Meet the Scientist: Helene Muller Landau

What determines the variety of trees in a tropical forest? Is it the seed size? Perhaps seed-hungry animals? And what happens to forests that are being drastically changed by humans? Smithsonian Tropical Research Center Botanist, Helene Muller Landau, talks about her attempt to find answers to these questions.

Faculty in the College of Biological Sciences conduct a broad range of research, from molecules to ecosystems, and make discoveries that improve human health, restore the environment, provide new sources of renewable energy and enhance agriculture.

CBS faculty are also committed to training the next generation of scientists. They welcome students into their research labs and guide them through independent research projects. Their enthusiasm for hands-on education is one of the reasons CBS attracts such highly qualified students. Click here to check out the curent research that is being done in CBS!

CBS Spotlight: The Truth About Lions

Craig Packer, a CBS professor and leading expert on lions, is featured in the January issue of Smithsonian magazine in an article called “The Truth About Lions."

One of Packer’s more sensational experiments took aim at a long-standing mystery. A male lion is the only cat with a mane, and some scientists believed its function was to protect an animal’s neck during fights. But because lions are the only social felines, Packer thought manes were more likely a message or a status symbol. He asked a Dutch toy company to craft four plush, lifesize lions with light and dark manes of different lengths. He named them Lothario, Fabio, Romeo and Julio (as in Juilo Iglesias—this was the late 1990s!).

Professor Packer attracted lions to the dolls using calls of scavenging hyenas. When they encountered the dummies, female lions almost invariably attempted to seduce the dark-maned ones, while males avoided them, preferring to attack the blonds, particularly those with shorter manes.

Packer has been running the Serengeti Lion Project for 31 or its 43 years. It is the most extensive carnivore study ever conducted. You can learn more about Professor Packer and his fascinating work in the Smithsonian article.

Interested in animals and zoology?

Check out Biology 2012: General Zoology, and listen to lecturers Frank Barnwell and Keith Barker describe what the University of Minnesota can offer you! After all, this is just one of the many exciting and challenging courses offered through the College of Biological Sciences.