Jim A. McGuire, Ph.D., curator of herpetology and associate professor at the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology and Department of Integrative Biology at the University of California in Berkeley, will be at The University of Findlay March 30-31 to share his research.
   
McGuire will present a public lecture, “The Comparative Biogeography of Sulawesi, Indonesia: Fieldwork, Herpetological Diversity and Integrative Molecular Genetic Analyses in the Land of Alfred Russel Wallace,” from 6-8 p.m. Tuesday, March 31, in Ritz Auditorium, located in Old Main. There is no cost to attend the lecture.
   
He also will speak with 10 students in a UF Honors course during a special dinner; offer a classroom presentation on campus; and give a research seminar at Bowling Green State University, titled “Diversification of Hummingbirds at Altitude: Physiological Challenges of Flight Shape Hummingbird Evolution at High Elevations.” The BGSU presentation will take place at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, March 31, in the Life Sciences Building, Room 332.
   
McGuire’s primary research interests are in phylogenetics, biogeography and comparative biology of reptiles, amphibians and hummingbirds.
   
He recently has been studying the island of Sulawesi, which is an island of Indonesia located east of Borneo. Sulawesi was formerly known as Celebes. The island is believed to have been formed by the collision of terranes from the Asian Plate, the Australian Plate and from island arcs previously in the Pacific. The unique joining of land masses produced four large peninsulas and an interesting mix of life – both animal and plant – with distinctly different species living on each peninsula, separated by mountains.
   
Students in the UF Honors Program invited McGuire to campus; the students currently are studying biological evolution in an Honors course, and the event is planned in recognition of Charles Darwin’s bicentennial birthday this spring.