Photo: Comma, Question Mark, Gary Meyers

Join us as we welcome Leslie Ries and Elise Larson from the Ries Lab of Butterfly Informatics at Georgetown University. We’ll learn about their current research and get an update on ASNV’s citizen science surveys.

Leslie Ries is an ecologist who focuses on patterns at both medium and large scales. She has worked in the fields of landscape ecology and biogeography with a focus mainly on butterflies. Her current research looks at large-scale patterns.

Elise Larsen is a post-doctoral associate with interests in ecology, population dynamics, phenology, and disturbance. She is especially fascinated by butterfly dynamics, currently focusing on traits such as color and lifespan.

The Ries Lab of Butterfly Informatics studies large-scale patterns of insects, mostly butterflies, using a combination of laboratory and data-intensive approaches. Their laboratory work on thermal tolerances is designed to provide key parameters for large-scale distribution and phenology models that they then test with independent distribution data, mostly acquired from citizen science monitoring programs. The lab supports a variety of databases providing information on ecological traits and distribution which are a resource for the public. They also lead efforts to support butterfly monitoring programs throughout North America.