Ryan St Laurent

Ryan St Laurent is an evolutionary biologist and entomologist interested in butterfly and moth life history evolution, systematics and taxonomy. Considering ongoing biodiversity loss and how little is known about the evolutionary relationships and life history strategies of most insects; St Laurent's lab will work to explore non-model insect classification and document and understand insect-plant relationships that have received little attention and are in dire need of targeted study. His lab's goal is to enrich the understanding of ecologically important systems to inform management and protection of those systems and to better contextualize their role in the environment. To that end, he uses phylogenomic methods, custom and established bioinformatic tools, museum collections and fieldwork in wide range of biomes.

St Laurent is also heavily involved in natural history museum stewardship and resilience, with long-term goals for the continued development and use of the CU Entomology collection in local, national and global biodiversity and conservation research. Natural history museums are one of the best sources of historical biodiversity data and will be centered in my lab's research program.