All News

Two articles by Christian A. Johnson Excellence in Teaching Professor of Biology Ernest Williams were published recently. “Long term effects of climate on two pond predators” appeared in the April issue of American Midland Naturalist, an international journal on ecology, evolution and the environment. Previously available only online, “Decline of monarch butterflies overwintering in Mexico: Is the migratory phenomenon at risk?” was published in the March print issue of Insect Conservation and Diversity.

Professor of Biology Ernest Williams took six students to the Northeast Natural History Conference 2012, held April 16-18 at the OnCenter in Syracuse, N.Y., where he and the students all made presentations.

Professor of Biology Ernest Williams gave an invited lecture, "Population Trends and Overwinter Survival in Monarch Butterflies," to the Biology Department at Boston University on Jan. 23.

Time for Kids, a a weekly classroom news magazine produced by TIME Inc. that covers “a wide range of real-world topics,” focused its Sept. 30 issue on monarch butterflies. Professor of Biology Ernest Williams was quoted extensively throughout the two lead articles that also referenced his recently published study on the decline of monarchs.

For the 28th consecutive year, the Ecology course (Bio. 237) traipsed to the top of Whiteface Mountain. This year's class was so large that it was split into two separate trips. As usual, the weather for this trip was unpredictable. The first trip took place on Sept. 25 with Prof. Bill Pfitsch and found warmth, blue skies and grand vistas. The second trip, led by Prof. Ernest Williams on Oct. 2, encountered dense overcast skies, rain and chilly temperatures.

“This is the first time we have the data that we can analyze statistically that shows there’s a downward trend [in monarch butterfly populations],” said Professor of Biology Ernest H. Williams in a July 11 New York Times article titled “In Midwest, Flutters May Be Far Fewer.” Williams is the co-author of “Decline of monarch butterflies overwintering in Mexico: is the migratory phenomenon at risk?” recently published in the journal Insect Conservation and Diversity.

Ernest Williams, the Christian A. Johnson Excellence in Teaching Professor of Biology, presented a gallery talk on June 19 at the Arts Center in Old Forge, N.Y.

Butterfly populations, and the changes within them, can speak volumes about the ecosystem that these insects call home. Abby Koppa and Professor of Biology Ernest Williams will examine one particularly threatened species of butterfly in relation to its habitat in the Rome Sand Plains. 

An article co-authored by Ernest Williams, the Christian A. Johnson Excellence in Teaching Professor of Biology, appears in the current issue of the Journal of the Lepidopterists’ Society. “Overwintering clusters of the monarch butterfly coincide with the least hazardous vertical temperatures in the oyamel forest” presents the results of the authors’ study of the impact of temperature on the survival of monarch butterflies overwintering in Mexico.

Photos taken by Ernest Williams for his book The Nature Handbook (2005) are currently being exhibited at The Old Forge Arts Center through July 28.  Williams is the Christian A. Johnson  Excellence in Teaching Professor of Biology.