What’s actually happening in metamorphosis? Why do so many insects do it? Are all butterflies descended from an ancient caterpillar or a ancient butterfly?
I sat down with professor Dr. Anurag Agrawal to get some answers.
Listen HERE or wherever you get your podcasts!
Photo by Frank diMeo
Dr. Anurag Agrawal is the James Perkins Endowed Chair in Environmental Studies at Cornell University. He obtained both a bachelors (Biology) and masters (Conservation Biology) degree from the University of Pennsylvania and he earned a PhD in Population Biology from the University of California, Davis in 1999. A year later he started as an assistant professor at the University of Toronto in the former Department of Botany, and since 2004 he is a Professor at Cornell. Anurag lectures widely to professionals and the public, and he has won numerous awards including the highest honors from several academic societies focused on biology, plant science, entomology, and ecology. His research melds questions on the ecology and evolution of interactions between wild plants and their insect pests, including aspects of community interactions, chemical ecology, coevolution, and the entire monarch life-cycle. Integrating natural history, bold scientific theories, and interacting with diverse scientists, from students to citizens, is his passion. Anurag’s book: Monarchs and Milkweeds, was published in 2017 by Princeton Univ. Press.
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Episode recorded, mixed and produced by Kate Douglas
Theme song is by Matthew Dean Marsh