Due to the integrative and holistic nature of our research, we collaborate with a number of research groups across the University of Arkansas campus and the larger scientific community. These collaborations either expand our topical interests or utilize our technical expertise in new (to our research group) systems. We mention a few of these collaborations below:
Crop pollination is critical for food production, however most pollinator research focuses on diurnal pollinators and specifically bees. We are collaborating with Dr. Neelandra Joshi in Entomology and Plant Pathology to describe the breadth of insect pollinators (nocturnal and diurnal) visiting fruit crops such as apples, and characterizing the associated circadian plant-insect interactions, at behavioral and transcriptomic levels.
One current big question in biology is determining what non-coding RNA is for. The Westerman Lab is part of a 7-institute, 7-PI project examining the role of exRNA in cellular communication across a diverse set of taxa (bacteria to plants to insects to vertebrates) in collaboration with Dr. Roger Innes at Indiana University, Dr. Corbin Jones at University of North Carolina, Dr. Kendall Corbin at the University of Kentucky, Dr. Miriam Konkel at Clemson University, Dr. Patricia Baldrich González at the Danforth Plant Science Center, and Dr. Glen Borchert at the University of South Alabama.
Effect of solar arrays on biodiversity. As solar energy becomes an increasingly important energy source, there is increasing interest in the role of solar arrays in supporting biodiversity. We are collaborating on a project led by Dr. JD Willson at the University of Arkansas to examine the relative biodiversity, across multiple taxa (plant, insect pollinator, amphibian, reptile, bird, and mammal) in solar arrays and other land use environments. Details for this project can be found here.
To better understand the social behavior of butterflies and the relationship between wing pattern and behavior, we are collaborating with Dr. Carrie Olson-Manning at Augustana University in Sioux Falls, SD; Dr. Marcus Kronforst at The University of Chicago; and the Butterfly House and Marine Cove in Sioux Falls SD. This collaboration allows us to study and track the behavior of known butterflies in a large, semi-nature forest environment, train undergraduates to use experimental techniques in animal behavior, and engage the public in integrative animal behavior research.
Relevant publications
Westerman, E.L., Antonson, N.+, Kreutzmann, S.+, Peterson, A.+, Pineda, S.+, Kronforst, M.R., Olson-Manning, C.F., (2019) Behavior before beauty: signal weighting during mate selection in the butterfly Papilio polytes Ethology Doi: 10.1111/eth.12884 link
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- The Butterfly House in Sioux Falls, SD
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- Team Butterfly from Augustana University, gearing up for a semester of data collection at the Butterfly House and Marina Cove.
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- A marked butterfly, ready for release into the Butterfly House in Sioux Falls.
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