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ANNUAL REPORT
HARVARD UNIVERSITY

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2010-2011

DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE

Professor Ernst Mayr, arguably the most famous evolutionary biologist of the
20" century, served as MCZ’s director from 1961 to 1970. For him, the MCZ
“is not merely a repository of collections but a biological research institute.”

According to Mayr, the MCZ has two explicit
tasks: “to study the diversity of living nature
and its evolution—the mere accumulation
of specimens and the mere description of
new species is not our primary task”—and

to instruct undergraduate and graduate
students. This past year’s activities and events
show that we are doing our best to promote
and realize Mayr’s lofty vision and maintain
MCZ’s standing as the finest university-based
natural history museum in the world.

Perhaps the most important ongoing activity
of any university-based museum is the

hiring and retention of outstanding faculty-
curators. Hence, I’m happy to announce
that Dr. Hopi Hoekstra, MCZ’s Curator of
Mammalogy, has accepted Harvard’s offer of
a tenured professorship in the departments
of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology

and Molecular and Cellular Biology, and
appointment as Alexander Agassiz Professor
of Zoology in the MCZ. This is a key
“acquisition” for MCZ, and one that will help
sustain our intellectual leadership in the
field of comparative biology.

Teaching continues to be one of our most
valued and rewarding activities, and I am
happy to showcase some of the impressive
accomplishments of our undergraduate
and graduate students within this report.
Under the supervision of faculty-curators
and with financial support from programs
such as the Grants-in-Aid of Undergraduate
Research, the MCZ continues to both train
new generations of professional zoologists
and educate future doctors, lawyers, poets,
engineers, teachers and other leaders of

tomorrow in the biology of organisms.

This past year saw significant improvements
to our physical plant. A new cryogenic lab
was installed, which will house a state-ofthe-
art, liquid-nitrogen-based collection that will
come online in November 2011. Build-out of
the MCZ’s new 50,000-square-foot collections
facility in the Northwest Science Building
began in spring 2011. Migration of specimens
from their current, overcrowded space in the
old MCZ will begin in early 2012.

With the acquisition of several grants, MCZ
is able to participate in both national and
global efforts to digitize collection records,
some of which extend back hundreds

of years. The resulting online specimen

databases provide unprecedented and

immediate access to primary biodiversity

information by scientists, students,

policymakers, conservationists and other

data “consumers” anywhere and anytime.

Finally, we were sorry to bid farewell to

Elisabeth Werby, Executive Director of the

Harvard Museum of Natural History, at the
close of the 2009-2010 academic year. We

surely will miss Liz, but we also will treasure

the magnificent public museum she left

behind. While the University develops plans

to recruit her successor, David E. Ellis,

former president of both Lafayette College

and the Museum of Science, Boston, is

serving as interim executive director.

The success of the MCZ is only possible
because of the earnest commitment and

dedication of its faculty, researchers, staff

and students. I commend everyone for

their hard work and congratulate them for

a job well done.

James Hanken

Director

Cover photo credits:

Top, left to nght: Luke Mahler; Vlad
Dinca; courtesy of Elaine Vo; Gonzalo
Giribet; Florence On

Bottom, left to right: Lynn Johnson; Naomi

Man in't Veld; Mark Renczkowski; Anna
Clark; Jon Sanders

Opposite page: Hypochrysops digglesii
(Lycaenidae: Theclinae) from Australia by

Catherine Weisel

S————_ ANNUAL Report 2010-2011
wo <

Catherine Weisel

Scott Edwards

Rose Lincoln

Adam Clark

Elaine Vo

Black-footed Albatross in flight and
in the MCZ collections

INVESTING IN THE FUTURE

As both a research and a teaching museum, the MCZ maintains an active
involvement in, and support of, Harvard’s education programs.

Through courses, faculty mentoring and
Grants-in-Aid of Undergraduate Research
(GUR), the MCZ nurtures and advances the
research interests of undergraduate students
from the classroom to the lab and field. We
are proud to highlight some of the research
of recent undergraduates who have been

supervised by MCZ faculty-curators.

The achievements of Anh-Thu Elaine Vo,
Class of 2008, provide an excellent example
of the combined power of scientific curiosity
and initiative, financial support and faculty
mentorship. Vo’s research, funded in part by
a GUR in Winter 2007, measured mercury
levels in the endangered Black-footed
Albatross (Phoebastria nignipes), a wide-ranging
aquatic predator in the Pacific region. Guided
by Professor Scott Edwards, Vo examined

120 years of feathers (1880-2002) held by
MCZ and a second museum to correlate

the amount of mercury accumulated in the
feathers with increased levels of human-
generated atmospheric pollution, especially
since WWII and the more recent doubling of

emissions due to Asian industrialization.

Vo’s work is the first to confirm the rise of
mercury levels in the Pacific Ocean and
points to the need for further research on
the reproductive effects of increased levels of
mercury in endangered species such as the
albatross. Vo’s project garnered a Hoopes

MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY tntminem

Prize in 2008 to reward excellence in her
work as an undergraduate. Her findings were
published in Proceedings of the National Academy
of Sciences of the USA in April 2011.

“Elaine is a very dedicated worker, and with
her background in biochemistry and biology,
she had a breadth of knowledge that is rare
among undergraduates,” explained Prof.
Edwards. “Her research elegantly combines
seabird ecology, ecotoxicology, stable isotopes
and the value of museum specimens to reveal
conditions in the world in which they lived.”

Vo is currently a graduate student at the
University of California, Berkeley, where
she is pursuing research at the interface
of ecological immunology and avian host-
parasite ecology.

Adam Clark, Class of 2011, is
especially interested in ants:

the distribution of species
across landscapes and how new
species establish themselves into
existing communities. For the
last three years, his research has focused on the
ant communities of the Boston Harbor Islands,
including sampling and insect identification
for the All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory run

by the Farrell lab. His work was supported

by a GUR in Spring 2009 and his paper “Ant
communities of the Boston Harbor Islands
National Recreation Area” was recognized with
a Hoopes Prize in 2011. His paper, “The effects
of biogeography on ant diversity and activity
on the Boston Harbor Islands, Massachusetts,
U.S.A.,” is in press at PLoS ONE.

Clark investigated an invasive ant species,
Paratrechina longicornis, in the Dominican
Republic in 2011. Contrary to earlier local
news reports of the danger and devastation
this species would wreak, Clark found that,
even though widespread, the colonies have

remained relatively small, isolated and
docile, and likely do not pose a physical

threat to humans.

“Adam is a natural entomologist who also has
a deep commitment to applying his research
to issues of conservation and sustainable
development,” says his advisor, Professor
Brian Farrell. “He is an ideal ambassador for
the causes of conservation and biodiversity

research, both abroad and domestically.”

Adam Clark

Recent graduate Joanna Larson, Class of
2011, has diverse research interests in both
amphibians and mammals that have led to
fieldwork around the world, from Florida
to Bulgaria to Africa. The MCZ supported
Larson with two GUR grants.

“Joanna began her relationship with MCZ

as a freshman, when she enrolled in the
herpetology course that I teach with Jonathan
Losos,” explained Professor James Hanken,
her advisor. “The course included a spring-
break trip to Costa Rica, and by the end of that
week, she was hooked on comparative zoology,
natural history and fieldwork. She went on to

accomplish great things as an undergraduate.”

Larson’s 2010 summer internship with the
Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural
History enabled her to conduct a taxonomic
revision of Petrodromus, African elephant
shrews, and she is currently investigating

the genetics of this genus with additional
funding from the Smithsonian. During

this internship, Larson also investigated

hybridization between polar bears and

brown bears, work that she now is

reparing for publication.
prep 8 Pp

In December 2011, Larson

will begin a research project,
“Decoding Species Complexes

of Amphibians and Mammals

in the Mountains of Tanzania,”

on a Fulbright grant. She will be
studying small mammal and frog
diversity in the mountains, teaching
in village schools about local
biodiversity and her research, and
improving her fluency in Kiswahili,

which she studied for two years at Harvard.

Alexander Kim, Class of 2013, is so fascinated
by freshwater prawns that he seriously studied
them even before his undergraduate career.
According to his advisor, Professor Gonzalo
Giribet, “Alex has a true passion for learning
and is, by far, the most driven
undergraduate I have ever met.
He was conducting field research
on freshwater crustaceans in high
school and is already participating

in advanced coursework.”

A member of the Giribet lab, Kim’s
fieldwork has been funded in part
by two GUR grants. In 2010, he
traveled to Lake Corpus Christ,
Texas, to investigate how a species
of prawns that live in saltwater when
young but spend their adult lives in
freshwater seem to migrate between
these environments where a man-

made dam should block their path.

In 2011, Kim traveled to the
Panama Canal area to investigate a
novel cluster of Pacific/Caribbean
sister species—closely related prawn
species that were separated by land until
the construction of the Canal. Because
both of these species can tolerate both
the saline and freshwater segments

of the Canal, they have the potential

for invasions far beyond their current
habitats, with possible hemisphere-wide

ecological repercussions.

Joanna Larson

Alexander Kim

—_—. ANNUAL Report 2010-2011 2

MCZ FAcuLury-CGURATORS

Andrew A. Biewener
Charles P. Lyman Professor of Biology
Director, Concord Field Station

Prof. Biewener’s research focuses on understanding the
biomechanics, neuromuscular control and energetics of
animal movement on land and in the air. To study how
and why a wide variety of animals move dynamically in

a natural setting, the Biewener lab employs treadmills,
NVilate MB tUlalat=)cMmalle]ates)el-\-10 MU(e(-cem-laleMaal-liglele\-Me)meli(-ce1t\Y
measuring the force and movement of the animal’s body,
limbs and wings.

How musculoskeletal design varies across differing modes

and conditions of movement—as well as across diverse
species —is of particular interest in understanding the general principles that govern the design
of the neuromuscular and skeletal systems of vertebrates. In the Biewener lab, limb and body
dynamics of whole animal movement are analyzed in relation to neuromuscular, tendon and
skeletal function.

The research of the Biewener lab is designed to answer questions about animal movement, such as:

What features of the musculoskeletal system developed in response to the demands for
powered flight versus those for economical movement over ground?

How do animals maneuver in their environment and stabilize in response to disturbances?
How does size affect animal design and performance?

How can biological systems inform robotics design?

The Biewener lab at the Concord Field Station consists of three postdoctoral researchers, four
graduate students, one research associate and three undergraduate researchers.

Brian D. Farrell
Professor of Biology
Curator of Entomology

Scott V. Edwards
Professor of Biology
Alexander Agassiz Professor of Zoology

Tony Rinaldo

Curator of Ornithology

Prof. Edwards’ research focuses
on the evolutionary biology of
birds and relatives, using the
guiding principles of population
genetics and systematics to
inform their natural history

and behavior. Current projects
utilize genomic technologies

to examine genome evolution
across the reptile-bird transition;
phylogeography and speciation
of Australian and North American birds; and the genomics of
host-parasite co-evolution between house finches—a common
North American songbird—and a recently acquired bacterial
pathogen called Mycoplasma.

MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY ettegm

Stu Rosner

Prof. Farrell’s research is
broadly concerned with
whether the diversity of
species on Earth is a cause
or consequence of the
diverse roles different
species play in ecosystems,
particularly between insects
and plants.

The Farrell lab serves as a base
for the Beetle Tree of Life
project, a collaborative and
comprehensive phylogenetic
study of this most diverse
group of animals.

Lynn Johnson

FACULTY-CURATORS

Gonzalo Giribet
Professor of Biology
Curator of Invertebrate Zoology

James Hanken

Professor of Biology

Alexander Agassiz Professor of Zoology
Curator of Herpetology

Prof. Giribet’s primary MCZ Director

research focuses on the
evolution, systematics and
biogeography of invertebrate
animals. Current projects

in the Giribet lab include
multidisciplinary studies for
Assembling the Bivalve Tree
of Life and for assessing deep
molluscan phylogeny, as well
as multiple projects involving
research on arthropod
systematics and biogeography, sponges, sipunculans,
platyhelminthes and onychophorans. He is also interested in
philosophical aspects of sequence data analysis, emphasizing
homology-related issues.

Prof. Hanken utilizes laboratory-
based analyses and field surveys
to examine morphological
evolution, developmental

biology and systematics of
amphibians. Current areas of research include the evolution
of craniofacial patterning; the developmental basis of life-
history evolution; and systematics, taxonomy and evolution
of neotropical and Asian salamanders and frogs.

Prof. Hanken also serves on the Executive Committee of the
Encyclopedia of Life (eol.org).

Farish A. Jenkins, Jr.

Professor of Biology
Alexander Agassiz Professor of Zoology
Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology

PAN-- lai lal- ice) als) amelie) (ole li-ar- ale = 1at- 18) ¢-10-
paleontologist, Prof. Jenkins is as much
intrigued by living vertebrates as by

their extinct relatives. Broadly interested
in vertebrate evolution, he has never
restricted his research to a particular
1t-)<o)ammr-lale Malicmere)|(-lole)e-\t(e)al-mar-\U-)
ranged from Mesozoic mammals to frogs.
Another significant research focus has
been functional anatomy: understanding
the musculoskeletal mechanisms that
animals use to move and breathe.

Hopi E. Hoekstra
Professor of Biology

Alexander Agassiz Professor of Zoology
Curator of Mammalogy

Prof. Hoekstra combines field and
laboratory work to understand the
evolution of mammalian diversity
from morphology to behavior. Her
research focuses on the genetic basis
of adaptive variation—identifying
both the ultimate causes and the
proximate mechanisms responsible
for traits that help organisms
survive and reproduce in the wild.

Research in the Hoekstra lab uses
integrative approaches to understand
how biological variation is generated

and maintained in natural populations.

He maintains active field research in vertebrate paleontology and, in 2006,
was part of an expedition that discovered Tiktaalik roseae, the missing link
between fish and land animals, in the Canadian Arctic. In 2009 he was given
the Romer-Simpson Medal, the highest award of the Society of Vertebrate
Paleontology, for sustained and outstanding scholarly excellence.

Prof. Jenkins has led courses in vertebrate evolution for 40 years, explaining
the anatomical and physiological transformations that transitioned fish

1 Co ¢-)0) 4] (Colo) |co\- CoM gar-lttltir-Uictet- (eee) 4) @s-18)(-16 eve (-i¢-1|(-10 -lale Mere) (0) gi0)|
chalkboard illustrations—to cover 500 million years of vertebrate evolution in
26 lectures.

Prof. Jenkins was honored with a Harvard College Professorship in 2011

aM c-rerelelalitio)ame)mali-me (re |(er-\t(e)am(omelale(-ice]e-(el0l-1(-m(-r-(e) gle mm amAe LO Mm al)
received the Everett Mendelsohn Excellence in Mentoring Award for his

) fe) at Mamie] e) ole) atiale me |e-(elUr-1¢-M-)(0(e(-18) (Me -v0 |b er-1t(0)a Mm 0)¢0) (<<) (041-1 lale Ml el-1e-ve lar ||
development and career plans. Prof. Jenkins was also recognized with

The Joseph R. Levenson Memorial Teaching Prize in 2010.

Sarr ANNUAL Report 2010-2011
=

Stephanie Mitchell

ACULTY-CURATORS

George V. Lauder
Professor of Biology

Henry Bryant Bigelow Professor of Ichthyology
Curator of Ichthyology

Prof. Lauder’s research examines the structure,
function and evolution of vertebrates, particularly
fishes and amphibians. His current studies

focus on the development of robotic models for
understanding the functional and evolutionary
diversity of fishes. Additional interests include
biological fluid mechanics, theoretical approaches
to the analysis of form and function in organisms,
and the history and philosophy of morphology and

physiology.

Jon Chase

Naomi E. Pierce

Sidney A. and John Hessel
Professor of Biology
Curator of Entomology

Prof. Pierce’s research
uses molecular and
morphological data

to reconstruct the
evolutionary history of
Lepidoptera. The goal
of this research is to
clarify the systematics
and classification of
these insects, and to
investigate how host plant
and ant associations have
shaped their patterns of
diversification.

MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY eet ——
=_—

—

Jonathan B. Losos
Monique and Philip Lehner
Professor for the Study of
Latin America

Curator of Herpetology

Prof. Losos’ research focuses on
the behavioral and evolutionary
ecology of lizards, specifically

how lizards interact with

their environment and how
lizard clades have diversified
evolutionarily. His laboratory
integrates approaches from
systematics, ecology, behavior,

genetics and functional

morphology, taking both observational and experimental
approaches in the field and in the laboratory.

Robert M.
Woollacott
Professor of Biology
Curator of Marine
Invertebrates

Prof. Woollacott’s
research focuses
on aspects

of marine
invertebrate life
history, such as
synchronization

James J. McCarthy

Professor of Biological Oceanography
Alexander Agassiz Professor of
Biological Oceanography

Acting Curator of Malacology

Prof. McCarthy’s research focuses
on factors that regulate the
processes of primary production
and nutrient supply in the ocean.

Through controlled laboratory
studies and field investigations,
Prof. McCarthy and his group
examine the effects of strong
seasonal or interannual climate
change on marine life and
biogeochemical systems.

of reproductive events and ecology and physiology of
larvae. Topics of particular interest include larval dispersal
and population connectivity, as well as human impacts on
the distribution of marine organisms.

Rose Lincoln/Harvard News Office

Jean-Francois Bertrand

MCZ EmeritI

Kenneth J. Boss
Faculty-Curator Emeritus
Professor of Biology, Emeritus

Prof. Boss, former Curator
of Malacology, has been
with Harvard for 40 years.
His research focus is the
classification, systematics and
evolution of mollusks, using data from shell morphology,
anatomy and zoogeography to analyze the phylogenetic
relationships within various groups of gastropods

and bivalves. He has also published on the history of
malacology. Prof. Boss has contributed extensively to
the Occasional Papers on Mollusks and formerly served
as editor for Breviora and the Bulletin of the Museum of
Comparative Zoology.

Richard C. Lewontin
Professor of Biology, Emeritus
Alexander Agassiz Professor of
Zoology, Emeritus

An evolutionary geneticist, Prof.
Lewontin pioneered the field of
molecular population genetics
by merging molecular biology
and evolutionary theory, as

well as the philosophical and
social implications of genetics
and evolutionary theory. Prof.
Lewontin’s current research
involves computer simulation
and evaluation of statistical tests for selection. Among his
many books are The Genetic Basis of Evolutionary Change,
Biology as Ideology: the Doctrine of DNA; Human Diversity; and
The Triple Helix: Gene Organism and Environment. He served
as President of the Society for the Study of Evolution,

the American Society of Naturalists and the Society for
Molecular Biology and Evolution.

Edward O. Wilson

EMERITI

A. W. “Fuzz” Crompton
Faculty-Curator Emeritus

Fisher Professor of Natural History,
Ementus

Prof. Crompton, former
Curator of Mammalogy, was
the Director of the MCZ from
1970 to 1982 and the former
Director of the Peabody
Museum of Natural History,
Yale University, and the South
African Museum, Capetown. His primary research interests
are the origin and evolution of mammals, functional
anatomy, neural control and evolution of feeding in recent
and fossil vertebrates. Prof. Crompton is a fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American
Association for the Advancement of Science. He received
two Guggenheim fellowships for his research on vertebrate
paleontology and functional morphology.

Herbert W. Levi
Faculty-Curator Emeritus
Alexander Agassiz Professor of
Zoology, Emeritus

A former Curator of
Arachnology, Prof. Levi's
research focuses on the
taxonomy of New World orb
weaving araneid spider genera.
The author of Spiders and Their
Kin, as well as numerous articles
on various spider genera, his
research has made possible
identification of 1,500 species in
66 genera in the Americas. Prof. Levi served as president of
the International Society of Arachnology and, in 2007, won
the ISA’s Eugene Simon Award for lifetime achievement for
his immense influence on spider research.

Honorary Curator in Entomology
Pellegrino University Professor, Emeritus

Prof. Wilson is considered the founder of sociobiology and evolutionary

psychology and has developed the basis of modern biodiversity conservation.
He has received many of the world’s leading prizes in recognition of his
research and environmental activism. He was awarded two Pulitzer Prizes for

his books The Ants (1990, with Bert Hdlldobler) and On Human Nature (1978).

In 2007, Prof. Wilson received the Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED)
Prize, where he articulated the concept of the Encyclopedia of Life—
a contemporary, dynamic Web page for every named species.

———— ANNUAL Report 2010-2011
=<

Justin Ide

Courtesy of the Ernst Mayr Library

—

OEB 155r: Biology of Insects

Freshman Seminar 31v: The Beasts of
Antiquity and Their Natural History
(offered Fall 2011)

[USEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY

CourRSEs IN 2010-2011 LED By
MCZ FacutTyCuRATORS

Organismic and Evolutionary
Biology

OEB 10: Foundations of Biological Diversity
(undergraduate )

Brian D. Farrell (and N. Michele Holbrook)

An integrated approach to the diversity of
life, emphasizing how chemical, physical,
genetic, ecological and geologic processes
contribute to the origin and maintenance of
biological diversity.

OEB 51: Biology and Evolution of
Invertebrate Animals (undergraduate )
Gonzalo Giribet (and Cassandra G. Extavour)
Introduction to invertebrate diversity, with
special emphasis on the broad diversity of
animal forms, their adaptations to different
ecosystems and how these phenomena shape
animal evolution.

OEB 53: Evolutionary Biology
(undergraduate )

Hopi E. Hoekstra (and Andrew J. Berry)

Micro- and macro-evolution, ranging from
population genetics through molecular evolution
to the grand patterns of the fossil record.

OEB 57: Animal Behavior (undergraduate )
Naomi E. Pierce (and Bence P. Olveczky)

A review of the behavior of animals under
natural conditions, with emphasis on both
mechanistic and evolutionary approaches.

OEB 121a: Research in Comparative
Biomechanics (undergraduate and graduate)
Andrew A. Biewener, George V. Lauder

(and Daniel E. Lieberman, Stacey A. Combes)
Introduction to experimental techniques
used to investigate the structure and
physiology of vertebrates, where each
instructor offers research projects that are
undertaken in their laboratory.

OEB 121b: Research in Comparative
Biomechanics (undergraduate and graduate)
Andrew A. Biewener, George V. Lauder

(and Daniel E. Lieberman, Stacey A. Combes)
Optional extension of initial project
undertaken in OEB 121a into a thesis
research project.

OEB 125: Molecular Ecology and Evolution
(undergraduate and graduate )

Scott V. Edwards

A survey of theory and applications of DNA
technologies to the study of evolutionary,
ecological and behavioral processes in
natural populations.

OEB 139: Evolution of the Vertebrates
(undergraduate and graduate)

Farish A. Jenkins, Jv:

Origination and evolution of the major
groups of vertebrates, with emphasis

on the anatomical and physiological
transformations that occurred during

the transitions to diverse lineages of fish,
amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals.

OEB 155r: Biology of Insects
(undergraduate and graduate)

Naomi E. Pierce (and Michael R. Canfield)
Introduction to the major groups of insects—
life history, morphology, physiology and
ecology—through a combination of lecture,
lab and field exercises.

OEB 157: Global Change Biology
(undergraduate and graduate)

James J. McCarthy (and Paul R. Moorcroft)
Examines natural and anthropogenic
changes in the earth system and their
impact on the structure and functioning of
terrestrial and oceanic systems.

OEB 181: Systematics (undergraduate
and graduate )

Gonzalo Giribet

Theory and practice of systematics,
emphasizing issues associated with
homology statements and alignments,
methods of tree construction and
hypothesis evaluation.

OEB 231: Adaptation (graduate)

Hopi E. Hoekstra

This discussion-based course covers the
latest advances in the study of adaptation,
with a focus on controversial issues and
integrative approaches.

OEB 233: Evolution of the Niche (graduate)
Jonathan Losos

Evolutionary diversification relates directly
to how ecological niches change through
time.

OEB 234: Topics in Marine Biology
(graduate )

Robert M. Woollacott

Human impacts on marine life and
ecosystems of the sea.

OEB 255: Nature and Regulation of Marine
Ecosystems (graduate )

James J. McCarthy

A presentation of topics that are of current
interest in marine ecosystems. Emphasis on
identification and quantification of biological
and environmental factors important in the
regulation of community structure.

Graduate Courses of
Reading and Research
OEB 307: Biomechanics, Physiology and

Musculoskeletal Biology
Andrew A. Biewener

OEB 310: Metazoan Systematics
Gonzalo Ginbet

OEB 320: Biomechanics and Evolution of
Vertebrates
George V. Lauder

OEB 323: Advanced Vertebrate Anatomy
Farish A. Jenkins, Jr.

OEB 325: Marine Biology
Robert M. Woollacott

OEB 334: Behavioral Ecology
Naomi E. Pierce

OEB 341: Coevolution
Brian D. Farrell

COURSES

OEB 234: Topics in Marine Biology

OEB 345: Biological Oceanography
James J. McCarthy

OEB 355: Evolutionary Developmental
Biology
James Hanken

OEB 362: Research in Molecular Evolution
Scott V. Edwards

OEB 367: Evolutionary and Ecological
Diversity
Jonathan Losos

OEB 370: Mammalian Evolutionary
Genetics
Hofi E. Hoekstra

Life Sciences

LIFESCI 2: Evolutionary

Human Physiology and Anatomy
(undergraduate )

George V. Lauder (and Peter T. Ellison,
Daniel E. Lieberman)

Explores human anatomy and
physiology from an integrated
framework, combining functional,
comparative and evolutionary
perspectives on how organisms work.

SS ANNUAL Report 2010-2011 OQ
=<

COURSES

General Education

Science of Living Systems 22:

Human Influence on Life in the Sea
(undergraduate )

James J. McCarthy, Robert M. Woollacott
Over-harvested fish stocks, pollution and
anthropogenic climate change affect

the stability and productivity of marine
ecosystems. This course asks what we need
to know about the causes and effects of
anthropogenic change to best protect
marine ecosystems and ensure sustainable
harvests from the sea.

Harvard Extension School and
Harvard Summer School
BIOS E-225: Human Impacts on

Marine Communities (graduate )
Robert M. Woollacott

Human Evolutionary Biology How anthropogenic-driven events are
impacting the structure and function of

marine communities.

OEB 155r: Biology of Insects

HEB 1210: Research in Comparative
Biomechanics (undergraduate and graduate )

Andrew A. Biewener, George V. Lauder (and BIOS S-74: Marine Life and Ecosystems
Stacey A. Combes, Daniel E. Lierberman) of the Sea

Introduces students to experimental Robert M. Woollacott

techniques used to investigate the structure The life history and adaptations of marine
and physiology of animals. life and the ecosystems of the sea, with

emphasis on understanding the fragility
and resilience of marine systems in the face
of anthropogenically driven perturbations.

Gonzalo Giribet

BIOL S-113: Study Abroad at Oxford:
Darwin and Contemporary Evolutionary
Biology

Naomi E. Pierce (and Andrew Berry)

The history of evolutionary biology in the
post-Darwinian world, following strands of
thought either introduced or ignored by
Darwin in On the Origin of Species through to
the present.

OEB 51: Biology and Evolution of
Invertebrate Animals

Environmental Science
and Public Policy

ESPP 90f: Global Change and Human
Health (undergraduate )

James J. McCarthy (and Paul R. Epstein)
Explores hypothesized linkages between
changes in ecosystems, climate and the
epidemiology of certain infectious diseases
resulting from increasing human population
and our consumption of natural resources.

ESPP 90q: Conservation and Evolution
(undergraduate )

Jonathan Losos

Examines the extent to which conservation
and evolutionary biology need to be
integrated to preserve the world’s
biological diversity.

OEB 155r: Biology of Insects

MuSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY __ carnanem —S—
aw

NEw FACILITIES AND TECHNOLOGIES
ENHANCE PRESERVATION AND ACCESS

There are developments all around the MCZ to ensure the preservation of

specimens and enhance their access for research, on site and online.

The Northwest Building

The Northwest Building’s below-ground
floors are being renovated for state-of-the-art
laboratories, special preparations areas, a
classroom and climate-controlled collections
storage rooms for the MCZ. The building
will become the new home for all or part of
eight MCZ dry collections, greatly improving
storage conditions for these specimens

and the preparation and lab areas for their

researchers and students.

The Phase One build-out of the building’s

B2 level—with the prep labs, receiving

space and the Mammalogy management

and collections space—was completed in
summer 2011. “The collection areas and new
prep labs are leading-edge facilities, and the
collections staff—even those with specimens
not moving—are eager to start using the
shared facilities,” said Linda Ford, Director of
Collections Operations.

Mark Renczkowski

Curatorial staff have been readying the
Mammalogy collections since early 2010 and
these collections are scheduled to move to
the Northwest Building in early 2012. Phase
Two, B3 South, will be the management

and collection areas for Ornithology and
the management areas for Malacology and
Invertebrate Paleontology. Phase Three, B3
Central, will house the collections areas for
Malacology, Invertebrate and Vertebrate
Paleontology, Marine Invertebrates,
Invertebrate Zoology and fossil Entomology,
as well as the management area for Vertebrate
Paleontology. These two phases have been
combined and construction will begin in

fall 2011.

Since 2007, Jessica Cundiff, Curatorial
Associate for Invertebrate Paleontology, has
been supervising the preparation of more
than a million specimens in anticipation

of the move. “It’s been quite a bit of work,
but we're nearly done. We’ve cleaned a lot
of the specimens, finding that some of the
lesser-used ones were black from the days of
coal-burning furnaces, and made repairs to

stabilize specimens as needed.”

Cundiff is also acting Curatorial Associate for
Vertebrate Paleontology and will soon turn
her attention to preparing that collection.
She expects that Vertebrate Paleontology’s
approximately 100,000 specimens of larger,
heavier fossils will take one to two years to get

ready—right on schedule for their move.

“The new prep lab space will have many
additional pieces of equipment—a dust
collector, fume hood and rock saws—that
will make our prep and repair work easier
and safer,” said Cundiff. “We’re really looking
forward to it.”

COLLECTIONS

The Northwest Building

Solnhofen specimen before and

after repair

SS ANNUAL Report 2010-2011
> ne

Cyndi A. Wood

COLLECTIONS

New Cryogenic Collection

The MCZ collections of genetic material—
tissue samples for DNA and RNA extraction—
have been housed in frozen storage in
collections and labs all around the MCZ,
complicating tracking and sending curatorial
staff scrambling during power outages.

To provide a more accessible and reliable
system for the storage and preservation of
this material, a Cryogenic Collection is being
created to centralize sample storage from
across the MCZ in liquid nitrogen-cooled
cryovats.

Breda Zimkus, the Cryogenic Collection
Project Manager, has been working on
converting former collection storage space
in the MCZ Labs in the building’s basement.
The space is nearly completed and the
institution’s first liquid nitrogen cryovats will
be delivered in September 2011. “For our
purposes, cryovats are the superior choice
because the colder the storage, the longer the
sample remains viable for genetic research,”
explained Zimkus. “The three cryovats will
accommodate 40,000 samples each, enough
space for our existing collections with room
for growth—and we have floor space for
one or two more.” All of the centrally stored
samples will be barcoded for easy access,
resulting in a more efficient workflow that
will free up collections staff and improve

the handling of the samples. According to
Zimkus, “The facility is designed to support
the work of all the scientific staff at the MCZ.”

During planning, Zimkus discovered that
while there were many options in designing
a cryogenic facility, there were no right
answers for every circumstance and little
published information to help evaluate the
options. To help rectify this deficiency, she
received a grant to develop best practices for
genetic resource collections associated with
natural history museums. She expects to
share her results at the 2012 annual meeting
of the Society for the Preservation of Natural
History Collections and eventually publish to
assist others in the field.

MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY cesarean

New Ichthyology Specimen Tanks
Many MCZ specimens are stored in fluid,
including most aquatic invertebrates, fishes,
amphibians and reptiles. During recent
collections renovations, the MCZ purchased
123 custom-designed three-foot stainless
steel tanks to replace many old steel-lined
wooden tanks, some dating back to the
Agassiz years. Multiple new oversized tanks
were also purchased, some of which can
hold specimens up to 12 feet long, such as
sharks, marlin, ocean sunfish (Mola mola),

grouper and other large spiny fishes.

Karsten Hartel and Andrew Williston

Karsten Hartel, Curatorial Associate for
Ichthyology, explained, “The large specimens
in the MCZ Ichthyology collection date back to
the 1800s and are scientifically valuable in part
because many museums don’t have facilities

to keep fishes of this size.” For example, the
collection contains the heads of a basking shark
and a manta ray, each weighing around 250
pounds. Specimens of these species, and of this

size, are very rare in collections.

“As large fishes continue to disappear from
the world’s waters, it is imperative that
museums be able to house representative
large specimens for future anatomical and
systematic studies. Our new tanks ensure that
we will be able to add critical large specimens
to our collection and to maintain them in
good condition for years to come,” said
George Lauder, Curator of Ichthyology and
Bigelow Professor of Ichthyology.

Linda Ford

Database Update

The multi-year migration of all legacy
collections databases to the master
museum-wide database, MCZbase, has been
completed. Data entry from the original
specimen ledgers and catalogues is nearly
completed as well, and the scanning of these
resources is almost finished. Once linked to
MCZbase, researchers will be able to call up
a specimen record and view the image of the

original ledger page where it was recorded.

The MCZ Lepidoptera Rapid Data Capture
Project will produce the first Entomology
collection to be represented in MCZbase.
During the past twelve months, thirty-three
undergraduate students and volunteer
interns have contributed to this effort,
including photographing butterflies and
transcribing data in the collection room.

According to project manager Rod Eastwood,
butterfly data capture has now reached the
halfway mark, with approximately 100,000
butterfly specimens and labels imaged.

A quarter of these have pin label data
transcribed into the Lepidoptera database in
preparation for uploading to MCZbase.

“Digitizing the butterfly collection and

making the images available online not only

Rodney Eastwood

to researchers around the world, but also
provides a valuable resource for research into
butterfly wing shape and color patterning,”
said Naomi Pierce, Curator of Lepidoptera

and Hessel Professor of Biology.

The protocols developed for the butterfly
collection will be adapted to image and
database other taxa in the insect collections,
starting with the large and important MCZ

ant collection.

In other developments, MCZbase is currently
feeding all of its specimen photos into the
Encyclopedia of Life, and the MCZ has
contributed specimen data to 4,278 EOL
species pages to date. MCZbase is now also
calling out to Berkeley Mapper to gather

data to create point distribution maps with

The MCZ Lepidoptera Rapid Data
Capture Project

makes the collection immediately accessible GoogleMaps and other applications.

eee ANNUAL Report 2010-2011 |
i. a

Vlad Dinca

MCZ NEWS

MCZ RESEARCH MAKING HEADLINES

Lolita and Lepidoptera

In 1945, Vladimir Nabokov, renowned
author of Lolita and lifelong lepidopterist,
proposed a revolutionary theory

regarding the butterflies he studied, the
Polyommatus blues. Without any means

more sophisticated than a microscope, he
described a bold new theory of how and
when the blues arrived in the New World. In
the intervening years, however, few scientists
seriously considered his hypothesis.

In his paper, Nabokov, a de facto curator
of Lepidoptera at the MCZ, described the
migration of Polyommatus blues from Asia
over the Bering Strait in five waves, each
giving rise to a separate New World group.
Using genetic sequencing of newly collected
samples, Naomi Pierce and her colleagues
set out to reconstruct the family tree of
Nabokov’s blues in research that spanned
eight years and involved six expeditions to
the Andes to collect the necessary species.

The team used a technique called a
“molecular clock” to determine how long
ago the various New World species of
Polyommatus blues evolved. This dating
would indicate which of the competing
theories—including an alternative

hypothesis that the species diverged upon
the breakup of ancient Gondwanaland 80 to
100 million years ago—was correct.

The team’s research determined that

the butterflies arrived in South America
approximately 11 million years ago, within
the time frame postulated by Nabokov, when
the Bering land bridge still existed and
temperatures were favorable for the relatively
warm-adapted butterflies to disperse to South
America. Moreover, they found that Nabokov
correctly predicted the sequence of the
subsequent four waves of migration that gave
rise to the groups of these butterflies that we
now see in North America. The ancestors of
each of these groups were increasingly cold-
adapted, matching the cooling temperatures
occurring across the Bering Straits. Thus,
more than 65 years later, Nabokov’s
revolutionary theory regarding the migration
and evolution of his beloved blues has been
proved to be astonishingly accurate.

Vila R, Bell CD, Macniven R, Goldman-Huertas B, Ree RH,
Marchall CR, Balint Z, Johnson K, Benyamini D, Pierce NE
(2011) Phylogeny and palaeoecology of Polyommatus blue
butterflies show Beringia was a climate-regulated gateway
to the New World. Proc Roy Soc B 278:2737-2744.

Revealing the Role of Seasons in Biodiversity

Earth’s biodiversity is higher in the tropics,
but why? Is diversity fostered by increased light
and heat, or by lower variation in seasonal
temperatures? In research published in
Paleobiology, Brian Farrell worked with his
former student and MCZ Associate Bruce
Archibald and colleagues to seek the answer
in deep, geologic time.

They compared insect diversity at two modern
locations—the Harvard Forest Ecological
Research Site, a temperate forest with high
seasonality, and a Costa Rican tropical forest
with high levels of light and heat but low
seasonality—with the exceptionally well-
preserved insects of the McAbee fossil bed in
British Columbia. When the McAbee fossils
were created 52.9 million years ago, Earth’s
climate was far less seasonal at all latitudes,
allowing tropical species such as palm trees and
crocodiles to live in what is now the high Arctic.

MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY some

The researchers discovered that the ancient
Canadian site’s insect diversity is similar

to that of the modern Costa Rican forest,
despite a marked difference in latitude,
suggesting that lower variation in seasonal
temperatures—rather than heat or light—
drives increased biodiversity.

Up through the Eocene epoch—when most
of today’s organisms were diversifying—the
world lacked pronounced seasonality, much
like today’s tropics. Interestingly, the findings
indicate that, in the present day, it is not the
heat of the tropics that promotes diversity,
but the seasons of the higher-latitude
temperate zone that depresses diversity.

Archibald SB, Bossert WH, Greenwood DR, Farrell BD
(2010) Seasonality, the latitudinal gradient of diversity, and
Eocene insects. Paleobiology 36:374-398.

Biomechanics and Fluid Dynamics

When moving through water, fishes with
flexible fins must continually react to the
surrounding fluid to maintain stability and
steady forward movement. Until recently, the
main method of analyzing fish wakes—and
therefore the movement and force applied

to the water by the fins—has been limited

to two-dimensional techniques, which have
left considerable room for error. In research
published in Biology Letters, Brooke Flammang
and colleagues used a novel 3D laser imaging
technique to instantly capture the interaction
between fishes and their environment. The
research was designed to test assumptions
made under two-dimensional methods and
to examine the interaction between the
dorsal and anal fin wake and the tail fin,
which has been technically difficult to do with
traditional imaging approaches.

On a “treadmill for fish,” four bluegill
sunfish (Lepomis macrochirus) and a cichlid
fish (Pseudotropheus greshakei) swam singly in
a recirculating flow tank seeded with plastic
particles suspended in the flow. A pulse laser
illuminated the fluid downstream of the
swimming fish, and the particle position and
displacements were captured by a camera
and calculated using software. With the

new system, researchers are able to analyze

Tongue Tales: How Dogs Lap

Have you ever watched a dog lapping water
and wondered how the liquid gets into

its mouth? To a casual observer, the dog’s
tongue seems to curl under and make a
spoon shape, leading some to conclude that
dogs scoop up liquid with the underside

of their tongues. Cats, however, pull water
into their mouths using the upper surface
of their tongues. Since the oral cavities

of cats and dogs are similarly structured,
this lapping mechanism shouldn’t be
fundamentally different. So how, really,
does water get to the dog’s mouth?

It has been shown that when cats lap, they
curl their tongue backwards until it comes
to rest on, but does not penetrate, the
surface of the liquid. Then as the cat lifts its
tongue, liquid is drawn up into the mouth
on the upper surface of the tongue.

MCZ NEWS: RESEARCH

the entire volume of water being
moved in each of multiple sequential
photographic images.

Flammang, an MCZ
postdoctoral fellow at the
Lauder lab, discovered that
the dorsal and anal fins make
a great contribution to the
tail fin wake, and thus are
additional propellers, not
merely stabilizers. Scientists
have known that the dorsal
and anal fins are important
for balance, but have only
now been able to show that
they also play a significant role
in locomotion.

Flammang also used volumetric imaging to A novel 3D imaging technique uses a

examine shark tail hydrodynamics in research
to be published in Proceedings of the Royal
Society B.

pulse laser to capture the displacement
of plastic particles in a flow tank.

Flammang BE, Lauder GV, Troolin, DR, Strand TE
(2011) Volumetric imaging of fish locomotion. Biol Lett
7:695-698.

Flammang BE, Lauder GV, Troolin DR, Strand TE
(2011) Volumetric imaging of shark tail hydrodynamics

reveals a three-dimensional dual-ring vortex wake
structure. Proc Roy Soc B 278:3670-3678.

Using high-speed light videos and
X-ray videos, A.W. Crompton and
Catherine Musinsky recorded a
dog lapping broth. The videos
show that when the dog dipped its
tongue into the broth, it did scoop
liquid into a spoon-shaped area
on the underside of its tongue.
However, when the tongue was
withdrawn, the liquid fell out.
Instead, a column of liquid was
drawn up on the surface of the
tongue and then trapped in the
mouth as the jaw closed—just

as in cats. Their findings were
published online in Biology Letters.

Crompton AW, Musinsky C (2011) How
dogs lap: ingestion and intraoral transport
in Canis familians. Biol Lett 7:882-884.

—_—. ANNUAL Report 2010-2011

Brooke Flammang

Stephanie Mitchell

Luke Mahler

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MCZ NEWS: RESEARCH

Marie Manceau (left) and Hopi Hoekstra

Designer Genes

Survival in the wild can be
determined by how well an
animal’s coloration hides it
from predators. However,

the genetic mechanisms

that create color patterns
have been little understood.
Marie Manceau and Hopi E.
Hoekstra used two populations
of deer mice, each differently
adapted to be camouflaged in
their particular environment,
to show how the Agouti gene
plays a key developmental role
in color pattern evolution.

The color pattern in deer
mice—a dark back and a light
belly—is the most typical in
vertebrates. The researchers found that the
expression of the Agouti gene in the belly of
the developing fetus delays the maturation of
cells that will eventually produce pigments,
and thus the development of color, in that
area of the body. In addition, the researchers
found that subtle changes in the gene’s

embryonic activity can also make a profound
difference in the distribution of pigments
across the entire body. Their findings were
published in Science.

Beyond color patterning, this study
highlights how even small changes in Agouti
gene expression in embryos can establish a
completely new color pattern in adults. In
deer mice, natural selection drives changes in
the amount and place of Agouti expression,
which in turn results in new color patterns
that can camouflage animals from predators
in habitats ranging from dark forests to sandy
beaches.

Manceau and Hoekstra plan to continue
their research with animals having more
complex color patterns, such as chipmunks,
to determine if the same pre-patterning
mechanisms seen in deer mice are also
involved.

Manceau M, Domingues VS, Mallarino R, Hoekstra HE
(2011) The developmental role of Agouti in color pattern
evolution. Science 331:1062-1065.

Physical Evolution Keeps Pace with Ecological Opportunity

Adaptive radiation—where a single ancestral
species gives rise to many descendants,

each adapted to a different part of the
environment—is possibly the single most
important source of biodiversity in the
world. One of the best-studied examples

of adaptive radiation is the Anolis lizards,
which arrived in the islands of the Caribbean
around 40 million years ago from South
America and evolved into numerous species
of dramatically differing body sizes and limb
lengths.

In theory, ecological opportunity—the
availability of resources, such as food and
territory, and the amount of competition
for those resources—is the primary factor
regulating the pace of species diversification,
so the rate of diversification should slow as
opportunity declines. However, does this
theory also hold true for the diversification
of body size and shape?

MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY _ enn

To investigate the relationship between
ecological opportunity and morphological
evolution, D. Luke Mahler, Jonathan B. Losos
and colleagues employed genetic methods
and data from body measurements of around
100 species of Caribbean anoles from Cuba,
Hispaniola, Jamaica and Puerto Rico.

They found that the earliest species with

the greatest resources and little or no
competition developed the widest variety of
body types and sizes—from foot-long giants
that travel the treetops to slender lizards that
live in bushes. But as the number of Anolis
species increased and their ecological niches
became smaller, the resulting adaptations in
body type slowed and became more subtle.
The research was published in Evolution.

Mahler DL, Revell LJ, Glor RE, Losos JB (2010) Ecological
opportunity and the rate of morphological evolution in
the diversification of Greater Antillean anoles. Evolution
64:2731-2745.

PROJECTS & INITIATIVES

Encyclopedia of Life

The second version of the Encyclopedia of Life (eol.org)
debuted on September 5, 2011. The free, online collaborative
resource is vastly expanded, offering information on more
than one-third of all known species on Earth. EOL Version 2
(EOLv2) features a new design and tools that make it easy for
users to find organisms and create personalized collections of
photos and information.

As an EOL cornerstone institution, Harvard University

is extensively involved in building EOL. The MCZ-based
EOL Learning + Education Group has initiated several

new collections of Harvard contributions (www.eol.org/
collections /5923). These collections include LifeDesks
created by the MCZ’s EOL Fellows, Gisele Kawauchi and
Breda Zimkus; field guides customized for the Harvard
Museum of Natural History exhibitions; and podcasts by E.O.
Wilson and others. In addition, Harvard undergraduates
have created species accounts as part of their biology courses
and published them to EOL via Education LifeDesks,
Mushroom Observer and AmphibiaWeb.

The MCZ has contributed data from its ten research
departments to 4,278 EOL species pages, and MCZbase,
the museum-wide specimen database, is currently feeding
all of its specimen photos into EOL. The MCZ’s Ernst
Mayr Library belongs to the Biodiversity Heritage Library,
whose members have scanned around 35 million pages of
biodiversity literature and made them available to users
worldwide through EOL.

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The EOL Learning + Education Group (education.eol.org)
is charged with developing tools to facilitate the use of EOL’s

data. Their Field Guide tool, currently in beta testing, is a way

to organize species information for a particular project. For
example, a field guide was made for a species inventory in
Harvard Yard.

MCZ NEWS

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The group is also tasked to work with stakeholders to better
understand and develop new ways that EOL can be integrated
into biodiversity learning. To better understand and prioritize
EOL’s core functionality, the Learning + Education Group
sponsored two workshops to gather requirements from EOL
users and partners. In September 2010, 20 representatives of
museums, nature centers, Zoos, aquariums and other settings

in the U.S. and abroad attended Using EOL in Public Exhibits to
explore ways in which EOL, through its content and associated
tools and services, can be used to support and enhance the
visitor experience in informal science institutions. During the
International EOL Learning and Education Workshop (March 31—
April 1, 2011), representatives of EOL regional partners from the
Arab region, Australia, China, Costa Rica, The Netherlands and
South Africa discussed the goals, opportunities and challenges of
working together and the EOL content, tools and services needed
to advance biodiversity learning worldwide.

In another international initiative, the Learning + Education
Group received a grant from the David Rockefeller Center
for Latin American Studies to help implement Cyberhives,
an online Spanish-language educational program developed
by the National Biodiversity Institute of Costa Rica (INBio).
In 2010, INBio became an EOL regional partner to serve
Central American species information in Spanish. Cyberhives
is an online project that uses science and technology to
encourage and support middle school children to learn
about biodiversity in their own communities. With the
Central American EOL portal in place, it will be possible

to implement Cyberhives in other countries in the region.
The grant will enable participants from EOL’s Learning +
Education Group, INBio (Costa Rica) and the Ministries of
Education and non-governmental organizations in Panama,
Nicaragua and E] Salvador to develop a plan to implement
and test the Cyberhives learning model regionally.

=== ANNUAL Report 2010-2011

Catherine Weisel

Patrick Rodgers

a
OO

The generous gift of Paul J.
Zofnass, Harvard alumnus
and member of the MCZ
Faculty governing board, has
made possible a new gallery
and exhibition at the Harvard
Museum of Natural History.
The largest donation in the
museum’s history has created
the Zofnass Family Gallery and
the permanent exhibition New
England Forests, both of which
debuted on May 21, 2011.

New England Forests explores
the natural history and ecology
of the regional forests, their responses to
human activity and their environmental
significance. The exhibition highlights three
facets of the region’s woodlands—the forest
primeval, the transitional forest and the
New England wetland habitat—and the rich
natural history collections of the Museum
of Comparative Zoology are featured in all
three forest landscapes.

MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY ann

Paul Zofnass and family at the Gallery’s opening. From left:
sister Joan Zofnass, daughter Rebecca Zofnass, Paul Zofnass
and wife Renee Ring.

Curatorial staff from the ornithology
and mammalogy collections helped
select specimens that would accurately
reflect the fauna found in New England
forest habitats. “Given the incredible
diversity of bird species and specimens
to choose from, we wanted to ensure
that the exhibit displayed familiar but
key species found in those habitats,” said
Jeremiah Trimble, Curatorial Associate in
Ornithology. Specimens from the MCZ
collections include current and former
forest residents—moose, caribou, wolves,
foxes, skunks, porcupines, hawks and
woodpeckers—as well as invasive species
such as coyotes.

The exhibition conveys current research
about how forest communities work, cycle
water and carbon, interact with climate
and respond to invasive species, drawing
on the expertise of evolutionary biologists,
botanists, ecologists and system scientists
from across the University to tell the forest’s
story. Visitors are encouraged to observe
and “read” the local landscape for clues
about its past and to contemplate the
challenges and choices we face in planning
our forests’ future.

Multimedia displays in the exhibition will be
updated as new research from the MCZ and
others enriches understanding of the forests
and the organisms that live there.

Patrick Rodgers

MCZ NEWS: PROJECTS & INITIATIVES

Quality Control for Species-Occurrence Data

MCZ Director James Hanken is the principal
investigator for “Filtered Push: Continuous
Quality Control for Distributed Collections

& Other Species-Occurrence Data.” The
National Science Foundation awarded

the three-year, $1.6 million grant in fall

2010. Paul Morris, Biodiversity Informatics
Manager, will be leading efforts on the behalf
of the MCZ.

Species-occurrence data associated with
biological collections—which species was
observed at a geographic location at a given
time—have historically been used mainly
by taxonomists. With the advent of digital
aggregation technologies these data have
become readily available for many other
uses, such as modeling species distributions
and assessing the effects of climate change
on biological diversity.

Through aggregation, large quantities of
species-occurrence data can be gathered
simultaneously from many distributed sources.

This process, however, has highlighted

the frequency of problems regarding the
accuracy, completeness, consistency of
representation and timeliness of those data.
Accordingly, researchers often are uncertain
about whether these data are suitable for use
in their work.

Data quality and fitness for use will be
addressed through Filtered Push Continuous
Quality Control software, which allows

data providers and consumers to define
potential errors in data, develop metrics

for those errors, analyze distributed data to
detect potential errors, and close the quality
management cycle by sending corrections
back to the curators of the original data sets.

The project will specifically benefit
aggregators that serve species-occurrence
data to the public and other research
domains, such as the Encyclopedia of Life
and the Global Biodiversity Information
Facility.

Linking Field Notes to Specimens and Published Literature

The California Academy of Sciences is
partnering with the MCZ’s Ernst Mayr Library
and Ornithology department along with other
natural history institutions to develop a system
for integrating biological researchers’ field
and specimen notes with the corresponding
museum specimens and electronically
published literature. The project will provide
enhanced and integrated access to biological
data that will serve a wide variety of users and
connect to other ongoing projects, such as the
Biodiversity Heritage Library.

As a part of a larger grant from the U.S.
Institute of Museum and Library Services, the
MCZ has been awarded funds to pursue the
pilot project: “Archives and Specimens from
the Birds of the Cambridge Region by William
Brewster.”

A curator at the MCZ from 1885 to 1902,
William Brewster published Birds of the
Cambnidge Region in 1906. In the pilot project,
the MCZ’s Ornithology department and the
Ernst Mayr Library will digitize the historical
materials and specimens associated with

Brewster’s ornithological studies in and
around Cambridge. The collection comprises
more than 1,850 specimens collected by
Brewster, 2,800 specimens he acquired and
9,000 pages of archival materials, including
field notebooks, correspondence, manuscripts
and photographs. The entire body of work
will present Brewster’s detailed observations,
pioneering studies, notes and assertions
about living nature—particularly birds—as he
understood them.

Inclusion of Brewster’s unpublished
observations and writings will enhance
contemporary ornithological studies. As the
specimens and notebooks are scanned and
cataloged or entered into a database, the
metadata will be improved by adding digital
tags that will include names (taxonomic
and personal), dates, localities and other
contextual information. Once the records are
complete, the materials will be exported to
the Biodiversity Heritage Library and there
linked to the published literature and to
specimen data via the Encyclopedia of Life.

Se ANNUAL Report 2010-2011
a

Bogarde (onto Mill inm

William Brewster, 1883

Courtesy of the Ernst Mayr Library, Special Collections

Courtesy of the Ernst Mayr Library

Katherine C. Cohen

MCZ NEWS: PROJECTS & INITIATIVES

Ernst Mayr Library

In 1861, the MCZ’s library was founded
when Louis Agassiz purchased Belgian
paleontologist Laurent Guillaume de
Koninck’s collection of books. Together
with much of Agassiz’s own private
collection, these volumes formed the core
of the new library. Now celebrating 150
years of information provision, the Ernst
Mayr Library has grown to around 300,000
volumes of books and journals and is an
integral part of the MCZ. “The Library is

a key historical zoological collection that
has evolved along with the MCZ and has a
vibrant digitization program contributing
to the Biodiversity Heritage Library,”
explained Constance Rinaldo, Librarian of
the Ernst Mayr Library. “The Library, with
the merger of the Biological Laboratories
Library, is now a key support for life
sciences programs at Harvard.”

Even with its ongoing scanning efforts, not all
information is available online. People come
from around the world to conduct deep
research using the Library’s historic volumes
and artifacts. “In this increasingly fast-paced,
digital world it is easy to lose sight of the
significance of a comfortable library space,
opportunities for browsing serendipitously
and the tactile value of an important, yet
beautiful, scientific work,” said Rinaldo.

The Ernst Mayr Library is one of the
founding members of the Biodiversity
Heritage Library (BHL), a group of
organizations making biodiversity
literature openly available via the Internet.

In June 2011, the MCZ

and the Department of
Organismic and Evolutionary
Biology hosted the second
International Congress on
Invertebrate Morphology.
Invertebrates—including
sponges, flatworms, insects,
clams, snails and other
non-vertebrate life—include
around 1.2 million described species and
96% of the total known animal diversity.
Gonzalo Giribet is the incoming president
of the International Society of Invertebrate
Morphology, which organized the event.

MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY __ earn —@—
=—--sS

This digitization effort is important for
taxonomists, who traditionally had to
travel extensively to physically access

the literature, and especially valuable to
scientists around the world who may not
have the means to make these journeys.
The BHL scanning effort has produced
more than 36 million scanned pages of
biodiversity literature to date, and this
number is continually increasing. BHL
Brazil, the latest of several global BHL
efforts, was launched December 1, 2010.
biodiversidade.scielo.br/php/index.php

In recognition of the work in building the
digital library, the BHL was awarded the
John Thackray Medal in 2010 by the Society
for the History of Natural History. The
John Thackray medal recognizes significant
achievements in the history or bibliography
of natural history, specifically “making
available ... collections and/or information
in new and novel ways.”

International Congress on Invertebrate Morphology

More than 230 delegates from 23 countries
gathered to hear presentations and engage
in discussions related to invertebrate form,
function and development. Speakers
included Christopher Laumer and Alicia
Pérez-Porro, graduate students in the
Giribet lab. Adam Baldinger, Curatorial
Associate of Invertebrate Zoology, Gonzalo
Giribet, and postdocs Marta Novo, Ana
Riesgo, Sonia Andrade and Alexander
Ziegler presented posters at the event.

In addition to the presentations, attendees
were invited to examine special collections
at the MCZ and the Ernst Mayr Library and
view the Blaschka glass sea creatures.

Constance Rinaldo

¢ Aktipis SW, Giribet G (2010) A phylogeny of Vetgastropoda
and other “archaeogastropods’: re-organizing old gastropod
clades. Invertebr Biol 129:220-240

e Archibald SB, Bossert WH, Greenwood DR, Farrell BD
(2010) Seasonality, the latitudinal gradient of diversity, and
Eocene insects. Paleobiology 36:374-398

¢ Balakrishnan CN, Ekblom R, Volker M, Westerdahl H,
Kotkiewicz H, Godinez R, Burt DW, Graves T, Griffin DK,
Warren W, Edwards SV (2010) Gene duplication and
fragmentation in the zebra finch major histocompaubility
complex. BMC Biol 8:29

¢ Barrett RDH, Schluter D (2010) Clarifying mechanisms
of evolution in stickleback using field studies of natural
selection on genes. In In Search of the Causes of Evolution: Field
Observations to Mechanisms (Grant P, Grant R, eds) 332-346.
Princeton University Press: Princeton, NJ

¢ Barrett RDH (2010) Adaptive evolution of lateral plates
in stickleback: A case study in functional analysis of natural
variation. J Fish Biol 77:311-328

¢ Berg AM, Biewener AA (2010) Wing and body kinematics
of takeoff and landing flight in the pigeon (Columba lvia).
JExp Biol 213:1651-1658

¢ Biewener AA, Daniel T (2010) A moving topic: control and
dynamics of animal locomoton. [guest ed intro} Biol Lett
6:387-388

¢ Butler AD, Edgecombe GD, Ball AD, Giribet G (2010)
Resolving the phylogenetic position of enigmatic New
Guinea and Seychelles Scuugeromorpha (Chilopoda): a
molecular and morphological assessment of Ballonemini.
Invertebr Syst 24:539-559

* Carlson RL, Lauder GV (2010) Living on the bottom:
kinematics of benthic station-holding in darter fishes
(Percidae: Etheostomatinae). J Morphol 271:25-35

¢ Castillo-Ramirez S, Liu L, Pearl D, Edwards SV (2010)
Bayesian estimation of species trees: a practical guide to
optimal sampling and analysis. In Estimating Species Trees:
Practical and Theoretical Aspects (Knowles LL, Kubatko LS, eds)
15-33. Wiley-Blackwell: New Jersey

¢ Chuong EB, Tong W, Hoekstra HE (2010) Maternalfetal
conflict: rapidly evolving proteins in the rodent placenta. Mol
Biol Evol 27:1221-1225

* Clouse RM, Giribet G (2010) When Thailand was an
island—the phylogeny and biogeography of mite harvestmen
(Opiliones, Cyphophthalmi, Stylocellidae) in Southeast Asia.
J Biogeogr 37:1114-1130

* Collar DC, Schulte I JA, O’Meara BC, Losos JB (2010)

Habitat use affects morphological diversification in dragon
lizards. J Evol Biol 23:1033-1049

* Collin R, Giribet G (2010) Report of a cohesive gelatinous
egg mass produced by a tropical marine bivalve. Invertebr Biol
129:165-171

¢ Crompton AW, Owerkowicz T, Skinner J (2010) Masticatory
motor pattern in the koala (Phascolarctos cinereus): a

comparison of jaw movements in marsupial and placental
herbivores. J Exp Zool 313:564.578

¢ DaSilva MB, Pinto-da-Rocha R, Giribet G (2010) Canga
renatae, a new genus and species of Cyphophthalmi from

Brazilian Amazon caves (Opiliones: Neogoveidae). Zootaxa
2508:45-55

* de Bivort B, Clouse RM, Giribet G (2010) A
morphometicsbased phylogeny of the temperate

MCZ PUBLICATIONS: 2010

Gondwanan mite harvestmen (Opiliones,
Cyphophthalmi, Pettalidae). J Zool Syst
Evol Res 48:294-309

25 Feb. 2010

CAMBRIDGE
UNIVERSITY PRESS

¢ de Bivort B, Giribet G (2010) A
systematic revision of the South African
Pettalidae (Arachnida: Opiliones:
Cyphophthalmi) based on a combined
analysis of discrete and continuous

AQiiiwit:lmiye
Fluid Mechanics

: : VOLUME 645
morphological characters with the

description of seven new species. nvertebr
Syst 24:371406

¢ Dong H, Bozkurttas M, Mittal

R, Madden P, Lauder GV (2010)
Computational modeling and analysis

of the hydrodynamics of a highly
deformable fish pectoral fin. /Flud Mech
645:345-373

¢ Edgecombe GD, Bonato L, Giribet G
(2010) Brooding in Mecistocephalus
togensis (Geophilomorpha:
Placodesmata) and the evolution

of parental care in centipedes
(Chilopoda). Int] Myriapod 3:139-144

¢ Fisher HS, Hoekstra HE (2010)
Competition drives cooperation among
closely-related sperm of deer mice. Natwre

463-801-803 George V. Lauder and colleagues

contibuted “Computational modeling
¢ Flammang BE (2010) Functional morphology of the
radialis muscle in shark tails. / Monphol 271:340-352

and analysis of the hydrodynamics of a
highly deformable fish pectoral fin” to

¢ Gable ME, Lazo-Wasem EA, Baldinger AJ (2010) The the Jowrnal of Fluid Mechanics.

Amphipoda of Bermuda—a century of taxonomy. Zool
Baetica 21:131-141

¢ Giribet G (2010) A new dimension in
combining data? The use of morphology and
olume 271, Number 1, January

phylogenomic data in metazoan systematics.

Aata Zool (Stockholm) 91:11-19 EAS SRA oF

morphology

© Giribet G, Boyer SL (2010) ‘“Moa’s Ark’
or ‘Goodbye Gondwana’: Is the origin of
New Zealand’s terrestiial invertebrate fauna
ancient, recent, or both? Jnvertebr Syst 24:1-8

¢ Giribet G, Shear WA (2010) The genus Siro
Latreille, 1796 (Opiliones, Cyphophthalmi,
Sironidae), in North America with a
phylogenetic analysis based on molecular
data and the description of four new species.
Bulletin of the MCZ 160:1-33

¢ Giribet G, Vogt L, Pérez Gonzalez A,
Sharma P, Kury AB (2010) A multilocus
approach to harvestman (Arachnida:
Opiliones) phylogeny with emphasis

on biogeography and the systematics of
Laniatores. Cladistics 26:408437

* Goodbody-Gringley G, Vollmer SV,
Woollacott RM, Giribet G (2010) Limited

gene flow in the brooding coral Fava fragum
(Esper, 1897). Mar Biol 157:2591-2601

¥ WILEY-BLACK WELL

Editor: J. Matthias Starck

In the Journal of Morphology,
* Gottlieb JR, Tangorra JL, Esposito CJ, Lauder GV (2010) George V. Lauder and RL Carlson

A biologically derived pectoral fin for yaw turn maneuvers.
Appl Bionics Biomech 7:41-55

published “Living on the bottom:
kinematics of benthic station-

holding in darter fishes (Percidae

¢ Hagey TJ, Losos JB, Harmon L] (2010) Cruise foraging
of invasive chameleons (Chamaeleo jacksonii xantholophus) in
Hawaii. Breviora 519:1-22

Etheostomatinae).”

——— ANNUAL Report 2010-2011
SS <

MCZ PUBLICATIONS: 2010

IN THE LIGHT
‘el;
EVOLUTION

Essays from the Laboratory and Field

Edited by Jonathan B. Losos

Foreword by David Quammen

Jonathan B. Losos edited In the Light

of Evolution: Essays from the Laboratory
and Field. In addition to Losos,
contributors included Hopi Hoekstra
and Naomi Pierce from the MCZ and
Harvard’s Andrew Berry, Janet Browne
and Daniel Lieberman.

Cpc} \

es, hes

¢ Hanken J (2010) The Encyclopedia of Life: a new digital
resource for taxonomy. In Systema Naturae 250: The Linnaean
Ark (Polaszek A, ed) 127-135. Taylor & Francis: Boca Raton

¢ Harmon L], Losos JB, Davies T], Gillespie RG, et al (2010)
Early bursts of body size and shape evolution are rare in
comparative data. Evolution 64:2385-2396

* Hoekstra HE (2010) Evolutionary Biology: the next 150
years. In Evolution Since Darwin: The First 150 Years (Bell MA,
Futuyma DA, Eanes WF, Levinton JS, eds) 631-656. Sinauer
Press: Sunderland, MA

¢ Hoekstra HE (2010) In search of the elusive behavior gene.
In In Search of the Causes of Evolution: From Field Observations to
Mechanisms (Grant PR, Grant BR,
eds) 192-210. Princeton University
Press: Princeton, NJ

¢ Hubbard JK, Uy JAC, Hauber
ME, Hoekstra HE, Safran RJ
(2010) Vertebrate pigmentation:
from underlying genes to adaptive
function. Trends Genet 26:231-239

¢ Huey RB, Losos JB, Moritz C
(2010) Are lizards toast? Science
328:832-833

¢ Hull JM, Mindell DP, Talbot SL,
Kay EH, Hoekstra HE, Ernest
HB (2010) Population structure
and plumage polymorphism:

the intraspecific evolutionary
relationships of a polymorphic
raptor. BMC Evol Biol 10:224

¢ Janes DE, Organ CL, Fujita MK,
Shedlock AM, Edwards SV (2010)
Genome Evolution in Reptilia, the
Sister Group of Mammals. Annu Rev
Genom Hum Genet 11:239-264

¢ Johnson CH (2010) Effects

of selfing on offspring survival
and reproduction in a colonial
simultaneous hermaphrodite (Bugula stolonifera, Bryozoa).
Biol Bull 219:27-37

¢ Johnson CH, Woollacott RM (2010) Larval settlement
preference maximizes genetic mixing in an inbreeding
population of a simultaneous hermaphrodite (Bugula
stolonifera Bryozoa). Mol Ecol 19:5511-5520

¢ Johnson G, Losos JB (2010) The Living World, 6" Ed.
McGraw-Hill: Boston, MA

¢ Johnson MA, Revell LJ, Losos JB (2010) Behavioral

convergence and adaptive radiation: effects of habitat use on
territorial behavior in Anolis lizards. Evolution 64:1151-1159

¢ Junoy J, Andrade SCS, Giribet G (2010) Phylogenetic
placement of a new hoplonemertean species commensal of
ascidians. Invertebr Syst 24:616-629

within Phascolosoma perlucens (Sipuncula, Phascolosomatidae).

Mar Biol 157:1417-1431

¢ Kerney R, Gross JB, Hanken J (2010) Early cranial
patterning in the direct-developing frog Eleutherodactylus coqui
revealed through gene expression. Evol Dev 12:373-382

¢ Kerney R, Hall BK, Hanken J (2010) Regulatory elements
of Xenopus col2a1 drive cartilaginous gene expression in
transgenic frogs. Int J Dev Biol 54:141—150

[USEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY —_ cetemgmm
— a A

* Leal M, Losos JB (2010) Communication and speciation.
Nature 467:159-160

¢ Lentink D, Biewener AA (2010) Nature inspired flight—
beyond the leap. [guest ed intro] Bioinspir Biomim 5:1-9

¢ Linnen C, Farrell BD (2010) A test of the sympatric host
race formation hypothesis in Neodiprion (Hymenoptera:
Diprionidae). Proc Roy Soc B 277:3131-3138

¢ Liu L, Yu L, Edwards SV (2010) A maximum pseudo-
likelihood approach for estimating species trees under the
coalescent model. BMC Evol Biol 10:302

* Losos JB, ed (2010) In the Light of Evolution: Lessons from the
Laboratory and Field. Ben Roberts Publishers: Colorado

* Losos JB (2010) Adaptive radiation, ecological opportunity,
and evolutionary determinism. Am Nat 175:623-639

¢ Losos JB (2010) A tale of two radiations: similarities and
differences in the evolutionary diversification of Darwin’s
finches and Greater Antillean Anolis lizards. In In Search of
the Causes of Evolution: From Field Observations to Mechanisms.
(Grant PR, Grant BR, eds) 309-331. Princeton University
Press: Princeton, NJ

* Losos JB, Mahler DL (2010) Adaptive radiation: the
interaction of ecological opportunity, adaptation, and
speciation. In Evolution Since Darwin: The First 150 Years (Bell
MA, Futuyma DA, Eanes WF, Levinton JS, eds) 381420.
Sinauer Press: Sunderland, MA

¢ Mahler DL, Herrel A, Losos JB, eds (2010) Anolis Newsletter
VI. Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University:
Cambridge, MA

¢ Mahler DL, Revell LJ, Glor RE, Losos JB (2010) Ecological
opportunity and the rate of morphological evolution in the
diversification of Greater Antillean anoles. Evolution 64:2731-2745

¢ Maldonado M, Riesgo A, Bucci A, Rutzler K (2010)
Revisiting silicon budgets at a tropical continental shelf: Silica
standing stocks in sponges surpass those in diatoms. Limnol
Oceanogr 55:2001-2010

¢ Manceau M, Domingues V, Linnen CR, Rosenblum EB,
Hoekstra HE (2010) Convergence in pigmentation at
multiple levels: mutations, genes and function. Phil Trans Roy
Soc B 365:2439-2450

¢ McKenna DD, Farrell BD (2010) 9-genes reinforce the
phylogeny of Holometabola and yield alternate views on the
phylogenetic placement of Strepsiptera. PLoS ONE 5:e11887

¢ Meegaskumbura MS, Meegaskumbura S, Bowatte G,
Manamendra- Arachchi K, Pethiyagoda R, Hanken J,
Schneider CJ (2010) Taruga (Anura: Rhacophoridae), a new
genus of foam-nesting tree frogs endemic to Sri Lanka. Cey J
Sci (Bio Sci) 39:75-94

¢ Murienne J, Edgecombe GD, Giribet G (2010) Including
secondary structure, fossils and molecular dating in the
centipede tree of life. Mol Phylogenet Evol 57:301-313

¢ Murienne J, Karaman I, Giribet G (2010) Explosive
evolution of an ancient group of Cyphophthalmi (Arachnida:
Opiliones) in the Balkan Peninsula. / Biogeogr 37:90-102

¢ Ord TJ, Stamps JA, Losos JB (2010) Adaptation
and plasticity of animal communication in fluctuating
environments. Evolution 64:3134-3148

¢ Organ CL, Rasmussen M, Baldwin MW, Kellis M, Edwards
SV (2010) Phylogenomic approach to the evolutionary
dynamics of gene duplication in birds. In Evolution After Gene
Duplication (Dittmar K, Liberles D, eds) 253-267. Wiley &
Sons: Hoboken, NJ

¢ Phelan C, Tangorra JL, Lauder GV, Hale M (2010) A
biorobotic model of the sunfish pectoral fin for invesigations
of fin sensorimotor control. Bioinsfir Biomim 5:035003

e Pilsk SC, Person MA, deVeer JM, Furfey JF, Kalfatovic
MR (2010) The Biodiversity Heritage Library: Advancing
Metadata Practices in a Collaborative Digital Library. J Libr
Metadata 10:136-155

¢ Puerta P, Andrade SCS, Junoy J (2010) Redescription of
Lineus acutifrons Southern, 1913 Nemertea: Pilidiophora) and
comments on its phylogenetic position. J Nat Hist 44:3740

* Riesgo A, Pérez-Portela R, Arroyo NL (2010) Halacarid
mites associated with a North-Adantic population of the kelp
Laminaria ochroleuca. ] Nat Hist 44:651-657

* Riesgo, A (2010) Phagocytosis of sperm by follicle cells of
the carnivorous sponge Asbestopluma ocadentahs (Porifera,
Demospongiae). Tissue Cell 42:198-201

¢ Rinaldo C, Norton C (2010) The Biodiversity Heritage
Library: an expanding international collaboration. In
Confluence of Ideas: Evolving to meet the Challenges of Global
Change, Proceedings of the 35th IAMSLIC Brugges, Belgrum 2009
(Barr D, ed) 115-122. IAMSLIC: Newport, OR

¢ Rivera-Rivera NL, Martinez-Rivera N, Torres-Vazquez I,
Serrano-Velez JL, Lauder GV, Rosa-Molinar E (2010) A
male poecillid’s sexually dimorphic body plan, behavior, and
nervous system. Integr Comp Biol 50:1081-1090

¢ Robinson GE, Banks JA, Padilla DK, Burggren WW,
Cohen CS, Delwiche CF, Funk V, Hoekstra HE, et al (2010)
Empowering 21st century biology. BioSaence 60:923-930

* Rodriguez Schettino L, Losos JB, Hertz PE, et al (2010)
The anoles of Soroa: aspects of their ecological relationships.
Breviora 520:1-22

¢ Roman J, McCarthy JJ (2010) The whale pump: marine
mammals enhance primary productivity in a coastal basin.
PLoS ONE 5:e13255

* Rosenblum EB, Rompler H, Schoneberg T, Hoekstra HE
(2010) White lizards on white sands: the molecular and
functional basis of phenotypic convergence. Proc Natl Acad Sa
USA 107:2113-2117

* Schick S, Zimkus BM, Channing A, Kohler J, Lotters S
(2010) Systematics of “Little Brown Frogs’ from East Africa:
Recognition of Phrynobatrachus scheffleriand description of
a new species from the Kakamega Forest, Kenya (Anura:
Phrynobatrachidae). Salamandra 46:24-36

¢ Schluter D, Marchinko KB, Barrett RDH, Rogers SM (2010)
Natural selection and the genetics of adaptation in threespine
stickleback. Phil Trans Roy Soc B 365:2479-2486

¢ Sigwart J, Schwabe E, Saito H, Samadi S, Giribet G (2010)
Evolution in the deep sea: a combined analysis of the
earliest diverging living chitons (Mollusca: Polyplacophora:
Lepidopleurida). Invertebr Syst 24:560-572

¢ Smith HM, Levi HW (2010) Review of the genus Micopoltys
(Chelicerata: Araneae: Araneidae). Arthropod Syst Phyl 68:291-307

Tangorra JL, Lauder GV, Hunter IW, Mittal R, Madden
PGA, Bozkurttas M (2010) The effect of fin ray flexural
rigidity on the propulsive forces generated by a biorobotic
fish pectoral fin. Exp Biol 213:40434054

© Tobalske BW, Biewener AA, Warrick DR, Hedrick TL,
Powers DR (2010) Effects of flight speed upon muscle activity
in hummingbirds. J Exp Biol 213:2515-2523

¢ Turner LM, Young A, ROmpler H, Schoneberg T, Phelps S,
Hoekstra HE (2010) Monogamy evolves through multiple

MCZ PUBLICATIONS: 2010

mechanisms: evidence from V1aR in deer mice. Mol Biol Evol
27:1269-1278

e Tytell ED, Borazjani I, Sotropoulos F, Baker TV, Anderson
EJ, Lauder GV (2010) Disentangling the functional roles of
morphology and motion in fish swimming. Inéegr Comp Biol
50:1140-1154

¢ Vignieri SN, Larson J, Hoekstra HE
(2010) The selective advantage of cryptic
coloration in mice. Evolution 64:2153-2158

¢ Vogt L, Bartolomaeus T, Giribet G (2010)
The linguistic problem of morphology:
Structure versus homology and the
standardization of morphological data.
Cladistics 26:301-325

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION

¢ Vollmar A, Macklin JA, Ford LS (2010)
Natural history specimen digitization:
challenges and concerns. Biodzversity
Informatics 7:93-112

e Warren WC, Balakrishnan CN, Backstr6m
N, Edwards SV, et al (2010) The genome of
a songbird. Nature 464:757-762

Genomic imprinting imthe
socialjbagin

Infesring Ydaptation at
specific loci

Diversification of Gteater
Antillean Anoles

¢ Weiser MD, Sanders NJ, Agosti D, Janda
M eal (2010) Canopy and litter ant
assemblages share similar climate-species
density relationships. Biol Lett 6:769-772

¢ Weyl EG, Frederickson ME, Yu DW,
Pierce NE (2010) Economic contract theory tests models of
mutualism. Proc Natl Acad Sai USA 107:15712-15716

In the cover story of Evolution,

D. Luke Mahler, Jonathan B.
Losos and colleagues published
“Ecological opportunity and the rate
of morphological evolution in the
diversification of Greater Antillean
anoles.” Mahler received the R. A.
Fisher Prize for an outstanding

Ph. D. dissertation paper published

in Evolution.

¢ Willemart RH, Giribet G (2010) A scanning electron
microscopic survey of the cuticle in Cyphophthalmi
(Arachnida, Opiliones) with the description of novel sensory
and glandular structures. Zoomorphology 129:175-183

¢ Wilson NG, Rouse GW, Giribet G (2010) Assessing

the molluscan hypothesis Serialia (Monoplacophora +
Polyplacophora) using novel molecular data. Mol Phylogenet
Evol 54:187-193

e Wu, Jiang K, Hanken J (2010) A new species of newt of
the genus Paramesotniton (Salamandridae) from southwestern
Guangdong, China, with a new northern record of PR
longhensis from western Hubei. Zootaxa 2494:45-58

¢ Wu Y, Wang Y, Jiang K, Hanken J (2010) A new newt of
the genus Cynops (Caudata: Salamandridae) from Fujian
Province, southeastern China. Zootaxa 2346:42-52

¢ Wu Y, Wang Y Jiang K, Chen X, Hanken J (2010)
Homoplastic evolution of external colouration in Asian stout
newts (Pachytnton) inferred from molecular phylogeny. Zool
Ser 39:9-22

¢ Yamaguchi A, Munoz MM, Bose TO, Oberlander JG, Smith
S (2010) Sexually distinct development of vocal pathways in
Xenopus laevis. Dev Neurobiol 70:862-874

¢ Zimkus BM, Rodel, MO, Hillers A (2010) Complex patterns
of continental speciation: molecular phylogenetics and
biogeography of sub-Saharan puddle frogs (Phrynobatrachus).
Mol Phylogenet Evol 55:883-900

¢ Zimkus BM, Schick S (2010) Light at the end of the tunnel:
insights into the molecular systematics of East African puddle
frogs (Anura: Phrynobatrachidae). Syst Biodivers 8:3947

Snr ANNUAL Report 2010-2011 93
a

Thom Sanger

Rowan Barrett

Annabel Beichman

Riva Riley

MCZ GRANT RECIPIENTS
ACADEMIC YEAR 2010-2011

Grants-In-Aid of Undergraduate Research (GUR)

These grants support research by Harvard undergraduates under faculty supervision. Priority
is given to projects that utilize MCZ and Harvard University Herbaria (HUH) research
collections, laboratories and facilities. Support for these grants comes from the MCZ’s
Myvanwy M. and George M. Dick Scholarship for Students and from HUH.

Recipient Faculty Sponsor __ Project Title Amount

Annabel C. Beichman | James J. McCarthy | The North Atlantic Right Whale Microbiome
& Peter R. Girguis Project
Joseph Brancale IV Arkhat Abzhanov Morphological analyses of beak dhsiaiaain in 2 800
the family Thraupidae

Andrew H. Chen N. Michele Holbrook | Ecology, taxonomy and adaptation of the
invasive species Myoporum aff. laetum i int Pe
California ;

Natalie L. Jacewicz Jonathan B. Losos Proposal to study feeding and mating
behavior in Anolis lizards with diverse head
shapes: a field study on Cayman Brac

Alexander M. Kim Gonzalo Giribet A phylogenetic survey of trans-Isthmian
freshwater prawns: vicariance and ii invasion a - i
the crossroads of the two Americas Vs

The pattern of caterpillar aggregation i in ae
Saab mutualism

Julian Moll-Rocek N. Michele Holbrook | Logging and Brazil nut conservation ins :
Amazonian Peru a hy a
Linda Y. Pan Hopi E. Hoekstra Ontogeny of burrowing behavior in deer $2,060
mice (Peromyscus)

Riva Riley Saul Nava Effects of environment on learning in fi sh: a |
study at Los Amigos field station

Hanny E. Rivera Robert M. Woollacott | Effects of micro-grazers on the larval
recruitment and survival of the brooding
coral Porites astreoides

Elizabeth K. Schold Scott V. Edwards Phylogeographical analysis of North —
American Warbling Vireo Witee gis) ~
populations ;

Guo Xuan Teo Jacques Dumais Elucidating the “trap mechanism” of
Porroglossum orchids

Grace X. Xiong George V. Lauder i i 1 :
the sian fish, es chile 2 a ees
Serena Y. Zhao Anne Pringle & Biodiversity of Laboulbeniales sae
a E. Pierce

Bramieiapedesc yocr Awards

GRANTS

Putnam Expedition Grants

Putnam Expedition Grants are intended to support MCZ faculty-curators, postdoctoral
fellows and graduate students in collecting specimens and data relating to the study of
comparative zoology. Priority is given to projects that collect living specimens in regions
where habitats are threatened or fossil specimens in regions most likely to hold important
clues fer unraveling evolutionary strategies.

Recipient MCZ Department Project Title Amount

Selection on genes in the wild: An $8,360
experimental approach to determine
the influence of ecology on evolutionary

Maude Baldwin Ornithology Detecting sugar: functional and evolutionary | $3,760
studies of avian sensory perception
- S _Mammalogy Diversity and adaptation in mouse $5,137
iQ ' burrowing behavior
Scott V. Edwards Ornithology Diversification and phylogeography of
Palearctic birds: an expedition to eastern
Mongolia
——— isang sperm morphology in Peromyscus $5,706

Gonzalo Giribet Lil ea Zoology | Exploring the South African pettalid diversity | $6,474
- —

Uncovering the genetic architecture of
Eadaiae local adaptation in forest deer

Martha Munoz

Taking advantage of a human introduction
to study the genetics and behavioral
significance of anole dewlap color

Martha Mufoz Herpetology The thermal ecology and evolution
of Hispaniolan trunk-ground anoles
(Squamata: Iguanidae)
ee - Entomology How many bacteria are in canopy ants? $5,900
; : Quantifying one solution to Tobin’s Paradox
ai
Yoel Stuart Herpetology Investigating the genetic basis of dewlap $5,140
color in Anolis distichus
| Herpetology Modeling environmentally associated $6,450
morphological and genetic variation
Jesse Weber Mammalogy Examining natural variation in oldfield
mouse (Peromyscus polionotus) burrowing
behavior

Sarah Kocher

Proposed expedition to survey the
herpetofauna of Batéké Plateaux National
Park in southwestern Gabon

Rowan Barrett

ANNUAL Report 2010-2011 =
———— AL REPORT 25

Ernst Mayr Travel Grants in Animal Systematics
Ernst Mayr Grants support travel for research in animal systematics and are open to the scientific

community worldwide. The principal objective of these grants is to stimulate taxonomic work
on neglected taxa and/or poorly described species. Ernst Mayr Grants typically facilitate visits to
institutional collections, with preference given to research using the MCZ’s collections.

Recipient Institutional
Pe Nailitciiceyal

Aylin Alegre Instituto de Ecologia
Barroso y Sistematica, Cuba

Bhart-Anjan S. Bhullar | Harvard University

University of
California, Davis

Julien Ayroles

Kevin W. Conway Texas Agrilife
Research, Texas
A&M

Bernice B. Michigan State
DeMarco University

César G. Duran- Universidad Nacional

Barron Autonoma de
México

Dimitri Forero University of
California, Riverside

Martha Munro

James Herrera State University of
New York, Stony
Brook

Rowan Barrett

| Beichman

nave

Thom Sanger

SEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY waning 2
=—>-s

Project Title

Systematics of Biantidae, Thorell, 1879 and
review of the incertae sedis Anamota Silhavy
1979 and Turquininia Silhavy 1979 in Cuba
(Arachnida: Opiliones: Laniatores)

Uniting macroevolution and microevolution
using deep fossil record: the zone of
variability in the archosaur lineage

Taxonomic revision of the acrobat ant
Crematogaster (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)
in Madagascar

Taxonomic revision of the New World
clingfishes (Gobiesocidae: Gobiesocinae)

Phylogenetic analysis of the ant genus
Aphaenogaster (Formicidae: Hymanoptera)
in North America using morphology and
DNA

Taxonomic review of Chrosiothes Simon,
1894 (Araneae: Theridiidae)

Monographing the bee assassins:
Systematic revision of the assassin bug
genus Apiomerus (Heteroptera: Reduviidae:
Harpactorinae)

Species delineation in the subfossil lemur
assemblage; how many species have gone
extinct?

Amount

José Sebastian Museo Argentino de | Taxonomy of Telmatobius (Anura: $1,500
Barrionuevo Ciencias Naturales Ceratophrydae)

$1,500

$1,475

$1,180

Recipient

Vivian E. Sandoval-

Institutional ad ke) (=104 a =)

Affiliation

. | University of Revision of the genus Phyliobaenus $1,500
Kentucky (Coleoptera: Cleridae: Hydnocerinae)

Systematics, biogeography and host plant

University of New
South Wales,
Australia

associations of the true bug subtribes
Monaloniina and Odoniella (Heteroptera:
Miridae: Bryocorinae: Dicyphini)

Taxonomic assessment of the ponerine
ant genus Leptogenys (Hymenoptera:
Formicidae) from the Malagasy region,
located at the MCZ

Taxonomic revision of minute tree-fungus
beetles of the genus Xylographus Mellié,
1847 (Coleoptera: Tenebrionoidae: Ciidae)

Madagascar
Biodiversity Center

Universidade Federal
de Vicosa, Brazil

PNiileleiays

$1,200

$1,400
$1,500

Jon Sanders

Universidade de Sao | Study of Pompilidae (Insecta: Hymenoptera) | $540
Paulo, Brazil types deposited in the MCZ

Fabio Laurindo da
Silva

Universidade Federal
de Sao Carlos, Brazil

Systematic and biogeography of
Labrundinia Fittkau, 1962 (Diptera:
Chrinomomidae: Tanypodinae): a
morphological and molecular approach

Revision of the New World Scolytus
Geoffroy (Coleoptera: Curculionidae:
Scolytinae)

Revision and phylogeny of the neotropical

$1,500
$1,250
subfamily Nycriborinae (Dictyoptera:
Blattaria: Blattellidae)
Li gueire Universidade Federal | Taxonomic identity of Pristocera $1,500
nprogno do Espirito Santo, (Hymenoptera: Bethylidae)
a Brazil

Tatyana Sergeyevna Russian Academy of | World revision of the genus Limnephilus $1,500
Vshivkova Sciences, Institute (Trichoptera: Limnephilidae)

of Biology and Soil

Sciences

$1,500

Michigan State
University

University of Puerto
Rico at Mayagtiez

Hanny Rivera

Riva Riley

Hanny Rivera

Sarah Kocher

Sa ANNUAL Report 2010-2011
SS <

Kris Snibbe

Farish Jenkins, Jr.

AWARDS & RECOGNITION

Emeritus

Edward O. Wilson received the BBVA
Foundation’s 2010 Frontiers of Knowledge
Award in the area of Ecology and
Conservation Biology and the PEN New
England Thoreau Prize. In the words of
the BBVA prize jury, Wilson is “one of the
most influential thinkers of our time, an
exceptional biologist and a world-class
natural historian.”

Faculty

Farish A. Jenkins, Jr., was elected a member
of the Academy of Arts and Sciences Class
of 2011. Prof. Jenkins was also honored with
a Harvard College Professorship, honoring
his achievement in research activities, his
excellence in undergraduate teaching and
his contribution to advising and mentoring
students.

James Hanken was elected to the Board
of Directors of the American Institute of
Biological Sciences and was appointed
to the Encyclopedia of Life’s Executive
Committee.

Brian D. Farrell was named 2011-2012
Fulbright Scholar to the Universidad
Autonoma de Santo Domingo. In addition
to his research, he is building a laboratory
and training local students in museum
management techniques.

MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY eaten
a a

Hopi E. Hoekstra was elected Vice
President of the American Society of
Naturalists.

Scott V. Edwards was elected President of
the American Genetic Association and will
also assume the presidency of the Society
for the Study of Evolution in January 2012.

Gonzalo Giribet was named a distinguished
visitor to Adelaide University and awarded a
Visiting Professorship at the Capital Normal
University in Beijing. He also became
President of the International Society for
Invertebrate Morphology and was elected Vice-
President of the Spanish Malacological Society.

Naomi Pierce was among the ten people
selected to be a Fellow of the Entomological
Society of America. She was nominated for
this honor by her students.

Jessica Cundiff

Staff

Jessica Cundiff, Curatorial Associate in
Invertebrate Paleontology and Acting
Curatorial Associate in Vertebrate
Paleontology, received a Harvard University
Faculty of Arts and Sciences Impact Award
for “sustained superior performance and
outstanding contributions.”

Breda Zimkus, Genetics Resources Facility
Project Manager at the MCZ, received a
grant from CollectionsWeb to work on
“Developing best practices for genetic
resource collections associated with
traditional natural history collections.”

Miguel Landestoy

Postdocs

Frank Rheindt received a National Geographic
Society Committee for Research and
Exploration Grant for the investigation of
undescribed bird taxa on the island of Sulawesi.

Vera Domingues received the International

Travel Award from the Society for the Study

of Evolution.

Rowan Barrett’s work as a graduate
student was recognized with the Governor
General of Canada Gold Medal for the

most outstanding academic record in the
graduating class for the doctoral degree.
He also received the University of British
Columbia Faculty of Science Prize and
the Howard Alper Prize, given to the

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