EMU Today

YPSILANTI – Arachnid enthusiasts, rejoice. It’s a special weekend at Eastern Michigan University.

The American Arachnological Society’s national meeting will be held at the EMU Student Center from June 22-26. Cohosted by EMU Professor Cara Shillington, and Anne Danielson-Francois of the University of Michigan – Dearborn, the event is slated to attract faculty, students and other arachnid fans from across the nation and abroad.  

“We are very excited to have so many of our colleagues visiting EMU,” said Shillington, who not only teaches at EMU, but also heads a lab studying the physiological and behavioral ecology of ectothermic organisms, particularly tarantulas and other arachnids. “This is a wonderful opportunity to share our enthusiasm for arachnids with a like-minded group of people, and to have so many of our students involved. They will be able to share their research and to learn and interact with researchers that have worked with arachnids around the world.”

The conference will include more than fifty oral presentations and twenty-five poster presentations on all arachnids, including spiders, harvestmen, scorpions, whip scorpions and mites. Time for questions and discussion will be allotted at the end of each oral presentation. Several presentations feature Eastern faculty and students, such as “Environmental changes and locomotory activity in juvenile tarantulas (Grammastola pulchripes),” a collaborative effort between EMU student Remell Thomas and Shillington.

The conference will also feature the work of two visiting researchers from El Colegio de la Frontera Sur in Chetumal, Mexico, Yann Henaut and Salima Machkour M’Rabet, and their research undertaken at Eastern.

During their tenure, The Arachnology Lab at Eastern welcomed baby scorpions from three separate females, which were subsequently involved in behavioral experiments. One experiment that examines the link between the mother and personality of her offspring. (“Personality linked to parental origin in the scorpion, Heterometrus spinifer),” will be presented at the conference.

Other broad topics include arachnid evolution, silk and web production, spiders as natural pest managers in agricultural systems and several aspects of behavior. More than sixty universities and research centers will be represented in the conference.    

The event culminates in a final, optional field trip to the EMU Kresge Environmental Education Center at Fish Lake in Lapeer, Michigan. Arachnid collection will be allowed at the site.  

The Eastern Michigan University Department of Biology offers both graduate and undergraduate programs in biology and biology education. In addition to the Fish Lake Center mentioned above, Eastern Michigan University faculty also maintain biological field sites in Ypsilanti, Traverse City, costal Florida, Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands. For more information about The Department of Biology or its programs, please contact biology@emich.edu or call at 734.487.4242. 

About Eastern Michigan University

Founded in 1849, Eastern is the second oldest university in Michigan. It currently serves 20,000 students pursuing undergraduate, graduate, specialist, doctoral and certificate degrees in the arts, sciences and professions. In all, more than 300 majors, minors and concentrations are delivered through the University's Colleges of Arts and Sciences; Business; Education; Health and Human Services; Technology, and its graduate school. EMU is regularly recognized by national publications for its excellence, diversity, and commitment to applied education. For more information about Eastern Michigan University, visit the University's website.