OU professor to present lecture at College of Wooster
Alycia Stigall, professor of geological sciences at Ohio University, will present “Invasive Species, Mass Extinctions and Biotic Radiations: Lessons for Today From Oceans of the Past.”
Alycia Stigall, professor of geological sciences at Ohio University, will present “Invasive Species, Mass Extinctions and Biotic Radiations: Lessons for Today From Oceans of the Past” at the 38th annual Richard G. Osgood, Jr. Memorial Lecture on Tuesday, March 5 at the College of Wooster.
The event, which is free and open to the public, will begin at 7:30 p.m. in Lean Lecture Room of Wishart Hall, 303 E. University St. A dessert reception will precede the lecture.
Stigall’s research explores the influence of biogeography and paleoecology on macroevolutionary phenomena, principally speciation and cladogenesis, which is the evolutionary change by the branching off of new species from common ancestral type. She is particularly interested in elucidating the long-term impacts of species invasions and the relationship between speciation mode and biodiversity expansions and declines.
A secondary line of research involves taxonomic and paleoecological analyses of spinicaudatan crustaceans, a group restricted to freshwater lake environments. She also is actively engaged in digitizing museum collections and developing outreach tools for educators, avocational paleontologists and the general public. She received a Bachelor of Science degree from the Ohio State University and a master’s and Ph.D. from the University of Kansas.
The Richard G. Osgood, Jr. Memorial Lectureship in Geology was established in 1981 and endowed by his three sons in memory of their father, a paleontologist with an international reputation who taught at Wooster from 1967-81. Funds from this endowment are used to bring a well-known scientist interested in paleontology and/or stratigraphy to the campus each year to lecture and meet with students.
Stigall’s lecture is sponsored by the department of earth sciences and the Richard G. Osgood, Jr. Memorial Lecture Endowed Fund. Additional information is available by calling 330-263-2380 or emailing preeder@wooster.edu.