Franklin & Marshall College

LANCASTER, Pa. – Dan Ardia, assistant professor of biology at Franklin & Marshall College, will discuss "Organisms in Nature as a Central Focus in Biology: Remembering Darwin's Legacy in a Time of Reductionism" on Thursday, Feb. 12 at noon in the Booth Ferris Room of the Steinman College Center.

The talk, sponsored by Franklin & Marshall's Center for Liberal Arts and Society, the Program in Science, Technology and Society,  and the Bonchek Center  for Reason and Science in a Liberal Democracy, is free and open to the public; however, RSVPs are required by Monday, February 9 at 291-4133 .

The talk will be given in conjunction with Darwin Day, which this year commemorates Charles Darwin's 200th birthday as well as the 150th anniversary of the publication of On The Origin Of Species.

The talk will address why considering the biology of whole organisms in nature still gives critical insight into not just ecology, evolutionary biology and ecophysiology, but biology as a whole. Part of Darwin's legacy is a framework for viewing organisms, and their biology from the gene level upward, as having evolved as a system of competing demands, tradeoffs, and constraints. In particular, Darwin’s great insight, that similarity in traits due to common ancestry, is still essential to understanding nature, including human behavior, evolution, and health.

In addition, Ardia will discuss his own research on the evolution of life histories in birds, illustrating how organismal biology integrates varying subfields of biology, including physiology, behavior, ecology, and evolution. The research synthesizes results both local from Lancaster as well from across the Americas. "A reductionist approach to studying biology alone would not provide the insight needed to understand how environmental variation, such as occurring through global warming, drives the evolution and conservation of organisms," explained Ardia.

Ardia earned a Ph.D. from Cornell University in ecology and evolutionary biology in 2004 studying variation in life history in birds. From 2004 to 2006 he was a Darwin Fellow at the Program in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He has been an assistant professor of biology since 2006; his research includes work on the evolutionary and behavioral ecology of birds, insects, and fish.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: MARCY DUBROFF (717) 291-3837
E-MAIL: MARCY.DUBROFF@FANDM.EDU
WEB: HTTP://WWW.FANDM.EDU