Episode 368: Butterflies!, Emilie Snell-Rood

This week I talk with Associate Professor of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior at The University of Minnesota, Emilie Snell-Rood. Emilie’s lab takes both a basic and applied approach to understanding insect responses to environmental change.

Currently, a number of her projects consider roadsides as habitat for insect pollinators, studying interactions between nutrients and roadside stressors in the development of butterflies and bees.

We talk about diversity in butterflies, the process of metamorphosis, and how butterflies learn. Further into the episode we get into how modern life drives evolution including agriculture, cities, and toxins.