Farrell Lab @ Harvard University

Adam Clark wins Hoopes Prize!

On Friday, May 6, undergraduate Adam Clark won the Hoopes Prize for his paper "Ant communities of the Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area."

Lab alumnus Bruce Archibald finds fossil of the world's biggest ant

Published May 4 in Proceedings of the Royal Society B

Also read about it online at the BBC, ScienceNews, Discover, or Wired

Lab alumnus Chris Smith getting press for Joshua Tree-Yucca moth coevolution

Listen on KNPR

Read about it and view photos of the research process in the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

May 2, 2011: Second annual Harvard University Campus BioBlitz!

What is a BioBlitz?

Over 24 hours, the total plant and animal life of the area will be cataloged to the best of our ability and recorded in a public database hosted by the Encyclopedia of Life (EOL). Over time, the HUCBB will provide an invaluable record of the changes in diversity over time, and the types of species present on campus.

When will this happen?

The BioBlitz will begin at midnight on Sunday, May 1st and continue through midnight on Monday, May 2nd. Volunteers will lead taxa-specific sampling expeditions across the campus, cataloguing plant, insect, bird, etc. life. Samples will be identified in the field or sorted under microscopes.

How do I participate?

Show up at any point over the 24 hours, either at our sampling location or at the coordinating center at the MCZ Labs. Student experts will lead guided nature walks for each trip, provide collecting equipment, and help with specimen identification. See which trips you are interested in – we’ll be leading them all day!

Interested? View our flyer [PDF] or visit our blog!

News & Press: 2010

Temperature constancy appears key to tropical biodiversity

New paper answers longstanding scientific question about cause of tropics' stunning biodiversity

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., July 20, 2010 -- The tropics owe their stunning biodiversity to consistent year-round temperatures, not higher temperatures or more sunlight, according to a novel survey of insect diversity at different latitudes and at different points in the planet's history.

The finding, presented this week in the journal Paleobiology by researchers from Harvard University, Simon Fraser University, and Brandon University, may finally answer a question that has dogged scientists for centuries...

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...Farrell and Archibald's co-authors on the Paleobiology paper are William H. Bossert of Harvard's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and David R. Greenwood of Brandon University. The work was funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Harvard's Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Museum of Comparative Zoology, and the Maurice Pechet Foundation.

Full press release

Full Paleobiology article

Harvard Gazette article