Seirian Sumner, University College London
Details
Seminar followed by Q&A and drinks – all welcome
Speaker: Seirian Sumner, Professor of Behavioural Ecology, University College London
Wasps are predators, natural enemies, pollinators and decomposers. They are also sources of nutrition for humans, potential pharmacological treasure chests and hold cultural value for indigenous communities around the world. Despite this, wasps remain under-valued. Part of the problem has been the lack of research on the importance of wasps. Whilst they have been popular models for social evolution and behavioural studies, there has been relatively little focus on their ecological roles and their utility and importance in supporting human health, food, culture and wellbeing. Seirian provides an interdisciplinary overview of the value of wasps using a holistic natural capital framework.
Seirian is a behavioural ecologist. Her work research sits at the interface of behavioural ecology, biodiversity and conservation. She uses a combination of field ecology and genomic techniques to address questions about how and why animals live in societies. She is especially interested in social wasps, and is working hard to raise the profile of these ecologically important insects, among both scientific and lay communities. As part of these efforts, she co-founded the Big Wasp Survey in 2017 – a citizen science project designed to engage the public with the diversity and importance of social wasps in their back yard; and in 2022, she published a popular science book, “Endless Forms: Why You Should Love Wasps”.
The Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery and Biodiversity Network are interested in promoting a wide variety of views and opinions on nature recovery from researchers and practitioners.
The views, opinions and positions expressed within this lecture are those of the author alone, they do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery/Biodiversity Network, or its researchers.
