| Research in the Short Lab emphasizes revisionary systematics and global surveys of aquatic insects (particularly beetles) that are able to inform both the evolutionary histories (morphological and ecological) of these groups as well as water quality assessment.
Freshwater resources are an integral component of both human and ecosystem health. Surveying the communities of these habitats provide a measure of the health of that system as well providing the raw materials for systematic studies. Currently, the lab is involved in water beetle surveys in Costa Rica, Panama, Ecuador, Venezuela, and Mongolia.
The Hydrophiloidea (water scavenger beetles) are one of the most ecologically diverse groups of beetles, having mastered many aquatic and terrestrial habitats. The Short lab is particularly interested in identifying and examining the mechanisms and constraints involved in aquatic-terrestrial habitat shifting in this and other groups of Coleoptera.
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| RECENT HAPPENINGS: 1 July 2008
ECUADOR: The lab has entered into a multi-year partnership with the Museo de Artrópodos, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador in Quito to survey aquatic insects and monitor water quality in western Amazonia.
VENEZUELA: The lab receives $500,000 NSF Biotic Surveys Grant to study aquatic insects throughout the country! Stay Tuned!
PANAMA: The lab has linked with the Pancoding project run through the Institut Mediterrani d’Estudis Avançats and participated in 3 weeks of fieldwork in June.
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