Indiana State University Newsroom

The Indiana State Biology speaker series welcomes Carl Gerhardt as the "Robert MacArthur Ecology in Science" speaker on March 29.

Gerhardt, a professor of biological sciences at the University of Missouri, will present his lecture focusing on "vocal communication, sexual selection and speciation in frogs."

The presentation will be held on campus at 4 p.m. in Room 12 of the Science building. Staff, students, and members of the public are all invited to attend free of charge.

Gerhardt's research focuses on evolutionary and neurobiological approaches to acoustic communication in frogs and toads. His research also analyzes the acoustic properties of synthetic sounds and how they impact the underlying neural mechanisms of frogs.

The focus of Gerhardt's research is a gray tree-frog complex, where he analyzes male and female tree-frog behaviour and how their communication impacts the other species.

The Robert MacArthur Ecology Speaker honors the work of the late ecologist who died of cancer in 1972. MacArthur was very influential during the 1960s with his emphasis on hypothesis driven research transforming ecology from a primarily descriptive field into a theory driven experimentally based discipline.

ISU's Biology Speaker Series welcomes its next speaker on April 5 as J.K. Jayaswal from Illinois State University will be the series' "Gram Microbiology" speaker. Jayaswal's presentation is focused on "Superbugs staphylococcus aureus: New Insights and Continued Challenges".

For more information and additional speakers, visit www.indstate.edu/darwin/ or call 812-237-2400.

The series is sponsored by First Year Programs, the College of Graduate and Professional Studies, Office of Diversity, Center for Public Service and Community Engagement, the University Honors Program, Lilly Endowment and St. Mary-of-the-Woods College.

Contact: Rusty Gonser, Indiana State University, associate professor of life sciences, at 812- 237-2395 or Rusty.Gonser@indstate.edu

Writer: Scott Campbell, Indiana State University, media relations assistant, at 812-237-3773 or rcampbell10@indstate.edu