The Ries Lab of Butterfly InformaticsPeople
Principal Investigator
Leslie Ries is an ecologist who focuses on patterns at both medium and large scales. She has worked both in the fields of landscape ecology and biogeography with her focus mainly on butterflies. Her...
Research Assistant Professor
My interests lie in exploring the impacts of global warming upon the physical and biological components of the earth system. Currently, I am working on understanding the population size and...
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Ecology, population dynamics, phenology, disturbance. I focus on how species traits mediate timing and abundance patterns. I'm broadly interested in animal responses to environmental change at...
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Grace Jeschke (she/her) got her BA from Yale University, focusing on molecular and cellular biology, and a Master of Environmental Studies from the University of Pennsylvania with a resource...
I am interested in understanding how host plant quality impacts the overwintering survival of a declining wetland butterfly, the Baltimore checkerspot. After rearing caterpillars on a native or non-...
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Nikhil is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences studying Biology. He is interested in learning about how changing nutrition affects morphological traits like wing length. He is extremely...
I am a fourth-year student studying Environmental Biology in the College. I care deeply about the environment and am interested in conservation and sustainable development. I look forward to learning...
Mrudula is a sophomore in the McDonough School of Business studying Finance and Operations and Analytics. She is particularly interested in the intersections between data analytics, industry, and...
Affiliates
Jeff is an expert in butterfly ecology and is currently on the board of the North American Lepidopterist Society. He’s a former faculty member at Duke University where he conducted research on forest...
Dana is a butterfly ecologist who has been a collaborator since 2012 on projects ranging from trait data curation to resolving discrepancies between names. She is currently working on our...
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We are biodiversity scientists and our research focuses on what causes spatiotemporal changes in genetic and species diversity. We take an integrative approach to global change biology and the skills...
We study the application of ecological principles to the conservation of biodiversity, from individual rare animals to all species living within a community. We are focused on strategies like use of...
Our lab develops mathematical and statistical models to study the distribution and demographics of populations and communities. We work on a range of basic and applied problems and a variety of taxa...
My own research focuses on imperiled butterflies in the Midwest, particularly butterflies of the wetlands. I also lead the Museum’s work with Illinois Butterfly Monitoring Network, which engages...
I have become involved in several data-centered infrastructure projects including the Encyclopedia of Life, the International Census of Marine Microbes, the Data Conservancy and the NSF EarthCube...
Alumni
I am interested in the impacts of global change on butterfly communities, especially those in high-latitude regions of the planet. To examine these questions, I use a variety of approaches from...
Simon is a rising senior at Paul VI Catholic High School who has brought his stellar applied mathematics skills to the Ries Lab. His independent project integrates caterpillar biology and...
I’m a rising senior at Sidwell Friends School and I plan to pursue ecology and environmental science once in college. Although I have past experience working with benthic macroinvertebrates, I’m...
Miranda was an REU during the 2018 summer season. Hailing from Texas, Miranda completed a project on understanding microclimate variation and comparing those patterns to large-scale climate data....
Ecology, phenology, plant-insect interactions, climate change and natural history (I like studying how caterpillars eat and get eaten).
Mariana started a tenure-track assistant professorship at...
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Madeline is a student in the McDonough School of Business (2019) majoring in Operations Management and Computer Science. She also volunteers at the Maker Hub on the first floor of Lauinger Library....
Interests: Tardigrades (but butterflies are easier to see)!
I plan to pursue a Master’s degree in evolutionary biology before earning a DVM-PhD.
Kevin was a PhD student at Howard University working on the apple snail. He joined the Ries lab as an affiliate to include a component in his research on modeling the potential range expansion of...
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Took part in the 2016 REU program Environmental Science and Public Policy in the Nation's Capital at Georgetown University assisting Dr. Leslie Ries with her research on butterfly spatial...
Jonas is interested in policy and helped initiate a new project here in the lab looking at how the ESA might be implemented for species that have a history of human physical interaction that is not...
I am a Junior in the College majoring in Biology from the San Francisco area. I am interested in butterfly trait-based research and how specific traits respond to ecological changes. I plan to gather...
I joined the Ries Lab as a freshman in the college from the Philadelphia area of Pennsylvania. My interests include math and its applications to nature, and in the lab I was really interested in how...
Clifford is a pre-medical post-baccalaureate student at Georgetown University looking to pursue medicine and specialize in oncology. Prior to his academic career, Clifford was in Management and IT...
Arshan Goudarzi is a third-year student studying Biology in the College. I have a deep interest in conservation and the environment. I am excited to learn more about how butterfly populations have...
Most of my life has been spent either teaching people about animals or teaching animals about people. Working with Dr. Ries is always a pleasure and has allowed me to expand my skill set to include...