As part of a student organizing committee from our Organismal Biology & Anatomy (OBA) department, Hannah Farrell worked with The Society for Integrative & Comparative Biology (SICB) to host the Midwest Regional SICB (MR-SICB) here at UChicago.

A tote bag with the MR SICB logo.

Maddie Kelly presented a talk titled, “Mammalian community functional traits predict woody cover variability across Sub-Saharan Africa”. This project looked at the ways in which the proportions of mammals with different diets, locomotor strategies, and body sizes could be used to model the amount of tree cover across habitats. The results of this project provide interesting avenues for future research, and suggest novel methods for deepening our understanding of the variable habitats that our hominin ancestors occupied. She was supported by members of our lab, as well as others on campus and visiting attendees.

Hannah (top left), Maddie (middle left), and Laura (bottom left) pose with other MR-SICB attendees.

Yared (center left) studies a poster at MR-SICB.