to a direct reading of the fossil record for estimating clade ages. Certain age estimates suggest that both Pterygota and Lepidoptera evaded fossilization for tens of millions of years during their early histories. However, whereas Pterygota appear to have diversified rapidly following the origin of wings, Lepidoptera appear to have diversified more slowly. Pterygota are unknown from the fossil record until ~325 Ma, shortly after which the major groups such as Holometabola appear and quickly outnumber all other terrestrial arthropods. In contrast, the few dozen fossil Lepidoptera known from the first ~100 Myr of the group's history have all been assigned to Monotrysia.

  Keywords: Fossil, phylogeny, Mesozoic, diversification
   

   

• Eric Warrant, University of Lund - SE & Australian National University - AU

  

  Eric Warrant

   

  Lund Vision Group, Department of Biology, University of Lund, Sweden

  Research School of Biology, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia

  Address: Sölvegatan 35, SE-22362 Lund, Sweden

  Email: Eric.Warrant@biol.lu.se

  Phone: (+) 46 704 964927

  Warrant is Professor of Zoology and Head of the Lund Vision Group at the University of Lund in Sweden, Visiting Fellow at the Research School of Biology at the Australian National University and Adjunct Professor at the University of South Australia. Warrant leads an active research group studying vision and visual navigation in animals from extremely dim habitats (nocturnal and deep sea). Using electrophysiological, optical, histological, behavioral and theoretical approaches, Warrant studies how animals as diverse as nocturnal insects, deep-sea cephalopods and fast-swimming predatory fishes are able to see well at very low light levels, and his research has led to the discovery of neural principles that permit vision in dim light. In recent years Warrant’s group has turned its attention to the sensory basis of long-distance migration in nocturnal insects, particularly the role of the Earth’s magnetic field and the stars in migratory navigation. Warrant’s work is funded by an Advanced Grant from the European Research Council, as well as from the Swedish Research Council. Warrant is Past-President of the International Society of Neuroethology, Fellow of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, Fellow of the Royal Institute of Navigation and Fellow of the Royal Physiographic Society, and sits on the Senior Editorial Board of the Journal of Comparative Physiology A and also on the Academic Advisory Board of the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

  Australian Bogong moths use the stars and the Earth’s magnetic field as compasses for long-distance navigation at night

  Each spring, billions of Bogong moths escape hot conditions in different regions of southeast Australia by migrating over 1000 km to a limited number of cool caves in the Australian Alps, historically used for aestivating over the summer. At the beginning of autumn the same individuals make a return migration to their breeding grounds to reproduce and die. By tethering spring and autumn migratory moths in a flight simulator, we discovered that Bogong moths are able to sense the Earth’s magnetic field and correlate its directional information with visual cues to steer migration. We also discovered that a critically important visual cue is the distribution of starlight within the austral night sky. Under natural dorsally-projected night skies, and in a nulled magnetic field (disabling the magnetic sense), moths fly in their seasonally appropriate migratory directions, turning in the opposite direction when the night sky is rotated 180°. Visual interneurons in the moth’s optic lobe and central brain respond vigorously to identical sky rotations. Migrating Bogong moths thus use the starry night sky as a true compass to distinguish geographic cardinal directions, the first invertebrate known to do so. These stellar cues are likely reinforced by the Earth’s magnetic field to create a robust compass mechanism for long-distance nocturnal navigation. 

  Keywords: migration, navigation, stellar compass, Bogong moth, Agrotis infusa

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