Naomi E. Pierce
Faculty Support: Maggie Starvish
Research in our lab addresses the behavioral ecology of insects. We combine molecular systematics, field ecology, laboratory experiments and specimen-based museum surveys to analyze the ecology and evolution of symbiotic associations. Recent projects include analyses of ‘third party’ fungal and bacterial associations in African ant plants, evolution of caterpillar-ant associations in the Lycaenidae and other Lepidoptera, evolution of sensory perception and signaling in nocturnal and diurnal Lepidoptera, and biomimicry and engineering lessons drawn from the interaction between infrared light and the microstructures of insect cuticle.
Recent Publications
Palahi, A. Garcia-Berro, A. Dinca, V., Voda, R, Dapporto, L. Backström, N., Vila, R. Pierce, N.E. and G. Talavera. (2025). Trans-Atlantic dispersal and introgressin explain Holarctic disjunct distributions in Vanessa butterflies. Molecular Ecology 34: e17781. https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.17781
Knecht, R.J., Benner, J.S., Swain, A., Azevedo-Schmidt, L., Cleal, C.J., Labandeira, C.C., Engel, M.S., Dunlop, J.A., Selden, P.A., Eble, C.F., Renczkowski, M.D., Wheeler, D.A., Funderburk, M.M., Knoll, A.H., and N.E. Pierce (2024). Early Pennsylvanian Lagerstätte reveals a diverse ecosystem on a subhumid, alluvial fan. Nature Communications 15: 7876 doi-org.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/10.1038/s41467-024-52181-0
Wang, Z., Huben, R., Boucher, P.B., Van Amburg, C., Zeng, J., Chung, N., Wang, J., King, J., Knecht, R.J., Ng’iru, I., Baraza, A., Baker, C.C.M., Martins, D.J., Pierce, N.E. and A.B. Davies. (2024). Automated detection of an insect-induced keystone vegetation phenotype using airborne LiDAR. Methods in Ecology and Evolution 15: 978-993 doi:10.1111/2041-210X.14298
Childers, R.A.R.*, Bernard, G.D.*, Huang, H., Tsai, C-C., Stoddard, M.C., Greenwood, J.S.F., Soucy, E.R., Hogan, H.G., Cornwall, M., Lim, M.L.M., Liénard, M.A., Yu, N. and N.E. Pierce. (2023). A hypothesis for robust polarization vision: An example from the Australian Imperial Blue butterfly, Jalmenus evagoras. Journal of Experimental Biology 226: jeb244515. doi:10.1242/jeb.244515/307064
Kawahara, A.Y.*, Storer, C., Carvalho, A.P.S., Plotkin, D.M., Condamine, F., [and 71 additional authors], N.E. Pierce* and D.J. Lohman*. (2023). A comprehensive phylogeny of butterflies reveals their evolutionary history, ancestral hostplants, and biogeographic origins. Nature Ecology and Evolution 7: 903-913; https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-023-02041-9
Chan, W-P., Rabideau Childers, R., Ashe, S., Tsai, C-C., Elson, C., Keleher, K.J., Hawkins Sipe, R.L., Maier, C.A., Sourakov, A., Gall, L.F., Bernard, G.D., Soucy, E.R.,Yu, N. and N.E. Pierce. (2022). A high-throughput multispectral imaging system for museum specimens. Communications Biology 5: 1318 doi: 10.1038/s42003-022-04282-z
Pierce, N.E. and E. Dankowicz. (2022). The natural history of caterpillar-ant interactions. In: Caterpillars in the middle, Robert J. Marquis and Suzanne Koptur (eds). Springer Nature Switzerland AG, pp. 319-391
Valencia-Montoya, W.A., T.B. Quental, J.F.R. Tonini, G. Lamas, G. Talavera, J.D. Crall, M.A. Liénard, S. Salzman, M.R.L. Whitaker, R.C. Busby, A.Y. Kawahara, D.J. Lohman, R.K. Robbins, and N.E. Pierce. (2021). Evolutionary tradeoffs of the hyperdiverse tribe Eumaeini (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae). Proceedings of the Royal Society B 288: 20202512 doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2020.2512
Liénard, M.A., Bernard, G.D., Allen, A.A., Lassance, J.-M., Song, S., Childers, R.R., Yu, N. Ye, D., Stephenson, A. Valencia-Montoya, W.A., Salzman, S., Whitaker, M.R.L., Calongje, M., Zhang, F. and N.E. Pierce (2021). The evolution of red color vision is linked to coordinated rhodopsin tuning in lycaenid butterflies. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA 118: e2008986118
Tsai, C.-C., Childers, R.A., Shi, N.N., Ren, C., Pelaez, J.N., Bernard, G.D., N.E. Pierce* and N. Yu* (2020) Physical and Behavioral Adaptations to Beat the Heat in the Living Wings of Butterflies. Nature Communications 11:551.