Cornell Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

09/21/2026

THIS Thursday, September 24, 2026 11am - 2pm: Biodiversity Fest at Mann Library
https://events.cornell.edu/event/biodiversity-fest

The teeming diversity of life on planet Earth—our Pale Blue Dot in the universe—is under grave threat from the impact of human activity. But if humans are the main drivers of biodiversity decline today, we also have the power to change the trend. The Cornell community is invited to a Biodiversity Fest in the Mann Library lobby on September 24 to engage with a variety of programs and groups working on the challenge of sustaining biodiversity in the 21st century. Drop by any time between 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. for a lively introduction to the diverse efforts being made right here at Cornell to better understand and preserve the vibrancy so key to a healthy future for both our planet and the people who live on it. Curiosity, questions and conversations encouraged!

Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Cornell University Museum of Vertebrates
Shoals Marine Laboratory

09/16/2026

Our next department seminar speaker will be EEB's Dr. Megan Greischar: The Greischar Lab uses data-driven modeling to understand why parasites use such diverse strategies to make a living within the host, with the goal of uncovering evolutionary principles that apply across the tree of life. This talk will focus on (1) how fundamental aspects of the ecology and evolution of pathogenic organisms remain unknown due to bias in which parts of the life cycle can be sampled and (2) how the lab uses models to confront those unknowns and identify the constraints that prevent pathogenic organisms from evolving ever greater capacity to exploit their hosts.

09/11/2026

EEB weekly seminar series continues with our very own Dr. Leslie Babonis:

"I am an evolutionary developmental biologist interested in understanding the mechanisms that drive the evolution of animal biodiversity. I am particularly interested in understanding how new traits emerge and tend to ask this question at the level of individual cells. My lab uses functional genomics approaches in marine invertebrates to understand how genes become wired together into regulatory networks to drive the evolution of new cell types."

09/04/2026

Seminar news from our colleagues at Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Shoals Marine Laboratory: "The Secret Lives of Migrating Birds (and Why They're Kind of Amazing); Mundinger Lecture 2026 with Dr. Sara Morris.

https://www.birds.cornell.edu/home/event/mundinger-lecture-2026/

09/02/2026

Mark your calendars for our fall seminar series! Missing details will be announced as they become available:

08/26/2026

Welcome to the new semester! 📚🦎🪲🧬🔬🍃
Our weekly seminar series starts on Monday, August 31:

07/06/2026

Some beautiful scenes from far above Cayuga's waters courtesy of Cornell University ...

06/22/2026

Post-doc Bryan MacNeil from EEB's Smith lab awarded the 2026 Botanical Society of America's Impact Award for his work with disabled botanists -- congratulations, Bryan!

https://botany.org/home/awards/special-funds-and-awards/bsa-impact-award.html

06/15/2026

Otherworldly thunder of Atlantic sturgeon inspires awe...

EEB prof Alex Flecker co-authors study: "When a team of researchers recorded a low thundering underneath the surface of the Hudson River, they thought they were hearing the muffled rumble of trains.

A closer look, and listen, led to a much more interesting discovery: the thunder came from Atlantic sturgeon – an iconic and endangered species – spawning in the depths of the river."

The finding gives New York state another tool to locate and understand the behavior of the endangered Atlantic sturgeon, an iconic species decimated by overfishing.

06/12/2026

We are delighted to share that the Cornell University Board of Trustees has appointed Jed Sparks a Horace White Professor, effective 1 July 2026; Please join us in congratulating Jed!

📷 Jed in Hawaii