Thursday Night Lecture Series – Session Bundle

Washington State has successfully eradicated the citrus longhorned beetle and multiple introductions of Asian and European gypsy moths. The state has kept out Japanese beetles and are now gearing up to win the fight against the Asian giant hornet. Learn the secrets to the state’s success from Sven-Erik Spichiger, the state Department of Agriculture’s managing entomologist.

Presented By: Sven-Erik Spichiger
Sven-Erik Spichiger is the Washington State Department of Agriculture’s managing entomologist. He earned a B.S. degree in entomology from Penn State University and an M.S. degree in entomology from Clemson University. Prior to assuming his current job two years ago, he worked for 18 years for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania—first in the state Department of Environmental Protection’s West Nile Virus Mosquito Lab; then as a forest entomologist for the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources; and, for 11 years, as the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture state entomologist.

Bats are the second-most diverse group of mammals, with a little over 1,300 known species. By eating insect pests, dispersing seeds and pollinating flowers, bats provide essential services to humanity while often going unnoticed in the nighttime skies above us. Join our virtual meeting to learn about the biology and ecology of these amazing creatures—from their ability to navigate using sound, to their feeding and roosting habits, as well as the threats they face from human activity and a rapidly spreading fungal disease.

Presented By: Matthew Wund PhD
Matthew Wund, professor of biology at The College of New Jersey (TCNJ), earned his Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology in 2005 from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. There he studied the echolocation behavior of bats, as well as the impacts bats have on mosquitoes. He subsequently held a postdoctoral research fellowship at Clark University, in Worcester, MA, where he investigated the evolution of behavior and morphology in threespine stickleback fish. He has continued this line of research since joining the TCNJ faculty in 2009.

National Moth Week, July 18-26, is a global citizen science project focused on documenting biodiversity and distributions of moths. This year's NMW theme is Backyard Mothing! Join NMW co-founder Elena Tartaglia, Ph.D., via Zoom for a program highlighting the essential roles moths play in ecosystems and conservation threats facing nocturnal biodiversity. Learn various ways to attract and observe these organisms in your own outdoor space via equipment and plants, as well as how to identify moths and contribute data to the project using the iNaturalist app.

Presented By: Elena Tartaglia PhD
Elena Tartaglia earned her Ph.D. in ecology from Rutgers University and is currently a professor at Bergen Community College. Elena is an expert on moths of the family Sphingidae and has studied various aspects of their ecology and behavior in urban ecosystems. She is a co-founder of National Moth Week, a global-scale citizen science project focused on nocturnal insect biodiversity. Elena has worked in public outreach and environmental education since 2005 and is a former intern of Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve.