Alumnus Bryan Lara Places 2nd in Student Poster Competition at American Arachnological Society

Environmental Science and Policy graduate student Bryan Lara won the First Runner-Up (2^nd place) prize in the Student Poster Competition at the annual meeting of the American Arachnological Society in Chetumal, Mexico in June. The poster was entitled: Life cycle of the Nearctic Treetrunk Sheetweaver (Linyphiidae: Drapetisca alteranda).

Professor of Biology Michael Draney (Bryan’s advisor) also presented a paper at the meeting call Brushing Aside Doubts:  An evaluation of the beat-sheet brushing technique for detecting the Nearctic treetrunk sheetweaver (Araneae: Linyphiidae).

Both presentations were coauthored with Susquehanna University Biology Professor Matt Persons, Professor of Biology Patrick Forsythe and a number of undergraduate students from Forsythe’s Environmental Science Capstone course (as well as undergraduate Mack Gore, who works in the Draney spider lab).

The full author lists of the two presentations are below:

1. Lara, B., M. L. Draney, M. Persons, P. Forsythe, M. Gore.  2024.  Life cycle of the Nearctic Treetrunk Sheetweaver (Linyphiidae: Drapetisca alteranda).  Poster, Annual Meeting of American Arachnological Society, Chetumal, Mexico.  NOTE:  Bryan won First Runner-Up in the Student Poster Competition.
2. Patrick S. Forsythe, Justice A. Saxby, Haillee R. Fritsch, Noah P. Hoffmann, Teona T. Ditzman, Deakyn J. Suess, Kelsey A. Radobicky, Bennett A. Schmitz, Samantha D. Amasone, Charles K. Buchmann, Laken T. Schultz, Addison L. Clauer, Allison S. Vista, April M. Kienbaum, Megan R. Ryan-Rabe, Brooklyn A.M. Monfils, Bryan A. Lara, Michael L. Draney  Brushing aside doubts:  An evaluation of the beat-sheet brushing technique for detecting the Nearctic treetrunk sheetweaver (Araneae: Linyphiidae).  20 min. talk, Annual Meeting of the American Arachnological Society, Chetumal, Mexico.   June 2024.