Jonathan W. Armbruster

Professor and Director, Auburn University Museum of Natural History

Department of Biological Sciences

Twenty years of expeditions has revealed remarkable connectedness of the fish fauna across the western Guiana Shield, an ancient area of uplift in northeastern South America. Much of the shield had been drained by the Proto-Berbice River system, a paleodrainage that consisted of parts of the Orinoco, Negro, Essequibo, Courentyne, and Berbice River drainages. Tilting of the shield shifted the upper Orinoco and other rivers that now drain the northern and western portions of the shield into the modern Orinoco, and head-cutting by the Amazon resulted in stream capture of many of the southern streams leaving the Berbice withered. The results of these changes will be explored through ecological, morphological, molecular, and taxonomic data with highland and lowland taxa such as the suckermouth armored catfishes (Loricariidae), pencil catfishes (Trichomycterus), and South American darters (Characidium).

Refreshments will be served.

Parking Notice: Lot E-46 is a UIUC campus parking lot. Campus parking permits for lots north of Kirby/Florida work in E-46. Visitors may park in metered parking.