Why are so many of California’s favorite hummingbird flowers red? F rom California fuchsia blooming in the fall to Western columbine, scar let bugler and paintbrush, our native flora is full of brilliant red f lowers that hummingbirds love. But is red simply a color that attracts hummingbirds, or does it also help flowers avoid unwanted visits from bees?
Join Santa Clara University biology professor Justen ;Whittall to explore how hummingbirds and bees see flowers differently , including a hidden world of ultraviolet colors invisible to humans. Drawing on recent research with his students and international collabo rators, he’ll reveal how these hidden pigments may help explain not&nb sp;only why hummingbird flowers are red, but also how new plant specie s evolve.
Prof. Whittall will bring a UV camera and some flowers so&n bsp;that you can see what they look like to the birds. If you would li ke to bring your own flowers, you are welcome to do so.
Justen Whittall earned his B.S. in Biology from Santa Clara U niversity, an M.S. from Oregon State University studying monkeyflower conservation genetics and a Ph.D. from UC Santa Barbara investigating the evolution of California columbines. Following postdoctoral researc h at UC Davis on the evolution of California’s serpentine-endemic plan ts, including blue-eyed Mary, wallflowers and jewelflowers, he returne d to SCU in 2007 as a professor of Biology.
Prof. Whittall works closely with undergraduates to uncover the mysteries of pla nt ecology and evolution, with research ranging from the con servation of rare Santa Clara County plants – including jewelflow ers, columbines, liveforevers and Hoita (a small genus o f legumes containing three species) – to the evo lution of flower color and hummingbird pollination in California’s&nbs p;native flora.
DTSTAMP:20261027T150632 DTSTART;TZID=America/Tijuana:20261209T190000 DTEND;TZID=America/Tijuana:20261209T203000 SEQUENCE:0 TRANSP:OPAQUE END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR