Sara Margery Lewis | |
---|---|
Alma mater | Harvard College (AB in Biology), Duke University (Ph.D. in Zoology) |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Biology, coral reef ecology, insect reproductive behavior |
Institutions | Tufts University |
Sara Margery Lewis is an American biologist, professor, author, and firefly expert. [1] [2] [3]
Lewis is a professor emerita of biology at Tufts University, co-chair of the Firefly Specialist Group at the Species Survival Commission of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, and author of the 2016 book, Silent Sparks: The Wondrous World of Fireflies. [4] [5] [1]
Lewis graduated from Harvard College with an AB in Biology in 1976. [6] After Harvard, she studied at Duke University where she earned a Ph.D. in Zoology in 1984. Based at a Smithsonian Institution marine station off the coast of Belize, Lewis' graduate work focused on the subject of coral reef ecology, examining the mechanisms behind which herbivorous fish grazing mediates competitive interactions between seaweeds and reef-building corals. [7] [8] [9]
In 1985, Lewis returned to Harvard where she spent the next five years as a postdoctoral fellow in organismic and evolutionary biology. [10] Her postdoctoral research analyzed the subject of sexual selection in fireflies and flour beetles. [11]
In 1991, Lewis joined the faculty at the Tufts University Department of Biology. [6] Lewis has taught classes in biostatistics, ecology, and science communication as well as classes more closely related to her research including Edible Insects and Evaluating Firefly Extinction Risk Seminar. [9] [12]
Lewis' research work has focused on coral reef ecology, the evolution of reproductive behavior in insects, and fireflies. [13] [14] Lewis has published research on these topics including demonstrating that both cryptic female choice and male sperm competition contribute to postcopulatory sexual selection in Tribolium flour beetles; [15] showing that Photinus firefly females choose mates based on male flash characteristics; [16] revealing the presence, [17] coevolution, [18] and composition [19] of firefly nuptial gifts; and describing how hermit crabs queue up to form vacancy chains that distribute resource benefits to multiple crabs. [20] [21]
Lewis is a founding member of Fireflyers International, a group dedicated to the conservation of fireflies and their habitats. [6] Since 2018, Lewis has worked with the Species Survival Commission of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature as co-chair of the Firefly Specialist Group, a team of international experts who identified the key threats faced by fireflies, which include habitat degradation, light pollution, pesticides, and climate change. [22] [23] [24] [25]
Corals are colonial marine invertebrates within the subphylum Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton.
The Lampyridae are a family of elateroid beetles with more than 2,000 described species, many of which are light-emitting. They are soft-bodied beetles commonly called fireflies, lightning bugs, or glowworms for their conspicuous production of light, mainly during twilight, to attract mates. Light production in the Lampyridae is thought to have originated as a warning signal that the larvae were distasteful. This ability to create light was then co-opted as a mating signal and, in a further development, adult female fireflies of the genus Photuris mimic the flash pattern of the Photinus beetle in order to trap their males as prey.
A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups.
A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral, or similar relatively stable material lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic (non-living) processes such as deposition of sand or wave erosion planing down rock outcrops. However, reefs such as the coral reefs of tropical waters are formed by biotic (living) processes, dominated by corals and coralline algae. Artificial reefs, such as shipwrecks and other man-made underwater structures, may occur intentionally or as the result of an accident. These are sometimes designed to increase the physical complexity of featureless sand bottoms to attract a more diverse range of organisms. Reefs are often quite near to the surface, but not all definitions require this.
Ecosystem diversity deals with the variations in ecosystems within a geographical location and its overall impact on human existence and the environment.
An ecosystem engineer is any species that creates, significantly modifies, maintains or destroys a habitat. These organisms can have a large impact on species richness and landscape-level heterogeneity of an area. As a result, ecosystem engineers are important for maintaining the health and stability of the environment they are living in. Since all organisms impact the environment they live in one way or another, it has been proposed that the term "ecosystem engineers" be used only for keystone species whose behavior very strongly affects other organisms.
An artificial reef (AR) is a human-created freshwater or marine benthic structure. Typically built in areas with a generally featureless bottom to promote marine life, it may be intended to control erosion, protect coastal areas, block ship passage, block the use of trawling nets, support reef restoration, improve aquaculture, or enhance scuba diving and surfing. Early artificial reefs were built by the Persians and the Romans.
The staghorn coral is a branching, stony coral, within the Order Scleractinia. It is characterized by thick, upright branches which can grow in excess of 2 meters in height and resemble the antlers of a stag, hence the name, Staghorn. It grows within various areas of a reef but is most commonly found within shallow fore and back reefs, as well as patch reefs, where water depths rarely exceed 20 meters. Staghorn corals can exhibit very fast growth, adding up to 5 cm in new skeleton for every 1 cm of existing skeleton each year, making them one of the fastest growing fringe coral species in the Western Atlantic. Due to this fast growth, Acropora cervicornis, serve as one of the most important reef building corals, functioning as marine nurseries for juvenile fish, buffer zones for erosion and storms, and center points of biodiversity in the Western Atlantic.
There are several plausible pathways that could lead to an increased extinction risk from climate change. Every plant and animal species has evolved to exist within a certain ecological niche. But climate change leads to changes of temperature and average weather patterns. These changes can push climatic conditions outside of the species' niche, and ultimately render it extinct. Normally, species faced with changing conditions can either adapt in place through microevolution or move to another habitat with suitable conditions. However, the speed of recent climate change is very fast. Due to this rapid change, for example Ectotherm cold-blooded animals may struggle to find a suitable habitat within 50 km of their current location at the end of this century.
Lampyris noctiluca, the common glow-worm of Europe, is the type species of beetle in the genus Lampyris and the family Lampyridae.
The stoplight parrotfish is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a parrotfish from the family Scaridae, inhabiting coral reefs in Florida, Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, Bermuda and as far south as Brazil. It mainly feeds on algae by scraping and excavating it with its teeth. Like most of its relatives, it is able to change sex.
Photinus pyralis, also known by the common names the common eastern firefly or big dipper firefly, and sometimes called a "lightning bug", is a species of flying beetle. An organ on its abdomen is responsible for its light production. It is the most common species of firefly in North America, and is typically found east of the Rocky Mountains. Photinus fireflies are often confused with fireflies of the similar-sounding genus, Photuris, which are also found in North America.
The resilience of coral reefs is the biological ability of coral reefs to recover from natural and anthropogenic disturbances such as storms and bleaching episodes. Resilience refers to the ability of biological or social systems to overcome pressures and stresses by maintaining key functions through resisting or adapting to change. Reef resistance measures how well coral reefs tolerate changes in ocean chemistry, sea level, and sea surface temperature. Reef resistance and resilience are important factors in coral reef recovery from the effects of ocean acidification. Natural reef resilience can be used as a recovery model for coral reefs and an opportunity for management in marine protected areas (MPAs).
A refuge is a concept in ecology, in which an organism obtains protection from predation by hiding in an area where it is inaccessible or cannot easily be found. Due to population dynamics, when refuges are available, populations of both predators and prey are significantly higher, and significantly more species can be supported in an area.
A mesophotic coral reef or mesophotic coral ecosystem (MCE), originally from the Latin word meso (meaning middle) and photic (meaning light), is characterized by the presence of both light-dependent coral and algae, and organisms that can be found in water with low light penetration. Mesophotic coral ecosystems occur at depths beyond those typically associated with coral reefs as the mesophotic ranges from brightly lit to some areas where light does not reach. Mesophotic coral ecosystem (MCEs) is a new, widely-adopted term used to refer to mesophotic coral reefs, as opposed to other similar terms like "deep coral reef communities" and "twilight zone", since those terms sometimes are confused due to their unclear, interchangeable nature. Many species of fish and corals are endemic to the MCEs making these ecosystems a crucial component in maintaining global diversity. Recently, there has been increased focus on the MCEs as these reefs are a crucial part of the coral reef systems serving as a potential refuge area for shallow coral reef taxa such as coral and sponges. Advances in recent technologies such as remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROVs) and autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) have enabled humans to conduct further research on these ecosystems and monitor these marine environments.
Biodiversity loss happens when plant or animal species disappear completely from Earth (extinction) or when there is a decrease or disappearance of species in a specific area. Biodiversity loss means that there is a reduction in biological diversity in a given area. The decrease can be temporary or permanent. It is temporary if the damage that led to the loss is reversible in time, for example through ecological restoration. If this is not possible, then the decrease is permanent. The cause of most of the biodiversity loss is, generally speaking, human activities that push the planetary boundaries too far. These activities include habitat destruction and land use intensification. Further problem areas are air and water pollution, over-exploitation, invasive species and climate change.
Ellychnia corrusca, the winter firefly, is a species of firefly in the genus Ellychnia. It is a lantern-less diurnal beetle common in the United States, Mexico, and Canada. The adults spend winter on a colony tree, favoring Quercus (oak), Carya (hickory), and Liriodendron tulipifera.
Lucidota atra, the black firefly or woodland lucy, is a diurnal species of firefly — a member of the Lampyridae family of beetles.
An ecosystem, short for ecological system, is defined as a collection of interacting organisms within a biophysical environment. Ecosystems are never static, and are continually subject to both stabilizing and destabilizing processes. Stabilizing processes allow ecosystems to adequately respond to destabilizing changes, or perturbations, in ecological conditions, or to recover from degradation induced by them: yet, if destabilizing processes become strong enough or fast enough to cross a critical threshold within that ecosystem, often described as an ecological 'tipping point', then an ecosystem collapse. occurs.
Tubastraea micranthus, commonly known as the Black sun coral, is a coral from the Tubastraea genus, which comprises the sun corals. They have a dark green color and they grow and branch out in bush/tree like colonies. The habitat of T. micranthus ranges from the Red Sea to Madagascar, and into the Pacific as far as Fiji. It has been observed in waters as shallow as 4m to a depth of 138m in the new habitat. It is notable though, that in its native habitats Tubastraea micranthus has only been found at depths up to 50 meters and any discovered at lower depths are in invasive environments. Furthermore, there have been obscure sightings of Tubastraea micranthus in Korea.