8:30-9:15 Registration and Breakfast
Presenters prepare slides and hang posters during this time.
9:15-9:30 Opening remarks
9:30-10:45 Oral presentations session 1
session chair: TBD
9:30 Raven Blakeway, Texas A&M University
Eating through the invasion: A conceptual model for a commercial lionfish fishery in Aruba
9:45 Hao Zhang, University of Houston
Better than sex? The Evolutionary Causes and Consequences of Successful Asexuality in Tetrahymena ciliate
10:00 Whitney Preisser, Texas A&M University
Latitudinal diversity gradients of parasites of Cricetid rodents: the importance of climate and host-associated factors
10:15 Shih An Shzu, Rice University
Trait divergence in a gall-forming herbivore affects species composition of the natural enemy community via altering the strength of mutual interaction with ants
10:30 Hannah Locke, University of Houston
Mycorrhizae alter plant traits and interact with herbivory history to influence herbivore performance
10:45-11:00 Coffee break
11:00-12:00 Oral presentations session 2
session chair: TBD
11:00 Michelle Jonika, Texas A&M University
Mode and tempo of microsatellite evolution in insects
11:00 Daniel Gorczynski, Rice University
High functional diversity and functional redundancy in a protected tropical rainforest
11:30 Jason Tarkington, University of Houston
Genotype and environment impact the long-term evolution of a complex microbial eukaryote
11:45 Jae Hak Son, University of Houston
A very young Y chromosome is cryptically differentiated from a homologous X chromosome at sequence and expression levels
12:00-1:00 Lunch
1:00-2:00 Poster Session
Poster presenters should stand by their posters at this time. (See list of posters below.)
2:00-3:00 Oral presentations session 3
session chair: TBD
2:00 Mae Woods, University of Houston
Selection on chromosome length uncovers a role for translocations in increasing robustness to genetic instability
2:15 Erin Nguyen, Texas A&M University
Flow-ecology relationships for stream fish assemblages in the southern Great Plains
2:30 Lauren Howe-Kerr, Rice University
Symbiont community diversity is more constrained in holobiont genotypes that tolerate diverse stressors
2:45 Kiran Adhikari, University of Houston
Genotype-by-temperature interactions maintain polygenic sex determination in the housefly
3:00-3:30 Snack break
3:30-4:30 Keynote lecture
Dr. Melissa E. Kemp, assistant professor, Department of Integrative Biology, University of Texas-Austin
Lizard diversity in the Anthropocene: A paleontological perspective
4:30-5:00 Award presentation and closing remarks
POSTERS
1. Logan Chipkin, University of Houston
Muller's ratchet in asexual populations doomed to extinction
2. Steven Pappas, Rice University
Assessing the potential for seed-predator/pollinator mutualisms in the red-shouldered soapberry bug Jadera haematoloma and its Sapindaceous hosts
3. Rachel Sanchez-Ruffra, University of Houston
A Black Death: Can relic oyster reefs be used in restoration efforts?
4. Robert Laroche, University of Houston
First characterization of the clownfish-hosting sea anemones microbiome across host and habitat
5. Jennifer Drummond, Rice University
Photosymbiont diversity in sixteen coral species at the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary
6. Shuo Zhang, University of Houston
piRNA-mediated silencing of an invading transposable element evolves rapidly through abundant beneficial de novo mutations
7. Bandana Sharma Chapagain, University of Houston
Epigenetic inheritance of adaptive mutations in ciliates
8. Austin Mejia, University of Houston
Native microbes influence dominant dune grass species biomass for Gulf Coast restoration
9. Ella Matsuda, Rice University
Guava invasion endangers epiphyte communities
10. Madeline Luong, University of Houston
Seed endophytes and their effect on alpine plants species
11. Jadelys Tonos, Rice University
Examining spatially explicit networks of individual plant interactions with a frugivorous lemur mutualist (Eulemur rubriventer)
12. Lydia Golightly, University of Houston
Using ABC to infer the distribution of fitness effects of adaptive mutations
13. Tianjiao Adams, University of Houston
Linking grasshopper bite strength to leaf toughness in a cafeteria feeding experiment
14. Lisa O’ Bryan, Rice University
Approaches to data processing: The study of collective behaviors in wild baboons using wearable devices
15. Scott Clark, University of Houston
Common dune restoration grasses respond differently to gradients of salinity and nutrients