Dr. Walter Meshaka		Dr. Walter E. Meshaka, Jr., Ph.D., senior curator of the section of Zoology and Botany of The State Museum of Pennsylvania. As curator of the Commonwealth’s holdings of animals and plants, I oversee acquisitions, curation, and maintenance of collections, as well as conduct museum-based research and various outreach endeavors with the goal of enriching the understanding of Pennsylvania’s natural legacy. At present, I am conducting long-term mark-recapture studies on snakes in western Pennsylvania and green frogs in central Pennsylvania. Combined with examination of museum specimens, I can more effectively understand regional differences in such life history parameters as growth and activity. I am also interested in the community ecology of paper wasps in Pennsylvania. This two-step study involves first understanding which species of often superficially similar species exist in Pennsylvania and secondly comparing the community structure or make-up of the various species in relationship to habitat and each other.
Dr. Betty Ferster		Dr. Betty Ferster earned her Ph.D. from Boston University, where she examined the evolution and behavior of the Florida harvester ant (Pogonomyrmex badius), an important ecological component of the Florida scrub and pineland ecosystems. She then worked for many years for the University of Florida’s Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center where she studied exotic insects. Specifically, her research focused on ants as pests and she worked closely with the pest control industry, changing how pest control operators think about pest ants. She is the author of the Field Guide to the Pest Ants of Florida, which employs field characteristics for identification, instead of taxonomically important, but microscopic characteristics that are not useful in the field. She championed integrated pest management (IPM) techniques that require an understanding of species biology in their control. After moving to Pennsylvania, Dr. Ferster returned to her research interests of natural systems and ecology. A keen interest in native bees has sparked research in plant biology and pollination ecology as well as how bee biodiversity can provide insight into ecosystem health. Dr. Ferster is a Resident Scholar at The State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg and has worked with the Pennsylvania chapter of The Nature Conservancy as an ecological specialist. She is now the Project Director for The Nature Conservancy at Fort Indiantown Gap where she leads research and monitoring efforts on a rare butterfly, the Regal Fritillary (Speyeria idalia idalia). She is also adjunct professor of biology at Dickinson College.

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