Meet Nikunj Goel, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Statistics and Data Sciences at ‪@UTAustin‬. Nikunj is part of a team that has been studying populations of soapberry bugs in Houston.
After an intense hurricane in Houston in 2017 created a patchy landscape where some areas were completely flooded and others spared, the researchers noticed an unusual detail about the soapberry bugs that recolonized previously flooded areas.
In our latest Nexus Point episode, Nikunj explains how this curious observation about the wing lengths observed in these new populations of soapberry bugs has sparked a new concept in evolution. Known as spatial sorting, this phenomenon can be triggered by extreme weather events and offers a novel perspective on evolution.
#WhatStartsHere #DiscoveryStartsHere⁠
#TexasScience #UTAustin #NexusPointUT #StatisticsAndProbability #InsectEvolution #Evolution #ExtremeWeather