DANBURY, CONN. — Yale University biologist Dr. Patricia Brennan will discuss her studies of avian evolution in the leadoff lecture on Wednesday, Sept. 24, of the 2008-09 Research Seminar Series to be presented by the Western Connecticut State University department of biology and environmental sciences.

Brennan, a specialist in behavioral ecology and avian anatomy and a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow, will discuss “The Evolution of Avian Genitalia: Form and Function” in her talk at 4 p.m. in Room 219 of the Science Building on the WestConn Midtown campus, 181 White St. in Danbury. Brennan has conducted extensive research on duck and goose reproductive evolution, and last year published findings from her studies in the Public Library of Science peer-reviewed online journal “PLoS One.” Brennan holds dual faculty positions as a member of the department of ecology and evolutionary biology at Yale, and the department of animal and plant science at the University of Sheffield in England.

Brennan’s lecture will be the first of six hourlong presentations on a diverse range of biological studies scheduled for the WCSU Research Seminar Series during the 2008-09 academic year. All seminars will be presented on Wednesdays starting at 4 p.m. in Science Building Room 219. Admission will be free, and the public is invited to attend the lectures and the tea reception immediately following each talk.

Dr. Tiffany Doan, assistant professor of biology at Central Connecticut State University, will present the second seminar in the series on Oct. 22. Doan’s research has focused on the evolution and ecology of tropical organisms, specifically reptiles and amphibians.

“My principal research program examines the evolutionary and ecological processes that affect the lizard family ‘Gymnophthalmidae,’ which inhabits the Andes Mountains and the Amazon Basin of South America,” Doan explained in research notes on her CCSU Web page. “Other projects include conservation biology and the impact of tourism on amphibians in the southeastern Peruvian rainforest, a description of a new species of snake from Central America, and an examination of the genetic and morphological diversity of rain forest toads.”

Four lectures are scheduled during the 2009 spring semester at WCSU:

• Jan. 24: Fairfield University Assistant Professor of Biology Dr. James Biardi, a specialist on environmental toxicology, will present “Blood and Guts: Ground Squirrel Defenses to Rattlesnake Predation.” Biardi observed on his Fairfield University Web page that California ground squirrels, which have been the subject of extensive research into their natural history and population structure, provided a natural experimental selection to explore the effects of evolutionary history and ecological context on defenses to venomous predators.

• Feb. 25: Dr. Rachel Yehuda, professor of psychiatry at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, will discuss the “Psychobiology of Trauma.” A specialist in post-traumatic stress, Yehuda is director of the Traumatic Stress Studies Division at Mount Sinai and an executive director of the New York Times Consortium for Trauma Treatment, founded after the World Trade Center attacks.

• April 22: Dr. Vincent Breslin, associate professor of science education and environmental studies at Southern Connecticut State University, will lecture on “Sediment Metal Contamination in Connecticut Harbors: Does It Harm Marine Organisms?” Breslin is a specialist in environmental chemistry and has conducted extensive field studies on marine pollution along the southern New England coast.

• April 29: WCSU Assistant Professor of Biological and Environmental Sciences Dr. Theodora Pinou will discuss “The Ecological Importance of Sea Turtle Conservation.” A specialist on evolutionary biology and the ecology of vertebrates, Pinou traveled this August with a group of WestConn students and instructors from Wooster School in Danbury and the University of Guadalajara to the Pacific coast of Mexico in Jalisco state, initiating a research study to track the migration of the Ridley turtle species native to the region.

For more information, contact Pinou at (203) 837-8793 or by email at pinout@wcsu.edu.

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